Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to 1 John chapter 3 and verse
16. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3 And it is specifically
the words, the love of God that upon my spirit. And it is the
love of God as seen in John's first epistle. The apostle John, when he wrote
the gospel according to John, five times refers to himself
as the disciple whom Jesus loved. It begins in the upper room with
him leaning upon the bosom of the Lord, and then from that
time on there are those five references. Now of course he
is writing about himself, He could phrase it in such words
as if I or in that first person, but he doesn't. He describes
himself in those terms. And I wonder, how would we describe
ourselves if we couldn't use I or me but had to do it in some
other way. In John 21, on the shores of
the lake, we read there in verse 7, when the Lord was on the land,
they were in the ship. Therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved, saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now, he could
have written it, therefore, I said unto Peter, it is the Lord. But
he doesn't, and he writes it in a way that he's not drawing
attention to himself, he's not using his own name, he's not
saying that that is himself, and yet we know that that is
who it is. He had that assurance. that the Lord loved him. He doesn't
say the disciple who loved the Lord Jesus. He says whom Jesus
loved. And that's a blessed thing to
have that assurance that God does love us. And that is known
in several ways. That assurance is known in several
ways. And that is why I want to look
at it in John's epistle here, because he speaks of that love,
not just, or not as a feeling that we might feel for someone
and say, well, we love that person, or heart is smitten with love. Yes, love of God is shed abroad
in the heart by the Holy Ghost. But the love of God is very much
a practical love. It is that which is described
in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians and chapter 13, charity,
that is set forth as a practical love, that charity never faileth. Faith, hope, those will pass
away, but love never will. And in the work of our Lord,
and in the result or the effect in God's people, it is always
not just a feeling, but a very practical demonstration of love. So on to look with the Lord's
help at four, separate texts in this epistle, and our text
being of the fourth point. But the first point, what is
love? We are told very clearly in 1
John 5 and verses 2 and 3, what love of God is. And then secondly, the love of
God manifested in 1 John 4 verse 9. And then thirdly, our text,
the love of God perceived. And then lastly, the love of
God perfected or completed. But the first one is what is
the love of God. And for that, we see in the fifth
chapter and read these words, by this, We know that we love
the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments,
for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments
and his commandments are not grievous. So we have a very clear
statement. This is the love of God. And there's three things that
are joined together. And we would remember throughout
this epistle, and you might have thought as we read, it's almost
speaking of perfection of God's people, that those that are in
Christ, that they cannot sin. And yet we know that we are sinners,
the very first chapter, that if we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So, What
we have read in chapter 3 is certainly not saying that God's
children have no sin and that they have not sinned. But what
we do know is the new birth from above is not just a turning over
a new leaf of the old nature, it is a perfect and pure nature
from above. And so God's children then are
able to discern Within them, those two natures. In him, we're
told in the first chapter, there is no darkness, but just light. That which comes from above is
perfect, is pure, there is no sin, there's no darkness whatsoever. If there's any darkness, any
sin, anything of our old nature, that is the old nature, that
doesn't come from above. And so there's a very clear distinction
of the two. The grace of God, the gift of
eternal life, is not just a reforming of an old nature, not turning
over a new leaf. It is a new nature, perfect,
pure from above. And the author of that is the
Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit then gives
eternal life, then there are things that go together. It's
not just one thing on its own. And so the definition of love
is not just one thing on its own. There are three things that
John draws our attention to in the definition of love. And that
is love to the children of God, By this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.
For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and
His commandments are not grievous. So the second thing is the love
to God. And the third is keeping of His
commandments. All of those three things will
be intermeshed like they are in these two verses, that when
the Lord gives the new birth, will love the children of God,
the people of God, will love God, and will keep the commandments
of God. All three are joined together. They all come from the same spirit. May we always remember that the
definition is that God is love. He is the foundational, fountain
of that. In verse eight of chapter four,
He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. That is the source of it, that
is where it comes from. And so the definition is not
a feeling, not a warmth of the heart, or affections in that
way, but as said, in other parts of the word here, how can we
say that we love God, whom we have not seen, and yet we hate
or don't like our brother, whom we have seen? And so the evidence,
the bound up with the love of God, is that we love those in
whom God's spirit is, whose image is, who worship Him according
to the Word. The most solemn example of the
opposite way was in the passage we read, where we have Cain and
Abel right early on, two brothers, and one has such a hatred to
the other. And the hatred is not anything
other than concerned with worship, One had the favour of God, one
was obeying God, one was walking according to his way, the other
one was not. And rather than change, then
he slew his brother. Enmity and pride and hatred leading
to murder, sin lying at the door. And so, when John would tell
what love is, He brings these three things together that are
the fruits and effects of the Spirit of God. The second thing I bring before
you is the love of God manifested. Now, on this I base on 1 John
4 and verse 9. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. Now manifested,
it means to render apparent or to appear so that we can actually
see it. It's not something that is just
said. it's actually seen. A parent
might say that they love their children, but in how they deal
with them, in feeding them, protecting them, preserving them, that love
is actually manifested, is a tangible thing that can actually be seen,
and it links between that parent and the one that is receiving
the benefits. And so we have the love of God
manifested. How is it that God shows that
love? How does he make it known? How
does he make it appear? And what is set before us here
is God sending his only begotten Son. because that God sent his
only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.
And right through this passage, right through to the end of chapter
four, really the whole emphasis is that God loved first. In verse 19, we love him because
he first loved us and he is tracing tracing that love up to God and
making it manifest, showing it forth. The Lord used a beautiful illustration,
as it were, with Abraham when he asked Abraham to offer up
his only son Isaac on the altar. And he took him and he went up
to the mount that he was told to go to and was to offer him
up. My son, God will provide a lamb
for a burnt offering. But God stayed his hand at the
last moment and told him not to kill Isaac and provided the
ram that was caught in the thicket. But Abraham had shown the love
that he had to God The Apostle Paul, he speaks that he was justified,
not just by faith, but by works, in that he actually went and
did as God had said. And we're told in Hebrews that
he believed that even if he had of slain him, that God would
have raised him from the dead, which in type he did receive
him. But then we have in verse 16
of Genesis 22, the angel calling unto Abraham out of heaven and
said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, And as the sandwich
is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of
his enemies, that in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. And Paul, he says that this means
not as to seeds as many, but seed which is Christ, that blessing
in thy seed in Christ shall all nations be blessed. Now, Lord said that Abraham saw
my day and rejoiced at it. And that way that God's love
is shown, God commandeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is the sending forth
of the promised seed sending forth of his son. For God so
loved the world, and this is John again in his gospel, and
we read it straight from the gospel in chapter three of Gospel
According to John. It's very interesting, our text,
the reference of the The text is 1 John 3.16, and if we then
go to John 3.16, then we have, For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish. that have everlasting life. We have bound up there the gift
of God's beloved son as a manifested evidence of the love of God. Now, of course, God does not
love every individual in the world, but he loves those of
his people He gave himself a ransom for his people, and the sense
of why it is set forth is the world, because the gospel is
reclaimed in all of the world. We know not who are the people
of God. And none is to say, well, this
is not then for us. None is to say it was not my
nation, or it was not my family, or not my people. None are to
rule themselves out of it. Now even Cain that was set before
us here, most solemn example, the Lord said to him that if
thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? But if not, sin
lieth at the door. The Lord never said to him, Cain,
you're of the wicked one. You are lost. You will never
be saved. He did not. He set before him
the right way, the way of truth, but he walked not in it. And
we should always remember that. We should always seek, as the
evidence of love here, to walk in the way of God's commandments,
and not to listen to the adversary and say, well, you're not one
of God's people, therefore it doesn't matter if you go against
what God has commanded. You wait until you're called
by grace, and then you can obey. But if the Lord has shown us
what is right, we are to seek to obey the law, not be a servant
of Satan. So God's love manifested how
it is actually shown, shown in a very clear, positive way. God made flesh dwelling among
us, taking of the seed of Abraham, of body and soul, leaving his
father, coming to this world, enduring the contradiction of
sinners against himself, having the sins of all his people laid
on him, and suffering in their place, enduring the wrath of
God, rising again for their justification, redeeming them, putting their
sins away, This is the real manifested love of God toward us. Because that God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. And then throughout this passage
emphasizing the love of God comes first. Herein is love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us. and sent his son to be the
propitiation or wrath-ending sacrifice for our sins. But it's one thing to have the
love of God manifested or shown, it's another thing to actually
perceive it, and especially personally. And so in the third place is
the word actually of our text, in the third chapter, hereby,
or in this way, perceive, perceive we the love of God. Now perceiving is coming to realize
or understand, becoming aware of the love of God. Many times perhaps in studies,
certainly when studying for engineering, when first things were set before
me, I couldn't really perceive what they meant or couldn't understand. But after a while, then it slowly
dawned as to what actually was meant and what was being taught.
It's a very different thing to have something that is set before
you as truth, and you might acknowledge it so, but you don't actually
understand it, or don't really perceive it. We think of Samuel. It was said, Samuel did not yet
know the Lord. And the Lord came and spoke to
him. Samuel, Samuel, he went up, and
he went to Eli, and he asked Eli, he said, thou callest No,
I didn't call. Go down and lie down again. And
when the Lord called again, he went to Eli. And then we read
that Eli perceived that the Lord had called the lad. He became
aware. He realized that this was what
was happening. And so he then gave instruction
to Samuel to lie down again. And when he called the third
time, that then to say, speak Lord for thy servant heareth.
And it was in that way that Samuel was to know the Lord. You might say Samuel did not
even perceive for himself. He never come to realize for
himself. He needed another to guide him. How many of the Lord's people
that the Lord has spoken through to, through the ministry, through
his ministers or through the word of God, And they may have
related what they've heard and have been directed then and said,
look, this is the Lord speaking to you through the word. This
is not the minister. This is the Lord. That is why it has been so applicable,
so timely, so suitable. Why it's been attended with power,
not in word only, but in power. That's why it's had the effect,
like on the Tudor way to Emmaus, their heart burned within them.
That is why when the disciples heard the parables and they didn't
understand them, they asked the Lord afterwards what it meant.
Because they had life and they had that inquiring and asking,
the same as a eunuch did, of whom speaketh the prophet this,
of himself or some other man. And a perception, a realization,
is so vital. And the way it's set before us
here. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. How do we perceive it? How do
we realize that love of God? And the answer is here, because
he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. Our Lord
spoke of the glory that he had with the Father before the world
was. And we have the picture of him
laying down that glory. laying down his life in heaven,
putting that completely on hold, taking in union with himself,
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, sin accepted, and in his
case, never to be divested of that, always to have that from
that time on, never again to return to exactly as he was,
always to be. like unto his brethren. And he's
laid down his life there and then laid it down, that life,
for us. I had this really shown to me
years ago when visiting the late Ron Jealous, that is Paul Jealous'
late father, and he was in the William Harvey Hospital And in
that time, he'd had hip operation. He had a stroke after that operation. But I felt I really wanted to
go and visit him. And I went on a Saturday to drive
the 25 miles or so to Ashburn to see him. But I had a lot of
things to do here, either services, to prepare and a lot of other
things to do. And as I drove on that road,
I felt really torn. It was as if I was being pulled
back in my mind to all the things that I should do. And then on
the other hand, I did want to go and to see him. And I always
remember this spot in the road heading out from Pluckley and
through to Ashford, where the Lord spoke these words so clearly
to me, that even so, we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. And I had such a point. You know,
the Lord in that word, he told me that dear Ron was one of the
brethren. He had never made profession,
but When I went there from then on, how different it was. I could
lay down my life, and that is the practical part of it. I was
laying down all what I needed to do, or wanted to do, and putting
that on complete hold, and going and visiting Him. And it was
a real illustration to me of what our Lord did. You know,
by nature, we are so selfish. We like to always do something
for us. And yes, we might do something
for other people, if we've got time, and if there's a hole in
our schedule, and we can do it without inconveniencing us. But
when we have got a lot to do, and instead of finding a space,
we say, no, we're going to lay that down. The case of brethren
is more urgent, more pressing. and is needed now, not later. And you have the illustration
there, following verse 17. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, shutteth up his bowels of compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? And we see how
Lord, we think of that word, he that hath two coats, let him
give to him that hath none. Our Lord has a righteousness
of His own, but He has a righteousness that He wrought out on this earth
that He can communicate to His people. They have no righteousness
of their own at all. They have no coat without a seam,
this garment's woe bequeathed in everlasting love. That is
for the people of God. They did not rent His coat. They
said, let us cast lots for it. The Robe of Righteousness, this
is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness. And so, it is what the Lord has
done. I believe that the early church,
they had this spirit, you read in Acts 2, how that they, that
believed, they had all things in common. Those that had much,
they sold, they gave to those that had little. It's not that
we should, when we believe, just sell everything that we've got,
but we use the gifts that the Lord has given us to relieve
the needs of those that have not. And that was very evident
in the early church, holding the world with a loose hand,
not being a miser, not filling our bank and filling our shares
Everything else in money, while you see the brethren have need,
it is actually using it and it springs from love. It's not dragged
out. When I was first going to Ashford
to see Ron, I was going but not willing, really. It was not without
being pulled and dragged back. But as soon as the Lord spoke
that to me, I had a real love to him because The Lord had told
me, there's one of the brethren, and also so highlighted what
he had done for me in laying down his life. And so hereby
perceived, this is how we realize or become aware that we love
God, that we have the love of God, and the love of God toward
us personally. And you know, this word also
is speaking of the laying down, if we go back a few verses and
have this very clear token in verse 14, John 1, 3, 14, we know
that we have passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. Very clear assurance and knowledge
of it. And it's not always, it's not
a constant, but sometimes it just wells up. And I may have
mentioned it before, it comes to mind as we've been recently
up to Clifton for the annual meetings with our churches. So years ago when we used to
meet there as ministers for a prayer meeting, and coming back on the
M1, Going most unexpectedly, it came upon me. Oh, how I do
love the brethren. And the tears of love flowed. I could hardly drive. And it
just whirled over me. Such a love to those brethren
I'd been with. And we'd had time of prayer together. Now, that's not always felt like
that. It's one special, precious time. We love them for Christ's sake.
We love because we see Christ's image upon them, something that
they might say, something that they might do, something what
they say that then strikes a chord with us and what we have experienced
and gone through, or that opens up a little bit of the veil and
we can see and perceive, just for maybe a few moments, the
love of God toward us. what he did, what it cost him
in laying down his life for us. And that's a blessed thing, perceiving. You know sometimes we might,
and we think of the hymn writer, dream not of faith so clear that
shuts all doubtings out. This word perceive, almost it
is a gradual dawning or an understanding, rather than a a seeing very clear
or seeing in full view, it's a perceiving. You know, David,
we read when he became king, we read he perceived that the
Lord had established his kingdom to him. No, it wasn't the Lord
saying, I've established your kingdom. No, he noticed men were
given him, they were obedient, the tribes came to him. He saw providence, working with
it and establishing his kingdom. So he perceived this. And that was a great comfort,
great blessing to him, as good as if the Lord had said, I've
established your kingdom. He perceived it so. It may be
with you here that you are able to perceive the love of God. Perceive it by what he has taught
you, what he has shown you. The word, how you've heard the
word, where that word has been precious,
where you've seen little glimpses of the Lord and his work. and
of his coming to this world and his sufferings. You know, Manoah
and his wife, when they'd had the angel and ascend up in the
flame, Manoah thought they'd die because they'd seen God. But his wife said, no, no we
won't. Why would he have received a
sacrifice at our hands? Why would he have shown us such
things as these, and told us such things as these, if he was
pleased to kill us? Now the Lord hadn't said to her
directly, you are not to die, though you have seen an angel
of God. But she takes these things, these
tokens, these evidences, and she perceives, rightly so, that
God's intentions toward her and her husband They're not for evil,
they're for good, and they're for blessing. And it's a blessed
thing to come to assurance, come to perceive the love of God to
us personally through this way. And so the love of God perceived
is a very important aspect. Or the last one is the love of
God perfected. Now, what is meant by perfection? Of course, we are used to it
as meaning something that is perfect, without a flaw or anything
in it. Well, of course, all what God
does is perfect like that. There is nothing that is imperfect
in it at all. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse
5, But whoso keepeth his word, In Him, verily, is the love of
God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
Him. It's very definite, isn't it? Hereby, in this way, we know
that we are in Him. We know that we are in Christ. We spoke before about love being
a practical thing. a thing that is actually evidenced
in works. Our Lord spoke of one or two
that were told to go work in his vineyard. And one said, I
go, Lord, but he went not. And the other said, I go not,
but afterwards he repented and went. And our Lord said, who
did the will of God? And they said, the one that repented
and went. It's not enough just to say and
not do. The Lord says, be you doers of
the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. He
told the parable of the house built upon the rock and built
on the sand and the whole difference was the difference between one
that heard and was a doer one that heard and was not a doer,
the fruits of the love of God will be shown. And so there are
three things that bring us to a completion, or the aim of God
when He sets His love upon a sinner, when He calls that sinner by
grace, manifests His love to them, and they perceive His love
to them, And that is perfected by our keeping his word, by knowing
we are in him, that is by assurance we are his, and by walking as
he walked. Because verse five, he that saith
he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. That is a true disciple. John
says the disciple whom Jesus loved, the follower whom Jesus
loved, walking after the Lord, obeying the Lord, walking in
love, and having that assurance that we are in Him. This is how that love is perfected. Really, whenever the Lord sets
His love upon His children, His aim is that they know that they
are his children. He always has known they are,
but he will convey it to them. And they have that knowledge
by the spirit that he gives them and the fruit and effect of it
in their lives. And so here, John, and we've
only just touched on these four points, but right through this
epistle, first in one way, then in another way, He is setting
before us what is the love of God. And may we truly know that
we do know something of the love of God ourselves. A scriptural way of the love
of God. Not just a vague man-centred,
man's ideas, but in the words of scripture, what the Lord has
said. God will look like. Remember
the beginning verse of the chapter we read, Behold what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us. The love of God, very
distinct love that it is, and that is what is described here.
What is the love of God, how it is manifested, how it is perceived,
and how it is perfected, completed. May the Lord bless His Word to
us. Amen.