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1 John 4:7-18, The Nature Of God's Love
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Feb 19, 2025
Last week, we talked about the importance of protecting ourselves against deceiving spirits. John brought that to the attention of his readers because there were many false teachers that had infiltrated the church. They were promoting gnosticism, a heresy that denied the God man and also promoted licentious living. John started the first 6 verses of chapter 4 to teach us how to recognize the spirit of the antichrist. This week, he shifts gear and is going to define what true love is. I think John did that on purpose; since chapter 4 was intended to teach us how to identify deceiving spirits, John probably thought it best to also teach us how to identify the characteristics and nature of the love of God. We’re going to look at verses 7-18
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Hey, what's going on, guys? This is Taiva at Taibs.com, and today we're going to continue our study of the book of 1st, John, chapter 4
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So we did verses 1 through 6. That was two weeks ago, and today we're going to do verses 7 to 17
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And I titled this message, the character of God's love. And I'm going to go into my intro, and we're going to talk about why this is important
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So in verses 1 and 6 of chapter 4, John talks about protecting ourselves against deceiving
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spirit. He talks about testing the spirit to know that they are from the Lord. And then he brought
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to the attention of his readers, he brought that to the attention of his readers because there were
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many faults on teachers that had come into the church. And then one of the things that they were
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promoting was narcissism, which is basically a belief in which there was some kind of secrecy
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And then a lot of the nostalgic teachers, they were denying that God was a man. Basically
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they say that Jesus was not a true man, that he appeared as a phantom
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So what we saw was some kind of mirage kind of thing
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And they also promoted licentious living. Now, a lot of heresies that you see today, even the Jehovah Witnesses, they find their roots in narcissism
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And one of their big teachers was Arias. And Arias basically say that Jesus was not God, that Jesus was also a being that created all other things
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So basically, these are the kind of stuff that were threatening the church
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So John wrote this chapter. Actually, the entire book of First John talks about heresies and the love of God
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So he goes between teaching about how to recognize true teachers and from false teachers
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Now, in verses 7 to 17, he shifts a little bit of gear
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Now he's going to define what true love is. And the word love has been so adulterated in our, like
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current society that we don't truly know what love means. Now, today I'm not going to go through an in-depth study of the love of God
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but I want to stick to what John is saying here, how John is defining love
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So, and John did that on purpose because he first taught us how to identify false spirits
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from true spirituality. And now he's going to also teach us how to identify true love from fake love, I would say
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because this is important. So that's what we're going to be looking at. So first what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the entire scripture, and then we're going to look at it verse by verse
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So if you have your Bibles, go to 1 John chapter 4, and we're going to start from verse 7 to 17
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So the scripture says, Beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God
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Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love
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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
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And 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
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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another
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No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us
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By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit
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And we have seen and testified that the father has sent his son to be the Savior of the world
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Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in Him and He in God
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So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us
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God is love and whoever abides in love abiding God and God abides in him
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By this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment
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because as he is, so also are we in the world. There is no fear in love or perfect love cast out fear, for fear has to do with punishment
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and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. And I'm going to stop here
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So now we're going to go and try to dissect what John is. is telling us here because there's a lot of things
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the word love is said multiple times in this section and we need to understand
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what John is talking about. So in verse 7 for example, John says
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Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves
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has been born of God and knows God. Now this is a very difficult
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scripture to interpret and that's because many people have pretty much adulterated the word love
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If you turn on the TV, everybody talks about we need to just love one another, we just need to love one another
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Okay? Now, John is going to define the love that he's talking about in the verses that follow
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According to John, true love comes from God. And anyone who loves another, brother in Christ or another, with this kind of love
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has been born of the seed of God and knows God. So we need to understand what this love is that John is talking about
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Because if you go to Romans 12 verse 9, the scripture says that love hates what is even
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and cling on to what is good. So true love for another pretty much seeks the welfare
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and the edification of the other. Okay? And we also know that based on what John said in chapter 3
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he talked about how we ought to love in action and in truth
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That is so important. We love in action and in truth. So the love that John is mentioning
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is grounded in truth. That love comes from God. And John is going to explain the love of God
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in the verses that will follow. And before I get into that, I want to read you a quick account in the book of Mark
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Mark chapter 10, verse 17 to 22. We see how Jesus himself exhibits this love
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And then I'm going to read the account. The rich young man
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And let's start from verse 17. And as he was set down on his journey, this is Jesus
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A man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life
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and Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone
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You know the commandment. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal
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Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother
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And he said to him, teacher, all these have kept from my youth
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And Jesus, now pay attention. And Jesus looking at him, loved him and said to him
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you lack one thing go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven
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and come follow me disheartened by the saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions
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you see the guy comes into jesus and saying all these beautiful things and jesus looks at him
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and the scripture says he loves him loves him enough to tell him the truth see the love of god
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displayed by jesus cares for the other in a sense that i'm one
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want to tell you the truth. It's a love that is grounded in the truth about
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God and His righteousness and what God desires for people. So Jesus
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does not shy away from telling him the truth because he loved him. See
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and Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you like
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one thing. He didn't just say nothing. He said something that was going to save that man soul But unfortunately the man did not like what he heard what he heard from Jesus So he walked away from it See the love of God always seeks to honor God and is always grounded in truth
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It's not a whimsical love that is based on just being nice
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That's not what it is. It's a love that is grounded in truth. And we're going to see what John talks about next
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And before actually, let me also read you John Chapter 11. There's an interesting account there that I want to read to you guys
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Because I believe he also captures the love of God that the Bible is talking about, that John is talking about
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It's John chapter 11. We're going to read the story of the death of Lazarus. Okay
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Now listen to this. Now, a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha
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It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill
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So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill
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but when Jesus heard it he said this illness does not lead to death it is for the glory of God
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so that the son of God may be glorified through it now listen to the next verse
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now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so when he heard
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that Lazarus was ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was
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so basically the scripture is telling us because Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus
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he didn't go right away he stayed there because he loved them
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Lazarus eventually died, but it was for a good purpose. So Jesus didn't just rush to go there
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The scripture says, now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer
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The love for Lazarus and Martha and her sister compelled Jesus to stay longer because it was more important for the glory of God
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Okay, he didn't have to go there and save Lazarus. from dying physically, he stayed there for a purpose to bring glory to the name of God and to the name of Jesus to his name
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Okay, because he said earlier, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified through it
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So the love of God and the love that Jesus had for Martha and her sister Lazarus, and then Lazarus himself led him to stay two days longer
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So I just wanted to give you that. Now let's go on to verse 8
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Now in verse 8, John says, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love
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Now, again, people misunderstand this. A lot of people say, well, why are you saying this to people
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You know, we're supposed to love one another. You know, if you really love, then you wouldn't hurt their feelings
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Because we live in a society where everybody is so fragile, snowflakes, okay
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We all want to just be nice. Nice doesn't cut it when it comes to the kingdom of God
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because we have to be kind. Kindness is also rooted in the love of God
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Because when you're kind to someone, you care enough to tell them the truth
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In love, okay? You love them. That's why you're telling them the truth. Okay, so like you have people living in sinful situations
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And then nobody wants to say anything because we want to keep this false unity
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It's not true love. It's called false unity. You know that what they're doing is wrong
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And then you don't want to say anything because you think you don't want to say anything because you think you don't want to ruffle any feathers
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So you'd rather lead them to sin rather than saying something. So that's not the love of God because the love of God is always grounded in truth
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Now, John says anyone who does not love like God loves does not know God because God is love
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Now, John is using God as the standard for what love is supposed to be like
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Okay? We briefly defined love as it relates to God. Anyone who displays a love that is contrary to this love does not know God
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So if the love that you show is contrary to the love of God, that is not true love
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That's your own creation and that is idolatry. So John is saying here that anyone who does not love like God loves does not know God
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because God is the definition of what true love is. God's love is a holy love
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We need to understand that God's love is a holy love, a love that is in a category of itself
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because holiness is twofold. God said I'm holy. What God is saying here is that there's no other like God. There's none like God. This is why he's holy. He's in a category of himself. Okay. That's a love that is so different from what we know. And then the second way God expresses that love is a love that is pure. It is based on his moral purity. It's a pure, righteous love that God exerts. Okay. It's a love that is first different, but it's also love that is based on his moral purity. It's a pure, righteous love that is. It's a pure, righteous love that is. It's a pure, God, and it's a love that is based on his soul. It's. It's a pure, it's a pure, it's true. It's a pure, it's
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character. It's a holy love two-folds, different and also pure and in a way
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God expresses it. It's a righteous love. It's a pure love. So that's what this
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means, and this is what John is talking about here. Now, in verse 9 through
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10, John says, in this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God
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sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him
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In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be
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the propitiation for our sins. So now John gives us a vivid
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description of the love of God. It is the love that seeks to preserve
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and honor the righteousness and justice of God. Number one, and this love was fully
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manifested in the person of Christ who laid down his life for the sake of unworthy people like you
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and I. We are deserving of God's wrath. But God sent his only son to
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satisfy the wrath of God because he became sin for us so that we might
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become the righteousness of God. See, a love that doesn't seek to honor the justice and righteousness of God isn't true love
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That is not true love. A love that does not seek to honor the righteousness and justice of God isn't true love
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See, God did not have to send Jesus to die for our sins. By Jesus' death, God demonstrated, number one, his righteousness to show that he does not overlook sins
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Okay? And number two, he also demonstrated his love because both of his attributes
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were fully displayed on the cross. This is the love of God. A love that says, I'm going to save these sinners from my wrath
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Okay? Because I have to satisfy my justice. Justice must be served
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So God, because He's a righteous God, has to punish sins. But also because He's a God of love
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he sent Jesus to die for our sins, to be the propitiation for our sins
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so that we don't have to die for the things that we've committed
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Jesus took the place and he took the penalty to satisfy the wrath of God
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God. Okay, so a love that doesn't satisfy the wrath of God, the justice of God, his righteous
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character, and he doesn't honor God is not true love. And then James says in James 5, verse 19 to 20
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listen to what James says here. I'm going to read that to you to understand his love. In James 5
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verse 19 to 20, the scripture says, my brothers, if anyone among you wonders from the truth
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and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back brings back, brings back
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a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover over a multitude of sins
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What is James saying to us? See, this love that James is talking about is a love that basically
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does not excuse sins but it saves the sinner because what you doing is you are saving him from wandering from the truth When you look at the Greek word there when you look at the Greek word used cover it means protect in a sense that I protecting you from destroying yourself
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So I'm saving you from your sins by covering over a multitude of sins
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I'm preventing you from going in a wrong direction so that you don't live away
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You don't live in a way that violates the laws of God. It's a protective love that says, listen, don't go this way
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It doesn't honor God. don't do this thing, it's going to destroy you
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That's the kind of love that covers over a multitude of saints. It prevents you from wanting to go in a way that opposes the law of God
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This is the kind of love that John is talking about, and James is also referring to
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Now let's go to verses 11 and 12. The scripture says, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another
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No one has ever seen God, but if you love one another, God abides in us and his love is made perfect in us
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See, this is the way the scripture says in verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another the same way
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So the way we love is the way God loves. In a way that it's protecting
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It is preventing people from sinning. It's preventing people from going in a direction that is not consistent with the truth and the character of God
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It's a love that says, listen, I love you so much that I must tell you the truth
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I love you so much. I don't want you to do this. I'm willing to die for you
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It's a love that covers over a multitude of sins in a way that is saying you're trying to preserve the righteousness of God by loving people like that
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Now, in verse 12, John says no one has ever seen God. If you love one another, God abides in us and his love is made perfect in us
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Now, Jehovah witnesses look at this verse and they say, you see, no one has ever seen God so Jesus is not God
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So it seems as if John is contradicting himself, but he's not
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Because if you go back to 1, 1, verse 1, he says
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that which was from the beginning, that which we have seen concerning the word of life, the life appeared
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So when Jesus came, no one has ever seen God, mean no one has ever seen God in his full glory
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Okay? So when Jesus took the form of a man, he concealed that glory by becoming a servant
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Philippians 2, verse 1, verse 5 through 11, talks about that. He was called equal with God, but he became, he emptied himself
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Not saying that he lost his attribute, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a man
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meaning he concealed his glory. He was still fully God or truly man
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Some, I don't know if fully God, fully man, is a good word, but you understand what I'm trying to say
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We have to learn to make distinctions between God the man and God the Son
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and it says that Jesus was truly God, was also truly man
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He was human in every way, okay? But it was also God
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So when Jesus says, at thirst, this is touching his humanity. Because his human say, at thirst
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Because God cannot die. When Jesus died on the cross, God did not die
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God, the man died, okay, touching his humanity. So when John talks about no one has ever seen God
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He's saying no one has ever seen God in his full glory because Jesus made him known to us by becoming a man
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So this is what John is saying. So by becoming a human, Jesus again concealed his glory so we can approach him
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But what John is saying here is that the only way to know that God abides in us is by us shown evidence of his love for one another
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When we truly love one another the way God loves us, that's how we show that God really truly lives in us by His Holy Spirit
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because children of God are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are capable of loving as God loves because of His Spirit
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And Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14 that the love of God now controls us
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Okay? The love of God now controls us because now we operate based on the love of God
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Because now the Holy Spirit lives in us and the Holy Spirit enables us to love like God loves
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Because that kind of love is only possible by the Spirit of God. because the natural man, the man that does not have the spirit of God, cannot love like God loves
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He can show some signs of some kind of love, but that love is not pure love coming from the Father
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Okay? I'm not saying that like unregenerate people cannot love. There's philanthropies all over the world
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There are people that do good things. But the love that John is talking about here is a love that is based on the righteous character of God
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a love that seeks to honor God. That is the love that John is talking about
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So when we love one another that way, the love of God comes to maturity in our life
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And then God truly lives in us because He shows by manifesting that love, we truly show that we are children of God because only God's children can love this way
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And this is what John is saying here. Now let's go to the next. Verse 13 and 14
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John says, by this, we know that we are biding him and hearing us because he has given us of his spirit
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And we have seen and testified that the father has sent his son to be the Savior
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of the world. John is saying, this is how we know that we abide in God and he abiding us by
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his spirit because the spirit of God always glorifies God in us. And the way he glorifies God
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because he teaches us to love like God loves. We are able to love like God loves. So therefore
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we show by that that God abides us because of his spirit. Okay. And John adds more way to his
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argument about the love of God because him and the other apostle not only have witnessed this
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love empirically, but it was also backed up by the words of the prophet. John is saying in verse 14, and we have seen and testified that the father has sent the son
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to be the savior of the world. They've seen him in action. So they had the empirical
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evidence. They saw it and he was backed up by the words of the prophet. So we can rest
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assured that John is telling the truth. Because John, not only is telling us what he experienced
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but it was backed up by the words of the prophet, which testified to the fact that Jesus was
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going to come and die for our sins. You can go to Isaiah 53 and read the entire chapter
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It talks about the suffering servant, what he did for us so that we may become the righteousness of God
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You can read Isaiah 53 and you will see exactly what John is saying here
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We've seen that love that Isaiah 53 is talking about. We testified to it because we experienced it
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So John is not just telling us something that he knows theoretically. He's also experienced it, okay
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And now we go to verse 15 and 16. The scripture says, whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in Him and He in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him. It's a repetition of what John has been saying. He said whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in Him. So it's almost like we are going back to 1 John chapter 4 where he says whoever acknowledges this Jesus is truly speaking from the point of view of God. So John is saying
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Whoever acknowledges, I confess that Jesus that I'm proclaiming to you, in his totality, not just portions of his character, in his totality, okay
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Whoever talks about this Jesus, whoever talks about that, that Jesus that I'm telling you is truly shown that God abides in him
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Not just portions of his character, but whoever confesses that the Jesus that I'm talking about is a truly son of God, God abides in that person
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because Jehovah witnesses, they say, well, Jesus is the son of God, but the way they interpret
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Son of God they are saying that he the first born of all creation in the sense that Jesus was the first one that God created That how they interpret that verse So that not what John is saying here John is saying whoever acknowledges Jesus
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as the son of God, being co-equal, co-eternal with God, very God or very God
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whoever acknowledges is Jesus, God abides in that person. So people can say things about Jesus
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but they have to speak the truth about Jesus because Jesus himself said
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before Abraham was, I am. basically saying that he is God. So John is saying
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whoever does not acknowledge Jesus is not speaking from God, but whoever acknowledges the Jesus that I'm preaching to you
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God abides in that person. So again, if you go back to chapter 1 of this book
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John talks about that again, like that which we have talked about, that which we have seen and heard
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this we proclaim to you concerning the Word of Life. Okay? So he and the other 12 apostles
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they witnessed the love of God because Jesus modeled it. He modeled it before them and as a result of this experience
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their understanding of the love of God was strengthened. The words of the prophet I've always talked about
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and mentioned the love of God. David showed Meshebosha, I don't know if I'm saying
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his name Meshebosha. Meshibosha was one of Jonathan's son, grandson or son, I'm not quite sure
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But David showed that kind of love. He showed Meshebosha what the love of God was like
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But the apostles, they knew those scriptures. but they now actually had this love displayed in front of them by Jesus himself
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So now John is saying here that we've come to believe and know the love of God
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because we've seen it and we've felt it and because we lived with this man for three years
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and now we know what God's love is all about. So John is saying that in his verses here
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Now in verse 17 the scripture says, by this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment
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because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear
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for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been made perfect in love
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By what? When he says by this, when we model and display the love of God
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as the Holy Spirit enables us, the love of God comes to maturity in our lives
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and we no longer live in fear, because He has poured the fullness of his spirit in us
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and we cry, Abba, Father, okay? So when our love for God begins to grow, our confidence begin to also grow
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Because we begin to be confident that he is not out to kill us
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We don't dread anymore, okay? Because as God's love increases in our life, we become more secure about our adoptions
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as his sons and daughters. And that gives us confidence before his throne. Because before that, we were in dread
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We were fearful of the wrath of God. But our adoption, what happens is the holy
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Spirit comes and endwells us and then he begins to pour the love of God in our lives
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And the more, the more, the more God's love is being poured, we begin to exude that love
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and we begin to look more like our brother Jesus. And therefore, we begin to be more confident in our adoptions, our sons and daughters of God
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And that brings peace to our heart. It takes away the feelings of condemnation
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And this hits home from me because there were times still and there were times where I felt
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like God was constantly angry with me. I didn't know how to come to grips with the love of God
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because I was always fearful of God. But then the more the Spirit of God
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pour his love in my heart, the more I became confident in the love that the Father has for me, in Jesus
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And that begins to settle you down because you begin to just fear less
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When I say fearless, I'm not saying that you don't fear God. Because fear is twofold
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There is dread and there is reverence, okay? when the scripture, when John talks about there's no fear and love
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he's talking about the anxious love, that fear, that dread. He's not talking about reverence
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Because I have reverence for God. I have fear, healthy fear for God
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Okay, we have to have that. And then God disciplines us when we're trying to be irreverent
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We're going to feel the discipline of God because that's how he shows it that he loves us
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So God, when he convicts us, is never vague because I wanted to bring that to
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light here. Because sometimes you can feel this kind of anxiety when you don't even know why you
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are afraid and you feel like God is constantly angry with you
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When God's a conviction is specific, it's not vague and it's not pointless
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When we sin against God, he's going to tell us exactly what we've done wrong and it's going to appoint us
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so that we can come and repent and then confess that sin and repent
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of it. It's never vague like that where we don't even know when we just are afraid
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That's not how he operates. Holy Spirit will bring to our minds the specific thing that we've done because God is not the author
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of confusion. So when you begin to experience the love of God, he increases your love and your
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confidence and therefore you're no longer in dread of him, but you are now living in this place
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where you love God so much that your desires is always to please him just like Jesus did
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Because that's what Jesus did when he came to live here. He modeled that before us. And he loved
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other. This Romani six, verse five, says, you shall love the Lord of your God with all your heart
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all your might, and all your soul. This is how Jesus lived there. None of us can do that. But in
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this heart of eternity, we grow, our love for God begins to grow. And the more we grow, the more we
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are maturing the love of God, the less we have that dread. And this is what John is saying here
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And then we're going to stop here for today, because I believe there's a lot more that we can talk
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about. But to wrap it up, what we talk about today is the love of God
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The character of the love of God, basically, the love of God, like we say, is grounded in the truth and is also grounded in his righteous and moral character
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God's love is too full. We say it's holy in the sense that it's different, but it's also grounded in the character of God
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You can't have a love that overlook sins. Okay, that's not love
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That is just whimsical, Hollywood, man love. Because we, when we tell people, well, we have to love like a certain group of people
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For example, the gay community, even, I'm not saying that I hate on the gay community
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That's not what I'm saying, but I love them enough to tell them, listen, the way you're living is not biblical
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Okay, and because I love you, I'll tell you the truth because the wrath of God is coming. Not just the gay community
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Anybody that's living in sin, you know, if I'm a brother in Christ and you see me living in sin and you know what the scripture says, then you need to tell me, Taib, what you're doing is not right
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The scripture forbids that. That's love. because love seeks to cover over a multitude of sins in the sense that you want to protect me from destroying myself
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So therefore you come and tell me, listen, the way you're living is not good
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That is love because that love that seeks my welfare, my edification, and he seeks to honor God
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Because he's saying, because you're a Christian, because you're a child of God, then I don't want you to live this way
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So I'm going to tell you, please repent. That is love. and that's the love that John is talking about
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and that love, it doesn't matter how unpopular that love is. That is true love because he's saying
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listen, I love God so much and I love you so much that I want you to stop living in sin
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And I hope and pray that you go back and read that scripture so that God can give you a better picture of it
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Okay? Again, thanks for being here today and have a wonderful week. See you