Sermons

The Root & Fruit of Perfect Love

January 18, 2019 Preacher: Gareth Franks Series: Letters of John - Knowing, Walking & Living the Truth

Topic: Foundations Scripture: 1 John 4:13–21

Home Group Study - Sermon Date: 18 January 2019

Text: 1 John 4:13-16

Opening Discussion: Almost every Christian at some time has struggled with assurance of salvation. Perhaps you heard some godless university professor rail against the Christian faith, or you heard about a book or movie like The Da Vinci Code, and it caused you to doubt the truth of Christianity. Have you ever been tempted by the devil to think, “How could you be a genuine Christian and have these thoughts?” Share your story.

Observation - What does God’s word say?

The enemy has many ways to shake our assurance of salvation. In the case of John’s first readers, false teachers were spreading heresy among the churches. They had left to form new churches, and many had followed them. When your friends join a new group with new teachings, it can cause you to question whether what you believe is really true. So the apostle John writes to his little children to give them assurance that they were truly abiding in Christ. When we talk about assurance of abiding, we are talking about assurance of salvation. John’s message here is: we can be assured that God abides in us and we in Him if we see His Spirit producing in us love for one another and confession of the truth about Jesus Christ.

What are your observations?

Read: 

  • Galatians 5:22-25
  • Romans 8:38-39
  • John 10:28

Meaning - What does God’s word mean?

John’s statement (4:12) about God abiding in us and His love being perfected in us, serves as a topic sentence for 4:13-21. In 4:13-16, he discusses the abiding relationship. John first states the apostolic testimony about Christ (4:14) and then applies it to the one who confesses this truth (4:15). Clearly John wants us to know some things with assurance. He wants us to be solid and secure in our relationship with God. In our text, he wants us to “know that we abide in Him and He in us….” In verses 12, 13, 15 & 16, John repeats the same truth in terms of mutual abiding, God in us and we in God. John wants to give us assurance of this mutual abiding relationship. While “abide” is John’s word for fellowship with God, it would be a mistake to think that only some believers enter into this abiding relationship, while other believers do not abide. To be sure, the abiding relationship grows and deepens over a lifetime. Those who have walked with Christ for decades enjoy closer fellowship with Him than those who are newer in their faith. But in John’s mind, every Christian abides in Christ and Christ in him. If you are not abiding in Him and He in you, then you are not saved. So when we talk about assurance of abiding, we are talking about assurance of salvation. John’s message here is… We can be assured that God abides in us and we in Him if we see His Spirit producing in us love for one another and confession of the truth about Jesus Christ.

Read:  Romans 8:9-17

What are your observations from these verses?

Application - How must I change?

  • Is there a Truth to be believed?

In verse 13, John says that possession of the Spirit proves the indwelling of God. How then can a Christian be filled with the Holy Spirit? Can we know if we are filled? Are there degrees of fullness? (C.f. Romans 8:9)

  • Is there an Attitude to be fostered?

God’s Spirit is both the Spirit of truth(John 14:17)and the Spirit of love (Gal. 5:22). John does not separate truth from love or put love above the truth, so as to minimize or negate the truth. Why then is it important to affirm that Christianity rests on eyewitness testimony, not on subjective personal feelings? 

  • Is there a Behavior to be changed?

Why is assurance important? What consequences may follow if we lack it or if we have it?

Conclusion

As we’ve seen throughout 1 John, the issue is not perfection, but rather, direction. The important questions are:

  • “What do you do when your faith wavers?
  • Do you come before the Lord in confession, asking Him to strengthen your faith?
  • What do you do when selfishness dominates your life, rather than God’s love?
  • Do you grieve over your hardness of heart and ask God to fill you with His Spirit and to produce the fruit of His Spirit in you? Fruit is not an instant product. It takes time and cultivation. Faith and love take time to grow (Phil.1:9; 2Thess. 1:3).

John wants you to know that if these qualities are growing in you, you can be assured that God abides in you and you in Him. If you do not see faith and love growing in your life, then do as Isaiah (55:6-7) directs: “Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

  

Prayer Points:

  1. Pray for those who have struggled with being sure about their salvation, that they would clearly see their right standing with God, based on the work Jesus has done for them.
  2. Pray for NLC to experience the fullness of this perfected love that we might thoroughly enjoy His love flowing through us and to respond in love toward others by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  3. Pray for those who have struggled with receiving or doubting God’s love for them.

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