INTRODUCTION…

L-O-V-E: Love is everywhere in this passage. Today we talk about our love for the Lord and our love for one another.

We talk a lot about love in our lives. I love my wife.

I love my daughter. I love my family. We feel complete when we have those people we love and love us back.

I love those Take 5 bars that Hershey makes. I love nature. I love my co-workers. Love is more than just a word. Depending on what you “love” that word can mean so many different things.

I feel complete knowing God’s love and me loving Him back. But I do question, what proofs of my love are there? Do I prove it by showing the type of love to Him that I need to show?

John mentions the word love 32 times in this passage. I’ve always loved John as a writer.

There are 3 things that John teaches us through this section.

Love shows proof of us being born of God

We need to understand that love originated with God. God is love. There is a supernatural love that flows from who He is and how he designed us.

We were made to have a love relationship with God in the garden. There should be some heart break when we read the story of original sin in the garden and God’s response.

Chuck DeGroat brings up in Healing What’s Within the questions that God asks them.
-Where Are You?
-Who Told You?
-Have You Eaten from the tree?

There is a loving, tender care here. I don’t believe these questions of scorn, but rather questions of compassion and care. God knew where they were. God knew who told them. God knew they ate from the tree.

God is so compassionate and caring that even though we are still in sin everyday, that He sent His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for us.

I am reading through OT sacrifices right now. Since the beginning God has been compassionate for His people. He wanted them to have a way to Him at all times.

There was an atoning sacrifice that needed to happen for His people. There was a propitiation that needed to happen for His people.

Our passage today goes on to say if we don’t love, than we don’t know God and His love.
-How convicting is this today?
-Who can say that they have not been loving this week?
-Is there someone in your life that you are not being loving to with forgiveness?

Love is true to who we are because we are made in the image of God. This is who we are supposed to be. It is the first fruit of the Spirit. There is a big difference with fruits of the Spirit and Spiritual gifts.

So if God is compassionate and His love flows freely, so should ours. We should be compassionate like Him. He is our perfect example of what love should look like.

We cannot love God and hate a brother or sister. These two things cannot go together.

LOVE IS THE VISIBLE TRUTH OF OUR FAITH IN HIM

So, maybe the Spirit is speaking to you right now. Who are you withholding this love from? I’d challenge you with the question “Are you being convicted to handle this today?”

2. Confessing Christ & Knowing the Father

Do you know God’s voice? Adam knew God was around when he hid from Him. Can you feel His presence? Do you hear when He speaks back to you?

God was the initiator of love for us today by sending His Son. He has initiated love for us since the beginning. Read John 3:16-17

There are so many who say that they are “Christian” just because they were raised in the church. But can you say that you know His voice personally in your life? Is He present in your everyday life?

This is so much more than a generic belief in His name. This is a personal trust in Jesus and what he has done for each of us.

This is much more than just an intellectual agreement. This is so much more than knowing some Bible verses by heart. As I spoke about last time I was up here…what is the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.

What outward expression of faith are we making today? LOVE!
-This can look like obedience to Him in baptism, expression of His love to others, prayer over others, so much more.

In this, we can have a confidence in the day of judgment. We know that because of His love for us, and we showed this love to others, and we KNOW GOD, that we have been glorified in His presence.

David Platt says in Counter Culture “...the gospel claims that eternity is at stake in how you and I respond to Jesus.”

So, now God’s love and our responses drives out any fear about the end of time. Know that there is a judgment coming!

Tim Keller states in The Importance of Hell “If Jesus, the Lord of LOVE and Author of Grace spoke about hell more often, and in a more vivid, blood-curdling manner than anyone else, it must be a crucial truth.”

But because we believe and we confess…we know His true love. We know the face of God, because we know His Son.

3. Live in Victory through Obedience & Overcoming

Chapter 5 begins as a reminder that if we are Christian, we believe Jesus Christ in the Son of God.

Jesus is part of the triune God and wee recognizes that Jesus always was and always in. He was there in the beginning and he will be there in the end.

As Mike was saying last week, this is an important fact to us as Christians. That Jesus is not a created being. He is not, as some believe, an archangel or a created sibling of Lucifer.

Part of our understanding of God comes down to “are we being obedient” to Him and to what He tells us about His Son?

Now, many can take this and get very legalistic about “are you following rules?”

But obedience to Him is not legalism, it a form of worship to Him.

Psalm 19:7-11 says:

“The instruction of the Lord is perfect,
renewing one’s life;
the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.

The precepts of the Lord are right,
making the heart glad;
the command of the Lord is radiant,
making the eyes light up.

The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are reliable
and altogether righteous.

They are more desirable than gold—
than an abundance of pure gold;
and sweeter than honey
dripping from a honeycomb.

In addition, your servant is warned by them,
and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.”

HIS WAYS ARE GOOD!

His ways are all meant for the betterment of His creation. They are created to have a more loving relationship with the father; not as a burden.
While those in the world may see God’s commands as restrictive; the believer sees them as a blessing to draw us nearer to Abba.

So, lastly we come to a natural break in John’s letter in verse 4; or a finishing statement as he begins to close out 1 John.

John makes a declaration to the whole church. Christians, we are made to conquer the world. Not in the way you think, but in the way that we know victory in Jesus!

We know what happens in the end. We know that God will conquer over sin. God will one day conquer over ALL! Faith in Christ will conquer over all sins, all fear, all temptation, and all the lies that this world has to offer.