Now, this morning, I want to
direct your attention to 1 John chapter 4. I'm going to begin with verse
12 of this chapter. The title of the message is,
God's Love Perfected in Us. God's love perfected in us. This verse 12, it says, No man
hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Now, the reason that I
had Brother Joe read the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians in
line with this message is my first point in this message this
morning is this, and that is the great responsibility of godly
love. great responsibility of godly
love. You know, Christ taught this
truth. He said, to whom much is given,
much is required. And we can certainly see that
in the physical realm with people who have the responsibility of
riches, the responsibility of authority, of a good job, or
where you have The responsibility of family, parents. You've been
given children. You have a great, great, great
responsibility, don't you? It's not easy, is it? But it
is a great responsibility. Well, nowhere does that hold
true more than with the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. People
to whom God's truth and God's love has been revealed in this
world. That is no light matter. And
it is nothing to take for granted. It is such a great responsibility. And this is why I had Brother
Joe read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I want you to go there just
for a second because I want to use this as my introduction.
Paul here mentions the last days. He mentions the second coming
of Christ. Now, we know generally in the
New Testament the last days refers to the time period of the New
Testament, the New Covenant, that time period or that segment
of time between Christ's death on the cross, his burial, his
resurrection, and his ascension into glory, and his second coming. We know that men have been speaking
of the second coming of Christ for thousands of years. That's
not just a modern-day thing. We know that today. You can't
hardly turn on the television without seeing something about
the second coming of Christ. People writing books. The fellow
that comes on before our TV program. That's all he ever talks about.
And he's got her down. He's got it nailed down, he says.
December, I think, 2011. And listen now, I mean, you know,
I hope so. Don't you? I mean, you think
about it. You know, I think probably there's
more in the Bible concerning the subject than sometimes we
want to give credit for, but we're not to occupy our time
with talking about the time we're to preach the gospel. That's
our mission in the world until He comes again. I hope when the
Lord comes back, if He comes back in my lifetime, He finds
me preaching, witnessing, living the gospel of Christ. Because
that's my hope. He's my hope. To be honest with
you, if you want my opinion, whatever that's worth, I believe
we're living in the last of the last days. I really do, for several
reasons. I'm not going into all that this
morning because I don't have time. But here's what I want
to get our attention on this morning is this, that during
this time, realizing that we're living in the last of the last
days, living in anticipation of the Lord's coming, whether
He comes back in my lifetime or not, that we have such a great
responsibility as a church, the pillar and ground of truth, of
godly love. Paul writes here, he says in
verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians 2, now he's spoken again of the
second coming, he's spoken of the spirit of antichrist. John
spoke a lot of that too in the first part of his letter. But
Paul says, but we're bound to give thanks always to God for
you brethren, beloved of the Lord. Now that's a responsibility. To give thanks for one another. Give thanks for our brethren
in Christ. That's no light matter. Sometimes
people just take that too lightly. Some people shirk it altogether.
We have such a responsibility to love one another. John has
been teaching us in the book of 1 John that we're to be committed
to loving one another. We ought to love one another.
There's no excuse for not loving one another. For Christ loved
us and gave himself for us. Somebody comes back and says,
but they don't deserve my love. Nobody does. And you don't deserve
their love. That's not the kind of love we're
talking about now. We're talking about divine love.
They call it agape love. That's the Greek word for it.
That's divine love. That's the love of God that he
has for his people in Christ. You think about this, if you
have any notion in your mind and heart that God loves you,
you must understand that you didn't deserve it and you did
not earn it. That's so, at any time. Not today,
not back then, and not in the future. It's the unconditional
love of God towards his people. So we have a responsibility to
love one another. Thank God for one another. Brethren,
beloved of the Lord. And he says in verse 13, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's God's
electing grace. That's electing love. And he
says, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Now, that's just another phrase that describes the new
birth. Being set apart by the Holy Spirit in the new birth,
he gives us life from Christ. And he brings us to faith in
Christ and brings us to repentance. And it's through the preaching
of the gospel. Look at verse 14, whereunto he called you by
our gospel. Now, as a church, as a gathering
of believers set here to worship God and to be a witness in our
community, in our perspective area that God has set us in,
We not only have to preach the gospel, we preach it because
it's by the foolishness of preaching that God saves his people. But
we have to live it. We have to exemplify the grace
of God. There ought to be something different
about the people of God. Let's just make it plain. That
doesn't mean that we're all a bunch of weirdos. Some of you are,
but not me. But it does mean there's something
different about the people of God. that separates us from the
world. And so when the children of God,
and we do sometimes, and we don't see examples, we see it in Scripture,
when the children of God act like the world, even false religion,
and I think about this thing constantly, you know, one of
the things that leads me to believe that we're living in the last
of the last days is there's so much division among brethren. And it's sickening. It's awful. There's no excuse for it. And
I and others, we all, we need to be admonished for it because
that's what God's Word does. But we're given a great responsibility
in the truth now, not in a lie, not in a false gospel, but in
the truth. to love one another and to be a witness in our community.
And he says, he called you by our gospel, verse 14, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
verse 15, therefore now, brethren, stand fast, stand firm. Don't
be moved away from the gospel and don't be moved away from
the fellowship of brethren. That's right, don't be moved
into the world. And he says, hold the traditions
which you've been taught, whether by word or our epistle, what
they're talking about is the truth of the gospel and its implications. And he says in verse 16, now
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our Father, which
hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation, that's
comfort and a good hope through grace, our hope is the hope of
grace, not In other words, it's the hope of what Christ has accomplished
for us according to the grace of God. And he says in verse
17, comfort your hearts and establish you. That means you're established,
firmly fixed and immovable in every good word and work. Now,
with that in mind, go to 1 John 4. There's a great responsibility
of godly love. And that's what John is teaching
here. It's the greatest responsibility
that can be put on human beings in this world. It has to do with
the love of God, God who dwells in us, and God whose love has
been perfected in us. And it goes back to where he
said in verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love
is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth
God. In other words, this love is
of God, it's given of God, it's born in us by the Holy Spirit.
And he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. Verse 11, Beloved, if God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another. We ought to be dedicated
to it, committed to it, firmly established in it. So this is
the great responsibility. Now, why is it such a great responsibility? Well, look at verse 12. First
of all, because no man hath seen God at any time. What does that
have to do with this? Well, think about it. There are
no visible manifestations of God Himself. Now, I'm not talking
about visible manifestations in His creation. There are visible
manifestations of the power of God, the wisdom of God, the work
of God in creation. I mean, it's so obvious that
the most intelligent, unbelieving scientist cannot see it. It's
so simple that God created this world. So there is a manifestation
of God in this creation. But nobody has seen a visible
manifestation of the person of God. You go back in the Old Testament,
people will argue with you about certain passages. For example,
Moses standing before the burning bush. Moses saw Christ. Christ is God now. But what he's
talking about, that's the manifestation of God to us through the Savior.
He's not talking about the essence of God here, in that. Here he's
talking about the essence of God. No visible manifestation. So that if someone were to say
to you, I've had a vision of God, you can tell him. 1 John
4, 12. No man has seen God at any time. John the Baptist said
this in John chapter 1 and verse 18. Look, let me just read it
to you. In John 1, 18, in his ministry, as he was going through,
he says in verse 18, he says, No man has seen God at any time. And then he says, The only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
him. What John's point is there is this, the only way God can
be seen and known and the way He reveals Himself to us is in
Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, the God-Man. That's the only
way. Christ Himself said that. Look
at this with me, Matthew chapter 11. That's what John's talking about
there. Now, John in 1 John 4 is talking about something else,
but let me show you this. Matthew chapter 11, verse 25, he's speaking in the
context of people who heard the gospel and saw the miracles and
they rejected the testimony, they rejected the gospel, rejected
Christ. He says in verse 25, at that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. He
goes on, "...even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight." Now listen to verse 27. He says, "...all things are delivered
unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father
save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him." What
he's saying here is there's no way you're going to know God,
no way you're going to see God except through the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Savior. He's the Redeemer.
He's the Revealer of God. 2 Corinthians 4, 6 says it this
way, calls it the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9 says this, for in Him, in Christ,
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That is,
in the God-man. In the Savior, you'll see the
fullness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all in one,
all revealed in him. But now, what John is saying
over here in 1 John 4, he has another point in mind. He's saying
that there are no visible manifestations of the essence of deity here.
That's what he's saying. And then he says this, he says,
now if we love one another, now listen to this very carefully,
here's the responsibility. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us and his love is perfected in us. What he's saying is this,
is that our love to one another as brethren in Christ, and we've
spoken so much about that, haven't we? We should understand something
of it if the Spirit teaches it. And he goes all the way back
to Cain and Abel again. Cain is not our brother, but
Abel is. Abel came pleading the blood
and righteousness of Christ. Cain came pleading his work.
So if we love one another in Christ, by the grace of God,
by the power of God, our love one to another in Christ is the
visible manifestation of God to men. Now, what a responsibility. Now, that brings forth a lot
of People sometimes who take it too far, they go into a lot
of areas that this doesn't apply to. For example, you know, you'll
hear people say, let others see Jesus in you. There's a song
that says that. Let others see Jesus in you.
Well, that's fine. But you've got to understand
is that man by nature hates Jesus. You understand what I'm saying?
And our Lord taught the disciples this. He said, marvel not, John
15, verse 18, marvel not if the world hate you, it hated me before
it hated you. The servant is not greater than
his master. So if they hate Jesus and they
see Jesus in you, how are they going to react towards you? That's
natural man now. Now, in order for a person to
love Christ, He has to be born again by the Spirit of God. Isn't
that right? Has to be born again. If any man loved Christ, he's
born of God. So the only ones, if they see
Jesus in you, you know, whatever that means now, and I'm going
to show you what it means. But if they see Jesus in you, if
they love Christ, they'll love you. Now that doesn't mean they're
going to love necessarily everything about your personality. or your
mannerism, or your ways, or what you like and what you dislike.
That has nothing to do with it, in fact. In fact, if you're a
mature believer, you're unable to put all that stuff out of
your mind. That's what maturity and growth is all about. But
they'll love Christ in you. That's right. And they'll love
you because you're an object of His love, and they'll take
sides with you in worship, and in witness, and in persecution. That's what it's about. We're
going to side with Abel against Cain. Go all the way back there.
Now, some say this. They say, well, men will not
listen to your doctrine until they see your love for them.
Well, turn over to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. The problem
is, the problem with that statement, and listen, now we ought to love
everybody. I mean, that's not the argument
here. And I'm not offering anybody
an excuse to hate anyone. But now listen to me. Man by
nature, and I know this from personal experience, I can tell
you all about it now on this issue. Man by nature does not
love Christ or His Word. Now that's us by nature. So that,
and here's the point, we have a responsibility to tell men
and women the truth. And it's a truth they don't love.
It's a, men by nature love darkness, Christ said in John 3 in verse
19. This is the condemnation, that
light has come into the world and men love darkness, hate the
light, because their deeds are evil. You see, our truth, our
gospel truth, exposes the self-righteousness, the false refuges, the false
professions of religious men and women, and we by nature,
we don't like that, we hate that. So, the greatest, what I'm saying
is this, here's the dilemma that we have. The greatest act of
love that we can offer to an unbeliever, an unbeliever will
see as hatred and meanness. That's right. I'm sure Cain,
when he got angry at Abel, it wasn't because he thought Abel
loved him. Do you suppose he did? He got angry at Abel because
he thought Abel was against him. Abel was just telling Cain the
truth that God had already told Cain and that Adam, his daddy,
had already told him. Abel just said, I agree with
the Lord. You come before God seeking salvation
and acceptance based on anything but the blood of the Lamb, the
blood of the Messiah, the righteousness of Christ, you shall be damned. Cain said, well, I worked hard.
That doesn't matter. That's just self-righteousness,
Cain. You say, but I've been going
to church all my life and I'm sincere and I'm dedicated. It
doesn't matter. If the church you've been going
to all your life, that you've been raised in all your life,
did not preach Christ and Him crucified as that which alone
saves us and entitles us to the whole glory, all of grace and
all of glory, then it's nothing. It's less than nothing. Paul
called it dung. You've been worshiping on dung
heap drive. And what God does in salvation, as Hannah prayed,
He lifts the beggar off the dung heap. And that's what we need. But you see, that's the issue.
Men by nature are not going to see that as love. Now look at
John chapter 13, look at verse 35, or verse 34 rather. He says,
A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another,
as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And then
he says, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples
if you have love one to another. Do you hear that verse? By this shall all know that you
are my disciples if you have love one to who? To another. You love one another. You stick
together. You are loyal to one another. You support one another
in this message of grace. It's kind of like when Peter
and James and John were going through Jerusalem preaching the
gospel, and the Pharisees got mad at them, drug them up before
the Sanhedrin, and the first thing one of them said was, well,
we perceive that you've been with that fellow Jesus. You followers
of him. Now, we hate him, so we hate
you. But you fellows are sticking together with him. That's what
it's saying. Now, in this issue of godly love,
we've got to understand that the world We'll not recognize
it. Now go back to 1 John. Look over
at chapter 3. The world doesn't recognize it.
Verse 1 of chapter 3, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. We're in the same family, have the same father, the same
elder brother, firstborn brother. That's Christ. That speaks of
his resurrection from the dead for our justification. He redeemed
us from our sins. We're washed in His blood, clothed
in His righteousness. We have no other hope but Him.
He is our King. He is our Redeemer. And so we're
called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew Him not. So that's one thing about this
responsibility that we have. We who are saved by God's grace,
who know Christ, We have a great responsibility to love, but men
by nature will not recognize it as love. Now they won't. But we have a greater responsibility
to be committed to loving one another, because by this shall
all know that you follow Christ, you're his disciples, when you
have love one to another. And he says here back in 1 John
4 in verse 12, he says, God dwelleth in us. In other words, this is
one of the greatest evidences that God dwells in us. God has taken up His abode within
our hearts by His Spirit and by His Word. In other words,
it's hypocritical to talk about how much God dwells in us or
how much the Holy Spirit dwells in us or how much we love God
or how much God is within us if we don't love our brethren.
That's hypocritical if we don't love our brethren. Well, what
about this love? Here's point number two, the
perfection of God's love in us. Now, that's a thought, isn't
it? God's love. perfected in us. This is what
he says. Now read the whole thing again,
verse 12. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another,
God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Now we come
back to the vital issues of faith in Christ and love to the brethren.
Look over at 1 John 2 one more time. Remember this back in verse
4. It says here, He that saith,
I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. Now, what is it to keep his commandments?
It's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, rest in him, in his finished
work. It's to follow him. That's right. By the grace of God. It's not
working your way into God's favor. That's not his commandment. God
never, in any verse of scripture, commands any sinner to seek to
work his way into God's favor by keeping the Ten Commandments.
He never has said that. That is not in the Bible. The
Ten Commandments were given to expose our sinfulness and our
need of Christ, our need of righteousness by Him, not to inspire us to
establish a righteousness of our own. So he says in verse
5, but whoso keepeth his word in him barely is the love of
God perfected, and hereby know we that we are in him. So John
had already raised this point. The language here in these verses
does not intend to describe something that's done progressively, but
he's talking about something that's already accomplished.
Go back to verse 12 now, 1 John 4. He says, and his love is perfected
in us. That's an accomplished fact.
That's what he's talking about. This is something that's done.
It's done. It's not something that's done
progressively and getting better and better. We may see it progressively
better. We may understand it and we may
rejoice in it more and more progressively. But what he's talking about is
a done deal. This is a fact accomplished. And we don't perfect the love
of God in ourselves by keeping God's word. That's not what he's
saying. We can't perfect the love of
God in ourselves. First of all, we cannot perfect
anything. Only God can do that. But we
keep God's word because the love of God has been perfected in
us. Well, what is the love of God?
Look back at verse 10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. but that he hath loved us, and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Remember what
that propitiation is? That's the sin-bearing sacrifice,
the sin-bearing offering. Shed blood and died to satisfy
God's justice. That's what that means. In other
words, God's love is in Christ. Now, what does John mean when
he says love is perfected? Some say this means that when
we're born again, we have a new nature that loves perfectly now,
but we don't. We have the Spirit of Christ.
We have new life. We have new knowledge. We have
things within our hearts that we didn't have before. We believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't do that before. We've
repented of dead works. We didn't do that before. We
relished in them. We do love God. That's the fruit of the
Spirit. We have the Spirit of Christ,
the life of Christ, the knowledge of Christ, all the fruit of the
Spirit, but none in perfection. For we're yet sinners, and everything
we think, say, and do is still contaminated by remaining sin. The Apostle Paul said it in Romans
chapter 7 better than any of us could. He said, I know what
it is to do good, but how to do it, I don't know. He concluded
it this way, he said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? And he said, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And then he went on to say, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Only
two types of people in this world. How many times have you heard
that from me? And how many times have you heard over the 52 years
Brother Mahan was here? There are only two types of people
in this world. What did he say? Sinners lost in their sins and
sinners saved by the grace of God. That's right. If you want to find perfection,
do not look within yourself. First of all, if you do find
it, you're deceived and self-righteous. Do you want to find perfection?
The perfection of anything. The perfection of wisdom, the
perfection of holiness, the perfection of righteousness, and even the
perfection of love. Here it is, verse 10. Not that
we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sin. You want to find the perfection
of love? Look to Christ. There's perfection. You want
to find righteousness? Look to Christ. There's righteousness. Don't look anywhere else. So,
what does John mean here? Well, this word, perfected, in the original language, does
not mean sinless, holiness, or moral perfection. What it means
is complete. It means whole. It means fulfilled. That's what it's talking about.
It's the same word that Christ used on the cross in John 19.
In verse 30, when he said, it is what? Finished. A completed
work. It's the same word that he used
back here in John chapter 13. Remember we read about love there. Well, in verse 1 of John chapter
13, it says this. It says, in verse 1, he says,
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end. Same word, end. Unto the finishing
of the work. What that's saying is this. Christ
loved his people so much that he finished the work. He completed
it. He made it whole. He did everything
that was required. In other words, for my salvation,
you talk about a responsibility, you want to talk about love?
For my salvation, an enemy of God by nature, a hater of God
by nature, an idolater, for my salvation, Christ fulfilled every
condition and requirement and stipulation. Everything that
God required for me to be saved was put upon His shoulders, and
He loved me enough to do it all. Justice had to be satisfied,
and He did. He went to the cross and shed
His blood. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, even such a hard death, even such
a suffering that we can't even imagine what He went through
in His very soul. For my sins. And I didn't deserve
that, and I didn't earn it, you see. That's the kind of love.
He loved His own until the end. He didn't stop short. He didn't
come so far and say, well, I can't make it any further. Now, I do,
and you do too. We do that a lot, don't we? I just can't go any further with
that. Somebody might exhaust you. I just can't put up any
longer with that person. Well, Christ didn't do that.
He loved us to the end. I say, I can't put up with you
any longer. You can't put up with me?" Well,
Christ didn't do that. That's not the kind of love that
he had. He had love in perfection, you see. God requires righteousness
of me to be safe. I can't bring it. Christ said,
I'll do it. It was put upon his shoulders.
You have a beautiful picture of that in the Old Testament
in the high priest garments, where it says that he has these
amulets on his shoulders. And there's six stones on this
one, and six stones on this one, and the names of the twelve tribes
of Israel, which is a picture of God's church, His elect spiritual
Israel out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And what
that is is that we're on His shoulders. He's bearing us on
His shoulders. The government shall be upon His shoulders,
Isaiah 9.6. In other words, all the responsibility
of my whole salvation was placed upon Him, and He fulfilled it
all. And then you see the priest's breastplate. And he had the 12
stones on the breastplate, same names, the names of the 12 tribes
of Israel, and that's us upon his heart. He loved us enough
to fulfill all the requirements that was placed upon his shoulder.
He loved us to the end. So that's the issue. See, if
you want to see love in perfection, and that's what this is talking
about. Now go back to 1 John 4.12, God dwelleth in us and
his love is perfected in us. His love is completed. His love
is accomplished. His love is established. His
love is finished. Well, what does that mean? Well,
it denotes the completeness of love in the life of an individual. There is available a love that
is whole and complete and finished and perfect. It's a love that
is the best it can possibly be in the human realm. And it's
the love of God himself shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit. It's God's purpose and goal to
save all the objects of his love. That's what the scripture teaches.
God's love, now listen to me, God's love has done its complete
work in us when we're brought to faith in Christ and to love
our brethren. That's what he's talking about.
So perfected does not mean sinless perfection here within us. It
means the completion, the reaching of a goal, the fulfillment, the
establishment of God's love for us within us as we look to Christ
and as we love one another. That's what it's talking about.
Certainly, God's love for us is sinlessly perfect. Our love
for Him is not yet sinlessly perfect because we are still
plagued with dwelling sin and self-love. But this does not
mean that as we keep the commandments, our love is getting more and
more perfect. Our love should grow. Our love does grow. But it will never be perfect
in this life. It will never be uncontaminated. But here, this
is something that is being completed. And you know what he's essentially
talking about? Go back here. Now look at verse 13. Now he
goes to the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of love. What he's showing us is this.
God's love has been established in each and every child of God. It's reached its goal in the
work of the Holy Spirit within us. It's done its complete work.
What has it done? It's brought a sinner to know
his sin and to find relief and salvation in Christ. That's what
it's done. That's the completion of the
work. Huh? God has chosen you from the beginning
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth
whereunto he called you by our gospel. God's love chose me before
the foundation of the world. God's love sent Christ to redeem
me at Calvary, wash me in His blood. I'm justified before God
based on the righteousness of Christ. And now God's love finds
its fulfillment in the work of the Holy Spirit when He convicts
me of my sin and brings me to see the glory of my Savior. And
then I love the brethren. That's what he's talking about.
Christ in his Word. Look at it, verse 13. He says,
Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he is in us, because
he hath given us of his Spirit. The new birth is the work of
God the Holy Spirit to bring a convicted sinner to Christ
and shed the love of God in Christ abroad in that sinner's heart.
It is established in the new birth. This is the main evidence
of our union with God in Christ. He has given us of His Spirit. How do you know you have the
Spirit of God? Well, look at verse 14. He says, And we have
seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son, the Savior
of the world. Now, John and the other apostles
were eyewitnesses to the greatest act of perfect love that's ever
been known on earth. That's the crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He loved us to the end. And when
it says he's the Savior of the world, what he means is not just
the Jews alone, but of Gentiles as well. Whenever you see Savior
of the world or anything in connection with the world, it doesn't mean
every individual in the world. Because if that were the case,
this love would be an incomplete love. If that were the case,
that would mean what God tried to, but he couldn't or you wouldn't,
one of the two. You see, God's love ensures the
salvation of the objects of that love. That's the nature of his
love. It's kind of like you think about
us, you know. Now, if you have children, you
love those children, don't you? I hope you do. That means you
do anything that you can possibly in your knowledge and wisdom
and physical power do to ensure their well-being. Is that right?
If there's anything you know that you could do for that child
or those children, that would ensure their well-being, you'd
do it. And if you wouldn't do it, what's
the problem? You don't love them. You would provide every means
to ensure their well-being. You would remove every obstacle
to ensure their well-being because you love them. Well, my friend,
God's love is higher than our love, greater than our love. And I hear these people talking,
well, God loves them, but He can't save them because He doesn't
want to step on their free will. You don't even feel that way
towards your children. You want proof of that? Well,
let them go on their free will sometime. And you just sit back
and say, well, I don't want to offend them. As long as they're under your
care and under your authority, you're going to guide, you're
going to provide, and you're going to remove as you see fit,
because you love them. My friend, God's love. is perfected
in us when he brings us to see Christ and establishes his grace
within our hearts and his love within our hearts. To love him
and to love one another. And that's what he's talking
about. We've seen and do testify that the Father sent Christ to
be the Savior of the world. Look at verse 15. He says, Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him,
and he in God. This is the evidence of the Holy
Spirit's work within, our dwelling in God and He in us. What is
it? Faith in Christ and love of the brethren. There you go.
That's our responsibility. It's our great responsibility
to show our love for Christ in preaching the truth, seeking
the salvation of sinners by telling them the truth, whether they
love us or not, whether they see it as love or not. Many times
when you deal with your children, you have to do things that they
just don't exactly see as love, do they? They may have to take
a bitter, bitter spoonful of medicine. And usually when kids,
at certain ages anyway, they don't turn away and say, boy,
that was lovely. Do they? Boy, give me more. No. Sometimes they need a whipping. They need some correction, some
discipline. And especially as they grow older,
And they get to that stage of teenage life where they know
everything. And you don't know anything.
Am I right? That's the way it is. And they're
amazed when they get to in their 20s and 30s to find out how much
you've learned. But you see, that's the way, and they just
don't, you're just, you know, what's the harm, mom? What's
the harm, dad? Everybody's doing it. And you
say, no, no, no. And they may even say, I hate
you. in their hearts and their minds, the way it is with man
by nature, isn't it? But you see, God's love brings
us at the same point and ensures our well-being. And we have a
great responsibility to tell sinners the truth and to love
one another in Christ. Let's sing, My Jesus, I Love
Thee. Hymn number 332 is our closing
hymn.