1st John chapter 4, we'll read the whole of this chapter which John speaks a good deal about about love and in particular we'll take the sort of center of our sermon around verse 8 of this chapter. Reading then 1st John 4 from verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God and because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby knoweth the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that love is born of God and know of God. He that love is not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his 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 ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit. And we have seen and do testify The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love. The perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? This commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Amen. As far we read in God's holy and inspired word Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as I have already mentioned this morning, I want us to take up a series of sermons on relationships, the relationships that we have with one another here in this world. We understand a truth, don't we? We understand and not only understand a particular truth, but we experience it also, and it's this. The very best and the most joyful of our experiences are really tied up in relationships, aren't they? But we also know this, the very worst and the most painful of our experiences are also tied up in relationships. How can that be? The very best and the very worst. Why is that? Well, from the perspective of Scripture, from what God tells us in his word, in fact, it makes sense. The reason is this, because God was the one who designed all of our relationships to be a most fulfilling and wondrous blessing. But what man has done is he has sinned, rebelled against God, turned away from God and taken every good gift and perverted it and destroyed it. and hence the results that we have in this life. So in this series what I want to do is I want to examine what the Scripture has to say about relationships more generally and about the effects of sin upon relationships and then the gracious redemption of our relationships and all their problems in and through Jesus Christ. That His wondrous work, in fact, very practically comes down and enters into every one of our relationships and his wondrous work redeems them, brings them back to what they should be, restores them. Salvation in Christ, in fact, is the foundation for all of our relationships. Where do we begin? Where do we begin in this series? Well, it's where we ought to begin with anything, we begin with God. He is the only place to begin with all things. And as we begin with God Himself, with His being, and especially His being as three persons in one God, that's where we begin to grasp the central importance of relationships in all that man was created to be. Because man was created in the image of God. We also begin to complement as we start to understand about God and who he is with regards to relationships, that we understand why sin has such a profound and detrimental effect on every relationship, including our relationship with God. And we will also begin to stand more and more in awe of the all-encompassing nature of our salvation in Christ. As we see that wonderful rescue that comes, He redeems our relationships in this life and for eternity. So, where we're going to start is with this little text in 1 John 4. 1 John 4 verse 8, which reads, Either loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. We'll not only, of course, be drawing upon that, but drawing upon other parts of Scripture, too, as we take up and consider that. But our theme is part of that verse. God is love. That's what we consider this morning. Three things under that. First of all, let's consider this wondrous attribute of God himself. Love. Secondly, drawing from this text as well, we look at the only way to know God, and we've come to understand what that means, to know God. And thirdly, the result in our relationships. God is love. We can simply say that, can't we? We can simply say, and it rolls off the tongue very easily, God is love. But unless we actually know what we're meaning, even though that sentence is very short, only consists of three syllables, we won't really know what we're talking about so if we we do need to understand first of all and very simply who is God well God is God we can't really put him into any kind of category or anything can we God is spirit and it's quite our catechism infinite eternal, unchangeable, and he's being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. But we also know God is created. He made all things. God has existed from all eternity and will do. God is outside of space and time. He is the one that has made all things and is causing all things to exist, upholding all things and bringing all things to the perfect purpose that he has, which is for his own glory in and through his son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation of his people. That's what God is and what he's doing and we are here to worship and extol him as God. God is love. What's love? What's love? Love, the agape love, and we'll come to consider there's another type of love, a much more minor one that's spoken of in the New Testament Scriptures. This is the, in the Greek, agape. The agape love here is defined from Scripture itself. And we could spend 15 sermons looking at just that, about love as it's found in the Scripture. We don't have time to do that. We're focusing on relationships. God gives us so many parts. We can turn, for example, to 1 Corinthians 13, often called by people the love chapter. And as you read through that, I encourage you to do that this afternoon, read through that, then we start to understand that love, as God defines it, is not primarily a feeling. And that is completely different to what you'll find in the society and world out there who says that love is this amazing, wonderful, gushy feeling that just takes a hold upon you and fills you up and makes you feel wonderful. And the Bible says, no, no, that's actually not primarily what love is. When it says here, God is love. What you start to find in places like 1 Corinthians 13 is that, first and foremost, it's a matter of the mind, of the thinking. It's a matter of the will, of the decision making. That's what it is. And so, first and foremost, it is thinking and decision of that which is, 1 Corinthians 13, of continually doing nothing but good toward another person. It is the central being of who we are in our thinking and decisions running out then into words and actions. The continual doing of good from our inner being. And we can realize the fact that this is predominantly thinking and decision from God himself. Our reading that we had this morning. Do you remember what God said there to his people? Deuteronomy 7 verses 7 and 8 through Moses the Lord did not set his love upon you notice that when it uses those words deliberately God takes his love and he sets it on someone it's not something that just gurgled up inside him all right this is something that that comes out of the mind and the will the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you notice that's will that's involved there He didn't do that because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. And that tells us that love is not dependent upon what the other person is like. Because God would never have chosen the Israelites. We know what they were like all through the Bible. Very unlovely people, weren't they? Rebels against God. Doesn't depend on who we're loving. This is a valid decision. Why did the Lord love them then? Well, he tells us. But because the Lord loved you. Why did the Lord love them? Because he loved them. It's a matter of decision of the mind, of the will. God determines that he will love and he does. Because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, and there it is also that he will not change. He gives his word, he gives his love, it's unchangeable and it will never change. What else can we say? God in his love has a very high esteem and value and views as precious those whom he loves. Isaiah 43 verse 4, since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, notice those words, precious, honorable, and I have loved you. Therefore will I give men for you and people for your life. God says in his word that his people are the apple of his eye, meaning the pupil. So in other words, you don't dare go anywhere near his people. Don't touch the pupil of the eye. Jeremiah 31, verse three, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn you. And so that that whole being decision upon his people, and to value them, esteem them, see them as precious and honorable in his sight. It then culminates in this, John 15, 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The culmination of God's love is seen in the cross, in taking his only son, his beloved son, and giving him up for us all there is love come into action most certainly so if we draw together the whole of scripture i've only skated across the surface here it makes a wonderful state multitude of other verses we don't have time to consider but we come can't come to a a definition of this covenantal agape love the love that is mainly spoken of in the new testament scriptures here And it's this, in its highest form, it's a whole being decision. That's what love is. A whole being decision. Heart, mind, will. To do nothing but good toward another. To value and esteem another, and to seek the closest fellowship and communion with another. That's what love is, according to the Bible. There is another word translated love in the New Testament but this is not mentioned nearly as much. It's a word that actually means a warm affection for. It means a desire after and a warm affection for and it's far more akin to what the world is talking about in its life. God may explain that this kind of love also is a good gift of God and it's a beautiful thing but it also makes plain that this is a secondary type of love And it always comes forth from the primary love, and it must always be governed by the primary love. And so those whom we give ourselves to love, it will flow from there that they will have, therefore, this warm affection and a desire to ward. And God speaks of that as His love also. He loves in this way too, with that warm affection. But it's spoken of as a very minor thing. The main thing that is spoken of all through the Scriptures, including here in our text, is the agape love. In actual fact, that secondary type of love, if it is divorced from and separated from the primary love, it starts to run amok. In fact, it can cause all sorts of damage and destruction, and that kind of love then becomes distorted and ugly. But let's come back to the grandeur of the biblical love of our text. Having understood what biblical love is and seen it in action somewhat, then we need to apply it to this text because we have that expression, God is love. God is love. Note that John doesn't say God loves. That would mean that it's talking about an action of God. God loves. Neither does John say God has love or God possesses love. In other words, this is something that God possesses. He has it in his possession as part of what belongs to him. No, he actually says God is love. And in fact, in the Greek, which you can change the order of words around to emphasize things, it actually says God love is, in order to emphasize it. God, love is. This is who he is in his very being. His existence is love in all its fullness. And what that also means is that without God there is no love. Without God there is no love because He is love. Separate yourself from God and you separate yourself completely from love. But we've seen in the scripture that love is designated as, what is it? doing nothing but good toward another, and to see another as being precious and valuable, and to seek the closest fellowship and communion with another. Well, if God is love, in and of himself, how is that possible? Because here's God, where's the other? Well, that's where the beauty, who God actually is, comes in. Who is God? God is one in his being, but he's three in persons, isn't he? And the children know this too, don't they? And when you ask, how many persons are there in the Godhead? How many persons? Three. And who are those three persons? God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. OK, there you go. All right. And that's what's so important about love. God is love because right there within the Trinity. God loves and he has done so from all eternity. There is God, the Father, who continually begets the Son, and there is the Son who is continually begotten by the Father, and there is the Spirit who continually proceeds forth from the Father to the Son in this beautiful and wondrous relationship of love. God has always existed in this wonderful, harmonious relationship and he had no need of anything outside of himself. God had no need of this creation. He has no need of us. And he still doesn't. But here is also then a wonder. God determined that he would love then even more outside of himself. We see little hints of the profoundness of God's love within himself in places like John 1, verse 18, where it says, No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, it says, who is in the bosom of the Father, or more literally in the original, it says, who is into the bosom of the Father. There is such a close relationship in the Trinity that the Son is into the Father. And there's a deep theological concept here, but I'm not going to go into that. But wonderfully, that's how deep this relationship is of the Trinity one to another. But God chose then to create. And he chose to create the universe, to create rational creatures in the way of angels and men who can then rationally, more directly relate to God. But, you know, the pinnacle of creation, even greater than the angels, was the creation of men when God came to create men unlike creating angels God said let us and notice he says us that's a reminder of the trinity father son and holy spirit there in that perfect relationship let us make Man in our image. Genesis 1, 26 and 28 to 28. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him. Male and female created them and God blessed them. What a wondrous thing that God should create mankind in such a way, in his own image. so that we may partake of that relationship with him. And then, despite man's rebellion and sin, he first of all reveals to man in his created place that the covenant, the covenant of life that he had with him and that relationship he had with him. But then even when he sinned, God comes and reveals the covenant of grace to him that he had always planned to pour out his love even more upon them. to give his own beloved son, to redeem them, to pay for their sins, to purchase righteousness for them, to adopt them out of the kingdom of darkness, to become his own sons and daughters, and that he would prepare a new heavens and a new earth and restore all things so that they may be with him forever in that relationship. What a wondrous love. And notice that this love that's expressed in all these things is not about God getting for himself. God is already all-glorious. He can't get any more glory. God cannot gain anything by any of these things. What is God doing? God is giving, and God is giving, and God is giving. Wondrously to undeserving creatures like us. Amazing and wondrous love, and men and women stand as amazed recipients of this love, this relationship. God is love within himself, but then toward his creatures. Now, let's turn back to our text here again, because our text speaks also about knowing God. In verse 8, it says, he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. What does that mean? What is it to know God? We can easily say what it's not, and that's quite straightforward. Knowing God is not just to know that God exists, to say, yep, I believe that there is a God. It's not even to know lots of facts about God, to be able to reel off his attributes and that sort of thing. Or even to know that God has provided salvation. It's none of those things. That's not what it is to know God. Why do we say that? Well, because James 2 verse 19 says, you believe that there is one God who you do well. That's OK. And then James says this, which is quite chilling, as it were. He says, the devils also believe and dremble. The devils, they believe that there is a God. They believe in His power and justice. And they believe that those things are very true. That's why they tremble. Because they know God is real and His justice and power is real. And they tremble before it. They well and truly believe those things. Does that mean that the devils love God and they know Him? No. No, they don't. Not at all. So what does it mean to know God? Well, knowing God and God knowing us we can find in many places in the scripture and I encourage you once again, this is a good one, to look up and to find all the verses which speak about this, but just a few. First of all, Nahum 1 verse 7, the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows them that trust in Him. Now, God knows everybody, and yet it's talking about He knows them that trust in Him. 2 Timothy 2.19, there Paul makes it even more clear. Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, the Lord knows them that are His. He knows them. So it's bringing out to us this, is a very particular and special relationship that is being talked about here. And it's talked about as those that are his. And we know that that's the elect, the ones that have been chosen from all eternity in Jesus Christ. He knows them. And then this, as far as our knowing of God, John 17, verse three, and this is life eternal, that they might know the the only true God and Jesus Christ, who now has sent. That makes it crystal clear. To know God means to be in salvation. It is to believe and trust in Him. It is to be brought into that wonderful relationship with Him. This is life eternal. To know God, to know Jesus Christ. That is eternal life. And then, to make it even more clear, You then turn in the negative aspect to it, what Jesus said in Matthew 7 verse 23. He says, of those who are not his people in the last day, he says, I will say to you, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. And so if we don't have God knowing us and we don't know him, we are not in that saving relationship with him. That's the importance of knowing God. So to know God is to be in communion and fellowship with him, a positive, blessed relationship, lasting from this life and continuing on into all eternity. Do you know Adam and Eve possessed that knowledge of God? Our catechism tells us that. How was Adam created? Male and female. How? in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. And that was the image of God. It was created in the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. And there's the knowledge you see that that is how he was created into the relationship that he actually had with God. And God revealed that to him then in outworking so that every evening Adam and Eve would eagerly await God to come and walk with them in the cool of the evening and talk with them. That's what Friends do, don't they? They come, spend time together, and have fellowship and communion with one another. And that's what Adam and Eve had in the garden. But we fell. We all fell in Adam. And in that sin, we lost that relationship. We no longer knew God. We no longer had fellowship. Westminster Shorter Catechism 19, we lost communion with God. are under his wrath and curse and so made liable to all the miseries of this life to death itself and the pains of hell forever. We could not know God. In that experience, in that estate, we didn't know the love of God either, completely separated from the love of God. And we were completely separated from the expressing of any of that love. And we could only expect the anger and curse of God to abide on us for eternity. But of course, that's not the end of the story, is it? Wonderfully. God provided his own son. Promised already in Genesis 3, 15. And that's the awe-inspiring nature of God's love. He had already in love before he even made the world. He had chosen a people for himself in Christ Jesus and determined to save them to show for his own glory and to give manifestation of that love. Romans 8, verse 29. whom he did foreknow. And you see there, there's that word again, knowledge, okay? For whom he did foreknow. He had them already in the knowledge of them and in that relationship with them. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and he called, and he also justified, and he justified, then he also glorified. We are restored, God's people are restored by the love of the Father, the work of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit who comes and convicts us of our sins. Shows us that we need a Saviour. Puts us on our face before God and causes us to cry out to Him for mercy that He would save us. And He does. And we're restored into that relationship of knowing God. Knowing God as our God and our Saviour. And in our salvation, the Holy Spirit, having regenerated and makes us spiritually alive again, because we're joined to Jesus by faith, we then believe the truths of the Scriptures and we lay a hold upon those things. But we lay a hold upon all of the Scripture and the beautiful light of God's Word continues to dawn in our hearts. And the Holy Spirit then begins to shed abroad in our hearts the love of God. That's what the Bible says, isn't it? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. We begin to see and to know more and more about how God loves within himself as God. And then he loves me in the salvation that he's given to me. That love is revealed to us as we come to know Him as God and particularly in the face of Jesus Christ because the glory of God is revealed in the face of Christ. And the more we come to understand about Jesus through every page of the scripture, it actually causes us to know God's love. To know God and then to love God. But here's the wonder, why do we love Him? We love Him. as John says in this chapter, because He first loved us. And that wonderful power of God's love is so active in us that it then causes us to love Him. It brings forth, in its wonderful power, it brings forth a life of love to Him. So that's what it is to know God. What's the result then in our relationships? Let's look at that in the last place. There's a very important conclusion and a practical understanding of this text, and John puts it here in the negative, doesn't he, in verse 8. He says, he that loves not, knows not God. And so what that is saying is this, if in any person there is not this kind of love, This kind of love that is arising out of the heart and the mind, a whole being decision to do nothing but good toward another, to value and esteem another, and to seek the closest fellowship with another. That kind of love. If there is not that love present, then this is the reason they don't know God. Because God is love. To know God means to be saved. And it means to be brought to spiritual life and that spiritual life of love in God through the Jesus Christ. And therefore, there's the reverse, the corollary, if you like. Every single human being, if they are not saved in Jesus Christ, cannot and will not ever love in the true sense of this word. So, the people as they live in this world, they can certainly love in that secondary sense of the warm affection and the desire after and so forth, but unless we are regenerated and we have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ working in our heart, then we will never love in this higher form that is being spoken of here. That only is the work of God's grace in our heart. All true love originates in God and flows out from Him in and through Jesus Christ to every one of His people. And it's only by the power of grace that we begin to and then grow in our love of God and begin to exercise a true love for neighbor from the heart. And guess what? You and I, we've always got such a long way to go. We've only just begun to love God as we should, and we've only just begun to learn what it is to love neighbour. But we can know this, and we can be confidently assured in it, if we have that true faith in Jesus Christ, we believe and trust in Him, we can know this. If we would grow in our neighbour, grow in our love of our neighbour, then the only way that that will happen, and I trust you can see this already, is actually to grow in your knowledge of God, of who he is, of all that he has done, of all of his works, his marvelous works found all through the scripture. If you would grow in life, then here's where you need to be, in the words, hearing God's word and having that word enter into your heart and understanding it and growing in that wonderful truth. An ever deeper knowledge and love of God is the only way that we will ever grow and develop in our relationships to others in this life. And here's a further application. And as I apply this bit, this might get a bit uncomfortable for you and me. Think about this. Start to apply it a bit more personally, you and me. Is there anybody in your life right now, are there people in your life right now that you struggle to love? Perhaps it is that right now you find no love in your heart for maybe a spouse. Maybe a husband, a wife that you find their love in your heart for them. Perhaps it is, it's a family member. Perhaps it is, it's a member of the church. Or, as God calls us to love even our enemies, perhaps it's a workmate, a boss. Perhaps it's even an enemy. that you find no love in your heart for them. Then remember what we have learned. Love is a decision that we make. A decision to do nothing but good, and that includes the way we think about the other person, to do nothing but good in the way we think about them, and the way we act toward them, to esteem them and to value them, and to seek the Christ's fellowship and communion with them. This is what God did for you. When you hated Him, when you rebelled against Him, when you did ugly things against Him, He loved you. even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So here's the truth, and this is the uncomfortable truth. Our lack of love for another person doesn't reveal what they are like. We tend to think that way. I don't love them because they are, but that's not what God's revealed. Our lack of love for another person actually reveals our lack of love for God. That's what's real. Our lack of love for another reveals our poor knowledge of God. It reveals our lack of closeness to God. It reveals our selfishness and ungratefulness to Him. Ouch. So as we have this set before us, as John powerfully brings this word to us, then as we hear God is love and what that means, therefore, may each of us today lift our eyes to heaven. First of all, that we should ask forgiveness. for all the ways in which we fail to love God as we should. And secondly, for all the ways that we fail to love our neighbor, whoever that may be, that we fail to love our neighbor as we should. Our God is love, and He has loved us with everlasting love, and yet we have not loved Him as He says, as He calls us to do, to enter into that life of love. But let us also lift our eyes to heaven and magnify Him, worship Him, praise Him, thank Him for His wondrous love. The amazing love that never changes. I've loved you with an everlasting love. And therefore His loving kindness never ceases towards us. He is faithful. And let's desire and pray, O Lord, that I may know you more, grow in you more, and grow in this wondrous love that is God. Amen. Let's stand to pray.