Our lesson today continues to examine the issue of love, its different facets, what it means, its source, why God makes us with the capacity to love and the overwhelming longing to be loved. 

It looks squarely at the individual, so that we can realistically  and honestly learn something about ourselves. 

It also teaches us about the purpose of life. It focuses on the things we cannot see, what some would regard as the true realities, so that we will turn away from the things of the five senses which will eventually fade away. 

It provides us with the four assurances that God has given us, so that we know that we are on the right track to spend an eternity with Him. 

We would all admit as we look around that love is extremely significant, if not the most significant theme in our society.  Strangely everybody talks about love, for it is their consuming passion; but it is easily recognized that not everyone loves. 

Our study text comes back to the very important teachings of the Christian faith, namely ‘truth and love’; emphasizing that Jesus is the ultimate expression of both of these.  As such, in genuine Christianity there cannot be one without the other. 

The genuineness of the Christian faith can be tested by the teachings in this lesson, for we are again told that where the ‘life of God’ is found, there we will find the love of God. 

We will be looking at the nature of God and the nature of man.  We will also be looking at the nature of the genuine believer. 

When we speak about love we are speaking about something that is true of God himself. It is important that we come to define what the love of God means.   

The Apostle John will emphasize that we should be honest and realistic about ourselves and never think we can get away with making statements such as “I cannot love that person”.  He will say that those holding such positions are not of God. 

We should pay special attention to the fact that John warns us that the ‘truth’, the doctrinal teachings of the Christian faith are indispensable for true Christian life and fellowship with God.  If we do not heed this teaching we will lose confidence in the power of the gospel and live a life of pretence to Christian testimony. 

John has told us previously that we have been given the Spirit.  Because of the possession of the Spirit we keep God’s commandments and have fellowship with Him and his Son Jesus Christ.  Believers will know that they are ‘abiding’ because they possess the Spirit. 

The possession of the Spirit is the first ground of assurance for the believer.  It is critical that believers ‘test’ the spirits, since every spirit is not the Spirit of God. 

There are false prophets, people with false ideas about Christ who have come into the Christian community, corrupted its people, claiming that they are inspired by the Spirit of God. 

Note the clear teaching that there are two kinds of spirits which are real and at work in the world, and they both have a strong and transforming effect on human beings. 

The Holy Spirit transforms and motivates the spirit of believers to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This is as the Old Testament predicted, that Jesus would enter human history in ‘the flesh’ as a real person. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah and the hope of the world. 

A person should think about who Jesus is, commit himself to the foregoing truth about Jesus and living his life in keeping with the things of God revealed by Messiah. In other words, confessing that Jesus is the Christ, who took on human nature and became like men.  That is truth and that is what the true Spirit teaches. 

On the other hand the false spirits teach something very different and so their followers would never be able to make the proper confession.  They might say that Jesus the Christ did not come in the flesh, or they might have difficulty confessing that Jesus of Nazareth was the one and only Christ incarnate, that there were no other Christ. Anyone that cannot make the proper “confession” is false.  No matter what they seem to be, no matter how they look, no matter whether their words are smooth or not, they really oppose God. 

They represent the spirit of the Antichrist and this false spirit is behind them, motivating them. 

The true believer, indwelt by the Spirit, can make the proper confession. John reassures true believers that they have overcome the Antichrist, simply because the Spirit that is in them is greater and more powerful, than the false spirits which are of the world. 

Note that we do not overcome false teachers with their subtle, attractive, seductive messages because we are smarter than they, or particularly clever and knowledgeable. 

We have overcome simply because the Spirit that dwells in us delivers us.  God is greater than the spirit behind the teachers of error and it is the greatness of God that keeps us on the straight path. 

History shows us the violence, agonies, heartaches, despair, the tears, and the great evils which have brought tremendous suffering to mankind.  There is a powerful enemy behind all of this wickedness. Sometime it looks as if this enemy cannot be overcome. 

Despite what it looks like we must remember that God is greater than the enemy and there is no contest.  Scriptures reveal the truth about God.  It is important for us to read over and over again Scriptures like Isaiah 40. 

So John calls on the “little children”, the believers, to show child-like trust in the incomparably greater God. 

The test is to see whether we know that we are creatures created by God and understand that we are guided by him. The word of God is the ultimate authority, showing us what is error and fantasy and what is true.  The authority of Christ is in Scripture; that is where our Christian faith should rest.  We should accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the living Christ and enter into a personal relationship with him, for he is real, he lives, he changes and transforms and he will ‘keep’. 

The false prophets, those who cannot confess that Jesus is the exclusive Christ, have not only gone out into the world, but are from the world. This ‘worldview’ is their point of view. No matter how nice they sound, no matter how logical, they are of the world and not of God. 

The text will tell us how to test the spirits.  John belongs to the Apostles of Jesus and they bring the proper testimony about who Jesus is.  They had been with him and know him and all doubts about him had been taken away when the Holy Spirit was ‘poured’ on them. As a result they went all over the world to spread the gospel. 

The clear teaching is that the Apostles have the Spirit of truth and those who have heard and have come along and joined with them, have been brought by God. Those that have rejected the apostolic testimony do not belong to God but belong to the spirit of error. 

There are many people who are not as yet Christians but who belong to God and are open to the Word of God and are ready to hear what God has to say to them.  Our task is to take the message of the gospel to them.   

When they accept that Jesus Christ of Nazareth has come in the flesh and believe in him and follow him, accepting the apostolic witness we will know that the Spirit of truth guides them.  With that in mind John moves on to stress that those that appear to have the spirit of truth will face the ultimate test of behaviour that determines who they really are. 

THE TEXT

Verse 7.   This verse introduces a new topic, the subject of which occupies the remainder of the chapter.  John demonstrates that God is the source of love and is indeed the essence of love.  Love is inherent in all that he does, for all is attributes are wrapped up in and perfectly harmonised with his love. 

This then is simply another test that will help one determine if he or she is a true believer.  

John is the beloved disciple and it clear that the teachings on the love of God are of immense importance.  John cites more than half of all the references to this subject in the gospels. 

All true love has its origin in God.  John emphasizes that we love one another; in verse seven, eleven and twelve. When we love, we show that we have the Spirit and that we belong to him. The active and expressive love of God in our lives, follows the fact that we have the Spirit who is the agent that produces the character of God in us.  

The force of John’s statement is that believers are to love one another because love comes from God; he is the source.  This then supports and leads to the additional teaching that everyone who loves has God as their Father, they are born of God and know God. 

This means that they are genuine Christians.  When we look at the context, we realize that the command to love fellow believers rests on the fact that genuine believer believe in Jesus Christ.  They have the Spirit and have experienced spiritual birth and so have the love of God. Thus John says:

“beloved, let us love one another - for love is of God.”  

Thus it is possible for one to display a great deal of natural affection towards his family and have a great deal of compassion towards the poor and needy, but still lack the love to which John refers. That love is, real love to God, to the Savoir, or to the children of God. 

Following what he said in chapter 3, John is obviously speaking about loving fellow believers as Jesus did, that is loving sacrificially.

Verse 8.   One may claim to be a Christian, but if there is no love for the brethren, there is no real love of Christ.  Neither is there the knowledge that Christ died for him; that one does not have a true acquaintance with God, the correct view of Him, or the right feelings towards Him. 

“For God is Love”. It is interesting to note that the description of God as love describes a qualitative and not an abstract quality of God's character. He is called Love, Light and Spirit in such a way that we know that these refers to qualities of God's character. Everything that God is or does shows these qualities. 

For John all God’s activities are ‘loving’ activities and not to be regarded as one more activity God carries out like ruling or judging. Love is the essence of the divine nature and all other attributes or activities express God's love.  It follows that those who do not love do not know God, for if they knew God their paternity would show and all their activities would be loving activities.

God is fundamentally and essentially LOVE: not merely loving. The man who knows God, who is born of God, must love. God is essentially love, therefore he loves who knows God. 

God's love is the infinite source of blessing towards mankind – He causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the ‘just and the unjust’.  The nature of God's love then is not the same as romantic love, or even brotherly love.  Here we are called on to choose love and we know that one cannot command someone to fall in love, so that excludes the kinds of love we often talk about including romantic love. 

The love of God is different and we are called on to make a choice, to respond in obedience.  This love is self-giving, that gives whether or not there is repayment.  The unique nature of this kind of love will now be illustrated.

Verse 9.   This “agape” word speaks of the choice of an individual to sacrifice himself for another person and to give up his rights to benefit another person. This does not have anything to do whether the person is pleasant, nice, or lovable. The decision is made to extend love, even if the person appears to be unlovable. 

We note that all that God created was good. Man lived in a state of perfection until sin entered the world and man ‘fell’.  Man’s soul sank to the lowest depths of depravity and the creation was corrupted. Man was now subject to time and lived in a world of ever increasing decay. 

God the Father knew that this would happen and knew the depths to which man would fall and how deeply he would corrupt the “good” creation. Despite knowing this, God unequivocally demonstrated His benevolence in the greatest single act of love, when he sent his only ‘begotten’ Son to die for sinners. Through Jesus we may live, thus removing the sentence of death that threatened our souls. 

This shows the character of God's love, for God loved and sent the Redeemer, even though the objects of his love were his enemies.  So if a person belongs to God, that one shows this fundamental quality of love at the deepest possible level. Those that are of God are given the capacity to love and to lay down their lives for others. 

Everything God does comes from his love.  This might seem difficult for us to appreciate, for we do not like to think that the judgment of God cannot be separated from his love.  Some believe that a holy, loving God will not judge evil and send people into the ‘lake of fire’. 

Because there is the quality of love in a person, there is automatically an antagonism toward anything that opposes the thing that the person loves.  Just look at any mother.  If you attack her child in any way, her motherly love immediately explodes into opposition and antagonism toward the one that threatens her loved one and she will fight to the death. 

So it is with God.  God's love must include a quality of judgment and he will attack, and demonstrate infinite antagonism to the evil that destroys the ones he loves.  He will seek to remove anything that harms the loved one.  He will purify, consume and take away from his loved one anything that offends. Such is the love of God. God is a ‘consuming fire’ and he will purify us because he loves us. 

God loves the ungodly and unlovely and he will do whatever is necessary to change the ungodly and the unlovely.  He will make the ultimate sacrifice.  He did and sent his unique, one-of-a-kind Son, for this is what the term “only begotten” means.  He sent him and was pleased to bruise him to save the horrible men and women that we are.  So logically he will never allow the bad things that will damage his people to remain.  His love requires that he pour out his wrath on those who have rejected his Son 

Those who receive Christ as their Savoir are freed from the ‘curse of the law’ and penalty of death. They now live through Christ, that is, by the merits of Christ’s own life.  This self-sacrificing love is what God requires us to show to other believers –  “ no greater love than a man lay down is life for his friend” (John 15:13).

That we might live through him - He died that we might have eternal life through the merits of his sacrifice. The “measure” of that love, then, which was manifested in the gift of a Saviour, is to be found,

(1)        in the worth of the soul;

(2)        in its exposure to eternal death;

(3)        in the greatness of the gift;

(4)        in the greatness of his sorrows for us; and,

(5)        in the immortal blessedness and joy to which he will raise us.

Who can estimate all this? All these things will magnify themselves as we draw near to eternity; and in that eternity to which we go, whether saved or lost, we shall have an ever-expanding view of the wonderful love of God.

Verse 10.   Man’s sin was the catalyst that brought about this great gift and the highest expression of love. 

Do not misunderstand this.  God was always love even before he sent his salvation.  What we are seeing is really an expression or manifestation of God's love.  We are looking at the action aspect of love.  It is by action that we see love. 

This is important for we must understand that we do not live the Christian life because it pays us well, solving our difficult problems and letting us meet nice people.  The love of God is supposed to be in us and therefore we must express it, for that is who we are by nature.  We are like our God who is love by his nature.  We express love all the time.  God is the source.  We are to be like the source.  If we are not like the source we have no part with God.   

Not that we loved God – it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. One might reasonably expect that God would show us His love in a corresponding and proportionate manner to which we love him.  We however were in a state of active rebellion; we had no love for God or the things of God. 

In this state he showed the greatness of his love for us by giving his Son to die for his enemies.

“For one will with difficulty die for a righteous one, yet perhaps one would even dare to die for a good one.  But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.“

Rom 5:7-8. 

But that he loved us - Not that he approved our character, but that he desired our welfare. He loved us not with the love of complacency, but with the love of benevolence.  God would not leave us in such a sordid condition but decreed to redeem his people from the pit of sin.  Thus He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

The word propitiation occurs one other time in the New Testament in Hebrews 9:5, where it denotes the covering of the Ark of the Covenant.  The Hebrew verb Kaaphar means to cover or conceal and it was here at the mercy seat, where the “atoning sacrifice” was made, that God pronounces pardon and declares himself reconciled to his people. 

The word “propitiation” is not a precise English word for the Greek word which really means turning away the divine wrath.   

In what sense then can Christ be the propitiation for sin?  The analogy is this – as an atoning sacrifice Christ offered his own blood, that cleanses us from all sin. It is his sacrifice that produces reconciliation between God and man and it is the infinite nature of the eternal Son that satisfies the righteous requirement of God’s wrath. 

Jesus is our ‘covering’, for being ‘clothed in his righteousness’ we are accepted in ‘the Beloved’.  Without his covering each of us would have to bare the full fury of the wrath of God.

Verse 11.   Addressing believers, John demands that if God so loved us, we must also love one another. 

John dismisses any excuse not to love and introduces the other argument that it is possible for believers to know and have the assurance that God abides in them. 

This is important for God is Spirit and is invisible.  We might have seen Jesus who revealed the Father but that does not mean that we have seen God himself.  The ability and opportunity to see God the Father himself according to 1 John 3:2 lies in the future and is connected to rewards for us.  Presently we can be assured that the Father is indwelling us. 

“Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My Words, and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.” John 14:23-24   

When we love the brethren, people can see the fact that there is an indwelling God. 

This reminds us of Jesus’ comments in Luke 14:12-14. Jesus’ description of this banquet is a metaphor for life and this tells us to love those during one’s life who cannot ever repay us. Clearly love involves dealing with the unlovely and is risky and sometimes difficult.  But that is what is required to make God visible. 

“And his love is perfected in us…” the idea here is not that we are absolutely perfect, or even that our love is perfect, but rather, God's love in us is reflective of our spiritual state of maturity when it is expressed in our love for one another.  We are the object of God's love and when we love the brethren this love of God can reach perfection in our love for others. 

This is how we express our love toward God; without this expression of love for one another the love of God in us would be defective or incomplete.  We should grow in spiritual maturity, so that our incomplete love can grow. We will please God when the love of God shows itself in us and its manifestation reaches the high level which God requires and with which God is pleased.  This is possible if we place our selves under the guidance of the Spirit.  

The implication however is that this love of God can even be non-existent – “the love of God is not in us”. 

This passage cannot be used to demonstrate the doctrine of sinless perfection, or to prove that Christians are ever absolutely perfect in this life. It proves only that love to God is not complete, or fully developed, unless it leads those who profess to have it to love each other.

Verse 13.   “Hereby know we that we dwell in him…” We are assured of our ‘abiding’ in God when there is the accompanying evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

“And he who keeps His commandment dwells in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He gave to us.” 1 John 3:24.   

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:16.  The indwelling Holy Spirit is evidenced by the fruit that he produces in us.  “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” etc., Galatians 5:22-23. 

Love is His first-fruit. Galatians 5:22.  The remaining fruits of the spirit are all expressions of love; the fruit themselves are the clearest evidence of the possession and working of the Holy Spirit in our life. 

The possession of the Spirit should be a fact for every believer.  Emotions do not determine whether one is of God.  It is possession of the Spirit.  Note also that possession of the Spirit involves the supreme doctrinal test that Jesus is the Christ ‘come in the flesh’.  That is how our study chapter begins. 

Note also that it is belief in Jesus and who he is that produces this new birth, which in turn produces love.

Verse 14.  Possession of the Spirit will inevitably lead God's people to testify. John follows the internal evidence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the external evidence that the apostles were eyewitnesses to the fact that God had sent his son to be the Saviour of the world.   

The incarnation is the most profound evidence that the Father had really manifested his love. John insists that we must understand that the Father sent the Son.   

This in turn is the teaching of Scripture that Jesus the Christ was the eternal Son of God.  He was always the Son and their relationship was an eternal relationship 

It interesting to note that John does not say that Jesus came to save the world, but John states that he came as the Savior of the world.  This means that only those who believe in his name would be saved.  See John 5:40 and 8:21.  Those that do not believe in him would not be saved. 

John evidently laid great importance on this subject and thus he repeats for the reader's sake the gravity of this subject, restating the evidence by which we are affirmed and in which we can find assurance.

Verse 15.   “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God…” John has given us the test for the internal evidence, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the fruit produced by him.  However, this test does not stand alone, but is accompanied by the doctrinal test, that is a restatement of verse two. 

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God” 1John 4:2. 

He stresses the importance of sound doctrine, for it is also evidence of one's possession of the Holy Spirit and true love for God.  The proper confession is a ground of assurance that God resides in a person and he in God. 

John gives us a measuring stick whereby we can determine whether or not one possesses the spirit of truth or the spirit of error.  This is the first test of a true teacher: they acknowledge and proclaim that Jesus is God incarnate, God in human flesh.

It is not a mere confess that Christ came to earth, but they confess that he came in ‘the flesh’ to the earth.  Thus his human body was physically real.  Both the full humanity and full dirty of Jesus must be equally maintained if one is considered to be genuinely led by the Spirit. 

The spirit of the antichrist is that which distorts and denies the true nature of Christ.  Thus if one performs acts of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, etc. and yet deny the true humanity and deity of Christ; these acts are not the fruit of the spirit, but counterfeit.

Verse 16.   Having declared to us the truth of the love of God, John is not afraid to dwell on the subject, for he knows that in it the believer will find true assurance. 

Thus he reiterates that God is love.  If one abides in the love of God one can also be assured that God dwells in him. One writer says:-

“What trials may we not bear, if we feel assured of that! What dark cloud that seems to hang over our way, and to involve all things in gloom, will not be bright, if from the depths of our souls we can always say, “God is love!” 

Indeed the effects of one dwelling in the love of God are far-reaching; and if this love were to prevail everywhere in the earth, the world would be a far different place.   Love would remove all the corrupt passions, the crimes, the jealousies and the wars on earth; producing a heavenly bliss.

Verse 17.   The meaning is, “the love that is within us, or in us, is made perfect.” The expression is unusual; but the general idea is, that love is rendered complete or entire in the manner in which the apostle specifies. In this way love becomes what it should be and will prepare us to appear with confidence before the judgment-seat. 

That we may have boldness on the day of judgement - the influence and operation of the love of God in our hearts frees us from the fear of the wrath to come.  The sentiment is common, that he who has unquestioned love would have nothing to fear on the day of judgement, knowing that his eternal destiny has already been determined. His appearance before God is to receive the reward for faithful service. 

Because as he is, so are we in this world - the ways of the believers’ confidence is that we have and demonstrate the same character traits which the Saviour had. When Jesus was here he was fearless, faced the plotting, false accusations and rejection with no uncertainty about what he had to do.  He knew that he was dependent on and protected by his Father.  

We are like him.  We too live in dangerous situations but we do not have to be afraid, for the love of God drives out fear.  We do not fear the world and we do not fear judgment.  We know that we will all face the judgment of Christ, but we do not fear.  We reach out to the world that hates us and love them. 

God is love and that love that indwells us and permeates all that we do produces in us the character of Christ and we can have confidence for we are accepted in the beloved.

Verse 18.   There is no fear in love… - love and fear are incompatible, love only seeks the good of the one to whom it is given.  Just as the love we have for a parent, a child or a friend, there is no fear in that relationship which is bound by love. 

Our relationship to God, having been reconciled to him by the blood of Jesus Christ is secured by the bonds of love. The Scripture also declares that “God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”(2Tim. 1:7)           

But perfect love Casts out fear - when we are abiding in God and God abides in us, when his love is perfected in us and we have reached a state of maturity and completeness, it delivers the mind from all fears and alarms. 

He that feareth, is not made perfect in love -  Uncertainties about salvation is a reason to fear. A person may be immature in the ways of salvation and love has not reached its operational potential in their lives and so there might be fear.  Also a carnal mind will be subject to all kinds of fears.

There are four states in which a man may find himself concerning the operation of love or fear that John speaks about.

1.         Reckless, and worldly men in general, have neither the fear nor love of God.

2.         Deeply awakened and distressed penitents have the fear or terror of God without his love.

3.         Babes in Christ, or young converts, have often distressing fear mixed with their love.

4.         Mature Christians have love without this fear; because fear hath torment, and they are content, being filled with God.

1.         We must not suppose that the love of God shed abroad in the heart is ever imperfect in itself; it is only so in degree. There may be a less or greater degree of what is perfect in itself; so it is with respect to the love which the followers of God have; they may have measures or degrees of perfect love without its fullness. There is nothing imperfect in the love of God, whether it be considered as existing in himself, or as communicated to his followers.

2.         We are not to suppose that the love of God casts out every kind of fear from the soul; it only casts out that which has torment.

1.         A filial fear is consistent with the highest degrees of love; and even necessary to the preservation of that grace. This is properly its guardian; and, without this, love would soon degenerate into listlessness, or presumptive boldness.

2.         Nor does it cast out that fear which is so necessary to the preservation of life; that fear which leads a man to flee from danger lest his life should be destroyed.

3.         Nor does it cast out that fear which may be engendered by sudden alarm. All these are necessary to our well-being. But it destroys,

1.         The fear of want;

2.         The fear of death; and

3.         The fear or terror of judgment. All these fears bring torment, and are inconsistent with this perfect love.

Verse 19.   We love him, because he first loved us – The pre-determinate and purposeful will of God demonstrates his love by choosing us in Christ, before He even created the world.  In eternity past God purposed to die to redeem his people.  Why God chose to do it this way is a matter of his own counsel and infinite wisdom.

However there are a few points one can make; knowing that while we were actively at war with God, he moved in an act of love to save us, not in a passive manner, but a self-sacrificing demonstration of power and love.  Warming our hearts, translating us from death to life and quickening our minds, we come to love God because He first loved us. 

This is the foundation of our love to God.

1.         We love him because we find he has loved us.

2.         We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude.

Taken in the narrow sense, it should be clear that any two believers possessing the indwelling Holy Spirit, should habitually demonstrate love toward one another, because it is the work of the Holy Spirit that is actually producing this love in us.  This however should not be taken to mean that there might not be significant disagreements.  But in any case this teaches that all persons in disagreement do have to be careful that they do not violate the essence of love. 

If this is the exception rather than the rule in ones life, it is probable that one’s profession is false.  When we consider the context and John's strong disagreement with the false teachers, we see the situations that are required before we can draw a firm line between those who speak the truth and those who do not.  Those who do not have the Holy Spirit do not love. Those that do have the Spirit must love those who do have the Spirit, for they are brothers. 

The Scripture states it quite bluntly in this verse and 1 John 1:6 – He is a liar.  Such a declaration exposes the seriousness of this matter.

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 

John goes on to make an analogy arguing from the natural realm, that it is more reasonable to expect that we love those who we have seen and know personally.  If a professed Christian, does not love one who bears the divine image, whom he sees and knows, how can he love that God whose image he bears, whom he has not seen?

Verse 21.   John’s conclusion is the acknowledgment and restatement of what Jesus himself has commanded.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another.   By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another.” John 13:34-35 

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12

“These things I command you, that you love one another.”

The command to love our brethren is as obligatory as that to love God.  One can never furnish evidence that he is a true Christian, unless he manifest love to his brethren as well as love to God.

For those who may genuinely be in the faith but struggle in this area, they evidently have much room for spiritual maturity and should petition God for the grace to love their brethren as He has loved them. 

For those who claim to be in the faith a long time or consider themselves spiritually mature yet struggle in this area, they would be advised to examine themselves to see if they are really in the faith. 

This consolation we do have – that God is faithful and just to forgive us of all sin and cleanse us from unrighteousness; if we just go to him we will find that God is truly Love.

CONCLUSION

Today’s lesson is quite poignant in that it shows why many lack true fellowship with God and man. It points out the seriousness of not loving one’s brother and the affects of unresolved situations. 

The matter is not complicated at all; if we are the children of God, then we have the indwelling Spirit of God and it is He that causes us to love one another.  If we quench this work of the Holy Spirit then we will not have assurance or boldness come the day of judgement. It is possible that one does not even possess the Spirit, despite ones profession. 

If we love one another then this love will build confidence and banish fears.  We love God and reverence him; we cannot love God and come to him in love, and at the same time, hide from him in terror (Romans 8:14, 15; 2 Timothy 1:7) 

If you love God you will obey him and if you obey him as commanded you will certainly love your brother.