Herein is Love – His Love is Perfected in Us

[00:00:00] If you would take your bible and read in one John, the first letter of John, and chapter four, I will read from verse seven. [00:00:22] Beloved, let us love one another. [00:00:27] For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. [00:00:37] He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. [00:00:45] Herein was the love of God manifested in us that God hath sent sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might live through him. [00:01:00] Herein is love. [00:01:02] Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. [00:01:13] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [00:01:24] No man has beheld God at any time. [00:01:30] If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us. [00:01:41] Hereby we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. And we have beheld and bear witness that the father hath sent the son to be the savior of the world. [00:01:59] Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love, and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. [00:02:24] Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment. And he that feareth is not made perfect in love. [00:02:54] We love because he first loved us. [00:02:59] If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen cannot love God, whom he hath not seen. [00:03:13] And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. [00:03:26] Really, in so many ways that passage of the word is the message this morning. There is, I think, very little that need to be added. If we only understood it, if only the plain meaning of the word of God were to get into us. [00:03:58] I suppose really the whole point of preaching is to take things that ought to be plain to us. [00:04:08] But somehow or other we miss the message in the miss what God is saying and somehow make it plain. Of course, one fears that kind of preaching, of which I suppose I've been guilty myself at various times, where we make a passage infinitely more complex and difficult to be understood. [00:04:37] But do you notice something about this passage we have read together? [00:04:45] Do you notice that all the love that is spoken of here goes back to the giving of God? [00:05:00] It says that everyone that loveth is begotten of God and knoweth God. [00:05:16] And I can't help feeling, as I said last week, that that word knoweth has within it much more than just an initial introduction to the living God. [00:05:31] When we love, it is the evidence that for the first time, into our selfish, twisted, perverted hearts, a new principle has been born. [00:05:45] We are begotten, forgotten of God. And the evidence is that for the first time we love God and we love people. [00:06:00] The passage that I have read makes it quite clear that if anyone doesnt love, they really dont know God. [00:06:16] Now, I think that finds all of us out. [00:06:26] When we understand the meaning of this passage of God's word, we find one very simple thing, that this love is not sentimental. [00:06:44] It is not some sort of just sweet, ethereal thing. [00:06:55] There is a kind of love that's going around the world at present, especially amongst christians, that speaks disparagingly of sound doctrine, that speaks disparagingly of truth, as if it doesnt matter. What we all need to do is love. [00:07:16] But did you notice that this is quite clear here? It says that whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God abideth in him and he in God. [00:07:37] This love of God is not just woolly, it's not just sentimental. [00:07:44] It is strong and firm and true. [00:07:49] But oh, we've all suffered from the other side, haven't we? People who know their bibles so well, people who are so legalistic in outlook, people who take every opportunity to criticize, to pull to pieces, to make some negative observation or contribution about people, about one another, about anything. And therefore, somehow or other we find it so sad. [00:08:22] But we have to be careful we don't go the other way in the matter of love and think that it doesn't really matter. [00:08:30] The question of truth, John, equates this loving with the truth that is in Jesus and also equates it with keeping his commandments. [00:08:53] In other words, it is not that we should not have a solid basis of sound doctrine and truth under our feet. [00:09:06] Not only that we should know within our hearts obedience, but that the power and dynamic of the child of God and of the church is the love of God. [00:09:22] Now, I have to say it to my own heart, and I'm sure you have to face up to it yourselves, that it is a terrible and dread possibility that we can serve God without love, that somehow or other, the whole thing becomes routine. We fall into some sort of system of doing things, system of saying things, system almost of living. A technique, a method, a pattern. [00:10:04] And when that happens, it is really the beginning of the end. [00:10:14] Of course, we all know from our experience that we cannot love of ourselves. Try it. [00:10:22] I mean, of course you can select certain people that you can love. And normally speaking, we can love them for a while until we find some of the things we don't like. [00:10:38] Then we do our best to change them. [00:10:42] And we naturally feel that it is the love of God in us that is seeking to change them and mould them to what we consider to be a more happy arrangement. [00:10:54] And when they resist, we give up loving. [00:11:02] But we all find it difficult to love the unlovable. [00:11:12] We have problem enough with the people we are drawn to. [00:11:18] But the unlovable, the repulsive, the repellent. [00:11:28] Those that somehow or other are not attractive, difficult, awkward. They are the people that we find the greatest problem over. And yet we have to say it. When we think of God, when we think of the Father, when we think of the Son, when we think of the Holy Spirit, is there one of us that was really attractive to them? [00:12:03] I can only speak for myself in this matter and leave you to speak for yourselves. But I can only say that ever since the Lord saved me, he's had a load of trouble. [00:12:15] I find myself so awkward, so resistant, so ready to find my own way of doing things, ready to run ahead of him. Yet he loved me. And the thing, I suppose, that all of us who go on with the Lord find so incredible is that the Lord doesn't leave us. [00:12:36] I hear it again and again in people's contributions, the faithfulness of the Lord, because it overwhelms us that the nearer we get to the Lord and the further we go on with him, the more over, the more overwhelmed we are by the love of God for us, which remains as constant, as true, as deep, as powerful as the day when he saved us. [00:13:03] The only thing is that our appreciation of it has grown immeasurably. [00:13:11] Somehow or other, when we first tasted the love of God, it was so wonderful. But in that initial glow, I don't think we really appreciated the love of God fully, except that he saved us and met us and forgave us. But as we go on with the Lord, if we really walk with the Lord and are moving on together with him, I think we come to an appreciation of the love of God we never had before. [00:13:41] So you see that from this passage one thing is very clear. He first loved us, and out of that primary love comes all other loving. [00:13:57] But then there is something else here. [00:14:02] It speaks of love being perfected. [00:14:05] I have often felt that the early Methodists had something very especial in this matter of perfect love. [00:14:18] I know you can make a system out of it and all the rest of it, but there is something about this being made perfect in love. [00:14:27] Now, some people may have question about any second experience, but being made perfect in love seems to me quite clear that that is something we go on to. [00:14:41] His love is perfected in us. What does it mean? It is brought to maturity. It is brought to fullness. [00:14:51] Our first love is really naive. [00:14:55] It is sweet. It is open that when the love of God first courses through our being, when we were first saved and for the first time, we began to care for other people, care for their eternal welfare, care for their temporal welfare, we began to think of others. It was a love that was simple, open, clear. But as we go on and we meet all the problems and the difficulties and come up against the awkward cases, and somehow or other, oh many, many a time are flung back upon God, because we find that in ourselves we have not got it. [00:15:46] Then I think we find the need of love being made perfect, a love which is mature, a love which can count the cost and still lay down its life, a love which can help us to endure without dropping our standards one single bit. [00:16:13] Such love, it seems to me, is the message of this time the love of God. [00:16:24] Herein was the love of God manifested, do you notice, in this american standard version, which had a great sort of emphasis, some literal accuracy, it says in us, herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might live through him. [00:16:58] That is the only way to real love, to an experience of perfect love. We must live through him and let the Lord love through us. [00:17:13] Now, our great problem surely is mine certainly isn't. I'm sure that it is. Your problem too, is that we get so busy, we get so busy, so caught up, that somehow or other we mean to do everything. But we don't. [00:17:33] The Lord Jesus told a story that everyone, I'm sure, in this place this morning, knows very well. [00:17:41] I suppose in one way some would say it's not an exactly Christmassy story, but I'm not so sure it is. In Luke, chapter ten, I will read it to you. And verse 25. [00:17:56] And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, what is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering, said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind and thy neighbour as thyself. [00:18:32] And he said unto him, thou hast answered right this do, and thou shalt live. [00:18:41] But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? [00:18:52] Jesus made answer, and said, a certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side, and in like manner a Levite also when he came to the place, and saw him passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed came where he was. And when he saw him, he was moved with compassion and came to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine. And he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow he took out two shillings and gave them to the host, and said, take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, I, when I come back again will repay thee. Which of these three thinkest thou proved neighbour unto him that fell among the robbers? [00:20:18] And he said, he that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, go, and do thou likewise. [00:20:34] Who is my neighbor? [00:20:44] Anyone in need? [00:20:50] Anyone in need. [00:20:56] Now ive heard many a message on the good Samaritan. [00:21:03] Ive heard messages about the good Samaritan as a type of the Lord Jesus when we were left half dead by religion and by moral ethics, strict observance. [00:21:28] And then he came and saved us. He came where we are and saved us. And of course, I think it's very true, but it's not exactly what the Lord Jesus said. I have no doubt at all, because it's that basically it's true. [00:21:46] Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. [00:21:55] We love because he first loved us. [00:22:01] But the point of this story is to illustrate who is our neighbour. Now I am very interested for myself in the priest and the Levite for this reason that a priest under the law of God, cannot touch a dead body and serve the Lord. [00:22:37] Now dont just think of that as some hardened old hypocrite. [00:22:43] More interested in his own welfare than anything else. Maybe he was a deeply religious man. [00:22:53] Maybe he was on duty. [00:22:58] Was he? After all, he wasn't going down to Jericho. Maybe he was coming up to Jerusalem. Maybe he was on duty and he had to make the decision. If I take care of that man, he may die in my hands. He looks very badly wounded. Therefore, the best thing is don't look at him too long. [00:23:19] Don't take it in, lest you begin to feel moved. [00:23:25] Many a nurse knows this. [00:23:28] You can't get too involved with your patients or it will destroy you. [00:23:33] Supposing the priest had argued to himself, oh, well, now I'm on duty. Now, which is priority? Which is priority? My service to God, my place in the temple, my position there. [00:23:51] Or this man? [00:23:58] The man was, I suppose, obviously alive. I don't know. Unless he was not tongue conscious when the priest saw him. [00:24:06] But he knew that if he looked after him and he died on his hands, then he could not serve the Lord until he went through the whole ceremony of being cleansed and having to wait for quite a time. [00:24:27] I find myself in that. [00:24:30] I don't know about you so often, you know, we can really think of serving the Lord and all the rest of it and we feel it's a priority. We hardly dare look at someone in need for too long lest we get moved. [00:24:46] You see, I don't think it's always that we have no love in our hearts. It's just that we won't look at things because we have a psychological feeling that if we look too long, we shall get involved. [00:25:01] It is this whole instinct of self preservation. [00:25:06] It's the same with the Levite. The Levite, for all I know, may have been coming from Jerusalem down to Jericho to go up to Galilee. For the Levites were the teachers of the nation. They were the people who taught the boys and sometimes even the ladies in schools and so on. The whole teachers teaching was in their hands. They were the heart of the nation, the levitical service. [00:25:34] And exactly the same applied to him. If he got involved and the man died, then whatever he was on his way to do, he couldn't do. He was unclean. It would mean going back to the temple and offering certain offerings and being delayed. And what about the meeting? [00:25:57] All arranged. [00:26:03] Of course, it may have been possible that one or other of these two men may have been hypocrites. [00:26:14] There were enough charlatans, swindlers more interested in raking in the cash than in serving God. [00:26:27] But what I have suggested this morning may also be just as true. [00:26:37] It was the despised Samaritan through whose territory no good jew would even travel. [00:26:47] The despised Samaritan, the mixed up one, mixed blood, mixed ancestry, mixed up in his understanding of the purpose of God, who came and saw and was moved with compassion and bound him up and put him on his ass and took him and it wasnt a 1 hour wonder. The next morning he made provision for him, even if it meant days cant help wishing we were living in those days when it only cost two shillings. [00:27:28] But still, thats by the way, he made provision for him, which was quite a sum, would carry the care of that man over some days. [00:27:41] Now our time has gone. But what I am simply saying this morning is have we all not got such neighbours? [00:27:57] It is not just the person who necessarily lives opposite us, it is anyone in real need into whom we are brought into contact. [00:28:14] Maybe it's a child of God, and John says that if we love one another, that is the sign that we are abiding in God and he in us. [00:28:30] Maybe it's an unsaved relative and you had great difficulty with that relative. [00:28:38] In fact, sometimes you wish they were in Australia or New Zealand or in the southernmost part of Chile, but they are in need. [00:28:58] That person is your neighbour. [00:29:03] We have such people in our offices, in our circle of friends, among in our family and in the family of God. [00:29:17] We can talk and talk and talk about what the Lord Jesus came into the world to do and thank God for it. [00:29:29] But if we miss this point of love, we have missed everything. [00:29:38] We can understand the object of God, we can understand the aim of God, we can understand the way he has achieved that end through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. But dear children of God, unless you and I know this love of God in our hearts, we shall always be in danger. [00:30:07] I remember years ago when I had to study oriental philosophy, how amazed I was that in all these tremendous philosophies, ideologies, there was no love. [00:30:26] Some of the thoughts in some of those things entranced one, they were so superlative, but there was no love. [00:30:42] And it doesn't matter what it is or where you look, the love of God you find in the gospel. [00:30:56] Well dear child of God, if Jesus said the whole Bible is summed up in two commandments, I have no excuse about everything being too difficult, for he said the whole law, prophets, psalms, writings are all summed up into thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind and with all thy heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [00:31:45] To me there could be nothing more simple. [00:31:50] It is the practice of it. [00:31:54] And that can only come as this giving of God dawns upon us. And as we live through him, and as our love really his love in us is made perfect, then we shall be able to love him completely and love our neighbour ourselves. [00:32:27] May God help every one of us in this matter. May we find our neighbour, whoever it is, and when we have cared for that 1 may we find another, and another, and another. [00:32:42] May this year dawning soon be a year when many, many of our neighbours are looked after and provided for and touched by the living God. Shall we bow in prayer? [00:33:06] Dear Lord, thou hast said in thy word that if we have all faith to remove mountains, if we have knowledge of all mysteries, and even if we give our goods to feed the poor and our bodies even to be burned for loyalty to the truth and have not love, we are nothing. [00:33:35] Now. Lord, it is somehow or other the absolute nature of thy word that challenges us. [00:33:46] Father, burn it into our hearts. We pray that unless thy love is in us and being manifested in us, we and all we do is nothing. [00:34:04] Father, we thank thee. Thou hast shown us the way because thou hast sin. We love because thou didst first love us. Let that love dawn upon every one of us, Lord, in a new way. And where there's coldness of heart, melt it, Lord, where there is hardness, may it be broken and may there come into all of us a heart of compassion and love and tenderness. [00:34:34] So we ask all this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.