That's one of my favorite contemporary reminders of what the gospel is all about. It's not about us climbing, it's not about us trying, it's about us standing, and where we stand is on God's gift in His Son. And sometimes that's all we can. Sometimes God chops our legs from under us so all we can do is stand, tired of our try. And our climbing and our, and so we can just stand. I think, Brother Singleton, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to introduce myself. So as I was looking at it, I said, well, it does say introduction of speaker, Pastor Ken Jones, and then the speaker is Pastor Kenneth R, so maybe I could do the whole alter ego thing. I figured that would be weird, so we counted up as a misprint and just let someone else do it. And I do thank him for his very gracious and kind words. He's been a delight to work with all of the ministers here and Jarvis in particular. He didn't mention that when I first came, there was a resume on file for him to become. He was applying. Probably the only minister I know that was applying, when they found out that was an opening in a church, he wasn't applying to become the pastor. He sent his resume in to be the assistant. And I'm grateful that God worked that out where it could happen. It seems as if so many things just kind of led us to this point in time. I was listening to the history and I thought about it even before that the name of the church, which confuses a lot of people in different parts of the country, Arizona, there's a Glendale Arizona, but particularly the book that was from which the church derived its name, it was about a church that was in Glendale, California. And interestingly enough, about three weeks before we moved to Miami, there was a church in Glendale, California that asked if I would preach before I left the state at their church. So I was in Glendale, California, and it was a Presbyterian church that I preached at a number of times. And so they were promoting it last time in California. So it was at Glendale, in Glendale, and as I was preparing to go to Glendale. So there was so many different things that how God has brought our paths together. One thing that we discover is that God, not us, knows what He's doing. And certainly I never would have thought, as my wife and I said a number of years ago, that in our 50s we decided to run away from home. So here we are, and we're grateful to God for the privilege of serving Him and His people in this location. Our scripture this evening is taken from 1 John chapter 4, I want to look at verse 17. That's 1 John chapter 4, verse 17. And it reads as follows, by this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world, amen. And there are three movements that I want to make in looking at this. First off we want to look at John singular intent here, and we'll look at what that intent is. Secondly, there are two things that He addresses in making His point known, and then thirdly I want to rest on that second point that He makes. So here's the singular intent. John singular intent in this passage seems to be to prove to His readers the perfection of God's love towards His church, the perfection of God's love to the church. That's His intent. And so it's for this reason that He says by this love is perfected. By this love is perfected. Now the word that's translated here as perfect or perfected means complete. I like Jonathan Edwards definition of perfection or perfect. Word says that which is perfect is that which can neither be improved upon nor diminished. Therefore in this verse John makes the point that the love of God for the church which He says, this love of God, He says this love of God is manifested in verse 9, He says the love of God towards the church is manifested in Him sending forth His Son as proof of His love. But the point that John is making here is that the love by which God has loved the church is perfect. It is complete. In other words, God's love for the church is fixed and unchanging. It is mind-blowing for us because what that means is God neither grows in His love towards us nor does His love for us ever fade. God does not love us more and more every day. His love for us is a fixed, He cannot love us more. We can all think of some people that we now love, amen, right? I tease my younger sister, she's 11 years younger than me and my wife and I tease her at times. Shonda, we always love you but there was a time I could not stand you, loved you but between 14 and 16 couldn't stand you. And now as I see her grow as a mother and as a woman, the love continues to grow. And that's okay. That's natural. My wife and I have been married for 35 years and our love for each other continues to grow. And I pray that it would continue to grow but I'm a finite creature. So therefore love has to grow within me. It has to because I'm in flux, I'm in a state of flux. Now there are some folk that we love a little less today than we did yesterday, isn't that true? And so that's the way we see love. That's the way we see love. And we have a tendency to put God's standard of love in our grit of love. So because we grow in our love for God and the truth of the matter is we don't always love him equally or forcefully or as as forcefully as perhaps we did at one time, we kind of understand if God is growing in his love for us. After all when you talk about the church, what are we talking about? We're talking about a people that are full of faults and full of failures. But yeah, here's the point that John wants to get across to the church, that God loves you with a perfect love. And the perfect love of God towards you means that he can never love you more. And it also means that he'll never love you less. Oh, brothers and sisters, what a thought. John has, has, has marveled at the depths of God's love. Even in this epistle he says, what manner of love is this that we should be called the children of God? And what he tells us is the love with which God has loved us is a perfect love. It can never grow and it can never be diminished. Brothers and sisters, this is true for us individually and is true for us collectively, that the love that God has for us has already been perfected. Now, let's look at how John proves this point because that's his singular point. His singular point here, which is really the basis of all of the other other exhortations that we see in this brief epistle where he admonishes Christians to demonstrate love towards one another, he admonishes them to forgive one another, and he gives them reason because you have been love. But then he says, but, but here's the bottom line because people are quick to put conditions on love. We love until or we love unless we love up until a point or we will love you unless we grow in love and John says, but here's no, we're not talking about your love. And sometimes I think people get that mixed up in reading first John, they think that John is talking about our love, our love for God, our love for one another. But no, he is really talking about God's love for us. And he says, here it is, it is a perfect love. And it's interesting that improving this point, improving that God's love for us is a perfect and therefore unchanging love. We see secondly that John points us to consider to what I would consider to be irreversible and irrefutable facts that are anchored in the person of Jesus who is the manifestation of God's love. In other words, here's what John does in this singular verse in verse 17. What he does is he points us in order to prove that God's love is a perfect love that can't be improved upon and can't be diminished. He anchors it in the fact that God's love for us is demonstrated in the gift of His son. And in his gift of his son, there are two irreversible and irrefutable facts that Christians and individually and church bodies collectively ought to stand on. Here's the first one. First proof of God's irreversible love for us or his mind blowing love for us as it is manifest in Jesus who is the manifestation of God's love. In the first place, God's love is perfected in Christ in that we have confidence in the day of judgment. We have confidence, he says, in the day of judgment. Now some have interpreted the day of judgment to refer to trials that will experience in this life. But that may be the case and certainly I guess you could apply it in that way. But it seems that what John is addressing here is not judgments or trials that we face in life. But it seems as if his point of reference is the day of judgment. And so here's what John is saying. Here, God loves you completely. Is it well, how do we know? Because he gave his son and there are two great, irrefutable fruits of the love of God towards us in his son that we must recognize and one of them is we have confidence in the day of judgment. Verse 18 flashes it out a little more for us. Notice what it says, perfect love casts out fear. And what is the fear that he is alluding to here? It is the fear that should be associated with verse 17 and the day of judgment. So perfect love, which he says in verse 17, this is love perfected that we have confidence in the day of judgment. Why? Because verse 18, perfect love casts out fear. Now brothers and sisters, this does not mean fear of scary movies. It does not mean that believers, if we, if we perfect our love, then we won't be afraid of tomorrow. That's not what he's addressing here. What he's saying is because God's love is perfect for us as it is manifest in Jesus, then that means those who are the recipients of this perfect love can face the day of judgment without fear. Because perfect love, his perfect love has cast out fear. Now the reason he is perfect love is cast out fear. In fact, what is the fear that's associated with the day of judgment? Well, the fear that's associated with the day of judgment is that sinful creatures must stand before holy God. And the fear is that our unrighteousness will cause us to face the wrath of God. You'd be surprised at how many Christian people are hoping and praying that they have done enough so that they can stand in the day of judgment. But here's what John says. Perfect love has taken away the fear of facing God in the day of judgment. Now the reason for that, the reason the perfect love of God has removed any fear from us for the day of judgment is because in two places, chapter 2, verse 2, and also here in chapter 4, verse 10, John says that Jesus who is the manifestation of God's love for us is the propitiation for our sins. Perfect love of God, which gives us Jesus, gives us a propitiation for our sins. Now a propitiation is a sacrifice to God that takes away the enmity between us and God. So here's what he's saying is that here is God's perfect love for you. You quit questioning whether or not he loves you. Let me boil it down to these two things. Here is the proof of God's love for you. The proof of his love is the sending of his son. And to prove that it's an unchanging love, he takes us to the farthest regions of the future, which is the day of judgment. And he says, now because his love for you is perfect, what that means is you have confidence in the day of judgment. The reason we'll have confidence is not because when the Lord calls us before him, I don't know how that's going to play out. I know there are various places in scripture. I don't know how he's going to do it if we go into a room one on one and have to, I don't know how that's going to play out. All I know is that every image bearer of God must stand before God as judge. And that's got to be terrifying. And John knows that it's terrifying. But he says, if you are the recipient of God's perfect love, then the day of judgment you can stand in confidence. Why? Because perfect love has cast out fear. And the reason is cast out fear is because the manifestation of his love is the gift of his son. And the gift of his son has offered the one singular sacrifice that has removed forever the enmity between us and God. So the accepted sacrifice for our sins, which was offered by Christ, has effectively removed God's wrath from us forever so that the perfection of God's love means that we have an immovable irreversible confidence in the day of judgment. Brothers and sisters, do you understand that in the day of judgment, I did the best I could is not enough? Do you know that in the day of judgment? But my heart was in the right place, which it wasn't, is not enough? Do you know that I'm not what I ought to be? But thank God I'm not what I used to be, is not enough? Brothers and sisters, the only thing that can remove the dread that any conscious image bear of God ought to have when he knows or he or she knows that they will have to stand before the judge of the whole earth is to know for fact that the enmity has been removed. Herein is love perfected that we have confidence in the day of judgment. And the reason we have confidence in the day of judgment is because the love of God towards us is manifest in his son, and his son has offered a propitiation for our sins, which means they will never be raised again. But brothers and sisters, John has a second proof of God's unbridled love towards us that is beyond our scope to believe. The proof, the second proof that he offers of God's perfect love for us has to do with how God sees us and what he declares about us, which also can be connected to his commitment to us as well as his communion with us. Notice what John says, that here's perfect love, perfect love is seen in this, that we have confidence in the day of judgment and unshakable confidence in the day of judgment knowing that our sins have been removed. And so the wrath of God will never come upon us, and so God will not cast us out. We stand fully and finally in the perfect work of his son. But then John also says this, here's the way God sees us as he is so are we in this world. Now for John, that is proof of how much God loves us and the perfection of his love. As he is, so are we in this world, that is both how God sees us and what God says about us. How does he see us? He sees us through him, the hymn in this passage as we'll see in a moment refers to his son. And what does he say about us? He says about us what he says about his son as we are in this world. So in other words, the second proof of God's perfect love for us has to do with God's commitment to us and his communion with the church until the day of judgment, which is how I would describe that last clause which leads us then to the third thing, which is a fuller explanation of that mind-blowing unbelievable statement that God makes about us. Hold in mind who we're talking about here. Do we have any perfect people in here? Do you believe in Jesus? Well all of you perfect people that believe in Jesus. God says about you that as he is, so are you. As his son is, so are you. And he doesn't say you will be in heaven. He says how he sees you in this world is the same way that he sees his son who is in heaven. Let's unpack this thought just for a moment. I want to explore it first by looking at two grammatical notes here about this statement, two grammatical notes, the first place which we've already alluded to, first of all the pronoun he in this verse refers to Christ. It's not referring to God the Father, it's referring to Christ. And in other words, so as Christ is as Christ is presently, as he is seated at the right hand of the God of the Father, so are we in this world. As Christ is right now in heaven is how God sees you right now on earth.
That's how he sees you. The reason no one can bring any charge against God's elect is because God sees us as he sees his son. And so therefore it's like saying well there's guilt in his son. He's saying no guilt in my son. Therefore, there is no guilt for those who are in my son. As he is, as Jesus is. So are we not when we get to heaven, not in our glorified state. The Father sees us that way right now. So I know one can bring any charge against us. God is not seeing that. I was sharing with our Tuesday night class about, and I think I did it on on a Tuesday morning also in the book of numbers when, and I think it's in the 23rd chapter in the 4th or the 3rd prophecy of Balaam towards the children of Israel. And the Lord says something rather interesting as he talks about Israel. In fact, if you look in the book of numbers, the interesting thing about the children of Israel, we see nothing but their sin and their complaints. We see them messing up. We see them not trusting the Lord. We see them bickering against Moses and rebelling against the leading of God through Moses. We see them. In fact, the earth opens up and squalows up a whole bunch of those that had been exhorting themselves and rebelling against the leadership of God. But yet, the way the Lord speaks of his children in the prophecy that he gives to Balaam is interesting. So if you look in verse 24, in chapter 24, the Lord says this about, or I'm sorry, yeah, chapter 24, the way the Lord sees Israel, the way he sees these people who sins have already been made clear. He looks out, and no, actually, it's in chapter 23, chapter 23 in the second, let's see, I think it's in the second prophecy, and it says of Israel. In chapter 23, beginning in verse 20, here's what the Lord says through Balaam about the children of Israel who sins have been thoroughly cataloged throughout their whole wilderness journeys. But in beginning in verse 20, it says, behold, I received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. He has not beheld misfortune or, in depending on your translation, transgressions in Jacob. He has not nor has he seen trouble in Israel. Basically, what he's saying is Israel is fine. He said, wait a minute, no, no, no, no, no, no, I, I read the notes. I know what Miriam and what Aaron did. I know what they did. I know about the rebellion. I know about the golden calf. I know about that stuff. But God says, but I don't see it. I don't see it. Why doesn't he see it? Because he sees the blood on the altar. So brothers and sisters, here's the good news for the people of God. The people of God has God's irreversible love towards them. And the gift of his son includes the atonement or the propitiation for their sins. So therefore, God does not see us according to what we haven't done that we should do, or those things that we have done that we shouldn't do. What God sees us through is his son. So here's what John says, as he is, as he is, as the gift, the bearer of God's love, the one who took our wrath in our place, as he is, so are we in this world. So the first grammatical note is to identify who the he is. The second thing, so the reason this is important, by the way, to recognize that who the he is in this verse is because Jesus, the he, is the manifestation of God's love in verse nine. But also in verse nine, we are told that we live in him. We live in him. That's John describes it in the latter part of verse nine of chapter four. He says in verse nine, he says that in this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. So our lives as Paul says in Colossians is hidden in Christ. So in order to see us, you've got to see Jesus. And what God sees when he sees Jesus is he sees his righteousness. But his, he is, is referenced here because also in chapter two, verse one of first John, John says that Jesus is our advocate. So again, if you have a problem with the children of God, then you've got to take it up with the advocate. And the advocate makes it all right. In other words, we know that we have an adversary and adversary brings up our faults. But our advocate shows us his virtue. See, the advocate shuts up the adversary because the adversary, the adversary, by the way, doesn't have to make up anything. He doesn't have to lie on us. Amen. I know. It's amazing. He doesn't have to make up. All he has to do is say what is. But our advocate doesn't have to make up anything either. All he has to do is show his wounds. Brothers and sisters, the he in verse 17 is Jesus. So as Jesus is in heaven, so are we in this earth. But there's another grammatical note that we need to make here, not only pointing out who the he is. And by the way, he's also called in chapter two, verse one, he is called Jesus Christ the righteous. And so the righteous is the way the Father sees us. But here's the second grammatical note. The second grammatical note is the fact that this is an indicative statement. It's an indicative statement, which means it's simply a statement of facts. In other words, this is not a command that tells the church to be what to be in this world. This is not a command telling us to we ought to be in this world as Christ is. No, this is not a command. This is not us telling. This is not John telling us to prove our love to God by trying to be more Christ like. This is not John passing out, WJD bracelets, or even not only what Jesus do, is not even telling us to emulate what Jesus has done in order for us to prove our love to God. Because brothers and sisters, the point of this passage is not our love to God. The point of this passage is God's love to us. And so this is an indicative statement. It is simply giving us a statement of facts and here's the statement of fact. Here is the perfection of God's love towards us. We know what we are. And so does our adversary. And so does God. But because he has poured his love for us out in his son, how the father sees us in this world in your broad daylight public moments and in your deep dark private moments. When you're by yourself or when you're with a whole congregation, here is what the father says about you. As you are in this world, you know how you are? You are as Jesus is in heaven. Here's what we say, Lord, I know I'm not like Jesus. How many of us are quick to say, well, I'm not Jesus. But thank God God doesn't see it that way. He sees us as his son. And he sees us even with our flaws, even with our failures, the father sees us continuously as his son. That's why this state is as a statement of God's commitment to us. Because as he sees us is what he's conforming us to be. He is making us that way. He is leading us in that way. But here's how he sees us. He sees us as if we are his son. Others and sisters, this is a statement. This is an indicative statement. This is a statement of facts. Don't let anybody fool you. I hear what Christian say, and I know what they mean. Well, you know, God can't use a dirty vessel. And we'll say, well, you know, if you make one step, he'll make two. We hear all of that. We hear that, you know, I know God would never leave you, but you can leave him. Sin doesn't, it doesn't separate the soul from God, but it breaks fellowship. But here's what God says. As his son is in heaven, so he sees you in this world. Brothers and sisters, that's just a fact. As he is. So are you when in this world? And how is he that brings us to the third consideration then? What is Jesus at present? What is he? How does the Father see Jesus right now? That's important for me because how he sees the sun in heaven is how he sees me right now. Brothers and sisters, we, the Father sees the sun as a one of his, as the apple of his eye. That's how he sees him. He sees him as one in whom he is well pleased. That's how the Father sees him. The Father sees him as having completed the work that was assigned to him so that where every other priest had to go in and stand up, the Father says, go ahead and have a seat. The Father sees him as being everything that he is required of all of his image bearers. I like the way Paul says it in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30. He says, and because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Right now, Jesus is the manifestation of God's love to this world. Right now in heaven he is the manifestation and the proof of God's love to a fallen world and right now in this world, those who are in Jesus is proof to a dying world that they can be forgiven by holy God. Brothers and sisters, Jesus is not only the righteousness of God. He is the very image of God. He is the embodiment of God's love. And what are we in this world? We are the embodiment of God's love. That's why, as we've noted last week from 2 Corinthians, Paul says that the church has been given both the message of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation. I was reading a story or actually saw a clip. I think it was from 60 minutes or from CBS News from the last couple weeks and it was about a young man in a small town in Michigan, young African American man. He was walking down the street and an overzealous police officer, a white police officer who said he left home that day looking to make another drug bust. So he encounters this young man and he pulls him over and and plants drugs on him and then arrests him for dealing drugs. Young man spends four years in prison. And he said that when he went in he had one desire that is to hurry up and get exonerated and get out so he could hurt that cop, that dirty cop who put him in jail. In the interim, the police officer is arrested. They find out that not only had he falsified the arrest but he had also, he was also guilty of stealing money. He ends up doing time in prison. Both of them are ultimately well when the police officer is arrested, the young man is exonerated. By this time he's lost his job, he's lost his reputation and he's looking to get revenge. I don't know what point he became a believer but at some point after he's released from jail he is working for a faith-based employment agency who sent him on a job. When he gets to the job the police officer that had arrested him was now out of jail and had been placed in the same job by the same agency. And when he looked at him the police officer went up to him and apologized for the wrong that he did. And the man who had been waiting for all of these years to get revenge all he could say is I forgive you. They embrace one another as brothers in the Lord. No bringing up well you know you cost none of that and so something happened so that God could bring them in the world and all I could think about is as he is so are we in this world. Now all I could think about is Jesus on the cross crucified by sinful hands and all he could say is Father forgive them they know not what they do. What is Jesus right now at the right hand of the Father? He's visible proof of God's love to sinners and what are we in this world? We are visible proof of God's love to sinners. Brothers and sisters God's love does not grow and God's love does not fade and as he sees us today is the way that he sees his son our greatest incentive to be to do to to to now to to live out our greatest incentive is not fear of judgment because that's already been removed our greatest incentive to live to the glory of God is what God says about you and how God sees you right now think of the grudges that you hold think of the sin that grips your soul think of the darkness that you have harbored and here's what the Father says about you as my son is so are you it would make sense if he said well what you're going to be this is what you're going to be in the day of glory when we all get our story crowns this is what no here's what here's the greatness of God's love for you that as Jesus says right now that's how the Father sees you right now in this world this is love perfected this is the proof that he can't love you anymore and this is the guarantee that he'll never love you in U.S. that Jesus is for us a living advocate through whom the Father can see us and mend our brokenness and in Jesus is the righteousness of God and we also are the righteousness of God happy church anniversary