As we have seen in our study of the epistle of 1John, the apostle John has a few points that he knows bear repeating several times...
John has made this point frequently:
1John 2:10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light...
1John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
1John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
1John 3:23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
There's no two ways about it: the person who is born again loves the brethren. The person who does not love the brethren doesn't know God, because God is love.
In our sin, we were unlovable, but God loved us anyway. That love was displayed when God sent His Son Jesus Christ to the world so that we could be forgiven, have real life on earth, and eternal life with Him.
This is what love is: not that we loved a lovable God first, but that He first loved us - the unlovables.
Paul the apostle wrote to the Romans,
Rom. 5:6-8 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ died in our place, to pay the price of our sins. To appease the judgment, the death sentence, that our sins deserve. Jesus was the propitiation, the means of appeasement, for our sins.
Why? Because we showed promise? Because we had potential? No, just because He loved us. And this is important to keep in mind, because John is telling us this in the context of loving one another.
How many people here have proved to you that they deserve your love? Maybe a few. Your spouse, and possibly a friend or two.
But what about the guy that's a little left of center? What about the gal who said that thing that made you mad? What about the weird person who doesn't smell right, or the bozo who every Sunday takes up two parking spaces to keep you from dinging the doors of their precious car?
Have they proved that they deserve your love? Not a chance. But that's not a prerequisite according to John, is it? God loved you when you were unlovable, and when He did, His love was manifested in you - it became visible, understandable, and evident in you.
This is why John can John expect us to love some of the unlovable people in the church. This is how he can say, "if God has saved you, then you should love one another."
John again repeats the necessity of abiding. Abiding means to live in, to camp out, not to depart from.
If we're saved, God's Spirit abides in us. And the proof that God's Spirit abides in us is our abiding in Him. Notice the importance of that two-way street:
1John 4:13 ...we abide in Him and He in us...
1John 4:15 ...God abides in him, and he in God.
1John 4:16 ...the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Jesus said,
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."
The Christian life is so much more than a mental acknowledgement that Jesus died for your sins. It is a constant relationship, it is abiding in Him and Him in you.
But how can you tell if He's abiding in you? After all, you can't physically see the Father. Even Moses, who had a close relationship with God, wanted to see God, but wasn't allowed:
Ex. 33:18-20 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
Moses was only allowed to see the back of God's glory as it dissipated after He passed by. That was as close as he could get.
The disciples were wanting the same thing. Philip said to Jesus,
John 14:8-9 ..."Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father..."
This is why John wrote,
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
No one has seen God the Father. But God the Son, Jesus Christ, revealed Him to us when He came to save us. But that still doesn't help prove that He lives in us, does it? He's an invisible God.
Since we can't physically see Him, the only way we can really know if we're abiding in Him and He in us is by our love for one another. That makes Jesus' famous statement just as doctrinal as it is exhortational:
John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John tells us that we can have confidence in the day of judgment.
"Wait a minute," you might be thinking. "Christians won't be judged!"
While it is a common belief among Christians that believers will not stand in judgment, Paul wrote...
2Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Rom. 14:10 ...we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
And Jesus said,
Matt. 12:36 "...every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment."
We will all stand before God for judgment, giving an account, and being recompensed for what we have done (1Cor. 3:11-15).
For the unbeliever, this is cause for fear. But if God's love is being perfected in us, we can feel confident. If we know that we know God, then we realize the judgment we face will be one where none of our sin is on record.
Rom. 4:7-8 "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
That's why John tells us "perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment." We don't look to our judgment as a punishment, but as a time to be rewarded.
If you're fearful of your day of judgment, then let God's love in you flow out to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Make it your purpose to demonstrate that love, and you will find that you begin to think of judgment day with confidence rather than fear.