This morning's sermon text comes from 1 John 3, verse 16. It's really just the first line of this one verse, so a very short sermon text this morning. You certainly may turn with me in your Bibles if you wish, but you may prefer just to listen this time. 1 John 3, verse 16. Let's stand together for the reading of God's word today. Before I read, let us pray. Our good God, it is our understanding as Christians before you, the primary means of grace by which you minister to and ultimately save your people is your word in Holy Scripture. The word read, the word preached, the word believed and received into our hearts. And so, Lord, we ask now for the powerful working of your Holy Spirit through this power of your Holy Word. Speak to us today, Lord, as only you can speak, and do speak to those who believe in you. In Jesus' name, amen. So our sermon text today, again, the first line of 1 John 3, verse 16. Hear now the word of the Lord. By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. So this morning I'm going to do something that technically preachers are not supposed to do. And that is I'm going to take this morning's sermon text out of its context. So you see it there in its context. It's a line from John's first epistle. This is a letter written by the Apostle John to churches in the first century. John is here dealing with the aftermath of a church split that's caused by the Gnostic controversy. I paid my respects to that context so often in this sermon series, you're probably tired of hearing about it. So this morning, I'm leaving it out. Or better, I'm leaving it behind. I'm lifting the first line of 1 John 3.16 right out of this context, considering John's words instead in isolation. And why do I feel that's the thing to do? Because while John's words do certainly belong here and fit here in the context of this letter, at the same time, John's first epistle can in no way contain all that John's words here mean to us as Christian. In other words, the meaning is just too great. And I believe that John, as the apostle of love, would agree with me about that. So we'll come back to the same line next week in its context, as John goes on from here to teach about what love for a Christian brother should look like. But this Sunday, we're not worried about that yet. Let's focus on this line. Just want to see it, and we want to savor it, and we want to let it sink in. Because what it says is not only true and beautiful, it is also powerful. It's like plutonium. It's not just another rock. in the pile, but this one has the potential to go nuclear. Who knows what effect it may have on you, me, upon this church for having taken the time to consider it well today. So the line again is this, quote, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us, end quote. You see where this is leading, right? John in this line is leading us to the cross, isn't he? Where Jesus laid down his life for us. That's where we're going. I don't mind if you see from the outset that that's where we're going today. But let's not rush to it. Let's not sprint to the cross. Rather, we want to carefully consider the steps by which John leads us to the place where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, laid down his life for us. We'll get there in good time. Four steps. We'll begin with this observation about knowledge. First, as Christians, we know some things. As Christians, we know some things. Christians don't know everything. We're not know-it-alls. We shouldn't act like it. We do sometimes, I think, encounter Christians who think that because they are Christians and know the Bible, they know everything. Their attitude seems to be, if it's not in the Bible, then it's not worth knowing. And so no one can teach them anything. But there's lots of things that Christians don't know, which others who are not Christians know better. than we do, and not all of their knowledge is worthless knowledge. There's some truth to the statement that, you've heard it, all knowledge is God's knowledge. So there's various fields of science, and in those fields there's others who are more studied than we are, experts in these fields, and there's lots of things that we can learn from others if we will listen to them on many subjects. That's precisely what we should do. We should listen. And listening, we should learn, and learn from others who know more about a lot of things than we do. That said, Christians do know some things, though. And there are some things that we know better than others who are not Christians. Now, I think that's hardly an outrageous claim. I'm only saying of Christians what we would say of anyone. When you're part of something, you gain knowledge through your participation. When you're devoted to one thing and the same thing for some period of time, it's only natural that you would understand it better than others who've been occupied with other things. So I don't think there's any arrogance in suggesting that Christians are also, in a sense, experts in their field, like anyone else. It shouldn't surprise anyone that we've gained our own sort of expertise through Christianity. In the Church, we've learned well things that can only be learned well as the disciples of Jesus Christ. It's really a meager claim, but I insist upon it. With all due respect to the knowledge of others, we Christians know some things too. And when it comes to discussion about those things that we Christians do know and know well, we should not be too quick to defer to others. For instance, people sometimes make disparaging comments about the English Puritans. The only thing they really know about the Puritans is how they're portrayed, you know, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Grim, joyless, cruel. And I don't usually let those comments pass. Someone says something snide and dismissive about the Puritans, and I'll say, wait a minute, have you ever read them? You ever read any of the Puritans? You ever let them speak for themselves? Do you know their names? John Owen, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, any of these men? No. I say, well, I have read the works of all these Puritans and more. So with all due respect, why don't I tell you the truth about the English Puritans? Since as a Christian in the Reformed tradition, I know a lot more about them than you do. That's not obnoxious, that's just right. So that's our starting point there. The Apostle John speaking here to Christians on behalf of Christianity says, we know. There are some things that we Christians know and know even better than others who are not Christians. Secondly, and one thing that Christians know particularly well is what love is. One thing Christians know particularly well is what love is. So you probably appreciate that it's one thing for a reformed Christian pastor like me to claim to know more than others about 17th century English Puritans. That's certainly plausible and not particularly offensive. But it's another thing altogether for, let's say, you as a Christian to claim to know more about what love is than those who are not Christians. People very much like to believe that they have both felt great love and also shown great love, and so understand, as well as anyone, what love is. But Christians, this is one subject on which you should not defer to them. I said, well, of course, of course you know love as well as I do. If you're a Christian, then you know what love is better than others who are not Christians. And I'm sure of it. This is one of the things in life that we have come to understand particularly well through the practice of the Christian religion. As John says here, we know love. Far better, he means, than others do. We know what love is. And what is love? Well, that's just the sort of philosophical question that I love. Others I know have no tolerance for a question like that, especially concerning something like love. I can hear them saying, come on, love is a thing to be felt. Love is a thing to be acted upon, not defined, they would say. Lovers know what love is, not philosophers. But I have to come to the defense of the philosophers here. The word love is just a label. It's like a sticker that people can put on almost anything and will it. The most slight and fleeting attraction or inclination toward a thing is often enough described by people as love. Oh, I love your hair. I love that meme. And I love Chipotle chicken. Wait a minute, what are we talking about here? Are you talking about the same thing that I'm talking about now when we talk about love? I don't think we are. So, let's start there. What is love? If there was ever a discussion in which it was necessary for us to define our terms, I'd say it would be a discussion about love. And we see the appropriateness of this in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Love chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Remember, the people in the Corinthian church were very impressed with their spiritual gifts, especially the showier sort, like speaking in tongues. And the Apostle Paul writes here to chide them in that he saw that they despised the most valuable and the most enduring spiritual gifts of them all. What did he say? He said to them, now abide Faith, hope, and love, these three, he said, but the greatest of these is love. And rather than leaving it to these others to define love for themselves, Paul, you know, in that chapter, goes to great pains to define it for them, as someone who knew well that he knew the subject better than others. Remember, as Paul says, love is this and love is that. And Paul explains it throughout the chapter. I'm asking, is that philosophy? Or is that the voice of a Christian man speaking up on a subject about which there is real confusion and about which he may rightly claim to be something of an expert? The Gnostics of the first century, I said I wasn't going to mention them. Here they are. The Gnostics of the first century were among the people of this world who boasted of their great knowledge, apparently including their knowledge of love. John says to the Christians in these churches, friends, it is not we who should be listening to them on this subject, but it's they who need to be listening to us. We know love. And I would just urge the same with you all. By all means, be humble in your opinions on many subjects. You can learn a lot by listening to others talk about what they know best. But when unbelievers start to lecture you about love and being loving, that is no time for Christian modesty. That should strike you as ludicrous. and you should not let it pass. This is one occasion in which you should speak up as one who ought to speak, because the subject of love is your field of expertise as a Christian, not theirs. And why is that? Brings me to the third point. Thirdly, Christians know what love is because we have seen true love in Jesus Christ. Christians know better than others what love is because we have seen true love in Jesus Christ. Now, here's a critical point. It is not the great love that we ourselves have felt towards others or the great love that we ourselves have shown towards others as Christians that has taught us so much about what love is. But rather, it is what we have seen in someone else. Do you understand what I'm saying? This is about faith, not words. We have seen in another what love is. And that's what John says, by this we know love because he, and the he there is Jesus Christ. What is it that the disciples of Jesus Christ particularly study? The answer is the master. We study him. Like the first disciples, we too have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. And so believing in him, we've become his followers. And following him, we study his teaching and we study his miracles in order to what? To know him. to know Jesus as only those do who are devoted to Him. So first and foremost, this is the field of knowledge in which we as Christians may justly claim to be experts in relation to everybody else. We know Jesus Christ. Here we are again, another Sunday morning, gathered to consider again, learn more about what? Jesus Christ. Nobody else does that but us. That's what Christianity is all about. And in knowing Jesus Christ, as we do through the practice of Christianity, so we have come to know love. And, again, to know love as others do not know love who do not know him. So again, now I'm speaking boldly. For all the talk about love out there, I'm saying there is no one in the world who truly knows what love is, who has not come to know love by the knowledge of Jesus Christ. So if you're an unbelieving chef, let's say, and you want to talk to me about French cuisine, I'm all ears. But don't talk to me about love as if you know love as I know love. You don't. How could you? As a Christian, I would be denying the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ, not to insist that I know far more about that subject than you do, who do not worship him. But let's say my French friend has read the Bible for himself. It's no matter. He doesn't believe it. That's the thing. My knowledge of love has come not merely by reading the Bible and understanding what it says about Jesus, but by God's grace I have gone a step further and that I have come to believe that the Bible's testimony concerning Jesus is true. If all you will admit to seeing here in the Bible is a myth and at the center of that myth, a symbol of love, then you have not seen what I have seen as a Christian. It's not the same thing at all. Here's an analogy, maybe to help you see the difference. If you and I are on a little boat lost at sea. And I pull out a pad and some colored pencils and I draw you a beautiful picture of a ship coming to rescue us. You will say, yes, of course, that's what we hope for, something like that. But if I actually see a ship on the horizon, it is coming, it has come to rescue us and will do so. And you refuse to see it for yourself and refuse to believe that I have seen such a thing. Then clearly I possess a hope that you don't have. And I can speak of a hope that you don't know. So that's something of a difference between two people who have both read the Bible, when one of them believes the gospel of Jesus Christ and the other does not. The believer has seen that Jesus truly is the Christ, the son of the living God, that he has the words of eternal life, power to heal, power to raise the dead. Everything about him and his life assumes a staggering importance when it is seen that Jesus of Nazareth is truly whom the apostles proclaim and has done all to save us that the gospel which they preach declares. So yes, as a believer, I understand him, Jesus, in a way that an unbeliever does not and cannot because of their unbelief. That means if we come up with a list of things that may be known, you may best me a thousand times to one. But I, as a Christian, understand Jesus Christ better than someone who is not a Christian. Far better. And therein, I understand love better. far better. That's one of the things that is gained through the genuine practice of Christianity, a far better knowledge of what love is by faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God. John's words again are, by this we know love because He. Brings me to the fourth and final point. Fourthly, Jesus showed us what true love is when he laid down his life for us on the cross of Calvary. Jesus showed us what true love is when he laid down his life for us on the cross of Calvary. So surely love shines in every part of Jesus's life. He is God, that God who is love, where he is, love is there. where he manifests. You may see love, so there is love in his birth in Bethlehem, love at his baptism in the Jordan, love in all the lessons that he taught his disciples, love in his compassion upon the sick and upon the poor, love in the storm-tossed boat where he calmed the sea, love on the mountain where he showed Peter and John and James his Glory before Moses and Elijah, love before the tomb of his friend, Lazarus, whom he raised to life again. On and on we could go. But John passes all of that by, doesn't he? He says the pinnacle of the great knowledge of love which Christians possess was given to them in one particular act in Jesus' life, which we call his passion. The scene is Calvary outside the walls of Jerusalem. The event is the Roman soldiers nailing Jesus of Nazareth to the cross. John says, by this we know love as he returns to that scene now, because he laid down his life for us. So notice the theology in that statement, which is what Christian faith understands. It wasn't just that Jesus of Nazareth died. We all see that. But it was that in dying on the cross, he laid down his life for us. Jesus himself made this known to his disciples. You remember, before he went to Calvary to die, John 10, 13, and following, he said to them, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. I lay down my life, he said. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. So do not misinterpret Jesus's actions in the Garden of Gethsemane and the courts of the Jewish and Roman authorities. True, he did not resist arrest. He did not defend himself when he was accused, not because he was guilty or was somehow compelled to go to the cross. He chose to go. That's what we're to understand. He chose to go and to die on the cross and in dying to lay down his life for us. I can't help but hear heaps scorn upon the greeting card aisle at Kroger. What men call love in this world is an utterly self-serving thing. And we all know it, as surely as we know ourselves. Why do people love the others that they profess to love? Because they find pleasure in it. Because they feel guilty if they don't. Because they like what it says about them. because they hope to gain some reward if they do, et cetera, et cetera. And when the love that men feel and show ceases to serve these ends, where is it? It's as cheap as a greeting card. Suddenly, friendships are over. Suddenly, wives and children are abandoned. Suddenly, promises mean nothing. The sheep scatter. The shepherd is left all alone so much for what we call our love. But Jesus Christ, the son of God, could gain nothing. From loving us, which he did not already possess to an eminent degree. No pleasure. He enjoyed the utmost pleasure. And his loving relationship with the father, not innocence. He was without sin, not renowned. He was the Son of God, not heaven. His throne was there. All was His, without us. And yet when He, standing by the Father in heaven, saw us perishing in our sins, He was moved with compassion and came to us and laid down His life for us that we might be forgiven our sins for His sake and live. And I'm saying once you've seen love like that, friends, then then you can say that, you know, what love is. And who has seen it like the good shepherd's sheep. Everything about the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ exceeds all other claims of love. We can be heard boasting of our love sometimes. can't we? It's embarrassing. And our over-the-top love poems when we're teenagers or whatever, and our sappy wedding vows which we composed just for the occasion, and our effusive anniversary cards that we chose to express our love for our spouses. We think that we are great lovers, and you can hear us, if you listen, declaring that it is so. And John here leads us to the cross of Jesus Christ in this line for his own reasons for sure. And we'll get back to those next week. But since we're here, I think we should be ashamed to so have so degraded what by the sacrifice of God's son at Calvary has become a most sacred word in the lexicon. And that is love. By this. Not by what I have felt and what I have done, but by this we know love as we never knew it before. Think of it. Think of Christ, the divine glory of his eternal person. Called in scripture, the son of God's love. Think of the distance that he has come and condescending to us to be our savior. Think of the infinite merits of his most holy and abundant life. Think of the perfect endurance of his great obedience. to the Father and then follow Him to the cross and think about the unfathomable death of His suffering by crucifixion. The suffering of His body, the suffering of His soul. And all this He undertook for unworthy sinners like John as they forsook Him. He hung on the cross bearing the miserable guilt of their sins, of our sins at Golgotha, to give and in giving to share with them, with us, that eternal life with the Father, which he already possessed and rightly belonged to him alone. In the annals of love, nothing rivals this. In the museum of love, it's the only permanent exhibit. The love of Jesus Christ revealed in his laying down his life for us is not just greater in degree to other loves. It seems to me it's love of an entirely different kind. Self-sacrifice that is truly worthy of the name. And that is true love. Now we see it. So that if there be any other love like it in anyone, anywhere, its source must be in him. Jesus Christ himself broke the seal upon the bottle of love at Calvary, and now by his spirit he pours it out on us. And so by this, and by no other way, we as Christians may boldly say to others who do not know him, no, no, we know love. So Christians, my point today is that if we may rightly be called experts on any subject, Let it be love. Not Puritans. Not pews. Not the regulative principle. Not Reformed theology. Not church planting. Not Christian apologetics. But love. The unrivaled, self-sacrificing love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let it be known to all that we know that well. Again, not first by our works, though we will get to that next week with John. But we know love well by our faith, by the light that we have seen. We Christians worship the triune God, and he is love. It is he who in love made the world, and loving the world that he made, sent his Son to us, who had gone astray, that whoever believes in him, the Son should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ is called the Son of God's love, who by love obeyed the Father, and mounted the cross of Calvary, and did not cease to suffer until he had drained every last drop of heaven's wrath against sin and his arson. And he did that for us. I say let others know what they know. Let them be more knowledgeable than us. Let them boast of their knowledge and speak with authority. Let them get fine-sounding degrees of higher learning and parade about as scholars. Fine. It's an impressive show. We have no stake in that game. Nothing of ours that matters most to us depends upon that. Not our dignity, not our security, not our usefulness, not our peace. For as John says here, Christians, we know love. And that is the highest wisdom. It is love that fulfills the law. It is love that is the greatest and the abiding spiritual gift, the one that never fails. That's what we know. And so I say, let's know it well. It's not the breadth of it, but the depth of it that matters. What goes for love in this world is shallow, as shallow as a sticker. But the love with which we have been loved by Christ goes to the heart like a dagger. Self-sacrificing love it is. First, His for us. It's the only kind there is, self-sacrificing love. All other knowledge of all other loves is gravel. The knowledge of this one true love is plutonium. Christ's love has the potential to go nuclear among a people who know its power and know its well. So let us abound in this love. That was Paul's exhortation, right? More and more. The question is, are you in? Improvement starts in the morning. Study it. What do you study in the morning? Is it Christ's love? Savor it. Let it sink in. Seek the spirit of it. Try the way of it. Choose it as the dissertation of your life's labors. Put it to work for Christ's kingdom. but for the glory of God, and so be a true Christian. Because as I understand it, that's what we're about. This love of which we speak today is what makes meaningful everything that we do, Christians. That's part of what Paul said to the Corinthians. That's what the cross symbolizes to those who know its meaning, this cross hanging upon our church. It says, welcome. To Christ's church, this is the kingdom of heaven. We know love. By Him, we really do. Shall we pray?