WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.259 Valentine's Day. This is a marketing cash cow for Hallmark, at least it was, but it's great for 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:16.280 chocolatiers the world over. Sarah Miller, if you're watching, thinking of you right now, 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:21.699 but I got to be honest with you all. I just got to be honest. I've been a little off my game 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:28.240 this Valentine's Day season, a little off my game. Let me tell you what happened. Four or five weeks 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.739 ago, I saw Valentine's Day come in. I saw it was the 14th, but it was confused because it's like, 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:41.359 on a Sunday, what does that mean? For some reason, I thought, I'm 49 years old. I don't know why I'm 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:47.920 thinking this, but somewhere along the way, I started thinking that Valentine's Day is like 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.599 Thanksgiving. You know how Thanksgiving's on the last Thursday of November? I started thinking 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:58.840 Valentine's Day is on the second Thursday of February. I don't know how it happened, 00:00:59.620 --> 00:01:09.879 but I've been scrambling. I've lost my romantic edge, guys. I've lost a step. 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:17.960 When you hear romance, I'm guessing you associate it with a kind of love, 00:01:17.959 --> 00:01:28.419 romantic love, wooing hearts, winning affections, writing poetry, singing air supply to the one you 00:01:28.419 --> 00:01:41.239 love, chocolate, chivalry. Well, this morning, as we turn to 1 John 4, 7-11, there's a different 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:51.280 kind of love in the air. Not the romantic love of Valentine's Day, but the gritty, sacrificial, 00:01:51.619 --> 00:02:02.879 agape love that originates in the God of the Bible. Brothers and sisters, this morning, we are being 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:14.079 commanded to love one another with the same kind of love. So, have you lost a step when it comes to 00:02:14.079 --> 00:02:22.340 loving your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you allowing circumstances or even sin in your heart 00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:30.740 to get in the way of laying down your life for your brothers? Have you lost an agape edge? 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:40.599 The command is to love one another. You see it in verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. 00:02:43.259 --> 00:02:53.759 Here's the big idea. God's love for us puts the must in our love for one another. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:07.899 Shorthand, God's love puts the must in our love. So, this morning, what I'm going to do is I'm going 00:03:07.899 --> 00:03:15.879 to walk you through these five verses, chapter 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. And I'm going to make four points 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:24.419 to help you see and feel how God's love puts the must in our love for one another. So, let's look at 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:32.180 point number one, the must of our love. Now, I'm going to read this passage in just a second. 00:03:33.319 --> 00:03:40.400 Let me just kind of set something up here. Our loving one another as Christians is a must, 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:51.020 not a maybe. It's a must, not a maybe. That verb love in verse 7, beloved, let us love one another. 00:03:52.360 --> 00:04:01.040 That's not a call to romantically love one another. This is a love to chapter 316 of 1 John. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:11.359 It's a call to lay your life down for your brothers. By this we know love, verse 16, that he laid down his 00:04:11.359 --> 00:04:22.159 life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. John characterizes Christian love 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:34.660 as laying down your life. Sacrificial. And in verse 16, you see the word, we ought to lay down our lives 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:44.379 for the brothers. That carries this sense of obligation, of duty, of must. We actually see the same exact word 00:04:44.379 --> 00:04:51.340 in verse 11 of chapter 4. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:04:51.339 --> 00:04:58.659 We must. So the clear emphasis from this passage, I'm going to help you to see it, is that God's love 00:04:58.659 --> 00:05:07.659 for us puts the must in our love for one another. Now, interestingly enough, the Greek word for the 00:05:07.659 --> 00:05:13.239 word love is the word agape. There's a few different Greek words for it. It's classically known as God's 00:05:13.239 --> 00:05:21.319 unconditional, sacrificial love for his own. In verses 7 through 11, do you know how many 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:32.319 times the word agape shows up in these five verses? 13 times? And so to help you get the feel of it, 00:05:32.739 --> 00:05:41.959 I'm going to read agape back into verses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, so you get the thrust. You ready? 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:53.839 Those agape? Those agape by God, beloved. Let us agape one another, for agape is from God, and whoever 00:05:53.839 --> 00:06:01.979 agapes has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not agape does not know God, because God is 00:06:01.979 --> 00:06:11.379 agape. In this, the agape of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world, 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:18.180 so that we might live through him. And this is agape. Not that we have agaped God, but God has 00:06:18.180 --> 00:06:26.360 agaped us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Those agaped by God, if God so agaped 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:35.240 us, we also ought to agape one another. You picking up on the emphasis? 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:46.379 This word love is used two ways in this passage. God's love for us, and our love for one another. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:53.259 And what I'm going to show you in the last point of this sermon is how John connects those dots. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:07:02.579 But what you need to see here is the clear emphasis. And by the way, we will have obstacles to overcome 00:07:02.579 --> 00:07:10.079 in order to love one another this agape way, to lay down our lives for one another. The chief of which 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:20.939 is ourselves. To die to ourselves so that we can love one another. It's not easy, but it's a must, 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:29.319 not a maybe. God's love for us puts the must in our love for one another. Let's go to point two, 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:36.420 the grounds of our love. You see this in verse seven and eight. When you read verse seven, 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:44.519 beloved, let us love one another. What follows that is the word for. And that word for is signaling 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:53.300 reasons. We are to love one another. We must love one another because of this, for this reason. 00:07:53.300 --> 00:08:05.460 Look where he goes. For love is from God. The source of this agape love is none other than God. John is 00:08:05.460 --> 00:08:14.019 anchoring our love for one another in the love of the great triune God. All throughout 1 John, 00:08:14.400 --> 00:08:21.560 we see different references to the different persons of the Godhead. There's God the Father, 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:27.639 multiple references. God the Son, multiple references in 1 John alone. God the Holy Spirit, 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:32.000 he is the anointing. He's God's seed, multiple references. If you want to see the references, 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:40.759 I've got the references, ask me afterwards. But what we see in 1 John is depictions of the persons 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:47.820 of the Trinity. And the Trinity is the Bible's teaching that God has eternally existed as 00:08:47.820 --> 00:08:58.460 three distinct persons, each fully God, and yet one God. There's one Godhead. So here's why I'm 00:08:58.460 --> 00:09:11.820 going with all this stuff. Our God, our great triune God, has always existed as a holy, loving plurality. 00:09:11.820 --> 00:09:22.100 Love didn't come into existence when God created the earth. The grounds and source of our loving one 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:31.180 another is sourced in the very essence of our triune God who has been experiencing love from eternity past. 00:09:31.179 --> 00:09:36.059 This isn't something he made up. This is something he is. 00:09:38.359 --> 00:09:43.500 This past summer, Billy taught a class on the attributes of God. There's incommunicable attributes, 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.599 things about God that we don't share, and then there's communicable attributes. 00:09:48.019 --> 00:09:51.819 When you hear communicable, you probably think like disease, COVID. Not in this case. 00:09:51.820 --> 00:10:02.060 We get to share in God's attributes of agape. Now the question becomes, well, how do you do that? 00:10:02.680 --> 00:10:07.060 How does that happen? That doesn't happen with everybody. It's right here in the text. 00:10:07.640 --> 00:10:14.840 Whoever loves, verse 7, has been born of God and knows God. How is it possible that we can share 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:19.360 in this agape love? Because God has born us for it. 00:10:21.820 --> 00:10:23.379 Here's what you need to know, Christian. 00:10:25.140 --> 00:10:35.240 Brother, sister in Christ, you are the product of the triune God's coordinated work of love called salvation. 00:10:37.460 --> 00:10:44.080 God the Father lovingly ordained you, ordained your salvation before the foundation of the world. 00:10:44.560 --> 00:10:48.940 God the Son lovingly accomplished your salvation on the cross. 00:10:48.940 --> 00:10:57.960 And God the Holy Spirit lovingly applied the finished work of Jesus to you, making you a child of God. 00:10:58.620 --> 00:10:59.540 All in love. 00:11:02.040 --> 00:11:09.780 In John's language, in 1 John, to be converted, to be saved, to become a Christian, 00:11:10.420 --> 00:11:13.360 he uses the language to be born of God. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.139 To be born of the Spirit. 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:19.220 It's what Jesus taught on in John 3 to Nicodemus. 00:11:19.560 --> 00:11:25.220 It's what the Apostle Paul talks about as being made a new creation in 2 Corinthians 5. 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:31.740 In order for someone to be able to love like God, 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.300 they first need to be loved by God. 00:11:37.180 --> 00:11:38.840 Born of God. 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:44.860 Did you notice those little words, 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:48.399 and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God? 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:53.740 That is a saving knowledge of God. 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:55.639 And not just facts. 00:11:56.139 --> 00:12:00.379 It's entering into a salvific relationship with God. 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:04.379 Listen to how Jesus talked about it in his high priestly prayer in John 17. 00:12:04.379 --> 00:12:06.600 Jesus says, 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:07.820 And this is eternal life. 00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:09.179 This is salvation. 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:12.860 That they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 00:12:12.939 --> 00:12:14.100 That they know you. 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:18.340 That they've entered into a relationship with you. 00:12:18.539 --> 00:12:20.000 A saving relationship. 00:12:20.439 --> 00:12:22.179 They've been reconciled to you. 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:27.379 Our loving one another 00:12:27.379 --> 00:12:33.159 is grounded in the triune God's love for us. 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:35.620 God must love. 00:12:36.059 --> 00:12:37.259 It is who he is. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:40.080 It's who he's always been. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:43.320 And that's why there's a warning in verse 8. 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:47.259 Anyone who does not love, 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:48.580 agape, 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:51.440 lays down your life like God, 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:54.420 does not know God. 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:58.020 Does not have a saving relationship with God. 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:00.780 Because God is love. 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:04.340 If you're in a saving relationship with God, 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:06.660 you're going to love like God loves. 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:13.880 A non-Christian has not been born of the Spirit. 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:16.280 Someone who hasn't become a Christian, 00:13:16.400 --> 00:13:20.540 they've not experienced God the Father's love in Christ for them. 00:13:20.539 --> 00:13:21.259 And as a result, 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:24.459 they're not going to lay down their life for other Christians. 00:13:27.079 --> 00:13:28.019 God is love. 00:13:28.099 --> 00:13:30.879 And if someone is not loving like God loves, 00:13:31.399 --> 00:13:33.579 they don't bear the family resemblance. 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:34.779 Have you ever noticed 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:38.039 different families have different kind of family traits? 00:13:38.219 --> 00:13:39.419 Sometimes it's the way they talk. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:40.699 Sometimes it's the way they look. 00:13:41.599 --> 00:13:43.259 Sometimes it's what they do as a family. 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:48.199 You've got the musical families who do music together. 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:50.259 You've got the board game families 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:51.800 who play board games together. 00:13:51.920 --> 00:13:53.740 You've got the outdoor camping families. 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:54.460 What do they do? 00:13:54.540 --> 00:13:55.340 They camp together. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:57.400 You've got foodie families. 00:13:57.580 --> 00:13:58.060 What do they do? 00:13:58.120 --> 00:13:59.340 They eat together. 00:14:01.040 --> 00:14:03.420 There's the always doing something families. 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:05.720 There's the chilling on the couch families. 00:14:08.140 --> 00:14:09.920 How about the family of God? 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.199 Do you know what the family of God does? 00:14:14.059 --> 00:14:15.179 They love. 00:14:17.459 --> 00:14:18.539 That's our trait. 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:20.779 That's our chief characteristic. 00:14:21.419 --> 00:14:25.919 That's what sets the family of God apart from everybody else. 00:14:26.439 --> 00:14:27.199 We love. 00:14:27.339 --> 00:14:28.819 We lay down our life for one another. 00:14:29.979 --> 00:14:33.159 Just like God in Christ did for us. 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:40.079 The love of our triune God puts the must in our love for one another. 00:14:41.319 --> 00:14:46.439 Now I can imagine if you are chronically unloving, 00:14:47.199 --> 00:14:51.399 if you are unwilling to lay your life down for another Christian, 00:14:52.379 --> 00:14:55.100 you probably wonder, hey, what does that mean for me? 00:14:56.199 --> 00:14:57.559 It could mean one of two things. 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:00.199 First, that you're not born of God. 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:07.580 You have yet to enter into a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 00:15:08.180 --> 00:15:09.780 You've not experienced God's love, 00:15:09.900 --> 00:15:11.340 and so you're not loving other people. 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:16.220 And the way to respond is to repent of your lovelessness 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:21.500 and turn to Jesus, who is God's love manifest to you, 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:24.620 and enter into a relationship with the living God. 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:25.940 It will change your life. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:28.040 I have no regrets. 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:33.839 Or, you may be a Christian. 00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:36.819 You just have a serious case of theological amnesia. 00:15:38.419 --> 00:15:43.159 You have forgotten who God is, your God. 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:46.000 You have forgotten that He's a God of love. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:50.259 You have forgotten how much He has loved you. 00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:55.000 And if you forget God's great love for you, 00:15:55.100 --> 00:16:01.439 it's going to make it very difficult for you to overcome any obstacles of loving other brothers and sisters 00:16:01.439 --> 00:16:05.159 who you may kind of have some conflict with. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:11.200 Who you are determines how you love. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:17.540 God's love for us puts the must in our love for one another. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.920 We burn God's love in our love for one another. 00:16:26.520 --> 00:16:27.360 Point three. 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.100 The grit of our love. 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:37.759 The gospel grit of our love. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.200 This is in verses 9 and 10. 00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:53.680 God's gritty, sacrificial love for us puts the must in our gritty, sacrificial love for one another. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:58.879 What's interesting is that in verses 7 and 8, John is talking about love. 00:16:59.219 --> 00:17:00.620 And it's rather in the abstract. 00:17:01.179 --> 00:17:10.339 But when he turns the corner into 9 and 10, he goes from abstract in general to specific and concrete. 00:17:11.299 --> 00:17:16.240 He starts talking about a specific demonstration of God's love. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:26.980 The greatest demonstration of God's love that all humanity has ever known or ever will know. 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:29.339 The sending of his son. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:38.279 What's interesting about verses 9 and 10 is that verse 9 and verse 10, they kind of parallel each other. 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:40.660 They have a similar form. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:42.759 They start with the same words. 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:46.200 Notice in verse 9, in this, and you look at verse 10. 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:49.279 It says, in this, in this is love. 00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:51.339 They're very similar. 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:53.059 They're parallel, but they're very different too. 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:56.819 So what we're going to do is we're going to take both similarity and differences, 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:03.019 and we're going to be instructed by them in terms of God's great love for us 00:18:03.019 --> 00:18:04.859 and how we are to love one another. 00:18:07.120 --> 00:18:13.579 The first thing you can't miss is how God's love gets real. 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:15.759 Look at verse 9. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:23.319 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. 00:18:24.380 --> 00:18:30.980 That word made manifest, if you flip back to John chapter 1 verse 2, speaking of Jesus, 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:37.460 the life was made manifest, and we've seen it. 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:46.579 That phrase made manifest means to reveal, to make known, in this case, to be made real. 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:54.079 What we have, what we're talking about here is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 00:18:54.199 --> 00:18:56.879 It's what John just talked about in 4.2. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:58.619 By this you know the Spirit of God. 00:18:58.740 --> 00:19:03.279 Every spirit that confesses that Jesus is the Christ and has come in the flesh is from God. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:08.799 That Jesus is the second person of the Trinity made incarnate. 00:19:10.420 --> 00:19:12.220 It's God's love made real. 00:19:13.299 --> 00:19:14.700 Here's what you need to understand. 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:18.799 This is what God's love for you didn't stay vague. 00:19:20.139 --> 00:19:22.759 It didn't stay conceptual or theoretical. 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:30.579 It became specific, real, and concrete in the real flesh of Jesus. 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:42.579 Not only is God's love real, God's love took the initiative. 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:43.480 Look at verse 10. 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:45.199 In this is love. 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.179 Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us. 00:19:48.180 --> 00:19:57.340 The love with which God loves us is not some man-centered, man-initiated, man-generated love. 00:19:57.539 --> 00:19:58.259 It's not that. 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:05.019 God's love with which He loves us is God-centered, God-generated, God-initiated. 00:20:05.140 --> 00:20:06.160 Look at verse 19. 00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:08.920 We love because He first loved us. 00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:10.080 He initiated. 00:20:10.259 --> 00:20:13.140 He didn't wait for us to love Him and move towards Him. 00:20:13.620 --> 00:20:16.100 He took the initiative and moved towards us and Jesus. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:17.640 That's His love. 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:20.620 We see His love taking initiative. 00:20:21.340 --> 00:20:24.759 Next feature of this love is in verses 9 and 10. 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:27.840 He entered in. 00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:31.480 We read it this way. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.440 And this is love. 00:20:33.600 --> 00:20:34.539 This is love of God. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:35.100 Verse 9. 00:20:35.259 --> 00:20:42.320 Was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world. 00:20:43.620 --> 00:20:44.180 Entered in. 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:46.620 Look at verse 10. 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:47.200 And this is love. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.240 Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us. 00:20:49.360 --> 00:20:51.539 And sent His Son. 00:20:52.779 --> 00:21:01.440 This sending is God the Father sending God the Son into our predicament. 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:05.700 Entering our space. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:07.380 Entering our time. 00:21:07.860 --> 00:21:09.900 Experiencing what we experienced. 00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:12.660 He entered in. 00:21:14.120 --> 00:21:16.280 God's love became real. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:17.280 It took the initiative. 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:19.220 And it got messy. 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:25.660 Maybe you remember this great verse from John 3. 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:26.660 3. 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:28.320 For God so loved the world. 00:21:28.320 --> 00:21:28.340 For God so loved the world. 00:21:29.140 --> 00:21:30.000 That He gave. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:31.380 He sent His only. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:32.600 One and only Son. 00:21:33.259 --> 00:21:36.560 That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:39.060 God entered in. 00:21:39.120 --> 00:21:41.920 His love became real and entered in. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:42.920 Is your love. 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:44.580 Is your love real? 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:47.460 Is your love taking the initiative? 00:21:47.700 --> 00:21:50.660 Is your love entering into the worlds of other people? 00:21:52.660 --> 00:21:54.539 Jesus experienced inconvenience. 00:21:54.620 --> 00:21:55.120 He suffered. 00:21:55.259 --> 00:21:56.180 He eventually died. 00:21:56.900 --> 00:22:01.580 Jesus took on flesh in order to enter our world. 00:22:01.579 --> 00:22:03.619 to meet us where we're at. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:08.179 And it was for a purpose. 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:11.779 The next feature is in verse 9. 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:14.799 It's called a purpose clause. 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:19.500 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:22.559 That God sent His only Son into the world. 00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:28.579 So that we might live through Him. 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:34.980 God's goal in loving us was not simply sending Jesus. 00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:39.019 The sending of Jesus was to accomplish His goal. 00:22:39.439 --> 00:22:42.539 And that was for us to live in Jesus. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.579 He came that we might live. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:49.439 Remember what Jesus said in John 10.10? 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:55.099 I came that they, you, might have life and have it abundantly. 00:22:55.099 --> 00:23:06.859 The ultimate purpose in God's sacrificial, gritty love was for us to live through Christ. 00:23:07.859 --> 00:23:09.599 To be reconciled to God. 00:23:09.699 --> 00:23:14.159 To be reconciled into a life-giving relationship with God. 00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:17.299 His aim was our life. 00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:23.779 To live for Him and by Him and like Him. 00:23:24.099 --> 00:23:30.279 To flourish in Jesus as a branch connected to the vine. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.180 He came that you would live. 00:23:37.419 --> 00:23:40.419 Are you loving people unto life in Christ? 00:23:40.420 --> 00:23:46.759 The next feature, the last one. 00:23:47.500 --> 00:23:48.980 We see at the end of verse 10. 00:23:50.660 --> 00:23:56.900 And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:23:58.660 --> 00:24:05.740 In order for us to live for Christ, Jesus had to die to satisfy God's wrath for our sin. 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:10.720 Here's what I love about God's love. 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:15.259 God's love doesn't sweep our sin under the carpet. 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:18.960 God doesn't do an end around our sin. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:24.079 God doesn't ignore or dismiss or belittle our sin. 00:24:24.940 --> 00:24:33.640 God sent Jesus to squarely and fully face and deal with our sin. 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:34.200 God sent Jesus to squarely and fully face and deal with our sin. 00:24:35.740 --> 00:24:43.000 That word propitiation, it's a picture of a sacrifice, a pure and perfect sacrifice. 00:24:43.900 --> 00:24:49.740 In which God's wrath is poured out on someone's sin. 00:24:50.059 --> 00:24:52.759 Someone's sin is placed on that sacrifice. 00:24:53.380 --> 00:24:59.240 God's wrath is poured out on that sacrifice in full. 00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:02.539 So there's no more wrath to be poured out. 00:25:03.940 --> 00:25:04.500 None. 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:07.000 Jesus is our propitiation. 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:08.759 He's our perfect sacrifice. 00:25:09.420 --> 00:25:16.880 He came in love in order to take on all of God's wrath for your sin and mine so that we could live. 00:25:18.359 --> 00:25:19.339 How's that for love? 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:24.000 How's that for gritty, sacrificial love? 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:24.619 Love. 00:25:24.619 --> 00:25:24.660 Love. 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:27.579 It's a tall order, isn't it? 00:25:29.099 --> 00:25:31.500 And we're being called to love the same way. 00:25:31.500 --> 00:25:47.200 When we read those two little phrases, in this, the love of God, in this is love, we're being shown the greatest demonstration of love of all time. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:50.460 And we're being said, you are the recipients of this love. 00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:54.120 And now you go love the people the same, you brothers and sisters. 00:25:54.360 --> 00:25:55.259 It's real. 00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:56.600 It takes the initiative. 00:25:56.920 --> 00:25:58.019 It enters in. 00:25:58.340 --> 00:25:59.559 Its aim is life. 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:01.879 And it doesn't work around sin. 00:26:01.980 --> 00:26:03.039 It deals with sin. 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:04.099 This is how we love one another. 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:05.639 This is how we love one another. 00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:21.920 God's gritty gospel love for us puts the must in our gritty gospel love for one another. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:29.280 You can sum all this up by saying, it cost Jesus his life. 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:32.100 And it was worth it. 00:26:32.099 --> 00:26:37.599 God wanted you to be in relationship with him. 00:26:39.379 --> 00:26:44.419 The fourth point is the mandate of our love. 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:45.480 And this is in verse 11. 00:26:45.579 --> 00:26:48.859 This is where I want you to see the points connecting. 00:26:49.959 --> 00:26:54.959 Verse 11 echoes the must of verse 7 and connects a couple dots. 00:26:56.139 --> 00:27:01.779 Beloved, if God so loved us, how did he love us? 00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:03.480 How did he love us, John? 00:27:04.399 --> 00:27:05.699 How did he love us? 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:11.139 Real initiative. 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:13.299 He took the initiative, right? 00:27:13.659 --> 00:27:16.799 He entered in, right? 00:27:17.159 --> 00:27:18.699 He came for life. 00:27:19.419 --> 00:27:20.519 He deals with our sin. 00:27:21.379 --> 00:27:22.059 That way. 00:27:22.059 --> 00:27:22.079 That way. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:31.819 If God so loved us, we also ought, must mandate. 00:27:32.899 --> 00:27:34.220 We ought to love one another. 00:27:35.419 --> 00:27:37.539 When you hear mandate, you think mask mandate. 00:27:38.879 --> 00:27:40.759 This is the love mandate. 00:27:41.859 --> 00:27:45.199 And we are to put this on every day. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:50.299 We love out the love mandate. 00:27:53.620 --> 00:27:58.360 Because of God's sacrificial, gritty love for us, we must love one another. 00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:04.200 When I was growing up as a boy, I think this was in the 70s and people were bored in the 70s and didn't know what to do. 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:08.779 So what they would do is they would fill gymnasiums with dominoes. 00:28:09.620 --> 00:28:18.500 And they would have these very elaborate kind of domino falls, these chain reactions of you just start pushing over one domino. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:19.779 You lay that down. 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:26.100 And from there are like thousands and millions of dominoes laid down. 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:31.099 And it would become a huge uproar of sound. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:33.879 And it would transform a room. 00:28:37.019 --> 00:28:39.799 What we see here is the domino effect of God's love. 00:28:42.179 --> 00:28:43.599 One red domino. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.379 Jesus' death laid down. 00:28:48.740 --> 00:28:49.959 Bumping into us. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:52.259 And we lay it down. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:53.980 Lay it down. 00:28:54.659 --> 00:28:55.519 Lay it down. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:58.740 It becomes a roar to the glory of God. 00:28:59.139 --> 00:29:02.879 And a transformational glory to God. 00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:05.639 Of us loving one another. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:13.119 We fulfill the new mandate to love one another. 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:16.839 John 13, 34, and 35. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:23.139 Thirteen times this word agape is used. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:26.839 God's love for us. 00:29:28.279 --> 00:29:31.900 God's, and our love for one another, it's used in two different ways. 00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:37.000 But the connection is, the connecting point is, it's a chain reaction. 00:29:38.299 --> 00:29:39.619 It's a cause and effect. 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:48.079 God's love for us in Christ compels us to love one another like Christ. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:48.699 God's love for us in Christ. 00:29:51.699 --> 00:29:55.359 Now, I've got a little bit more pastoral work to do. 00:29:56.599 --> 00:29:59.299 Because it's one thing to tell you, love this way. 00:30:00.439 --> 00:30:05.199 It's another thing to actually help you identify obstacles to that. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:13.799 And so, to bring this to a close, I want to help you identify two categories of obstacles to loving one another. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:19.080 The first is circumstantial categories to love one another. 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:21.160 Things that are somewhat out of our control. 00:30:21.160 --> 00:30:27.259 For example, living in a pandemic. 00:30:28.580 --> 00:30:31.140 And the isolation that happens as a result. 00:30:32.700 --> 00:30:36.840 It can make it difficult for us to lay down our lives for one another. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:38.660 To really love one another. 00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:44.000 And so, when we hit an obstacle in the road, if you're driving, 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:47.900 you just reroute and you find another way around it. 00:30:47.900 --> 00:30:50.140 It's a gospel reroute. 00:30:50.860 --> 00:30:54.480 And so, when we bump into a pandemic obstacle, we just reroute. 00:30:55.400 --> 00:30:56.860 We find other ways. 00:30:57.259 --> 00:30:58.940 Through Zoom, live streaming. 00:30:59.820 --> 00:31:02.480 Much more intentional, individually, personally. 00:31:04.860 --> 00:31:08.680 It's a circumstantial obstacle that we need to reroute around. 00:31:09.380 --> 00:31:11.660 But there's other circumstantial obstacles. 00:31:11.820 --> 00:31:14.240 For example, cultural differences. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.380 I love where we're located as a church. 00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:19.940 I love it. 00:31:20.539 --> 00:31:25.140 And it poses some challenges, even obstacles, to loving one another. 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:27.500 Sometimes those come along racial lines. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:30.079 Sometimes those come along political lines. 00:31:31.099 --> 00:31:33.579 But we've got to do a gospel reroute. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:35.200 Race matters. 00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:36.339 Politics matters. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:39.099 But they don't matter as much as Jesus. 00:31:39.099 --> 00:31:49.899 We can't let cultural differences like race and politics become an obstacle to our loving one another. 00:31:52.299 --> 00:31:54.559 There's another circumstantial obstacle. 00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:57.199 And I'm not sure if you are fully aware of this one. 00:31:57.259 --> 00:31:58.199 That's why I'm going to bring it up. 00:31:58.200 --> 00:32:04.700 We would all say that there's tremendous blessing in established relationships. 00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:11.240 Whether that's family in town or long-term, very deeply committed friendships in town. 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:16.380 But it can become a circumstantial obstacle to loving one another. 00:32:16.380 --> 00:32:24.220 Because what can happen is, these people I treasure so much, these are the people I keep to. 00:32:25.660 --> 00:32:29.060 Instead of going beyond. 00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:32.520 Here's the gospel reroute. 00:32:33.380 --> 00:32:36.500 It's not diminishing how precious these people are. 00:32:37.220 --> 00:32:44.860 It's going out of your comfort zone and starting to love other people beyond your networks. 00:32:44.859 --> 00:32:47.939 It's going out. 00:32:48.679 --> 00:32:50.799 These are the circumstantial obstacles. 00:32:52.659 --> 00:32:54.379 And these were the easy ones. 00:32:56.859 --> 00:33:00.899 Let's talk about the obstacles in your heart. 00:33:03.379 --> 00:33:04.759 Sin obstacles. 00:33:06.179 --> 00:33:11.219 If you look over at verse 17, John, chapter 3, 17, 00:33:11.220 --> 00:33:18.380 John points to a very specific way in which love is being stymied in this church. 00:33:18.980 --> 00:33:24.120 But if anyone has the world's good and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, 00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:25.799 how does God's love abide in him? 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:28.240 He's closing his heart. 00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:33.299 If you have means and you see a brother in need and you don't help, you're not loving. 00:33:33.299 --> 00:33:38.159 I've got a list of things here. 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.539 Other ways, we close our hearts to one another. 00:33:43.819 --> 00:33:46.740 And we need to gospel reroute everyone. 00:33:48.839 --> 00:33:49.319 Laziness. 00:33:51.099 --> 00:33:51.859 Laziness. 00:33:53.919 --> 00:33:57.220 Laziness keeps you from taking the initiative with others. 00:33:57.220 --> 00:33:59.220 gospel reroute. 00:33:59.220 --> 00:33:59.819 Gospel reroute. 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:01.940 Remember how God took the initiative. 00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:03.319 Grumbling. 00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:06.660 Grumbling against other Christians. 00:34:08.340 --> 00:34:10.280 You are criticizing them. 00:34:10.460 --> 00:34:12.519 You are standing over them. 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:15.679 You need to gospel reroute. 00:34:15.860 --> 00:34:17.860 It's getting in the way of you loving others. 00:34:17.860 --> 00:34:24.079 And when you realize what God in Christ has done for you and what God in Christ has done for those other people, 00:34:24.539 --> 00:34:28.120 the initial response is not grumbling but gratitude. 00:34:31.220 --> 00:34:35.579 Sexual immorality is not loving one another. 00:34:36.720 --> 00:34:40.280 Whether that is an illicit relationship with someone not your spouse 00:34:40.280 --> 00:34:46.000 or looking at things that Jesus would say is adultery in your heart. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:50.599 But gospel reroute and live. 00:34:52.559 --> 00:34:55.079 Remember, your body is not your own. 00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:57.360 You've been bought with a price. 00:34:57.460 --> 00:34:58.840 So glorify God with your body. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:03.440 Greed gets gospel rerouted into generosity. 00:35:04.340 --> 00:35:09.480 Impatience gets gospel rerouted into long-suffering and bearing with one another. 00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:14.900 Sinful anger gets rerouted into kindness and tenderness of heart. 00:35:14.900 --> 00:35:22.660 Imputing motives gets rerouted by the gospel into believing the best in other people. 00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:27.420 The fear of man gets rerouted by the gospel into fear of God. 00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:33.619 Claiming rights gets rerouted by the gospel into laying down your rights. 00:35:33.619 --> 00:35:38.799 Grudges get rerouted to forgiveness. 00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:40.279 Snobbery. 00:35:40.980 --> 00:35:41.460 Partiality. 00:35:41.759 --> 00:35:44.699 Thinking that you're better than someone else because of how much money you make, 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:48.599 how smart you are, where you live, the advantages you've got, 00:35:48.799 --> 00:35:52.460 it gets rerouted by the gospel into becoming a servant of all. 00:35:52.460 --> 00:35:58.220 Unconfessed sin rerouted into walking in the light. 00:36:00.220 --> 00:36:03.500 Comparisons rerouted to comparing yourself to God. 00:36:04.099 --> 00:36:10.320 Fear and anxiety rerouted by the gospel into abiding trust and a hope that will never end. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:12.320 Contentiousness. 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:13.200 Contentiousness. 00:36:16.080 --> 00:36:16.880 Divisiveness. 00:36:18.080 --> 00:36:22.519 Gets rerouted by the gospel into peacemaking. 00:36:27.019 --> 00:36:27.780 Fifteen. 00:36:28.200 --> 00:36:28.780 Obstacles. 00:36:29.780 --> 00:36:33.720 By which we close our hearts off to loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:36:34.140 --> 00:36:35.320 The gospel's the solution. 00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:38.039 We lay down our lives. 00:36:38.039 --> 00:36:41.059 We lay down our lives. 00:36:41.719 --> 00:36:44.559 Just like God and Christ laid down his life for us. 00:36:48.199 --> 00:36:56.000 God's love will cause you to love out the love mandate. 00:36:57.480 --> 00:37:02.460 God's love for us puts the must in our love for one another. 00:37:03.539 --> 00:37:04.719 It removes the maybe. 00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:08.179 God is love. 00:37:08.659 --> 00:37:11.079 God's love is the must of our love. 00:37:11.239 --> 00:37:13.039 God's love is the grounds of our love. 00:37:13.219 --> 00:37:16.859 God's love in Christ is the gospel grit of our love. 00:37:16.939 --> 00:37:20.539 And God's love is the mandate of our love. 00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:23.079 And it removes obstacles. 00:37:25.079 --> 00:37:26.199 Today's Valentine's Day. 00:37:26.399 --> 00:37:27.299 Love is in the air. 00:37:27.300 --> 00:37:30.960 But the love of 1 John 4. 00:37:31.200 --> 00:37:33.740 It's not the romantic love of Valentine's Day. 00:37:33.860 --> 00:37:37.600 It's the sacrificial gritty agape love. 00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:40.539 That Jesus died for. 00:37:40.640 --> 00:37:43.100 So that we can extend to one another. 00:37:43.800 --> 00:37:46.440 And it's to characterize every Christian. 00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:49.700 Today may be Valentine's Day. 00:37:49.800 --> 00:37:51.099 But for us brothers and sisters. 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:52.820 Every day is agape day. 00:37:53.260 --> 00:37:53.840 Every day. 00:37:55.179 --> 00:37:56.460 And we start. 00:37:56.920 --> 00:37:57.720 Every day. 00:37:58.460 --> 00:38:00.000 With God's love for us. 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:03.460 And then you'll find the must. 00:38:04.820 --> 00:38:05.920 Of loving one another. 00:38:07.139 --> 00:38:07.940 Will you pray with me? 00:38:07.940 --> 00:38:14.800 Lord we are very aware of our limits. 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:16.200 In terms of loving one another. 00:38:16.420 --> 00:38:18.400 We are very aware that we would. 00:38:19.340 --> 00:38:21.000 Rather remain comfortable. 00:38:22.280 --> 00:38:23.700 Than be inconvenienced. 00:38:25.320 --> 00:38:26.720 God would you grow us. 00:38:27.860 --> 00:38:29.280 Would you grow us. 00:38:30.019 --> 00:38:30.920 In your. 00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:33.460 Christ like love. 00:38:33.800 --> 00:38:34.420 For one another. 00:38:34.860 --> 00:38:36.260 That we would do the same. 00:38:36.260 --> 00:38:38.400 Show us. 00:38:39.120 --> 00:38:39.960 Convict us. 00:38:41.340 --> 00:38:42.360 God make us. 00:38:42.780 --> 00:38:43.800 Lovers of each other. 00:38:44.660 --> 00:38:46.000 In the agape sense. 00:38:47.260 --> 00:38:48.780 And I pray that God. 00:38:49.540 --> 00:38:50.700 As a result of. 00:38:51.080 --> 00:38:52.460 The way we love one another. 00:38:53.860 --> 00:38:55.000 This city would see. 00:38:56.260 --> 00:38:57.300 And believe. 00:38:57.960 --> 00:38:58.920 That you God. 00:38:59.120 --> 00:38:59.720 Our father. 00:39:00.520 --> 00:39:02.000 Really did send Jesus. 00:39:02.960 --> 00:39:04.260 To reconcile them. 00:39:04.260 --> 00:39:04.900 To himself. 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:07.180 We pray this. 00:39:07.240 --> 00:39:07.900 In the name of Jesus. 00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:08.960 Amen. 00:39:10.340 --> 00:39:10.640 Amen. 00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:40.619 Thank you.