Do You Have Proven Love?

1 John 4:7-21
Introduction

How do we know we really love God? This is the sixth test—the way to measure our
love for God. If we love each other, this proves we love God. John repeats the command
of Jesus; “love one another”.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that
you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.”" (John 13:34-35, NKJV)

This love proves seven things:

1. Love proves we are born of God and know God (vv.7-8).

2. Love proves that we see God’s love (vv.9-11).
3. Love proves the presence of the Spirit of God in us (vv.12-13).
4. Love proves our testimony and confession are true (vv.14-16).
5. Love proves that God will deliver us from judgment (v.17).
6. Love proves that God delivers us from fear (v.18).
7. Love proves that we love God (vv.19-21).

We have looked at five tests in chapters 3 and 4; now John adds a sixth test:

1. The test of experience; have you experienced God’s love in your life (3:1-3)?
2. The test of holiness; have you turned from sin (3:4-9)?
3. The test of love; is your life marked by love (3:10-17)?
4. The test of assurance; do you have a clean heart before God (3:18-24)?
5. The test of discipleship; do you follow false teachers or false teaching (4:1-6)?
6. The test of applied love; do you truly love one another (4:7-21)?

Hezbollah terrorists captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12. The crime prompted a war
between Israel and the Hezbollah guerillas that lasted 34 days. Recently Jesse Jackson
called for “proof of life”. Jackson led a delegation of Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic
and Protestant leaders. Jackson said something interesting; “They ought to show signs of
life, show video evidence, because it would jumpstart a framework to start talks”.

The proof of love is the proof of eternal life in the heart of the Christian.
In John’s writings we discover important things about the nature of God; “God is
spirit” (John 4:24); God is light (1 John 1:5); and God is love (1 John 4:8). Any true
understanding of God must include the full revelation about his nature. Love has as its
source God. William Barclay wrote; “We are never nearer God than when we love”.
Love has a duel relationship to God. It is only by knowing God that we learn to love and
it is only by loving that we learn to know God (vv.7-8). Love comes from God and
leads to God. John calls for proof of love. Our love for God is proven by our love for

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one another (vv.7-8). John describes what loves proves and what love produces in the
life of the believer. God is joined to us (v.12); we are joined to Him (v13); we are given
confidence (v.17); we are protected from fear (v.18).
Love One Another And Prove You Are Born of God and Know God (vv.7-8)

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of
God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1 John
4:7-8, NKJV)

Beloved is agapetoi; divinely-loved ones (Wuest; p.163). Agape love is the love that
describes the nature of God; the love produced by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the saint.
John repeats the command of Christ (John 13:34 see above); love is a valid test to
determine whether we are true Christians. Since God is love and we claim to have
relationship, friendship, fellowship with this God of love, we must of necessity love
each other. John writes “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God”. The
word “know” means more than an intellectual assent, it means to know personally;
intimately. The word is the same word that is used to describe the intimate knowledge
that a husband and wife possess about each other (Gen.4:1). This knowledge means
sharing His life and enjoying His love. This kind of love does not merely acknowledge
facts, or simply perceive truth, but enters into the fullness of love. God is love. Never
has so much information and revelation been packed into three words.

G.S. Barret calls them “. . .the greatest words spoken in human speech, the greatest
words in the whole Bible, it is impossible to suggest. . .even in briefest outline, all
that these words contain for no created intellect has ever, or will ever, fathom their
unfathomable meaning but we may reverently say that this one sentence concerning
God contains the key to all God’s works and way the mystery of creation,
redemption and the Being of God himself”.

God is love—but love is not necessarily God. “. . . the fact that two people love each
other does not mean their love is necessarily holy. It has accurately been said that love
does not define God, but God defines love.” God is love and God is light; therefore, His
love is a holy love, and His holiness is expressed in His love. All God does express all
that God is. Even His judgments are measured out in love and mercy (Lam.
3:22-23)” (Warren Wiersbe p.516). The world is fond of saying “God is love” but they
neither know Him or love Him. Ann Richards the former Governor of Texas recently
died. CNN aired an interview with Larry King. She endorsed same sex marriage
partnerships. She said the whole world needs more people who love each other. Biblical
love must not be confused with carnal immorality. Love is not the only test. There is a
moral test and a doctrinal test.

Remember true love, godly love, biblical love is evidenced by fellowship with God,
paternity by God and fraternity with the Brethren. Knowing God is daily fellowship and

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growing in Christlike qualities. If you know God your fellowship, friendship,
relationship should be deepening.

Love One Another And Prove You Have Seen God’s Love (vv.9-11)

"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. 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. Beloved, if God
so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:9-11, NKJV)

God’s love for us was proven by the sacrificial death of Jesus.

If anyone asks; “How do I know God loves me?” How do we know God loves anyone?
The world is wicked. Sin is rampant. So many people curse God, ignore God, neglect
God, disobey God, disbelieve God, reject God, rebel against God, deny God, oppose
God. This is the glorious gospel—in spite of all that—God loves human beings—God
loves you and wants to deliver you from your sin. We have the most dangerous disease
imaginable; we are sinners; engulfed in a world of sin, immersed in a culture of sin,
contributing to that sinful world by our careless and thoughtless sins against God and sins
against each other. But God is love and has sent His only begotten Son into this world of
sin so that man might be saved and live through Him. How does God give us life through
Christ? The English word propitiate means “to appease and render favorable” (Wuest)
or satisfaction. The Greek word is hilasmos. In the ancient world pagans used this word
to describe gifts brought to the altar to appease a god’s wrath and make the worshipper
acceptable to God. For some they believe God is angry with them and they must do
something to make God happy. This is not the meaning in this context.

The God of Christianity needs NO GIFTS to satisfy His righteous anger and wrath. God
is love. In God’s love He sent His only Son as the only satisfying solution for sin. Only
the death penalty will satisfy His just demands for the transgression of His holy Law.
Hilasmos is the sacrifice which fully satisfies the demands of the broken law. The pagan
word takes on a whole new meaning. Justice is satisfied—and love is demonstrated all in
one place—the cross of Calvary. Remember, Jesus loved his disciples (and the world)
selflessly, sacrificially, with understanding and forgiveness. Jesus loved them
realistically, intimately, intentionally.

John’s conclusion is compelling; in light of that “Beloved if God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another”. If God loved us when we opposed Him, disobeyed Him,
ignored Him, then there is no person who is disqualified from our love. We can easily
love those who love us. It is more difficult to love those who hate us, curse us, hurt us,
betray us, afflict us, persecute us. This is the heart of John’s message; we love one
another in response to God’s love for us.

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1 John 4:7-21
In The Grace of Giving, Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American
Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship
of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who
did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. One day Michael Wittman was
arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to
Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.
“No, Peter,” General Washington said. “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.”
“My friend!” exclaimed the old preacher. “He’s the bitterest enemy I have.”
“What?” cried Washington. “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an
enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I’ll grant your pardon.” And he did.
Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata—no longer an enemy but a
friend.
I suspect there is a person in your life, a difficult person, who God wants you to love.
No matter who that person is, God loves him and has shown in the most supreme way
possible that He loves him. In light of those facts we are to love that person and
demonstrate our love for him or her. We are to sacrifice ourselves and try to bring life to
him. This we do by loving him, by showing him there is a better way, the way of agape,
the way of love.

Love One Another And Prove The Presence Of The Spirit Of God (vv.12-13)

"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. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He
has given us of His Spirit." (1 John 4:12-13, NKJV)

No one has seen God at any time. God is not known by the physical sensation of
sight. God is a spirit and cannot be seen. No one has ever seen God face to face.
No one has crossed over into heaven and seen God. Jesus told his disciples; “No man
hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him”(John 1:18). Since no one can see God, how can anyone know God?
We honor God when we believe in God’s Son, and in believing in Christ, God takes that
person and places His Holy Spirit inside that person. God imparts His divine nature, the
Holy Spirit into the life of the believer. God is known by His self-revelation. God is
known by the revelation of Jesus. God is known in an incomplete way by Creation and
Conscience. God is known by His love in the life of the believer; and love in the
believer’s life!

Do you have the Spirit of God in your life?

“Well there is sin in my life!” The presence of sin does not necessarily mean the absence
of the Spirit of God. If the Spirit of God is convicting you, bugging you, urging you to

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turn from that sin, repent of that sin, walk away, never to return to that sin, that is
evidence of the presence—not the absence of the Spirit.

Love One Another And Prove Your Testimony And Confession Are True (vv.14-16)

"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 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 4:14-16, NKJV)
The apostle John now gives his testimony. “And we have seen and testify that the Father
has sent the Son as Savior of the world” or “as for us” (distinct from others) we have seen
(theaomai) to steadfastly and deliberately contemplate; the verb is in the perfect tense
which speaks of a past complete action with a present existing result. The act of viewing
was not a mere moment in time—it was a process but a completed processes with end
result that a fact has been established—proven—verified. The Roman Emperors often
called themselves “soter tou kosmou” Savior of the Universe. For some in the early
church—to reject that view and embrace John’s statement that Jesus is the Savoir of the
world—meant loss of property, loss of family, loss of livelihood, loss of life.

John’s testimony is every believer’s testimony.

Look carefully at the expression “And we have known and believed the love that God has
for us”. What is it that they knew and believed? Three important things, three critical
things, three non-negotiable things:

1. God is love. God has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. This is the way
we know that God is love.
2. Believers must love. They must dwell in love; that is they must abide, remain,
stay in love; loving one another with all your heart.
3. Loving One Another is the proof of life; proof we are in God, we are in Christ;
proof we have the nature of God; loving each other, loving the difficult person,
loving them the way God loves them.

Since God is love, if we are not loving people, we do have the nature of God, we are not
saved, no matter what we claim. “I believe the right things. I study my Bible, I pray, I go
to church, isn’t that enough? Isn’t that proof I am a Christian?”

The proof we are saved—we have the nature of God—the evidence—we love each other.

"Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus
answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He
sent.”" (John 6:28-29, NKJV)

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"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son
has the Father also." (1 John 2:23, NKJV)

Love One Another And Prove God’s Promise of Deliverance From Judgment (v.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." (1 John 4:17, NKJV)

Loving one another proves that God is going to deliver us from the coming
judgment. There is a coming judgment. There is a day of universal judgment. When
everyone will be taken before the Great Judge of all people; the Lord Jesus Christ.

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in
the day of judgment." (Matthew 12:36, NKJV)

"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He
will reward each according to his works." (Matthew 16:27, NKJV)

"But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." (Romans 14:10, NKJV)

"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment," (Hebrews 9:27,
NKJV)

We can be delivered from the day of judgment. We can face the great day of Judgment
boldly, without fear. How? By living a life of love, by loving one another deeply. Peter
wrote; “Now thay you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have
sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1Pet.1:22).

The fruit of a lifestyle of love is boldness in the day of judgment.

How is it possible to perfect love in this life? By living in the world the way Jesus lived.
Jesus loved while in this world. He walked in love. Therefore we are to love each other
in this world. We are to bear witness and proclaim the love of God. This is to be the
consuming passion, of our lives. The more we grow and are perfected in love, the
more boldness and confidence we have about future judgment. Our assurance
grows as our love grows. We imitate Christ. We refuse to be self-centered and self-
absorbed. We refuse to seek honor and prestige but like Jesus we serve one another.

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2
Corinthians 5:10, NKJV)

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Love One Another And Prove God’s Deliverance From Fear (v.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." (1 John 4:18, NKJV)

“When loves comes fear goes” (Barclay).

Fear is the characteristic emotion of someone who expects to be punished. So long as we

regard God as the Judge, the King, the Law-giver, there can be nothing in our heart but
fear for in face of such a God we can expect nothing but punishment. But once we know
God’s true nature, fear is swallowed up in love. The fear that remains is the fear of
grieving his love for us.1
Loving one another proves God delivers us from fear. John says four things about fear.

1. There is no fear in love.

2. Perfect love casts out fear.
3. Fear has torment.
4. Fear means the person has not been perfected in love.

The opposite of love is not hate—but fear.

William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons,
told a touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria.
The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by
breathing the child’s breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother,
forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to
death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, “Momma, kiss me!” Without
thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some
days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord.
Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t count the cost. The
Bible says, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”
Love One Another And Prove You Love God (vv.19-21)

"We love Him because He first loved us. 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? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who
loves God must love his brother also." (1 John 4:19-21, NKJV)

1Barclay, William, lecturer in the University of Glasgow (Hrsg.): The Letters of John and
Jude. Philadelphia : The Westminster Press, 2000, c1976, S. 98

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“The saints' love to God is the fruit of God's love to them; it is the gift of that love. God
gives them a spirit of love for Him because He loved them from eternity. His love is the
foundation of their regeneration and the whole of their redemption.”

-- Jonathan Edwards in Religious Affections. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 5.

Loving one another proves you love God. How do we know that we love God? There
are three ways:

1. We know that we love God because we know God’s love for us (v.19). He loves
us and we have seen his love; therefore we love Him.
2. We know that we love God because we do not hate our brother. If we love God, it
is impossible to hold hate forever in our hearts towards a brother or a sister who
have wronged us, injured us, abused us, neglected us, lied to us or about us!
Why? Because God is love. If we have God’s nature in us, then we love our
brothers. If we say we love God and hate our brothers we are lying and the truth
is not in us. We cannot see God. But we can see each other.
3. We know that we love God because we keep His commandment. What is His
commandment? If we love God, we are to love one another.

Conclusion

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that
you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.”" (John 13:34-35, NKJV)
Joy is love exalting and peace is love at rest.
Patience, love enduring; in every trial and test.
Gentleness, love yielding; to all that is not sin.
Goodness, love in actions that flow from Christ within.
Faith is love's eyes opened, the loving Christ to see.
Meekness, love not fighting but bowed at Calvary.
Temperance, love in harness and under Christ's control.
The Christ is love in person, and love, Christ in the soul.

-- Missionary Dr. Kenneth Moyner, quoted by John Stott, "A Vision for Holiness,"
Preaching Today, Tape No. 94.
Dr. Mitchell was impressing upon us that we are not under the Law when we’re in Christ,
but we’re under a new law—the law of LOVE. He used this to illustrate:
In America there is a law stating a woman must take care of her child. So, a man comes
to a new mother’s home. He says “Are you taking care of your baby? The Law says you
have to.” The woman, tenderly holding her baby, said, “I don’t need a law to make me
take care of my baby.” Why? Because she loves her baby! She feeds him, holds him,

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changes him because she loves him. I no longer need the Law because I’m under Christ
—a law of LOVE.