THE PROOF THAT JESUS LIVES IN US
1 John 4:13-5:1-5
THE PROOF THAT GOD LIVES IN US
V:13. We know that we live in him and he in us,
because he has given us of his Spirit."
A. One of the jobs
of the Holy Spirit is to make known to us the Word of God as we
study.
1. Without the
Holy Spirit the Word of God would be foolish to us. 1 Cor 2:14
2. The Word
itself, tell us that world cannot receive it. 1 Cor 1:27 ,
John 14:7
B. Not only has God
given us His Word, but He has given us His power to
understand His
Word.
1. It is a
privilege to be included in the Body Of Christ.
2. It is a privilege
to know that we are included in the Body of Christ.
3. None of us deserve this Grace of God, because
we were born in sin and shaped in
iniquity. Titus 2:14
4. Because of
God's love, He favored us before the foundation of the world.
C. It is my opinion
that we have the proof that God lives in us.
1.The fact that
the Word of God is not foolish to us, is the proof
that
Jesus lives in us. John 14:7
2. If the Word of
God was foolish to us, we would not be continuously drawn to it.
V:14. " And we
have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of
the world."
A. We have not seen
Jesus, but we do have three that testify to His existence.
1. We have the
Word of God.
a. Through
out the Bible, over a history of thousands
years we have the testimony
of the
Word of God that Jesus is the Son of God.
b. From cover
to cover, the Bible does not contradict itself.
c. From cover
to cover, the Bible proclaims Jesus as Lord and Savior.
B. We have the Holy
Spirit that indwells us that convicts us that Word of God is true.
1. God sent the
Holy Spirit to be our advocate on earth.
2. God sent the
Holy Spirit to remind us that Jesus lives.
C. We have the testimony
from our parents and grandparents that Jesus lived in their
lives.
1. We have our
own testimony.
2. There are things that have happen in our
lives that we know Jesus was involved.
a. We know
that we are where we are, because we could not have made it on our
own.
b. We
know we have been in some situations that we could not have gotten out of
if
it had not been for the Lord on our side.
V:15. " If
anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in
God."
A. Jesus asked Peter,
"who do you say that I am?" Peter replied, you are the Christ,
the Son of the
Living God. Jesus replied that flesh and blood did not reveal that to
you, but the
Father who is in heaven. Mat 16:15
1. Jesus also said
that no one can come to Me unless the Father draws him.
John 6:44
2. To confess from
the heart that Jesus is the Son of God is not humanly possible.
3. The confession
from the heart that Jesus is the Son of God , only comes by the
inspiration
of the Holy Spirit.
B. When we believe
in our heart, and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, we
have eternal
salvation.
1. The Father
would not have drawn us to His Son, if
He were not to dwell in us.
2. The evidence
of this is knowledge of the Word is the conviction of the heart.
V:16. " And so
we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives
in love lives in
God, and God in him."
A. Trusting in God
is key to living the abundant life that Jesus promised us.
1. Confessing
Jesus as Lord and Savior is one thing, relying on Him is another
thing.
2. To rely on
Jesus is to trust Him with your life.
3. To rely on
Jesus is to trust Him with every situation of your life.
B. We must understand
and believe that God's love covers every
situation
that can happen
to us.
1. God's love
covers the good and bad events in your life.
2. I have had
some things that I was sure was bad that happen to me, that in the long
run, turn
out to be for my good.
3. Since God is
omniscience, He knows how to arrange our circumstances to get us
where He
wants us to be.
C. To live in love
is to live in obedience to God's commands.
1. Jesus said
if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
2. The only way
we can keep God's commands is by the power of the Holy Spirit
that He
has invested in us.
LOVE MADE COMPLETE
V:17. " In this
way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day
of judgment, because in this world we are like him."
A. For Love to be
made complete, we have to practice loving Jesus.
1. Not only that,
we must practice loving our neighbors.
2. We have to
practice long enough, for love to become a habit.
B. Doing good to
others ought to be our first thought
1. Speaking well
of others ought to be our first out of our mouths.
2. Finding good
in others ought to be what we seek first.
C. To be like Jesus,
we have to do what the Fathers tells us.
1. To be like
Jesus we have to act in obedience like Jesus.
2. To be like
Jesus, we have to be compassionate like Jesus.
D. It is the Lord's
intent that we be confident in our salvation.
1. If someone ask
where you are going when you die, you should
say with
assurance that you home is with the Lord.
2. If someone ask
how do you know that there is a heaven, you should
respond with
confidence that you believe that the Word of God is
true.
3. If someone ask
how do you know that Word is true, you need to respond
with enthusiasm that you believe it in your heart.
NO FEAR IN LOVE
V:18. " There is
no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
A. Those who love the
Lord have nothing to fear.
1. In this
world we will have many trials and tribulations, but nothing to fear.
2. God has not
given us the spirit of fear, but power, sound mind and love. 2 Tim 1:7
3. With Jesus
on our side, He is more than the whole world against us.
B. The biggest fear
one should have is weather at death he will enter heaven or hell.
1. Those who
have no relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ can be
sure that
hell is their final destination.
2. Those who
have a relationship with Jesus can be
sure of heaven.
3. Believers and
non believers will face Jesus on judgment day.
a. Non
believers will be judged for their unrighteousness and cast into the
lake of
fire.
b. The sins
of believers have been covered by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.
c. Believers
will be judged for they did that was good on earth and taken into
heaven
to be with Father forever.
V:19. " We love
because he first loved us."
A. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
1. God so
loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone
who
believes in Him. shall not parish, but have ever lasting life.
2. Jesus loved
us before we had the capacity to love.
3. It was the
Father who drew us to his Son and gave us the capacity to love.
B. With Jesus as our
Savior, we are under the influence of His love.
1. We should
have a sense of obligation and gratitude to love Jesus
because He
loved us first.
2. If we truly
love Jesus, we will love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
LOVE TRIUMPS OVER HATE
V:20. "If anyone says, "I love God," yet
hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom
he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."
A. No one has seen
God at any time, yet He commands us to love Him.
1. The love of God includes His protection,
His provision, His guidance and
His
directions.
2. The most
important gift resulting from the love of God is the sacrificial death
of His Son
for our soul salvation.
B. To hate is against
the nature of God.
1. Since we are
in Christ, hate is against our nature.
2. Hate results
from the sins of man.
3. God loves man,
but hate his sins
C. God commands us to
love our neighbor as ourselves.
1. When we hate
our neighbor, we sin against God.
2. The word
brother in the text is from the Greek word "adelphos"
a. This word
is derived from delphus which mean womb, which means near or
much like.
b. To hate our brother is to hate or detest someone
much like us.
c. To hate our brother in a sense, is to
hate ourselves because we are
in
Christ.
d. To live
in Christ is to live in love.
e. We cannot
live in love and hate at the same time.
THE COMMAND TO LOVE
V:21. " And he has given us this command: Whoever loves
God must also love his brother."
A. The concept we have to take hold of is that to hate our
brother is to hate God's
commands which is
to hate God.
1. Sometimes we
confused the man with his actions.
2. We have to
separate the man from his actions to love the man.
3. I can hate what
you do, but still love you.
B. God never told us to love someone's sinful behavior.
1. He did tell us
to love the man.
2. Behind every act
of sin, is the hate for God's commands.
C. Jesus, in His love for us, separated us from our sins
with His blood.
1. Jesus does not
love our sinful behavior, but He does love us.
2. For us to hate
someone is to forget what Jesus did for us.
Chapter 5:1-5
V:5. " Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well."
A. The Father and the
Son are one.
1. To love the
Father, we automatically love the Son.
2. While on
earth, Jesus in the flesh spoke the words given to Him by the Father.
3. While in the
flesh, Jesus was in complete obedience to the Father.
4. Even His
death was in obedience to the Father.
B. We cannot claim we
love God without loving His commands.
1. If we love
His commands, we love His Son, who is the author and the finisher of
our faith.
2. Faith in the
Lord, requires us to go the extra mile and love our enemies.
HOW TO KNOW IF WE LOVE
V:2. "This is
how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying
out his commands."
A. The natural man
does not have the capacity to keep God's
commands.
1. The natural
man is in the dark to God's command to love Him first and love his
neighbor
second.
2. The natural
man is under the influence of Satan.
B. Believers are
under the influence of the almighty God.
1. Therefore, we
are under the influence of love.
2. We know we belong to God when we can love the unlovable.
3. We know our
hearts are moved to pray for those who hate us and abuse us.
a.
We know we are God's children, because we love our enemies.
V:3-4. " This is
love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not
burdensome, 4 for
everyone born of God overcomes the world."
A. It is not hard to
follow God's commands when we know that following God's
commands will
work to our benefit.
1. We need to
come to a point in our lives when we are confident that God knows
what is best
for us.
2. We need to
come to a point in our lives when we partner with God to do His will.
3. Success in
life is found in doing God's will.
B. We are already on
the side of victory when we let God lead our lives.
1. We have
already overcome whatever the world tried to do to us.
2. Our Faith in
God and obedience to His commands makes us overcomes of
this world.
CLAIM THE VICTORY
V: 4b-5. "This is the victory that has overcome the
world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God. "
A. Faith in Jesus is
the key to life on earth and life in heaven.
1. The world has
it's problems, but heaven has it's joys.
2. The world has
it's sins, but heaven has it righteousness.
3. We are
children of the light and not children of the darkness.
4. While we live
in this world, but heaven is in our mist. Matt 10:7
B. We have the
victory over sin.
1. We have the
victory over death.
2. We have the victory
over all of life's problems.
3. We have the
victory over hate.
4. We have the
victory over our enemies.
5. We have a
mansion prepared for us in heaven.
LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
Rev. M. Mitchell Asst
Pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
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