Love's Abiding Presence (message 7 of 10 on First John)

“Love's Abiding Presence!”

Sermon Series: Walk in Faith (part 7 of 10)

First Baptist Church Family Life Center

New Castle, Indiana

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

February 28, 2010

We are continuing in our sermon series "Walk in Faith". We are in our 7th teaching time on First John. Please open your Bibles, pull out your sermon notes, and grab a pen. Let's dive in!

1 John 3:24 - 4:6 (NIV)

²⁴Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. ¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. ⁴You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. [prayer]

This section of Scripture is a continuation of John's explanation of what it means that God has so lavished on us this great gift of love that we are called (and are!) Children of God (1 John 3:1).

We are Children (sons and daughters) of God because we have asked Jesus Christ into our lives and we each have received the Holy Spirit through faith. This was possible because the message that was from the beginning came to us and we believed the Truth about Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. And as Children of God, through the Holy Spirit living in us we strive to live a life of obedience to the commandment of love! We are adopted into love by the God who is love to be a part of the mission of God to love the lost (those who have not yet received life in Christ) who are still of the world.

Today's passage is focusing on the power source of this new life we have been adopted into. That power source is the 3rd person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit. Today we are talking about "Love’s Abiding Presence!"

Let me start with a modern day parable: A friend calls me up and tells me that he finally bought his dream car, a Porsche, and is now going to bring it over to show me. Personally, I don't care a whole lot about cars, but my friend has a car fetish so I indulge him. My friend only lives a mile away and he is on his way. The minutes go by and my friend doesn’t arrive.

After an hour goes by I give up and go back inside and leave a message of concern on his cell phone. Two hours go by and I am ready to call the police and put out an all points bulletin, when all of a sudden I look out the window and here comes my friend pushing the Porsche into my driveway. He’s covered with dirt; soaked with sweat; and he has this look of intense fatigue on his face.

Obviously, I think something happened to the car so I ask my friend, “Why are you pushing the Porsche; what’s wrong with it?” He replies that nothing is wrong and asks very seriously in return, ‘how else do you expect me to get the Porsche from my house to yours?’

I stand there with my mouth wide open and in disbelief I sarcastically burst, “You could start the Engine and drive it over here!” Get this, he says, “What engine?”

This sounds obvious and foolish; why would a person use their own limited energy to push a $90,000 car that an engine with over 400 horsepower? But that is exactly the point! How silly are we, as Children of God, trying to do the same in our lives!

We are going from day to day exhausted, drenched in sweat, weary from the heavy burden of our lives, only to realize that all we need to do is turn on the engine (the living presence of God abiding in us—the Holy Spirit) rather than try to push ourselves (with our own limited energy) from location to location, agenda item to agenda item, accomplishment to accomplishment.

When we live this way as Children of God, we either don’t know we have the Holy Spirit or we don’t know how to allow Him to live in and through us. Is this hitting home for you? [pause]

Let’s dive into our first point from 1 John 3:24.

AS CHILDREN OF GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVES IN US!

John states in verse 24, the first verse of our Scripture Lesson, "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

As Children of God we need to realize that a fundamental change in our being (that is an ontological change) occurs when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The God who loved us, created us, and bought us with a price through the blood of Jesus Christ has given us the fullness of Himself by coming and living in us when we asked Jesus Christ into our lives. At the moment of conversion, we go from being dead in our sin without a living spirit; to being alive in Christ because our spirit is quickened to life by the abiding presence of God's Holy Spirit! We pass from death to life!

We go from being a lost child of the created order in rebellion against God to being a Child of God living in obedience to God. Our new life is now in God who lives in us through the Holy Spirit. This is the dynamic love affair which is God's perfect fellowship in us only made visible by our obedience to the commandments to love one another.

According to the Apostle Paul, that obedience is only possible by the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence in our lives! The Apostle Paul emphasizes this in Romans 8:13-16, "For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."

It is the Holy Spirit living in us who testifies that we are Children of God! He is the verification of our conversion!

Are you struggling to live the new life of obedience to Jesus Christ as a Child of God? [pause] Are you pushing the Porsche or have you turned the key and cranked up that engine with over 400 horsepower?

As disciples of Jesus Christ, the reality is that we do not need more of the Holy Spirit [pause]; rather, we need to surrender more and more of who we are to God so that the fullness of God's presence in our lives may fully live through us!

Only by giving God the title of ownership can we start to live according to the wise counsel of the Holy Spirit in our day to day lives. We must be obedient to God in all that we do! We have to stop compartmentalizing our lives thinking this is business and this is spiritual. Or this is secular and this profane! All is God’s! Spiritual Life and Obedience are 2 sides of the same coin! You cannot have one without the other and we cannot have either without the Holy Spirit living in us!

The Apostle Paul teaches us of this daily struggle of surrender and obedience in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

We have to surrender control of our lives if we are to follow Jesus Christ as disciples and disciple-makers!

In faith through the lavish gift of salvation found in the the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ we were given the gift of God's Holy Spirit living in us. Paul teaches in Romans 5:5b, "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Our life we live is a gift from God! The eternal life we celebrate is a gift from God! And the Holy Spirit is a gift of God to each of us so that we can join God’s story and be a conduit of His love and a vehicle of His grace!

That is our 2nd teaching point from the next 3 verses, AS CHILDREN OF GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT DECLARES THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CHRIST THROUGH US!

John warns the house churches of Ephesus and us today in 4:1, “Dear friends [Beloved], do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see [discern] whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

This is where I get to teach a nuanced point from something I stated last week. Last week, I wholeheartedly declared that there is no spiritual life apart from knowing God through Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And that is right and true of a spiritual life with the God who created the universe.

But, today I must openly declare that you can have a spiritual life apart from a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ because there are evil spirits in this world who want to animate you and have their way in the world through you. There are spirits in this world who want to give you a “spiritual experience”, but let me exhort you that we must test every spirit to ensure whether we are dealing with the spirit of truth or the spirit of falsehood (as John delineates in 4:6).

John does not give us any spiritual wiggle room; there is no middle ground in the spiritual realm; unlike so many lukewarm humans in the world!

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, Paul speaks directly about the Spirit of the Antichrist that animates the false prophets and the evil spirits at work in the world, "Do not put out [quench] the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

Fellow followers of Christ and friends who are with us today seeking to know who this God is that we declare, please do not be deceived; there is good and evil! There are eternal destinies known as Heaven and Hell! There are spirits at work in this world--Angels and Demons!

We should not quench the Holy Spirit because there are real spiritual gifts given us to by the Spirit for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ and there are true prophecies spoken through the Spirit to the Church to edify, rebuke, and exhort the Body. But we must not be deceived.

There are also evil spirits that must be avoided and we need to know how to discern (test) what is of God and what is not. So, John gives us a very simple test in 4:2-3.

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

The Holy Spirit confirms His abiding presence not necessarily through a particular manifestation in regards to an ecstatic experience of the Spirit (though I believe that the Holy Spirit does manifest that way still today for the purpose of building up the body of Christ until we all reach unity), but always through the conviction of Truth declared through our faith in Jesus Christ.

This teaching is complimented by the Apostle Paul who was writing to a different community of churches, but made a similar point. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:2-3, "You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit."

Paul gave these believers, who lived in a very spiritual world, a simple test to know whether the spirit was of God or of the deceiver. If the spirit can declare “Jesus is Lord” it is only possible through the Holy Spirit. Once again, the reality is that the spirits cannot play the middle road. There KNOW the reality of God!

Evil spirits can say they believe in God, because they know that for a fact, but evil spirits (spirit of falsehood) cannot declare 'Jesus is Lord' because they are in rebellion against the God who made them.

Our Scripture lesson is clear this morning. The Greek word translated “acknowledges” can be translated “confessed” or “declared”. The only way that a person can declare or confess that 'Jesus Christ has come in the flesh' is from God through the Holy Spirit teaching them the Truth.

This is not a minor theological issue or a philosophical nuance, this reality known as the Incarnation means that the God who is Spirit, took on flesh by becoming a human being (fully human while fully God!). This is the Christmas’ miracle and the key to understanding how Jesus Christ was able to atone for all of our sins on the Cross. This reality is central to Christianity!

The Gospel of John 1:14 clearly defines the Incarnation, "The Word [Logos] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John is adding to the visible signs of what it looks like to be a Child of God; he is teaching us that false belief is as much a sin against God as selfish and destructive behavior or a lack of love for one another. To deny the bedrock truths of the apostolic witnesses passed down to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Bible is to be deceived.

John is teaching us that this is not just intellectual error, but the misleading by the spirit of falsehood.

We must test the spirits by the truths we hold as authoritative and sacred in our lives. That is why we are people of the Bible! The Truth planted in a person's heart is the power to bring eternal life! No wonder the Antichrist is trying to deceive us with half truths and water-downed gospel.

Let's get theological for a moment: Do you know why it is so very important that the Holy Spirit declare through each of us this very specific truth that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh”?

Jesus Christ is our perfect Passover lamb. He is the only person to ever walk on earth without sin; therefore, as the Son of God Jesus Christ is the only one whose sacrifice would then be able to appease the curses of the ancient covenant established by God between humanity and God. In the same way, the Living God, the Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ continues to intercede for us at the right hand of the Father and what a great God we have who knows the struggles we go through in this life.

In Hebrews 4:5 we read, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin."

God chose to join with us in the midst of the human struggle to redeem us back into His Perfect Fellowship—the dynamic love affair of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let me explain a little bit deeper: The Atonement Theory states that only human beings can rightfully repay the debt which was incurred through our willful disobedience to God. But, no human being was able to do this because we all are corrupted by sin introduced at the Fall by Satan. That is why God had to do it for us and why He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human, begotten, not made, of the same substance as the Father to satisfy the conditions of the covenant. Jesus Christ was the sacrifice by God on behalf of humanity, taking humanity’s penalty for sin upon himself, and propitiating God’s wrath. In other words, God imputed (transferred) the guilt of our sins to Christ, and he, in our place, bore the punishment that we deserve. God transferred our guilt (because of sin) onto His Son and then justified us (made us right in God’s eyes) through the blood of Jesus Christ by putting His righteousness (to be right in God’s eyes) on us.

If Jesus Christ did not "come in the flesh" then He could not have atoned for all our sins because Jesus had to be fully human. If He was not fully human then we are NOT fully atoned for and there is no hope! There is eternal life solely because Jesus Christ came in the flesh, sent by the Father.

And NOW we become the incarnate witnesses of this eternal life as the Holy Spirit declares the Truth of Jesus Christ through our lives, in our words and deeds! Christ puts on flesh through us!

Are you a living witness of this Victory? [pause]

AS CHILDREN OF GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES US THE STRENGTH TO OVERCOME!

What do you do when times get rough and we feel beat down by this dark world that opposes the light and love of God?

Who do you turn to when tragedy, crisis, or disappointment happen?

John made it clear that there is an evil spirit (the spirit of the Antichrist) who has been loosened in the midst of these end times, but then he declares in verses 4-5, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.”

Dear Children, Beloved of God, fellow heirs of Jesus Christ, we do not need to fear the lies, the schemes, or the deceptions of the evil one because the God we serve has destroyed the power of the evil one and we have the Victory! This is a battle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of this world. Here is the good news--God is greater than any evil spirit or any false truth being propagated by the spirit of the Antichrist that you find yourself coming up against in this world that crucified our Lord! Call out to Jesus and you will overcome! Call out to Jesus Christ and you can stand firm in your faith!

The Gospel of Luke 10:19-20 illumines this point. We see Jesus triumphantly instructing the faithful 72 disciples as they came back to Jesus after they went throughout the land preaching the good news defeating the evil spirits that came up against them. "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

The greatest victory is to come when we come face to face with Jesus Christ in Glory. Only then will we fully know God and be able to comprehend the lavish gift that He has bestowed upon us to be His Children.

We wait for the fullness of our inheritance, while in this life the victory we experience is seemingly challenged every corner we turn. As John has expressed in this letter already, the world in its corrupted state is not a friend to God nor to those who follow God. We do not see the world as the world sees itself, because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to the reality of our true state and the desperate state of the world around us.

Jesus taught His devoted followers in the Gospel of John 15:19, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

We have a choice in how we hear this news. We can mourn the loss of a former lover (the world) and live in the shadow of counterfeit lies that life was better when were still in captivity. Just like the Israelites complained to Moses and wished they were back in Egypt as slaves!

Or we can realize that we have been adopted into Love by the God who is love and we now have a secure future because of Love’s abiding presence—the Holy Spirit living in and through us! The God who saved us and claimed us as His own children has promised us that we will overcome!

John finishes this section with verse 6, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

It is our response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of Life, as proclaimed from the beginning and to us today that we can know who we are being directed by: whether the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of falsehood.

This response must start with a heart-felt prayer of confession and acceptance, but it then must continue through obedience! Remember, spirituality and obedience are two sides of the same coin. You cannot say you know God and then not love your brother! You cannot say Jesus is Lord and then disobey His commandments!

Jesus taught in the Gospel of Luke 6:46-48, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built."

God has built your new life in Him on the Rock who is Jesus Christ and the storms of this life cannot overcome you! God is greater than those storms and He will overcome them for you through your faith and your commitment to respond in faith, obedience, and love!

We must persevere in this life! There is an eternal reward for those who stand firm in their faith through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Jesus declared to His Church in Revelation 2:7, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

Friends, it is hard to feel like you are overcoming when you are beat down and tired from life. It is hard to feel like you are living your life with the God of the universe living in your heart when you are pushing the Porsche instead of sitting down and turning the key and cranking up that 400 horsepower engine.

The truth is that we cannot do this on our own! That is the way God designed this life…it is impossible to overcome this world by yourself! Each of us need to ask God to live in us and through us and only then will we have the power to overcome one day at a time.

RESPONSE TIME: Pastor Ken and his team are now going to lead us in a time of response.

Let's pray together. [Pray]

"Life is all About Love" (message 6 of 10 on 1 John)

"Life is all about Love!"

Sermon Series: Walk in Faith (6 of 10)

1 John 3:11-23 (NIV)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

First Baptist Church-New Castle, Indiana

February 21, 2010

We are continuing in our sermon series "Walk in Faith". We are in our 6th teaching time on First John. Please open your Bibles, pull out your sermon notes, and grab a pen. Let's dive in!

God's Word to us this morning from 1 John 3:11-23 (NIV)

¹¹This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. ¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ¹⁹This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence ²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²²and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. ²³And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

[Prayer]

This Scripture lesson is a continuation of what we learned last week --We have been adopted into love by God the Father. We have been given the right to be called Children of God for a mission and today we will unpack that mission. Simply stated: We were adopted into love by the One who is Love for the mission to love! Our lifestyle of love is what defines us as Children of God! "Life is all about love!" Let's now look at our passage to learn more about this love.

AS GOD'S CHILDREN WE ARE TO LOVE...FROM THE HEART! (1 John 3:11-15)

In 1 John 3:11, the Apostle John starts with his bottom line up front. He states, "This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another." As we saw in 1 John 2:10 and again in 1 John 3:10, John is reminding us of our mandate to love one another. To such a point that in the previous verse (1 John 3:10) John says you are not a child of God if you do not love your brother!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is foundational! Christian love must start with love for one another in the church, but it cannot nor should not stay confined by the artificial walls of a church building…the love of Christ is for the entire world so our love must go out to our neighbor who may not enter this Worship Center. Truly, you may be the only sermon they ever hear! Make it a good one!

In 1 John 3:12-13 the Apostle John emphasizes the foundational importance of this commandment to love one another by giving a negative illustration of brotherly love. He reminds us with a warning, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you."

Let's look at this story from Genesis 4. We have the first humans in Adam and Eve and after the Fall they have their first 2 children: Cain and Abel. Cain is the first born and he was a farmer. Abel was the younger brother who was a shepherd. Cain and Abel both bring an offering to God and the story continues in verse 4-8,"The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.' Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let's go out to the field.' And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."

Cain, in a way that is not spelled out in the biblical narrative, did not do what was right in the eyes of God causing his offering to not be acceptable. He then saw that his brother Abel was accepted by God and jealousy burned inside of him to the point that He murdered Abel! The Apostle John is pointing out to us that his motive for murder was envy! The devil takes Cain's envy and twists it into the cancer of hatred.

The devil is doing the same in and out of the church today; in fact this disease has mutated in our world today and has led to a holocaust of epic proportions as hatred has spawned jealousy, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, and pettiness that destroy the unity of marriages, families, churches, and communities!

Where has the love gone? Have we, the Church of Jesus Christ, lost our mandate to be the light and the source of love for couples, families, communities, and nations? [pause]

Have we compromised the mandate of this radical love of Christ so that we will be found acceptable by this world that crucified Jesus Christ? Have we compromised to such a point that we are surprised when the world disapproves of us and hates us!

John states in verse 13, "Do not be surprised if the world hates you." If we love with radical love of Jesus Christ then the powers and principalities of this world will treat us as Cain treated Abel—it will hate us; just as the world hated Jesus Christ! The powers of this world at odds with God will seek to remove us so that it will not be reminded that it has not been accepted in the eyes of God!

But the enemy is not only on the outside, the enemy is working from the inside of church congregations throughout the world. Jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, and resentment twist our hearts and allow sin to crouch at the door of our lives. To allow hatred to settle into our hearts is to break a clearly stated and positive commandment of Jesus Christ who taught us from the beginning that we must love one another!

John is strongly pointing out that in the same way that our love demonstrates we are Children of God, our lack of love will demonstrate that we are not truly believers of Jesus Christ!

As we learned last week, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit! You are either DEAD in your sin or you are alive in Christ! There is no middle ground! You either love or hate your brother! The Apostle John reminds us of this lesson again in verse 14 stating, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death."

We have the assurance of eternal life through Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. And we know this assurance is true in our lives when we love one another! This love is only possible through a spiritual regeneration; what we commonly refer to as being "born again."

I hammered this point home last week (if you missed the teaching I strongly recommend you listen on line or get a copy at the resource desk after service), but let me remind you that the Bible is very clear that prior to knowing God through Jesus Christ you and I are dead in our sin. It is only through believing and putting our faith in Jesus Christ that we pass from death to life. We go from being guilty of sin to being righteous in the eyes of God through a double imputation (transference).

This need for spiritual regeneration is emphasized by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John 5:24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."

Love for one another is the evidence of our spiritual life, not the basis! The foundation for any spiritual life is the love of God triumphantly demonstrated in Jesus Christ! It is in God's love that we are born again into love, so it makes sense that if we do not have this love we were not born again into it and we remain in death!

The Apostle John then takes it to the heart level in verse 15, "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

John is simply restating what he heard from His master. Love is a matter of the heart! It is not enough to have the appearance of love, we must love! Love is from the heart and it's to the heart that God looks!

Jesus taught in his famous Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew 5:21-22a, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."

Jesus Christ defined the true nature of hatred! Hatred is murder! For us to truly experience the cleansing from this cancer that has been and continues to destroy creation at epic proportions, then we must have the true nature of hatred exposed and displayed for all to see! Hatred is sin!

Hatred is incompatible with spiritual life! Jesus Christ came to free us from the bondage of the devil, who is the one who has been sinning from the beginning and incited us to envy and hate. Jesus Christ came to lead the Victory Charge in God's Ministry of Reconciliation--the Mission of God!

On the Cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ demonstrated what the primary weapon in God's limitless arsenal is. It is LOVE and as Children of God we are to wield this weapon in our everyday actions!

AS GOD'S CHILDREN WE ARE TO LOVE...IN EVERYDAY ACTIONS! (1 John 3:16-18)

John transitions to the paramount illustration of what love is by declaring in verse 16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

This is exactly what John heard from His master in the Gospel of John 15:12-14, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Here's the point: Love is defined by the action of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who laid His life down so that we may pass from death to life. And for us today, love means to be our brother's keepers and take care of his or her needs. To love selflessly and sacrificially!

A quick illustration: If I am sitting on the edge of the dock fishing and a person comes up to me and tells me that he loves me and then jumps in the water and drowns, then I am at a loss for how that is an expression of anything other than his own insanity.

But, if I fall in the water while fishing and a person jumps in to save me and in the process of saving my life gives his own then I know that He loved me in a way that I now live my life in gratitude for such a selfless and sacrificial expression of pure love!

In this illustration we see that there must be a necessity for the sacrifice! Jesus Christ died on the Cross because it was the only way to reconcile humanity back to God. It was the only way for all of humanity to pass from death to life and it remains true still in 2010, with all of our progress and advances in technology, Jesus Christ is still the only way to God. He will never go out of style and we can not advance or progress out of this fundamental need!

Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ died once and for all for God's Children! We cannot atone for another's sins by dying for them on the cross, that is not what Jesus nor John is teaching, but we must be prepared to meet the needs of others whatever the cost in self-sacrifice, personal comfort, or reputation! We are to carry our cross and imitate Jesus Christ in His attitude and self-sacrificial love for humanity!

Peter emphasizes to us the importance of imitating Christ's attitude and living by this new ethic of life in 1 Peter 4:1-2 & 8-9, "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."

Peter is teaching us to live a habitual lifestyle of Christ-likeness where we regularly put other people's needs before our own; only then will we become free of sin and live for God's perfect will to be made known here on earth. We become living embodiments of the Lord's Prayer: "Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven"! This is when love becomes our primary motive, over our own fleshly desires! We are to love one another! I praise God for 1 Peter 4:9, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." God knows us so well…we like to grumble! People really have not changed a whole lot in 2000 years. J

What is this hospitality that Peter is speaking about? It is the koinonia of the church! We read in Acts 2:44 that we are to have "all things in common", meaning we are to share what we have so our brothers and sisters do not go hungry, thirsty, cold or uncared for.

John unpacks these everyday acts of love in verses 17-18, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

Verses 17-18 put some every day implications on the high ideals and loftiness of verse 16. Yes, I want to raise my hand and say that I am willing to lay down my life for my brother. I consent to high and lofty ideals at the slim chance that I will actually have to lay down my life. Possibly I could muster the courage and conviction to do so in one final and fatal demonstration of love, but I must ask myself, "am I willing to be bothered today, to be made uncomfortable, to die a social or occupational death for the sake of caring for my brother?" [pause]

The moment is right here and right now to show your love for Christ by putting your faith in action in real and relevant ways! The moment is NOW! If you see a brother or sister, neighbor or coworker, friend or family member in need and you show no pity on him or her then how is the love of God possibly in you?

James unapologetically declared in James 2:16-17, "If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

My fellow children of God, this is messy and painful work if we are truly to be the Spirit-filled missional Church of Jesus Christ! Brace yourself and be prepared to be disturbed because if you are not willing to be disturbed then it's time for a heart check!

Love requires us to get out of our comfort zones!

Christian love is love which goes to and gives to those in need. And if we have it and our brother does not and we turn away from his or her need then we are lacking the love which is the one essential evidence that we truly are the Children of God!

It is time for us to demonstrate the extravagant love of Christ together as a band of brothers and sisters bound together by God's love with the mission to share God's love! And we are to do so with confidence!

AS GOD'S CHILDREN WE ARE TO LOVE...WITH CONFIDENCE! (1 John 19-23)

John starts in verses 19-20, "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

I am thankful to God for these verses following such challenging and convicting proceeding verses. We have seen in verses 14-15 that any hint of hatred in our hearts makes us a murderer in God's eyes and unacceptable in His sight for eternal life.

We then see in verse 17 that if we do not help every brother in need then the love of God is not in us.

At this point, it's easy to start to feel paralyzed by insecurity, doubt, and condemnation wondering if you are doing enough and if you really know Jesus.

The Holy Spirit wants us to have an assurance of eternal security so that we don't live our lives insecurely. It is a selfish way of life to always be wondering about our own salvation rather than living in the assurance of salvation loving and blessing others. You see, the devil has won a victory in your life as long as your eyes are on yourself and you are feeling insecure and shameful about your spiritual state.

Paul teaches a very similar teaching in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Spirit wants you to have the assurances of Jesus Christ so that you can be in mission for God and love with confidence.

We are to love others more than ourselves and loving for the sake of having a clear conscience is not love at all…it is works-based religion and not the personal relationship with God that Jesus Christ died for so that we can live in freedom and love with confidence!

Do you feel guilty or shameful that your love is not pure enough; that your actions are not significant enough? [pause] It is inevitable that our hearts will condemn us, but God is greater than our hearts; He knows all things!

God says, "Rest in my presence! I am bigger than your heart, than your own expectations of yourself, of your own plans that you never quite go through with, of that old tape you keep playing over and over again in your mind that says you are not good enough and will never amount to anything. I am bigger; trust Me!"

John continues to explain this truth in verses 21-22, "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him."

When we rest in God and know that He is bigger then we are free from the condemnation of the devil. Paul declares in Romans 8:1, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"! In Jesus Christ, as a Child of God, we have the full confidence to approach God in prayer because in the Light we have perfect fellowship.

This communion with God is nothing we have done, but it is the gift that God has lavished onto us as His Children. His has chosen us in love to bear the fruit of love in this world!

We read this in Jesus' words from John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

God does not want our prayer intimacy blocked with false guilt and condemnation from the devil nurtured in our own conscience. He chose us and it is His mercy and forgiveness that are the grounds for our confidence; not our hearts nor how we feel!

Our confidence is in God; not in ourselves! Do you put your trust in Jesus or in yourself? [pause]

John brings us back to where we started with verse 23 stating, "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."

Let me declare to you this morning that we have an assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ!

Our confidence to love as Christ loved and show the world that we are His disciples is fully anchored in the ROCK of God's character!

When the Bible uses the phrase, "the name of …" it is invoking not just a name, but the entire nature and character of God.

It is referencing all that we know of God including His covenant love, His promise of forgiveness, His mercy and compassion, His power and might, His righteous judgment and His promises to right every wrong!

We see this in Psalm 124:8, "Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."

And to believe in the Name of Jesus Christ, who is the Light to the World and the Hope of Humanity, the Perfect Passover Lamb, the Alpha and the Omega, is to put your trust in all that has been revealed of God in His dynamic love affair with humanity!

You can have the confidence this morning by putting your hope in Jesus Christ and asking Him into your life. If you want this assurance, this confidence to love from the heart, then it starts with a prayer from the heart to ask God into your life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Our ability to love other people is completely dependent on receiving the love of God through Jesus Christ!

Are you ready to put your trust and hope in God through Jesus Christ?

RESPONSE TIME: Pastor Ken and his team are now going to lead us in a time of response.

Let's pray together. [Pray]