As the Apostle John is bringing his epistle to a close he is bringing to a conclusion various streams of arguments that he has made concerning how you may know that you have eternal life. The purpose of this epistle is found in vs 13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” In that statement, John is saying this is how you may know how to be saved, and this is how you may be assured that you are saved, and this is how you may know that others are saved. All three of those elements are expressed in that statement, and have been argued previously in the epistle. Now John is bringing that argument to it’s conclusion.

The means by which John says you may know you have eternal life is believing in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. He said in the previous section, in vs 1, that “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And in vs11 he said, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” To be an overcomer is another aspect of being born of God. They essentially both speak of the same thing, which John also refers to as eternal life. But the means of eternal life is believing.

So what John makes clear, which we have talked about extensively, is that believing in Jesus Christ is not simply believing that a man named Jesus really lived 2000 years ago and He said some great things, He taught about God. But as the titles Messiah and Son of God indicate, it’s believing in who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh, and as the Messiah He was sent to the world to be our Savior, which He accomplished by taking our place in death as the punishment for our sins, so that we might be given eternal life.

It’s also important to understand what is meant by eternal life. Eternal life does not mean simply a long, long, long life. It’s not even talking necessarily about going to heaven when you die. But it’s speaking of spiritual life from God, which is given to those who have faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished, so that they now have the life from God, spiritual life, which is eternal, which is righteous and holy. It’s eternal life, but notice that in vs 12 John just refers to it as “the life”. He says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Jesus is the source of the life, which is the life from God. It’s spiritual life, it’s everlasting life, it’s the life of God in us. So we must have the Son of God in order to have the life. We must have received Him, believed in Him, trusted in Him as our Savior. He is the way to life, the only way to life. John wants to make that crystal clear.

So to support the statement that he made which is that we have to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, he is going to give us some further evidence that will help us to know all that is involved in believing. And so what he gives us here i this passage is three strains of testimony about who Jesus is. Just like in a court case, when you want to present evidence of something, there is no more powerful evidence than to bring forth testimony from eyewitnesses, or some credible witness who can provide testimony as to the truth of the claim, so John gives three testimonies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who fulfilled His Messianic ministry on earth, so that we might know that we have eternal life.

John says in vs 6, “This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”

Now the statement at first glance may seem a little obscure. But John didn’t deliberately try to be obscure. He wrote it, I’m sure, to be descriptive. To illustrate three ways in which God testifies of Jesus. And by the way, I don’t want to spend too much time on this particular point this morning, but those of you following along in a KJV or NKJV may have noticed that your version adds more to vs 8 than what I read. What the best scholars seem to be in agreement about is that while the extra text in vs 8 is not untrue, at the same time it does not seem to be original to the text. The shortest answer I can give you is that the earliest those words were found in a Greek text was about the 15th century. It seems as though before that it was found in the margin notes of a Latin text, and later was eventually added to the Textus Receptus, which is the manuscript that the KJV was translated from. But the earlier manuscripts do not contain that text. It doesn’t change anything theologically one way or the other, but it’s probably best not to recognize it as inspired. So we won’t read it that way.

But the main point is this; that there are three who testify of Jesus. And we need to understand what John is referring to. So it is believed that when John says that the three testimonies are the water, the blood and the Spirit, he is talking about Christ’s baptism, death, and Pentecost; all of which testify to who Jesus is, and what He accomplished.

If you will recall, the Mosaic law stated that in order to confirm something as true, it was to be on the basis of two or three witnesses.That goes back to Deuteronomy 19:15, that testimony had to be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Jesus also emphasized that in Matthew 18 in regards to church discipline, that any charge brought against someone needed to have the affirmation of two or three witnesses. And also in 1 Timothy 5:19 it says that no one should bring an accusation against an elder or pastor in the church unless it’s confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses. We see this principle again and again in scripture. And so here God does the same thing in John’s closing argument. Verse 6, “This is the one who came by water and blood and not just water and blood, but” – and then in verse 7 – “it is the Spirit who bears witness.” God Himself has chosen the maximum of three testimonies – from water, blood and Spirit – in this summary to affirm His witness concerning Jesus Christ so that we might be assured of what we believe.

So first of all, let’s talk about the testimony of water. God gave testimony of Jesus Christ at His baptism. And as I said earlier, the testimony is that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God. Now we find the record of Jesus’s baptism in Matthew 3:13, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.” And then it says in vs16 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

This event was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The scripture says that following His baptism He went about in Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. But very clearly here we see that God Himself gives testimony of who Jesus is. And we also see the testimony of the Holy Spirit, coming down out of heaven to rest upon Jesus.

You know, it’s interesting to think about that. We often see pictures that show a dove above Christ’s head or landing upon Him. But it doesn’t say that a dove rested upon Him. But it says that John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove. In other words, the Spirit of God descended in the manner of a dove. It does not say the Spirit of God was a dove. Notice John doesn’t see a dove, He sees the Spirit of God.

In the gospel of John, I always think it’s an interesting note, chapter 1 verse 32, “And John bore witness saying, ‘I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and He remained on Him.’”

“And I didn’t recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’” John had said, “There’s one coming. He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” So the water has a tremendous testimony of Jesus, that He is the Christ, and the Son of God.

So at the baptism of Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, we see the testimony of water, with both God speaking and descending in Spirit upon Jesus. And God says clearly that “this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

But John says there is more. He says, not the water only, but the water and the blood. And as I said previously, the blood speaks of the crucifixion of Christ. We can turn to Matthew 27 for an account of the crucifixion. If you look at the scene of the cross, in verse 44, the robbers have been crucified with Him. They are insulting Him. Then it says, “Now from the sixth hour” –that means twelve o’clock noon. “From the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” For three hours, in the middle of the day there is supernatural darkness. This is a divine miracle. This is God’s testimony concerning the atonement for sin which Jesus was accomplishing. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?,” which means ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’” Jesus understood the symbolism of the darkness was an indication of the wrath of God against sin. God was giving testimony to Jesus Christ His Son as the sin-bearing sacrifice in providing for our atonement.

And there is another testimony given by God in verse 51, “Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” While Jesus is dying there on the cross, God rips the veil of the temple from top to bottom, which opens up the Holy of Holies, showing that Jesus through His supreme sacrifice has provided access to God, abolishing the system of priests and sacrifices. Can you imagine the shock to the priests and officers and scribes and so forth in the temple seeing this miracle of God just when Jesus is being put to death?

And then it says in verse 51, “And the earth shook” – God sent an earthquake – “and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” The temple curtain is rent from top to bottom, darkness is over all the land, and an earthquake all at the time of Christ’s crucifixion and the dead were coming out of the tombs. What a tremendous testimony God makes that Jesus Christ was the Son of God that they were crucifying.

So vs 54 says, “Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became frightened and said truly this was the Son of God.” Not only did the centurion say it, but those who were with him said it. That’s the logical conclusion for anyone that wasn’t biased against Jesus. But from what we know the priests do not say that. They hold onto their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, despite the supernatural testimony of God.

I think it’s also possible to include in the testimony of the blood, the fulfillment of the scriptures which explicitly prophesied of the crucifixion. For example, in Psalm 22 it says, “All My bones are out of joint. My heart … is melted within Me … My tongue cleaves to My jaws … Dogs have surrounded Me. A band of evil doers has encompassed Me. They pierced My hands and my feet. I can count all My bones. They look, they stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

We also see the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, which says, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”“He was pierced through for our transgressions.” “By His scourging we are healed.” “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

In vs 9 it even gives the details of His burial. “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. And then it speaks of His atonement, the propitiation for our sins. “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

All of those prophecies and many more in the Old Testament were fulfilled at the death of Jesus Christ. There is no other conclusion than this is the testimony of the Father, fulfilled prophecy, physical phenomena that’s so convincing that a Roman centurion says, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Then the third testimony of our text in 1 John 5, is the testimony given by the Holy Spirit. John says in verse 6, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Jesus referred to the Spirit in HIs prayer in the Upper Room before His crucifixion as the Spirit of Truth. The ministry of the Spirit is to reveal the truth about Christ.

And then John says in vs 8, “There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.” So all three of them are in agreement, testifying to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Now we have already seen that the Spirit was involved in testifying of Christ at His baptism. He became visible and rested upon Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus began His ministry. But it’s important to look at how the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ in other situations. I happen to believe that the greatest testimony of the Spirit concerning Christ was at Pentecost. If you look at Acts 2, you will see the disciples waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit which Jesus had told them to wait for.

I said a moment ago that Jesus referred to the Spirt as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said in John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, [that is] the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” Notice that Jesus says He will send the Spirit, and He will testify about Me. He says in another place, He (that is the Spirit) will bring to your remembrance the things that I said to you. So the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus, and to teach the truth about Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happened at Pentecost. The Spirit of God came just as Jesus said He would, Jesus sent Him to testify of Himself. And when He came, He came with supernatural power; there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.” That’s the baptism of fire that John the Baptist had said Jesus would baptize with.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” They spoke other languages, which just happened to be the languages of all the people who were from all different regions of the Roman Empire in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, who gathered outside the house when they heard the noise of the wind. And so the disciples came out and started speaking of the mighty works of God and everyone who was there heard them speak in their own language. These disciples were eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. And over three thousand people heard them speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit in their native language so that they might believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.

Peter, taking his stand before the multitude, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, preached a message to them boldly declaring that this Jesus whom they had crucified was the Messiah, the Son of God. And he concluded his message in vs 36 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.” And as a result three thousand people hearing that testimony believed in Jesus Christ and were saved that day.

So then, we have seen that God then gave His testimony in the water, the blood and the Spirit. The question then remains, “Why did He give it?” We find the answer in verse 11 – the purpose for God’s testimony. “The testimony is this, that on the basis of Jesus’s atonement for sin, God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.” The reason that God gives this testimony is because God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The only way to have eternal life is through believing in what Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

Notice John says, “This life is in His Son.” There is no salvation in any other. There’s no other name under heaven given among men whereby you might be saved. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” God’s desire for us is that we have life. But the only way to have the life of God is in believing in Jesus Christ. and in His finished work of atonement.

So then, what should be our response to God’s witness? We find the answer in verse 10, and then verse 12. What should be our response? Verse 10, “The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”

When we believe in Christ, when we are saved, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So in us is the testimony that Jesus is the Christ. We receive the testimony, we believe it. John 1:12 says “As many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And I can assure you that when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then your eyes become opened, your heart becomes opened, and you know in your heart that which is true, that you have new life. You have the testimony in your own heart of the truth and the life.

But on the other hand, verse 10 says, “The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believe the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.” So if you don’t believe God’s testimony, you’ve made Him a liar. You are calling God a liar. How is it that you have made God a liar? “Because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”

The testimony of God concerning Jesus is supernatural, powerfully convincing testimony. The Holy Spirit also attests to that testimony in your heart by convicting you of it’s truth. But there are some who will refuse to believe, because like the priests who put Jesus to death, they do not want this man to rule over them. They don’t want to submit to God. They like their sin and don’t want to repent of it. And so they refuse the atonement which Christ died to accomplish.

John then in vs 12, restates the positive conclusion from all that has been said. We have already discussed it in detail. He is just restating it for emphasis. “He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Salvation is so simple that it sometimes seems like there has to be more. And there is more to our salvation as we grow in the Lord. But to be born of God, it must begin with faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot have the life of God until we believe in the giver of life, Jesus Christ.

Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, concluded his message with this word, and I will conclude my message with it as well; Acts 2:38-39 Peter [said] to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” You have heard the testimony of God today concerning Christ Jesus. God is calling you to believe in Him that you may receive the life.

If you watch much television or listen to the radio, or even if you read very much, then you might think that the dominate theme of our culture today is the theme of love.  The world seems to be infatuated with the idea of love. It’s the theme of virtually every song you hear on the radio, and the theme of most books and movies.  If you were to talk to many people, it would seem that love is the supreme goal of life, and happiness and fulfillment are only possible if you experience true love.

Interestingly, this epistle of 1 John which we are studying in our Sunday morning services has often been called the epistle of love, and John it’s author has been called the apostle of love.  John has a lot to say about love. In his gospel of John, he speaks of love in 27 verses.  And in this epistle of 1 John, he talks about love in 17 verses. And the passage we are looking at today is considered by many to be one of the quintessential passages in the entire Bible on the subject of love.

Of course, if you’ve been studying this book with us for the last few months, you will know that love is only one of the themes which John is discussing.  In many cases, John indicates that love is evidence of our salvation.  In today’s passage that we are looking at, John is going to dig deeper into the doctrine of love to show us what he calls perfect love.

In vs 12, at the end of this passage, John says, “if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”  Now on the surface, that sounds like the goal of the world, to find perfect love. But I would suggest that perfect love as taught by John is somewhat different than what the world envisions as perfect love.  I can imagine for a lot of people who think of what would constitute perfect love, they would require some degree of perfection in their partner. They would imagine the perfect man or the perfect woman which would then make possible perfect love.

But the use of the English word “perfect” in the scriptures rarely indicates perfection, but rather the idea of completion.  Perfect love is completed love.  Agape is the Greek word which is used for love here in these verses.  And agape love as we have talked about many times is sacrificial love. It’s not a love which seeks reciprocation.  It’s a love that puts the other’s needs ahead of your own.  And so that’s divine love, that’s Christian love.

But in another sense, love that is not reciprocated is not perfect love. Completed love must be reciprocated.  It must be returned to be complete.  In studying this passage before us today, I have found what I think are eight aspects of love laid out for us in this chapter, that culminate in what John says is perfect, or complete love.  And I would like to work through these eight steps, so that our love might be perfected.

The first three steps are found in vs 7.  Number one, we see the command to love. John says, “Beloved, let us love one another.”  Now he may be stating that nicely, by calling us “beloved” and saying “let us” instead of “do this.”  But make no mistake, love is a command, not a suggestion.  Jesus said in the gospel of John 13:34  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  And also John himself said back in the previous chapter, 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.” 

So as Christians, as disciples of Christ, we are commanded to love.  That illustrates an important aspect of love, by the way.  And that is that love is an act of the will.  It’s not something that you have to wait to feel before you do something.  But it’s an act of the will, a deliberate choice to love. Jesus said “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Love is always associated with an act of the will, not just a sentiment or a feeling, or even attraction.

The second aspect of love is also in vs 7, which is the source of love. The source of love is God.  John says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.”  Perfect love is from God.  In other words, God initiates love. He is the initiator.  John says in vs 19, “We love, because He first loved us.”

God loved us before the world began. I believe the story of God’s love for us really is illustrated in the Garden of Eden during creation.  God said “let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”  And although God previously had spoken all of creation into existence, when He made man, He stooped to scoop up clay from the ground, and formed it with His hands into a form of His likeness, and then God bent His head to breath the breath of life into man’s nostrils. The very act of creation speaks of God’s love for us.

But we get further understanding of God’s love in the story of how God made a helpmate for Adam.  God said it is not good for man to be alone, and so He purposed to make Adam a helpmate who would be suitable to him.  That means who would be like him.  But after He said that, and before He made woman, there is an unusual interlude.  During this interlude the scripture says that God caused all the animals that had been created to pass before Adam, and Adam gave names to each of them.  Then it says an interesting thing, in Gen 2:20 “The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”  Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and God brought forth the woman from Adam’s rib.

The analogy that I think can be made is that this was a picture of the situation with God before man was created.  God looked through all the heavens and all the galaxies, to see if there was found a helpmate suitable for Him, and He found none.  And so He brought forth man from the dust of the earth, in order to be a helpmate suitable for Him.  He created mankind to be the bride of Christ.  Man was made for God, to be loved by God, and to love God and have fellowship and communion with Him forever.

Now I think that illustrates that love is from God.  He is the source of love.  We love, because He first loved us.  Even though Satan deceived man and caused him to be cursed by death, to be separated from God forever because of sin, God’s love for mankind was so great that He gave His only begotten Son to die in their place, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life and might be reconciled to God.

The third aspect of love is the evidence of love.  The evidence of love is stated positively at the end of vs 7 and negatively at the beginning of vs 8. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God.”  That’s a point that John has been making sense the beginning of this epistle.  That if you are a child of God, then you will act like God, you will walk like God, you will love like God loves.  He said back in chapter 2:5-6  “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

In this book, John has been offering a series of tests that you might know that you are saved.   And here in vs 7 and 8 he says that the evidence that you have been born of God, that you are a child of God, is that you love like God, with a sacrificial love towards God and towards one another.  It takes a regenerated spirit to have the kind of love that God desires us to have.  Divine love cannot come from a fallen nature, but only from a regenerated nature.  And so to have that kind of love is evidence that you have been born again in the spirit.

The fourth aspect of love is the attribute of love.  This statement is probably one of the most famous lines in scripture.  It’s at the end of verse 8, “God is love.”  I could probably preach an entire sermon on this phrase.  It’s very often misunderstood and misapplied.  

Notice that I said it was the attribute of love. In this context, John is saying that love is the attribute of God.  God has many attributes.  He is not limited to only one.  It is possible to debate which attribute takes precedence.  Some may think the holiness of God is the primary attribute.  Some may think love is the primary attribute.  And there are others.  I believe the Bible teaches that all attributes of God coexist equally. All the attributes of God are in perfect balance with the others. God can be a God of justice and sentence people to Hell, and He can love so much that He saves people who were condemned to hell.  And one can be exercised without offending the other because He is perfect and His attributes are perfectly balanced.

But let me stress that God is love is not the definition of God, but rather that God defines love.  For instance, you can say, God is love, but you cannot say love is God.  This is where the world goes off track.  They want to define God by love, and particularly what they think constitutes love.  But God will not be put in a box by a one word definition. God defines love, not the other way around. Those that want to call God love, are in error.  God is the “I AM that I AM.” He is God Almighty, Jehovah.  He cannot be diminished to a one word attribute, though He personifies the attribute of love perfectly.

The problem with the statement “God is love” is how we interpret “love.” Our definition is not the same as God’s definition.  So rather than let us define God by our definition, God defines love for us. And we will look at that definition in a moment when we get to verse 10.  But before John defines love for us, he gives us an illustration of it.

So the next aspect of love is the manifestation of love.  We find that in vs 9, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”  God demonstrated love by sending Jesus Christ into the world so that the world that was doomed to death might have life through Him.

God doesn’t just say He loves us, but He demonstrates His love for us. I can’t help but think of a mother’s love. I’m reminded of my own mother’s love when I was growing up.  I didn’t have a perfect mother.  I don’t think anyone has a perfect mother.  I would go so far as to say, there is no such thing as a perfect mother.  Maybe that will let a few of you mothers let go of some of your guilt.  There are no perfect mothers.  

But in spite of that, I remember my mother manifesting love for us. My mother’s love was evidenced in her keeping the house clean. It was evidenced in washing and folding and ironing our clothes.  It was manifested in making my lunch for school every morning.  And a million other things that she did, she did because she loved me.  Love for her wasn’t just a few  sentimental pats on the head or kisses on the cheek before I ran out of the house.  Love was sacrificially doing things for me to help me have a good life.  I would even say that when my mother gave me a paddling, she did it because of love.  I didn’t think so at the time, but now that I’m a parent, I know that it’s true.

God manifested His love for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, so that I might be declared righteous in His sight, and receive life through Jesus’s death. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.“ Jesus substitutionary death in my place manifests God’s love.  Love is action.  Love is sacrificial.  Love is not simply words or an emotion or an attraction. 

Then in vs 10 we find the sixth aspect of love, which is the definition of love. Here it is, the answer to the age old question, what is love? Vs10, “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.”  Well, that sounds like a restatement of the last verse, which we said was the manifestation of love.  And you’re right.  The manifestation is the definition. Love is an act of God to us, which is the act of sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

I was kidding around with my son the other day in preparation for this message.  Sometimes I get some flack around my house because I preach a lot about sin. And sometimes they advise me that I need to balance the sin with more preaching on love.  So I said to my son the other day, “I’m preaching about love this Sunday.  You ought to be happy to hear that.”  And if I heard him right, he muttered something about how he bet that I would still find a way to speak about sin.  Well, he was right.  Right here in this verse, right in the middle of speaking on this great passage about love, is the word sin.  And so I get to preach on sin a little bit.

But seriously, the only reason that Jesus died on the cross was because we were sinners.  He didn’t die on the cross by mistake.  But He resolutely left His glory in heaven with the Father to humble Himself to become flesh like His creation, so that He could stand in our place and take the stripes which were meant for us, take the nails which we meant for us, and die the death which was meant for us. 

 And what John says here is so very important. Jesus died to satisfy the Father’s requirement that death be the punishment for sin.  Because we were sinners, Christ died for us.  Oh yes, He loved us.  Yes He died for us because He loved us.  But if we weren’t sinners He would not have had to die.  He died to satisfy the requirement of a holy, just God against those who had defied His law.

You and I who were sinners, are saved by faith in what Christ did on our behalf.  If you have not believed in the finished work of Jesus through His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins, then you are not a child of God.  Jesus didn’t die to make you prosperous or healthy or happy or a myriad of other narcissistic desires that you might have.  He died so that a sinner condemned to eternal death might be given life in exchange for His life.  I hope you have trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord and that you have been forgiven and made righteous.  It’s by faith in what Jesus did on the cross.  And what He did is the definition of love. Love is sacrificial, it’s substitutionary. Love satisfies the requirement of God.  Love is believing in Christ.  Love is the product of regeneration.  Love comes as a result of being given new life.

The seventh aspect of love is the reason for love. Vs 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  If you consider what we just said about the love of God in sending His Son to die in our place, if you really consider that and understand that, then how could you not love God in return?  And if you love God, then how could you not love His body on earth, which is the church? If you love God, then how could you not obey Him? 

Jesus said the foremost commandment was  “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.”

“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”

Paul tells us in 1Cor. 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”  The reason for love is that we want to bring glory to God with our life.  This life which we received through such a great sacrifice by Christ, we want to live for His glory.  That is how we love God, by living a life in service to Him.  And the way we serve Him and bring Him glory is we love one another.  We love His church and edify one another, and encourage one another, and help one another.  We serve Him by serving His body. And we do it gladly because of all that He has done for us.  If God was willing to suffer and die for us, we ought to be willing to suffer for one another’s benefit.

The last aspect of love we have already mentioned.  This is the culmination of love, this is what it has been building up to.  The perfection of love.  Vs.12, “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”  Now at first glance it would seem as if John copied and pasted the wrong phrase into the wrong sentence.  Maybe he was working on a revision and meant to paste in something else and instead he puts these two seemingly disparate phrases together. 

What does not seeing God at any time have to do with loving one another?  Well, I think after looking at it awhile I may have discovered the reason for what John did here.  I think he wanted to emphasize the fact that man can’t see God. But we can see other Christians who have the love of God in them.  That’s the point of this verse.  The world, the church, mankind in general cannot see God, but they can see you, and you have the Spirit of God abiding in you, so that you may do the works of God.  

That’s what the scripture is talking about when it says we are to be conformed to the image of Christ.  We are to be like Christ to the world, doing the works of God, reaching the lost for God ,sharing the word of God to the world, converting sinners to saints for the kingdom of God.  Building up the church, edifying the saints, serving one another.  Loving one another.  That’s how the world will see God. They see God in us, living out love through us. And that’s the testimony that changes the world, when they see the changes God has manifested in us. We don’t act selfishly anymore.  We love like Christ loves.  We forgive one another.  We serve one another.  We sacrifice for one another. Jesus said in John 13:35  “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

That love which comes from God now comes full circle. The love of God, which is of God, produces a love in us, which is poured out to one another.  That’s perfect love.  That’s completed love.  Love from God completes us, because we love one another.  That’s perfect love.  I hope you have received the love of God  which was manifested in Christ’s death on the cross, that you might receive forgiveness of sins, and the righteousness of God, so that the Spirit of God might abide in you, that the love of God may be perfected in you. 

We come today in our study of 1 John to a very important passage for the church, and one to which I have referred to in previous messages many times.  It teaches some important principles which were essential for the church of John’s day, and which has been essential for the church ever since, and no less so for the church today.  In John’s day, the church was battling with the teachings of Gnosticism, which professed a superior knowledge of God but which John calls false knowledge, proclaimed by false prophets.  He said they were the spirit of antichrist.  That is, they worked against Christ, against the truth of His teachings, His ministry, and purported to have another way to knowledge and fellowship with God rather than strictly through Christ.

Today, we have a similar spirit of error which is working in the church to undermine and distort the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is a spirit which seeks to diminish the authority of the gospel of Christ as the means by which we come to know God.  Modern false prophets seek to teach a way of knowledge and fellowship with God as being possible through experience, through signs and wonders, which can supersede that which may be found through the word of God.

So this passage is very pertinent to the church today.  The primary point that John is making, is that as Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.  But there are also deceiving spirits which are not of God, but of the devil, which seek to undermine and distort the truth of the gospel.  The devil is our adversary.  He is a deceiver.  He comes to steal, deceive and destroy. His kingdom is the kingdom of this world, and he works to overthrow the kingdom of God.  But his most effective strategy is not to outright oppose the truth to get people to stop believing, but to distort and deceive through false teaching, and thus lead people astray from the purity of the gospel.

Now John began this conversation in the last verse of the previous chapter saying, “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”  So we know that God abides in us, by the Spirit of God whom He has given us.  Now how did John indicate that we know that God abides in us? By the Spirit of God in us.  And John says that indwelling of the Spirit is evidenced by the fact that we keep the commandments.

I said last time that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not given that we might have some supernatural experience which then confirms that we know God.  But the Spirit is given that we might keep the commandments of God.  He is the power that works in us and empowers us that we might do the works of God. That’s the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit.  And in conjunction to that, the other primary work of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten our minds so that we might understand the word of God.  The Holy Spirit is the author of scripture, so He is able to open our minds to understand what He has written. 

And let me emphasize something to you about that which is very important. The Holy Spirit speaks to us primarily through God’s word.  That is how God speaks to us.  A lot of sincere Christians are going about seeking to hear from the Lord.  And so they think to do that they need to go into some sort of meditative state and empty their minds, and just let the Spirit speak to them.  They imagine that the Spirit of God is going to somehow, in a still small voice, hear God tell them what to do, or give them some message.  Listen, I know this is true, because I used to think that way.

But the truth is, that you cannot trust the little small voice in your head.  If I listened to the voices in my head sometimes I would probably be in prison today or in an insane asylum. No, the Spirit of God has spoken already, very clearly and very distinctly.  In fact, He wrote it down so that you can know for certain what He says.  And it’s found in the word of God.  And the Spirit of God in you says Amen when you read the word.  He confirms to you the truth as He speaks through the Word of God.  Now a lot of so called Christians don’t like to hear me say that. They want to think that God speaks to them audibly almost every day.  And they can tell you stories about how they heard God say this or that and something wonderful happened. And they don’t want to let go of that.  But I will tell you this.  If you can’t confirm what you heard by the word of God, then you didn’t hear from God.  Now I’m sorry if that offends you, or doesn’t fit this idea that you might have this special relationship with God where He speaks audibly to you about the most mundane things, like where to find a parking space at the mall. 

John affirms the truth of what I am saying in ch. 4 vs 1.  He says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  We cannot see a spirit.  Spirit comes from the Greek word pneuma, which means air.  You can’t see the air, but you can feel the air, can’t you?  You can even hear the air.  Well, the same thing is true of a spirit.  You can’t see a spirit, but you can hear one.  And John indicates here that you should not believe everything you hear.  Now that applies not only to the voices in your head, but in the teaching that you hear from what John calls false prophets.

So first of all, John says don’t believe every spirit.  Don’t believe everything you hear. Just because someone comes to you dressed in the clothes of a minister, or a priest, or professes to be a prophet, don’t believe every spirit. I saw a lady the other day at a yard sale who I remember from years ago when I was taking a bunch of kids on a missions trip to Eleuthera in the Bahamas.  She called me a day or two before we flew out, to say that God had given her a dream that we had a plane crash on our missions trip and so obviously God was telling us not to go.  Well, I didn’t believe her and she happened to be wrong.  We had chartered a missionary plane for the trip which was an old WW2 Air Force plane used for dropping parachuters.  And  I will tell you that I would have been nervous enough just from the looks of the plane, not to mention having her dream prophecy to think about.  But I’m living proof that she was not speaking the truth, but whatever spirit she was of, it was not of God. In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, Moses specifies the same kind of testing of the prophets, “If the things they say do not come to pass, they are false prophets.”

So just because something is spoken in a church, or in the name of God, or whatever, John says don’t blindly believe it.  Secondly, John says test the spirits to see if they are from God. Test them, examine them.  How do you test the spirits? I will tell you, there is only one definitive test for the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error.  And that is the word of God.  The word of God is the revelation of God and it’s the only reliable standard for truth.  

2Tim. 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  So every thing that a Christian needs to know can be found in the word of God.  And that means that it is the standard for truth.  That’s what this all comes down to, isn’t it? Look down at the end of verse 6, “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” We know the word of God is truth.  Jesus said that He was truth.  And in the prayer of Jesus in the Upper Room He several times calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth.  Jesus said in that prayer to the Father, “Your word is truth.”  There is only one barometer of truth. And that’s the word of God. So it’s either the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error. 

Heb 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” There is only one sure source of truth and that’s the word of God.  That’s the test. That’s the way we test to see if what we are being told is the truth.

What’s so important about this? Why the big fuss?  John says it’s important because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Jesus sent His disciples out in the world to preach the gospel and make disciples in every nation.  And guess what?  Satan sent out his disciples in all the world to make disciples in every nation.  He has his false prophets everywhere, infiltrating the church, broadcasting in every language in every nation on the radio airwaves, on the television, on you tube, using every available media.  I would say that if I had to guess there are far more false prophets than there are true prophets.  Jesus said that there were two ways, one was broad and there were many on it and one was narrow and there were but a few people on that way. But the broad way leads to destruction.  The narrow way leads to God. And Jesus added, “beware of false prophets.”  The false prophets proclaim popular doctrines which attract a lot of people, but it is the way to destruction. 

There are many false prophets in the world, and we need to be discerning.  By their deception they are intent on destroying the church.  And behind every false prophet is a false spirit, a spirit of anti christ.

Now the rest of the passage, vs 2 through vs 6, all speak of three specific tests of the spirits. Notice how John bookends the entire section with the words, “by this you know.” Vs.2, He begins with “by this you know,”  and then at the end of vs 6, “by this we know.”  So everything in between is a specific test that you apply through the word of God to test the spirits.

The first test is the test of the divinity of Christ. He says in vs 2, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

The spirit of error which is populated by the devil, is usually consistent in this one principle; which is denying the deity of Jesus Christ.  It’s not always evident in their teaching at first glance.  You may have to dig around a bit to discover it.  But a common theme is that they deny that Jesus is God who has come in the flesh. But all the gospel depends on that essential theology.  If Jesus was not deity, then He claimed to be something He was not.  He had no power to forgive sins.  He had no power to give life. So the doctrine of the incarnation is essential.

Notice John says, “Every spirit that confesses”.  To confess comes from the Greek word “homologeo” which means to agree with, to say the same thing.  In other words, everyone that is saying the same thing, who is in agreement with what the word of God says about Christ, that He is the Anointed One, God in the flesh, is confessing a truth taught by the Holy Spirit. 

I really think that John is using a type of short hand here when he speaks of confessing Jesus Christ as come in the flesh.  I think that he is referencing in an abbreviated style the ministry of Christ about which he wrote in expanded form in the gospel of John chapter one.  And in that gospel, in chapter 1vs1, John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. … vs 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Now that’s the doctrine of Jesus Christ. John says the eternal Word which was God, which was in the beginning with God, became flesh and dwelt among men, and because He is God in flesh, He has the right to give life to those who believe in His name.  If a teaching or prophecy is in agreement with that, then it is of God.  If it does not, then it is not of God.

The second test John gives is the Spirit of God in you. He says in vs4, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” Because we are children of God, because we have the Spirit of God indwelling us, we have the conviction of the Holy Spirit within us, who is greater than the spirt of deception that is in the world, the deception of the antichrist he spoke of in vs 3.

It’s a reference to what John said back in chapter 2:26-27 John says there, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.  As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”  

What John is saying there is because we are the children of God, because we have been born again in the spirit, by the Spirit, we have an anointing.  The anointing is the Holy Spirit who lives in us and has quickened us.  Quickened is a good old fashioned word which is found frequently in the KJV but not used too much in our newer versions.  But I like it because it speaks of being made alive spiritually. Being given life, given eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit says.  It speaks of being given discernment.  

So John isn’t saying in chapter 2 that we don’t need preachers, that we can know all truth all by ourselves, but he is saying that the indwelling, the quickening, the anointing of the Spirit gives us spiritual discernment as we abide in Him.  As we obey the truth, as we obey what we know so far, as we walk where He leads us to walk today, He will lead us in the truth tomorrow.  He will guide us.  

Perhaps ou’ve heard the expression,  “I had a check in my spirit.”  That’s a reference to a hesitation in your spirit when you hear something that doesn’t ring true with the word of God.  You can’t say “amen” because you have a check in your spirit.  And so, you do like the Berean’s, you examine the scriptures to see if these things are so.  And the Holy Spirit will guide you in all truth.

Jesus said in the gospel of John 16:13-14  “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.”  See that?  He will disclose the truth to you.  He will guide you into all the truth.  That’s the Holy Spirit’s job.  Not to  make you get goose bumps, or to cause you to run around squawking like a crow, but to lead you into the truth.  And back in our text, John says that the Spirit in us will serve to test the spirits.  The deception of the evil one is great, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit is greater, and we have someone greater in us, than he that is in the world.

The last test is the test of obedience. The test of obedience. Who do they obey? That’s found in vs5 and 6, “They are from the world; therefore they speak [as] from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

When John says “they are from the world, and the world listens to them,” he is referring to the false prophets back in vs 1. Their theology has it’s source in the evil one. There religion is informed by the evil one. And their ideas come out of the world, out of the world’s way of thinking.  The world refers to the system which is hostile to God. In opposition to the gospel. That’s the world system John says they are of and which they speak of.  You know if you listen to a lot of the false teachers out there on television and in many of the churches, they spout a lot of pop psychology.  They talk incessantly about relationships and so forth.  They rely upon psychology rather than the word of God, rather than the gospel.  And I don’t mean to disparage psychologists necessarily, but it’s a science of the world.  It’s man’s way of understanding and dealing with life, through human reasoning and human wisdom.  I think John is speaking of man’s wisdom when he says, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.

In other words, the world obeys them.  I’m just constantly amazed today to see how the world blindly follows the dictates and teaching of  scientists and psychologists and so called experts. But it seems everyone believes these people that are in some position of authority, whether or not the evidence really supports it.  John says the evidence that they are of the world is that the world listens to them and obeys them.  False teachers will be popular with the world.

But in contrast to that, John says “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.”  When he says “we” he is speaking of himself and the other apostles.  He is speaking of what the Bible calls the apostles doctrine, which is the word of Christ.  The evidence that prophets are from God is that they submit to Biblical truth as delivered by the apostles in the word of God.

To listen is to obey.  If they are true ministers of God then they will obey the gospel as delivered by the apostles.  As John said earlier in chapter  2:3-5 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”  

And John says that is how you know  the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  To know means to discern.  This is how you discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  False teachers don’t obey the commandments.  Examine their walk.  They say one thing and do another.  Their lives are often marked by living in excessive luxury.  Many false prophets have been discovered to be immoral in their private lives. But as a general test, you can tell if they are of the truth or of error by watching their lives and seeing if they follow the apostle’s teaching, or if they have devised an alternate gospel that allows them to live lives which fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Jesus said you shall know them by their fruits.  We can test the spirits by their fruits.  And the test of whether or not they are children of God is by their fruit. We need to be careful who we listen to.  Because who we listen to we end up obeying.  Paul said in Romans 6:16-17  “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?  But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” 

I hope that you will obey the gospel. Romans 10:8-10 “But what does [the scripture] say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and the Holy Spirit will abide in you, that you may walk in the narrow way that leads to life.