God's Love Can Change Everything for You!
1 John 4:11-16
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Series: The First Epistle of John
(Prepared January 25, 2024)
MESSAGE:
*If we were to write down a description of God, there are many great things we could say. One of my favorite descriptions is Psalm 100:1-5. There God's Word says:
1. Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
2. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
3. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
*Getting close to my 73rd birthday, Isaiah 46:3-4 is also on my mind today. There the LORD says:
3. "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb:
4. even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."
*There are countless more great things we could say about the Lord God, but here in 1 John 4, the Apostle John stressed God's love, and that is surely one of His most important qualities. God's love is such an essential part of His character that twice in this chapter, both in verse 8 and in verse 16, John simply says, "God is love." Thank God that He is love! And today's Scripture shows us four life changing effects of His great love. God's love can change everything for you!
1. FIRST: HIS LOVE CAN SHINE THROUGH US.
*We see this truth for Christians in vs. 11-12. Here John wrote:
11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
*Notice first that when John said, "No man has seen God at any time," he was talking about God the Father. This is almost exactly the same thing that John wrote in His Gospel. John 1:18 says, "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
*Jesus confirmed this truth in John 6:44-47, where the Lord said:
44. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
45. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
46. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."
*This is also why in John 14:6, on the night before the cross, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
*Now, Daniel 7:9-14 does tell us that the prophet saw a vision of God the Father in a dream. There the Father is called "the Ancient of Days," and God the Son is called "the Son of Man." But no man has seen God the Father at any time in this world. This truth also means that every time God appeared in the Old Testament, it was the pre-incarnate LORD Jesus Christ. (1)
*It was the Lord Jesus who talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was Jesus who appeared to Abraham and Sarah, Jacob, David, and many other Old Testament heroes. Then the Lord came down and was born on the first Christmas Day. God the Son humbled Himself to become a human being, reveal Himself as the only begotten Son of God, and die on the cross for our sins.
*Now our Risen Savior has returned to Heaven. But Christians: People can still see God in us. They can see God in the way we live our lives, and they can see the love of God in the way we love one another. That's why in vs. 11-12 John said, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us."
*J. Vernon McGee explained that "The point John was making here is that God can manifest Himself today through Christians loving each other. And since people in general are not seeing Jesus in the Word of God. The only way they will know of God's love is through the lives of believers who represent Him."
*In short, Church: The only Bible some people may ever read is us. John Phillips added that "just as people could see the presence of the invisible God in the character, conduct, and conversation of Jesus, even so God is now living in us. Therefore, people ought to see Him in us by the way we display what He is." And one of the main things they need to see is love, because again, verses 8 and 16 tell us that "God is love." (2)
*God's love can shine through us. It's the same truth Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:14-16 the Lord said:
14. "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
*Now, the only reason we can be the light of the world is because Jesus is the capital "L" Light of the world. In John 8:12 Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
*Church: The only way that we can shine is to allow Jesus to shine through us. And what an honor that He is willing to shine through us! King Duncan explained: "Can you imagine that? Here was a motley crew of farmers and fishermen and tax collectors and housewives in a tiny and remote village in an obscure part of the world, and Jesus was saying to them: 'You are the light of the world.' Talk about a crazy idea! Light of the world? That bunch? It must have sounded absurd at the time even to them. Only Jesus could have seen that through this motley crew, God would indeed change the world forever. 'You are the light of the world,' Jesus said. And so they were, and so we are." (3)
*But God's love in vs. 12 being "perfected in us" does not mean that we are perfect yet, like God is perfect with perfect love. No. The original word for "perfected" has the idea of "finishing" or "accomplishing." William MacDonald explained that "'perfected' here means that when we love others, God's love for us has achieved its ultimate goal. We are never intended to be just receivers of God's love, but channels of His love. God's love is given to us, not that we might hoard it for ourselves, but that it might be poured out through us to others." (4)
*Other people desperately need to see the light of God's love shining through us! Barrow, Alaska is located 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The sun goes down in Barrow on November 18th, and it doesn't come back up again until January 23rd. Can you imagine how glad they are to see the light? (5)
*James Cox told about a man who lived near the North Pole during three months of darkness. He said, "I ached and hungered to see the dawn." He was desperate to see the light of the rising sun. But it is infinitely more important for people to see the light of the Risen Savior shining in us today! (6)
*Christians, 1 Peter 2:9 tells us: "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. We have even been called the light of the world, because we know Jesus, the ultimate Light of the world! And now His love can shine through us.
2. BUT HERE'S ANOTHER GREAT BLESSING FROM GOD'S LOVE: HE DWELLS IN US, AND WE DWELL IN HIM.
*We see this great truth in vs. 12-16 where John said:
12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
13. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
15. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
*Christians we are literally and spiritually connected to God. He is in us, and we are in Him. This truth shows up in the original word translated as "remain," "abide," "stay" or "dwell." When we believe in Jesus Christ, when we put our trust in Him, when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior, we begin to dwell together in a double way.
[1] FIRST: GOD THE FATHER AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST LIVE IN US.
*This is the work of the Holy Spirit that began after Jesus returned home to Heaven. Jesus explained this on the night before the cross. For example, in John 14:23 Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." Acts 2 records the beginning of this new coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. And now, Christians, God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are literally dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit of God.
*God is our ever-present roommate in us so to speak. John mentions it 4 times in today's Scripture. By His Holy Spirit, God dwells in us, so it's a mutual home, and it's a mobile home. Jesus Christ is with us wherever we go! In Hebrews 13:5 "He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.''' And He never will. Both God the Father and God the Son are our ever-present roommate through the Holy Spirit of God.
[2] GOD IS LIVING IN US, CHRISTIANS. BUT EVEN MORE AMAZING TO ME, WE ARE ALSO LIVING IN HIM.
*That's because when we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit puts us into the spiritual Body of Christ, which is His Church. Paul explained this to us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, where he said, "For as the body (that is, our physical body) is one and has many members (or parts), but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."
*This is not just symbolic language. This is a mysterious, literal, spiritual truth. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become a part of the Body of Christ. We are baptized into the spiritual body of our Lord.
*This means we have been totally submerged into the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. And the water baptism we go through is symbolic of this spiritual baptism that God performs on every believer. Verse 13 there tells us that the Holy Spirit of God does this work of putting us into the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. And from the moment we believe, we are literally in Christ.
*The phrases "in Christ," "in Christ Jesus" or "in the Lord" are used almost 100 times in the New Testament, so this is extremely important. Listen to a few of the verses that talk about believers being "in Christ."
-Romans 8:1 says: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."
-Then in Romans 16:7, Paul said: "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
-2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
-Ephesians 2:13 says: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ."
-And Ephesians 2:6 tells us that God "raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
*Christians: In a spiritual way, we are already in Heaven right now, because we are in the spiritual Body of Christ. That is an amazing, miraculous place to be, and it should give us strong assurance of our salvation.
*We are ever present in Him. John mentions this truth 3 times in today's Scripture. Christians, right now, we dwell in God because of His great love. He lives in our mobile home, and at the same time, we get to spiritually live in the Master's home, the spiritual Body of Christ.
3. AND THESE AMAZING BLESSINGS COULD ONLY HAPPEN BECAUSE GOD THE FATHER SENT THE SON AS SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.
*The best place to we can ever see God's love is on the cross of Jesus Christ! That's why John points us to the cross in vs. 14 where he said, "We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world."
*Everyone but Jesus Christ is a sinner who needed a Savior. And we know this, because Romans 3:23 tells us that all of us "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, how righteous are you? Richard Wilson made a great point when he said, "Some folks think they are really good people. But let's suppose that a person only sins 3 times a day: A sin in the morning, a sin during the day and a sin at night. That sounds like a pretty good person to me. But if that person lives to be 70 years old, they will commit 76,650 sins in their lifetime. And that doesn't count leap years." (7)
*Church: That also doesn't count all the good things we should have been doing when we were wasting our time on sin. The truth is that all of us have sinned a whole lot more than we think. And some of us have sinned more than others, but all of us have sinned, so all of us need Jesus!
*Alan Perkins explained that this is "because God is completely holy, and His standard is perfect righteousness. It doesn't matter if you're a little better than someone else, or even a lot better than someone else. You're still guilty of sin. You're still condemned. The person who jumps halfway across the Grand Canyon winds up just as dead as the person who only jumps 8 feet out from the cliff. They both fall a mile to the bottom. That's why we must depend on Christ's perfect righteousness to make us right with God. Our goodness will never be enough. We can't make it to heaven by even the most outstanding attempts at good behavior." (8)
*But Jesus Christ died on the cross to take all of the punishment for our sin. And three days later Jesus rose again from the dead! Now our Risen Lord is able to give His eternal life to everyone who will believe in Him. And it's all because of God's great love. As Jesus said in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
4. THE OTHER GREAT BLESSING IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE IS THAT WE CAN HAVE TOTAL CONFIDENCE IN GOD'S LOVE.
*This great truth is in vs. 15-16, where John said, "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."
*When John mentioned "knowing" the love of God in vs. 16, he was not talking about just knowing facts about God. He was not talking about knowing God in a casual way. This original word for "know" was talking about experiencing God in a close, personal relationship. That's the kind of relationship John had with God. It's also the kind of relationship God wants to have with us. God wants us to have total confidence in Him, and we can because He is always worthy of our trust.
*Back in 2002, our daughter Katie was still in high school. We pulled into Walmart one day, and I saw the "Jews for Jesus" bus. You may know that they are a great group of Christian Jews who witness to other Jews all over the world. Their teams also sing and present how Jesus can be clearly seen in the Old Testament Passover Meal.
*That day, one of the teams had a concert at the Senior Citizens Center, in West Monroe, and they stopped at Walmart, on their way to Shreveport. I was getting their newsletter, so I pulled over to try to meet them. When I knocked on the bus door, Katie was embarrassed to death at first, but we had a great visit with a beautiful young lady originally from Israel. Her name was Rivka.
*I asked Rivka how she got saved. She told me it was through the prayers and witness of other Jewish Christians. Rivka finally realized that Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews, and she trusted in the Lord. She told me, "If you are praying for someone, don't give up! That man prayed for me for two years before I got saved."
*Rivka then told us about her plan to go back to Israel to start a Christian ministry with her fiancé. There were a lot of terrorist attacks going on at the time, so I asked her if she was nervous about it. Without missing a beat, Rivka replied, "The safest place that we can ever be is right smack in the center of God's will."
CONCLUSION:
*Rivka had total confidence in God's love, and Christians, so can we! Aren't you glad you have a relationship with the true and living God? His love for us is so perfect that God's Word can boldly say that "God is love." And we can have total confidence in His love.
*But remember that He wants us to pass His love on to everyone we possibly can. God wants us to let other people see the love of the Lord in us. Let's ask Him to help us. And if you have never put your trust in Jesus Christ, please believe that God's love can change everything for you too! Call on our crucified and risen Lord to save you now, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Daniel 7:9 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-Adapted from BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "Daniel's Dream of Four Beasts Depicting Four World Empires" - Daniel 7:1-28 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(2) Sources:
-THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - "God Is Love: Little Children Will Love Each Other" - 1 John 4:7-21 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-EXPLORING THE EPISTLES OF JOHN by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "God's Love Perfected in Us" - 1 John 4:12-13 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
(3) Adapted from Sermons.com sermon "Let My Little Light Shine" by King Duncan - Matthew 5:13-16
(4) Adapted from BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "Marks of Those in the Christian Fellowship Cont. - 1 John 4:7-5:20
(5) Sources:
-http://www.freshministry.org/illustrations/051705.html#LIGHT
-http://www.alaska.com/about/weather/story/4481284p-4773632c.html
(6) Adapted from James W. Cox, "The Minister's Manual: 1995" - San Fransico - Harper Collins, 1994, p. 290 - Source: Sermonillustrations.com - 01/04/2004
(7) Adapted from SermonCentral illustration contributed by Richard Wilson
(8) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "The Tax Collector and the Pharisee" by Alan Perkins - Luke 18:9-14
