may it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his word let
us turn to the first epistle of John chapter 4 and we'll read
verse 9 the epistle of John chapter 4 and reading verse 9 in 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. The Word of God is very dividing
and very separating and perhaps we may not like such thoughts
and positions but yet we should realize that it's a wonderful
blessing that God has given us the Bible and has set before
us the way of salvation and has shown to us that which is right
and that which is wrong and it's very clearly directed us to seek
for those things which are real evidences that we are one of
God's people there is really nothing more important for us
to know that we are one of God's people you may say, well, why
is that so important? Well it's very simple isn't it?
It is so important because you and I are born in this world
we have a natural body but when we are born in this world we
also have an eternal soul and that eternal soul lives forever
and will of course on the Day of Judgement be united again
to our natural body so these things are very very important
for us and yet you see how easily it is and how subtle the devil
is he's a great and clever individual to direct us away from the things
of God and perhaps especially when we read chapters like I
read this morning which perhaps don't have a fascinating and
interesting narrative like perhaps Goliath or Jonah or things like
that but it has in these chapters great and important truths and
what it directs us to really very clearly is this situation
and the situation is that it brings to our attention the vital
importance of knowing God's love toward us why is that important? It's important because if we
don't know God's love toward us, we shall never love God and
we shall never go to heaven when we die. And that is an eternal
consideration. so I'm sure we don't need to
be very clever to be able to understand a very simple statement
like that and so in these two chapters that we read the Apostle
John who was of course wonderfully blessed in his life to be one
of those favoured disciples who the Lord blessed in a particular
way especially you may remember he was one of the three which
was found on the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord was transfigured
before them Peter, James and John and John was that one who
was of the three and wonderfully privileged then to have that
glorious revelation and you see such things are recorded in the
Word of God to give us an appreciation of the truth of the Word of God
and Peter in his epistle he refers to it he never forgot that wonderful
occasion and what a mercy it is then for us today to know
that there are such occasions recorded in the Word of God which
did occur and are true And because they did occur and those things
are true, we should realize that everything else which occurs
and is recorded in the Word of God is true and has reference
to us. in our lives today. You know,
when you think of it, the Bible was written many, many years
ago. The Old Testament, of course, much longer than the New Testament,
but it's been preserved and it's been translated into our language
so that we today can read a wonderful translation of the words that
God indicted men of old to write. There were some 40 people that
wrote the Bible. And there it is, recorded. And
you know the blessing is that the things in the Bible, they
all kind of join together. They're not really just separate
issues. One book is a separate book,
they are separate books, but they join together and many of
them refer to items in previous books. Again a confirmation that
we do have the great and glorious Word of God to meditate upon,
to read, and to praise God if He gives us a right understanding
of the great truths that it contains. Well, here today then, we have
this statement, in this was manifested the love of God toward us. That means it was revealed to
us. That means it was shown to us. well again that's a very important
consideration has this love of God been manifested to you and
manifested to me? we don't want to just carry on
aimlessly in this poor old world without this wonderful blessing
and without this wonderful knowledge and it is granted to us, it is
revealed to us by the wonderful Spirit of God and this fourth
chapter really begins with the work of the Spirit, the true
Spirit and the false spirit you see the devil is a spirit but
he's a false spirit and we should not failed to realise that his
great desire and aim is to deceive us. You may say, well what does
that mean? Well it means this. He wants
you and I to believe a lie. That's what he wants. And you
know if you look around and you read the history of the world
you will notice that billions of people have been deceived
by the lie of the devil. And you only have to go back
to the opening chapters in Genesis to see how the devil deceived
Adam and Eve with a lie. when he told Eve that she didn't
believe what God had told her. You see, he was able to frame
it in such a way that that lie seemed attractive, because he
told her it was a good fruit to eat, and she would have the
knowledge of things and it was a good thing therefore to take
off and because it looked very pleasant she fell under his spell
and did that which God had very clearly told her and Adam that
she should not do the devil hasn't changed his skill he still adopts
the same principle. He still speaks lies. He's very cunning. He's very
skillful. And never think, well, I understand
what the devil's doing, and I can be strong against him. You must
never do that. And you may say, well, give me
an example. I'll give you a very simple example. And that's, of
course, the apostle Peter. He thought he was very strong,
didn't he? He said he would never deny the Lord. In fact, he would
die for Him. Just a few hours later, he was
denying the Lord with oaths and cursing. So there you are, you've
got that example in the Bible, and therefore never think, may
we all never think that we have the ability to stand firm against
the cunning lies of the devil. Well, we can bless God that we
have God's truth. And God's truth is revealed in
the Word of God. And so here, John is able to
say, beloved. It's lovely, isn't it, how he
addresses us? Beloved. It's really a term of
endearment, isn't it? Beloved. Believe not every spirit,
But try the spirits, test them, try them, whether they are of
God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. And there are many false prophets
today, many false preachers today, who don't preach the true gospel. They preach another gospel, a
gospel which is pleasing, to our nature, pleasing to our flesh,
gives us leeway to do those things which our nature wants to do,
contrary to the Word of God. Well then, says the Lord, many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist,
that means against Christ, whereof ye have heard that it should
come, and even now already is it in the world. So, to start
with, we have a very clear statement, don't we, of confessing that
Christ is come in the flesh. Again, we think of the tragic
position with regard to the Jewish people, who still today believe
that they are waiting for the Messiah, the Saviour and not
willing to accept the great truth of God revealed in his Word. Well, what a blessing it is today
if you and I are amongst those who are willing to confess that
Jesus Christ has come that the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord and
to confess blessedly that he is your Lord and he is my Lord. My friends, all of us need to
be found there. It's not something which is irrelevant. It is very relevant. And there is an evidence of that.
And we're told here, ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he
that is in the world. And then he says, they are of
the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth
them just think about that what is our conversation? is our conversation of the world? in the world? or is it? of the things of God Again, you see, coming back to
the devil, he doesn't want you and me to speak or to confess
the things of God. And if you're honest, we have
to confess that he's pretty successful, isn't he? He's pretty successful. It's much easier, isn't it, to
speak of the things of the world than it is to speak of the things
of God. And yet, the things of God are
so much, much more important. Well, they are the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. the world
wants to hear about the things of the world it doesn't want
to hear about the things of God because the things of God cut
across the things of the world and so here the apostle goes
on to say we are of God he that knoweth God heareth us What that
really means is, if we are blessed to know God, we listen to what
the Word of God says to us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. the Lord says when he spoke through
the Apostle John to those 7 churches it's recorded in the 1st, 2nd
and 3rd chapters in Revelation and after each address to each
church and by the way all those letters were to be read to all
the churches they weren't to just take one letter and say
well that's just for me they were to read all the letters
and see how they applied and after each letter the words were
these He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now it's a great
blessing if God has given you and me ears, and that means spiritual
ears, to hear and to understand the truth of God. The devil won't
want you to hear the truth of God. It wants you to hear everything
other than the truth of God. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Here's a defining evidence of
where we are. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. That really means the word of
God and the word of the devil. And so it goes on now. Beloved,
let us love one another. For love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God. See, that is an evidence of being
a child of God. An evidence that you and I are
a child of God, that we do indeed love God. and knoweth God. Everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. Join together these points, aren't
they? Again, it's so wonderful and so blessed because it's not
something that you and I can produce ourselves. We cannot
give ourselves love to God. And we will not love God unless
we have the evidence that God has loved us. see many people today will very
glibly say, well do you love God? and many people will respond,
yes I love God but the reality is the question should be does
God love you? because if God loves you then
you see the response will be that you love God And it's a wonderful blessing
to have revealed to us that God has loved us. And it's not something
that you and I would produce ourselves. It is the wonderful
favour and the wonderful blessing of Almighty God. I remember when I was a young
man, I guess I was about 20, 21 or so I guess that's a young
man, just kind of gone out in my teens and the Lord was very
gracious to me and blessed me and I remember one particular
time I was I used to work in Clapham Junction and I used to
get the train there and back in the mornings and the evenings
and one evening I was on the train and the trains in those
days were pretty busy and pretty packed and they were a different
format to what they are now they used to have individual compartments
going across the width of the carriage and then there would
be a corridor down one side and you could pass down the corridor
to go into the compartments or go onto the next carriage and
on that passageway there was always there was a bar that you
could lean on on the window side looking out of the train And
as I say, it was often very busy and often I had to stand, especially
going home. I usually got a seat going in
the morning, but going home I often had to stand. And I remember
on this particular occasion, I stood and the Lord came and
just touched my heart with His great and glorious love. And this verse of the hymn came
to me. It wasn't particularly familiar,
but it was a very appropriate verse. And it was the last verse
in hymn 766. And this is what it says. On such love
my soul still ponder love so great So rich, so free. Say whilst lost in holy wonder,
why, O Lord, such love to me. Hallelujah. Grace shall reign
eternally. And that was a verse which was
wonderfully blessed to me. But the previous verse tells
us this. Heirs of God, joint heirs with
Jesus. Long airtime its race begun. To His name eternal praises. Oh what wonders love has done. One with Jesus by eternal union
one. And it is the love of Christ
toward us in the first place which then brings about that
return of love to Him it's never the other way round and the following
verse verse 10 describes that so very clearly herein is love
not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Yes, the one who's died
on our behalf. Well, what a blessing it will
be then for us this morning if in this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son
into the world that whosoever into the world that we might
live through him. The reality is that without Christ
there would be no salvation. Without the work of Christ there
would be no salvation. Without the death of Christ,
there would be no salvation. Without the resurrection of Christ,
there would be no salvation. And to think also that without
the intercession of Christ today, there would be no salvation. And so what a great and wonderful
blessing for each of us to have the evidence that this love of
God toward us has been manifested to us. It's been revealed to
us. It's been shown to us because
it is the great and glorious evidence of eternal life. That really is the great need,
isn't it? to have the evidence of eternal
life and we need that evidence before we die there's no salvation
the other side of the grave we need to have the evidence of
that in our souls to know that Lord Jesus Christ has died then
for us to take away our sins because of His love toward us
not because of what we've done Beloved, let us love one another
for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God For God is love. So we have the full circle, if
you like, there. God loving us. And the response
is us loving God. And that then is the evidence
that we are born of God. And if we are born of God, then
you see it is well with our soul. And what a wonderful, wonderful
favour that is. Well, the Apostle really speaks
very clearly to us of these great truths in this chapter and in
the following chapter that we read together. And there is,
you see, an outworking of this. It's not something which is just
kept in to ourselves. I believe there will be and there
must be an acknowledgement of it to men, to women. You may say, well why is that?
I'll tell you why it is. It's so that our testimony, our
lives, bring honour and glory to God. to be able to declare
that this great and almighty and glorious God has looked upon
me, an unworthy sinner of the earth, not worthy of any notice, and has come to me and revealed
himself to me as my Saviour, that one who gloriously died
upon Calvary's cross in order to redeem my soul you see, raw
religion as I often say and I'll say it again is personal you
won't go to heaven on someone else's religion you won't go
to heaven on your parent's religion you won't go to heaven on your
friend's religion because you and I have to stand before God
you and I have to stand before God And when we stand before
that judgment seat, we shall want to know that the great judge,
the Savior, is the one who has redeemed us. We will have nothing
to fear. Because we will then know that
Christ has died on Calvary's cross to take away our sins,
my sins. And my friends, this knowledge
is bestowed upon the church of God, his people, on this earth, in this life. It's a wonderful favour and it's
a wonderful blessing to be granted the faith, which it is. And don't remember, don't forget,
faith is not something which is tangible to our natural mind. You and I can't get hold of faith
physically. We do, by the grace of God. And by that faith, we believe
in what Christ has done. God-given faith. In this fifth chapter, there
is a great truth, which you may have noticed, speaking of the
Trinity. it's really the only verse in
the Bible that directs us very clearly to the Trinity and it
tells us this and he says this from verse 6 this is he that
came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only
but by water and blood and it is the Spirit that beareth witness
because the Spirit is truth for There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, And the Word is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if you want confirmation
of that, you can turn to the first chapter of John's Gospel
and read there very clearly, especially in those first few
verses. It speaks of the Word being the Lord Jesus Christ. So here we have, bear record
in heaven, the Father and the Word and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Now this is a mystery that you
and I on earth cannot fully understand. But this is why God gives his
people faith to believe it. And it will be a wonderful revelation,
won't it, when by the grace of God we get to heaven, get to
glory, and it will all be revealed. Which we'll then understand very
clearly the wonder of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But the Lord does give faith
for you and me while on this earth to believe this great and
wonderful truth. And as we read down in the Father
in this fifth chapter, he that believeth on the Son of God hath
the witness in himself. You see, it's personal between
our soul and our God. He that believeth on the Son
of God, the gift of believing is granted by the grace of God. the gift of God in believing
and perhaps I might just refer you to the Gospel of Mark in
the 9th chapter and the 24th verse where we have this very
relevant and important statement and it's there about a dumb spirit
being cast out and about the father and the question was and
he asked his father how long is it ago since this came unto
him and he said of a child enough times it has cast him into the
fire and into the waters to destroy him but if thou canst do anything
he said the father have compassion on us and help us Jesus said
unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. Now we have this encouraging
word, verse 24. And straightway the father of
the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. What does that mean? What it
means is this. He wanted to believe and he didn't
want to doubt the truth of God. And therefore he says, help thou
mine unbelief. It really means, enable me to
always believe what thou hast said. To be able to come and
say, Lord, I believe well if we read such a little verse as
that we can think how gracious it is of God's to grant such
a statement because perhaps we may really want to believe we
can really hope we do believe but yet somehow there's a little
doubt in our heart Well, you can come to the Lord like this
man did and said, help. Help me, Lord, to believe. Let
me not disbelieve the great truth of God. It's very wonderful,
isn't it, to think of the Lord dealing with us so very graciously
and very kindly because by nature, do you know what we possess?
I'll tell you what we possess by nature. It's an evil heart
of unbelief. Our natural man, our natural
life is one of unbelief. But God gives us, gives us that
spirit to believe so that we can say, Lord, I do believe. I do believe that Jesus lived. I do believe that Jesus died. I do believe he's now in glory. interceding for me. You see,
faith, faith. Remember, the Word of God tells
us without faith it is impossible to please God. What a blessing
today if therefore we have this great truth to us. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself you can examine yourself,
can't you? I can't no one else can but you
can before God and to think that by the grace
of God you do have the witness in yourself that God has loved
you and that you have loved God I heard yesterday of an old lady
who was down in Studley, she was in the Studley home, and
she went into the A.G. Pilgrim's home because you don't
close down, and she was over 100, and about a month ago she
was speaking to her son, and she made this statement, she
said, you know, I know that God loves me, And then she said, and I love
God. That was good theology. That was the right way around.
It wasn't the wrong way around. It was the right way around.
Because if you and I have the witness and the evidence of life
in our soul it's because God has loved us and if God has loved us and that
has been revealed to us then you will find welling up in your
heart love to God now then it may be may not be as much as
you want I'm sure all of us recognise that although I loved God more but it's a blessing if you love
God at all but if you do love God at all, a little it's the
evidence of His love towards you producing in your soul the
life of God and this of course is the wonderful
blessing and the wonderful favour we have some very positive words
in the word of God do hang on to positive words in the end
of this fifth chapter we're told this is what John says we know
The Apostle Paul says, we know. And it's a good thing if today
you and I can say, we know. I know. I know. And we know that we are of God
and the whole world lies in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
him that is true. Isn't that a wonderful truth?
Something that you can rejoice in and praise God for and be
able to come and say very humbly, and we know. Don't turn away
from it. The devil will say, you can't
say that. The devil's always a liar. And
we know. that the Son of God is come and
has given us an understanding that we may know Him. You see,
it's God that gives the understanding. You won't do it by learning.
You won't do it by study. It's God that comes. And it's
in this way so that you and I give honour and glory to God and praise
and acknowledge that it is all of His work. And we know Him
that is true. And we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. You see the conclusion. Isn't
that wonderful? Inclusion. The true God and eternal life. It's the great
concern, isn't it? I hope it's the great concern.
I hope it's a real concern. I hope it always has been. Or
let's put it this way, I hope it has been God has given you
a concern about your eternal life. And if so, what a blessing
to be able to trace out the evidence of this verse. In this was manifested
the love of God toward us. And it's so very humbling, isn't
it? Very humbling to think that God, the creator of the universe,
the ruler of the universe, should have loved such an unworthy person
as you and me. That's why, come back to that
hymn I quoted, on such love, amazing, on such love my soul
still ponder. Oh, there's plenty to think about
there, isn't there? In this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son
Again, ponder that, think of that. He's only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through him. No Christ, no life. Bless God today, my friends.
If you know, if you have the evidence, if you have the hope,
the good hope of eternal life in your soul, You can truly praise
and bless God and therefore be able to say here in His love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins.