A True Confession and a True Love

The Son of God and the Love of God

(1 John 4:15-16, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 22, 2017)

[15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,

God abides in him, and he in God.

[16] So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love,

and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

A breach in an important relationship can be very uncomfortable. Sometimes that can come from speaking the truth in love when someone you love is unwilling to receive what you have to say. Holding back the truth and living a life of quiet falsehood can also cause a divide. Our relationship with God needs to be forthright and true. The Lord is not interested in those who confess Him with their lips but deny Him with their lives.

Confessing and abiding

The true Christian truly confesses that Jesus is the Son of God

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He came down from heaven for us and for our salvation. In so many ways He is entirely unique. He alone is Lord of All. God raised Him from the dead in order to establish Him as Resurrection King, the “Son” of God according to Psalm 2. (See also Romans 1:4, The Anointed One of God “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”)

Romans 10:9-10 tells us “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

It is possible to have true belief in the heart and yet struggle with sinful unwillingness to confess the truth with our mouths. Think of the parents of the man who had been born blind. They knew that Jesus had healed their son, but they were afraid to confess that true fact about Jesus. They directed all inquiries about their son directly to him. Why? “His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.” (John 9:22).

Was this an isolated incident? Apparently not. We are told in John 12:42-43 that “many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

It is also possible to have no true belief in the heart and yet confess supposed faith with the mouth. There are many other possible combinations of heart and mouth conflict. After all, one can be confused in heart and silent with the mouth or even confess many varieties of faith and not admit the indecision of the soul.”

Thankfully it is also possible to have true faith in the heart and to confess that true faith freely with the mouth. This last alternative is what John is writing about concerning healthy, stable Christianity.

God abides in the true Christian and the true Christian abides in God

Such a person has God and God has such a person. The person remains in God and God remains in them. This intimate connection between God and people is a supernatural reality to be believed and lived out.

What is the connection between true confessing and true abiding and the love of God?

True confessing works out in our lives in true abiding both in God and in love. Why? Because God is love. If we have the love of Jesus in us then we have Jesus. As people who trust in Christ for our salvation and who give ourselves to Him as Lord, God is really in us, and God is both powerful and purposeful.

Remember again what love is. The cross is the perfect display of it. On the cross our Savior suffered and laid down His life for our eternal blessing. There is no greater love than this. (John 15:13. Love is not necessarily being polite. Frequently love is very uncomfortable because of the connection between true love and true truth. Notice the interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees for proof that a loving person may offend people. (Matthew 15:1-20)

God is love

The true

The example of the penitent tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 shows us what a true humble confession of trust in God looks like. The man who could barely lift his eyes toward heaven goes away justified.

The false

On the other hand, the same passage gives us a great example of a false confession of God's favor in the Pharisee who thought that he was the better of the two people who came to pray there that day. But note the context of the story: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: (Luke 18:9) I am sure that the Pharisees were offended by the story that Jesus told, but our Savior is Love in person. Jesus is both the Son of God and the Love of God come in person to save us.

O God of Love, Have mercy on us!

This is the honest plea that flows from a true heart that knows the Law, knows his sin, knows the cross, and knows the hope that is ours in the work of Christ.

God is love. True Christians have this God of love in us. Our confession of Jesus as the Son of God and our faithful determination to live a life of godly love must spring from Him alone. All have sinned (Romans 3:23), but some have been granted the gifts of faith and love. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13) Such a plea is also a pledge to be merciful. (Matthew 5:7)

Old Testament Reading—Zephaniah 3:1-8 – The Rebellious, Oppressing City and the Hardhearted Nations of the Earth

Gospel Reading—Matthew 5:33-37 – 33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”