“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:14-1714And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:14‑17)).
We have already noticed that the manifestation of divine love is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. We had Christ presented to us in two different ways in verse 9 and 10. Because we were dead in trespasses and sins, the Father sent the Son that we might live through Him. Because we are guilty on account of our iniquity, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins.
John sums it all up in verse 14 and says, “We (the apostolic company) have seen (they who were witnesses who knew Christ personally), and do testify (bear witness) that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” Notice again, “The Father sent the Son”— the relationship of Father and Son did not begin after Jesus was born into the world; but from all eternity the Father and the Son dwelt together in hallowed fellowship. Christ is the eternal Son. He did not become the Son after He was sent, but “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” This does not imply, of course, that all men will be saved, but it does imply that God has provided a Saviour for all men, so that the great question between God and man to-day is not merely the question of our sins, or of our sinfulness by nature, or our sins in practice, but the great question that is up between God and man is this, “What are we doing with the Lord Jesus Christ?”
“God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). If we have accepted Him, put our trust in Him, then we know Him as Saviour. If we reject Him, all His wondrous work goes for naught as far as we are concerned, and only adds to our condemnation. But “whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth (dwelleth) in him, and he in God.” There is no other meeting-place between God and man except Christ Jesus. To own Him as a great Teacher does not save, to acknowledge Him as the greatest among the sons of men does not bring deliverance; but to own Him as Son of God, to put one’s trust in Him as Son of God, and thus confess Him before men, this alone brings salvation.
You find the word whosoever used in John’s writings over and over again. What an all-inclusive word it is! We read in John 3:16,16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) that grand old verse that Luther called the miniature Bible, that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It is strange that any one should question the universality or the offer of mercy with a verse like that in the Bible. “Whosoever believeth hath”— anyone in any circumstances or conditions who puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ enters into the present possession of eternal life. And so we read here, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” Mark, it is “whosoever shall confess,” not merely whosoever shall profess. There are a great many people who profess that they believe Jesus is the Son of God but they have never trusted Him as such. You cannot confess Him as Son of God until He is your own Saviour. You confess the One in whom you have trusted. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). But on the other hand, let us not forget that there is another very solemn “whosoever,” and that is also found in the writings of John, “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)). Think of the solemnity of that declaration. It is the same word, whosoever. “Whosoever believeth...hath everlasting life,” therefore the believer’s name is inscribed in the book of life. Whosoever refuses to believe, whosoever will not put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, “whosoever” is “not found written in the book of life,” must be banished eternally from the presence of God.
Consider it well. After all the gospel preaching you have listened to, after all the Christian people you have, known through the years, are you among those who have never yet definitely received the Lord Jesus Christ into their own hearts? I beg of you do not defer the settlement of this question for even one hour. Just where you are, lift your heart to God, tell Him you are the sinner for whom Christ died, tell Him that you are coming to Him for the salvation which He has provided through His blessed Son, and that you are trusting Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, as your own Saviour. Then go forth to confess Him before men, for, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him—God abideth in him—and he in God.”
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.” Have you? This is the declaration of faith, the declaration of one who has definitely laid hold of the gospel message for himself. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love.” This is the second time that statement is made in this chapter. We have already considered it in verse 8 “He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.” And now here again the Spirit reminds us that “God is love.” This is His very nature, this is the very essence of His being; and “he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God in him.” There you have fellowship in the light, according to the nature of God Himself. You cannot have fellowship with Him while harboring malice, unkindness, or hatred in your heart. It is impossible. All those things spring from that old corrupt nature inherited from Adam. But if converted we have received a new nature. We may sometimes forget Him for a time, and malice and envy and unkindness and hatred and all these evil things spring up anew; but as long as we are permitting any of these to bear sway in our lives, we are not abiding in love, and therefore not abiding in God, not living in fellowship with Him. Fellowship can only be enjoyed as we walk in light and in love.
Now that there may be no misunderstanding as to what this love is, he says in verse 17 (following the marginal reading), “Herein hath love with us been perfected, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.” I confess to you that there were years in my Christian life when I had the most confused ideas as to what these words really meant, and yet today I know of no passage of Scripture that gives me greater joy or seems clearer, than this verse which puzzled me for so long. Shortly after I was converted, I pored over it and said, “I can’t understand it.” Of course I was misled by the authorized reading, and did not notice how beautifully it is corrected in the margin. I pored over the words, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world,” and I said to myself, “If boldness in the day of judgment depends upon my love being perfect, how can I ever be sure that everything will be right with me?” I was looking at myself and within my own heart for perfect love, and as I searched that poor heart, I was always finding something there that was contrary to perfect love, and I would say to myself, “Am I ever going to be perfect in love? I cannot have boldness in the day of judgment until my love” is perfect.” I would go to God and pray most earnestly, would seek to make the fullest kind of surrender, would ask Him to make me perfect in love, and then get up and look within and say, “Let me see; is it all right now? Do I love everybody perfectly?” And I would try to think I did. Then I would get out in the world again and find I did not like this person and that one, and sometimes little twinges of jealousy would spring up, and, you know, you are never jealous of any one you love, and never envious of any one you love, and so I would say, “I am “‘just as bad as ever I was; how am I ever going to stand in the day of judgment?”
I found many other people in the same fix, and I would try to help them get this perfect love when I was not sure of it myself. But I thought you had to have it, and even though I had not the experience myself, I wanted to help others. One dear fellow came to the mourner’s bench one night sobbing most bitterly. He had been converted for about two weeks, and I had known him first as a young bridegroom. I said, “What is the trouble?” He said, “I am trying to make a full surrender, but I can’t seem to do it.” I said, “What is the real difficulty?” “Well,” he said, “I simply can’t come to the place where I love every other woman as much as I do my wife, and as long as I love her more than anybody else, I realize it is selfish.” “Now,” I said, “you had better look out, young man. Start loving every other woman as much as you do your wife and you will surely get into trouble. God gave you that wife that you might love her above everybody else.” “But,” he said, “how can I have perfect love if I love her more than anyone else?” What downright stupidity that was! And yet I did not know how to meet it!
It was like a second and even more glorious conversion than when I was first saved, when God showed me that perfect love is in another Man altogether. I had been looking for it in this man for six and one-half years after my conversion, and God one day turned me away from myself and said to me, “Look up there!” And by faith I saw another Man, the Man Christ Jesus, seated in highest glory at the Father’s right hand, and God said to me, as it were, “There it is; perfect love is displayed in Christ.” “Herein”— wherein? Why, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Wherein? “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Wherein? In this, “We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” “Oh,” I said, “I see it at last. Perfect love led Christ to come from Godhead’s fullest glory down to Calvary’s depth of woe; perfect love led Jesus to look upon a lost, ruined, guilty world, take all our sins upon Him, and die in our place upon a felon’s cross.”
We sometimes sing a hymn, one line of which is, “I lay my sins on Jesus.” I do nothing of the kind, and I will tell you why. It is too late to lay my sins on Jesus, and it is too late for you to do so, because 1900 years ago when Jesus hung a bleeding victim on Calvary’s cross, the Lord “laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Bliss has written:
“What, lay my sins on Jesus,
God’s well-beloved Son?
No, ‘tis a fact most precious
That God e’en that hath done.”
When did God do that? When Jesus died on Calvary, He made full atonement, and there peect love was displayed in all its fullness.
But where is the One who took my sin and died on the cross? He is seated at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. What about my sins? When He hung on the cross my sins were on Him; are they on Him now as He sits there? Impossible. He could not have entered heaven with one on Him. What then? Perfect love has settled the sin-question, has put my sins away forever, and now we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” I am not afraid of the day of judgment now. Why not? Because my case is not coming up.
Suppose that passing a court-house you see a great throng gathered, and you ask what it all means. They reply, “There are some very important cases today of men charged with murder and other fearful crimes.” You say, “I think I will go in,” and somebody asks, “Why, aren’t you afraid to go in there? Suppose they should lay hold of you.” “Why should I be afraid?” you inquire; “my case is not going to be brought up. There is nothing against me. I am simply a spectator, an onlooker, a listener.” Let me say to the glory of the One who put away my sins that when the Great White Throne is set up and the wicked stand before that throne to be judged for the deeds done in the body, I shall be there with my blessed Lord, but I shall not be there to be judged; I shall be there as a spectator, as an onlooker, in association with the Judge Himself.
Years ago we had a very odd judge out in San Francisco, and tourists going through the city would usually be taken to see Judge Campbell’s court. One day a group of us were going through the court-house, and in the party were four distinguished-looking ladies. When the judge saw them, he sent a bailiff after them, asking them to come to the judge’s seat. They went up and sat with him on the bench. He would hear the evidence, and then turn to the first lady and say, “I will let you pronounce sentence.” “Well,” she would say, “I don’t know what to do.” “This offense would get from ten to thirty days,” the judge would say. “Oh,” she would reply, “don’t give him more than ten days.” “The lady says you are to have ten days,” the judge would answer. Case after case of that kind came up while the ladies were sitting there, but they “had boldness in the day of judgment.” Why? Because they were not being judged; they were associated with the judge. And, dear friends, when the Great White Throne is set up, I am going to be there in association with the Judge. “The world shall be judged by you,” and I will tell you something more, I am going to see the devil who has caused me so much trouble throughout the years bound in chains and brought to my feet to know what I want done with him, for the Book says, “Ye shall judge angels.” The lost angels will receive their sentence of judgment from the people of God. No wonder the Apostle Paul said, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:2020And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. (Romans 16:20)). Yes, we have boldness in the day of judgment because perfect love has settled the sin-question. Jesus said in John 5:24,24Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heath My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” I like the Roman Catholic translation of that verse. The rendering of the Douai Version is, “Amen, amen, I say unto you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but is passed out of death into life.” Is that not a wonderful message? It is enough to settle the question forever for any one who will believe. One who knows Christ has eternal life here and now, does not hope to have it eventually, but has it now, and shall never come into judgment, but is already passed out of death into life.
Then look at the rest of verse 17, “Herein hath love with us been perfected that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.” Some of the greatest truths in the Word of God are packed into the shortest and the simplest sentences. Sometimes when preachers want to impress their audiences, they use great swelling words that make things sound profound. Some folk dote on that sort of thing. This reminds me of the two Scotch women who listened to the new preacher, and on the way out, the one said to the other, “How did you like the new preacher?” “Well, I thought he was very good,” was the reply. The other said, “He was good, but could you understand him?” “I would not presume to try to understand him,” she answered. Her idea was that a preacher ought to use such grand language that it would be far above them. A colored preacher was giving things out in such a way that nobody could get the meaning, and a brother spoke up and said, “Brother, put the cookies on the lower shelf so the children can reach them.” Spurgeon used to say, “The Lord said, ‘Feed My sheep,’ but some ministers have the idea, that He said, ‘Feed My giraffes,’ so they put things so high that few can attain to them.”
Here is one of the most profound truths of Holy Scripture, and it is all embodied in nine monosyllables, and only three out of the nine have more than two letters. “As He is, so are we in this world.” Nine monosyllables, and yet how profound. I used to study it, but could not make it out. I would say, “I am not as holy as He is, I know that I am not as straightforward as He is, I am not as kind as He is, I am not as considerate of others as He is, I am not as tender and gracious as He is. What does it mean? ‘As He is, so are we in this world.’ “And I thought that it must be our ideal: “As He is, so ought we to be in this world.” We are to aim at a star, and if we cannot hit it, it is better than it would be to aim at something lower. But no; that does not fit here. Well, then I thought it must be, “As He is, so shall we be when we get out of this world and get safe home to heaven.” But that would not do. But what does it mean? It means exactly what it says, as Scripture always does. “As He is”— as who is? As Christ is. “So are we in this world.” As Christ is in regard to what? Of what has he just spoken? As He is in relation to judgment. What is Christ’s relation to judgment? Is He ever coming into judgment? Oh, no. Has He ever been there? Yes. When? When He died on Calvary for my sin. That was the judgment-day, and Christ settled everything for me that day, and now God has raised Him from the dead and taken Him to His own right hand, and there He sits exalted. As He is in relation to judgment so are we in this world. We do not have to wait until we get home to heaven and are absolutely perfect, as we shall be some day, but right here and now we have the testimony of the Word of God that we are just as secure from judgment as He is because we are accepted in Him.
“So near, so very near to God,
I could not nearer be;
For in the person of His Son
I am as near as He.
“So dear, so very dear to God,
Dearer I could not be;
The love wherewith He loved His Son,
Such is His love to me.”
What an incentive to live for Him! What an incentive to yield our lives as a living sacrifice since He in grace has settled the whole question of our justification, our acceptance with God, our immunity from judgment!