The Necessary Fruit of Love (1 John 4:19-5:3)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:05.599 Please remain standing if you're able, and let's again turn to first John, 2 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:11.470 Chapter Four. That's page ten twenty three, if you grabbed a Black Bible 3 00:00:11.589 --> 00:00:18.190 off the cart. First John, for I'm already read versus nine and ten. 4 00:00:18.829 --> 00:00:24.780 Now I'm going to pick up at verse nineteen and then read into the 5 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:30.500 next chapter a little bit. So first John, nineteen through five three. 6 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:37.289 The grass withers, flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. 7 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:46.210 Let's let's give our attention to it. We love because he first loved 8 00:00:46.250 --> 00:00:54.200 us. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is 9 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:58.920 a liar, for he who does not love his brother, whom he cannot 10 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.159 whom he hasn't seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 11 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:11.349 And this commandment we have from him. Whoever loves God must also love his 12 00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:17.870 brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, 13 00:01:18.780 --> 00:01:23.219 and everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. 14 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:27.420 By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God, 15 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:34.370 God and obey his commandments, for this is the love of God that 16 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:41.129 we keep his commandments, and he is commandments are not burdensome. A God 17 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:46.010 bless his word to us. Please be seated. As is very typical of 18 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:53.719 John, we have these incredibly simple truths here, with lots and lots and 19 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.519 lots underneath them, tons, tons of depth. I don't know if ton 20 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:04.510 is the right unit of measurement. There miles of depth, fathoms of depth. 21 00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:12.830 Anyway, it's very deep. For example, in the simple way in 22 00:02:12.870 --> 00:02:16.860 which John says, which everyone here, even if you're very young, should 23 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:23.379 understand. He says, if you say you love God but you hate your 24 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:30.849 brother, you're a liar. It's pretty a pretty simple thing, and he 25 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:38.449 doesn't mean in the way in which we don't always act according to how we 26 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:43.650 believe. That's true of all of us and in a way we are all 27 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:49.319 liars. In that sense, John, though, is talking about something not 28 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:53.560 just when we fail to act in accordance with our beliefs and our principles, 29 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.439 but he's talking about the person who acts different friently than what they say they 30 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:06.550 believe, somebody who is just a liar, not somebody who believes and actually 31 00:03:06.629 --> 00:03:10.550 does believe God but then fails in various ways to live up to that belief. 32 00:03:12.789 --> 00:03:17.139 But he's talking about people that simply say these things but but don't actually 33 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:23.860 do it. He's saying that the love of others needs to be manifested in 34 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:28.090 our lives, and he gives various reasons for that. He has been giving 35 00:03:28.129 --> 00:03:32.770 various reasons for that. This liar word is a very strong word. Have 36 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:38.250 you ever been called a liar? I guess is you weren't very happy about 37 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:44.960 it, even if it were true. It hurts. Strong language John Uses, 38 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:50.120 and if a word like liar doesn't wake you up, I'm not really 39 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:54.400 sure what will. God is speaking very strongly here and we all ought to 40 00:03:55.229 --> 00:04:02.750 pay attention. Then they are very, very deep things here as well. 41 00:04:03.909 --> 00:04:08.789 Of course that's deep, but I guess what I mean is things under the 42 00:04:08.909 --> 00:04:13.900 surface, things that are touched on and assumed, but but go quite far, 43 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:17.980 quite far down, like this, for example, at the beginning of 44 00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:26.730 Chapter Five, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of 45 00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:31.569 God, and everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. 46 00:04:33.850 --> 00:04:39.279 What does he mean by whoever has been born of him? Well, 47 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:45.279 he must mean Jesus, The only begotten Son of God, the very unique 48 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:48.800 son of God, the one of a kind son of God, and that 49 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:53.790 makes sense with what he's saying. Right. Everyone who believes that Jesus is 50 00:04:53.949 --> 00:05:00.509 the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves 51 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:05.269 Jesus. Right. It doesn't make much sense to say I believe in Jesus 52 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:11.459 Christ, I'm trusting him, in him to take away my sins, to 53 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:15.980 turn away the wrath of God. I'm trusting in him and the love that 54 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:18.699 he is poured out on me, but I don't love him. Right. 55 00:05:19.060 --> 00:05:24.170 Simply not true. Of anyone who is believing that Jesus is the Christ. 56 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:30.850 Anyone who believes that Jesus is their savory savior also loves them, loves him, 57 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:35.800 and naturally so, because God's work has been done in in Jesus and 58 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:43.959 in them, in these ones that he is saved. Love is all wrapped 59 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:46.920 up in this. Remember verse nine. In this the love of God was 60 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:53.149 made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so 61 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:57.949 that we might live through him. The love of God was made manifest, 62 00:05:58.069 --> 00:06:02.069 and because he loved us, so we love you. See The connections there? 63 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:08.620 And who is it that we love? Jesus is one who has been 64 00:06:08.699 --> 00:06:13.259 born of God, but yet, as we connect all of these doughts, 65 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:18.889 we begin to see that it can't be just Jesus, because there are more 66 00:06:19.529 --> 00:06:26.050 than there are more than just one who has been born of God, although 67 00:06:26.209 --> 00:06:30.930 in different ways. We also have been born of God, and this is 68 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:38.439 something that he has emphasized over and over throughout throughout this throughout this letter. 69 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.839 So, in other words, we who are saved in Jesus are not just 70 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:49.990 saved individually, but we are slaved collectively. Brothers is a word that he 71 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:57.589 uses to describe this group of people. We who have been born of God 72 00:06:58.110 --> 00:07:02.100 through the son of God, who have been brought into this relationship as adopted 73 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:10.740 children of God, come to love not only the one and only son, 74 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:18.529 but all the sons and daughters of God because they have been born of him. 75 00:07:20.329 --> 00:07:25.050 As I say, these are the are great mysteries right, deep things 76 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:34.160 to understand, all tied up in this four letter word love. In this 77 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:42.800 passage, John is underlining the importance of these things with a big red pen 78 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:50.990 is clearly as we need. Have you ever been in a situation where you've 79 00:07:51.029 --> 00:07:56.589 been told something was important, but then you didn't quite realize how important it 80 00:07:56.790 --> 00:08:01.620 was until later? Maybe you were in job training or something like that, 81 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:07.500 and your new employer says, when you submit these reports, make sure that 82 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:11.300 they're in this format, and you go okay, doesn't seem like that big 83 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:13.290 of a deal, only a week later to find out, after you submitted 84 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:16.529 to report, that it was a very big deal and now your job is 85 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:26.769 at risk. Right or I think of this scene at the beginning of C 86 00:08:26.930 --> 00:08:30.959 S Lewis this book, the Silver Chair, one of these. One of 87 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.039 the children in the story, one of the main characters, meets as land, 88 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:37.960 another main character in the story, and as land gives her instructions, 89 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:46.549 a set of signs, and he says follow these signs and this is this 90 00:08:46.669 --> 00:08:48.070 is what you are to do, and she goes okay, I got it. 91 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:52.149 He's like, I don't think you have it as well as you think 92 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:54.950 you have it. She says, Oh, I really I think I've got 93 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:56.220 it. He says, all right, tell me the signs, and she 94 00:08:56.379 --> 00:09:01.220 like kind of tells him the signs sort of one half of another, not 95 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:05.980 in order, and he says no, and he makes her repeat it again 96 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:09.250 and again and again, and she'll shoot until she can say from memory all 97 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:13.490 the signs in order, and then he sends her off and she misses the 98 00:09:13.529 --> 00:09:18.850 first sign and because of that we have the rest of the silver chair right, 99 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:22.730 because this conflict is created and then they have to figure out what to 100 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:31.440 do from there. So wonderful book. The importance of things are sometimes told 101 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:35.679 to us, but we don't always get it, and so, like as 102 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.110 land did, he underlines the point and he impresses it on this girl over 103 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:43.909 and over again, and John's doing that here. We've been talking about love 104 00:09:45.029 --> 00:09:48.110 for a while now. I hope you're not tired of it. It is 105 00:09:48.309 --> 00:10:01.220 love, after all. We must love because God has loved us. And 106 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:05.899 if we don't, if we truly don't, if we're merely mouthing these words, 107 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:11.769 I love God, but we're hating our brothers. If there's a real 108 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:18.889 disconnect there, then we are, as he says, liars, Liars which 109 00:10:18.889 --> 00:10:26.279 are worthy of Hell for that sin, for the sin of disobeying God's Commands, 110 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.320 for the sin of not heeding his warnings, for the sin of rejecting 111 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:33.480 his love, for all kinds of things. It is what we deserve. 112 00:10:35.549 --> 00:10:41.710 But these strong words are given to you to be a wake up call. 113 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:46.029 In other words, if you realize that you are a person who fits this 114 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:52.700 description and that hurts. If you know they describe you. That's not the 115 00:10:54.299 --> 00:11:00.860 signal to start ignoring the pain. Right when you, let's say, get 116 00:11:00.899 --> 00:11:03.139 a big pain on your side and it won't go away and it won't go 117 00:11:03.289 --> 00:11:09.850 away. That isn't the cue. Ah, I should ignore this more right. 118 00:11:09.570 --> 00:11:16.570 The Que is get yourself to a doctor. Go find out what's wrong, 119 00:11:18.490 --> 00:11:22.440 find out what the problem is. It's like this when it comes to 120 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:28.480 our consciences as well. If, if they are pricked, if it hurts, 121 00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:35.149 if we recognize there's something true, even in a smallest way, about 122 00:11:35.549 --> 00:11:41.710 God's description of those who don't love and yet say they love him, then 123 00:11:41.789 --> 00:11:48.620 that's not the signal, obviously, to start ignoring that or suppressing that feeling. 124 00:11:48.659 --> 00:11:52.940 It's a signal to go to the doctor, the good doctor, the 125 00:11:54.059 --> 00:12:00.340 great doctor, the great physician, our Lord and Savior, Jesus, who 126 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:05.690 promises to heal all those who come to him. God is the one, 127 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:11.250 we learn in this text and throughout the Bible, who makes things right. 128 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:18.840 He is the one who can change us. He loved us even before we 129 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:24.480 loved him. He made us healthy while we were still sick. That's what 130 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:30.629 God does, that's who he is, as we read earlier in the service, 131 00:12:30.789 --> 00:12:35.509 one of the first passages we read, his steadfast love endures forever. 132 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:41.509 That's the kind of God he is. This is the kind of God who 133 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:46.659 is revealing himself to you. So even as he speaks these strong words like 134 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:56.299 liar and pricks our hearts, in the same breath he's also saying, but 135 00:12:56.419 --> 00:13:03.169 I'm here to save you from that, to love you in your lying and 136 00:13:03.370 --> 00:13:11.649 to bring you into the truth. What does it mean that we love because 137 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:20.159 he first loved us? We've talked about this a lot already. I've talked 138 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:24.720 about the fact that God sent his son into the world to do something when 139 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.710 even before we were able to do it, to love, before we were 140 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:35.789 able to love or wanted to love. But as we continue to meditate on 141 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:37.990 these things, to reflect on who God is and what he's done, I 142 00:13:39.029 --> 00:13:45.299 want to continue opening this up to you, and perhaps in yet another way, 143 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:48.899 and I want to do so by turning to the gospel of John and 144 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:56.090 looking at two passages there, so that we might even more fully understand what 145 00:13:56.250 --> 00:14:01.450 it means to be wrapped up in the love of God, what it means 146 00:14:01.929 --> 00:14:07.289 that God has sent his son into the world to do these things. Let's 147 00:14:07.289 --> 00:14:16.240 turn to John Chapter Fifteen. John Five, Chapter Fifteen, or mind you 148 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:22.240 that the context here is immediately before the Lord goes to his death, to 149 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.870 die on a cross for our sins. He is giving a lot of teaching 150 00:14:26.429 --> 00:14:33.870 which the disciples would remember and understand, even as we have after his death 151 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:46.820 and resurrection. John Fifteen, verse nine, Jesus is teaching right before his 152 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:50.860 death. I'm going to read from mine to Verse Fifteen. Pay Attention. 153 00:14:50.220 --> 00:15:01.490 As the father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in 154 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:07.009 my love. was just pause there for a moment. Do you hear what 155 00:15:07.049 --> 00:15:15.960 Jesus is saying? As the as God, the father, loved God the 156 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.830 Son. How perfect is that? How wonderful is that? Can we even 157 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:28.309 begin to imagine what that kind of love is like? We can, a 158 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:33.230 little bit actually, because he tells us. So, I have loved you. 159 00:15:35.659 --> 00:15:46.059 Now abide in my love. I'll read on. If You keep my 160 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:52.289 commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my 161 00:15:52.490 --> 00:15:58.690 father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you 162 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:04.799 that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. 163 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:11.120 This is my commandment. That you love one another as I have loved you. 164 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:18.590 Great our love has no one than this, that someone laid down his 165 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:22.590 life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command 166 00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:27.230 you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not 167 00:16:27.429 --> 00:16:32.899 know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for 168 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:37.379 all that I have heard from my father. I have made known to you 169 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:44.740 one more verse. You did not choose me, but I chose you and 170 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:49.730 appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, 171 00:16:51.370 --> 00:16:55.490 so that whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give 172 00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:59.210 it to you. These things I command to you so that you will love 173 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:04.160 one another. You're a similar the languages here to the language in First John. 174 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:11.200 Right Command love, abiding the relationship between the father and the son, 175 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:17.869 which is what I want to particularly draw your attention to. Jesus here is 176 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:22.990 teaching us that there is a relationship between him and his father, which is 177 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:30.859 then connected to us by his work for us, and the fact that we 178 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:37.740 know this, just the fact that we know this, raises our status up. 179 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:45.490 Servants don't get to know why? Do this? Yes, sir, 180 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:48.490 do that, yes, sir, and that's all there is. To it? 181 00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:53.369 Why? What business is it yours to ask? Why? You're a 182 00:17:53.490 --> 00:17:57.410 servant, do what I told you to do. But Jesus has done something 183 00:17:57.529 --> 00:18:04.839 different here. He tells us what the master is doing and he calls us 184 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:12.549 a friend. What is the master doing? The master is loving us. 185 00:18:12.950 --> 00:18:18.190 The master is dying for us. The master is bringing us into the very 186 00:18:18.549 --> 00:18:25.670 love that the father has for the son and the son has for the father. 187 00:18:26.630 --> 00:18:30.900 No wonder he commands us to love one another because we are in him, 188 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:37.460 and he himself, as the son, has been commanded to love and 189 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:44.490 has loved and has fulfilled that command and continues to fulfill it, how by 190 00:18:44.650 --> 00:18:52.049 laying down his life for us. Greater love has no one than this, 191 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:56.559 that someone should lay down his life for his friends. Jesus is looking as 192 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:02.440 disciples in the eye, about to go to his death. Talk about saying 193 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:07.079 I love you with your actions and not just your words. This is our 194 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:14.069 Lord and Savior. This is the love of God and this is the love 195 00:19:14.190 --> 00:19:22.910 that he is bringing us into by his love. Much more could be said 196 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:27.420 about this. You can see why he says remain in my love or abide 197 00:19:27.460 --> 00:19:32.859 in my love. But let's continue on and look at another passage, John 198 00:19:33.059 --> 00:19:41.450 Seventeen. John Seventeen versus twenty through twenty four. Now we could go all 199 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:45.250 the way back to chapter thirteen and and consider many, many things here along 200 00:19:45.329 --> 00:19:51.410 these lines, including, we might I add, just to bring to your 201 00:19:51.450 --> 00:19:56.400 mind, the image of the vine in the branches right abide in me and 202 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:00.079 you will bear fruit. This is language we just read. But let's continue 203 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:07.470 on. John Seventeen, verses twenty through twenty four. Now here the son 204 00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:18.670 is speaking to the father, you are hearing God, The Sun, requesting 205 00:20:18.750 --> 00:20:27.619 things of God. The father says highly significant. Here's what he prays. 206 00:20:27.660 --> 00:20:33.140 He says. I do not ask for these only, namely his disciples, 207 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:38.690 but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That it's 208 00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:45.890 you. Do you believe in Jesus through the word of the disciples? Then 209 00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:52.680 he's talking about you. Here is Jesus praying for you, and the words 210 00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:56.640 recorded right here for you to hear in scripture. I do not ask for 211 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:02.000 these, only these disciples, but also for those who will believe in me 212 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:08.589 through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, 213 00:21:10.069 --> 00:21:15.109 father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be 214 00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:22.339 in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me the 215 00:21:22.579 --> 00:21:26.180 glory that you have given me. I have given to them that they may 216 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:33.009 be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in 217 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:37.809 me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know 218 00:21:37.970 --> 00:21:44.329 that you have sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, 219 00:21:44.930 --> 00:21:48.200 I desire that they, also, whom you have given me, may 220 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:52.839 be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me 221 00:21:53.440 --> 00:22:00.519 because you loved me before the foundation of the world. I think I understand 222 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:08.589 about five percent of this, honestly. Going back to the water analogy, 223 00:22:08.789 --> 00:22:12.829 I do remember being in the deep end for the first time as a kid 224 00:22:14.349 --> 00:22:18.180 in my parents swimming pool. You get lessons at the public pool and then 225 00:22:18.220 --> 00:22:22.220 you try it out at home and it's a little scary. Feel a little 226 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:33.529 bit like that talking about a passage like this. It's very deep. But 227 00:22:33.609 --> 00:22:37.609 let's just take the easy stuff, so to speak, the things that are 228 00:22:37.650 --> 00:22:48.039 abundantly clear. What does he say? He says that he is praying that 229 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:56.359 we would have the same unity with one another and in him that he has 230 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:02.390 with the father, that we would be in some sense in God, even 231 00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:04.509 as the father is in the son and the son is in the father. 232 00:23:06.869 --> 00:23:11.029 As Christians, we make very important distinctions between the persons of the father, 233 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:18.460 the son and the Holy Spirit, distinct properties involved, a connected to each 234 00:23:18.619 --> 00:23:22.539 one, attributed to each one. And yet, at the same time, 235 00:23:22.779 --> 00:23:26.329 while we recognize that the father did not die on the cross, the spirit 236 00:23:26.490 --> 00:23:30.690 did not send the father, the son didn't give birth to the father and 237 00:23:30.769 --> 00:23:37.450 other things like this, there is a unity there. Now, there are 238 00:23:37.569 --> 00:23:42.240 two kinds of unity in God, at least that will talk about now. 239 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:48.000 One is a unity of substance, and this is what the persons of the 240 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:56.829 trinity have with one another. They are the same being, not three beings, 241 00:23:56.990 --> 00:24:03.430 not three gods, one God in three persons. This unity we do 242 00:24:03.630 --> 00:24:10.819 not share in. We do not become God in our union with him. 243 00:24:11.819 --> 00:24:17.900 Why? Well, because God is God and we are creatures. We can 244 00:24:18.099 --> 00:24:22.980 never become him. He is always separate from us. In this way, 245 00:24:23.650 --> 00:24:29.849 he is always different from us. He is always separate from us. We 246 00:24:29.970 --> 00:24:33.529 are not just little gods getting closer and closer to him on a kind of 247 00:24:34.369 --> 00:24:42.519 platonic chain of being. There is a chasm that forever separates the creature from 248 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:48.960 the Creator, and we know this because the Bible testifies everywhere that there is 249 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:57.150 and always will be and forever has been one God. So then, what 250 00:24:57.230 --> 00:25:03.990 does Jesus mean when he says that we will be one with God? Well, 251 00:25:03.029 --> 00:25:07.180 if he's not say saying that we are united to him in his substance, 252 00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:12.579 in his essence, in his being, he's saying something else, right. 253 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:21.890 What is it? It's unity in the fellowship that the father has with 254 00:25:22.049 --> 00:25:26.849 the son. And isn't that what he's saying? It's all about that relationship, 255 00:25:27.450 --> 00:25:32.210 the relationship that the father has with the son, the love that is 256 00:25:32.329 --> 00:25:37.720 between them. That is the love that has been manifested to us. As 257 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:44.279 Jesus came into the world. He didn't come to divinize everything, to turn 258 00:25:44.359 --> 00:25:49.230 everything into a god. He came into the world to bring us into the 259 00:25:49.430 --> 00:25:57.109 love and into the fellowship with God and in God. Again, these are 260 00:25:57.230 --> 00:26:03.230 big things, but they're important distinctions, not just so that we might check 261 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:08.299 all the right boxes, but because there's danger. Right, there's danger in 262 00:26:08.460 --> 00:26:15.140 saying that we become God, because we certainly do not. I hope I 263 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:22.170 don't have to argue that any further. There's danger in moving that direction because 264 00:26:22.250 --> 00:26:26.690 I'll tell you this ultimately it ends up becoming nothing about God. All you 265 00:26:26.730 --> 00:26:32.009 have to go is look at Eastern mysticism or new age ideas. It says 266 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:37.240 nothing about the divine and it's all about me. That's about me self actualizing 267 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:41.920 into more meanness, and I don't want that. I don't know about you, 268 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:48.869 I want more of him and less of me. Right. So we 269 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:56.990 have to maintain this creature, creator, creates, creature creator, distinction essential. 270 00:26:57.230 --> 00:27:03.259 It's all over in the Bible. But we also can't deny, and 271 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:08.059 we must not deny what John is saying here, the teaching that he has 272 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:14.099 received from the son of God himself, the very prayers of the son, 273 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:18.569 which will of course be answered, because he is, after all, God 274 00:27:18.450 --> 00:27:23.130 who makes these things happen, who brings them about. If Jesus praised that 275 00:27:23.250 --> 00:27:27.970 we will be one with one another and one in him, even as he 276 00:27:29.130 --> 00:27:32.519 is in the father and the father is in the him, you can bet 277 00:27:32.920 --> 00:27:37.160 that that is what's going to happen. This is a promise to us. 278 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:44.470 Jesus says these things in our hearing so that we would know what his will 279 00:27:44.829 --> 00:27:51.230 is. And it's all in the context of this relationship, this relationship and 280 00:27:51.390 --> 00:27:59.700 fellowship of love. So this is who God is, father and son, 281 00:28:00.460 --> 00:28:06.099 the spirit, bringing us into fellowship with the son and the father, and 282 00:28:06.500 --> 00:28:11.940 that is why we must love. If all of that is true, and 283 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:18.089 it most certainly is, how can you affirm that and then say, well, 284 00:28:18.130 --> 00:28:22.930 I don't want to be kind today, I don't care about patience and 285 00:28:22.009 --> 00:28:26.279 I hate those people. They're about your hypocrites and I don't like them and 286 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:32.559 they're mean, and on and on and on. Does that make any sense? 287 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:40.640 How can we be brought into union with the Tryune God, who is 288 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:45.109 love, as we read an earlier passage in First John. How can we 289 00:28:45.230 --> 00:28:49.309 brought into be brought into union with God, even as the father is in 290 00:28:49.390 --> 00:28:53.150 the son and the son is in the father, and then not love? 291 00:28:55.509 --> 00:28:59.180 That's like trying to be in a swimming pool and not be wet. It 292 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:06.339 just doesn't work. It can't happen. And so, going back to our 293 00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:15.009 passage, we love because he first loved us. God has done something magnificent 294 00:29:15.250 --> 00:29:22.369 in the world by giving the life of his son for us, by bringing 295 00:29:22.490 --> 00:29:27.200 us into fellowship with him, by not just doing loving things for us, 296 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:38.750 but by giving us himself as one who is love. So now John Underlines 297 00:29:38.829 --> 00:29:42.829 the point. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he 298 00:29:44.029 --> 00:29:48.150 is a liar. Do you understand why? Now he is a liar, 299 00:29:48.950 --> 00:29:52.380 for he who does not love his brother, whom he cannot or I mess 300 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:56.460 that up before it I'll try again, for he who does not love his 301 00:29:56.660 --> 00:30:00.740 brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not 302 00:30:00.819 --> 00:30:03.900 seen. It's an argue, and from the lesser to the greater. Right, 303 00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:07.170 you can't. If you're not doing it at even this level, what 304 00:30:07.289 --> 00:30:11.170 makes you think you're going to do it at this level? This is the 305 00:30:11.289 --> 00:30:17.970 commandment we have from him. We were just read it right from Jesus's own 306 00:30:18.049 --> 00:30:22.200 words. And John, whoever loves God must also love his dub brother. 307 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:27.759 Continuing our reading, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born 308 00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:33.480 of God. Right, we can't have faith apart from God working in us, 309 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:37.589 but he continues the idea. And everyone who loves the father through faith 310 00:30:37.670 --> 00:30:44.589 in Christ, loves whoever has been born of him. And this we know, 311 00:30:45.029 --> 00:30:48.309 or by this we know that we love the children of God. This 312 00:30:48.509 --> 00:30:53.660 brings me to my last point, verse two. So if we make all 313 00:30:53.700 --> 00:30:57.819 the connections and we have this understood correctly in our minds and it's deep within 314 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:03.059 our hearts and it's a part of the spiritual reality in which we are swimming 315 00:31:03.140 --> 00:31:07.849 in. Then there is this question. Let's get very, very practical, 316 00:31:07.930 --> 00:31:11.490 John says. How will we know that we love the children of God? 317 00:31:12.210 --> 00:31:17.329 What does it look like? You want to know? Here's how you know 318 00:31:18.009 --> 00:31:23.200 when we love God and obey his commandments. You See, love is not, 319 00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:29.279 as I've been saying many times, it's sort of floaty feeling that we 320 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:38.710 sort of conceptualize and talk about and just leave there. It has teeth, 321 00:31:41.069 --> 00:31:44.710 boots on the ground. It's concrete, however you want to put it. 322 00:31:45.789 --> 00:31:52.180 And what does it look like? Action, real action, when we do, 323 00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:57.619 when we keep the commandments of God, for this is the love of 324 00:31:57.740 --> 00:32:06.569 God that we keep his commandments and then he adds and his commandments are not 325 00:32:07.089 --> 00:32:12.049 burdensome. As I said earlier, when we hear the word commandment, sometimes 326 00:32:12.089 --> 00:32:15.759 we think, oh no, I gotta do this other thing, but is 327 00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:20.960 that true love? It's not as all, it's not at all. God 328 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:24.400 commands me, as a husband to love my wife. Now, of course 329 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:28.799 that can be a big chore and a Hassle and all those sorts of things 330 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:34.109 if I don't actually love her, but if I do love her, it's 331 00:32:34.150 --> 00:32:37.950 like falling off a log, isn't it? It's not a burden something, 332 00:32:37.029 --> 00:32:43.990 it's a wonderful thing. It's a joyous thing. When we, my wife 333 00:32:44.029 --> 00:32:47.180 Dyll and I, were first getting married, we had some premarital counseling and 334 00:32:47.220 --> 00:32:53.940 I remember the pastor we were meeting with suggested this exercise. He said he 335 00:32:54.059 --> 00:32:58.730 did this occasionally and I recommend it to you. He said every now and 336 00:32:58.769 --> 00:33:02.809 then when I'm driving home or riding my bike home, I'll I'll just go 337 00:33:04.009 --> 00:33:07.769 through my mind and try to come up with and he'll pick a number five, 338 00:33:07.809 --> 00:33:13.319 hundred and ten five reasons I love my wife right and this just as 339 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:16.279 a sort of mental exercise. And and what he says, what he said 340 00:33:16.279 --> 00:33:21.079 would happen is as he would go home, he'd think of number one, 341 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:24.799 the number two, number three, in a smile would start to come to 342 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:29.430 his lips, and number four, and he pedal a little faster, he 343 00:33:29.470 --> 00:33:31.990 would live close to the church and number five by the time he got home. 344 00:33:34.230 --> 00:33:38.230 It is how I was just bursting right, bursting with love, and 345 00:33:38.390 --> 00:33:45.460 it was no problem, no chore, No Burden, some duty to open 346 00:33:45.579 --> 00:33:49.099 the door and give her a hug and say hey, great to see you. 347 00:33:50.339 --> 00:33:53.059 He's not checking a box at this point, is he? Because his 348 00:33:53.259 --> 00:33:59.089 heart is filled with love. I found the same sort of thing to be 349 00:33:59.210 --> 00:34:04.930 true, not just in my love for my wife, but also our love 350 00:34:05.049 --> 00:34:07.369 for the Lord. Why do you think he reminds us all the time of 351 00:34:07.730 --> 00:34:10.960 all the ways in which he is so loving for us? Why do you 352 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.519 think he's so specific? He who gives his life and lays his life down 353 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:21.960 for his friends? That's love. Because we forget and he reminds us. 354 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.949 And when we hear his word and we bring these things to mind and we 355 00:34:25.070 --> 00:34:30.110 think about all the wonderful things that God has done for us and we're just 356 00:34:30.949 --> 00:34:37.630 choking in them, we're remembering them, we're rejoicing in them, then is 357 00:34:37.710 --> 00:34:43.500 it a problem to then go and share that same love with others? Is 358 00:34:43.539 --> 00:34:52.500 it burdens not really. Where it's burdensome is where we, unsurprisingly, aren't 359 00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:59.730 very much in love with God. When that disconnect is there, then it's 360 00:34:59.769 --> 00:35:02.610 a big problem and it does feel like checking a list and it feels like 361 00:35:02.969 --> 00:35:07.400 a bunch of legalism and on. However, you might want to put it. 362 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:12.400 Love is, of course, a command, it is a duty, 363 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:17.000 it is an obligation. Husband's ought to love their wives, parents ought to 364 00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:22.030 love their children. We ought to love one another, ought to love God. 365 00:35:22.230 --> 00:35:29.789 These are duties, these are commandments. But when our faith is in 366 00:35:29.949 --> 00:35:37.059 the God who has loved us, the burdensome nature of the Commands of God 367 00:35:37.340 --> 00:35:44.059 is taken away. They're only burdensome because our hearts are so perverted. They're 368 00:35:44.139 --> 00:35:49.260 only burdensome because we're sick. If you've got a big pain in your side 369 00:35:49.260 --> 00:35:52.849 and you're expected to run, it's a part, but if you're full of 370 00:35:52.969 --> 00:36:00.889 life and energy, it's fun, it's easy, it's a joy. Where 371 00:36:00.929 --> 00:36:05.840 do we get that from? Where do we get healing from? Where do 372 00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:08.880 we get energy from? Where can we run so that we aren't weary? 373 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:17.079 How can we soar like eagles and not grow fat? The Bible says from 374 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:22.590 God. That's how we get it. That's where we get it when we 375 00:36:22.949 --> 00:36:28.949 are born of God. How can you be born of God? How can 376 00:36:28.989 --> 00:36:32.019 you become a son or daughter of God? How can you become no longer 377 00:36:32.340 --> 00:36:38.059 a liar but a lover? By putting your faith in the one who has 378 00:36:38.139 --> 00:36:46.170 done all these things for you. Trust him, go to the doctor and 379 00:36:46.369 --> 00:36:52.010 he will save you. Praise be to God. Let's pray.