Scripture Reading: 1 John 4

for our meditation tonight before the Lord's Supper, 1 John chapter 4. Our focus will be on verses 7 to 11, but I'll begin reading in verse 1 and read the entire chapter. 1 John 4, beginning in verse 1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

They are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us.

By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. And we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son as savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so we are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

We love him because he first loved us. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you for this epistle of John. We thank you for the truth communicated to us in this wonderful book, but in the Bible as a whole. We acknowledge that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is indeed profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And as we study tonight, We pray again that our hearts would be encouraged and built up in the understanding of your great love for your people, and that love demonstrated and manifested supremely at the cross in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Again, forgive us for all sin and unrighteousness, and guide us now by your Holy Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well,

Introduction

as we come to this particular section, specifically verses 7 to 11, I want to observe or make two observations. First, John declares that God is love. He says so in verse 8. And then secondly, John demonstrates that God is love, and he does that in verses 9 and 10.

So there is a declaration that God is love, and then there is a demonstration that God is love. So

Declaration: God Is Love

we'll jump right into that first point, the declaration that God is love. But I want to first observe the context. So notice in chapter 4, verses 7 to 8a, in terms of the exhortation, so the theology is in verse 8 at the end, for God is love, and that theology continues in verses 9 and 10, the sending of the Son, and then the specific work of the Son. But it's couched in a context of exhortation.

In other words, we're supposed to love one another. We're supposed to actually care about one another. We're supposed to do so in a manner consistent with the revelation of God Most High. So in terms of that exhortation, it's quite simple.

The Exhortation to Love One Another

Notice in verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another. Now, in terms of this book as a whole, Cam touched on this a little bit this morning in our confession study in chapter 27, but the central theme of the epistle is found at the end. If you notice in chapter 5 at verse 13, John does here what he does in his gospel. At the end of his written book, he gives us the purpose for which he writes.

So notice in 513, these things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. John 20, 30, and 31. And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing in him, you may have everlasting life.

So John writes the gospel so that we might be saved. John writes the first epistle so that we might know that we're saved. And the way that John does that is by giving us sorts of proofs or evidences that we truly do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So the central theme is found in 1 John 5, 13, but the recurring emphasis in the epistle. that you may know.

The child of God obeys the commandments of God. You see that in chapters two and three and five. The child of God loves the truth of God. You see that in chapters two and four and five.

The child of God has the spirit of God. You see that here in chapter four, verse 13. The child of God loves God. Chapter four, verse 19.

And then again, chapter five, verse two. But then the child of God loves the children of God. So this is a means by which we may know that we are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have passed from death unto life, and that we are rightly connected to God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the several emphases in this epistle.

Go back to chapter 2 at verse 9. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. And then over in chapter 3, notice in verses 13 to 15.

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. We know that we have passed from death to life because we now love people we didn't formerly love. We didn't love the people of God when we were not the people of God.

We made fun of them. We ridiculed them. We rejected them. We resisted them.

But we know that we've passed from death unto life now because we love the people of God. He goes on to say, he who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

And then notice in verses 18 and 19, My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts beforehand. And then our section in chapter 4 verses 7 to 11, but then it ends in chapter 4 verses 20 and 21. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. And then drop down to chapter 5 verses 2 and 3. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.

How do we know we love each other? When we obey the commandments of God. Paul does the same thing in Romans chapter 13. And then he says, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

So going back to our particular section in verse 7, beloved, let us love one another. It's an exhortation. It is encouragement. It is the way the people of God are supposed to live, and it works in the context of this entire epistle.

You obey God, you love the truth, you've got the Spirit of God, you love brethren. This is how you may know that you have everlasting life. When you have these fruits, when you have this demonstrable proof, when you have this evidence, you know that God's work has been operative in your heart. And then notice back in verse 7, he confirms this.

Notice. For love is of God. If we are communicating that one to another, again, there's a good sign, good affirmation or confirmation that we have indeed experienced the love of God most high. And that's the practical implication of the presence of brotherly love.

Everyone who loves, and I don't think it's generic, I just sort of love, but I think it's conditioned by the context, and we should read it this way. Everyone who loves his brother is born of God and knows God. And it's intriguing because John emphasizes being born of God. I know that I've quoted B.B.

Warfield with reference to this. There's a bit of a difference, but not difference as altogether different, but a different way of coming at the same truth. The Apostle Paul emphasized adoption as sons by Jesus Christ our Lord. John the Apostle emphasizes being born of God.

Warfield writes, there is a corresponding difference in the use by Paul and John of the conception of childship or sonship to God. In accordance with his juridical point of view, Paul speaks of sonship conferred by adoption and thinks of our acquisition of the rights and the inheritance of sons. In accordance with his essential point of view, John speaks of childship as conveyed through birth and thinks of growing up into the likeness of God. Accordingly, Paul prefers the term sons, where adults receive by God's grace into the number of his sons.

And John prefers the term children or even little children. We are born into the family of God as the infants of His household. This difference in the use of the conception of childship is not a difference of doctrine. It is only a difference in the illustrative use of the conception of childship in the setting forth of doctrine.

So you're not the first one that's ever observed this. The apostle emphasizes, again, under that juridical understanding, with reference to the legality and inheritance of the situation, that we're the adopted sons and daughters of God. But John comes at it from this having been begotten by God. And so notice what he goes on to say in verse 7.

Let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God. And then notice that next phrase, and knows God. Now, this doesn't just mean that you kind of know that there's a God out there. Not just some cognitive understanding, but it's experiential in nature.

The Bible makes this distinction. The Bible enforces this distinction. Man knows that God exists. The fool says in his heart, there is no God.

But the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1, it's inescapable. He knows that God exists because God has made himself manifest through the created order. The effects lead us back to the cause so that man is rendered without an excuse. But just because we have this cognition that there is a God out there doesn't mean we know him.

That know or that knowledge is intimate. That know or knowledge is encouraged by God to the people of God. We see it in Jeremiah chapter 31. We see it as a promise or feature of the new covenant.

They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. Not just that he's out there, but they will know him savingly. That great statement in Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 9, let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the rich man boast of his riches, or the strong man boast of his strength, but rather let him who boasts, boasts in this, that he knows me. The apostle Paul appeals to that passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 30 and 31.

In the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus, he prays that this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And so the knowledge in verse 7, again, it's not cognition. There's a God out there, but it's experiential. It's experimental.

This has become a reality and a feature in our lives. We know God. And then notice,

Not Loving Proves Not Knowing God

he ends this particular section with condemnation. So verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love, again, we should supply his brother, because that's the context.

He who does not love his brother does not know God. Pretty simple logic, isn't it? If you know God, the God of love, then you will reflect that in the way that you deal with one another. If you know this God savingly, then you will, albeit imperfectly, love the people of God that bear His image and that bear His stamp.

It is that blessed reality that John is encouraging us to. But now

God Is Love: The Theological Foundation

notice the way that he appeals with reference to the cultivation of this love one for another. He turns to this declaration at the end of verse 8. He says, for God is love. Now the for gives us the reason or the rationale or the justification for his statement in verses 7 and 8a.

And so he says, for God is love. There is a practical emphasis back in chapter 3. You can turn there again. Notice in verse 14, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.

That's the practical fruit, the practical consequence. practical effect of the result of us having passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He does the same thing in chapter 4 verses 20 and 21. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

Well, here the emphasis is theological. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. John is trafficking now in theology. He is pointing us to truth about God as the foundation for this exhortation that we love one another.

Now, it's just here that people say, well, you know, theology, that's for pastors, that's for seminary students, that's for people that have a little extra time on their hands. Brethren, you're all theologians. Every single one of you. You're either a good one or you're a bad one.

And that's the reality that the Bible speaks to us. Everybody's a theologian. Everybody has thoughts of God. They're either good and proper and biblical thoughts or they're not.

And so don't say, well, I don't want that theology. I'll just listen and do my thing and just sort of sway back and forth and love Jesus. We're not going to sway back and forth and love Jesus without theology. So notice what John says here in terms of who God is.

God is love. And

God Versus Man: A Necessary Distinction

I want to suggest that John is making a distinction here between God and man. He makes a distinction between God and man. The fact of the matter is that man has the capacity to love, but man also has a capacity not to love. You can never say that man is love, can you?

You should be shaking your head. No, I can't ever say that man is definitionally love. So there's a distinction between God the creator and man the creature. Man can love, man does love, man should love more, man loves inconsistently, man loves at times the best that he can.

But with reference to God most high, God is love. The fact here is that John asserts that God is his perfections. As the older theologians would say, all that is in God is God. God's not made up of parts.

God's not put together of a few sort of elements, and that produces God. I heard someone in the past week make a very reckless statement concerning who God is. This particular individual says God is made up of three parts. That, my brothers and sisters, is heresy.

First of all, God is not made. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the creator. There's nothing outside of God that made God.

But as well, He's not made up of three parts. 33 and a third percent of the Father, 33 and a third percent of the Son, and 33 and a third percent of the Spirit. That is not the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. All that is in God is God. There is one divine and infinite being who exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What John is alluding to, though the theology doesn't get to the particular point, he is referring to the fact that God is without parts. In the history of theology, that has been known as the doctrine of divine simplicity. By simplicity, I don't mean that this is necessarily easy to understand. Simplicity, or a simple being, simply means somebody, simply means, ah, there you go, Isaac, simply means that they're not composed of parts.

They're not put together. If that were the case with God, there would be something more ultimate than God. It was out there prior, and it somehow found itself together, and thus God began. No, God is love.

God is His perfections. All that is in God is God.

Divine Simplicity and the Confession

Listen to our confession of faith at this point. 2nd London Confession, chapter 2, paragraph 1. The Lord our God is but one only, living and true God, whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself. That doesn't mean we can't know true things about God. We have about 31,000 propositions in the Bible that teach us about God.

There is this doctrine of incomprehensibility, and that simply means that the creature can never fully exhaust the creator. And that's what the divines mean here. Whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself. A most pure spirit.

The older theologians refer to this as actus purus. That means there's no potential in God. There's not becoming in God. There's no growth in God.

There's no getting better for God. Because he's infinitely perfect already. There's no decrease in God either. He is a most pure spirit.

It goes on to say invisible and then without body. Jesus teaches us in John 4.24 that God is spirit. The children's catechism says, and he does not have a body like men. And then it says without parts.

This is the doctrine of divine simplicity. God is. It's not that God is made up of. God is made up of three parts.

He's without parts. He's without passions. That means there's no fluctuation in God. It means He cannot be prevailed upon.

He doesn't move from one state to another. And then it says, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, who is immutable, that means unchangeable, immense, that means he fills all things, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory. It continues, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and with all, most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. It's a wonderful doctrinal statement concerning theology proper or who God is.

But that emphasis on most loving, Can you describe any man, any creature, any woman that way? They're most loving. I mean, in a moment of recklessness or perhaps in a metaphorical sense, well, that person is most loving. You don't mean by that what the confession and what the Bible means concerning God.

Most loving. There's no increase. He can't get more loving towards you. There's no decrease either.

He can't get less loving towards you. He is most loving. God is love. Remember when Moses said, who shall I say sent me?

God says, I am who I am. That is profound. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is without body, without parts, without passions.

He is great and glorious and wondrous. He is most high. He is most loving. He is most wondrous, most excellent, and most awesome.

So John says you ought to love one another because God is love. and reflecting upon that reality in a real practical way, brethren, how is it the case that we're not loving toward one another? How is it the case that we don't express that affection for one another? Now, there's not the case where we're all going to be as close as we could possibly be to everyone. There ought to be that disposition or that characteristic of our hearts wherein we love the people of God.

And when we look through the New Testament, there's all these emphases on one another's, be kindly affectionate to one another, be hospitable to one another without complaint, love one another. There's all these things wherein the people of God are to flesh out their true religion. And in the arena or context of the local church, this is a wonderful place for us to display that particular attribute, that particular virtue, that particular perfection. Now, that's the declaration that God is love.

He repeats it, incidentally, down in verse 16. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Demonstration: God Is Love

Let's look at the demonstration that God is love in verses 9 and 10. And he does two things here. First, he highlights the mission of the Son in verse 9, and then secondly, the work of the Son in verse 10. But notice, with reference to the mission of the Son, So verse nine, it says, in this, the love of God was manifested toward us.

Now the apostles don't just make statements. They don't just sort of supply data or information, but they confirm it. They prove it. They demonstrate it.

It's kind of like the man who says, honey, I love you, and then he's vicious to her. He's vile to her, or he's mean to her, or the woman, conversely. Women aren't perfect. I don't want to burst anybody's bubbles, but they can be quite wretched in a marriage relationship, too.

Just something to think about. She may say, I love you, honey, but then live like a wretch toward her man. Talk is cheap, as they say, right? There ought to be a demonstration.

There ought to be proof. The proof is in the pudding. There ought to be a manifestation, and that's what John says here. Notice, God is love.

Well, how do we know that? Verse 9, in this the love of God was manifested toward us. This is similar to what John does in his gospel. John 3, 16.

For God so loved the world that He did what? He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Paul does this in Romans 5, 8. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So whoever asks the question, well, what's the proof that God is love? We can look around you. He made this world that displays his wisdom, it displays his power, and it displays his goodness. So does providence.

But in redemption, you see that love vividly displayed. And so John tells us it's not just the case that God is love, but this is the way that God has manifested that love. And then

The Mission of the Son (v.9)

notice he explains in further detail. So verse nine, in this, the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Again, John 3.16. John isn't doing something brand new here.

John's gospel, he wants you to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And in 1 John, he wants you to know that you've believed that Jesus is the Son of God and God is love. And the demonstration or manifestation of God's love is that he sent his Son into this world. But notice the way that he describes this, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

The Only Begotten Son and the Trinity

The Son is only begotten. That underscores what theologians call the eternal relation of origin. In this divine and infinite being, there are three persons, or subsistences, and they are distinguished by these properties. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

That's what distinguishes the persons of the Godhead. Brethren, we are not modalists, we are not Sabellians, we are not heretics, at the point of the three persons of the Godhead. And so, when we see this language of Only Begotten Son, in the first place, we ought to retain it in our translations. I'm not going to pick on the ESV tonight, but the ESV gets rid of Only Begotten.

And this is something that the church, I guess I just picked on the ESV, sorry about that, but this is language that does theological labor. there is distinction between the persons of the Godhead in this divine and infinite being. So God is one at the level of essence or substance, but with reference to person, there are three persons in the Godhead. So one in one sense and three in another sense. And so this language of only begotten of the Father illustrates biblical Trinitarian truth that we should not jettison.

We should not get rid of it. We should hold onto it tenaciously because it serves to function as a distinction between the Father and the Son. You see it in John 1. In the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God. That's distinction. The Son is with the Father and the Word was God. That's the sameness in terms of divine essence.

And then dropping down to verse 14 in John 1, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And then dropping down to John 1 18, no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. This is language that does theological work, and it's language that is precious and ought to be confessed and held on to by the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed God from God, light from light, true God from true God.

And it's typically at this place and dealing with only begottenness of the son, I quote Gregory of Nazianzus. He says, the begetting of God must be honored by silence. It is a great thing for you to learn that he was begotten. But the manner of his generation, we will not admit that even angels can conceive, much less you.

So here's the way we approach it. Well, I don't understand. Okay, then I guess it must be false. I don't get it.

Well, okay, I guess we can toss it out. I just can't see it. Well, okay, let's just, you know, re-alter and rework the creedal confessional foundation of the church because you don't quite get it. Brethren, none of us get eternal generation.

God from God, light from light, true God from true God, from all eternity. The creature can't wrap its mind around Creator, remember, whose essence is comprehended by himself alone. The finite can't get its mind wrapped around the infinite. But what Gregory says is that it's taught in Scripture.

We confess that it's taught in Scripture. We hold on to it because it's taught in Scripture, even if we, as the finite, can't fully plumb the depths of the infinite. He goes on to say, shall I tell you how it was? It was in a manner known to the father who begat and to the son who was begotten.

Anything more than this is hidden by a cloud and escapes your dim sight. I think that's a good place for us to land relative to our explanation of the Only Begotten Son. It distinguishes him from the Father, maintains the doctrine of the Trinity, but in terms of the nuts and bolts and the logistics, it's kind of like when they investigate the blind man. Well, how did he make you see?

I don't know. He put mud on my eyes and he told me to go wash at the pool with Siloam and I did it and I can see. Well, brethren, as I tried to point out, I don't think there was any magical conveyed by the mud on his eyes or the pool of Siloam. It was a sign, it was a metaphor, it was a representative, it was something for that man to do, but it was the power of God Most High working through our blessed Savior to give this man physical sight.

So then

Life Through Him: The Goal of the Mission

notice what it goes on to say in verse nine. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Now this, that we might live through him, is a general statement. He's gonna get real particular in verse 10 when he talks about propitiation.

And we're gonna get to there in just a moment. But this general statement is that we might live through him. Why does Jesus come into this world? So that we might live through him.

Is that a blessed reality? What's the assumption there? We were dead in our trespasses and sins. He uses that language in 314.

We know that we've passed from death to life when we have love for the brethren. Paul in Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3 says that you being dead in your trespasses and sins, so physically alive but dead spiritually, liable to eternal judgment, eternal death, And yet Christ has come in order that we, through his life, through his death and resurrection, might have everlasting life. It is stupendous, it is glorious, it is wondrous. And something else you ought to recognize in this particular passage, where he's highlighting that God is love, how is that love manifested or demonstrated?

In the sending of his son. There's this popular notion out there in Christianity that comes up once in a while. Kind of like this, oh, the Old Testament, you know, the God of wrath and judgment and fury and destruction. And now we've got the God in the New Testament whose love and kindness and gentleness and goodness and all the things that we love.

Brethren, the Son did not come to procure the love of God. The Son comes as a manifestation of the love of God. The Son doesn't come to make the Father love us. The Son comes because the Father does love us.

It's most glorious and wondrous and precious. The Son doesn't come to do what He does to turn the Father from one place to another relative to us. The Son comes as the revelation, the grand demonstration, the supreme manifestation that God so loved the world. So this is the expression that John gives here of that love, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

And again, this concept of living through our Lord Jesus Christ. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal. What? Life. through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Again, John 3, 16, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 2 Corinthians 5, 14, and 15, Christ died for all, so that we who lived for ourselves no longer live for ourselves, but for him who loved us and who died for us. And then in Ephesians 2, verse 5, he made us alive. through what Christ has accomplished. He's made us alive. So that's a general statement in terms of the benefits of God's redeeming work with reference to the Son of God.

Now

The Work of the Son: Propitiation (v.10)

notice, he goes on specifically to detail a given aspect of that work of the Son. Notice in verse 10. I know that we're kind of walking through this. It's a very densely and tightly packed bit of theology that I think bears our investigation.

I think that hopefully it's an encouragement to you to see this and the argument in terms of the bigger context. You should love one another. You shouldn't be unkind to your brothers and sisters. You shouldn't be, you know, a jerk for Jesus.

You should be those who love the people of God. Why? Because God is love. And that love is demonstrated in the mission of the son.

He sent his son into this world so that we might have life through him. But then that work of the son that is particularly revealed here in verse 10. So notice, he says, in this is love, not that we love God. He's not talking about that right here.

He's not talking about that right now. In this is love, not that we loved God. That's not the amazing thing in Scripture. Okay, we need to disenfranchise ourselves of that notion.

What an amazing thing that you love God the way you do. No, I mean that's great. I'm not gonna say don't love God. It's a horrible thing.

Don't let no, of course It's a it's a great thing, but that's not what's celebratory in the scriptures You sometimes hear the gospel presented and then people say yeah, okay now now accept Jesus into your heart just Just let him in. Just open that door and let him in. Accept Jesus into your heart. The glory of the gospel is not that sinners accept Jesus into their heart.

The glory of the gospel is that God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. The glory of the gospel is not that we loved him. The glory of the gospel is that he loved us and that he sent his only begotten son into this world on a mission to give us life eternal. That's what John's celebrating.

He's not celebrating the effect. He's not celebrating the consequence. He's celebrating the cause in this is love. Not that we love God.

Again, let's look at the passage. Let's examine. The exhortation was for us to love one another, verse 7a. The origin of that love is divine, verse 7b.

The demonstration of that love indicates one is born of God and knows Him, verse 7c. The nature of love is rooted in God who is love, 8b. The revelation of that love is seen in the mission of the sun, verse 9. And the beauty of that love is celebrated in the work of the sun, and we'll see that in just a moment in 10b.

But look at that one more time, in this is love, not that we love God. There's a corresponding statement there in verse 19. Look at chapter 4, verse 19. We love Him because He first loved us.

And if you want to put your finger there and turn back to Galatians 4 for just a moment, two concepts that John is trafficking in with reference to this section is loving God and knowing God. Well, notice what Paul does in Galatians 4.9, but now after you have known God, or rather are known by God. Again, the celebratory fact isn't that you know God. Not that it's a bad thing, and again, it's a good thing.

The celebratory fact is that God has known you. that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that He predestinated us unto adoption as sons, and in love He did this for His glory. So when we go back to 1 John 4, 9, We have this love because He first loved us. We have this knowledge of Him because He first knew us. Our love to God and our knowledge of God are not the cause of His love for us and knowledge of us.

It is rather His love for us and His knowledge of us that is the cause of our love and knowledge of Him. Listen to John Gill.

God's Love Is Prior to Ours

Not that we loved God. The love of God is antecedent. That means it comes before. The love of God is antecedent to the love of His people.

It was when theirs was not. So you've got to think about what he's saying here. You've got to think about what John is trafficking at. Not when they were without love to him, yea, enemies in their minds, by wicked works, and even enmity itself, and therefore was not procured by theirs.

But on the contrary, their love to him is caused by his love to them. Hence his love and a continuance in it do not depend on theirs. Nor does it vary according to theirs. Wherefore, there is good reason to believe it will continue and never be removed.

And this shows the sovereignty and freeness of the love of God, and that it is surprising and matchless." Oh, that we'd have that surprising and matchless approach to the great love of God that is displayed in a passage like this. God is love. not just a bare statement, a declaration, and then there is proof in the sending of the Son, and in particular, the work of the Son, and it's that work that we see there in verse 10b. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Again, it's at this point that people say, you know, I don't know that word.

I don't usually work with that word. It's not a word that's in my vocabulary. So I'm going to tune out for the next three minutes. First of all, it's not going to take me three minutes, probably more like seven minutes.

Second of all, you should really want to know what propitiation means. When you look at the redemptive passages in the Holy Scriptures, you see all these words used. You see words like reconciliation. You see words like redemption.

You see propitiation, expiation, satisfaction. You see the word atonement. It's all looking at the glory of the cross from different angles. It's kind of like having a diamond and sort of lifting it up and looking at it in the sunlight and giving it a turn here and there.

I don't know anybody who has diamonds quite like that. We should do that. So you look at the diamonds, and it's multifaceted. It's the same diamond, but you see the luster and the beauty and the glory of it from different angles when the light hits it in such a way.

Well, that's what the New Testament authors do. That's what the Old Testament authors do. They give us the luster of God's work for us, or God's grace toward us. They show us, they display it for us, and this word, propitiation, is most wonderful.

The basic meaning is a sacrifice which turns aside God's wrath, taking away sin. That's the basic, foundational, fundamental meaning. A sacrifice which turns aside God's wrath, taking away sin. Now, the assumption with reference to propitiation is God's wrath.

We wouldn't need propitiation if God was not wrathful toward us. But we see in Romans 118, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Who do what? They suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness.

They know God exists, but they deny Him. They exchange the glory of the Creator God with that which is created. And then in Ephesians 2, verse 3, the apostle describes men before the cross, or men outside of Christ, as children of wrath by nature. And so the assumption behind the use of propitiation is that God has wrath toward people because of their sin.

Now, the necessity of propitiation is seen in this. God's wrath must be spent. God's wrath must be expressed. God's wrath doesn't just get suspended sort of out there, but enter the surety of a better covenant.

Enter the God-man, the one who assumed our humanity with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin. See, we need His death on the cross. We need that propitiation. He doesn't simply deflect the wrath of God from hitting us, but He Himself takes the wrath of God on our behalf.

There are several other places in the New Testament where the apostles use this language of propitiation, as it stands here. There's other forms. For instance, Luke 18.13. When that man can't look to heaven and he beats his breast, he says, God, be propitious to me.

He understands that he's a sinner. He understands that God is holy and he understands that God has wrath for him. So that's a good petition. We translate it, God be merciful to me, the sinner, but it's literally God be propitious to me.

Now turn to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter 3, just to see a couple instances where, or the other instances where this word is used, and it's in the same sort of context. Wrath of God. Romans 3, and there is a contrast between 1 and 3.

So in 118, I've already cited that, or I've already quoted that. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. So there's the revelation of God's wrath according to verse 18 in chapter 1. Why is that?

Again, man knows God, but he denies Him. The Gentiles in chapter 1, those outside the oracles of God, are wretched. They're filthy. They're disgusting.

They're vile. They transgress God's law. But the Jews are no better. When he gets to chapter 2, he points his finger at them.

He says, you're no better. You've received the oracles, and yet you still continue to rebel against God. In chapter 3, he reaches back to the Old Testament to make his case, to corroborate. to emphasize that apart from God's grace, all man everywhere is liable to God's just wrath and fury. So the revelation of God's wrath in chapter 118, but then notice the revelation of God's righteousness in chapter three, verse 21.

But now, he says, here's the contrast, wrath revealed, chapter 1, verse 18, now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Now, righteousness in the context, I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but it's that which God demands and that which God supplies. But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. But there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, now notice, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth.

Remember, Jesus doesn't procure the God of love, but Jesus manifests God's love. God set forth Jesus as a propitiation by his blood through faith, notice, to demonstrate his righteousness. Not His mercy, His kindness, His grace. Oh yeah, those things too.

But Paul has a specific point in view. Paul wants to show that the gospel vindicates God. That in the gospel, God doesn't compromise His holiness. God doesn't compromise His righteousness.

God doesn't just sort of look the other way relative to our sin. No, Christ stands in our place. Christ receives in himself the penalty that is due for us. We speak of substitutionary atonement.

It means just that. Christ took our place to satisfy divine justice. And so Paul highlights that, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, and then notice the endgame in verse 26, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The gospel is airtight.

It's foolproof. There's no chinks in the armor. You can't say, well, you know, if God receives these wretches into his own favor, that must mean he compromised his law. No, he didn't.

Jesus fulfilled that law. That must mean that he compromised in this particular... No, he's just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Turn to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter two, a passage where again, we see this emphasis on propitiation.

It's a wonderful gospel word that we ought to find great encouragement from. The Lord God reveals his wrath toward people like us. He's also revealed his righteousness through our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation wrought by him. 2.17. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, notice, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Propitiation. Christ took the wrath and fury of God and satisfied divine justice for us. Brethren, this is the place where we get an amen here. This is beautiful.

You understand that, right? This means, you know, when Jesus cries on the cross, you know, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You and I are never gonna have to cry that cry. And if we did, there's a billion reasons why He should forsake us, because we've transgressed His law ad nauseam.

And yet, because of what Christ does at the cross, not just deflecting the wrath, but taking the wrath and thus satisfying divine justice. I kind of like the older theologians and their nomenclature. Instead of atonement, that's where we sort of emphasize, and atonement's a good biblical word and we should emphasize that, they often spoke of satisfaction. Satisfaction, the satisfaction of God's justice.

This is the propitiation wrought by Jesus. He went to that cross not because of his sins, not because of his crimes, not because of his misdeeds. He went there for hours. 2 Corinthians 5.21, Paul says, God made him Christ, who knew no... not made him Christ, but God made him, and I'm defining him there as Christ, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That doesn't mean he's morally compromised, that doesn't mean he actually sins, but it's through imputation.

Our sin is heaped upon the Savior. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Our sin heaped upon the Savior and punished. His righteousness heaped upon the sinner and blessed.

It is beautiful. The gospel is glorious. It is wondrous. Don't ever say, I don't want to hear all these different words.

Study these words. Fill your heart and mind with these words. These words are like freight trains carrying good things to your soul. And if we jettison that, if we get rid of the theological enterprise, yes, there's goodness to be found in Scripture, but we don't get all of the richness.

We don't get to hold that diamond up and see it from the various angles and go, wow, that's amazing. And then again, 1 John 4 we see, but go back to 1 John 2, another place where we see propitiation. 1 John 2 specifically in verse, well, we'll read verse one. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. That's why John writes, he doesn't want you to sin.

Great expression of his apostolic ministry. I'm writing to you so that you may not sin. We need scripture so that we may not sin. What does the psalmist say in Psalm 119?

I think it's verse nine. Thy word I've hidden in my heart. Why? Because I get awards at Awana?

I'm not saying that's bad. Get awards at Awana. But thy word I've hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Right?

We hide the word of God in our hearts so that we might not sin against thee. Why does John write? So that you may not sin. But John knows the doctrine of remaining sin.

That's why he says, and if anyone sins, which is going to be an inevitability. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. And by that, I do not believe he means all men without exception. He means all men without distinction.

He means men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He means various ethnicities, various people groups, not for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. If propitiation is applied to the entirety of the world, then everybody's going to be saved. But the Bible does not teach that.

The Bible does not teach universalism. John specifically is the theologian of the cosmos. Jesus was in the world or Jesus made the world. He was in the world and the world did not know him.

He uses world in John 1, three different ways. Revelation 5, I think he has the best explanation of what he means by the world. Men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. John 4, 42, what happens when the gospel comes to the Samaritans?

They confess that Jesus is the Savior of what? The Savior of the world. They don't mean all men without exception. They mean Samaritans alongside of the Jews.

They mean Gentiles alongside of the Jews. We've seen that in our studies in Ephesians 2 and 3. It's not the case that we have two separate peoples of God. We have one people of God, Jew and Gentile, that are one new man under Jesus Christ our Lord.

So

Application and Lord's Supper

in conclusion, with reference to this particular section of Scripture, he doesn't just assert that God is love or declare that, but he demonstrates it in the sending of the Son and in the work of the Son in terms of propitiation. And then to conclude this brief section of the Epistle, he says, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. We also ought to love one another. In other words, when we say, I love you, there ought to be demonstrable proof of that.

It doesn't mean you have to hand flowers every single time you say it, or chocolates, or whatever it is your other likes. Well, I'm going to bring you a goat, and that's really going to demonstrate my love for you. That's a good demonstration. But that's not the only way.

This demonstrable proof that we love the people of God. When you look at the love of God for His people, you don't have to kind of scratch your head and say, I don't know what he means. I don't know what he's talking about. Again, we know specifically what he's talking about in the mission of the Son and in the work of the Son.

And in terms of theological emphasis, we see the nature of God here. God is love. But God is righteousness. God is holiness.

And again, these aren't so many parts that make up our God. God is His perfections. All that is in God is God. That without parts in our confession, secures that understanding.

The manifestation of the love of God, He sends His only begotten Son into the world, and the mission of the only begotten Son of God emphasizes that love. He bears the punishment that was for us on that cross so that you and I not only might have life, but we might have it abundantly. Well, brethren, I hope that this has been an encouragement. I hope that your hearts are filled with love back to God, and hopefully with love toward one another.

Because we've got this vertical emphasis in Scripture in terms of the supper, but there's a horizontal emphasis in terms of the supper as well. We do this as a church. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. And you do it corporately, you do it as the gathered people of God, and you do it with love to Him and with love to one another.

Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our gracious God and Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for this wonderful section of scripture where it tells us what you are, who you are. It shows us that this is in fact the case and we rejoice in the sending of the only begotten son into this world. We thank you that we have life through him.

We thank you for this doctrine of propitiation that we will not taste the wrath and fury and judgment of God because Christ already took it on our behalf. May this cause us to rejoice and to praise and to worship and to glorify your great and awesome name. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

We can turn back in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26.

Scripture References

• Psalms 119
• Jeremiah 9; 31
• Matthew 26
• John 1:1; 1:14; 1:18; 3:16; 4:24; 4:42; 17; 20:30-31
• Luke 18:13
• Romans 1:18; 3:21; 3:26; 5:8; 13
• 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 5:21
• Galatians 4:9
• Ephesians 2:1-3; 2:3; 2:5; 2-3
• Hebrews 2:17
• 1 John 2:1; 2:9; 3:13-15; 3:18-19; 4:7-11; 4:13; 4:16; 4:19-21; 5:2-3; 5:13
• Revelation 5