Well, on this Christmas Eve, I have a question for you. If an angel of God appeared to give you a message from God, would you listen to that message? I want you to think about that. You see a bright light. You see a spiritual being who speaks to you and says, this is from God. Would you listen to what that angel says? Now, what if it wasn't you? What if the angel came to someone that you know, someone that you would trust, someone that's close to you, your spouse, your parent, your child, a friend of yours, and they came to you and they said, hey, I had an angel come to me with a message from God. Here's what the angel said. Would you listen to that message? Now, let's say it's somebody you don't know. Let's say it's somebody you haven't met before. But they're claiming that an angel of God came to them, and the angel of God told them something that you wouldn't expect, that they would find a baby lying in a manger, an animal feeding trough. And then these men who heard from this angel, they went there. They saw, just like the angel said, there was the baby lying in a manger, and they told the baby's mother and all who were there. They made it known to them, we saw an angel, and it's been written down. Would you listen then? Because that's what Luke 2:10-12 really is. So, if you've got the handout, if somebody gave you a handout when you were coming in here, if you could look at that with me, flip it over to the back side, and you'll see Luke 2:10-12 printed there for you on the right hand column. And this is what the shepherds are claiming that the angel said to them. And they went and they saw the baby lying in the manger, just like the angel said. And they made it known to everyone who was there. And then Luke came and he wrote it down. And so, here's what it says in Luke 2:10, “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not,’” which is always what angels have to say first, because when you see the glorious light of a spiritual being, everybody freaks out. That's usually what happens. And so, they always start with “’Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for’” who everybody? Who is it for? Not just the people who were there that day, not just the people who saw it with their eyes and heard it with their ears. No, this message was meant to be passed to everyone. Good news of great joy for all the people. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger,” which we're now used to seeing in nativity scenes from Christmas. But who here is putting their precious baby in the dog bowl, right? Or the or the cat bowl, or someplace where animals eat out of. That's not a normal thing to do with a brand-new human being. But that's what happened with Jesus, and that was a sign to these shepherds, that he was the Savior, the Christ, the Lord, and so that's the good news that we want everybody here to know today is that God loved you so much he sent his one and only Son to save you from your sins.
And if you could open up your Bible to 1 John, chapter four, if you don't have a Bible, it's printed on the front of the handout. We've been celebrating the Christmas of love here at our church, and we've been learning about how love is defined. God's definition of love coming from who God is. Because God is love. We've been learning that in 1 John, chapter 4 together this Christmas, and we come now to the conclusion of our study in verses 17 to 19. And so out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand up for the public reading of Scripture, and I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because we're here at Christmas present, remembering Christmas Past. And if you want to be prepared for Christmas future, then you need to hear what 1 John 4:17-19 has to say. Please follow along as I read.
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. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, have your seat. And we've been getting a definition of what love is here in 1 John 4. Let's just review what we've already studied. If you go back to verses 9 and 10, that's where we got our working definition of love. It says in 1 John 4, verse 9, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us,” or made known to us, “that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us, and he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” So, this is what we're here to remember. This is Christmas Past.
And if you do want to take notes there on the handout, we'll put this up here on the screen. Christmas past is “God loved us by sending his Son for our sins.” This is love as defined here in 1 John 4, 9 to 10, and that God sent his one and only son. Now all of us might have a sense of love, especially for our family, and hopefully we're going to get to celebrate with this Christmas. Maybe some of the family have even joined us. And you're visiting here today because you're with your parents, or you're with your brother and sister, or you're with your children, and you're coming together because we love one another as a family, and that's very natural. It's very natural for a father to love his son, a mother to love her daughter. See, what is happening here is supernatural. It's spiritual that God, he loves his Son, Jesus. He's pleased with his one and only Son, Jesus, the Father and the Son, they have a perfect relationship for all of eternity past, and yet, the Father sends his Son. See, that's not normally what we do on Christmas. We don't send out our sons and daughters. We want them to be home for Christmas, if only in our dreams. That's what we desire. But see, what's happening here is that the Father is sending his Son on a mission, on a search and rescue mission, and he's sending him out to be our Savior. And it says very specifically, he came to be the propitiation for our sins. He came to save us from sin. And why would God do this? Why would God look at people who are falling short of his glory, people who don't believe in him, people who maybe even take his name in vain, are against them? Why would God love those people so much to send them his one and only Son? Well, it's not because of us, it's because of him. That's who he is. We saw in verse 16, 1 John 4:16, “So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
Why does God do this? Because this is who God is. We have a loving God who wants to not judge people. He wants to save people, is his desire. He wants to rescue them from their sins, and he loves us so much he's willing to offer his perfectly righteous one and only Son as a sacrifice to pay for our sins. And so, this is coming from God. And if you really want to know love, you’ve got to know God, because that's where love comes from. He is love. And then we get to verse 17. Look at this verse with me. It says, “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of” what does it say there, everybody? “The Day of Judgment?” Hey, I thought this was all about love. Why is it bringing up judgment? Well, it's actually saying, if you really understand this, that love is what will give you confidence for the day of judgment. And so that's a really interesting thought. We want to understand that, because, “as he is, so also are we in this world.”
So, let's just start with this idea that love is perfected with us. In fact, if you've got the handout there, circle that word “perfected” there, because what that means is, it means that love has been made complete, or love has become mature. When we hear perfect, we might think immediately of something that's flawless, or something that's one hundred percent right, but “perfect” here, if we look up the other ways that this word is used throughout the Greek New Testament, it says, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” which means, have the same mature way of thinking, the same complete way of thinking, that even if other people don't love you, you can still love them, and you can love your enemies. You can love anyone because look at how God is loving to send his Son. You can learn from him. And as you learn from the love of God, love is then matured in you. Love is completed in you, love is made perfect as you learn to love like God has loved you.
So, this idea, you can see it's a key thought in these verses, circle “perfected” in verse 7, then it says in verse 18, “Perfect love casts out fear.” And then it says at the end of verse 18, “Whoever fears,” if you're still in that fear of judgment, well then that means you have not been perfected in love. So, three times here, in these three verses that we're looking at here on Christmas Eve, it has this idea of perfected love, mature love, complete love. And the idea is that you don't just receive the love of God, but God's love is made complete in you. God's love helps mature you, and you then are able to pass on God's love. In fact, we love because he first loved us.
So, I think a lot of us have actually maybe grown up thinking about Christmas the wrong way, because it's like God loves you. Jesus is the gift you need to receive, the gift, and open it. Well, actually, what 1 John 4 is saying is, if you really want God's love in the gift of Jesus, if you really want to receive it, well, let it be perfected in you. Let it be complete in you; mature in your thought that you are going to pass on that love. That's really the way that we receive the love. It is not just by trying to keep it for ourselves. No, the way that we would be perfected in love is we would love because he has first loved us. That's the idea here in 1 John 4, that you're going to end up loving other people because God has loved you, in fact, that you're going to love God and you're going to love Jesus, all because of his love for you. That's his love matured in you or made complete in you. Look back at verse 12, where it first brought up this idea of perfected love. 1 John 4:12, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” This is the idea that God is Spirit and we can't see God with our eyes. In fact, no man could really see the glory of God and live. But if we take the love that God has for us and we go and love one another. What does it say? Then “God abides in us and his love is perfected.” It's made complete. It's matured in us. When we love one another, people get a glimpse of the love of God. We're showing God by his love having its effect in us.
Now, this love that God has for you by sending Jesus to be the savior of your sins, that you would then know this love and pass it on to other people, this is super important, because it says, look back at verse 17, now that we have an idea of what it means for love to be perfected and well, we have to deal with this idea of confidence for the Day of Judgment. “Confidence,” here is a Greek word that we often refer to as “boldness”. So, you may want to write that down if you're taking notes, “Confidence equals boldness.” And you could write down Acts, chapter 4, verse 13, where it talks about the boldness of Peter and John to tell the Jerusalem council who had Jesus crucified. Now they're on trial with the same group, and they say there is no other way for anybody to be saved but the name of Jesus. And the guys in the Jerusalem Council who killed Jesus, they see Peter and John, and they notice their boldness, their confidence. So, in Acts 4, they're praying for boldness to speak the name of Jesus in the city of Jerusalem. In Ephesians 6:19-20, you might know that prayer where Paul prays for boldness. That's the same word here, except the boldness we're talking about here is a boldness that on the day I stand before God, on the day that I go before Jesus, in the Christmas future, when I meet Jesus, will I be bold to go in the presence of Jesus? Will I have confidence to go in the presence of Jesus?
Go back to 1 John, chapter 2, verse 28, and look at how it used this same word back in 1 John 2:28, it said, “And now, little children, abide in him.” Hey, remain in Christ. Stay in Jesus, so that when he appears, when Christmas future happens and Jesus comes back, that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
Someday, Christmas will not be a memory of a baby in a manger. Someday, Christmas will be celebrated as the arrival of a king on a throne. And if you went before the king on his throne, how would you feel if you weren't going to see a little baby in a manger, but you were going to see a mighty king, wearing a white robe, dazzling like the sun shining from his face, you can see glory, eyes of fire. If you saw him sitting on a throne, would you be like, yes, my Savior, the one who came for my sin, or would you be shrinking back from approaching the throne of Jesus? See, perfect love, if you really know the love of God, it will cast out, it will throw out that fear, and you won't have to be afraid. You could go before Jesus with boldness, with confidence. Yes, Jesus, he's my Savior. He took away my sin from me. I can't wait to stand before him. See, I wonder how many people here right now would feel like, yes, I'm ready to go and be judged by Jesus. I know what he did for me, because his love for you has thrown away any fear of judgment. And I wonder how many would actually be like, I'm not sure I want to go talk to Jesus right now, because 1 John 4:17, when it says that you could have boldness on the Day of Judgment, it's assuming that you believe and you understand and you know that there is a day of judgment that is coming. In fact, it says in verse 18 that you don't have to be afraid anymore. “Perfect love casts out fear. There's no fear in love, because fear has to do with…” does everybody see that there in verse 18? “fear has to do with” what, everybody? Punishment.
Okay, Jesus came because God loved me so much, he sent his one and only Son, and Jesus came to be the Savior. Oh, see, there's a real need of why I want a savior is because of my sins. And I have basically two options when it comes to my sins, either Jesus saves me from my sins, or then there would be punishment for my sins, judgment for my sins. That's the fundamental framework that the Bible gives us to think about life. In fact, the Scripture has already really established this theme by saying that the fear of Yahweh, the God of Israel, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of what, everybody? Wisdom and the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, he preached a sermon in the book of Ecclesiastes, and the very conclusion of his sermon is the end of the matter. When all has been said and done, you should fear God. You should keep his commandments, because we're going to be judged for everything we've done, whether it was good or whether it was evil. And so, this basic idea that there's a reckoning, there's an accountability, God doesn't give you life so you can just do whatever you want with it. God gives you life, and then at the end, you're going to answer to him for your life. See that fundamental idea, there's an assumption in our text.
Let's get this down for our assumption, if you want to take notes. The assumption is you should fear punishment for your sins. That's the premise that we're dealing with here. We're talking about a love that can cast out this fear. We're talking about a love that can override and throw away this fear. But we have to start with the reality that a fear is there, and I'm not sure everybody even understands that these days. I'm not sure everybody even accepts the premise that the beginning of wisdom is acknowledging that there is a God who will judge us according to what we do in this life, and that fearing that God, that's when you start to understand how life really works. That's wisdom. That's the beginning of learning how to live life skillfully, live life the way that God intended, when you know that there's going to be a punishment or a judgment for our sins. That's something that the Scripture is expecting everyone to understand. I don't know if we all agree on that here on Christmas Eve, but that's the premise. It is that you should be afraid of having to go before God and give an account for all of your sins, but if you really know the love of God that he sent Jesus, that Jesus humbled himself to be born as a baby, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, rose again to give us a new life and victory over sin, well then, that perfect love, that love that God has made complete and mature in us, well, I don't have to be afraid of going before Jesus anymore. I don't have a fear of judgment anymore. I know I'm not going to be punished for my sins, because that's why the Father sent my Savior.
See, that's why I love Christmas, because the gift that I got in Jesus is the forgiveness of all of my sins, the payment of all of my debt. I'm no longer afraid of punishment. Judgment. That's what love made complete in us can do is it can take that thing that we should be afraid of and it can throw it away. That's what the good news is here. But it's only good news to those who accept the premise of Scripture that there is a thing called sin where we fall short of the glory of God, and God's going to hold us accountable. He will judge us according to what we have done, and if we have sinned, he will punish us. Now, this word “punishment” that's used in 1 John 4:18, it's only used one other time in the Bible. And I’ve got to wonder, John, who's writing 1 John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, originally James and John, two of the twelve, the sons of thunder. Then he becomes a great writer of Scripture, the Gospel of John, 1, 2 and 3 John, Revelation. He writes all these books when he uses a word for punishment that is only used one other time. See, I wonder if he's doing that intentionally. I wonder if he's using that word to recall to our minds the other time that that word is used.
And so, I want to invite everybody, if you have a Bible, turn with me to Matthew 25:31-46, which is something that Jesus teaches at the end of his Olivet Discourse here in Matthew. It's two chapters about the future that Jesus gives in Matthew 24 and 25. And so, he says a lot about the future in these chapters, and he ends his sermon, his teaching on the future with this story. And I think that John, who doesn't want you to be afraid of punishment, because the love of God is made perfect in you, I think that John might be intentionally referring to this account by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46. Here's Jesus teaching. He says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.” Okay, so who is the Son of Man, everybody? What's his name? Jesus. That's the way he liked to refer to himself, because he humbled himself to become a man, right? Also, the Son of Man refers to one who looks like a man, who's riding on the clouds, receiving all glory and authority over the nation. So, Son of Man is this interesting phrase from Daniel and Ezekiel, and it talks about the humility of being a man, but then also how one like a man will end up with the authority to judge and to rule. And so, Jesus wants you to think about that future day, Christmas in the future, the Return of the King. And there he is, sitting on a throne. And I want you to imagine a long line of people approaching the throne, one by one, and you're further back in the line, and you can see what's happening up ahead. There's Jesus, the one the Bible talked about, the one that Christmas was about. There he is on his glorious throne. “Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.” Can you imagine this? Picturing this scene, let's say you're number sixteen. You’ve got fifteen people in front of you, and some of them are going to the right and some of them are going to the left. And you're probably really wondering to yourself, which way am I going to go right now? Are you like, yeah, I know where I'm going. Boldness, confidence. Or are you going to be somebody who's like, hey, I'll give you free cuts. Hey, everybody, you can go next. I'm in no hurry. You go ahead. See, this is a real kind of scenario that Jesus wants you to put yourself in and think through here. Look at what it says in verse 34, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” What an amazing thing. Welcome to the kingdom of God. This is why God loved you and sent me to die for your sins. Welcome to it. And he says in verse 35, here's the criteria by which he is welcoming them to the kingdom. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my” brothers, and who does he say there everybody, the least of these? My who? My brothers. “’As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Can you see this? Can you see the king on the throne, separating the people to the right and the left, and what's his criteria? If the love of God was completed in you? His criteria here is not, do you believe that the story is true? His criteria here is not, did you pray a prayer one time when you were moved by the Spirit? His criteria here is, did you really know the love of God so fully, so completely, that you passed it on to your brothers and sisters in Christ, even the least of them. You did it for them, just like Jesus came to do it for you, who has the love of God perfected, completed, matured in them. See, those are the people who can go boldly up to Jesus because they know they love their brother or their sister.
So, when this passage is often studied among Christians today, at churches like this one, people think, yeah, let's go help this person, or this person or this person. And there are a lot of people that need help at Christmas, and there are a lot of good things that you could do. I just want to draw your attention to how here specifically, it mentions brothers. And I don't think it's even talking about our physical families of brothers and sisters. I think it's talking about our spiritual family, where we all have the same father, and we're all adopted in by his love. And we are all children of God, related not by physical blood, but by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. So specifically here it's talking about fellow Christians, other believers, brothers and sisters, the people that are God's people, the people that make up the Church of Jesus Christ. And it's saying, hey, do you see the needs of your brothers and sisters, and do you love them? Because if you love people, if God's love is perfected in you, you don't have to be afraid on that day of judgment. You could throw that fear away. You can go boldly and confidently because you meet the criteria that the king on the throne is going to use.
So, let's get this down now for Christmas Future. Christmas Future: “Completed love will give you boldness before God.” Completed love, when you can really see the that God's love is not just believed, not just received, but it's passed on. It's freely received, and then it's also freely given. And so, as you see other brothers and other sisters in need, and you're there, oh, you're there. They're hungry, they're thirsty, oh, sometimes people get sick, we go visit them. Sometimes people get arrested, we go in. Sometimes, I think throughout the history of the church, that's referring to, like people who get persecuted, we go and we try to help them. It's talking about, hey, they're hurting financially, they don't have clothes, they don't have the things they need. And you help them. See, if you have love perfected in you, if God's love has changed you to where you pass it on, you can walk right up there before the king on his throne and know where you're going to go on that Day of Judgment.
But then look, there's another half to the story, verse 41, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” And let's just notice that word “eternal” there, everybody. I know that at the end of this year, there have been a lot of people talking online about what kind of judgment should people expect. Well, no, I just want you to notice that when Jesus is telling the story, he keeps using the word “eternal”. Jesus implies that everyone is going to live forever. It's just a matter of where you're going to be. We understand that our bodies will break down and they will die, but we are not just bodies. We are souls made in the image of God. And when God makes a soul, how could that soul be unmade? No, souls are eternal because they're made to be spiritual beings in the image of God, who is an eternal spirit. And so, notice here that this judgment determines eternal ramifications. That's what Jesus is saying. He will say to those on his left, “‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’” Jesus, when did that happen? “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” I would imagine just reading that, it could bring up a sense of fear. If there really is a heaven and a hell, if there really is a Judgment Day that is coming, if there really is a king who's going to sit on his throne and he's going to decide who goes this way and who goes that way, because he has the authority to judge the living and the dead, and his criteria is, did you really know my love and come to believe in my love in such a way that it was perfected in you, it was completed in you, so you passed it on to my people? I would imagine there are even some people here for whom that brings up fear for you on Christmas Eve. Well, what I'm here to tell you today is, if you really come to know and believe the love of God, that fear will get thrown away. And there are many of us here who can say amen to that. Can I get an amen from anybody?
I'll tell you what the greatest thing that ever happened to me was I became afraid. I became afraid that I would live my life in a way where God would judge me. And I didn't want that to happen. I knew that that this is a realistic scenario of the future, and I did not want to be judged by God. And when I saw that God loved me so much, he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, for my sins, to die in my place, to give me his righteousness, to give me his resurrected life, I was so thankful for the love of God that I believed in it, and it changed my life. And the longer I've known the love of God, guess what's happened? The more I've learned to care about other people, God's love, it has an effect. It doesn't allow me to just keep thinking about myself and my family. It makes me someone who's aware of others and their families, and what are they going through, and what do they know about Jesus, and how can I encourage them? And that love of God has become the driving motivation of my life, to the point where now I can know that God loves me, so that I even love his people. So now, when I think about going before God on a Day of Judgment, I am not afraid. Anybody want to say amen to that?
Well, the good news that we want to give, the great joy that we want to give to all people, is you don't have to be afraid of punishment on the Day of Judgment. If you know the love of God in Jesus, you can have boldness. You can have confidence. There are people who are not afraid to die. There are people who are not afraid of Jesus coming back, they don't fear the future, because they know what Jesus did in his love for them, and they've learned to pass that love on to other people. And when you know that, you know the love of God, and it's been so completed and matured in you that you really do love God's people, that fear is thrown away. Some of us, we're going to be ready to trade places and get to the front of that line, and then, some of us were going to want to shrink back.
And I'm so glad that you're here on Christmas present, so that you could be prepared for Christmas future, because he's not coming back like a baby in a manger. He's a king on a glorious throne, and he decides who lives in eternal life, and he decides who goes to eternal punishment. Jesus calls the shots in all our lives. You don't have to believe in Jesus for him to have authority over you. He doesn't need your permission. He got permission from God the Father.
And so, go back now to 1 John, chapter 4, and look at what it says. Let's read this now, now that we've kind of developed these terms of confidence and judgment and punishment. Let's look at these verses afresh. And it says here in verse 17, “This is how love is perfected,” or this is how the love that God has in sending Jesus to be the Savior for our sins. “This is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.” And here's the phrase we haven't really talked about yet, because, “as he is so also are we in this world.” So, we'll get back to that now. There is no fear in love. That's the good news we want everybody to hear. You don't have to stay in that place of fear. It starts with fear. And sometimes Christians misuse these verses to try to say, hey, see, we're never supposed to fear. No, there's supposed to be a fear. That's the assumption that there is a fear of God, that's the beginning of wisdom, but then the fear of punishment that is cast away as it's as your thoughts are perfected by God's love. And so look at what it says, this is the good news, “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out,” literally like throws out that fear, “For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.” So, notice these statements, if you want to underline the word “because” in verse 17, “because as he is so also are we in this world.” Or if you want to underline “because he first loved us,” this is what I want to say to so many brothers and sisters in Christ here on Christmas Eve. So many times, I think people think assurance of salvation is based on what we do, and if you base your assurance of your salvation on what you do, you will always have doubts. Your assurance will always go up and down. It will always be in a state of flux. Do you see this thought that God loved you, he sent his Son to be your Savior? He came to save you from your sins. And as that thought that God loves you is perfected in you, it's matured in you, as you live with that thought, as you grow in the knowledge of the love of God, as you see this desire rising up within you to pass on the love of God to other people, see now, what you're realizing is this isn't about what I'm doing. Look at what God's love is doing through me. See, I'm loving now because he first loved me. And your assurance comes from knowing God's love and seeing his work in your life; it's God's work that brings assurance, not our work.
And so, this idea that God loves you so much, it will have this effect to cause you to love other people. And when you love other people, you'll grow in your confidence before God. Because how could you really be loving these other people if it wasn't for God's love being made complete in you? We love because what he first loved us. Look at the verses that go on from there. Verse 20 and 21, “If anyone says, I love God,” which a lot of people do, “and hates his brother,” which a lot of people do, “he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his what, everybody? His brother. But do you see how this passage is saying how that works? When you know how God loves you and his love is made complete in you, then you pass that on to your brother. Now, if you're not passing it on to your brother, well that should cause you to wonder, hmm, I'm saying I love God, but I'm not loving my brother or sister in Christ. Oh, that should cause me to wonder why isn't the love of God being made complete or mature in me? But if you can see the love of God is making you complete or mature, that will bring you great assurance, great boldness, great confidence before God.
Now let's get to this phrase in verse 17, the other because is in verse 17, “because, as he is, so also, are we.” So, notice there's an “as he, so we” here. Well, what is that referring to? What's the “as he” and what's the “so we”? Well, to understand this, we’ve got to go back to chapter 3, verse 1, because this little phrase is referring to something already said in 1 John, “as he so we.” Look at what it says here, 1 John 3:1. Can you see? Look at this. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called,” what everybody? Children of who? God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” So, who is the “he”? Who's going to appear? Who are we going to see in his glory and be made like him? Who's the “he,” everybody? Jesus, and then who's the “we”? The we, clearly, is those who are children of God. This is what's so amazing about God's love.
This is what's so, so just kind of like inspiring for us here on Christmas Eve that God loved us so much he gave his one and only Son, his Son, whom he perfectly loved for all of eternity. He gave his Son and now, as he is so we are, that I am actually, by being adopted based on his love, I am a son of God, and all of us who believe in the love that God has for us, in Jesus, we have all been made children of God. We are brothers and sisters, and he is our Father. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? Can you believe that because God sent his Son, you get to be one of his sons or one of his daughters, that you get to experience the same perfect love that God has for his Son, Jesus, he now loves you in that same exact way that he would call you a son or a daughter. And see, that means we're not going to really fit in with the world, that that's you see how that's mentioned here in chapter 3, like it's saying the reason the world doesn't know us is they didn't know him. Well, if the world rejected Jesus, if the world killed Jesus, then the world's not going to understand those who are in the family of God, those who are brothers and sisters in Christ, as he so we.
And so, we're here in the world to show God's love. We're here in the world to love one another, just like Jesus loved his own who were in the world, and he loved them to the end. We're here to love God's people in the world to the end, as he did, so we're here to do, but we should expect that, as they treated him, so they will treat us as well, and not everybody will agree with our message of love. In fact, the very message of God's love made complete in us, so we would love other people, so there would be no fear of punishment. Some people even tell us that's a very harsh, unloving, judgmental kind of a message, because they will start with a different definition of love. They won't start with God's definition of love. They'll start with a definition of love that is very common today, that is one hundred percent acceptance of everything. It doesn't deal with the reality of sin, it doesn't deal with the reality of God. It just accepts everyone for who they are, without seeing no, no, no, there is evil, and God and his love sent his Son for those who are evil. That's what love is. Love is not treating everybody away because they're already that way and I already like them. No. Love is when somebody's not like you and yet you love them like they are like you. That's what God did when he made us sons and daughters. That's what God did when he sent his Son Jesus. He took people who were sinners, enemies, ungodly. I know people that God has saved, they hated God. I know people that God has saved, they talked bad about God and used his name in vain all the time. I know people who were so bitter and angry, they raged against God, and now they're my brother, they're my sister, and they love God.
See, that's the love of God. No matter who you are, he will adopt you into his family if you receive the love that he gave you in Jesus, and you let his love change your heart, and you let his Spirit give you the fruit of loving other people. God, he'll welcome anyone into his family, but even when you're different, he brings you in. That's love that we could be called children of God, sinners like us, are sons and daughters; as he so we. So, that's what we want to have this Christmas present.
Let's get this down. This is our application and Christmas present we want completed: “Love is passed on to God's people.” This is, hopefully the Christmas of love is going to change the way we here at this church, think about love moving forward all of our Christmases that we have between this year and when Jesus comes back to sit on that throne of David and to reign in the kingdom of God between this year and when Jesus returns. I hope that all of our Christmases will not be about how can me and my family receive love, but how can me and God's family pass on the love of God to one another? That's the goal here. Hey, no one has seen God, but if we love one another, they will see that God's love is being made complete in us. The completed love that God had in sending Jesus on Christmas is meant to be passed on to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the world will know we are his disciples by our love for one another.
So, I really hope you'll meditate on this. I really hope you'll put this into some serious thought. How are your Christmas celebrations going to change in the years to come? Because the point will not just be what did God do for me, but how can the love of God be completed in me so I can pass it on to other people. Angels really did come from God in heaven, and they appeared to some shepherds out in the field, keeping watch of their flock by night, and they said, we have good news of great joy. And who did they say it’s for? It's for everybody. Good news of great joy for who? All the people. Hark, can you hear what the angel said? Can you hear that there's good news that God loved you to save you from your sins? Can you hear that that perfect love of God, it can be made complete in you, and it can cast off your fear of judgment and punishment, and that you can take that love of God and you can give it to brothers and sisters in your new family that God adopts you into. Can you hear what the angels offered? Good news of great joy for you. I hope you're listening to the angels this Christmas. Let me pray.
Father in heaven, I just want to thank you that we could spend some time together as the atmospheric river rolls through Orange County. Thank you for getting everybody here. Thank you for everybody watching online. Father, I do pray that everyone will have a blessed Christmas celebration with their family, or just remembering what Jesus did when he came to save us. But God, I thank you for these verses that call us to consider who are we passing your love on to? Is your love really being perfected, completed, matured in us? I pray that you will really get us thinking about how could we pass on your love this Christmas. And then, Father, I just pray everybody here would consider Christmas future, that Jesus, he came once to save many from their sins, but it's been appointed that he's going to come a second time, and he's going to save everybody who's waiting for him, everybody who believes in him, everybody who's looking for him to come. They're all going to be saved. But what will happen to those who are not looking to Jesus when they come and stand before his glorious throne and they did not pass on his love to his people? Father, I pray that that would be something that if there is fear in anyone's heart here today, I pray that they wouldn't just dismiss that fear or try to say there's no reason to fear God. I pray that they could understand that there is a Day of Judgment that is coming, and we should all fear the punishment for our sins. The way to escape Judgment Day is not by ignoring it. The way to escape Judgment Day is not by acting like it doesn't exist. No, the way to escape Judgment Day is by seeing your love, that you sent your one and only Son, and that he paid for our sins. And if we could believe in your love and come to know your love, and abide in your love, your love will do such a work in us that we will love other people in the same way that you loved us, treating people that are strangers to us like they're our brothers and they're our sisters, taking things that you've given to us and giving them away freely to others, because we love them. And then when that day comes and we see Jesus on his throne, we won't have to shrink back, but we'll go up to the front of the line, and we'll be like, thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Thank you, Jesus, for loving me. Thank you, Jesus, that your perfect love has cast out any fear. What an amazing thing that we’ll be to see your glory and to not be afraid. What an amazing thing to know that people are in a line of judgment and to have no fear. God, we give you the glory for your love, and we thank you that we can celebrate it this Christmas, and that it casts out fear for Christmas Future. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.