I Want to Know What Love Is
1 John 4:7-13
• Let me make one disclaimer before I begin because I don’t want to lead anyone down the wrong path.
• Tonight I am going to speak about the supernatural on several occasions.
• I am not talking about divine healing, speaking in tongues, turning water into wine, walking on water, raising the dead or any of the such.
• I will be speaking about doing that which is not natural or possible for mankind.
• I will be referring to that which we can only do when we are fully dependent upon Christ’s life living through us.
• Our topic is far more important than divine healing, speaking in tongues, turning water into wine, walking on water, raising the dead or any of those topics.
• When we get there, I am sure you will be able to understand what I mean. For now, it sounds like I am speaking in riddles, but I assure you, I am not.
• (Read text)
1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
1Jn 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1Jn 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1Jn 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1Jn 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1Jn 4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
• If you are like me, in the first reading of this passage, you will thing, “Hey, John just wrote that before. We’ve already covered this because he is repeating himself.”
• Yes, he touched on this topic before, but like pealing an onion, he goes deeper in light of what he just covered.
• In the next seven verses, John reaches a high point in his writings to these believers.
• He has clearly stated his case on love and faith: that they can only be manifested through the power of the Spirit of God, not through our fleshly strength.
• We can only express faith and love by allowing Christ to live through us.
• When we do that, we do not sin. When we don’t do that, we do no righteousness.
• Last week, we saw that Satan, deceiving many, have set up false teachers to lead people away.
• These teachers redefine all the Christian terms and bring them into human reach.
• This, however, dilutes the message, stripping of it of its power, making it blend into the world, but not effectively standing out in contrast to the world.
• Last week, I mentioned that false teachers were sent by the spirit of the Antichrist to be among us.
• False beliefs weaken our message, impact, influence and testimony.
• We are less effective in the Unites States of America today because of the abundance of Christian denominations, the attempt to make all Christian denominations to look alike, and to make us all look just like good human people with no spiritual power, no powerful message, no cure for the pains of mankind and no purpose but to relieve human suffering.
• Church in the USA looks often like a social organization filled with people who want to make the community better, much like the Lion’s Club or the Parent/Teachers Organization.
• John warns us about this.
• Today, he goes into the cost of compromise and losing the authentic.
• In doing so, he reaches a high in keeping his promise of the first four verses. Let me remind you what he promised.
• 1Jn 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
• In summary, John was saying, “You dear folks have not had the opportunity to know Jesus Christ in the person.
• “Yet, some of us have. We want to write this so that you too may have fellowship with us (equal standing), and know Him.
• “We want you to know of the joy of knowing Jesus though you may not have met Him in this life.”
• Let’s peal the onion and see the importance of purity, authenticity and power.
1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
• This is very similar to 1Jn 3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
• It is similar to passages about living in faith and righteousness, as well as love (1 John 3:3, 1 John 3:7).
• In this brief introduction, to me, John is saying, “Let me remind you of something I said. In light of what I just said about the phonies, let me show you something deeper.”
1Jn 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
• Love only comes out of the knowledge of knowing God.
• This is a very unpopular message. I think this message is one of our greatest failures.
• Even our illustrations fail to communicate the real message of love.
• “William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child
