Loving Brothers Seen & God Unseen | 1 John 4:20-21

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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Okay, welcome once again beloved to another amazing Lord's Day Go ahead and turn with me in your

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Bibles to 1st John chapter 4 1st John chapter 4 and Lord willing today.

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We're going to finish up this chapter and We'll begin reading in verse 18 1st

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John chapter 4 verse 18 God's Word says

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There is no fear in love But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love we love because he first loved us if Someone says

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I love God and hates his brother He is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen

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Cannot love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from him that the one who loves

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God Should love his brother also This is God's Word. Amen so You can see from The sermon title today.

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We're going to focus on verses 20 through 21 loving brothers seen and God unseen and This Will also be a conclusion as I mentioned

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Lord willing to this other love chapter in 1st John chapter 4 and You we a lot of the the the subjects and themes that we're going to deal with today have been

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Pretty much the same things that we've been dealing all throughout most of this chapter Such as the obviously love hate

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God brother Hypocrisy and law we're gonna focus back on those as well those last two in particular and By way of review from from last the previous

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Lord's Day we saw that the love of God is perfected towards us and matures us and As he

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Christ himself is now confident and without fear

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So also are we? Believers the beloved of God in this world with confidence and without fear.

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Amen because God's own

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God's own perfect love Gives us a perfect love

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Which casts out all fear of God's judgment It casts out all fear of God's judgment now

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Speaking of which I wanted to clarify something I said last Sunday That may have caused some confusion

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When I tried to correct a specific word that I used Regarding the kindness and severity of God.

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Okay, so What I said was something along the lines of unless God predestinates

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Evil none of us could be saved or what I really said was unless God allows and then

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I tried to To correct myself and say no predestines evil then none of us could be saved and I realized that could have that could have that didn't that wasn't very clear.

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And so What? What uh The reason

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I changed it from allows to predestine is because the word allow is not biblically correct

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That's not accurate according to Scripture. God does not allow things to happen Okay, that doesn't that does that's not something that even exists in God's Sovereignty or his attributes

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God does not allow anything. He decrees everything. Amen so this is this is the

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God of Scripture that we Understand him to be that Scripture teaches him and reveals himself to be and in that In the in the same sermon from last week

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I had previously explained What I actually meant before I said this

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And I want to I want to just clarify it again what I meant to say was this unless God exercises divine patience and forbearance on the evil

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That he ultimately predestined None of us could be saved not one of us could be saved

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Because we are all born Guilty sinners in Adam legally and naturally

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Who deserve nothing but the just? punishment and judgment of God Amen, so this is what the

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Word of God teaches us and this is what we must understand properly now

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Because God Predestined all things to happen exactly the way that they happen the way that they do the way they come to pass

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Both good and evil nothing is outside of his control. Nothing is outside of his decree

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He is sovereign He is omnipotent Though he himself

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God himself does not commit any sin or evil whatsoever He predestined sin and evil, but he doesn't commit it himself

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God rather decrees purposes and predestined sin and evil for his good purposes for his good purposes and Ultimately for our good like Romans a 28 says in several other places.

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I Always appreciate how Isaiah 45 verses 6 through 7 reveals this to us

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The Lord speaking to us himself That they may know from the rising to the setting of the

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Sun that there is no one besides me I am Yahweh, and there is no other the one forming light and creating darkness

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Producing peace and creating calamity calamity I Am Yahweh who does all these things?

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amen and similarly Isaiah 46 verses 9 through 11

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God God speaks to us once again Saying remember the former things long past for I am

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God and there is no other I Am God and there is no one like me declaring the end from the beginning the end of all things from the beginning and from ancient times

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Things which have not been done Saying my counsel will be established and I will and I will accomplish all my good pleasure

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Calling a bird of prey from the east the man of my counsel from a far country Truly I have spoken

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Truly, I will bring it to pass. I Have formed it Surely I will do it

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Amen This is these doctrines are very important to rightly understand

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For us to have a big -picture understanding of God and his attributes and his decree his will his counsel

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Very important. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear for us now That being said

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Going turning back over now to 1st John chapter 4 and verse 20 through 21 We see the major subjects and themes of loving and hating without contradiction without contradiction verse 20 says if someone says

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I love God and someone claims in other words, I Brother he is a liar

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He is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has physically seen

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Cannot cannot love God whom he has not seen and This commandment we have from him that the one who loves

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God should love his brother also Amen so now speaking of Loving and hating which

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I also preached on last Sunday. I had mentioned that you cannot love and Fear the same object or person and I was also talking about the the con this concept of God's love and his wrath

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His severity on the one group of people Those who are unbelievers and his kindness given graciously to those who are his chosen people that he chose to save and Those are mutually exclusive and in that sense

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That so there's a sense in which you cannot love you cannot both love and hate the same person

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Just as you cannot love God and hate your brother Or love your brother and hate

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God That's not possible. That's a contradiction but this needs some clarification with respect to God's love and hatred because although we believers were all

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Formally, we were all formerly children of wrath Like Ephesians says even as the rest of unbelievers

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God ultimately Loved us before the foundation of the world

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Before the foundation of the world, but his grace needed to be applied to us in due time in due time

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So turn with me beloved to the letter to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4

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Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 as We seek to get some clarity on this all -important matter of God's attributes of Justice and wrath and love and grace all of which are in perfect harmony

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Within the triune Godhead there is no contradiction in God he is perfect and In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4

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The God -breathed Apostle Paul speaks to us and says

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Just as he chose us in him in Christ He the father chose us in him before Before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in what?

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in love in love in his love by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself

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According to our will Wait a minute. Does it say that according to our will no

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Just making sure you're paying attention there according to whose will according to the good pleasure of his will

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God's will Alone to the play praise of the glory of his grace, which he graciously bestowed on us in the

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Beloved in Christ our Savior and Lord and God Amen now

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This is very important for us to understand Because many churches today many pastors and teachers will distort or misrepresent these attributes of God But I love how our

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London Baptist Confession of Faith Explains this with very solid biblical clarity in Chapter 11 on justification paragraph 4 it says from all eternity from all eternity

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God decreed to justify all the elect all his chosen people to justify and therefore to love and therefore to love and Christ in the fullness of time died for their sins and rose again because of their justification

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Nevertheless, here's the clarifying remark Nevertheless, they are not

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Justified personally until the Holy Spirit himself in due time

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Actually applies Christ unto them right because before The Holy Spirit regenerated us.

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We were children of wrath. We were sinners. We were not yet converted and Regenerated so that had to still happen in God's time and still be applied to us in God's good time

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Amen, I thought that's very helpful clarification and it's part of the reason why it's so important for us to Treasure and Seek to Learn from God's Church both historic and current modern

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That is sound that is the pillar and buttress of the truth These these doctrines help us to understand the

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Word of God consistently biblically now okay, so I hope that that hopefully that makes more sense for us now and This brings us to the other subject matter in the passage of 1st

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John chapter 4 of Loving God and brother both without hypocrisy without hypocrisy

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The passage of 1st John in verses 20 through 21 gives us criteria for Identifying hypocrisy and to help us love both

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God and brother in harmony in harmony

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Without contradiction and without hypocrisy. Amen because notice the beginning of verse 20 if Someone says if Someone says if someone claims to love

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God and yet hates his brother That exposes him as a liar.

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He is lying. It's a false profession It's a false love it's not love and So by way of The analogy of Scripture turn with me now

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This should all sound very familiar for those of you who are familiar with other parts of the Bible This should sound very familiar to another passage that I've also preached on many times before so Exercising the analogy of Scripture as we interpret

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Scripture with Scripture turn with me now over to James chapter 2 James chapter 2 verses 14 through 17

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James chapter 2 verse 14 and this beloved is a very important Hermeneutical principle of interpretation that is how we know that our interpretation of Scripture is correct

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We test it with other Scripture and make sure that it doesn't contradict any other

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Scripture. Amen So that's what we're seeking to do here as well in James chapter 2 verse 14

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God's Word speaks to us and says What use is it my brothers notice who he's talking to?

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same audience as 1st John my brothers if someone says

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He has faith But has no works Notice that phrase.

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He says he has faith. He claims he has faith yet. He has no works

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Can that faith save him can that profession of faith save him in other words if a brother or Sister is without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you

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Says to them go in peace be warmed and be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body

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What use is that? What use is that Even so faith if it has no works is dead by itself

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It is dead by itself Because that faith is a false

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Profession of faith. It is a hypocritical profession of faith Because true faith will change us

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It will change us and regenerate us and reform us by God's Spirit and means of grace and reformative love

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Amen, that will conform us to love with a perfect love

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God and our fellow men our brothers, especially in the faith and sisters

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This is very clear and it's the same basic I Teaching that the

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Apostle John Reveals to us in his letter this this now brings me to a very important axiom a very important theological axiom and Doctrine that We can deduce from this our vertical relationship with God Necessarily affects all our

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Horizontal relationships with our fellow man Especially Especially with our fellow brothers and sisters in the household of faith

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Amen I'll repeat that again our Vertical relationship our vertical relationship with God It necessarily affects all our horizontal relationships with our fellow man all of them

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Especially with our brothers and sisters in the household of faith be so then while we have

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Opportunity in this world in this life. Let us do good to all people to all people and Especially to those who are of the household of faith

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Amen, like Galatians chapter 6 verse 10 says We good we do good.

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We seek to do good to all people, but especially to those who are of the household of faith That is

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God's love Which changes us and conforms us to now live in obedience to his will because again remember

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Remember verse 19 and 1st John chapter 4 the amazing cycle of God's love

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For us how it assures us and gives us confidence and and and Gives us the boldness and the assurance to cast out all fear

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How it balances our understanding of law and gospel Justice and mercy

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We ourselves love God and our fellow man because he himself

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First loved us Because God himself first loved us.

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That's the only reason we can love Righteously at all is because God first loved us

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God first changed us. Amen Now this this kind of leads us into another question here that Has Has stirred some debate about what this passage means

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The question is this who is harder to love? Who is harder to love?

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Is God harder to love or are our brothers and sisters in the faith harder to love and also

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Another related question is is There in order. Is there an order or priority of loves?

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Is there an order or priority of? Loves That we have

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So this is part of the technical aspect of this passage in verses 20 and 21

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There is a debate about this But The passage itself

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Does not mean that in order to love God we must first love our brother

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Instead of also love our brother There's a big difference there, right?

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And again verse 19 just answered that for us, right? We love because God first loved us so God first loved us and And yet It's not that we must first love our brother to get to to love

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God It's also but some translation suggests this

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I think wrongly and That it is somehow easier to love our brother than God by turning that last assertion

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That last assertion in verse 20 Into a question So one of the translations that does this is the

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King James Version and the New King James Version They the the

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King James and the New King James They basically render it this way if someone says I love

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God and hates his brother He is a liar For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen

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How can he love God whom he has not seen how can he love

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God whom he has not seen Instead of the way the legacy standard

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Bible and More the the newer translations render it and they which instead assert

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He who does not love his brother whom he has seen Cannot love God whom he has not seen that's an assertion

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But the King James the New King James and those that follow that translations turn it into a question

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How can he love God whom he has seen if he does not even love his brother whom he has seen?

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So that's where some of this issue lies because there are some manuscripts that suggest one rendering over the other but Gordon Clark here has some insightful commentary for us that I want to read next

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He says the question how can he love God seems weak?

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Whereas he cannot is a forceful assertion It's a forceful assertion

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The reason the question is weak is that it is far from obvious That it is easier to love and serve a visible man than an invisible

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God Visible men indeed visible

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Christian brothers are often hard to love If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch like pastor

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Bodhi used to say It is much easier to sing the doxology in church

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Sometimes but if the text says he cannot love God and Sing and not all who sing the doxology in church do so actually love

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God or I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I misread that But if the text says he cannot love

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God in other words if it's an assertion instead of a question We have an assertion that clears up the difficulty

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Because if we do love God and not all who sing the doxology in church do so we obey commandments for love consistent fulfilling the law of God including loving our

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Christian brothers and sisters right, so Think carefully with me here on this

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Let's think about this now. We need to be very careful to not so sharply divide or contrast

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Loving God with loving our brother Okay Because there may be in fact there may in fact be a sense of priority or order

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Because to love God to love God Also means that we love our fellow man our brother our neighbor even our enemy

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Right it means really all of those things Why?

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Because God himself is the one who commands us to love them also

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He commands us to love them also Because the one who loves

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God should love his brother also Which is exactly what verse 21 says

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Amen That's what? God's law teaches us

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Loving God is not done in isolation Loving God means that we also love our neighbor and our brother and our sister and our enemy

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Because God's Spirit and means of grace conform us to God's law and that's what

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God's law teaches us So then verse 21 rather means that loving both

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God and our brother are correlated they are Intertwined Both of which are commands from the same consistent

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Harmonious holy law of God, right? You cannot keep one without the other

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You cannot keep one without the other that would be hypocrisy That's exactly what

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God is exposing in this passage. That would be hypocrisy That is hypocrisy and this brings this brings us back once again to the letter of James In chapter 2 verse 10 turn with me again back to the letter of James in chapter 2 and now

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We'll read verses 10 through 11 to get some More consistent clarity here with the analogy of Scripture.

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So we're going to back up a few verses From the previous passage that we read in James chapter 2 verse 10

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God's Word says for whoever keeps the whole law The entire law and yet stumbles in one point in one single point

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He has become guilty of all of all of them for he who said

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God who said Do not commit adultery also said do not murder

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Now if you do not commit adultery but murder you have become a transgressor of the law

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Amen, there you go. So if you again if you can't say amen, you got to say ouch

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Because this is showing us that God's law is a holy It's a it's a holy

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Unit It is a whole it is a consistent united harmonious

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Whole you can't say you keep one while breaking the rest or even one point

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Because God's law is perfectly Entirely consistent. So if you if you break one point of the law, you're guilty of all of it

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And this is a very important verse for evangelism when we evangelize share the gospel with others this helps them

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Unbelievers to understand just how guilty they are. They think well, I haven't killed anybody.

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I haven't killed anybody. I haven't I haven't like, you know Committed any like crazy hit

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Larry and type of stuff and it's like well, no, no, no, no You can't mock God that way

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God says you shall not lie. God says you shall not the same

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God who says you shall not lie is the same God who said you shall not commit adultery and lusting is equated with adultery of the heart so you

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Cannot mock or contradict God in any point because God is holy and his law is holy and just and good

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Amen so This this leads us to a very important another important principle here

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God often teaches us the positive doctrine by also identifying exposing and refuting the opposite the error in other words

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So in this case, for example God teaches us the positive doctrine of love what it means to love

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God and neighbor and and brother By also exposing the hypocrisy of claiming to love

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God and yet hating our brother That's very important. And it's very helpful for us because this is how we learn.

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That's why God does this for us by comparing and contrasting the truth from the air

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So that way we can identify both and distinguish them both It's not oh, it's not

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Necessarily enough to know the one we need both. We need to know the truth and the error

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So can we can reject the one and embrace the other? so that we clearly know what love is and what hate is and their relationship to each other because they are incompatible in that regard now

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Over the past several weeks I have been preaching primarily about God's love and Defining his love for us

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That's what a lot of these verses have been primarily about his perfect omnipotent sovereign sufficient sacrificial love for us right and like I've been

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Describing for us the four R's of God's love his redemptive love his restorative love his regenerative love

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His reformative love or his renovated love for us that's been much of the focus on the previous sermons and I Haven't focused as much on our love as believers for God and man right, but because the focus in the passage has been primarily with dealing with God's love and also at times explaining our love

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So then that leads us to this our love then our perfect love is

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Fundamentally an attitude and a commitment It's important to define what love is

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Especially in our society and in our culture today and in the church today our

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Perfect love is Fundamentally an attitude and a commitment which expresses itself in action and obedience to God's Word in Action and obedience to God's Word and will okay.

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This is very important for us to understand now I want to read once again from 1st

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John chapter 4 let's go back or turn back over there and We will see that What the what

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God's is speaking to us here once again if someone says I love God and hates his brother

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He is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has physically seen

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Cannot love God whom he has not seen And this physically that is and this commandment we have from him

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That the one who loves God should love his brother also Should love his brother also

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Amen so Now before I dive more into this

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I want to clear up a technical another technical Aspect of this that has generated some more debate

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Surrounding what specifically who him refers to in verse 21

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This commandment that we have from him who does him refer to? Some say it refers to the father some say refers to the son so there's a there's a couple of options there that we have and I think this is

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I think this is really referring to the son Now, why is that in order to understand this we need to recall the general interpretive principle that I explained before That whenever the word

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God is used Without any reference to a specific person of the Trinity If that usually refers to God the

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Father Right when you see the word God without referring to a specific person like the

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Holy Spirit or Christ It's it's usually referring to the God the Father So that being said there are similar occurrences in contrast that we're seeing in verse 21 and different parts of this chapter in Earlier parts of this chapter and it will be useful for us to review them as we summarize and conclude this chapter

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So I want to turn back with me To first John chapter 4 verses 9 through 10 so we can get a glimpse of this and get a clear picture of what this means

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Of how how this how this may how to make sense of this in verses 9 through 10

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We're gonna see this Come to light and really if you study the entire chapter

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The word God refers to the Father every single time in this chapter Okay, every single time it refers to the

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Father. So verse 9 says by this the love of God the love of God Was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten

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Son. Oh, there we go So that clearly shows us that God is referring to the

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Father his son Into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we have loved

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God The Father but that he loved us and sent again his son

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God the Father sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Amen And then verse jump over to verse 15.

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We will see this more clearly once again Whoever confesses that Jesus is the

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Son of God The Son of God who God the Father obviously God the

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Father abides in him and he and God the Father Verse 17 now by this love

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God's love has been perfected with us or towards us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment

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Because now look at this carefully because as he is So also are we in this world?

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Now, this is interesting because the he is now referring to Christ rather as Christ is so also are we in this world?

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Confident and without fear of God the

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Father's judgment judgment That's what the passage is connecting for us those verses so then if If the one who loves

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God refers to God the Father Right in verses 20 and 21.

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It would be more awkward for him To also refer to the

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Father Because why why otherwise why did wouldn't it use him again instead of God?

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Right. So back in verse 21 the that verse says and This commandment we have from him

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That the one who loves God should love his brother also So if him referred to God, then it would make more sense for The word him to be used again

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And this commandment we have from him the father that the one who loves him should love his brother

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Also, that would make more sense to put it that way if the word him referred to God the father

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But there's there's a bit of a contrast there because it says we have this commandment from him

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So that the one who loves God Loves his brother also, right?

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So in a way grammatically, it seems to make more sense that him refers to Christ out to Out to him

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Christ So that the one who loves God Loves his brother also and obviously that's not to say that Christ is not

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God And either way whether it refers to Christ or the father it makes no significant difference because both persons are

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God Amen, they are all persons of the Divine Trinity along with the Spirit of God So then

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We see that the that yes

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That that being said to clarify that Now turn back with me to verse 11 in chapter 4 in verse 11.

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We're gonna see a very similar parallel passage To verses 20 through 21 in 1st

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John chapter 4 verse 11 God's Word says

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Beloved if God so loved us We also ought to love one another.

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Oh Sound familiar. There we go This is a command law

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No one has beheld God at any time

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No one has beheld God at any time similar once again to the God we have not seen

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If we love one another It's because God abides in us

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That's a gospel indicative there and his love is perfected in us

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His perfected in us. Amen very similar passage there once again to verses 20 and 21 and I appreciate what

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Gordon Clark says about these verses as well. He says unlike sporadic or irregular ecstasies and hectic palpitations

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Emotionalism pietism those kinds of expressions This love this

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Christian love is a settled decision to obey God's laws It is a settled decision to obey

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God's laws Amen, that's what it means to love from our

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Viewpoint the love that we are called to have to have For God and for our fellow man.

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I Also like what Richard Lenski has to say about this. He's a Lutheran. He was a Lutheran pastor

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He says agape is defined as the love of intelligence of Comprehension and understanding

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Very powerful stuff there. It has it always has that meaning in the New Testament Most completely so here where it speaks of God's love

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Combined with this is purpose a purpose that corresponds to the comprehension of the object a settled decision to obey

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God in that way Saving love

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Agape love thus accompanies goddess goddess meaning compassion and LL's Meaning which is

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Greek for benevolence so That's how we see this come together then

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To love God means to love our neighbor and these various ways that the that the Lord commands us to in fact

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Yet again another important principle from the Bible The entire law of God can be summarily

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Comprehended in a single word in a single word and what word what might that be?

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That word is the word love The word love sums up the entire law of God The entire law of God and that is a powerful thing

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That is a very important thing for us to understand because this is completely contrary to modern notions

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Even some notions in the church about what love really is Love according to God's definition is his law the most fundamental most important aspect of his law is

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To love God and neighbor Amen Turn with me to mark the gospel of Mark chapter 12 verse 21 9 as we see our

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Lord and Savior Christ Jesus explained this very thing to us Verse 29

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Jesus answered There is I believe it was the question somebody asked him the question

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What is the greatest commandment and Jesus answered and said the first and foremost?

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commandment is Here O Israel the Lord our God is one

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Lord one Lord Notice the word here as well here implies

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Comprehension understanding like Lenski says in his commentary Here that the

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Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength and The second is like this this you shall love your neighbor as Yourself You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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There's no commandment greater than these no commandment greater than these

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That is the sum of the entire law in one word is love love God and love neighbor according to God's law

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According to God's commands Now that's why Jesus also said if you love me keep my commandments

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The one who loves God will seek to keep his commandments by God's Spirit and means of grace that is

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What is very important for us to understand the first and foremost the greatest the most?

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Foundational most important command of God is to love the Lord your God with all that you are with complete inner and outer resolve without hypocrisy without contradiction and Your neighbor as yourself in like manner

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This brings us now full circle to the analogy of scripture of God's love

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Turn with me over now as we close out Today's message in 1st

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Corinthians chapter 12 verse 31 Where we go to the original love chapter to find more about what love is for us

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And what it means and what it looks like And what it does the famous love chapter in 1st

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Corinthians chapter 13 starting in chapter 12 verse 31 God's Word speaks to us reveals to us and says in verse 31

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But you earnestly desire the greater gifts of prophecy etc.

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And I will yet show you a more excellent way if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love

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I Have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal and if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains

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But do not have love I am nothing and If I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I surrender my body to be burned

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But do not have love it profits me nothing It profits me nothing

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It profits me nothing beloved. That's because once again, that is not consistent.

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That's a contradiction. It's hypocritical If you actually love it would mean that you love

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God and your fellow man and You cannot have knowledge.

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You cannot have true knowledge true faith and and true sacrifice without true love those all go hand in hand with God's law and gospel that's what this is pointing us to to here and And God's Word continues for us in verse 4

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Love is what what is love? Love is patient Love is kind is not jealous does not brag

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Is is not puffed up. It's not prideful or arrogant. It does not act unbecoming

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Lee Inappropriately does not seek its own It's not selfish it's not provoked does not take into account a wrong suffered

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It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth Rich notice that it rejoices with the truth

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God's love presupposes knowledge true knowledge of God Rejoicing with the truth

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It bears all things believes all things hopes all things and endures all things

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Love never fails. Amen. Love never fails.

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It never gives up But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away if there are tongues

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They will cease if there is knowledge It will be done away for we know in part and we prophesy in part

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But when the perfect comes the partial will be done away when I was a child I used to speak like a child think like a child reason like a child

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When I became a man, I did away with childish things For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face now

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I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have also also have been fully known

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But now abide faith hope love these three but the greatest of these is love

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Wow That is a powerful teaching from God's Word and it's in perfect harmony

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With what first John chapter 4 has been teaching us all along the other love chapter It completes the picture for us.

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It comes full circle for us as to what not just God's love means But what our love means that we are commanded to have for God and our fellow man

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Especially our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith Remember then beloved we love the brothers

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We see and the God we have not seen with the perfect love

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That verse 18 in 1st John chapter 4 refers to the complete mature love that God has given us

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For him and for our fellow man and our brothers and sisters Based on what he has done for us

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It's all why remember verse 19. We love

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God and man because God first loved us That's the only way we can do pull this off the only way

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All else is sin and lawlessness Apart from the grace and love of God being poured out on us and on our behalf

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The perfect love that we have Again, it's not that it's simply perfect.

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It's that it's mature. It understands the gospel the redemptive restorative regenerative and reformative love of God for us

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It is based on Grounded in God's perfect love for us Amen, I want to close out today's message with a passage from The previous chapter in 1st

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John chapter 3 verse 16 another parallel Verse here that will very very powerfully close this out for us 1st

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John chapter 3 verse 16 says By this we have known love that He laid down his life for us.

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Who is that he beloved? Christ laid down his life for us and so then we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers for our brothers and sisters in the faith

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Amen Amen beloved That in essence

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Summarizes and concludes this powerful amazing Other love chapter on God's love and on our love for God himself and our fellow man

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Beloved let us go ahead and bow our heads and close with prayer Our gracious precious

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Lord and Heavenly Father we thank you so much For your love

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Lord for your your your awesome powerful redemptive restorative regenerative

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Reformative love for us father God, which which gives grounding and and possibility and Enables us to do everything that you have called us to do

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Lord To seek to fulfill your great commission and to love God and our fellow man Our neighbor

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Our brother and sister and even our enemies Lord by your grace and by your means father

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We thank you so much for your precious words your precious truth and your holy

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Law and gospel Lord help us to rightly understand these things your attributes and how to apply them to our lives and to the world that we live in Father help us to make sense of these things

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According to the faith that has been once for all Delivered to the Saints as we hold fast to that confession that ancient confession that your word teaches us

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The system of doctrine that we are called to believe Lord help us father to love you and to love our fellow man and especially

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Those who are of the household of faith father we thank you Lord and We ask that you also would bless us in our as we participate in your

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In your blessed sacrament of your our Lord's Supper your precious son

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For our Salvation and forgiveness of sins. We thank you Lord that you have sent your son

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To lay down his life and give a ransom Give it as a ransom for many of us

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We thank you father and we ask this in Jesus Almighty all -powerful name. Amen Thank you for listening to the sermons of thorn crown covenant

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Baptist Church Where the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety has applied to all of faith and life.

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We strive to be biblical reformed historic confessional loving discerning

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Christians who evangelize Stand firm in and earnestly contend for the Christian faith

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church Sermons and ministries such as Semper Ephraim on the radio and thorn crown network podcast

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Please contact us at thorn crown ministries comm and may the mercy peace and love of our triune