Well, most of us have just come out of the Christmas slash New Year holiday time, and I thought maybe it would be a good thing to reflect a little bit on Christmas and what's just taken place in our lives. We'll be looking at a text out of First John. We won't be opening up to James. I've been enjoying my study on the letter of James, and we'll continue that in a couple of weeks. But I'd like us to think back a little bit about Christmas. and the real meaning of Christmas and what Christmas is all about. Just just think about what you spent time doing this Christmas. You know, for many of us, we we did some traveling and had an opportunity to visit with friends and relatives and families to see people that we don't typically see. A lot of emphasis on gift giving. I don't think I'm the only guy with a new tie on this morning, which, you know, that's fine. I don't want you to think this is all I got for Christmas. I usually do try to buy something myself, and then I give it to my wife to wrap up, and that way I get something nice. I got a new pair of summer riding gloves for my motorcycle, and I'm much more excited about that than a tie. But the tie is good too, and honey, I like that. We do things we're out of school, you high schoolers and junior hires, at least those that aren't homeschooled. Most of you are out of school enjoying Christmas. Many of you had extended opportunities to be out of work, maybe for some just a day or two. And all of the things that we do at Christmas time that are wonderful, that are nice, that we enjoy, that we're thankful for and that we look forward to as they come each year. But what really is Christmas at least supposed to be all about? And certainly, I'd want to argue this morning that Christmas is about God. And that's not a very specific statement, because God is obviously a very big person. And if you said, well, what about God is Christmas really about? Well, I would just maybe answer that with the question, when you think about God, what do you think of? If I were to put it this way on a fill in the blank test, God is blank. What would you put in that blank? If you were to finish the sentence, God is blank, what would go there? And for many of you, I think probably we would have the same answer. We would say God is love. And that would be a biblical answer. And that would be even, I would say, the right answer. And that is one of the verses we'll read this morning from 1 John chapter 4. We'll see that text in verse 8. We'll be reminded in verse nine of the memory verse that we had this month of December, which is actually what drew my attention to this portion of Scripture. So let's read this morning in First John, chapter four. We'll read from verse seven, verse 12. I'll read out loud as you follow along. You might find it interesting just to think to yourself how many different times you're going to read one form or another of the word love. Either the noun love, the verb to love, referring to people as beloved. And if you were to circle every time you see the word love in any form in verses 7 through 12, I think you're going to have 15 circles in these six verses. John is writing a letter and he's very concerned about the topic of love, which we'll be talking about this morning. But I'll go ahead and read 1 John 4, verses 7 through 12. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was manifested in us or among us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we love 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. No one has beheld God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this opportunity to look into Your Word. We pray, Father, that by the power of Your blessed Holy Spirit, that You would use Your Word to accomplish Your perfect will in our study together. that you would be glorified. In Christ's name we pray, Amen. What is Christmas about? It's really about God. You say, what is true of God? He is a God of love. First point, very simple. God is characterized by love. If you ask me what God is like, I would say God is a God of love. You say, what does that mean? God's very essence is love. Look at verse 8 please. It says in the second half of verse eight, for God is love. God in his essence is love. Now, that really doesn't mean God equals love, because if God equals love, then love equals God and love does not equal God. Love is a concept. God is not a concept. God is a person. You say, what is true of this person? His very essence is love. In fact, his essence is so closely tied to love that it can be said that there's no such thing as love that does not come from God. That's what verse 7 teaches. Look at verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God. If there is a love that is true love, that love originates from God. God's essence is love. God is the source of all true love. Now, the problem is, I guess, in our world is we're not always exactly sure what love is. So when we talk about love, what comes to your mind? We we think sometimes of what I guess I would call sentimental infatuation. You know, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, maybe in high school, go for a walk. And the boy says to the girl, I will love you forever. And she says, oh, that's special. And he said it to other girls just maybe a few weeks earlier. And he'll say it to more than a few more girls before he finally maybe settles down with one. And we say that somewhat glibly. And we say, I'm in love with you. We sometimes maybe even shed tears over sentimental thoughts of different happenings. We see what's taken place even in the Pacific area of our world with the flood and the earthquake and all of this. And we think, wow, that's love. That person's actually looking at the pictures in the newspaper and crying. And certainly that sentiment must demonstrate true love. But when the Bible's talking here about love, it's not really talking about that type of sentimental infatuation. We all know this. It's talking about that word agape. You say, what is agape love? Well, there's many different ways to put it, but here's something I came across that really stayed with me. Agape love is that which is passionate for the well-being of another person. That's what real love is, agape love. Agape love is being passionate for the well-being of someone else. You think about that. How many of us are passionate for another's well-being, right? I mean, I'm passionate for my well-being. You know, I'm walking up in the Cleveland area. We stopped at a store to do a few things. I'm walking through slush. I'm walking through thick, deep, gray, dirty slush. And my feet are wet. And I'm thinking this is horrible. I don't like my feet being wet. Why? Because it bothers me. Why? Because I'm a selfish person. And I'm walking through the parking lot and I'm looking for little places that have ice so I can walk on the ice and not have to walk in the slush because I don't want my feet to get any more wet. You say, well, what are you doing when you walk down the middle of the pathway and there's a car behind you? I think, you know what? I am going to stay on the ice. I'm not walking in the slush. And the car behind me is going to have to wait. And that's just too bad. Now, was I passionate for that driver's well-being? No. I was passionate for my well-being. We are selfish people. But God's not. God is a person who is passionate for your well-being. That's what it means when God says, I am love. God is love. All love originates from God. I would maybe even suggest, perhaps, that most of the time God is the only one who is passionate for our well-being. Because even though we try to choose to love others in a way that's biblical, the fact is we typically fail miserably. But isn't it wonderful that God never fails? God has never one time failed to be passionately concerned for my well-being. He's incredible. That's how wonderful God is. And I hope that every person in this room, you're sitting there and in your mind, if you're listening at all, you're saying, Amen. That's right. God is passionate for my well-being. He loves me so much. In fact, I woke up this morning and I was thinking, I still can't believe he loves me so much. It's absolutely wonderful. And I hope that was going through your brain this morning. Now, you might say, Greg, I'll be honest with you, that really doesn't happen in the morning. But now that you remind me, I would say, yes, I believe it. It may be, I hope this is not the case, but it may be that we have people here this morning and some of you would say, I'll be honest with you, Greg, I don't believe that this is true. I mean, you're telling me that God is passionate. About my well-being, how do you explain the sickness that I've encountered this year? How do you explain the loss of loved one singular or plural loved ones that I've experienced this year? How do you explain the financial conflict that we're facing this year? How do you explain the relationship turmoil that our home is experiencing this year? How do you explain all of this bad stuff that's happening in my life? I don't feel like God loves me. Many of you know that I teach university classes over at B.J. and I teach classes in counseling and that leads to people coming to me a lot of times with personal problems, sometimes through the school, sometimes obviously here at church as a pastor. And more than once I've had people say to me, I'll be honest with you, I don't feel that God loves me. You know, I hear Pastor Custer preach it. I hear different people preach it. I read it in my Bible. But I'm just being honest with you. I don't feel like God loves me. And I think to myself, OK, this is what we need to start with. How can I show a person that God really does love him? And a place I like to go to is this very text of Scripture. Because John makes it clear that God not only is love, God is not only the essence of love, the originator of all love, but God has shown us all how much that He loves us. He made it clear. Look at verse 9. And this will take us to our second point. That God has revealed His love for us. Verse 9. By this, The love of God was manifested by this. John says in this letter, listen, here is a specific way that God has manifested His love. And what's interesting is that word manifested refers to a specific point in time where something took place. This is not something that's continuing to go on, even though God continues to love us. John is thinking about a historical event. He's saying this specific event is when God made it very clear that He loves us. By this, verse 9, look at it. The love of God was manifested. The King James says, towards us, and my New American Standard says, in us. Actually, I like here the idea of among us and the preposition before a plural noun, which frequently translated that way that God's love was manifested among us. You say, how did he do it in two ways? Number one, verse nine, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. How did God manifest his love? It happened in a specific point of time. You say, what's that point of time? God sent his only begotten son into the world. You say, what's that? That's Christmas. That's Christmas. If you prefer a theological word, it's the incarnation. What is incarnation from the Latin in the flesh? God took on human flesh. God the Father sent God the Son as a human being and human flesh to be born in this world. We have the nativity scene. That's Christmas. What is Christmas all about? Christmas is God manifesting, I am passionate about your well-being. I am so passionate about your well-being. I love you so incredibly much that even though I only have one son, I'm sending him out of heaven into the world and he's going to do something that you desperately need. He's going to provide for you the gift of life, which is the second half of verse 9. that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, why? So that we might live through Him. Apart from Jesus Christ, there's no life. There's death. Apart from Christ, we all die. I'm not talking physical. John's thinking here eternal. We all know we're going to die physically, but we're also going to die eternally. Every one of us will die and go straight to hell, apart from the work of Jesus Christ. The only way to live eternally is in Jesus Christ. God is so passionate about your well-being that He had one Son, a unique Son, a special Son, and He sent that Son into the world for you. That's how much He loves you. Now, when's the last time someone you know died for you? I've used this illustration before, and I'm going to repeat it because it's helpful to me and I hope to you. If you had a person, not a friend, by the way, an enemy, And that enemy was dying of some incurable disease of the heart. And the doctors told that person, remember your enemy, you're going to die. And the only hope you have is a heart transplant, but they couldn't find a donor. And they looked through all the hospital databanks, if they have such a thing, looking for a heart that would be a match. And the only heart that matched your heart belonged to a person with my last name, Mazak. And it turned out, let's just say that maybe you're a younger girl, that the only way you would live would be to have a heart transplant from a girl with the last name Mazak, one of my daughters. And so you shot me an email or called me on the phone. Remember, you're my enemy. And you said, Greg, I'm dying. Here you are, a young girl, and the only way I can live is to have a heart transplant. Would you be willing to give one of your daughters so that they can take her heart and give it to me so that I could live? I would say no. I would say my daughter would have to die. And they would say, yeah, that's what he would say or she would say. That's correct. Your daughter would die, but I would get to live. And I would say, no, this is not good. You want me to let my daughter die so that you could live. There is no way. And if you said to me, Greg, would you pray about it? I would say no. Why would I pray about letting my daughter die so that you could live? It's not that I'm against you per se, even though you are my enemy. But if you think that I would let my girl die so that you could live, you are crazy. I don't even have to pray about that. But people, that's what God did. God had one son, Jesus Christ, sent him into this world. Why? So that we can live. How can you think about that? And with any degree of integrity, look me in the eye and say, Greg, I don't think God loves me. What else do you want him to do? How is he going to show it in any more real way than sending his one son to die on the cross for you so that you might live? This is what John is saying. God sent Jesus Christ on a mission so that you could live. But there's a second point, a second way that God manifested His love in verse 10. In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. How did God manifest His love for you? His love for me? Number one, by sending Christ in the world that we could have life. Number two, by sending Christ in the world to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, propitiation is not a word that's in our vocabulary. And even me, when I read in my Bible propitiation, I have to stop and think it through. OK, what does that word mean? That's a theological word. Propitiation basically means the satisfaction of wrath. If you prefer the appeasement of anger, God is angry with you. God is angry with every person who sins. The Bible says everyone sins. That means God is angry with every single person. Now, I think most of us know we could stand up in a Christmas time and we could stand in front of Home Depot. I mean, where that little Salvation Army bells ringing, you could stand up anywhere you want and cry out, God is love. And people would say, that's right. But you turn around and say, God is filled with wrath. And people will say, buddy, who are you? What are you talking about? God is filled with wrath. God is love. Yes, he is love. But God is also angry with the wicked every day. You see, most of us, I speak generally in our in our culture, we think God is love and a loving God, you know, he just kind of gives people a lot of slack. He cuts him a break. They live wicked lives. They die. They go to heaven because that's like what God does. You know, he's just that kind of God. That's what a loving God does. But God cannot do that and still be a holy God. God is a God who is holy and a holy God demands that his anger be satisfied. Somebody must pay the penalty of my sin. An illustration again. Let's say that one of you maybe got a ticket. I'm not. I hope this wasn't the case, but maybe you were traveling over Christmas. You received a ticket. You're driving excessively fast. You got a ticket. And what happens? You meet the judge and the judge says, I like you. You're a nice guy. You know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to write on this ticket paid. And you say, but it wasn't paid. He says, don't worry about it. It's a small town. We can do that. And he winks at you. You might say that's a loving judge. OK, maybe you would say that. But let me ask you a question. Is that a righteous judge? And the answer is no. That judge is not righteous. If God would let me slide in spite of my sin, he would not be a righteous God. Somebody must propitiate his wrath. There's basically two choices. I can go to hell. Or someone else can pay the price of my sin for me and appease the wrath of God. What did God do to show you how much he loved you again? Please look at the text. It says in verse 10 that He loved us and sent His Son. That's Christmas. That's incarnation. He sent His Son. A historical reality. Not a Santa Claus story. He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. God is so concerned about your well-being. He's so passionate for your good that he sent Jesus into the world to appease his wrath. Now, here's what some people think. Some people say, great. So we have a God of the Old Testament who's really angry with sin. And we have a God of the New Testament, Jesus, and he's really loving. And then we have people thinking odd things like this. Jesus Christ, the God of the New Testament. Now, he's pretty good. I like him a lot. But the God of the Old Testament, angry at sin. I don't go for this. No, no, that's not the case at all. Because look again, please, at verse 10 and notice who sent the son. He loved us and sent his son. It was God the father who loved us enough to send God the son. Why? Number one, that we could have life. Number two, to make propitiation for our sin, satisfaction of wrath. That's how God demonstrated his love. Number one, God is characterized by love. Number two, God has shown us how much he loves us by sending Jesus Christ into this world so that we could live and so that we would not have to satisfy the wrath of God in hell, but that Christ would be the propitiation for our sin. Question, why did John write this? Why did John write this? Was John burdened about all of the Christmas trees, Frosty the snowman, all of the Rudolph stories that were taking place. And he said, you know, I really think we need to review what Christmas is about. Is that why John wrote this? No. Did John write this because people had counseling problems and they really didn't believe that God loved them? And so John said, I'm going to now explain to you why God loves you and I'm going to prove that God loves, you know, we have to try the best we can to figure out why John was burdened to share this message of Christ's love. You say, what is it? Let's look, the text will tell us for seven. Beloved, let us love one another. Going to verse eleven beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. This whole section of Scripture from verses seven through twelve basically begins and ends with a very common emphasis. that number one, God is characterized by love. Number two, that God has demonstrated his love towards us by sending Christ so that we can live and Christ would be propitiation. The whole point of this text is our third point is that we as Christians must love one another. That's the whole context here. Again, verse seven, beloved, let us love one another, which, by the way, can be translated beloved. We are continually loving one another. Here is John saying that a mark of true Christianity is love. In fact, you can go as far as to say that if you don't love, you're not a Christian. You say, Greg, I think that's maybe going too far. I don't think so, because look at verse eight. The one who does not love God does not know God. John is saying that loving others is such a mark of true regeneration that if I don't love you. That it may be that I'm not even a Christian. And if you don't love me, it may be that you're not even a Christian. You say, how do you know this refers to other believers, because look at verse seven, John is addressing who the beloved that's code for Christians and notice what he says in verse seven, let us love who won another. John is talking about loving one another. Verse eleven, we also ought to love who? One another. What is John saying simply this real Christians love one another. What is a mark of true Christianity, it's you loving me, it's me loving you. I've said this before, but I just can't get over the fact that everywhere I'm in scripture, I keep finding it. One of the true marks of our regeneration is the love that we have for one another. If people come and visit Trinity Bible Church, they come into this assembly. If they don't leave thinking, wow, there's a group of people that really love one another, then we have failed miserably to show them what Christianity is. You can stick tracts in their pocket. You can go over John 3, 16 with them. And that's all good. And we should do that. But you know what? If they don't see you loving me and if they don't see me loving you, then we have failed. John is talking about Christmas. Christmas being proof of God's love. We would call it the incarnation. And the whole reason he's doing it is so that we would be reminded that a marker evidence of our Christianity is loving one another. Now, this doesn't mean that if you love me, you become a Christian. Obviously, it doesn't mean if I love you, I become a Christian. It means if God has saved us, Then we will love one another. That's the focus here. You say, why is that so incredibly important that we love each other the way God loved us? As John writes in verse 11, look at verse 11, please. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Now, the question is why? Why is it so important that I love you and that you love me? And remember, this is a God they love. This is I'm supposed to be passionate about your well-being and you're supposed to be passionate about my well-being. Why? And the answer is very simple, because no one has ever seen God. That's what verse 12 says. No one has beheld God at any time. Think about it. How many of this is just a rhetorical question, if you will. I'm not asking for a raised hand, but if I said raise your hand, if you've seen God, how many of you would raise a hand? How many of you have seen God? I've seen you, right, I've seen your children, your spouse, your parents, you've seen my children, my spouse. I can see you, you can see me. How many of us have seen God? None of us has ever seen God is what John's writing in verse 12. No one has beheld God, seeing God at any time. Even throughout history, we read in our Bibles that God manifests himself to people, Moses and others, but they don't really see him. They see a small glimpse of what he's like. John says no one has beheld God at any time, but look what comes next in verse 12. If we love one another, God abides in us. Why is it so important that we love each other? Because the Bible says it is an evidence of God abiding in us. This doesn't mean if I love you, God abides in me. This means if God abides in me, I will love you. How in the world are people supposed to know what God's love is like unless they see it? You say they'll see it in God, but you can't see God. All people can see are people like you, other people, and people like me. People on my street can't see God, but they can see me. And they can see me loving my wife and my kids. And if they would ever come to visit, which would be wonderful, they could see me loving you and they could see you loving me. And what's supposed to be going on, people in the world, is people look back at us as Christians and they still go, wow! They love each other so much. It's absolutely incredible. Why do these people love this way? And that's what they must say. And if all they're doing is look at this guy. He goes to church all the time. Well, then that's not that wonderful. Or look at their girls. They dress conservatively or listen to their music. It's different than my kids. That's really not that big of a deal, even though that's appropriate. They ought to be saying how in the world do these people love each other so much? In fact, it ought to be so incredible, mind boggling that people could love each other so much that it should be that people want to come to Trinity just to find out what's going on here because they can't believe that we love each other so much. How else are people going to learn about the love of God? That's what John is saying. John is saying if we love one another, God abides in us. Again, it doesn't mean if we love, he abides. It means the proof that he abides is that we love. And secondly, his love is perfected in us. Let me mention just briefly a little bit about the word perfected. Perfected means to bring to the intended purpose. It doesn't mean to be perfect without sin. It means to have a specific purpose in mind. What is the purpose of your salvation? The purpose of your salvation is to glorify God. How is God glorified? When people learn what he's like, how do people learn that God is loving? They can't look and see him because you can't see him, but they can see you. So you know what this means? This means that when God, excuse me, when other people see you loving me. They will say, wow, That is incredible love. God must be a very loving God. And as it were, God in heaven looks down and says, that's right. And that's how it's supposed to be. I showed you how much I loved you. I sent my son on a mission, a mission to give life and a mission to be propitiation. I have demonstrated that my very essence is love. That's what Christmas is. God says now, will you guys please remember that no one can see me, but they can see you. And I want them to know what I'm like. And the way they will know what I'm like is if they see you being passionately concerned for each other's well-being. Would to God that this new year, as we've just come out of Christmas, We would all be so incredibly impacted by the incarnation that God would send Jesus so that I could have life. Propitiation for my incredibly great sin. Would to God that that would impact me so much that I would then say, God, what do you want me to do? And God, as it were, through the Word, looks down at me and says, Greg, I'd like you to start showing people what I'm like. And I say, OK, God, how do I show people what you're like since they can't see you? And he would say, by loving other Christians. Because that was the purpose, the intended goal. Again, that word perfected, verse 12. That was the purpose of me saving you in the first place. So that I would be glorified as people would learn about me. So as we conclude the message this morning, basically two questions. Number one is, have you experienced eternal life by allowing Jesus Christ number two to be the propitiation for your sin? The only way to have eternal life. Is to have Jesus Christ pay the penalty for your sin. If you don't accept the sacrifice of Christ, you will spend eternity in hell. Life is only, the last two words of verse 9, through Him. That's Jesus. There's no other way. If you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ personally, then at this very moment, you are lacking eternal life. Christ wants to be your propitiation. Would you come to Christ even today? You say, what does that mean? That would mean praying something as simple as this. God, I realize I'm a wicked sinner and I deserve hell, but I am asking Jesus Christ to give me eternal life. Please save me from my sin. You don't even have to know the word propitiation. Please save me from my sin. And the Bible promises whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. Have you come to Christ? And secondly, for those of us who know Christ. Now that we've been reminded of what God has done for us in demonstrating His love, are we willing to say, okay, Lord, I've been reminded that people really can't see You, but You want them to know what You're like. It's time for me, by Your grace, to start being passionately concerned about my Christian brothers and sisters. That is not something any of us can do in our own strength. But this morning, would you be willing to pray, Christian, Would you be willing to pray God by your grace? Make it true in my life that the way I love other believers is a demonstration of what you're like that you would be honored. Every head bowed, please. We bow our heads. Close our eyes. If you're here this morning. And you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, You may have been baptized. You may have gone to church many years, you may give financially to a church, you could even be this church, you might even be a member of Trinity. But you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus has never become the propitiation for your sin. Maybe you've never understood that before, that God is angry with you. But you would like to accept his gift of eternal life. Right now, quietly, with no public display, you could pray to yourself. Pray to God silently. Lord, please forgive me for my sin. I am now putting my faith in Jesus Christ and asking Him to be my Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen. You could pray something like that if you wanted to. If you've never done that, and you would like to, that I'd like to just pause, even while the rest of us are silently praying for you. Would you like to begin this new year by receiving a gift that really matters? Eternal life. Would you want to pray that type of prayer and become a Christian? If you would, we're going to pause just a few seconds to give you an opportunity to pray that way. For those who are already Christians, God, through the pen of the Apostle John, has reminded us. Of what God has done for us. In Christmas, the incarnation. God has shown us how much he loves us. That he would send Christ to give us life and to be our propitiation. And now God's asking us to do something. He's asking us to show other people what he's like by the way that we love others, which of course includes our brothers and sisters here at Trinity, as well as others. This is a new year. A lot of people make resolutions to begin a new year. I can't think of a better resolution than praying, God, I want to show other people how wonderful you are. Would you please use me so that others would see your love in my life? If you'd want to pray something like that privately, we'll now pause to give you an opportunity to pray. Father, once again, we are amazed that you would love us so much. Lord, there's no doubt how much you love. You are love. You're the source of all love. Lord, we only love you because you first loved us. God, your love is absolutely incredible. That you would be passionately concerned. For our well-being. Father, thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending Christ on a mission. A mission of life. And a mission of propitiation. Father, thank you. And Lord, we pray that you would help us as believers to show other people what your love is like. We pray, Father, that that would become a reality in our lives, that it would be demonstrated by the way that we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Father, we pray that you would bless our church, that you would help us to so love each other here at Trinity. that people would constantly be amazed at the love that they see. That they would take it, Lord, as a display of your character. And that you would receive the praise and the honor for it. Lord, we pray that you would be pleased to answer this request for your glory. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.