PERFECTING LOVE - Chapt 4
I/ GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Introduction:
We need the power of God to win souls, to bring people into fellowship with God and the Church. In Zec 4:6 the bible says it is: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
Here in the forth chapter of John we are warned that the believer should try every spirit. The false teachers of John’s day could lay claim to both persuasiveness and popularity. They were inspired men with wide popular support, yet they were not of God.
A/ Test the spirits: - verse 1
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world"
The criteria of power must obviously be defined with care. Inspiration can come from many quarters. Men were speaking apparently under an inspiration as real as that of any Christian prophet, and yet proclaiming doctrines or teachings that were radically unchristian.
Ecstatic, inspired utterance was an accepted sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, both in the gift of "tongues" and in the ministry of the "prophets". But in Rev 16:13-14 it says "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. " and in 2 Cor 11:14-15 it says "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works".
B/ How to Distinguish False from True: - verse 2 and 3
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world"
In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 a "prophet...or a dreamer of dreams" giving "a sign or a wonder" but counseling idolatry, is to be rejected forthwith. Paul’s prescription for distinguishing false from true is plain:
"I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ’Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ’Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit". The fundamental doctrine of Christianity is the Lordship of Christ, and by this doctrine the true inspiration is to be judged.
John’s test is the same: the fundamental doctrine involved a true incarnation, and by this the inspiration of the false prophets is exposed. "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God"
As the test of spirits lies in the witness to the incarnation, so the test of men lies in the recognition of this truth. The issue is between Christ and Antichrist, between truth and falsehood, between God and His enemy.
C/ Who can do this? - verse 4-6
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world"
He is in us and "guides us into all truth" Truth may be unpopular, but it will stand. All that is Antichrist will go down in final defeat. The God who is greater than our own hearts, in wisdom and in mercy, is greater also than the forces of error and falsehood in the world.
II/ THE THEOLOGY OF LOVE - verses 7-11
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
A/ Love is of God - Love comes from God:
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God"
The best that the unchristian world can do is a union on mutual interests. But love for the unlovely, and for the unloving, sacrificial and lasting is something supernatural, even superhuman, beyond the comprehension of the unsaved world. This kind of love is strictly and exclusively "of God".
B/ Those who are "born again" love: "and every one that loveth is born of God"
God’s life and character necessarily manifest themselves in those who His children "he who loves is born of God". Merely emotional, or intellectual, or doctrinal, or mystical conceptions of the new birth will not satisfy John (or God). Those who are really spiritual are those who love. Love defines who the real Christians are! As God is righteous, they who do right are born of Him; as love is of the divine nature, so those possessing that nature will show it by loving.
C/ There is no Knowledge of God apart from Love: "and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God"
They alone know God who are willing to learn love, for the loveless heart has never understood what God is like. God’s power, eternity, majesty, wisdom, judgement, may be perceived, and feared: but they will not be fully understood, and God Himself will not be known, except we love. "He who loves... knows God. He who does not love does not know God", it is as plain as that!
D/ Finally, Vs 8 "God is Love":
Judaism and Greek philosophy had learned that God is Spirit, Judaism and Gnosticism had learned that God is light, but only Christianity saw the one truth worth all languages in earth or heaven - God is love! John means it is the nature and property of God to be merciful, bountiful, faithful, abounding in grace, over-flowing in loving-kindness, patience, and tender-heartedness, dealing with us in steadfast righteousness, and ever seeking our highest good. Paul says that nothing named in heaven or on the earth can separate us from it (Rom 8:38-39). All God’s activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love" He cannot help it: for God is love!
E/ What God is - is learned from what God does: - verse 9 & 10
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins"
John insists that the initiative is God’s. Love (again) originates in God, and the meaning of love must be deduced from the divine action of God. "For God so loved the world that he gave"
F/ The evangelical imperative: - verse 11
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another"
We would think that he would have gone on to say we ought also to love God, but he does not. For it is the nature of love to pour itself out for others, and it rests not until it has reproduced itself in those it loves.
Chapt 4 verse 12 - PERFECT LOVE REVEALS GOD
"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us"
God is only seen by a lost world in the sacrificial love shared by Christians. As the saying goes "We are the only bible a careless world reads". In witnessing to lost people, I have had them say "I am as good as so-and-so who is a deacon in his church". Others have been cheated or lied to by so called Christians. In deciding if something is right or wrong, consider what it will do to your testimony! In other words, if you love the lost you will be careful for their soul.
Some Christians are not sure they are saved. The question is how can they convince someone else to accept Christ if they are not sure Christ will keep them?
III/ THE BASES OF CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE:
A/ verse 13 - THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SPIRIT
"Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit"
What evidence do we have that we have been given His Spirit?
A new appetite for spiritual things?
A desire for prayer as much as in answers to prayer?
A desire for assurance that we are his?
A consciousness of a new standard of conduct?
New promptings and obligations concerning things to do or not to do?
New Hope? New Joy? New Peace?
These are real factors comprising a new quality of life, and are sure evidence that the Spirit of Jesus is dealing with us in love - that "the Spirit is given us"
B/ verse 14 - THE EXPERIENCE OF HISTORY
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world"
We must note that what we have is not just a matter of individual memories, but of the corporate memory of a living Church. The early Christians only had the word of a few, we have the word of a historic foundation with all the saints stretching backwards to the beginning. My Grandmother was saved, my mother was saved and on and on. Nor is this simply witness of record and recall: it is a sharing of experienced fact - not just that Jesus lived, but that He was the Savior of the world.
C/ verse 15 - THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION
"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God"
Those who have received the Lord have done so through His Word, and His Word says "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" There is assurance in knowing that you have called upon the name of the Lord and that God’s promise of salvation is true.
In John 3, the beloved apostle calls it being "born again". Just as it did not take a life-time to be born physically, it does not take a life-time to be born again. Rather, the new birth occurs in that moment that man truly "calls upon the name of the Lord".
IV/ THE CONTENT OF CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE
verse 16 - THE PRIME AXIOM OF CHRISTIANITY
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."
We must both know theologically and experientially that God is love, and loves us. That God is for us, in all circumstances, against all enemies, in the face of all needs, and in answer to all accusations. The content of Christian assurance must not be extended to cover all the range of personal religious opinions that seem to be important to us. "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" The gospel cannot be reduced to greater brevity.
In Pilgrims progress written by John Bunyan, Little-Faith dwelt in the town of sincere, and his "mind was upon things divine", but he was brutally attacked by three brothers, Faint-heart, Mistrust, and Guilt, and robbed of all his spending-money, leaving him "scarce enough to bring him to his journey’s end".
He was forced to beg and almost all the rest of the journey scattered nothing but doleful and bitter complaints. Yet Christian defends him kindly because like Mr Fearing "he would not go back". You see the gospel ceases to be "good news" if one cannot know if they are saved. It is of course right that Little-faith and Mr Fearing should be gently dealt with: but Christ offers assurance, and this assurance is bound up in John’s prime axiom "we have known and believed the love that God hath to us".
III/ THE FRUIT OF ASSURANCE
verse 17 - THE FEARLESSNESS OF LOVE
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as he is so are we in this world"
The fruit of assurance is that special kind of confidence or frank fearlessness which John has already referred to in 2:28, 3:21 and will presently speak of as boldness in prayer in 5:14. Here, this confident boldness faces its severest test, the day of the final judgement of God. Only perfect love will bring boldness in the day of judgement. Remember in verse 12 John said "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us". Remember also that Jesus faced the judgement of men, the awful judgement of the cross: yet His relationship with the Father was never less than the perfect confidence of love.
verse 18 - THE LOVELESSNESS OF FEAR
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love"
In the 21st chapter of Revelation, John says "the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death"
Fear cannot generate love, or sympathy, or tenderness, or compassion. If a church member is without love, they are without God for God is love. Those whose lives are ruled by fear of punishment or the loss of God’s love cannot know God because "fear hath torment".
verse 19 - HOW WE CAME TO LOVE
"We love Him, because he first loved us"
Love always descends. A mother loves her child more than the child loves the mother. God loves us more than we can love him. The love of God passes knowledge; man cannot grasp it. We will need all eternity to fathom the love of God."Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins His Love came first while we were yet in sin.
verse 20 - THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen"
Love and hate cannot coexist. God’s love is missing if we hate. We can be disappointed in another, but we must not hate. Hate reveals self will and the lack of God’s presence.
verse 21 - LOVE IS NOT AN OPTION
"And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his
brother also"
If we really want to know what will make Jesus happy, if we really want to know his will, if we really want to know about Him, then we will "love one another"
