1 John 4:1-21 - "Fervent Charity"

Draw Me Close: Podcast - A Ministry of Whitestone Christian Fellowship, with Pastor Bob Lawrenz

This week we come to the fourth chapter of John's first epistle. Pastor Bob shares some insight from the writing of the epistles to first couple of chapters in the book of Revelation. It was written about 6 years after John's epistles. When looking at John's epistles, we can easily see why there was a need for Revelation 2 and 3. The Holy Spirit had been showing John exactly what needed to take place, what needed to be done, and what needed to be written in order to restore true faith to the Christian churches, the churches of Jesus Christ.

John turns from the importance of love to the importance of belief in god's truth in the previous chapters.

In this epistle here in chapter 4, John commands believers to test the spirits. This is necessary if you’re going to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You have to know whatever information is coming to you by its source. Error is not benign; it is malignant. It is not human; it is demonic. Spiritual truth comes from the Holy Spirit and it is life-giving, life-sustaining, life-producing, God-glorifying, or it comes from demons. It is either the doctrine of God or the doctrine of demons. It is either that word which is sent and energized by the Holy Spirit, or it is that which comes from seducing spirits. And teachers are either the true teachers of God or hypocritical liars, espousing the doctrine of demons fostered by seducing spirits. We must know the difference because of the malignancy of error, because of the power of truth. The truth gives life; error kills. In the second division of this chapter (4:7-21), John is true to his pattern of developing the same subjects, each time broadening, expanding, and expounding their significance. John returns once again to the moral test of love. These verses constitute one long unit describing what perfect love is and that it is available to us.
Since God's nature is love, whoever is born of God loves. John makes the point that in the new birth, this aspect of the divine nature becomes part of who you are. The new birth is the imparting to you of divine life, and an indispensable part of that life is love. God’s nature is love, and in the new birth that nature becomes part of who you are. Love is, and love starts with God. Any love that we have is because we are connected with God by the new birth. We are born again into His family, as sons and daughters, and we have been given the Holy Spirit's abiding presence in our lives.