Series: 1 John
Title: No Man Hath
Seen God
Text: 1 Jn 4:12-16
Date: February 7,
2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
1 John 4: 12: No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us,
and his love is perfected in us. 13: Hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his
Spirit.
Proposition:
John declares that love to brethren is active in God’s child because God dwells
in us and his love accomplishes this in us.
Therefore, this is how we know that we dwell in God and he in us because
he has given us of his Spirit.
Title: No Man Hath Seen God
Why did John make
that statement when speaking of a believer’s love to our brethren? That is one thing we will try to see in this
message.
LOVE PERFECTED IN US
1 John 4: 12: No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us,
and his love is perfected in us.
What does John mean
when he says God dwells in us and his love is perfected in us?—"If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
The reason any sinner loves is because God dwelleth in us. “God is love.” When God, who is love, dwells in us, he makes
us behold his great love for us in Christ Jesus and thereby makes us dwell in love. Love is of God. God gets all the glory for making us dwell in love to him and our brethren.
Praise God for love! To “dwell
in love” is to continue to the end of our lives welling in love.
The Mississippi River
curves in places and flows north. But if
you look at the big picture, it always flows south. There may be isolated acts where brethren do
not love as we ought. But he is not
talking isolated acts. He is talking
about the big picture, “he that dwelleth
in love” is he that continues,
remains, abides in loving God and loving his brethren unto the end.
1 John 2: 24: Let that therefore abide in you, which ye
have heard from the beginning.
From the beginning—from
the first hour—we heard that we should believe on Christ and love one another.
1 John 2:24: If that which ye have heard from the
beginning shall remain [abide, continue] in you, ye also shall continue [abide,
dwell] in the Son, and in the Father.
Our text says if we
dwell in love it is because God dwelleth in us and his love has accomplished
this in us. It is because God dwelleth
in us and by his same effectual word that made us clean, he makes us abide in
him. Christ said, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” Then by the same word he commands, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (Jn 15: 3-5). Christ dwells in us and his love is
accomplished in us.
When God dwells in
us, he has created in us a “spirit in
which is no guile”, a “pure heart”. In
that new heart, God—who is love—dwells, abides, continues, remains. Thereby, we dwell in love unto the end. By
his love, in our new spirit in which is no guile we love God with no guile, no dissimulation.
Deuteronomy 30:6: And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and
the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
And we love our brethren with unfeigned love.
1 Peter 1: 22:
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto
unfeigned love of the brethren,…love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23: Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
for ever
What does it mean
that “his love is perfected in us.” God’s love has “accomplished” this end in us.
John 19: 28: After
this, Jesus knowing that all things were now ACCOMPLISHED [perfected], that the
scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
When we dwell in love
to God and love to our brethren , it is because God dwells in us and God’s love
has accomplished this end in us. Down in
verse 17-18, God’s love is perfected or accomplished in us, when his love
removes from us a fear of judgment. In
our text, his love is accomplished in us when we love our brethren.
So “perfected” does
not mean that we become sinless and perfect.
Our sin-nature is with us until death.
It means by God dwelling in us, God’s love for us has accomplished
making us dwell in love to God and our brethren. Robert Hawker said, "…all that we can
call love or affection in us, either to God or his people, are but the mere
effects from him, and his love to us as the cause.”
NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME
1 John 4: 12: No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us,
and his love is perfected in us. 13: Hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his
Spirit.
Why does John support
this truth by saying, “No man hath seen God at any time?”
We cannot see
God. So where do we see God? We behold the invisible God by beholding the
GodMan, Christ Jesus, in whom God dwells.
John 1:18: No man hath seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him
(Jn 1: 18).
Colossians 2:9: For in him dwelleth all the fulness of
the Godhead bodily.
John said, “God is love.” And God
loves his people. But “No man hath seen God at any time.” So where do we see the love of God toward his
people? We see it in Christ’s actions
which manifest God’s love toward us.
1 John 4: 9: 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. 10: Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
1 John 3: 16: Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us:
The way we know that God dwells in Christ and Christ in God is
by beholding Christ’s works. We behold God’s love for his elect by beholding Christ lay down his life for
us. Christ said,
John 5:36: But I have
greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me
to finish, [perfect, accomplish] the same works that I do, bear witness of me,
that the Father hath sent me.
John 10: 37:
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38:
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and
believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
John’s point in our
text is “No man hath seen God at any time.” We see God by beholding the GodMan in whom
God dwells. And we behold God’s love for
us by the actions Christ performed throughout his life and by laying down his
life and propitiating God for us.
Therefore, when John
applies this principle to us, “No man
hath seen God at any time”, how then are we going to discern that God
dwells in us and that God’s love is perfected in us? It is by us loving one another, not in tongue,
but in deed and in truth—"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.”
It is not merely by
what we say but by what we do in love to one another. If God has given us of his Spirit, there will
be in us a likeness to our Father who begot us.
We will love one another in deed as he loved us in deed.
John 12: 34: A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. 35: By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another.
So brethren since no
man hath seen God at any time, the only way we know that God dwelleth in us and
that his love has accomplished this work in us is that we love one another, not
merely “in word, neither in tongue; but
in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3: 18). If
he has given us of his Spirit then we shall!
FAITH AND LOVE
1 John 4: 14: And we have seen and do testify that the
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the
Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16: And 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…20: 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?(1Jo 4:20).
Lastly, let’s apply
this to faith and love in God’s preacher as well as in God’s people.
When it comes to a preacher—"No man hath seen God at any time.” How then am I going to know God dwells in
a man and that God’s love has accomplished the end which God’s love accomplishes
in all his preachers? What does the
Spirit of God always make his preacher and his people do? We believe and testify publicly the truth of
Christ—"And we have seen and do
testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son
of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”
One thing I
discovered is that a church’s statement of faith may be solid. But seldom do they preach publicly what they
claim to believe. “No man hath seen God at any time” but God has given a sure way of
discerning who God dwells in. If a man
has the love of God in him then God says whosoever—God’s
people as well as his preacher—whosoever is not ashamed to testify publicly
that Jesus is God in human flesh is of God. That means they preach the gospel of
Christ. They declare unashamedly that
Christ is the successful Savior, that he accomplished the redemption of his
particular people, God’s elect, and God’s elect alone. He
said, “If is finished!” perfected! Accomplished! They will declare that Christ is risen,
reigning and calling out his redeemed. The
preacher who has the love of God in him will declare that Christ has all power
to keep his people and lose none but raise us up again at the last day. John says at the end of verse 15, “God dwelleth in him and he in God.” It is what he said in verses 2-3.
1 John 4: 2:
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3:
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,…
Same is true of God’s
people as we hear a preacher:
1 John 4: 4:
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. 5:
They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth
them. 6: We are of God: he that knoweth
God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth, and the spirit of error.
So when God dwells in
a sinner and God’s love is perfected then we will declare Christ in truth
according to the word of God. There is no
doubt about it!
Also, when the love
of God is perfected in us, we 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 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.”
Think of the
certainty of this brethren. Sovereign,
irresistible God dwells in us. Not only
are we partakers of the divine nature, but God is present in that new nature. Having washed us in his blood, Christ comes
directly into that new heart and Christ dwells in us. Do any imagine that God
is unable to make his child behold his great love for us and accomplish making
us love those God loves?
John says if we don’t
there is one reason—"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?”
Here is a brother
across town with a need. He is one God
loved and sent his only begotten Son to die for. He is one in whom Christ dwells. If I won’t love and provide for my brother
who I can see, God says, then I don’t love God who I can’t see. I cannot see God but I can see you that God
loved and sent his Son to die for. We
cannot love God in person, but we can love our brethren in person. If God has given us of his Spirit, we will! Wherever God has sown the incorruptible seed
in the heart of his child, there will be life and faith and love springing from
that seed, and that seed abideth and so that God’s child will abide in love.
As John says he “dwelleth in love.” God will not allow his love to be choked
out by our flesh nor by the enticements of the world nor by our dearest family
after the flesh. The stony ground hearer
endures for a time, but he has not root—so “afterward,
when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they
are offended.” But not where Christ
abides! He makes us to be rooted and
grounded in the love of Christ. Despite Satan’s best efforts to set the
children of God against one another, God makes us dwell in love one with another.
God’s love perfected
in us makes a believer love strangers in another land who he has never met who
are his brethren in Christ, more than his own family after the flesh living on
same block? When he sees his brother
under attack and slandered, God’s love makes him stand with his brother and
comfort his brother, not question his brother.
Song of Solomon 8:7: Many
waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give
all the substance of his house for love [to try to make a believer part with
it], it would utterly be contemned.
No matter the price
offered a believer to part with Christ and our brethren, God’s love
accomplishes making that believer say no way!
Romans 8:38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, 39 Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Brethren, let us
endeavor to abound in love toward one another more and more.
Romans 13:8: Owe no
man any thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law.
Brethren, let us pray
for one another that God would increase us in love.
1
Thessalonians 3: 12: the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one
toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13: To the end he
may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
And, brethren, tonight,
when we lay down, let us thank God for his love and give him all the glory, "If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
Amen!