Perfect Love

William Jonathan Weems

1 John • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

1 John 4:12–18

Confidence

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Complete love comes from God and grows from an intimate relationship with Him as we love our brothers and sisters.

Notes

Transcript

How do we know?

1 John 4:12–18 NIV

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:12–21 NIV

How do we know?

How do we know? The question John has been answering throughout this letter.

How do we know what is true?

How do we know we belong to God?

How do we know after all we have never seen God?

1 John 4:12 NIV

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Intro to the passage. No one has ever seen God but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Seen God with their own eyes. Laid their own eyes on him so how can we know?

But if we love (agape) one another, then God lives (abides) in us.

His love is made complete (PERFECT) in us.

1 John 4:13 NIV

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

There are some pretty powerful words that John is using here and we should notice them as we go through the passage. I am going to use some synonyms and other possible translations for a few of these words just to help us better understand them.

How do we know

Seen

Love

Live

Complete

Fear

Seen seen with my own eyes, physically seen

Love (agape) unconditional love. Self-sacrificing, forgiving ()

Lives (abides) dwells, feeds off of, grows from

Complete (perfect) the way it is supposed to be. Total, the whole package

Fear that comes in later, but it is so important in this passage, but I think we know what it means.

But, the key word in 1 John is the word KNOW so let’s get back to how do we know?

1 John 4:13–16 NIV

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

How do we know he lives (abides) in us and we live (abide) in him?

He has given us His Spirit ()

We have seen (experienced) that the Father has sent his Son to be the savior of the world.

We testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the saviour of the world

We acknowledge (CONFESS) Jesus is the son of God.

Then we know God lives (abides) in them and they live (abide) in God.

So we know (assurance, trust) and rely on (believe in ) the love God has for us

We live in confidence because we are his and he is ours. We don’t have to worry about whose we are because we live, rely, know, trust in him and his love grows in us and we trust that love.

Simply put God is Love. ()

Live (abide) in love we are living in God and he in us. Last week I mentioned everyone has the ability to love because we are all made in the image of God, so even nonbelievers can love, but this is more than an action, this is a lifestyle. It is who you are. It is where you receive your strength, your lifeblood, your very life.

Knowing (EXPERIENCING) the love of God leads us to rely on the love God has for us because it is complete and perfect.

1 John 4:17 NIV

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

1 John 4:17

Perfect Love

Love is made perfect when God’s people know and rely on the love of God. When love becomes our lifestyle. Our very nature. We become like God. We become like Jesus in the world. We are love. We lay down our lives for others so that they may have a glimpse of what God’s love is like.

1 John 4:9–10 NIV

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Perfect Love

We cannot be an atoning sacrifice for others sins. Jesus already did that and was the only one who could, but we can lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters because that is perfected (complete) love.

We are not going to ever be able to be love to the extent that God is love, but remember, his spirit lives (dwells) in us and He is love. When we rely on his love we love others. We don’t have a choice. It is when we rely on ourselves or our ability to love that we fail.

Now John gets back to the question he has been answering throughout his letter: How can we know?

Now it is how can we know we do not have to fear the day of judgment.

Simply put we know, rely on and live in the love of God.

1 John 4:17-

1 John 4:17–18 NIV

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Perfect love drives out FEAR

John is talking about eternity here. We do not have to fear punishment, because we know we belong to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus and we are relying on that love. We are living in that love. We are made complete, (PERFECTED) in that love.

That perfect and complete love of God drives out the fears we naturally have. Fear of death and separation. Fear of being alone. Fear of eternal damnation.

So, if we have perfect (Complete) love then we will not fear anything because we know ultimately and completely we belong to God. We are his children. This is the MAIN message of this epistle. We can KNOW we belong to God and always will.

But, those who do not live (abide, dwell) in God through his son Jesus do have fears. They should have fears. They have no confidence in the love of God. Does this mean that if we have moments of fear about eternity and moments of doubt about our faith that we do not belong to God? Absolutely not. Remember this whole epistle is about how we know we belong to God.

Again I believe, this is a lifestyle statement. If we live a life outside of the love of God then we live a life of fear.

I am not really a hell fire and damnation preacher, but I know there is a hell, and I know I don’t want to go there. I trusted Jesus to be my savior as a young boy in a large part because I feared going to hell. And it would not surprise me if many of you first trusted Jesus to save you from hell. But as we grow in that relationship, as I have grown in that relationship, and his love has been made more complete in me, I have rested more, lived more and relied more on the love of God. And I know that yes I have nothing to fear when it comes to eternity, but I really have nothing to fear here on earth because God is love. And His love is PERFECT, COMPLETE and Deeper than any human love could ever be. You and I know this to be so true. When you or I are living, dwelling, abiding, residing and relying on it, perfect fear casts out fear. But when you or I are not doing those things fear creeps into our lives. Fear for the future. Fears at work, Fears in our lives. Fears for our children. Fears for our health. All sorts of Fear. Some of us today are here stuck, paralyzed or living in fear. But here is the good news, the gospel. Jesus died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. HE paid the price for our sins he faced our greatest fear. And he overcame it. And if we only believe that and trust in him; we are his. If you have not put your trust in him yet. If you have not confessed Jesus as Lord, Make today the day. Do it now.

Maybe you have allowed fear to take a strangle hold in your life and you need to refocus on the complete and perfect love of God. You need to take some focused time to abide in his love. And let him fill you with his love. so that fear can be cast out. I urge you to take time this week, take time today to just dwell in his love and in the promises He has made to love you. To dwell in and through you. That you are his.

How do we know that we are his? We live in his perfect love, and because of that we have nothing to fear because God is perfect love and perfect love casts out all fear.

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