All right, Brother David's going to come. We'll continue on in 1 John. Yes, if you will take your Bible and turn with me to 1 John. We're continuing to see the same themes over and again. Indeed, it is the Lord who John is being a witness to, a witness of eternal life that came and was made manifest. He's being a witness of Christ and good news for Christ indeed is the only way that we can be cleansed from all our unrighteousness. Christ indeed is the advocate He is the propitiation for our sins. And once a person has received Christ and has been born of God, then there is obedience. And that obedience is displayed in love toward God and love toward one another. And so we are going to see this evening or this afternoon the proper motivation, the proper motivation for us to love one another. Take your Bible again and turn 1st John chapter 4, 1st John chapter 4. We look verses 7 through 12. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have 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 ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. Let us pray. Father, we come and hear Some of the same theme that we have heard from Your Word in 1 John, we ask that You would speak it again, speak it anew. May we hear properly. May we see Christ. May we be motivated to live a life that glorifies You. Lord, we know that Your Word is powerful. It works even down to piercing the soul and discern the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. So would you powerfully work through your word by your spirit this day? Help me to preach right and help us to hear. It's only through Jesus that I ask these blessings. Amen. So God is love. Therefore, the children of God live a life of love. We begin to love. Verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Once again, he's writing to the beloved, those he loves, brothers and sisters in the family of God. And he does not want them to miss the basic characteristic of the Christian. Don't miss it. He says, Beloved, let us love one another. Why should we love one another? Of course, the obvious answer is we're commanded to love one another. And you can look at throughout the scriptures and you'll see it. John has already said it. We ought to love one another. Certainly, Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. So there's a lot of emphasis about the fact that we ought to love one another. And in this passage, we see where does it come from? Where does love, how do we even know what love possibly is? Let us love one another. You need to be living this life. Well, how can we know what this life ought to look like? Where does it come from? What is its source? We should continually love one another for love is from God or love is of God. The Christians should love one another. Because love is from God, that would mean that God is the source of love. You cannot go to any other to find out what true love is because love is from God. Where are you going to find your definition of love? We cannot make our own definition. I was discussing this passage with Michael a little earlier and many people have made their own definition of love. They say we ought to be free in our relationship as long as it's marked by love. But yet it's not biblical love that they're arguing for. And so if we begin with the fact that love is from God then we can begin to start actually loving one another in the proper way. You cannot go anywhere to find out what true love is unless you go to God. And that would mean that we go to God through his revelation, through his word, what he has said. The Bible is our source. If we want to understand what love is, then we have to know what the Bible says is true love. So the origin of true love is the Bible. Where do people try to go to understand love? I guess all sorts of places. There's a song, I don't know why this came to mind, Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. That's probably a pretty good summary of where people look to find love, all the wrong places, looking for Satisfaction and fulfillment and pleasure and something of the, at least the word love is used many times in those contexts. But it is God, from God, that love comes from, so it is from God that we can get proper understanding. Love is from God, and whoever loves, The point is, it is very important that we understand what this love is. Let us love one another, for love is from God. And then, as 1 John, as we've seen many times, we begin to get these tests or these evidences. And it goes on, it says in verse 7, whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. So this is very important. Because what is on the line here is an evidence that if you've been born of God or if you actually know God. Love is from God and everyone who displays biblical love is a child of God. It's kind of a strong statement. Only the children of God are born of God. That means that they have spiritual birth. This spiritual birth has results continuing even to the present. So it's at some point that they were born again, the Christian was born again, and that so-called spiritual life, that rebirth, has effects and results all the way to the future. It's the idea that we have from this born of God. And only the children of God know God. Know Him truly. Certainly there are many that know about God, know God in present time. The people that know God today, these are the children of God. Again, these many tests to see if a person is a Christian, this test can be summarized, do you live a life of love as defined by the Bible? If so, then this is evidence that you have been born of God and know God. First, you must become a Christian. You must be born of God and know God. Then, you will begin to live a life of love that has its source in God. Let's not misunderstand the argument here. A person might say, let me start beginning to begin to love everyone. And then I can get saved, I'll save myself if I can love everyone enough. And that's not the point of the passage. For whoever has been born of God and knows God is the one who loves. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Got to get those in proper order. You will begin to live a life of love because you now know the God from which love originates. Love is from God. And so unbelievers, they can love in some degree, but not biblical love. Not the type of love that is empowered by God's indwelling Holy Spirit. There is a difference, for God enables Christians to love. And Albert Barnes says that many may display a lot of natural love toward their family. They might have a great deal of benevolence and character. If they see a need, then they'll do good to them, help the poor and the needy. but they might not have the love with which John refers to here. to live a life of love, this passage is specifically focusing on let us love one another. But we know if we're going to live a life of love, Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God. So if we're going to be giving forth a biblical love, we'll be having love to God. So Barnes says this person, although they have a great deal of love for family and the poor and the needy, says they might have no real love to God. to the Savior or to the children of God. And so he says it would be absurd for a person to argue because he loves his wife and children, therefore he loves God and is born again. We can't make that argument based upon the teaching of Scripture, but we can say that love is from God. Whoever loves, we saw that in verse 7 and in verse 8 we're going to see something else. Anyone who does not love. So you see the two comparisons there is the person that loves and the person who does not love. Verse 8, look with me. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. You get this comparison here. There's two groups. There's one group that loves, and I say that has begun to live a life of love. I say that because we have to be careful of our understanding of the Christian life. I can look at each one of you and I can say, do you live a life of love according to what the Bible says? And you might get in your mind immediately, it might flood into your mind the unloving acts, words, deeds that come in and you might be overwhelmed and say, well, I can't be a Christian. But I'm saying that when you're born of God, there's a change and you begin to live a life of love. You begin to obey what the scripture says because love is from God and you are from God now, you're born of God. Do you live a life of love as defined by the Bible? And do I really, could I really know if you lived a life of love? You know, I think that we don't know one another very well. I look around and I know something about all of you. Those that we live with know more about us than the general congregation. But ultimately, there's one who knows more about us than even our own family, and that is the Lord. We only see one another a short time in the church, and our family sees us more of the time, but God sees us all the time, and he knows all about us. And so as we're questioning, and I'm questioning in light of this verse, do you live a life of love, or do you not love, We know that God sees perfectly. God knows every thought, every word, and every deed. And He knows that not every one of those is always loving. We should feel some weight as we consider these things. But also we have to see from this scripture as we're considering it, what is it that God is saying? What is the truth that the Lord is giving us from this? What is the measuring line? Again, I say, I think that it's helpful to think through this. Would God say that you have begun to live a life of love as a result of becoming a Christian? Anyone who does not love does not know God. So the test is, do you love like the Bible says you ought to? And if not, if you're not loving according to what the Bible says, then this is evidence that you don't know God because God is love. So the logic is, if you know the God who is love, we saw there at the end of verse 8, because God is love, God is love. That's what it says. So the logic is, if you know the God who is love, then you will live a life of love. Again, if you're a Christian, if you know God, you will live a life of love because God is love. God is love. God does not try to be loving. We try to be loving. God doesn't just love sometimes. God completely, God is completely loving all of the time. We love sometimes, but the scripture says God is love. We are not love. We are not love. God is loving to his core. Everything that God does is loving. God is love. So how do we know that God is love? I mean, the scripture said it there, God is love, and that is more than enough to know that God is love. But how is there, have we been given the proof? Of course we've been given the proof. And verses nine and 10 will give proof that love is of God and that God is love. Verses nine and 10 tell us how God has even shown this love. For God displayed his love through Jesus. And so let's look there and let's rejoice. As we can see, this is not, we're not just given the statement, God is love, but we are given the proofs. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. So in this, the love of God was made manifest. God showed us his love clearly. It's manifest. The love of God is not something hidden. No, 2,000 years ago, God publicly and powerfully proclaimed his love towards sinners. Have you gotten the picture? Can you say God's love was made plain? It was put in open view. How did God show his love? The verse goes on that God sent his only son into the world. God's love is sending his son into the world. God, the father, sent his son, Jesus, into this world. What a display of love to give your only son, your unique son. Certainly some parents may be gathered in this auditorium. Certainly some parents would consider or have considered sending a rebellious or a disobedient son to receive training and learn some self-discipline. Sounds like a good idea. would send that son away. But God the Father sent his perfectly submissive son. His perfectly obedient son into this world that has been so terribly affected by sin. What purpose would motivate God to send his only son into the world? The verse goes on, verse 9, so that we might live through him. God's love gives life. So God's love is sending his son and we see that God's love gives life. God sent his son that we can have eternal life. This is not just a little momentary fleshly life. This is everlasting life. God lovingly sent Jesus so that we would not be punished forever for our sins. God sent his son so that we would not experience eternal death. but so that we might have life. And the next verse tells us how Jesus can give life to a sinner, but we need to understand the order of the love. Do we love God and then He loves us? Of course not. Verse 10, in this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us. God's love is put on people who did not love Him. God loved sinners. And this shows the glory of God's love. It is almost unbelievable that God would love sinners like us. If we have a proper view of our sinfulness and rebellion against God, Then we think of this great love with which He loved us by sending His own Son that we might have life. It's almost unbelievable. Again, Barnes said, if we had loved and obeyed him, then we would think, oh, of course, God must love us, for we have loved him and he's got to reciprocate. But the scripture doesn't say that. Actually, the scripture says we were alienated from him. The scripture says that we had no desire for friendship or favor in God's sight. None seek him. This shows the greatness of his love. But by giving his son, God gave his son to die for his enemies. God's saving love has been given to all who call upon the name of the Lord, no doubt. But the Bible teaches that God determined to save His people from before the foundation of the earth, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. It is this chosen people, God has sent His Son to save His people. God is giving life to sinners through Jesus. How can Jesus give life to sinners? Verse 10 goes on and it says, Sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So God's love provides propitiation. This is that great putting away of the wrath of God. For if a man is going to be right with God, then something must be done about his sin. And it is only in Jesus that the wrath of God might be satisfied. For indeed, God is just. We sang it in the song. We sang in that, I believe, in the fourth verse that justice and grace meet together. You see that Jesus is the one who was punished in our place. The wrath of God was put upon him as he was on the cross. And there he died. The wrath of God satisfied. He is the propitiation. So Jesus was sent to be a sin sacrifice. And we've already concluded from verse 9 that God's love is manifest, that he gave his son, he sent his son, and now I'm saying that Jesus was sent to be a sin sacrifice. It wasn't that Jesus was just sent down to the earth, but it was for a particular purpose. Declare the truth, reveal grace and truth, but die in the place of the people of God. There is going to be an eternal song that says, worthy are you to receive praise, for you have ransomed us with your own blood. God's love is displayed through Jesus. Jesus was killed on the cross, burying the sins of the people of God. He was being punished for someone else's sin. Every sinner deserves God's wrath. You deserve God's wrath. I deserve God's wrath. But Jesus took God's wrath upon himself. He is the great substitute. God's love is displayed through Jesus. And so God's love, God shows his love for while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You don't have to die. that we might have life through him is what the scripture says. Can you see the love of God through Jesus towards sinners? Can you see it? I hope you're sitting there thinking, yes, I've heard this gospel over and over. And even though a smile might not be on your face, hopefully your heart is rejoicing in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Because this is not just a universal truth that must be proclaimed to all. This truth must be received. Jesus. Must be received by faith and repentance. If you understand God's love displayed towards sinners by sending his son to die in their place. Have you received this? Do you have a desire to know God? The scripture says we must repent and believe the gospel. Again, this repentance, it's a great change of mind that's transformative. This repentance will cause you to confess your sin. It will cause you to turn away from your sin. Your life will be changed as you receive this gospel. You will no longer make a practice of sinning, the scripture says. For those, 1 John 3 says, those that make a practice of sinning are of the devil. Rather, those that are of God, they make a practice of righteousness. There's a change that takes place, a turn, as Brother Jim Gables described it on Thursday as he described biblical conversion. So it's not just a turning away from the sin, but it is a turning to Christ. You must believe in Jesus, the Savior and Lord, trusting. Trusting in Jesus dying on the cross to take away your sins, not just the sins of the people of God, but my only hope is in Christ. I'm cleaving to Christ. He have mercy on me, a sinner. And you are my only hope, my only help, the only possibility of salvation. receive the love of God in Jesus Christ. It is faith in Christ that depending upon Jesus' perfect righteousness to make you right in God's sight. Faith in Jesus is depending upon Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Yes, we must receive this love of God. Brother Jim Gable summarized biblical conversion in three words. I hope I have the last word correct. He said, stop. Stop and seriously think about these truths. Think about who God is. Think about who you are as a sinner. Think about life and death and the hereafter. Stop. And then he said, turn. Repent of your sin. You turn away from that sin and you turn to Christ and then obey. Oh, no. Why would you say something about obey? For the scripture says something about obey. It says in verse seven, Beloved, let us love one another. You say I can't love others. I say you can if you look at the love of God and Jesus Christ. God's love motivates a Christian to love others. I see that as the argument from this scripture. Look at verse 11, 1 John 4, verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. Once we know the God of love, once you receive the love of God and Jesus Christ by faith and repentance, then and only then can you be motivated to love others as the Bible commands the Christian. It is God's love for a person that motivates. And so if we feel a lack of motivation, what should we do? I hope you care about this in the sense of loving one another. It's thoroughly scriptural. The Bible is filled. They will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another. John chapter 13. You should have a care. We should have great care about this. How can we be motivated? It is because of God's love displayed through Jesus Christ toward us. And so John Gill puts things in context, loving one another, because you might think, hmm, there's somebody among the congregation or I know the other Christian is very hard to love. You might think, I don't know how this is going to be possible. Gil helps us there. He says, if God has loved our fellow Christians and brethren to such a degree as to send his son to die for them, we ought to love them too. You see, it's God's love that motivates us to love one another. If we are interested in the same love, the obligation is still the greater. He says, if God loved them with so great a love when they did not love him, they were his enemies, then surely we ought to love them now because they are become friends of God. in ours also. Do you see it here? Every Christian is a friend of God. God has displayed great love toward his people. And we know his people as those who have received the love of God in Jesus Christ, those confessing their sin, depending upon Christ for salvation alone. We ought to love them as well. He said, Gil says, God loved them freely and when unlovely and us likewise in the same manner. You know, you were unlovely too. We're all sinners. All have fallen short of the glory of God. And he says, we ought to love and to continue to love the saints. though there may be something in their temper or conduct disagreeable. Certainly, there are going to be things that personality conflicts and clashes among the people of God. But is that something to stop our love toward one another? If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And so God's love is the proper motivation. to love another. But what does this love look like? We already said that the test would be if you have begun to live a life of love as the Bible describes it, then this is evidence that you know God, that you're of God, you're born of Him. So what does it look like loving one another? Love is laying down our lives for fellow Christians. We saw this in chapter three and verse 16. This is sacrificial. By this we know love. He, Jesus, laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. What is biblical love toward one another? Jesus said it's love your neighbor like you love yourself. Oh, now you're starting to understand it a little bit. You have a little love for self, don't you? Most of us, you know, we take pretty good care. When we get cold, we put on a coat, wrap up an extra blanket, adjust the thermostat. Oh, it's a few extra dollars. I'm worth it. We love ourself in general. Love looks like the love you have for yourself. Oh, so then the Bible would say it means putting others before yourself. Yes, we think a pretty good bit of ourself. We take care of ourself. We see to our needs. We try to meet those needs best we can. Oh, let's look at the needs of others. Philippians chapter 2 verses 3 and 4, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. There's an escalation there. You love your neighbors, you love yourself, and that's a great love. And then it gets greater, more significant. Love one, count others more significant than yourself. Each of you look not only to your own interest, but to the interest of others. putting others before yourself. Have I begun to do this by the grace of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the very new birth that's taking place? I'm a new creation in Jesus Christ. By God's grace, I hope we've all begun to live a life of love, and we're properly motivated. You say, well, I'm a little cold in my love. Look to the love of God in Jesus Christ, for God's love motivates Christians to love others. You say, well, I just love myself. I don't love others, and I don't have any love toward God. I'm not received the love of God in Jesus Christ. Then the word for you is, Repent, turn away from your sins and believe in the gospel. Experience the love of God at first, for there is this one that God has displayed his love through and it is his son. And he said to him that we might have life. You know, here's the offer of life. Jesus says, come unto me. And we're saying, yeah, we need rest. Ultimately, we need life. That's what Jesus is offering eternal life. Once you know him, you know his love, then you will be motivated to live a life of love. John MacArthur says, God sending his son gives Christians not only salvation privilege, not only can we be saved through Christ, but also an obligation to follow this pattern of sacrificial love. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, is what Paul writes to the Romans, chapter 12. Christian love must be self-sacrificing like God's love. And so God's love is displayed through Christians. Can you believe that? That you and I are a picture of the love of God as we begin to love one another. Verse 12 shows us this. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. We can't see God, meaning we've not completely or fully seen God. Jesus has ascended into heaven, so we can't literally see Jesus. But we can see one another. Each one of you is here now, I can see you. We can see one another, though we cannot fully and completely see God. If we love one another because we have been born of God, then we know that God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. Loving one another is evidence that we know God loving one another is is God. God's love accomplishing its purpose. It said there in the scripture that his love is perfected in us. God's love is accomplishing its purpose as we begin to love God and to love others. Is our faith true? James says that faith is made perfect by works. Well, John Gill says love to God and the Saints is perfected by love to the brethren. So if we are going to have God's love in us and perfected in accomplishing its purpose. then we will be loving one another and actually displaying the love of God to the world. As one Christian loves another Christian, those outside the church will see something of the love of God displayed by the people of God. The love of God or love involves action and we are known to be the disciples of Jesus by our love. So you get this picture here of God's accomplishing his purposes, he's showing forth his love even as Christians love one another. A Christian might be asked, why are you laying down your life sacrificially considering other needs above your own needs? I hope that we will live such a life that we will be questioned about this. Why do you live the way you live? And we can tell them our proper motivation. For God has so loved us that he gave his only son that we might have life through him. So here's the argument, summarize verses seven through 12. Love is from God, love is seen in Jesus, and the love of God is demonstrated in his people. God is love, therefore the children of God live a life of love. We saw the simple truths that I hope that by God's grace will begin to live out in a greater measure. If you want to know the test, again, the test is have you begun to live a life of love? Because you have life of the spirit, because if you're born of God, if you're born of from above, then you will have something of this. Um, you will display something of this love that God has displayed toward us. God displayed his love through Jesus and God's love motivates us. Don't try to motivate yourself. I hope if you commit an unloving act, by God's grace, you're convicted of that sin. I hope that in your words or your actions, if you're living in an unloving way, by God's grace, I hope that we will turn away from those. But don't just, again, the answer from the scriptures is not just do better. Come on, David, you can do better next time. That's not the answer from the scriptures. The scripture says to look to the love of God if we are weak in our love toward others. God's love toward Christians motivates the Christian to love others, and God's love is displayed through the Christian, so don't neglect this opportunity. Oh, the love of God in Jesus Christ is the foundation and it's the fountain from which our Christian life might flow forth, and so We've got to go to the source. Love is from God. Father, we have seen a measure of your truth from your word, and we ask again that this would not fall on deaf ears, but Lord, that you would cause us to receive this, cause us to question, have we begun to live this life of love as the Bible describes the Christian life? For whoever doesn't love, doesn't know God, but those that have begun to love by the enabling of the Holy Spirit, the very truth of your word, even you, God, abiding in us by the Spirit, we can have some confidence that you are, you have begun the good work. We are your children. We have been saved by your grace. And Lord, we want to be a mighty testimony to this world of who you are. We want to bear your image in a proper way. And so may we live a life of love. You have loved us first. Let us never be confused. Let us never be confused of trying to love you first, try to merit your love or get your attention so that you might love us. No, you love us as sinners and as enemies. You have sent your son to save us. God shows his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, may this weight of your love overwhelm us. May we rejoice that you have loved us with such an everlasting love, as the scripture says, a steadfast love. Lord, thank you for your love toward us. Now, indeed, may we be a congregation that loves one another, and may we love all the Christian brethren, we pray. And also, may this be a witness to the world of your great love. It's through Christ, through Jesus alone that we know your love, and so it's through Jesus that I pray. Amen.