WWUTT 438 God Is Love?

So, we have come to know, and to believe, the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him, when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We will conclude our study of 1 John chapter 4 today.

I'm going to go back to verse 13 and read through to the end of the chapter. The apostle writes,

By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and He in God.

So we have come to know, and to believe, the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.

Because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, I love

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

God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, whoever loves

God must also love his brother. I was reading a sermon from John Wesley, encouraging the believers to flee from idolatry.

And in this particular sermon, he talked about how the early church scholars recalled that when

John was old in age, he would be brought into the assembly of the brotherhood and sat down.

And he was very old, so he had to be carried in. And because he was so weak of mind, he couldn't deliver a full, long sermon.

But he would say very simple things, and it would be things like, Beloved, let us love one another.

And he would get that much out, and that's as much strength as he could give for that breath and that moment.

And everybody would, tears would fill their eyes, and they would encourage one another and rejoice in this word that was delivered by the apostle.

And so, that's what I think about when I'm reading this section in verses 13 through 21, because all of it seems rather proverbial.

It sounds like each verse could stand on its own. There is a context that's going on here, but each verse works fine by itself.

And so, it kind of has that feel of what I've read about John in his late years, that he would very weakly just be able to make simple pronouncements that would be an encouragement to the saints as they heard the word come from the apostle.

So here in verse 13, as we had read yesterday, By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his

Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love.

And whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

That was as far as we read yesterday. So we have this love for the brothers that is one of the affirmations of the faith that we have received from the

Holy Spirit. Once again, 1 John 3 .14, We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.

And so, because of this love that is within us, we know that God abides in us, and that we abide in God, because we abide in love.

Because we love the brothers with the love that Christ has for us, one of the assurances of our faith.

Verse 17, By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

So if we have God dwelling within us, and God is holy, so we are holy in this world.

Holy means to be set apart. So we who are followers of Christ, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we have

Christ inside us, we are holy by his righteousness, which has been imputed to us, and we are set apart from the ways and the people of this world.

There should be a recognizable difference between the way that we behave and the way that the world behaves.

Let the world not exist in us at all. Let there be no ways of the world in the heart of a believer.

But we know, according to what Paul encourages in Colossians chapter 3, that we have been raised with Christ, and we need to seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3 .2, Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

So just as Christ is, so are we in this world. You know, we talk about, whenever we talk about justification, so justification is the doctrine that we have been declared innocent before God by the righteous sacrifice of Christ, paying our sin debt on our behalf.

If our sins were imputed upon him on the cross, and he imputed upon us his righteousness.

So now before God, we've been declared innocent. That's the doctrine of justification. But that's not all the doctrine.

That's not the whole thing related to justification. Because it's not simply about being pardoned.

There's more to it than that. Jesus did not just die for us.

He also lived for us. He lived a perfect life for us.

And in this way, this sacrifice was perfected. And he goes to the cross and lays down his life, this perfect man who in his life never sinned, which we can't do.

We're incapable of that. We were born by the seed of Adam, unlike Jesus, who was virgin born.

So therefore, being born by the seed of Adam, we have inherited Adam's sin nature.

We are born with a sin nature, with a nature that wants to rebel against God. That's who we are as human beings.

So it's not possible for us to go through life sinless. We can't do it. But Jesus can, and he did.

And in this way was a perfected sacrifice for us on the cross. So he not only died for us, he lived for us.

So that perfect life that he lived, we would receive when we come to Christ.

And this is all part of the doctrine of justification. It's like all that we ever talk about, it seems, is just that dying for us part.

But he also lived for us, died for us, and rose again for us.

And now he is interceding for us, and he is advocating for us before the

Father. Interceding as we read from Paul in 1 Timothy 2, and an advocate for us as we've read here from the

Apostle John. So Jesus lived for us, as well as died for us, and came back from the grave for us.

And he is coming back from heaven for us, so that we would be gathered to him.

And we will be united with the Lord, and then we will be forever with the Lord, as Paul talks about with the Thessalonians.

So all of this has to do with the doctrine of justification. It was not just enough that we were pardoned, but that we are declared innocent before God, and then we live our lives that way.

We live our lives according to the life that Jesus lived. So by this is love perfected with us, meaning that when we came to the faith, we had some evidence of the love of God in our lives, but it wasn't perfect.

And it still isn't perfect. It's being perfected as we grow and we mature according to the word of God, and we grow and mature with the brotherhood of Christ, brothers and sisters together in the

Lord. As we are hearing the word of Christ proclaimed, we are growing in knowledge of these things. We are encouraging one another in the word.

We weep with one another and rejoice with one another. We share one another's burdens. We encourage and admonish.

I mean, all of these things that have to do with the way that we fellowship with each other is the body of Christ. In all of this, love is being perfected.

And so by this is love being perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

So as we grow in the knowledge of God and as we grow and are perfected in the ways of Christ, the ways that we live, the ways that we love are all the more like Christ.

The more we mature in this faith that we have, I hope all of this is making sense in all of this is love being perfected so that on that day, as that day of judgment comes closer, as our final days on this earth get closer, we have confidence to know that we will be with the

Lord. You consider a person who has been a Christian for most of their lives, who gets into their twilight years, 70s and 80s, and I hope you have known a person like this in your life, but a person who's been a

Christian for decades and they're getting closer and closer to death and they know they can feel it in their bodies that they are knocking on heaven's door.

You ask them and you talk to them about the confidence that they have that when they shed off this life, they are going to be right there with Christ in glory.

They are all the more ready for that day now than they were 50 years ago when they first came to know the

Lord because this love has been perfected in them. They've grown in maturity and in the knowledge of God and their confidence in Christ is that much stronger, that much more mature than ours is than mine would be.

I have beautiful people in my church who are up there in age and I love talking with them about their hopes and expectations for the kingdom of God to walk through heaven's gates and they cannot wait for the day because their desire for that day is greater than mine.

They've seen more life, they've experienced more maturity in their Christian growth and they encourage me whenever we talk about heavenly things because their hope and their grasp for that kingdom is that much tighter than mine is.

They are reaching with it with such hope and expectation that they can almost touch it. That's one of the beautiful things about multi -generational churches.

When you've got multiple generations that are represented in churches and I read so many different articles and things that encourage what's called contextual churches and a contextual church is basically built a certain way to appeal to a certain age group.

And this is that whole marketing thing that I talked about in the Q &A on Friday and I'm going to come back to that this coming

Friday as a matter of fact because I had another question about that. But there are some ministries out there that are marketed for certain demographics and groups of people and so there are some churches that are created that way.

They are built to appeal to a certain demographic. The problem when that happens,

I mean there are some genuine churches out there still sharing the gospel even though that they may have become contextual and they're appealing to a certain age group.

But the problem with that is that you don't have that multi -generationalness. There's not that encouragement from the olders, the seniors and the youngers don't know how to care for the seniors or respect their elders or rely upon the guidance of those who are just more seasoned in life.

And so they've had love perfected in all that they have experienced in life.

What a treasure that is and what a gift they have to bestow upon the youngest generations of the church with their expectations of the future kingdom of God.

With what they have lived and what they are now reaching for and waiting for. And some of my favorite conversations with congregational members of my church is when

I've sat in the living room of somebody who can't make it to church on a regular basis because they're just so old they can't get out of the house anymore.

And a lot of times all we talk about is just expectations of heaven. So longing for and waiting for that day and I relish those conversations.

They are beautiful and wonderful. And so love is perfected in us. The more life we live, the more we mature in our doctrine, the more we are experienced in encouraging and admonishing one another in the faith.

Love is perfected in us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. We know all the more that we do not stand condemned before God, but we stand before him righteous because of Christ.

Because as he is, so also are we in this world. So let us be as Christ in this world.

We must live as Jesus lived. He imputed his life upon us.

We have his righteousness, so let us walk in it. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

And just that part of the verse right there, just verse 18, I'm planning on doing a what video about this. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

Every once in a while when there's a terrorist attack, and we know that one just happened recently, there was a concert in the

United Kingdom in which a bomb went off, more than 20 people were killed. Very sad, very tragic.

All prayers for that situation are right and good, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed to those who are hurting.

But whenever a terrorist attack like this happens, generally you'll see some sort of vigil or a gathering of people.

And almost every time I see this happen, somebody has a sign that says there is no fear in love.

Just that much, or they might even go as far as saying there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

Because we're all gathered together to encourage one another after this terrorist attack.

And so therefore, this gathering is what gets rid of any fear, because we all love each other, and perfect love casts out fear.

That's not the meaning of that verse. It's not for gatherings to warm one another in the wake of some sort of great tragedy.

The meaning of the verse is expounded upon in the next half. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment.

And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Do you fear that day of the

Lord? Do you fear the day of judgment? It's because you haven't been perfected in love. And the more you grow in your understanding of God and his love and his grace and his mercy, the more that you are experienced in loving the members of the body of Christ, you've been admonished even by them, the more that we grow in maturity in these things, the less and less and less we will have any kind of apprehension about that day when we're standing before God in judgment.

We're reaching for that day. We're longing for that day. Whereas the very first day that we came to faith and we became a believer, we were still kind of fearful of that day.

I mean, we knew based on the promises that are given us in Scripture, hey, I know I'm justified. I know my sins have been forgiven.

I rejoice in God for that. But there's still kind of a, there's so much bad

I've done and I've not done enough good. Those kinds of things that come from an immature mind where we are dreading that day of judgment.

We know we're going to be all right, but something about it just causes this apprehension in us. Well, the reason why we feel that way is because we've not yet been perfected in love.

As we are growing in love and knowledge according to the word of God, not according to binding together in the midst of a national tragedy, but we're growing in God's word and we're growing in love for the brotherhood, the brothers and sisters in Christ.

Then that love is being perfected in us and it casts out all fear. We have nothing to dread of that day of judgment.

That's the meaning of the verse. So somehow I got to take all of that and put it in a 90 second video. We love because he first loved us.

And once again, I mentioned this early on in the week, true love only comes from God.

There is no other kind of true and genuine love in this world except that which comes from God. So, so big group gatherings saying perfect love casts out fear.

Well, that's not perfect love if it's not love that is being shared in Christ Jesus.

We love because he first loved us. He's the author of love, the giver of love. That is how we're able to love.

If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love

God whom he has not seen. And as I've told you before, concerning hatred toward a brother, hatred is not just an active thing.

It's not just verbalizing to somebody else, I hate you or, or doing something hateful toward them.

Hatred is also passive. It's doing nothing at all. It's, it's just straight up apathy, man, to not feel like that you have to do anything for anybody or pursue love in any way.

That would also be hatred. When you see a brother in need and yet you refuse to do nothing.

As John talked about earlier, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. So likewise, you put this in terms of saying,

I love God. If you say you love God, but you're absolutely doing nothing concerning the growth of your faith.

Right? I mean, you're not, you're not attending church. You're not fellowshipping with the brotherhood. You're not reading your

Bible. You're just paying lip service. You're just saying, I'm a Christian. You're just checking a box, you know, just doing your religious duty or your thing, or you have a particular state of mind, but that's kind of as far as it goes.

Then that also is not really loving God. So likewise, this goes both ways and the ways that we say,

I love God and the ways that we say, I love my brother. If anyone says I love

God and hates his brother, he's a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love

God whom he has not seen. You're not pursuing love with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You're not pursuing love with God.

Verse 21, and this commandment we have from him, whoever loves

God must also love his brother. That's a commandment. And so we must do it.

We must follow it. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God. Here's a song about that.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love,

God is love, God is love,

God is love. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, God is love,

God is love,

God is love, God is love.

Whoever abides in him, whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

That's right. Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. Yeah, yeah.

God is love, God is love,

God is love, God is love. Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in love abides in God.

and God abides in Him. Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him.

Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him. Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him.

Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him. 1

John 4 16 This has been When We Understand the

Text by Pastor Gabriel Hughes. The music today was provided by Seeds Family Worship, putting the scripture into song for the whole family to worship with.

You can find more of their music and information about their ministry at seedsfamilyworship .com On behalf of Pastor Gabe and our church family, my name is

Becky. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.