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The Reason For Love
Friends, there is a reason for love. It is by our love we know that we belong to God. This is the central point of this chapter and one we will get back to shortly.
The following opening verses of chapter four warn us about false prophets and how we are to judge them.
Test The Spirits
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3 NKJV
Be careful, beloved child, you are not to believe every spirit or every person. There are many false prophets in the world who say they are of God but, in fact, are of the devil. We are told to test the spirits. How do we do this to avoid pitfalls and heartache for us? It is a simple solution to help us determine what is of God and what is of the devil.
Every spirit or person that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh and is the risen Son of God is of God and every spirit that does not confess this fact is not of God. One not confessing that Jesus is the Son of God, is, in fact, of the spirit of the Antichrist. While there will be one Antichrist that will be coming, as we have read in Scripture, we also know that there are many antichrists already here among us. There are many now who are professing that Jesus is NOT the Christ, the Son of God. Avoid these at all costs.
He Who Is In You
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:4-6 NKJV
Believers, even new believers are of God. We have been given power from God to overcome those of evil. This is done because God in us is greater than the devil and evil in the world. Those following the devil are of the world. They speak of things of the world and care only about themselves and what they can get from the world. The world hears them because it knows its own. They identify with worldly, selfish things of the flesh.
OF THE WORLD OR OF GOD
Believers are of God. Others who also believe in God will listen to that which we believers have to say. However, just as certainly, those not of God are not going to be interested in what we have to say. They will not listen to the words we speak about God and things reflecting His values and commands.
USE THE TEST
This is the test. It is pure and simple and by it, we believers can know the spirit of truth from the spirit of error. We can determine good from evil. If we are smart, we will use this test all our lives as we witness to all, choose friends with whom to spend our leisure time, and when choosing a lifemate.
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11 NKJV
TRUE LOVE
We are told to love each other. God is the source of all Love because God Himself IS Love. Thus, everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He is letting God’s love dwell within him as a believer, and that love will flow through him to touch others around him. They will see the love of God in the person talking to them. They will see it as the believer witnesses and as he deals with them in normal daily interactions. It is who the believer is and it will show.
THE COUNTERFEITS
The opposite is also true. If a person does not love others it is because he does not know and love God. Again, this is because God is love and nothing else will fill us with true, pure love but God.
Did we get that? True. Pure. Love. It is a genuine love that is of God.
The imitations of “love” are only feelings that the world calls love. They are only imitations.
Often such imitations are filthy, false, manipulated, disgusting feelings that the world labels love. These are anything but love. They might be lust or greed or selfish self-deception, but, most definitely, they are not love. It is also, definitely, not the love of God.
Can you tell the counterfeit?
God’s Love Given to Us in Jesus
We know that God loves us because He sent His only begotten Son to this earth to die for the sins of each of us. Jesus took our place and took the punishment required for our sins upon Himself so that we might have life. A meaningful, deep, joyful life is given now and through eternity when we believe that Jesus is the risen Son of God and receive Him as our Savior. Asking for forgiveness from God through Christ gives us this life abundant, now and forever.
HIS LOVE
This is true love from God. Not that we loved God but that He loved us enough to send us Jesus to do all this for us.
Now it is our turn.
If God so loved us to send Jesus to die for us, should we not love Him and each other with the brotherly love of Christ too?
See God Through Love
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 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. 1 John 4:12-16 NKJV
No Fear In Love
We see and understand God through the love He has showered upon us. When we love each other, God lives with us, and His love becomes perfect in us. We know that He lives in us and we are in Him because He gives us His Holy Spirit.
We see this fact and feel it in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit teaching us. Our great wish is to tell others of this glorious fact. We want to tell everyone we meet that God has sent His Son to be our Savior and that He will be the Savior of all who receive Him.
17 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. 18 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. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:17-19 NKJV
LOVE MADE PERFECT
Love is made absolutely perfect when the Holy Spirit of God indwells in our hearts. He teaches, comforts, and guides us driving out the fear that previously lived within us. We are given the boldness to know that we are His and will not be judged to hell because of Christ. There is no torment. If we fear, we have not been made perfect in love by God. He loves us and we can trust in His saving us from our sins through Christ. There is now no fear for the future. We are safe in God’s keeping and held in His Love.
We Must Love Our Brother
20 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? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1 John 4:20-21 NKJV
We are only lying to ourselves and others if we say we love God but hate our brother. If we don’t love the person we see often who is living near us, how can we love God whom our eyes have not seen?
GREATER AND GREATER LOVE
There is, therefore, a reason for love. We must keep the commandment we have from God that if we love God, we must love our brother also. The indwelling help of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God given to us will help us do that very thing. We are commanded to love each other. It is not a suggestion. God commands us. It is that important. We must love if we are God’s children.
Love is kindled by His grace to help us love God and others more and more. It is love that helps us know we belong to God. And, praise God, others will see and feel that love through us too. The reason for love, indeed.
I hope that you can join us in the other lessons of 1st John. You can follow the links to any of the other lessons. Thank you again for joining. Click on any of these links to go to the next lesson: Jesus as John saw Him – I John Lesson 1, Knowing Him – 1 John Lesson 2, How Great Is The Love – 1 John Lesson 3, The Reason For Love – 1 John Lesson 4, and Faith And Love – 1 John Lesson 5.
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