Subject 14 : The First Epistle of JOHN
[Chapter 4-3] We Have to Abide in The Love of God (1 John 4:16-21)
(1 John 4:16-21)
“And
we have known and believed 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 are we 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.”
God Is Love
I
thank God even for the fact that the Korean national soccer team
advanced to the semifinals of 2002 World Cup. This event was big enough
to make our country known around the world. I am sure this will be very
helpful to our ministry. I really give thanks to God for that, and also
believe that God will bless every step of our ministries in various ways
like that.
Today,
we have read 1 John 4:16-21. 1 John 4:16 states, “And we have known and
believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God in him.” To reiterate, it says, “He who
abides in love abides in God.” This phrase means that the people, who
know and believe that they are delivered from the sins of this world by
the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, dwell within God. We can
abide in God by believing in the love of God through the salvation
granted to us in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Although
all Christians are well aware of the fact that God is love, very few
know that God has completed His love through the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. Nowadays, Christians know well that God is love. We can see
lots of bumper stickers that read, “God is Love” or “God Loves You.”
But, unfortunately, most Christians are not aware of the real substance
of God’s love. They only are prone to become emotional when they try to
conceptualize it.
They
cannot but be driven into a life of dilemma because they had not
accepted the true love of God that came to us in the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit. They suffer from an obsession that they must love
God and the other people, but they don’t even know what the entity of
‘the love’ and how to love. Therefore, in order to know God’s love
definitely, they first have to become authentic believers by knowing the
true savior God, who came by the water and the Spirit.
Apostle
John, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, had realized the love of Jesus
the most. That’s why we often call him by the title, “the Apostle of
love.” That is because the Apostle John believed God to be love. The
recurring theme of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ, is
“Beloved, let’s love one another for God is love.” He said in this
concise statement everything he wanted to preach to the saints and the
servants of God.
Although
religious Christians declare without reserve that God is love, in
actuality, they lack the faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit, which enables them to abide in God’s love. Since they are not
abiding in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they are excluded
from the love of God. This is the essential problem of today’s
Christians. It is our comfort that we, different from them, abide in the
love of God through our faith in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit. Consequently, God also abides in us, and we in turn can keep
God’s commandment to “love one another” (John 15:12).
If
you are a true Christian, you should know God’s love more than just
abstractly. Those who know and believe Jesus as their Savior must know
God’s love concretely in their remission of sins that was accomplished
through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. We have to become
true believers of this true gospel in order to know God’s love in depth.
In this true gospel, the love of God manifests itself concretely and in
detail. If we are to know God as love, our knowledge has to come from
God’s concrete love for us that is revealed in the gospel Truth of the
water and the Spirit. Only then can we lead others to the true love of
God.
Every
Christian can become righteous, cleansed from one’s sins, only if he or
she knows and believes in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit.
Only the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can share
the love of God. Therefore, a true disciple of Christ must first know
the love of God through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Nowadays,
evangelical Christians emphasize only the blood on the Cross. However,
they have sins in their hearts rather than the love of God, because they
lack the knowledge of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Unless
they have received the remission of sin through the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit, we are unable to love the souls of others. Nor can
they care and embrace the born again saints with their hearts. One
cannot receive God, the Lord of salvation, in one’s heart without first
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only after you have
believed in Jesus Christ, who came by the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, you can receive the God of love in your heart and share the love
of God with others. We can share God’s love only through our faith in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I Also Have Reached an Understanding of the God of Love after I Accepted the True Gospel
I
have come to know the love of God truly only after I have comprehended
and believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The love of God
was “the love of the Truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) that came to us in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Before, I knew about God’s love
only abstractly. I thought that God in His love for us had accomplished
our salvation by the Cross alone. I was under the false impression that I
had a firm grasp on the meaning of “the love of the Truth.”
However,
because my heart was still filled with sins, I could not effectively
witness to the true love of God by the Holy Spirit. I had to make up
artificial love instead of sharing true love of God, when I knew only
about Jesus’ blood on the Cross. I was agonizing over my struggle.
But,
I was put on with true love of God once I had encountered my Lord
through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I could feel the love of
God flowing out of my own heart. I realized that God has presented us
with “the love of the Truth,” only after my encounter with the gospel of
the water and the Spirit.
The
sins in my heart were gone and I had become a servant of God’s
righteousness because I had known and believed in the gospel Word of the
water and the Spirit. One sure thing is that I have come to know God’s
love through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I have become an
evangelist of God’s love after I have received the love of God in my
heart. That I have become a distributor of God’s love is evidence that
the gospel of the water and the Spirit has changed everything inside me.
I believe this to be the very testimony of you, who have been born
again by this beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit.
There Is No Fear for One Who Abides in God’s Love of the Truth by Faith
1
John 4:17 states, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we
may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in
this world.”
Those
in whom God’s love has been perfected have no fear of on the Day of
God’s Judgment because they have believed in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. As the Lord will be bold on the Day of Judgment, those who
are put on with the love of God must also be bold on that day.
Let’s
all read 1 John 4:18 together. It says, “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.”
Those
Christians, who have not yet put on the true love of God in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, surely have sins in their hearts. One who
does not abide in God’s love is in constant fear of God. That fear is
caused by the sins the person has in his heart.
Those
who have sins in their hearts will indeed receive judgment equal to
their sins. The only way to avoid God’s judgment lies in believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Hence, whether one has truly
received the remission of sin in front of God becomes an important
issue. If we do not receive the remission of our sins through the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, our souls will perish forever.
There
is no fear in the heart of a person who is put on with God’s love in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Rather, a heart of gratefulness
is awakened in front of God. On the other hand, a person who is not yet
put on with the love of the gospel of the water and the Spirit has fear
in one’s heart. Thus, we should realize that, if someone has fear of God
in his heart, he is not yet saved from all his sin.
Now,
we have to come to a realization about God’s love for us. God has loved
us through the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Our Lord has
come to this earth and took the sins of this world once for all by
receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. And He blotted out all the
sins by bearing the judgment on the Cross and resurrecting from the
dead. God has made us His children by giving us the gospel Truth of the
water and the Spirit.
What
is the heart of a disbeliever of the gospel of the water and the Spirit
like? They fundamentally live in fear of God because the sins of their
hearts are not taken care of and the consequent judgment of their sins
is waiting for them. However, those who believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit do not have to fear God, because they have received
the full remission of sin by the power of the gospel and have put on
with the love of God. Rather, they volunteer their lives for spreading
God’s love because their intimacy with God is that intense.
It
would be unusual for a dog to fear one’s master. It is natural to
expect a dog, which is loved by its master, to be loyal to one’s master.
My dog at home barks at strangers. As the illustration suggests, one
guards against strangers and not against one’s master. One’s master is
one’s object of intimacy.
Why
would we fear God when God has covered us with His love of salvation?
We fear God because there is sin in us, which God hates. That is, one
who fears God has not yet received the remission of sin before God. Such
a person is not one who believes in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Such persons have not received true salvation that is in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. They say that they have been saved
by believing in Jesus Christ through the man-made doctrines of
Christianity instead of through the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit.
We
have to understand what the Apostle John is trying to enlighten us. We
have to experience God’s love through our faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. A person put on with the love of God can
comprehend the Words of the Apostle John. He announces that a person who
does not know and believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit still lives under the dominion of sin. This is why he says,
“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”
(1 John 4:18).
There
is no fear in the love of God because God’s love drives any fear away
from us. Our Lord has blotted out all of our sins through the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. God’s judgment falls upon us because of the
sins of our heart, but our Lord has driven out all of our fears through
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We can be exempted from all
judgments of our sins by being cleansed of our sins through the faith in
this gospel Truth. Thus, those of us who believe in this gospel Truth
become bold because of the faith in that gospel. A believer in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit can have the bold heart of a lion. In
the past, we were frightened even by the sound of a thunder. However, a
sinless righteous has no fear, just like the Holy Spirit testifies of
the righteous: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous
are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).
Regardless
of how just God is in His wrathful judgment on all of our sins, we who
have believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit should have no
fear of God’s wrath. That is because God’s perfect love has driven out
all of our fears from out hearts. All fears are caused by the
anticipation of judgment. Whoever does not believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit will surely receive God’s judgment. However, one
who truly believes in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit has
no fear of God’s judgment because that person has come to abide in God’s
love.
1
John 4:19 states, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Did God love
us first or we God? It is because God has loved us first through the
gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit that we are saved from all of
our sins. We have been put on with the love of God through our faith in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
What
would have happened if God did not love us through the love of the
Truth, which is the gospel of the water and the Spirit? What would
happen to us, if the gospel of the water and the Spirit were not the
real Truth? If so, there would be no way for us to live our lives free
from sin. However, we are covered by the love of God through our faith
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God has adopted us His
children by making us sinless through the gospel Truth of the water and
the Spirit. God has covered us with His unending love, intending us to
be His righteous workers on this earth.
1
John 4:20 goes on saying, “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?”
A
believer in the gospel of the water and the Spirit loves even those
with many flaws. Still, the recently born-again through the gospel of
the water and the Spirit sometimes criticize their seniors or mentors of
faith. However, as one matures in one’s spirituality, one comes to love
everyone in Christ, regardless of one’s affinity for another.
A
person covered with God’s love practices love that is different from
the love between the opposite sexes. God is love. God’s love is agape
love. This agape love that God pours on us is of an absolute and
unconditional sacrifice that asks for nothing in return.
“The
first have to serve the last” in God’s church. Our Lord Himself said,
“And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28).
Jesus
loves us. God nurtures our faith by adopting us as His children and
covering us with His love. We are given the power to love others as we
grow in our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Especially,
our brothers and sisters, who have also received the remission of sin,
love one another. And I also love all of you. Don’t you love me as well?
Because of our Lord, we have become able to love one another in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Finally, 1 John 4:21 reads, “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
God’s
commandment is for us to love one another. Before we were born again,
we had to keep the 613 codes of the Law but couldn’t because of our
weakness. Now, God has given us a new commandment, to love one another.
The Lord said in the Bible, “As I have loved you, that you also love one
another” (John 13:34, 15:12). God’s commandment for us is to love one
another as God has loved us.
We
have been blessed with the knowledge of God’s love, which also made us
into God’s children. We have to know that God has poured His love into
our hearts. We really have to know the substance of God’s love and
practice love for one another. We have to understand and accept everyone
as long as he/she does not stand against the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. And we also have to provide them God’s Word for their
spiritual growth. We have to realize God’s love that was inscribed in
our hearts and not forget to love one another.
God
truly is love. We have to abide in God by believing God’s love of the
Truth. Let’s give thanks to God for delivering us from all of our sins.
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