 The entire reason for human creation is to deploy love into the world. This

is why you and I are here… to do this one thing. To love God and to love

others. When you step into that/your purpose, your heart of hearts

illuminates with life. Galatians 5:22-25, “The fruit of the Spirit is love.”

And from love, deploying this love of God into the world through your

life, your choice, not an emotion but an action, a disciplined decision,

through love comes, “joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control. Against such there is not law.” Why? Because this

is actually the eternal purpose of life! “And those who are Christ’s have

crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” so lust has taken a back-

seat to love, “If we live in the Spirit,” revelation that is where life is…,

living in the Spirit, “let us also walk in the Spirit…”

 Verse 9 of 1 John 4, defines love for us. Every heart on every chocolate

wrapper, movie label, fashion article, none of those things are love…, they

are all something else… We use the word lust as lust is desire for

someone or something else and in the terms of relationship, it is entirely

reciprocal. I love you because you love me. I serve you because you make

me happy. Make me feel a certain way. I want you, I need you, I yearn for

you…, all of that the world calls love and its not. It’s not necessarily a

bad thing, its just self-centered…, its not love.

 Love was painted for us that while we were yet against God, Christ died

for us. Verse 10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He

loved us and (action) sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Propitiation is a big word but it essentially means that while we were

without, Jesus went and gained us favor in the righteousness and holiness

of God. Propitiation explains that I did not win the heart of God, but the

Jesus won the heart of God for man!

 Another big word used in some scholarly circles is expiation. Same

thought, that while we were yet terrible (not you, not me specifically,

creation as a whole), God Himself made atonement for all of the wrongs

ever committed… It means literally that Jesus has “robbed all sin of their

validities and significance!”

 So, love was painted. It was defined. Love is not to demand that you

affirm me. Love is not to take something from you so that I can have

something. Love is not to reciprocate affection. Love is to care for

another when they care nothing about you… The world knows nothing

of this love, and that is why Jesus has filled you with His Spirit so that you

and I can deploy this kind of love into this dark and tortured world. And

remember, when you decide to do this, this is when you take all of the

control back of and over yourself from the world, the enemy and the flesh

(exiting the law of reciprocal affection – because with the life in the spirit,

there is no law, only freedom)!

1 John Chapter 4 Verses 12

 Is that right? What about Moses who saw God face to face? Exodus 33:11

says, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his

friend.” What about Jacob who saw God? Genesis 32 tells us that Jacob

wrestled with God, like physical wrestling match, all night until the

breaking of day. What about Job who said in Job 42:5, “I have heard of

You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You?” There are others

as well including Elijah, Gideon, Manoah and his wife (the parents of

Samson). So, what’s going on here…? Because it is clear in 1 John and in

Exodus 33:20 God says Himself, “No man shall see Me, and live.”

 First of all, why? I could preach for the next 5 hours and not be able to do

anything more than this next statement in terms of explanation. God is

infinite. The human eyeball is flesh and it is finite. God, Yahweh, is spirit

and He is infinite. My eye could no more contain the vision of God than a

thimble could contain the oceans… God’s glory is so beyond all things

that simply looking upon Him would melt me in my moccasins! And, all

these folks in the Bible saw God…, what’s going on?

 John tells us the answer… John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time,”

written after Moses, Gideon, Elijah…, “The only begotten Son, who is in

the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” That word means

“interpreted.” Colossians 1:15 says of Jesus, “He is the image of the

invisible God.” And so, who did Moses speak with? God? Yes… the

preincarnate Person of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune God.

You see, the Bible, if you can’t perceive the triune fact of the Almighty

God, the Bible really itself falls apart. To be a biblical Christian you must

be a trinitarian because no one can see God and live and yet we see Jesus

who was from the beginning, was God AND was with God, and

interpreted all things, revealed all things about God when He stepped into

His own creation.

 AND, there’s a dig here from John. This in context is a defense against

false teachers. Yea the bible says this, yea Paul says that, but I HAVE

SEEN God…, and so I have the real story. Wolf. That person is trying to

make you follow them…, where as someone pointing you to the Word of

God is pointing you to Jesus.

1 John Chapter 4 Verse 12 (Again)

 In context, these two sentences together, this is what we just read. The

world is to see God in and through how we love one another. The single

purpose for my life at its simplest signification is to deploy love into this

fallen and loveless world. Love is our greatest commandment and also it

is each of ours and everyone’s greatest need. And ALL sin is a result of

me not loving God or me not knowing that I am loved by God.

1 John Chapter 4 Verse 13

 A couple of things here. John uses the phrase “we know” over and over

again in his letters. We are to know that we have eternal life. Settled,

secured, absolute. Many groups and religions out there and even

Christians, ask them if they are going to heaven, and the response you get

is, “I hope so.” Stop hoping. Read your Bible. Know…

 And one of the ways to know that you are truly saved is that you have a

heart, a desire and hopefully mature into actions this act of loving one

another. Fulfilling your purpose in life. What you were created to do…

 John says that loving one another, he links it to being filled with the Holy

Spirit…, which is having God Himself abiding in you…

1 John Chapter 4 Verses 14 – 16

 Just for a moment, lets talk about the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit a He

or is He an it? A force or a Person? As you study and learn and observe

what we can know from the Bible about the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to

conclude anything other than the Holy Spirit is not a force but must be a

He. Why? Because He exhibits the characteristics of a Person.

 The Holy Spirit Himself speaks. 1 Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit expressly

says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to

deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” Hebrews 3:7, “Therefore, as

the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice…” The Holy Spirit

can be lied to. Acts 5:3, Peter says to Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your

heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit experiences personal grief

as we read in Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,

by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” He speaks, He acts,

He works, He reveals, He teaches, He convicts, He helps, He gives, none

of those things describe a force or an it… AND, countless scriptures cast

Him equal in all ways to the Father and to the Son….

 Just one example, back to Acts 5:3-4, “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has

Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the

price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own?

And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you

conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.””

 So, is the Holy Spirit a Person? Absolutely. And John says that God has

given us of His Spirit and that Spirit is love and he who abides in love

abides in God. Abide means mixed, we are both on the title to the house,

it’s a done deal. So, as we close, one more thought? Can a Christian be

possessed? Absolutely! Possessed by the Spirit of God! In fact, that’s what

the Bible says being Christian even IS! And just think what a demon

possessed person, how they act…, how much more a Christian possessed

by the Spirit of God Himself!? John’s entire point!

 So, look at your heart. Survey your life. Check your attitude. Are you

possessed!? HA! This is the only real proof of being born again, saved, a

citizen of heaven. Are you deploying love straight from God, through

you, into the world. Satan knows the bible better than any educated human

ever. He has spoken to God, been in the presence of God, believes in Jesus

and even must obey Him. And yet hell is where he belongs. Love is to

care for another when they care nothing for you… That is to be possessed

by God, filled with the Holy Spirit, both of y’all on the title…