Well, it is my delight to be
with you. So good to see your faces again. And I pray God will
be pleased to speak by His Word to your hearts. 1 John 4, verse
17. 1 John 4, verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. As He is, so are we in this world. Now that's just about as amazing
as anything I ever read in my life. As He is, so are we in
this world. If I did not read that statement
right here in the book of God, written by divine inspiration,
if I read it anywhere else and did not see it here, I would
respond, that's blasphemy. That can't be. But there it stands,
right here in the book of God. God Almighty by His Spirit declares,
as He is, so are we in this world. Romans 8, 29 tells us that the
purpose of God, His object in election and predestination,
and the object of all His providence, is that we might be conformed
to the image of His Son. But here, John tells us by divine
inspiration that God's purpose and everlasting predestination
is already at least in some way, in some measure accomplished.
Because as he is, so are we in this world. Our hearts desire,
if I'm not deceived, my heart's desire and I hope yours. Our soul's great ambition is
that we may be made conformable to our blessed Savior in His
death. I want to be like Christ, don't
you? And here, John declares, some
way, in some measure, in some sense, my heart's desire is fully
satisfied. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. And let me show you three things
here, and I'll get to my text. The last line of 1 John 4, 17. First, he tells us here about
love being made perfect. Now, I don't know about you,
but sometimes I read things in scripture, and first time I read
them in the second and the twentieth, I think, I don't know anything
about that. I just don't understand that. Herein is our love made
perfect. John had been telling us about
the love of God, His marvelous, infinite love for us in Christ.
God's love for us is revealed in the sin-atoning sacrifice
of His darling Son. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because He laid down His life for us. God commendeth His
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou by God shouldst die for me? This is where we see his
love look at verse 9 1st John 4 and this was manifested in
this God opened up and revealed his love 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 and Herein is
love, not that we loved God. We didn't, we couldn't, we wouldn't,
but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. The apostle tells us in verses
seven through 16, that if we are born of God, if truly you
and I know God who is love, we love one another. That's the
indisputable fact plainly revealed in the scriptures. It is revealed
here and throughout the Word of God. God's people really do
love each other. They love each other. I'll tell
you the best The way I know to speak about love, we're so prone
to think about things in emotional terms or sentimental terms, and
that's all right. Emotion's all right, sentiment's
all right. But I'll tell you what love boils down to. It's
called commitment. It's commitment. I've got that
dear blonde-headed lady at home all you folks been asking about.
She's just as pretty as ever, just as sweet as ever, and she's
still with me because she's committed to me in spite of what I am. And I'm committed to her. come
what may, committed to her. God's people, as God is committed
to us, are committed to one another. They love one another. That's
not what ought to be, that's what is. Believers love each
other. Your pastor told me, preached
to me this morning out of Philippians chapter 2, this is the mind of
Christ. We love one another. If we love
one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected
in us. That is to say, our love to one
another is the reflection and the fruit of God's love to us.
Our love to one another demonstrates the truthfulness, the honesty,
the sincerity of our professed love for God. God's love, we're
told in verse 12, was made perfect in us. That is, it's made known
in us when we love one another. When the love of God is known
and experienced in the heart, love flows from the heart. But then in verse 17, John shifts
gears. He says, herein is our love made
perfect. Now, if you have a marginal translation
in the margin of your Bible, look at it. An alternative translation
given by our translators is, herein is love with us made perfect. That's better. John is telling
us what he meant in verse 12. His love perfected in us is that
which he's talking about. John Gill tells me that the Syriac
translation translates the words like this, herein is his love
with us made perfect. Or herein is God's love with
us made perfect. He's not talking about us loving
God perfectly or loving one another perfectly. You don't and I don't. That's not possible while we
live here. Love God sincerely, yes. Love one another sincerely,
yes. But perfectly, no. John's talking
to us about the knowledge, the saving experimental knowledge,
the revelation of God's perfect love for us in Christ Jesus the
Lord. This is what we experience in
his saving grace. Turn back to Romans 5, let me
show you. Romans chapter 5. John's describing when he speaks
about God's love being made perfect or being perfected in us. He's
describing the grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. Romans 5. The Apostle has just
told us that Christ was delivered for our offenses. He was delivered
to the law and justice of God, delivered to death as our substitute
because of our offenses made his when he died in our stead
at Calvary. And raised again for our justification. Raised again because he had accomplished
our justification when he shed his blood and gave his life upon
the cursed tree. Therefore being justified, By
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience and experience hope,
and hope maketh not ashamed. This hope that we have, this
hope of everlasting salvation, this hope of standing before
God Almighty forever in the perfection of holiness. A hope that makes
not ashamed. It makes not... I would be ashamed
to profess such a hope if there were anything I hope for in myself. And I would soon be put to shame.
But this hope makes not ashamed because, watch it, The love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us. God's love toward us shed abroad
in our hearts in the saving knowledge of Christ is made perfect in
us when we're made to see the fullness, completion, and perfection
of that salvation that is ours in and by Jesus Christ the Lord. Now look at the next thing. This
is the second thing John mentions, the Day of Judgment. But he says
something that appears at first glance to be very strange. Herein is God's love made perfect
in us, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment. Boldness? Before the great white
throne bar of God Almighty? boldness when we stand before
him before whom all things are naked, boldness in the day of
judgment. That's so contrary to the religious
opinions of our day that it's hard for us to even think about
having boldness in the day of judgment. There is a day appointed
when God Almighty will judge the world in righteousness and
in strict justice. And in that day, though the wicked
and unbelieving tremble in fear, the saints of God have confidence,
joy, and boldness. Boldness. I'll give you a homework
assignment. You'll start reading your Bible
through again just a week or two. Most of us start some kind
of a calendar first of the year. Take your pencil and a piece
of paper It won't have to be a very big one. Write down, write
down every reference you run across from Genesis 1 to Revelation
22 where there is any believer in all this book who ever spoke
of the day of judgment with dread and fear. And be sure you send
it to me. And next time I come down here
I'll preach on that text. You won't find it. you won't
find it. Well, why are we taught to fear
and tremble and have apprehension in the Day of Judgment? Because
we're taught throughout the religious world to look for something in
ourselves to give us confidence in the Day of Judgment. And that's
wrong. That's dead wrong. The hymn writer
said, bold shall I stand in that great day, for who ought to my
charge shall lay, while through Christ's blood absolved I am
from sin's tremendous guilt and blame. The wicked and unbelieving
will cry for the mountains and the hills and the rocks to fall
on them and hide them from the face of God and of the Lamb. The children of God will have
boldness. The word doesn't mean cockiness,
it means confidence. Boldness. Boldness to speak to
God. And boldness to hear God speak
to us. Boldness to extol and praise
Him ascribing all honor and glory to the triune God. Boldness to
express our adoration and love for our God forever. Boldness
to stand before Him before wandering worlds as the books are opened. Boldness. Would you have such
boldness? What's the basis of it? Read
the next line. Herein is God's love with us
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because. Now here's the because. Here's
the because. God help you to get it. As he
is, so are we in this world. Oh, if that don't sail your boat,
I don't know what will. As he is, so are we in this world. Now here's the third thing, and
let's look at this for just a little while. As he is, so are we. Are you a believer? Do you trust
Jesus Christ the Lord? Do you rest your soul on Him? Do you believe on the Son of
God? If so, as He is, so are you right
now and forever. Right now. If right now, as your
pastor prayed just a little bit ago, God Almighty has reached
down from His lofty throne in heaven and opened your poor,
wretched, dead heart and poured in the sweet wine of His grace
and the life of His Spirit, and right where you sit, you right
now believe on the Son of God. If right now you believe Him,
If right now God gives you faith in Him so that for the first
time in your life you find yourself trusting the Son as He is, so
are you in this world. What can that mean? It means
just this. Everything that the Lord Jesus
Christ is in all his office capacity as our mediator, representative,
substitute, and redeemer before God. Everything the God-man is. in all his office capacity as
our mediator, our substitute, our surety, and our redeemer,
all that he is before God, we are in him. And that gives us
boldness in the day of judgment. The Holy Spirit does not say,
as he was, so are we. That would carry us back to our
Savior's life on the earth. and would make us think that
if there is a moral likeness between him and us, then we may
have boldness before God. And such is the boldness that
many try to muster. They try to look at their character
and conduct and measure it with Christ's character and conduct.
And as they begin to think that they are measuring up, then they
begin to have confidence and assurance and boldness. But such
boldness is nothing but the presumption of self-righteousness. You don't
measure up to his character or his conduct. You seek to do so,
but you don't. And you don't even start to grow
up toward his character and his conduct. For if you know him,
the longer and the better and the more you know him, the more
you understand something of yourself and you're made to cry, I repent
in sackcloth and ashes. I've seen you, and now I'll keep
my mouth shut." This picture here does not say, as he is,
so we shall be in the world to come. That would be wonderful,
but that's not what it says. Truly we shall be as he is, but
that's not what it says here. It says as he is, So are we right
now. It doesn't matter how you were
when you walked in the doors tonight. It doesn't matter what
you've done in the last hour or the last 24, be it good or
bad. It doesn't matter whether your
heart is burning with passionate love for the Savior or your heart's
frozen over coldness and indifference is
hard as steel. If you trust the Son of God as
He is, so are you in this world right now. If I really believe and am sure
that God has made me what Christ is, How can I fear meeting God
in judgment? The day of judgment will only
display the completeness and perfection, not only of what
Christ has done for me, but what I am by the grace of God in Him. Now the whole purpose of God
toward us is that we should stand before Him conformed to the image
of His dear Son. To that end He chose us, to that
end He redeemed us, to that end He's called us and given us life
by His Spirit. We know that God will accomplish
this purpose ultimately. But John here tells us that it
is already accomplished. So that right now, living in
this world as he is, so are we. I like to tackle things a whole
lot bigger than I am so that you have no hope of me explaining
it. Now all I can do is just kind of draw the outline and
you can go home and mull it over. I'm going to give you five or
six statements. And you go home and mull them
over, and oh, how sweetly they will mull. Number one, as the
Lord Jesus Christ is the begotten Son of God, so are we, begotten
children of God in this world. He is the Son of God by virtue
of His eternal being. He is the eternal Son of the
eternal Father, one with the Father. But He is also the Son
of God as a man begotten from the earth. The Lord God said
when He raised Him from the dead, this day have I begotten thee. And so we were begotten together
with Him, quickened together with Him, made to be the sons
of God with Him. God loved us as his sons. We're told in 1 John 3, what?
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that
we should be called, that we should be named the sons of God. And beloved, now are we the sons
of God. God chose us to be his sons in
eternal election, adopting us as his own. And in the new birth,
He has given us the very nature of His Son. Turn to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. Christ is the firstborn among
many brethren, and we're His brethren. Really and truly His
brethren. 2 Peter 1 verse 3. According
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness Through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises now watch this that by these These
promises God who cannot lie made with his son before the world
was as our covenant surety that by these Ye might be partakers
of the divine nature. Partakers of the divine nature. Made gods? No. No. But made to possess the nature
of that man who is God our Savior? Absolutely. That holy thing that's
born in us is the nature of God's own Son. We're made partakers
of the divine nature. The Son of God comes into the
hearts of chosen redeemed sinners and takes up permanent residence
there. Not only does He take up residence there, He is formed
in us A new man created in righteousness and true holiness. When a person
is born again, his old nature doesn't change. You who know
God don't have to have me convince you of that. Your old nature
is exactly what it's always been and it never gets any better.
But God does something supernaturally wonderful by his almighty grace. God Almighty comes in to live
in His people. The Son of God comes in to live. This is called the hope of glory.
Christ in you. Christ in you. You don't have
any hope of glory until Christ is formed in you. You have no
reason to have hope before God until Christ comes in you. And
Christ comes in you long before you think about Him coming in
you. We tend to think that he comes in when we ask him in.
We tend to think he comes in when we invite him in. The first
time you have a notion of thinking about asking him in, he's already
there. Christ comes in and brings his welcome with him. We are
made then to be begotten sons of God by the almighty grace
of our God. Here's the second thing. Turn
to John 17. John 17. As Christ is loved of God. As Christ is loved of God. Let me repeat it one more time.
I want you to get it. Exactly as Christ is loved of God, so
are we. Let's see. John 17, 23. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me, hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will, that they
also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Is he everlastingly loved
of God? So are we, even now in this world. Try to grasp the meaning of this.
I don't suggest try to understand it. Oh, but try to grasp the
meaning of it. As Christ is loved of God from
eternity, loved of God with an immutable love of complacency,
delight, and complete satisfaction, because of his pledged obedience
to the Father as our surety, so we are loved of God from eternity. loved of God with a love of complacency,
delight, and complete satisfaction, because of Christ the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world with whom we are one. Look at
John chapter 10. John chapter 10, verse 16. Our Savior says, Other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, Them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Now watch this. Therefore doth my Father love
me. Therefore doth my Father love
me. Well, surely the father loved the son before he did this. He
did indeed. But he's speaking now about himself
as our covenant surety and our mediator. He's speaking about
himself as the good shepherd, as the obedient servant of Jehovah.
And he says, therefore, doth my father love me because I laid
down my life for the sheep. I laid down my life that I might
take it again. He said, I have power to lay
it down and power to take it again. This commandment have
I received of my Father. The Lord God loves us as He sees
us in Christ. Now, we often say, and hear others
say, well, God sees us as He sees His Son. God sees us as
one with His Son. God sees us in the righteousness
of His Son. God sees us without seeing in
His Son. Let me tell you something. This kind of sails over top of
head, so listen carefully. However God sees us, that's how
we really are. I don't see it that way. That
doesn't matter. However God sees me, that's how I really am. I
don't see myself that way. Good. However God sees me, that's
the way it really is. God sees us in his son because
he put us in his son and made us one with his son and we're
in his son. The Lord God loves us for Christ's
sake for we're one with his son. As he loves the Lord Jesus Christ
to the same degree, for the same reason, so he loves us with an
eternal, immutable, everlasting, perfect love. Do you reckon it
might be possible for the triune God to frown upon
him who's seated in glory? Then he can't fret on you. Do
you reckon it might be possible for the triune God to be angry
with him who has fulfilled all righteousness and put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself, satisfying divine justice? Oh,
no, Master. He can't be angry with you. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. Oh, but it often appears that
God frowns. That's good for you. It often
appears that He's angry. That's good for you. He often
chastens His own. That's good for you. That's not
because He's angry. And that's not because He's frowning.
That's because He loves you as His son. and a father who loves
his son takes care of him, and sometimes appears angry, and
sometimes appears to frown, all the while embracing with all
his heart. We are loved of God as Christ
is loved of God. Here's the third thing. As He is, so are we in this world. You don't need to turn there,
but in Matthew chapter 17, our Lord Jesus is on the Mount of
Transfiguration. And as he stood on the Mount
of Transfiguration and his whole appearance glistened with brightness
and light, with glory as a foretaste of his resurrection glory, Moses
and Elijah stood with him. and spoke to him about the death
that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. And brother Peter,
he was forever blurting things out, and don't be too hard on
him. I expect I'd have done a lot
worse. But he said, Lord, it's good to be here. Let's build
three tabernacles, one for you, and one for the law, and one
for the prophets. There's one for you, and one
for Moses, and one for Elijah. And a voice was heard from heaven.
And this is what God said. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Jonathan Pledger, listen to me.
God Almighty is well pleased with his son. But he said, I'm
well pleased in my son. Well pleased. In him? What on
earth is he talking about? I talked to my grandson and my
granddaughter. I've got to get them in. I talked
to them yesterday afternoon. Played good ball. He had a good
basketball game. Scored eight points. Six years
old. And I told him I was pleased
with him. Just pleased with him. And if I had said to him, Will
son, Pop so pleased in you. He had turned to Nana and said,
Nana, what did Pop mean? Pleased in me. He didn't have a clue
what I mean. When I said I'm pleased with
you, he knew exactly what I was talking about. Pleased with what he had
done, pleased with him personally, pleased with him. What's our
God saying? This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Brother Murray, we're in his
son. That means we're in Him, in whom
God is well pleased, always has been, always will be, and it
must be so. Truly, I'm one with Christ my
Savior. My God looks on me in His Son
and smiles All the time. And my experiences, be they good
or bad, do not affect God's approval of me. I'm accepted in the Beloved. Only in the Beloved. Did you
notice in 2 Samuel 11, I believe it's verse 27, the last verse of the chapter,
the last line, After David had taken Bathsheba and murdered
Uriah, this is what God says. And the thing that David did
displeased the Lord. And Brother Ken, what you and
I do often displeases Him. But He didn't say David displeased
the Lord. When David finally confessed
his sin, he said, I've sinned against God. The very next word
out of the prophet's mouth was, not the Lord will forgive your
sin. The Lord hath put away thy sin. It's already over with.
God's appearance of displeasure was to show his displeasure for
the thing that David had done. But not displeased with David.
You see, our acceptance with God is not based upon something
we do. Our standing with God is not
something we earn. It is not something that's somehow
conditional upon our obedience. Our acceptance with God is the
eternal acceptance of those who are accepted in the beloved before
the world began and it cannot vary. We are accepted permanently
and well-pleasing to God Almighty. God is pleased only with His
Son and pleased with us in His Son. So pleased that He even
accepts the things we offer Him because we're one with His Son.
We're described by Peter as living stones built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. We've thus far offered up our
prayers to Him tonight. Our hymns of praise. Our music
of adoration. We offer up to Him our hearts
and our lives. And He takes it. And He smells
it. And all he smells is the sweet
savor of Jesus Christ his son. You mean, Brother Don, the Lord
accepts my feeble, worthless, mangled, corrupt, sin-mixed efforts
and honoring him as a perfect sacrifice? Absolutely. It must be perfect to be accepted.
He can't accept it otherwise. He accepts it because we are
one with his son. Here's the fourth thing. Look
at 1st John chapter 3 verse 5. As the Lord Jesus Christ is justified
and freed from all sin, so are we. And you know, 1 John 3 verse
5, he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is
no sin. Paul tells us in Romans 6, he
that is dead is freed from sin. And it says, likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord Jesus took our
sins and bear our sins in his own body on the tree. He is Christ
our Passover who is sacrificed for us. But on that day of atonement
that so beautifully typified that which transpired at Calvary,
there was another goat, the scapegoat. And Aaron did the very same thing
with the scapegoat that he did with the Passover lamb. He laid
his hands upon the goat and confessed over the goat's head all the
sins of all the children of Israel. Only this goat he didn't kill.
This goat he found a fit man. and put that goat in the hand
of a fit man and said, take him away. And he took him out. And he walked. And all you see
is just two dots going over the horizon. And then nothing. And then a little while, here
comes one dot back over the horizon. Nobody but just that fit man. Christ is the Passover lamb,
and Christ is the scapegoat, and Christ is the fit man, and
he took away our sins. He took them away. Oh, he took
them away. He took them away. Can you get
hold of that? He has put away our sins. Removed them from us as far as
the east is from the west. Cast them behind his back and
declares he will remember them against us again. No more forever. He says to Jacob, fury is not
in me. Now, in Christ, we are freed
from sin. so that the law has no power over us, no dominion
over us. The law can no longer condemn. The law can no longer accuse.
The law can no longer curse. The law can no longer condemn.
In Christ we're free. With his spotless garments on,
I am as holy as God's own Son. One more thing. Our Savior said, The world knows us not because it knew
him not. As the Son of God was a stranger
in this world, So are we. Your pastor, last
July, out in California, we were out there preaching together.
He brought a message from 1 Peter on nine Bible words that describe
every believer. The first word, 1 Peter 1, he
said to strangers. Strangers. Our Lord was a stranger
to this world. He was a stranger to his kinsmen.
He was a stranger among the people among whom he lived. And so are
we. And we needn't expect it to change. The world knows us not. Doesn't understand us. Because
it knew him not. The world doesn't understand
our motives. Doesn't understand our inspiration,
doesn't understand our lives, doesn't understand our commitment,
doesn't understand our worship, nothing. Didn't understand him. Now the world can easily understand
most any religion, but the world doesn't know us. We're strangers
to the world. And that which is strange causes
a lot of strange reactions. But don't ever imagine that you
can follow Christ and change it. I had been now, I said to the
folks I believe this morning over at Larry Street, for 40
years on the outside of everything. I've been on the outside of society,
on the outside of this religious world, but I'm not on the outside
looking in. I'm on the outside because that's
where I want to be. Following Christ without the
camp, committed to Him who is my Redeemer. Because the reality
is as Christ is right now, so shall we be in the world to
come. Our Lord bear our sins in his
own body on the tree. But look at him now. He came
forth from the grave with no sin. And soon I will come forth
from the grave in resurrection glory, bearing no trace of sin,
no consequence of iniquity. no scar of transgression, but
presented before Him faultless, before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. And I shall have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Amen.