This Is Love - Part 2

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You know, in a fallen world like ours, it is not uncommon to hear someone say something like this to someone that they're in a relationship with; “If you love me, you will…(Fill in the blank.) you'll do this or you'll do that; if you love me, then you'll demonstrate that love, you'll prove that love by doing this thing that I'm asking you to do.” That immediately raises the question, “Why?” Why exactly does human love need to be proven?

Well, there are several reasons. One reason is because it's easy to sincerely claim to love others when, in fact, you have a misunderstanding about the nature of love, and there's no objective evidence to prove that you truly love that person. Another reason is because it's easy to lie; it's easy for human beings to lie and say that they love others when, in fact, they don't. They're simply using that relationship and that person for their own selfish ends. A third reason that it's sometimes necessary to prove human love is that it's easy for human affection to grow cold. And a fourth reason is it's easy for people to change their minds, and to change their wills, and to stop loving.

I think one of the saddest phrases in human relationships is to hear someone who's been involved in a relationship for a long period of time in a marriage, say, “I don't love you anymore.” It's important to understand the frailty of human love because we need to compare and contrast that with what we're going to study together this morning. God's love is radically different.

None of those things are true of God and His love. And yet, in spite of that, at the same time, He still demonstrates, He still puts His love for us on display, for our benefit, for our confidence. And today, it is my joy to to teach and for you to listen and get to study together “The Greatest Demonstration of God's Love.” There is no greater demonstration of the love of God than we will study together this morning.

Now we've just begun the third and final movement in this letter as John cycles back through the three great tests of eternal life. Today, we continue our study of the third and final time that John emphasizes the test of “Love for God and Love for His People.” This test runs from chapter 4, verse 7, all the way down through verse 21, to the end of the chapter. But for today, I just want to read for you what we covered last time and the part of the passage that we'll cover today. So, let's read together, chapter 4, verse 7, down through verse 12; you follow along as I read.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this 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 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 is perfected in us.

John begins this section on love with a clear statement of his theme, and it's an “Exhortation” there at the beginning of verse 7, “Beloved, let us love one another,” let us love. He urges us here to consistently love; he uses the present tense, “Be loving one another,” that is your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. True Christians, as we've already learned in this letter, are called to, commanded by Christ, and here are exhorted to love God's people, not with normal human love, but a divine love that is implanted in us by the Holy Spirit at the new birth. It's a love that's expressed sacrificially, practically, and relationally. So, the first part of 7 is the exhortation.

And the rest of this passage explains why, why this is a moral imperative, why it is your duty and mine to fulfill. So, in the middle of verse 7, down through verse 21, lists several compelling reasons that we should love our fellow believers. Last time, we studied just the first of those reasons in verse 7 and 8, “God's Unchanging Nature of Love.” He explains himself at the end of both verses, in verse 7, actually, in the middle of verse 7, he says, “God is the only source of this love.” He says, “love is from God.” The only place this love ever comes from as its original source is God. And then at the end of verse 8, he says, “God is love in His essence,” God is love. He doesn't have love, He is eternally, completely, love; it permeates everything that He is–He is love.

Then in verses 7 and 8, we saw that reality of God's unchanging nature “Applied.” First of all, it's applied “Positively,” in verse 7, “…everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” And “Negatively” in verse 8, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” If you want to know whether or not you're a genuine Christian, whatever it is you claim, if you want to know whether you truly belong to Christ, look at how you love your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This is an essential test of the reality of our faith. So, the first reason we should love our fellow brothers and sisters is “God's Unchanging Nature.”

Now today, we consider a second reason that we must love, and it's in verses 9 through 12, “God's Unparalleled Demonstration of Love,” God's unparalleled demonstration of love. Not only is God love, but God has demonstrated, He has displayed that love for the universe to see. That's the message of verses 9 through 12. In eternity past, God has demonstrated that love in the relationships within the Trinity and even to His own in eternity past. Ephesians 1 says, “…He chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world…In love, He predestined us (unto the) adoption as sons (and daughters).” So, in eternity past He demonstrated that love. And throughout human history, God has demonstrated His love to mankind in numerous ways. But the ultimate way the Father has demonstrated His love for His own is by willingly giving up His beloved Son to save us. That's John's main point in these verses. The Father has demonstrated His love best through His Son.

Now, verses 9 and 10, we see that reality ‘Explained;” and then in verses 11 through 12, we see it “Applied.” So, let's start with “God's Unparalleled Demonstration of Love Explained.” The main point of verses 9 and 10, don't miss this; the main point of these verses is that God has loved you, Christian, and your Christian brothers and sisters. And He has done so powerfully, undeniably, demonstrably.

Look at verse 9. “By this the love of God was manifested in us.” God's love was manifested. The Greek word means ‘to cause to become known, to disclose, to show;’ God's love was manifested, it was disclosed, it was made known, it was shown for what it is in two extraordinary ways. In verse 9, we learn, first of all, that “God Demonstrated His love in Christ's Incarnation;” He demonstrated his love in Christ's incarnation. Verse 9 says, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”

By this or by this means, that expression points forward to the statement that follows the demonstrative pronoun ‘that.’ “By this” means that God has sent His Son, His only begotten Son into the world. When the Word became flesh, God provided us with a concrete demonstration of His love, and notice, He did so in history, He did it in “us.” Now, that expression could mean in us individually who are believers. More likely it means, as the marginal reading has it even in your NAS, “among us.” In other words, in the objective historical event of the Incarnation, that is, Jesus becoming a man, God demonstrated or displayed His amazing love.

Now, He demonstrated this love in the Incarnation in several ways. First of all, He demonstrated it “By Whom He Sent,” by whom He sent. Notice verse 9, “By this the love of God was manifested (among) us, that God has sent His only begotten Son.” Now, as I've explained to you before, the Greek language is an inflected language; you can tell the way a word functions in the sentence by its ending. So, you can move the word anywhere in the sentence you want. And in Greek you often move the word you want to emphasize to the beginning of the sentence. And that's actually what John does here. Let me read it to you literally; this is how it reads from the Greek text, “His only begotten Son, God has sent.” You get the point of emphasis. Look at who He sent. The Greek word translated ‘only begotten’ is the word ‘monogenese,’ ‘monogenese,’ two Greek words; ‘mono’ meaning ‘only,’ and ‘genese’ meaning ‘begotten,’ “only begotten,” monogenese.

This refers not to what happened in the Incarnation, but rather this refers to His eternal, intra-Trinitarian relationship with the Father. This word ‘monogenese’ contains two concepts really formed from those two different words, ‘mono’ or ‘only’ speaks of His uniqueness. He is the “One-of-a-kind,” the only one-of-a-kind, He is the unique Son of God. He is, in fact, the Son of God by nature. He's not like I am a son of God, I am an adopted son of God; He is “One-of-a-kind Son,” He is the Son of God by nature.

John 1:14, “…the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, (and the glory we saw was) …as of the only begotten from the Father.” So, ‘mono’ points up to His uniqueness.

‘Genese,’ the other part of the word ‘monogenes’ means ‘begotten,’ and that word speaks of His deity and His equality with the Father. Theologians refer to this as eternal generation. It means the Son was not created in the classic creedal expression, He was begotten, not created. It means He is eternally God the Son. He is the second person of the Trinity. And His relation to the first person, the Father, is that they are both self-existent, co-eternal, consubstantial, they have the same essence, and equal in power and glory.

So, let me say it negatively because a lot of Christians get really confused about this idea of ‘only begotten.’ The titles ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ do not imply a beginning of the Son's existence. When we think of ‘Father-Son,’ that's how we think; that's not what this term describes. It's not the beginning of the Son's existence; it doesn't imply a physical begetting of the Son like the Mormons teach; nor does it teach that there is any eternal subordination of the Son to the Father in terms of their essence.

So, what does it mean? It describes what Calvin called an “order of relations, not of essence,” an order of relations, not of essence. That's why we speak of the first person of the Trinity, the second person of the Trinity, and the third person of the Trinity. It doesn't mean they aren't co-equal, co-eternal, sharing the same essence. It means there is an order of relations. And that's the way this term ‘Son’ is used.

God demonstrated His love for us by sending His only-begotten-Son, His one-of-a-kind, unique, no one like Him, the only Son by nature, He sent Him into the world. The word ‘sent’ by the way, is an interesting word. It's the verb form of the noun ‘apostle.’ It describes someone as having been sent on a mission. The Father has sent, John says, “No one less than His only-begotten Son on a mission to earth because of His love, because of the Father's love.” That's why in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 15, Paul calls Jesus, “God's indescribable gift,” what else could He give? As the ensemble sang this morning, “When He gave His Son, He emptied heavens reserve,” there was nothing else greater that He could have given. What else does He have to do to prove His love?

God also demonstrated His amazing love in the Incarnation “By where He Sent Him,” by where He sent Him. Notice verse 9 again, “By this the love of God was manifested in (among) us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world.” Here, the word ‘world’ is referring simply to the earth, the planet that we live on. You see, the One who created all things entered the very world He Himself created. John 1, verses 10 and 11, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own.” And the way the Greek language is structured there, it has the idea of He came to His own things, He came to His own possessions, He came into his own domain. This was His world, and He came into it.

Can you imagine what that would have been like? We really can't. But just think for a moment, think what it would have been like to have been in the perfect holy presence of Heaven, to be God, enjoying the glories of worship of the angels, to be perfectly holy, and only to have been surrounded forever with perfect holiness. And then to come into the cesspool that is this planet, filled with depravity and all kinds of unimaginable sin. Think of how your own soul is troubled when you read the news or you stumble across something on the internet, and you cannot believe it. Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been God's only Son who came into the world?

But not only did God demonstrate His love by the fact that He sent His Son into the world, but let's step out of our text just for a moment to make a very important point. He demonstrated His love “By How He Sent Him,” by how He sent Him. You see, in the Old Testament, the eternal Son of God appeared in the world, this world that He had made, on many different occasions. And He took on some form, often a human form. He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. He showed up with Abraham in Genesis 18 and 19. He was in the burning bush in Exodus 3, and on it goes to the Old Testament. In fact, I would argue, and I have argued, that every Old Testament appearance of God is an appearance, a Christophany, a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

But Bethlehem was entirely different. Look at verse 2, we studied this already, but look at it. “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) has come in the flesh is from God.” He didn't just come into the world; He came into the world as one of us. Look at Galatians, chapter 4, verse 4:

But when the fullness of the time came, (when everything was just right, when God's plan reached its Apex) God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

God sent forth His Son into the world, not like He had in the Old Testament, to show up and leave, but rather to become like us in every way except for sin. He came in the flesh. This is such an important issue to understand. My own soul was deeply troubled on Easter; there was a pastor of a nearby church that said Jesus was eternally God, which is right; but then he added, “When He became man, (And this is almost verbatim.) He completely gave up His divinity, He gave up his Godhead.” That's heresy! In the Incarnation, Jesus became the God-Man. He became one person with two whole distinct natures. From His conception, He was and always will be, fully God and fully man. He never gave up anything that relates to being God because to do so would mean he stopped being God, and God doesn't exist. God demonstrated His love by sending His eternal Son in the flesh.

A fourth way He demonstrated His love in the incarnation is “By Those for Whom He Sent Him.” Notice the pronoun ‘we’ in verse 9. That includes John, as well as all believers. And notice how he describes us. He says in verse 9, “…that we might live.” Now you tell me what is implied about us prior to God sending His Son in that statement? If His point in coming was “that we might live,” it means God sent His only begotten Son into the world for us who were spiritually dead! Ephesians 2:1, “…you were dead in your trespasses and sins,” spiritually dead to God, facing physical death, and even worse, facing eternal death in hell forever. Dead because we were born, conceived in sin, born in sin, and then twice dead because we chose our trespasses and sin as well. Verse 10 speaks of “our sins.” These are the people, this is us for whom He came, “our sins.” And because of those sins, Ephesians 2:3 says, “…we…were by nature children of (God's) wrath,” we were under the holy wrath of God. But God loves sinners, and He sent His Son for us, who had violated His Law, who were subjected to His wrath, and who deserved only His justice. God sent His Son, not because we deserved His love, but because He is love. And God demonstrated His love in the Incarnation, by whom He sent, by where He sent Him, by how He sent Him, by those for whom He sent Him.

And finally, “By Why He Sent Him.” Verse 9 ends this way, “By this the love of God was manifested in (among) us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that (Here's the reason.) we might live through Him.” The Father sent the Son so that we who were spiritually dead might become spiritually alive through Him. He came as one of us so that we might have eternal life through Him. Verse 9 doesn't answer a crucial question that comes up immediately, and that is how? How did He enable us to have eternal life? Well, verse 9 says that “God Demonstrated His love in Christ's Incarnation.”

But in verse 10, we learn a second point that answers the question, how? “God Demonstrated His Love in Christ’s Propitiation,” God demonstrated His love in Christ’s propitiation. Look at verse 10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. “In this,” again, points forward to the statement that follows the demonstrative pronoun ‘that.’ Let's work our way there. Verse 10 begins, “In this (literally) is the love.” And the use the definite article here is to talk about a particular kind of love; the kind of love he's been talking about. “In this is the kind of love I've been talking about; here's what that kind of love consists of, here is what love is,” and then he develops it for us. He begins by telling us that this is “The Motive of God” Himself.

Verse 10, “…not that we (literally, not that we ourselves) loved God.” You see, the love that John's talking about in this passage is not defined by spontaneous human love for God, “Well, I just love God.” It doesn't happen. Fallen human beings do not naturally love the true God of the Bible. They might love a god of their own making, they might love the one they've shaped in their own image, but they don't love The True Biblical God! That's not how love is defined. Verse 10 goes on to say, “…but that He (literally, that He Himself) loved us.” Notice ‘loved;’ it doesn't mean He doesn't still love us, but this word ‘loved’ points back to Bethlehem and the incarnation and back to Calvary, and His propitiation. We can only really understand true love by examining God's love for us in Christ. That is what motivated God.

Christian, just think about this for a moment. I want you to grapple with this, I want you to let this sink deep into your soul. What motivated God to offer His only begotten Son for you was that He loved you, He loved you. That's “The Motive of God.”

Verse 10 goes on to describe “The Plan of God.” Because He loved us, notice, “He sent His Son,” this was the plan, “He sent His Son.” You see, the death of Christ was not an afterthought, it wasn't Plan B. From all eternity, it's been Plan A. In eternity past, the Father, in concert with the other members of the Trinity who are one will and one mind, devised the eternal plan of redemption. And that plan called for the Son to accomplish our salvation and for the Holy Spirit to apply it to us in the new birth. It was a plan conceived in eternity past. That's why scripture constantly refers to the Son’s redeeming work as part of a predetermined plan.

If you take notes, jot these references down, I won't take you to each of them, but this is where you see the plan unfold. Luke 22:22, Jesus says, “…the Son of Man is going (He meant going toward death and suffering.) as it has been determined.” Who determined it? Well, Acts 2, verse 23, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter says this, speaking of Jesus, “…this Man, (was) delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,” it was God's plan. Turn to Acts, chapter 4, as the disciples were praying in response to the persecution that they had received. This theology of this predetermined plan just exudes from their pores. Acts 4:27:

For truly in this city (As they're praying to God, for truly in the city, Jerusalem.) there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, (the rulers, the Roman rulers), along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, (verse 28) to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. (It was God the Father's plan.)

In Ephesians 3:11, Paul talks about the purpose of the ages, literally, the purpose of the ages, “…the eternal purpose,” but literally, “it's the purpose or plan of the ages which the Father carried out in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Paraphrase.) 1 Peter 1:20, Christ and His bloodshed for sin “…was foreknown before the foundation of the world.” You understand that before there was a single blade of grass on this planet, before there was a tree, before there were oceans is covering the surface of this world, before there was land, before there were continents, before there was the earth itself, before there were planets and galaxies, before there was the sun, before there was time and space, before there was anything but God, He loved you, and He laid out a plan to redeem you.

Some misunderstand the work of Christ and think that He was the loving Son who was overcoming the reluctant, angry, wrathful Father. Certainly, it's true that Jesus loved and loves us, John 15:12 and 13, Jesus says, “…I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” He wasn't forced into this role, He volunteered, because He loved us. Ephesians 5:2, “…Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” So, Christ loved us, but make no mistake friends, it was the eternal electing love of the Father that initiated the plan of redemption. Ephesians 1:4 and 5, “… (God the Father) chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world...In love He predestined us to adoption as sons (and daughters).” It was the Father's love that moved Him to send the Son. The most famous verse in the Bible makes this clear. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, (so) that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Romans 5:8, “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” You see, Christ died. God's love for us wasn't only shown in sending His Son, but in sacrificing His Son.

Consider finally, in verse 10, “The Purpose of God.” Here's where the plan was headed. Verse 10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son (And here's why He sent Him.) to be the propitiation for our sins.” It is not Bethlehem that is the chief demonstration of the love of God; it's Calvary. He was the propitiation for our sins. John's already dealt with this; go back to chapter 2, verse 2. He ends verse 1 by speaking of Jesus the Messiah, the righteous one, and then he says this about Him in verse 2 of chapter 2, “…He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but…for those of the whole world,” meaning it's not just a Jewish thing, it's not just the few of us who believe here. Jesus is the savior of people all over this planet. He is the propitiation.

Now, I've already studied with you this concept of propitiation thoroughly. If you weren't here, go back and listen to the message on 1 John 2:2, and you'll get a much fuller demonstration. But let me just give you a thumbnail sketch. Propitiation means, that word, don't let it scare you, it's a biblical word, it's a word you need to know. Propitiation means ‘the satisfaction or turning away of God's wrath,’ the satisfaction or turning away of God's wrath. Why is that necessary? Because there is something that causes God's wrath, and that is sin. God isn't capricious; He doesn't just blow up, that's not God. Instead, His wrath is a settled holy disposition against sinners because of their opposition to Him, their King, and everything that's good, and everything that's holy, and everything that’s right. It's His nature to be opposed to that, and that is His wrath. It must respond in righteous anger to those who rebel against their Creator.

But instead of demanding a payment from us to satisfy that wrath, as the pagan gods did, God sent forth His own Son as the propitiation, as the satisfaction of His just and holy anger against our sins. You see, propitiation for our sins was perfectly accomplished by the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in His death, accomplished full atonement, full complete atonement. He paid for our sins in total through, don't miss these two words, this is the heart of your faith, He did it through the legal principle of ‘penal substitution.’ Learn those words, that is the Christian faith, penal substitution. The word ‘penal’ just means ‘according to the law.’

You know, when I lived in California, you'd pull up to a parking place, and if it was reserved parking, it would say, “Don't Park Here” and at the bottom of the sign it said, “California Penal Code” whatever the number was. In other words, this is the law. Well, penal means we broke the law. Substitution means that Jesus took our place in paying the penalty that our breaking of the Law of God demanded of us. Penal substitution, penal, it's according to the law we broke; substitution, He stood in our place and absorbed the penalty we deserved.

That's exactly what Paul teaches in Romans, chapter 3, when he finally gets to the Gospel. You know, he spends the first couple of chapters dealing with our need for the gospel, actually down through chapter 3, verse 20, when he finally gets to the Gospel in 3:24 and 25, he says this, “(We are) justified (We’re declared right with God.) as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” That's a general description of His death, but then he gets specific. “…God displayed publicly (Jesus; that's on the cross.) as a propitiation in His blood.” In other words, Jesus had to die, His blood had to be poured out as a sacrifice, He had to die because we deserve to die, and His sacrifice was penal substitution. He got what we deserved. For those three dark hours on Calvary, God abandoned Him as we deserve to be abandoned forever. God punished Him, or in the words of Isaiah 53:10, “It pleased the Lord to crush Him in our place.” (Paraphrase.) We should love our fellow Christians because of God's unparalleled demonstration, and John explains that God demonstrated His love in the incarnation and in Christ’s propitiation. Now, that's the explanation.

But let's consider “God's Unparalleled Demonstration of Love Applied” in verses 11 and 12. Applied, because he's going somewhere; this isn't just a theology lesson. He wants us to respond. God loved us. You see, the point of verses 9 and 10, don't miss this, is He loved you, but He didn't love you alone, He loved your Christian brothers and sisters as well. He demonstrated His love, clearly, undeniably; therefore, we are to love our Christian brothers and sisters.

In verse 11, he says, we're to love them because “It's Our Moral Obligation to God,” it is our moral obligation to God. Look at verse 11, “Beloved, (A term of endearment; “I love you,” John says, and God loves you, and) if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” If God loved us, and ‘us’ means all of us who are believers, and if God so loved us, if He loved us to this great extent, to this degree, that He sent His only begotten Son in the Incarnation in order to be a propitiation for our sins, if that's how God loves, verse 11, “…we also ought to love one another.” The present tense of the Greek verb translated ‘ought,’ means ‘we are continually, morally obligated,’ you never pay this debt out, you are continually, morally obligated to continually love one another.

You see the point John's making? I mean, look around you. Many of the folks in this room are fellow believers. And John's point is that if God has loved the believers sitting around you to such an extent that He sent His only begotten Son, His only begotten Son to be the propitiation for their sins, if God loved you that much, and if He loved them that much, then you are morally obligated to love them just as God has loved them. Christians are not an island. If you've come to know the love of God, you will not be content with living as an island. You will love the people He loved as much as He loved you, you will love them.

We are also to love them not only because it's our moral obligation to God, verse 11, but verse 12, because “It Is Our Christian Witness to the World.” Verse 12 begins, “No one has seen God at any time.” As we noted last time, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:24, “God is Spirit,” and because God is Spirit, God is invisible. 1 Timothy 1:17, He is “…the King eternal, immortal, invisible.” 1 Timothy 6:16, He “…dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.” Exodus 33:20, “…no (human being) can see Me (Him) and live!”

In the Old Testament, when people experienced a Theophany, or a Christophany, an appearance of God in the Old Testament, what they saw was a form of God in which He chose to manifest Himself for their benefit. Then, during the incarnation, the invisible God and His love was perfectly manifest in the person of Jesus Christ, not in His human body, God doesn't have a body, but in His character, in who He was. John 1:18 uses almost identical wording and says, “No one has seen God in any time; (but) the only begotten God (That's Jesus.) who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him (Literally, He has exegeted Him.)” In John 14:9, Jesus says of Himself, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father;” again, not His body, God doesn't have a body, He's invisible, but His moral character, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Now, Jesus obviously is no longer here; but this is the amazing reality, when you and I love each other, God's love is seen today in and through our love. Just as God's love was demonstrated in Jesus, His love is demonstrated in us as we love one another. John Stott writes, “The unseen God who once revealed Himself in His Son now reveals Himself in His people when they love one another.” He goes on in verse 12, “…if we love (if we are loving) one another, God abides (is abiding) in us.” Now, don't get this backwards; he doesn't mean that when we start loving, God comes to dwell in us. But he means exactly the opposite. He means if God has already come to dwell and abide in us, then we will be loving one another. Our love is not the condition of God's presence, but the evidence of His presence.

Remember Galatians 5:22, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love...” God is love, and all love finds its source in Him. His love was manifested in His Son's incarnation and death, but amazingly, verse 12, says “…His love is perfected in us.” God's love reaches its intended goal when we, whom God has loved, imitate our Father by loving our fellow Christians. You see, Jesus said, “Love one another, they will know you are My disciples by your love for one another,” (Paraphrase John 13:34-35.) Did you notice the pronouns? “They will know you are My disciples by your love for one another.” In other words, it's your testimony to the world. One of the ways we put the love of God on display to a world that knows no love is by loving one another. In us, God's love comes to its intended goal in that we, who have experienced the love of God and Christ, now demonstrate that love to one another, and the world watches; it can't demonstrate that kind of love, but it watches, and it sees the very love of God. It is our Christian witness to the world as we share the gospel.

So, how should you respond to God's love demonstrated in Christ's incarnation and His propitiation? Very briefly, a couple of ways to respond to God's love. Number one, if you're not a believer, “Repent of your sin and believe in Christ.” The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, “…God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, (It's an invitation.) that whoever (That’s you, whoever.) believes in Him shall not perish.” In other words, you're not going to get what your sin deserves. You're not going to endure the wrath of God; instead, he says, “…but have eternal life.” It's God's invitation to you. Abandon your sin, turn from your sin, and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That's the only right response for you to the love of God.

If you're already a believer, number two, “Love God with all your heart,” love God with all your heart. That's what Jesus said, right? The greatest commandment in Matthew 22. And here in 1 John 4, verse 19, he tells us how to love God. He says, “We love, because He first loved us.” In other words, our love is a response to the love of God. A. W. Pink, I think is exactly right when he writes this:

How little real love there is for God. One chief reason for this is because our hearts are so little occupied with His wondrous love for His people. The better we are acquainted with His love, its character, fullness, blessedness, the more our hearts will be drawn out in love to Him.

You need to meditate on to read these passages to understand them to come to grips with God's eternal, everlasting love for you. And as you understand that love, you will love Him in response.

Number three, “Continue trusting God's love even when you face trials.” The primary expression of the divine love is not physical blessings. Let me say that again. The primary expression of God's divine love is not physical blessings in this life. It's not a life of health and wealth and prosperity. Instead, it is a life filled with spiritual blessings. And when we don't understand this, we get in the middle of troubles and difficulties, and we're immediately tempted to doubt God's love. When we do that, we have bought into some version of “Retribution Theology,” that my circumstances right now say whether God is pleased with me or not. Or we’ve bought into the “Charismatic Prosperity Gospel.” Think about Jesus Christ. Let me ask you a question and this calls for response; this is participation, okay? Did the Father love Jesus Christ His Son? Absolutely, He did! And yet, He had nowhere to lay His head, Matthew 8:20. The Father said in Mark 9:7, “…This is My beloved Son,” and a few verses later, Jesus is talking about His suffering and His death. Hebrews 5:8, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

A. W. Pink, again writes:

Christ was beloved of the Father, yet He was not exempted from poverty, disgrace, and persecution. He hungered and thirsted. Thus, it was not incompatible with God's love for Christ when He permitted men to spit upon Him and smite Him. Then let no Christian call into question God's love when he's brought under painful afflictions and trials. Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God (He goes on to say.) don't look at your troubles, don't look at your trials, look at Calvary.

Number four, “Let the knowledge of God's love strengthen your assurance.” Down in verses 17 and 18 of chapter 4, this is the very issue he addresses, and we'll get there, but I don't want to steal my thunder. So, let me give you Romans 8:32. Paul writes, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” And then he goes on to say, “You're going to face all kinds of troubles in this life, but don't lose your confidence and your assurance in the love of God. There's nothing that will separate you from God's love for you in Jesus Christ.” (Paraphrase.) “In this is love…that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins.” (Paraphrase-1 John 4:10).

Let's pray together. Father, thank You for our study. Lord, You know how weak and inadequately my words describe the reality we've studied together this morning. Lord, words simply cannot describe the mercy You have shown us in Christ, the love, the amazing love that's ours in Him. Father, I pray that Your Spirit would grant us illumination, that these truths would grow deep into our souls, grip us, and change us.

And, Lord, I pray for those who are here this morning, who don't know You, that they would repent and believe in Your Son. And Lord, for those of us who do, help us to love one another because You have loved not only us individually, but You've loved our brothers and sisters in Christ, and that is our obligation, and it's our witness to a world that knows no love. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.