Our text is in 1 John chapter
4. John had just said at the end
of verse 6, hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit
of error. And that was said in reference
to our confession in God. This concerns our confession
of Christ. That is when John had said back
in verse two, hereby know ye the spirit of God, every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. This is how we know the spirit
of truth as opposed to the spirit of error or and know the spirit
of error. So this hope that we have of
God in Christ manifests itself in a confession of Christ, a
true confession of Christ by the Spirit of God, who he is,
why he came, what he accomplished for his people in his coming. And the Lord tells us this because
we are to frame all our understanding on that foundational truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our confession. He is our
hope, the hope of salvation by the Savior. This is the confession
which the Spirit of God works in us, gives to us, teaches us,
brings forth from us. He manifests this truth. this understanding, this hope
in Christ, so that if you have any question, if you have any
trouble, if you are going through trials and afflictions and temptations,
if you need help, or if you want to help someone, view it in this
light, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God come in the flesh. That means He is able. He is
able, brethren. Cast all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you." He's able. He's able to bear it. And He came to overcome for us. He overcame. He overcame our
enemies that we could not defeat. He delivered us from the coming
wrath of God. He overcame. He did all that
was necessary for Him to do. And then He accomplished our
redemption. And having accomplished our redemption
by Himself on the tree where He obtained the forgiveness of
our sins, and He obtained eternal life for us, He now works His
grace in us, bearing the fruit of righteousness in us. So this
hope that I just summarized there, this hope is the confession of
the believer which the Spirit of God manifests in us, reveals
in us, gives us this hope that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. And now John speaks of, he testifies
of another manifestation of God's salvation worked in you. There's another way that God
manifests his spirit, that you are his, that he is your God,
in fellowship with you, in Christ. He testifies that we are of God
by this witness, love. there is a witness of love. Let us therefore look into this
blessed work of the Spirit of God, which is worked in us. Love, for God is love. So in verse seven now, this begins
our text. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God." He's born of God and knoweth God.
So this is very bold in what the Apostle John is admonishing
us to do. He's encouraging us to do this.
He's saying love one another. Love one another. Love those
who love the truth. Stand fast in the truth of the
gospel with one another. There's so many enemies, so many
haters, so many false gospels, so many false Jesuses. Love your
brethren who love the truth. Strive for that. Stand forth
in that very truth in defense and confirmation of the gospel. Love one another in the face
of all the warnings of your flesh going off. What are you doing
loving that one? face of all those warnings and
red flags, love one another. That's the word. That's the admonishing
for us. Love one another. You mean that
sister that just slighted me? Love one another. For God is
love. That brother who just offended
me again? Love one another. Love one another. That's what he's saying. Why
wouldn't we want to make them pay and suffer the way they've
made me suffer? What's wrong with that? Well,
because God is love. God is love. Love one another. It is very bold. It is very bold. But God is love. That's what
he's saying. God is love. Isn't it foolish to focus on
loving your brethren as the chief goal? Well, ask, is God foolish? Is God foolish for loving you?
Is God foolish? God is love. Love is of God. It just seems like we're asking
to be shamed in this for loving our brethren, for loving them,
for loving people so much. And Paul said it this way, hope
maketh not ashamed. We have this hope. God is love. He tells us that he's love, and
he tells us to love one another. We have this hope of life in
us, not only in me, but worked in you also. We have this hope
and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. It's
the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God manifests love in the
people of God especially for one another, especially to do
what is good, to do what is right, to care for one another, to pray
for one another, to speak to one another, to encourage one
another, to gather together with one another, Love is of God. And loving others is putting
a lot of confidence in God, especially knowing that we ourselves are
in the flesh. We're in the flesh. They're in
the flesh. That's a lot of confidence and trust in God. It's not that
we have confidence in one another. in the flesh of one another,
that you won't ever spurn my love or vice versa. There's no
confidence in our flesh. The confidence is in God. That's
the one in whom all our confidence rests. And so we've rested on
this reason. We may love our brethren with
such boldness, because God is love, and love is of God. All right? You think about with
regards to our Savior's love for us. He's loving undeserving
sinners in loving us. Do we really think that we're
deserving? Because that's usually what it
comes down to with the care and love for another is, well, they
don't deserve it. They don't deserve my love. I'm
not going to give them love. They don't deserve that. I wouldn't
be good for them right now. They don't need my love. But
think of how God deals with you, especially if you know him to
be a loving, kind, and gracious Savior, patient with you, forgiving
you, healing you, comforting you, not treating you or dealing
with you as your sins deserve. If you know something of that,
then you know something of what it is to love another as your
Heavenly Father loves you. We're not saved by merit. We're
not loved by merit. We're loved by His grace, and
in grace, undeserving favor and love from our God. And so God
forgave us who sinned against Him, and by loving our brethren,
we're simply doing what we see our Father doing. Think of it
in that way. And we're doing what we see Abba,
Father, doing for us and caring for us and being tender and gracious
and kind-hearted toward us in love. And Paul said in Ephesians
5, 1 and 2, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. You be followers of God as dear
children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and
hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling savor. The scriptures reveal, the apostles,
their letters reveal that there is a lot at stake. There's a
great deal at stake for the gospel, for the gospel's sake, and for
the defense and confirmation of the gospel. There's much at
stake. But listen to Peter. Well, listen
to Peter in commensurate with that. Listen to what Peter says
in 1 Peter 4, verses 7 and 8, because the flesh would think
these two things don't go together. He said, verse 7, but the end
of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. Let's lock this thing down. Let's
be judicious when there's problems arise. Let's just cut it off
because the end is near. Let's just end it all. Let's
just cut it off. Verse 8, and above all things have fervent
charity. Have fervent love among yourselves
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. right love love says
you know what we're just gonna close that the curtain on that
we're gonna move forward God's given them repentance God's God's
dealt with them or is dealing with them let me show love and
just move on move on all right because love love you love someone
you're able to cover a multitude of sins You think about someone
you love dearly, one of your own children. You think about
that. Love covers a multitude of sins. If someone else was
doing that to you, you might just be like, that's it. I'm done with that
person. But it's someone you love. And so you bear it gladly. And you don't go telling everybody.
You just close the curtain on it. You just let grace cover
it. Let love cover it. Beloved, let
us love one another for God is love. Yes, that is very bold,
very bold, and it's with great confidence in our God that we
may be so bold as to love a sinner, a sinner that could hurt us,
a sinner that could harm us, a sinner that needs us and is
dependent on us in some manner. But the confidence isn't in the
sinner, it's in the God who loves us and commands us to love one
another. And it's his will, it's his revealed
will, which means he works it in his people. Listen to what
our Lord said here in Luke 6, verse 32. This is his counsel
in love. For if ye love them which love
you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that
love them. It's very easy to love someone
who's lovable. It is. It's very easy to love
someone that's lovable. It's not so easy when they're
not lovable. And there's times when all of us are not so lovable. And if ye do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even
the same. And if ye lend to them of whom
ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. And if you give, Just
know, I'll never see that again. And if you do, great. But otherwise,
if you can't part with it, don't part with it. Because you should
just give it and just let it go. But love ye your enemies,
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward
shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest.
For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be therefore
merciful as your father also is merciful. You know, how many
times has God answered a prayer, been gracious to you, been kind
to you, and it isn't for weeks, weeks go by before you remember,
oh yeah, I asked the Lord for that. And he was so kind and
he answered that prayer. And I just haven't even thought
of it. He's kind to us when we're unthankful and forgetful. And
so in like manner, be merciful to others, because you're just
seeing what your father does. And as a dear child, you just
want to emulate your father, just like you wanted to be like
your dad when you were younger. I want to be like him. Well,
he's our heavenly father. I want to be like him. Also in
verse 7, John tells us, everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God. Now, it's not our loving that
makes us born again. It's not if you love, then you'll
be born again. Rather, this love is a characteristic
of those who are born of God. Just like if your mommy and daddy
have blue eyes, you're going to have blue eyes. It's a characteristic. It's going to be. And so those
that are born of God have that characteristic of God
who is love. And so first we're born, and
then we're made to know God. We're born again by the work
of the Spirit and the hearing of faith. And we know God more
and more through that continued hearing of faith. which is what? The preaching of the gospel,
hearing the gospel preached, the truth of the gospel, the
confession of Christ preached, the hearing of faith. And it's
also we know God through the leading of the Holy Ghost, which
is given unto us, and we know God through the effectual experiences,
as he's proving that word. We hear it in the hearing of
faith, and then we go out, and that word is proved. proved in
us and to us. God revealing himself to us through
various trials and temptations that he allows us to go through
for our good and for our learning. That's where we learn that God
is love, that God is gracious, that God is forgiving, that God
is kind even to the unjust. We learn that through the experience
of those things. God teaching us by them. It's not just osmosisly, you
know, received by us. No, we go through those experiences
and see and know that God is love. And then John gives it
to us in another way, verse eight. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. He just boils it down to that
simple statement. He that loveth, or yeah, he that
loveth not knoweth not God. And it's like we see with righteousness. It's God's will. He's revealing
his will to us. And where God wills to do something,
he gives the power. And it may be a long time coming,
but the Lord teaches his children and chastens his children and
reveals these things to us. And it's a patient work. It is
a patient work. but the Lord gives it and he's
making known that it is his will. He always brings to pass his
will. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. He declares
it, he reveals it to us and we watch in prayer and he makes
it known more and more through the experience of his grace and
laying it to our hearts with understanding. And there's only
one conclusion when someone will not love his brethren. John says,
he knoweth not God for God is love. Now I will say, I noticed
that it does not say that he isn't born of God. It says that
he doesn't know God yet. He doesn't know these things.
If he is the Lord's child, he will be taught to know them.
Right? Sometimes we do struggle. Sometimes
we are in darkness. Sometimes we are cold and indifferent. You don't know God. You're forgetting. But if you're the Lord's, it
doesn't mean you're not born of God. It means that the Lord's
gonna teach you. He's gonna make you. If you're
his, you're gonna know these things. You're gonna know God.
And he's gonna soften us. whether it be by a gentle voice
leading us and we hear it or we wanna push it to the breaking
point and he'll break us. If we're his, he's gonna teach
us and reveal himself to us so that we know God is love and
we know him who is love. And that's how we learn to love
our brethren. And so if we are born of God,
then we will be made to know him again through the hearing
of faith, and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, and through
the various experiences that he proves and reveals and teaches
that word to us, strengthening us in Christ, and that's where
that love is taught and understood, and to know him more and more. I mean, it's just so we see it
in many things. That's how the Lord does it.
Now, This next verse is a reflection on verse 2. Verse 9 is a reflection
on verse 2 regarding what was said there in verse 2, that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh. Again, satisfying who Christ
is, why he came, and what he accomplished. All right, the
what. John says, 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. So, who is this Jesus Christ? He's the only begotten Son of
God, very God of very God. that he should accomplish an
eternally effective redemption for us. Why did he come? John
says, that we might live through him. That's why he came. There's
no other way of salvation. There's no other hope that is
given unto us, no other name. under heaven given unto men whereby
we must be saved. This is it. He is the way of
salvation that we should live through him. There's no law that
could be given that gives life and salvation only by Jesus Christ. Are we given this life? And then
we see what he accomplished. It says at the beginning of that
verse, in this was manifested the love of God toward us. And so we see God's love. This is the accomplished redemption
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us that true confession
to know him, to know him who saved us, and another manifestation
of his power and grace in us is this love. is this love for
our brethren, love for God and love for our brethren. His love triumphed over evil. He did not fail. He is the successful
Savior and therefore it is manifested, this life, this salvation is
manifested in you in love, in love for your brethren, in love
for your Savior, in love for others and just doing them good
and doing what's good for them because you care, you don't want
to be an enemy or see them as an enemy in that sense. And so
not only did Christ come as the Lamb of God for the salvation
of the world by him, both Jew and Gentile, but his salvation
is manifested in them for whom he shed his blood. And so his
power and grace is mighty and effectual, and it overcame that
which must be overcome in this world for His people, for our
salvation. John 16, 33, these things I have
spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. in the world,
you shall have tribulation, you shall have disappointments, you
shall have trials, you shall have afflictions, you shall suffer
and have sorrows and setbacks, but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. And so this isn't just some hippie
kind of love, it's, no, we know the true and living God. who
accomplished our redemption, who reveals and manifests His
love in us, who triumphed gloriously over sin and flesh and all our
enemies, and all which stood between us. From being reconciled
to God in perfect righteousness and being justified of Him, Christ
overcame all to establish the covenant of grace for us that
we might dwell in light and in life in him. Our Lord himself
testified saying, I am come that they might have life and that
they might have it more abundantly. So that not only is life reserved
for us in heaven, but the abundantly part is that we experience it
here and now by the giving of the Holy Ghost. And so that we
know him who did this for us, and he manifests his love in
us. Same way he manifests life in the confession of Christ,
the confession of faith, he manifests love in his people for one another. And so that brethren is the spirit
of all that is contained in that confession that Christ is come
in the flesh. It's all of that, brethren. And
the more we understand of that and what his life means for us
eternally hereafter and for us now, the more willing we are
to love one another, knowing that love is of God. He makes
us willing. He makes us willing in the day
of his power. It's because God is love. Now, one might argue, well, if
they don't love you, then your love is just falling on deaf
ears, on a hard heart. It's just going nowhere. You're
just throwing it out there, and it's not going to be of any benefit.
And John says in verse 10, well, herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that God loved us. And look what his love did for
us. Look what he accomplished for us. He sent his son to be
the propitiation for our sins while we were yet enemies. Paul
said, Christ died for us. Well, we didn't love him, but
he loved us. And he sent his son, and not
only sent his son, but to be the propitiation for our sins. I mean, think about the weight
of that while you're still an enemy. He sent Christ to turn
the wrath of God, which was justly against us for our sins, to be
justly poured out on Christ in our stead. That's the love. of our God while we yet were
hard and cold and indifferent and in our sins. And so he was made the propitiation
for our sins to turn the wrath of God away from us and to satisfy
God so that he is satisfied with us in Christ. and is kind and
gracious and merciful. Verse 11, beloved, if God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another. How we are toward
one another. You may not have the warm fuzzies
for everybody, but you'll be kind and helpful, thoughtful. You'll seek their good and their
welfare. You think of them, you pray for
them, you care for them, you're patient toward them. Ephesians
4.31 and 32, here's another thing where Paul says, well, here's
the works of the flesh, don't do that toward one another. You'll
recognize these things, you'll see them when I read it. And
then here's the manifestation of the spirit, do that, do that
toward one another. So verse 31, Ephesians 4.31,
let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil
speaking How we whisper and talk about one another, behind one
another's back, put that all away from you. With all malice,
all those things are very easy for us to do in the flesh. They're
natural. It's what we do. It's what we turn to when someone
offends us, when someone's hurt us, when someone's sinned against
us. It's what we turn to to deal with it. But here's the spirit
of truth now. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. That's the spirit. That's where
we're turned by the grace of God. Now John makes a simple
reason here for loving others, and it's the manifestation of
God witnessed in your love for them. Let's read verse 12. No
man hath seen God at any time. But now they're gonna see his
wisdom and his power manifest in you here. If we love one another,
God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. I think of what Christ said,
no man hath seen God at any time, but you that have seen me have
seen the Father. Because Christ said, I do those
things which please the Father. I say the words that the Father
spoke, that I heard him speak, and I do those things that the
Father sent me to do. And so in seeing Christ and beholding
Him, we see the Father. That is the will and the character
of God the Father on display in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
see it in all its fullness there. Therefore, when you love another,
whether they believe in God or not, they see something of God's
character. They see something of God in
your love for them, toward them, and how you treat them. and how
you don't treat them in the flesh, but treat them kindly, immersively,
and patiently. And that word, and so that love
is an outworking of God who dwells in you. Additionally, that word
perfected means that God's love is finished, it's work in you. God has put that there for that
very purpose. You know, you think of You know,
when one person sins, and they fill up the cup of wrath, right?
And that sin fills it up, and then wrath pours out. Well, when
your heart is full of the love of God, and it's full up of the
love of God, it spills over. It comes out. It pours out onto
others in that same manner. And then another thought is,
if you've ever wanted to ask God, I remember as a a young
person beginning at a time in religion, I would just ask God,
just would you answer my question? If I'm yours, just tell me. It'll
just make everything so much more bearable if I just know
that I am your child. Well, here's the answer. You
can have the answer to that. He that loveth others as God
loveth him has the witness in himself. Look back at 1 John
3. 1 John 3 and 24. At the end, there's not the first
sentence, but the second sentence, and hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he hath given us." What is your
spirit? Is it constantly looking to lash
out and just stay in that, and anger, and wrath, and malice,
and making people suffer? Or is your heart turned from
that to say, you know what? I don't want to do that. Let
me be kind. Let me show mercy. And that's
his manifestation of his spirit in you. That's the spirit he's
giving you. He manifests that confession, that true confession,
and he manifests love in his people. Thereby you know Look,
I am a child of God. He's given me that hope. He's
given me his spirit, and manifest these things in me. I mean, again,
I don't recommend looking at yourself, because we get in all
kinds of trouble looking at ourselves, because there's times where you
won't see that. And then you'll be shipwrecked, so to speak.
So keep looking to Christ, and trust him. Keep trusting him,
and leave it with him. So it can only mean one thing,
that we have the spirit dwelling in us. And he says, verse 13,
hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he
hath given us of his spirit. He's made us a partaker. of His
Spirit, giving us this confession in Christ and giving us a love
toward our brethren, a willingness. Again, sometimes we'll be corrected
because we're here and we are still in this body of death,
this flesh, as it were, this weak flesh, but we're delivered
from its dominion and it hath no more power over us. It has
no more power over our inheritance. Christ has all power, right? Our inheritance is fixed in Him,
not in what we do or don't do. That's what I mean by it has
no power over us and has given us a spirit to see Him, to desire
Him, to cry out to Him for mercy and grace. And so if we truly
love others, especially our brethren, with such confidence and hope
in God, so as to freely love others in the manner that God
loves us, then is the spirit testifying that he dwells in
you. Now, in closing, let me just take you over to 2 Peter,
2 Peter 1, and verse 4. Let me just kind of go through
these verses here, but you can follow along. But Peter says
there in verse 4 that we've been given great and exceeding precious
promises. We've been given these great
precious promises that by these we are made partakers of the
divine nature. We have his spirit. We're partakers
of the divine nature. And again, it's manifested in
that confession of truth It's manifested in the love that we
have for our brethren, and that desire for Christ. And we've escaped that corruption
that is in the world through lusts. All right, verse five.
Peter says, now beside this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith, virtue, goodness, and to virtue, knowledge. All
right, there's knowledge. And to knowledge, temperance.
That self-control, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness,
and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. Have brotherly love for your
brethren. Love them. Love them. Peter's
saying, let that build up in you. Let that keep going in that
direction, looking to Christ. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in what? in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You know him, right? He that
knoweth God loves his brethren, because God is love. He that
loveth not does not know God. And he's saying, if you have
that knowledge, you know, you're growing in these things, you
won't be unfruitful in that knowledge. You won't have that suffering
and and be in trouble by that, because you'll keep growing in
there. So there's that knowledge that John is speaking of. Verse
9, but he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see
afar off, and hath forgotten. He's forgotten that he was purged
of his sins, that God did this for him. He's forgotten. Wherefore,
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, ye shall never fall. And that
brings us to let's keep looking to Christ. Keep looking to him.
Don't look behind. There's no benefit there in looking
behind. Just keep looking forward. with
your eyes upon Christ, entrusting him to reveal and manifest these
things. Paul saying, wherefore, seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith." We say these things, we declare
these things, but it's God that works them in you. And we're
not looking to use that need of our God to do this in us as
an excuse or a cloak for unrighteousness. It's that we're trusting Him.
We believe Him. We trust Him. And though we don't
see things as we think we should see them, or we don't see them
perfectly, trust Him. Keep trusting Him. Keep believing
Him. And keep moving forward, looking to Christ. Because we're
not going to be perfect till we're in glory. But His love
is growing in us the more we know Him. And I believe that's
why Peter said at the end of 2 Peter 3, the last verse of
that book, 2 Peter 3, 18, he said, but grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be
glory both now and forever. Amen. Because as we grow in Him,
we see that God's work in us growing and revealing these things
more and more in us with understanding and purpose and hope in these
things. Amen.