Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations: Prepared Hearts

Perfect Love

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2004-01-18

Synopsis: John Weaver examines 1 John 4:15–21 to explain the biblical concept of perfect love. He clarifies that sinless perfection is unattainable in this life, but believers possess a perfected love through God’s gift of Christ. This love, once received by faith, casts out fear of judgment and produces boldness, Christlikeness, and love for the brethren.

[John Weaver] Well, let's open our Bibles into 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. We're going to read verses 15 through 21. 1 John 4 verses 15 through 21.

[John Weaver] Now, let me say that probably today I'm going to be reading or quoting a number of verses, because if I don't just simply go ahead and quote them, we will be here for a mighty long time because I've got a lot of verses and a lot of ground to cover. A number I'm going to ask you to turn with me to, and those are the ones I believe that are vitally important for you to see in light of what I'll be teaching. So look in 1 John chapter 4, and let's begin reading with verse 15. 1 John 4. In fact, let's read verse 14.

[John Weaver] The apostle writes, and we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior 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. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hated his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to call your attention to verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect. Look in verse 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Let me give you one word and want your reaction. The word is perfection. Now, the word perfection is a term that usually horrifies most Christians. I'm going to ask the question, why does perfection horrify Most Christians. I'm not using correct grammar at this point, but I'm expressing a real truth because we know we ain't. We know that we are not perfect. Would it surprise you to find out that the word perfect occurs 99 times in the Bible, 42 of which occurs in the New Testament and the count of 99 does not take into consideration the words perfected, perfecting, perfection, perfectly, and perfectness. If you count those words, then there are an additional 29 times, and thus a total of 128 times, the word perfect or its equivalent occurs. Now since most of us know that we are not perfect, have never been perfect, and will never be perfect in this life, we have a problem.

[John Weaver] Well, what is the problem? Well, look back in your Bibles, whole 1 John 4, but look back to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48. Here's our problem, very plainly delineated. Notice, if you would please, Matthew 5 and verse 48. Here the Word of God says, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Our problem is that God demands perfection, the perfect, even as your father, who is in heaven, is perfect. Now, the Bible tells us in Luke chapter six and verse 40 that the disciple is not above his master. But everyone that is perfect shall be as his master, is that interesting? In our Lord's High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17 in verse 23, here is one of his prayer requests. He prays, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, and that thou hast loved me. Note he prayed that they may be perfect in one. Now, if you look in your Bibles to Second Corinthians, chapter 13, Paul is giving his farewell to the Corinthians.

[John Weaver] And I want you to note what he leaves them with. Admonishment. Notice in Second Corinthians, chapter 13. At verse 11, Second Corinthians, 13, verse 11, the apostle Paul says, finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

[John Weaver] Now, isn't that a great admonition? Finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect. Well, that's quite an admonition that you and I are to be perfect. When Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians chapter three, verse 15, he said this, Let us therefore As many as be perfect, be thus minded. If in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal it even unto you. Now, he said, let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. Interesting that the Apostle Paul is talking about perfection.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter one and verse twenty eight, because here you're going to see one of the aims of the ministry. Well, when I read this and I think that this is one of the goals in the ministry, sometimes it makes me cringe, but I want you to see what it is. Colossians 1 in verse 28, the apostle is talking about Jesus Christ and he says, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Hmm. So one of my goals, one of my aims as a pastor, is to preach, to teach, to warn, for what purpose, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Now, if you go on in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, look there if you would since you're right there at chapter 4 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul reveals one of the prayer requests that Epaphras had for his brethren. In Colossians 4 and verse 12, the Bible says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you always, laboring fervently for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God.

[John Weaver] That you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God. So Epaphras prayed then for the Colossians that they would stand perfect The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 and 21. Now listen carefully.

[John Weaver] Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Note this, make you perfect in every good work to do his will. So one of the apostles prayer requests for us is that we would be made perfect in every good work.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter one. This verse is. Very clear. James 1, look in verse 4. Here the scripture says, but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So patience is to have her perfect work, why? That we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

[John Weaver] Now, the Bible in 1 Peter 5 and verse 10, Peter writes, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. So God then tells us that we are to be perfect.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask a question. Why did God give us the scriptures? I'm looking for a practical answer. And I can get that answer in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. If you will turn there very quickly, you will find why God gave us the scriptures. Look in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. Here is a proper use of the scriptures, by the way. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

[John Weaver] Literally, the Greek word is theopneuptos. That is, all Scripture is God breathed. All Scripture is exhaled from the mouth of God. So watch. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Why? Because that Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why? That the man of God may be perfect. Thoroughly furnished. unto all good works, that the man of God may be perfect. Now, the question arises.

[John Weaver] How do we address all these verses? What is God demanding and how do we apply these truths? When you look back at 1 John 4, which is our text, which we're going to be looking at in detail in a little while, But when you look at 1 John chapter 4, what in the world is the text talking about when it talks about perfect love? Let me ask you a couple of questions. Do you have perfect love? Let me make it a little more applicable. Do you have perfect love toward Christ? Do you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your being? Let me go a little further. Do you have perfect love towards your husband or perfect love towards your wife? Or perfect love toward your children? Can you truthfully and accurately say, I have perfect love now? These questions.

[John Weaver] Need to be answered in light of what we've just read. Now, when God said in Matthew five in verse 48, that we are to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. Perfection may indeed be our aim and our goal in this life. But sinless perfection in this life is unattainable. Now let me explain. Look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. And look what the Apostle Paul said In verse 12, now, I suppose if I were to ask you who was the greatest apostle in the New Testament, all of us would probably say the Apostle Paul. Certainly God used him to write most of the New Testament. Well, in Philippians chapter three and verse 12, the Apostle Paul had to confess this. He says, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.

[John Weaver] But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of in Christ Jesus. Notice this, I have not already attained, nor am I already perfect. So even the mighty Apostle Paul admits that he certainly was not perfect. And if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of James, chapter three, right after the book of Hebrews, you're going to find here There's a good reason why you and I cannot admit to being perfect. In James chapter 3, look in verse 2. In James 3 and verse 2, James writes this.

[John Weaver] For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. How many of you have never, ever offended in word? The truth is, all of us have. Many times when we have spoken, we have been misunderstood. Sometimes we've spoken ignorantly, unknowingly, unwittingly. And very obviously, based upon that, we cannot classify ourselves as perfect men because we are not able to bridle even our tongues, much less the whole body.

[John Weaver] I want you to understand that the doctrine of total depravity dictates against perfection in this life. Go back in your Bibles to the book of John, 1 John, it is where we are in our text, 1 John chapter 1. And I want you to look at two verses in 1 John chapter 1, verse 8 and verse 2. Now, these two verses teach us very clearly The deception in seeking what you and I would know as sinless perfection in this life. Look what the Bible says in 1 John 1 and verse 8. He says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now, I'm going to come back to this verse in just a moment, but look at it carefully. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now look at verse 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him, that is God, a liar and his word is not in us.

[John Weaver] Now, what is he talking about in verse eight when he says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us? Did he not say the same thing in verse 10 when he said, if we say that we have not sinned? No, they're two different things. Verse eight is talking about our sinful nature or our sinful propensity He said, if we say that we do not have a sin nature, we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If I were to sit here today and say, look, folks, I'm perfect, I just don't have the problems that you people have. I'm deceiving myself, says God, and the truth is not in me. But look in verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, That is, if we have not committed actual acts of sin, we make him a liar and his truth is not in us.

[John Weaver] His word is not in us. Why? For the scripture says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that doeth good. So in verse eight, you have someone who wants to deny their sin nature or their sinful propensity or the depravity of the flesh. And in verse 10, you have individuals who wanted to die their sinful acts.

[John Weaver] Well, no, I don't do that. I have not committed sin. I do not commit sin. God said, anybody who says that is going to deceive, but he's a liar and God's word is not in him. Years ago, when Alice and I lived in a South Georgia city, there was a man who owned a dry cleaning establishment and he was a professing Christian man. And I took my clothes in just simply because he's a professing Christian man.

[John Weaver] I walked in one day and I had a couple of suits in my hand for him to clean and he was behind the counter. And I knew that he was a Christian. And I just said as I threw the suits on the counter, isn't it a wonderful thing to be a Christian and have your sins forgiven? He looked at me. God is my witness. Here are his exact words.

[John Weaver] He says, I don't know. I haven't said in 20 years. And when he said that, my mouth fell open. I was stunned. It took me a moment to regain my composure. And when I did, I said, well, you just broke your record for you just did. And I quoted 1 John 1 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his words not in us.

[John Weaver] I said, you shouldn't have lied. You could have kept your record, you know, but ridiculous to think that he had not sinned in 20 years.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you. We may now be positionally perfect in Christ, and there's a difference. But we may now be positionally perfect in Christ, but we are not yet practically perfect. I can say that in Christ, in my position in Him, yes, I am perfect. But practically speaking, on this earth, in this day, in this time, I am not sinlessly perfect. Neither are you. Neither is anyone else.

[John Weaver] Sinless perfection is unattainable in this life. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 John 2 and get ready for this. I want us to read in just a moment verses one and two. But before I read that scripture, I want you to listen to what I'm going to say. And try to think this thing through with me, OK, here it is. If sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is. There is no man that is sinlessly perfect in this life. I'm not talking about Christ. Christ was the only one who was sinless. There is no man in this life outside of Christ who is sinlessly perfect. Now, if sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is, unequally, Dangerous. Heresy.

[John Weaver] Is that we have to sin? Now, the fact is, we do sin, but many times we do not have to sin. Look what John wrote in first John to inverse one. He writes, my little children, these things right on to you that you said not. Did you see that? Why did John give us 1 John? He said, I'm writing these things to you so that you not sin. Then he says this, and if any man sin, he knows we're going to.

[John Weaver] We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So here's his position. I'm writing this to you. Why? Because I don't want you to sin. You don't necessarily have to sin, but he says, I know you're going to sin. And when you do, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, I'm not necessarily fond of Dwight L. Moody or his theology. But Dwight L. Moody had something written in the fly leaf of his Bible that was true. He wrote in the fly leaf of his Bible, either this book will keep you from sin Or sin will keep you from this book. And that's certainly true, you see, as you and I keep our minds upon Christ.

[John Weaver] And in his word and on his word and endeavor to live our lives obediently. We're not going to be sinning as regularly and as often as someone who totally disregards his word and has no concept of the mind of Christ. But when we do sin, because we are not perfect, nor can we be perfect in this life, he said, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. How in the world are we going to understand all of those passages that I read in my introduction about being perfect? Well, the way we answer them is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13, the Apostle Paul says we compare spiritual things with spiritual. One of the problems that you and I get in in biblical hermeneutics, which is the science or the art of interpreting Scripture, one of the problems that we get in in the interpretation of Scripture, we'll read something And we'll say, oh, look at that. Here's what that says. And we totally ignore the rest of Scripture. No, the Word of God says we must compare Scripture with Scripture. You and I cannot make Scripture contradict plain passages. And you and I cannot make one passage contradict another passage. Another problem is this simply because when we read a word in the Bible today, That does not mean that the word that we just read had the same meaning in the Bible as it does in our day and time.

[John Weaver] The meanings of words change. For instance, I could give you the word flesh. Did you know that the word flesh, and you think you know what flesh is, but did you know the word flesh has four distinct meanings in Scripture? If I were to throw out the word world, What everybody knows what the world is, do they? I can show you at least 12 different meanings for the word world in Scripture. See, just because you think you know the meaning of a word does not mean that is the way that word is to be understood in Scripture. We must understand the scriptural usage and we must understand the scriptural meaning of the word. Moreover, we must consider the words in their context.

[John Weaver] Now, I quoted some Old Testament verses probably as well as some New Testament verses, but let me tell you, you will find the word perfect in the Old Testament just like you'll find the word perfect in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for perfect is shalom, which is usually interpreted or translated in our Bibles as whole, complete, finished, sound, or blameless.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. Go back in your Bibles to the book of Genesis 6. Genesis 6. Look, if you would please, at verse 9. Genesis 6, verse 9. Remember, the Hebrew word means whole, complete, finished, sound, or blameless. Watch this. Genesis 6, verse 9. Here's the Hebrew word. These are the generation of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. Now, when the Bible says that Noah was perfect, does that mean that he was sinlessly perfect? Well, of course not. Would someone care to tell me what happened in Genesis 9 and verse 21 to Noah? He got what? Drunk.

[John Weaver] Now, there are some people that are going to try to defend his drunkenness and say, well, he didn't know that he would get drunk, whether he did or didn't is immaterial. He got drunk. And drunkenness is a sin in the Bible.

[John Weaver] Now, when the Bible says that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, all that means is that Noah was usually a blameless man. In other words, he lived his life more holily and more godly than he did in evil and wickedness and rebellion and sin. It meant that he was a mature man, that he was a whole and complete man. Now, when you get to the New Testament, the main word for perfect is the Greek word teleos, which primarily means having reached an end, complete, full, perfect, mature or full grown. Now, you can go back to each of these verses that I read to you in the New Testament. And you can interpret the word perfect as mature or complete or full grown and you will have a perfect understanding and a right application of that verse. When the Bible says, but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire. What's it mean? That you may be mature and complete. That you may be full grown, that you're not a child tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

[John Weaver] No, the word means that you and I are to be totally mature and totally full-grown. We're not to be children. In fact, the only way that you and I are to be children in the Bible, the Apostle Paul says, in malice we're to be children. But otherwise, we're to be mature, full-grown in the faith.

[John Weaver] Now, let's go back in our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4 because, here's why, It is not the term perfect or perfection in general that I really want to deal with today. It is the term or the phrase perfect love.

[John Weaver] Now, let me set the stage by asking you a question, and I pray, I really pray that God in his mercy and grace will allow you to see this today. Because if you grasp what I'm going to share with you, it will give you more peace and more comfort than you can imagine. But here is my question. Look in your Bibles, 1 John 4, verse 17. Here is our love made perfect. Verse 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. How is it that we are to experience, possess and understand perfect love? Is perfect love attainable? What is it? And how do I know whether or not I possess perfect love? Now, let's begin by looking at 1 John 4 verses 14 and 15, because those two verses basically set the stage for what I want to share with you in verses 17, 18 and 19.

[John Weaver] So in verse 14, he says this, and we have seen him do testify that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."

[John Weaver] Now, since faith in Christ works love to God, and love to God must tend to love to the brethren, the Apostle here confirms the prime article of the Christian faith as the foundation of such love. He proclaims the fundamental article of the Christian religion which is so representative of the love of God. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Now, watch very closely. In verse 14, first of all, you have our Lord's relationship to His Father. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son. That is, He is the eternal, begotten, unbegotten Son of God. He is the eternal, unbegotten Son of God. So therefore, He's referred to as the Son. He is the Son of God, as no one else is. His Sonship is oneness with the Father. OK, so His relationship to God the Father, He is considered the Son. Note His relationship in office toward us. He is the Savior. He is our Savior, not only by His death, but by His intercession, by His power that He has given us against all enemies.

[John Weaver] And then the ground. by which he became so. It was the Father who sent the Son, the Bible says, to be the foundation of the world. And then look at John's assurance in verse 14. He said, And we have seen and do testify. In fact, that is what 1 John is about. Go back to 1 John 1 and look at verse 1. He says,"...that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shown to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." John said we have seen Christ, we handle Christ, we touch Christ, we know that Christ is the Son of God. So he is giving a personal assurance in verse 14. He says, and we have seen and do testify. We know, he says, this is the Son of God. Now look at verse 15.

[John Weaver] He said, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. Now, let me deal with the word confess. It's a very important word. He said, if we shall confess Christ or whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. The word confess is the Greek word homo lego. Homo means one or the same, and lego I say. So to confess means to say the same thing. OK, now let me show you another Example of this word, look in first John one and verse nine. Look in first John one and verse nine. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, what does the word confess mean?

[John Weaver] Remember some of the go suppose I went back to Luke, stuck my hand in his pocket and stole a hundred dollar bill from him. And then I say, Lord, I stole $100 from Luke. Lord, please forgive me.

[John Weaver] Now I'm going over to Heath and trying to get $100 from him. Have I confessed that sin? No. I may have bragged about it, but I certainly haven't confessed it. You know why? Because if I confess, I take the same attitude that God takes. I say the same thing that God says. If I stole a $100 bill from Luke and I actually confess that sin before God, I have to acknowledge that it's wicked, that it's wrong, that it's ungodly, that it deserves death. For the soul that sin hath hit shall surely die, and the wages of sin is death. I have to confess and acknowledge the awfulness of that sin, and then also have to agree with God and acknowledge with Him that restitution should be made. And I go back to Luke, and I give him that money back, and I ask his forgiveness.

[John Weaver] And then I asked the Father to forgive me. You see, the word confess means that you say the same thing.

[John Weaver] Now, when you come to 1 John 4 and verse 15, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, what are you doing? You are agreeing with everything that God the Father says about God the Son. Whatever the Father's attitude is about Jesus Christ, that is your attitude. Whatever the father says about Christ, you say about Christ, we agree with the father. And by the way, it is only the grace of God that brings us to such confession. Do you remember? In Matthew 16, our Lord asked Peter and the other disciples and said, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? They answered, well, some say that you're John the Baptist or Elias or one of the other prophets. Our Lord said, But whom say ye that I am? And in verse 16, verse 15 it is, Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And in verse 16, our Lord said, Blessed art thou, Peter. Are you listening? For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, help me out, but my Father who is in heaven.

[John Weaver] The only reason we know who Jesus Christ is The only reason we know that he is indeed the Son of God is because the Father had been pleased to reveal him to us. You see, in Matthew 11, verse 27, our Lord said, No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and no man knoweth the Son save the Father, but he to whomsoever he reveal him. The only way we can know the Father is the Son must reveal him. The only way we can know the Son, the Father must reveal him. So when we confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we are confessing and acknowledging everything that God says about Jesus Christ is true. And we agree with the Father in what He says about Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, the result of that saving confession is that God dwells in us and we in Him. Of course, you know, the scripture we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, so God dwells in us. Now watch for 16. See now, verse 14, John is testifying that they knew. They had first hand knowledge. That the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. Verse 15, we are agreeing with God the Father and with the apostles who gave their testimony that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Now look at verse 16. And we have known and believe the love that God hath to us. God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Now, notice if you would please, verse 16, look if there were two words, know and believe. He said, and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.

[John Weaver] In the Greek, these are perfect active indicatives. I will explain that. Here's actually the impact of that statement. You could read that we have known and continue to know. And we have believed and continue to believe that God has sent this love to us. We have known and continue to know. We have believed and continue to believe. Now watch verse 16. We have known and continue to know. We have believed and continue to believe the love that God has to us.

[John Weaver] Now let me ask you this question. What is this love that God has to us that we know and continue to know that we believe and continue to believe? Well, look back in 1 John 4 verses 9 and 10. In the context, 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. Here it is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, what is the love of God that we have known and continue to know, that we believe and continue to believe? It is that love that God sent His Son to be our propitiation. We know it. We continue to know it. We believe it. We continue to believe it. In other words, we know and we believe that God the Father gave His only begotten Son. We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is our propitiation. We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is our Passover, that He is our sacrifice.

[John Weaver] We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is salvation and that we live in Him. Now watch. Verse 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love.

[John Weaver] Now look what he says. And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Now, how in the world is love dwelling in God? Because we're talking about the love that God had in sending his Son, Jesus Christ. So if we have Jesus Christ, we dwell in God, and God dwells in us. Are you listening?

[John Weaver] Now, verse 17 is the icing on the cake. Watch carefully. 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. Now, I want you to note the word herein. Herein. Herein is our love made perfect. The Greek word herein is the little preposition en. Many times in our Bibles, it's translated as our English word in, in this we know. Or you could say by this we know, or herein we know, it's all the same thing. So he says 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. Now. Listen to me carefully, I'm going to give you a brief lesson in New Testament Greek, OK? Look in verse 17 at the two words made perfect. When you get to those two words. Those two words come from one word that is a perfect passive indicative. You say I don't know what that means.

[John Weaver] Well, I'm going to tell you. It's a perfect tense. It's passive. Which is the opposite of active. When something is passive, you have nothing to do with it. It's a perfect passive indicative, and here's what the perfect tense means. Listen carefully. It means it happened, the perfect passive, it means it happened one time in time past, but it has a continuing result. All right, now watch this. You can read this. Herein is our love or herein our love has been made perfect and it continues to be perfect.

[John Weaver] So what is he saying? Our love has been perfected once and for all. It has been perfected once and forever with continuing results. How can our love have been perfected once and for all with continuing results? Well, let me ask you the question in the context, what is our love? Our love is that love which God gave us in giving us Jesus Christ. Are you listening to me? Perfect love is when the father gave his only begotten son. We believed Him. We agreed with Him. We confessed that God was holy, just and righteous in giving His only begotten Son. And now in faith and through faith and by faith, we are abiding in this love. What is our source of love? Well, look in verse John 4 and verse 19. I'm going to come there in just a minute again. Look in verse John 4 and verse 19. Help me out now. We love Him. Why? Where did we get our love from? From God. You know what the Bible said in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5?

[John Weaver] The Bible says that we're not ashamed. Why are we not ashamed? Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Where does our love come from? It comes from God. And therefore, it is perfect. Now, are you listening? We may not be perfect, but He is perfect. The act of giving Jesus Christ was perfection par excellence. The sacrifice of Christ was perfect. The atonement of Christ was perfect. The reconciliation of Christ was perfect. The salvation of Christ was perfect. We have confessed. We believe.

[John Weaver] We agree with the Father. We are now abiding in this perfect love. What does that mean? The love has been perfected once and for all forever with continuing results in Jesus Christ. Now watch. What are the immediate fruits of comprehending and understanding this perfected love? Well, look in verse 17. Herein has our love been made perfect and continues. That we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Ah, the first fruit of having understood, grasped and comprehended this perfect love that we have in Jesus Christ is that we have boldness in the day of judgment.

[John Weaver] Now, Let me ask you a question. When we think of our sins, when we think of our disobedience and our wickedness, sometimes we shudder. Why? Here's the answer. Because we know that we're guilty. We violated the law of God. And we know that God is a righteous judge. You know, one of the greatest things. If you ever comprehend this. Is it once you see the perfected love that we have in God, the father? That perfected love in Jesus Christ teaches us that God is not just simply a righteous judge. He is also our loving, heavenly Father. Therefore, in the day of judgment, you and I are not going to be facing a harsh, strict, uncontrollable judge. We will be facing our Father.

[John Weaver] And what does that give us? Boldness in the day of judgment. You know why? Because we know, and I'm going to show you the scripture before I end today. We know that our Father has loved us, does love us, and continues to love us. And we know. That our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look at verse 18 before we go further, because. Verse 18 is rather. A further expanding of this thought that we have in verse 17 and verse 17, he said, herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, and then he actually explains that a little further in verse 18, when he says there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear hath torment. He that feared is not made perfect in love. Now, if love has not been perfected, that is, if you have not grasped what God has done for us in Christ, there can be no boldness in the day of judgment. What is he saying? He is saying that fear It's not only the opposite of faith, it is also the opposite of love. Let me show you. Hold 1 John 4, I'm coming right back there, but look in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Please stay with me. Look in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7.

[John Weaver] I can quote this, but I want you to see it. 2 Timothy 1, look in verse 7. 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Watch closely. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. But of power. And of love. And of a sound mind. So love is the opposite of fear, just like faith is the opposite of fear. And what has God not given us? God did not give us a spirit of fear.

[John Weaver] Now, if a man is fearful about judgment, He is just not comprehended the work of Christ. Now, go back to first John four, look in verse 18, watch carefully. He says there is no fear in love. If you have comprehended. The perfect love of God in Jesus Christ and the perfect sacrifice of Christ. There will be no fear in facing the father. Why? Because a perfected love, that is the love, and by the way, the perfect love in verse 18 that casts out fear is the same perfect passive indicative that is used in verse 17. Because he says that once and for all perfected love casts out fear. It throws it out. Fear cannot dwell with a comprehension of the perfect work of Jesus Christ. He says, he that feareth has not been made perfect in love.

[John Weaver] So the one who fears. There is something wrong with him. He is not understood. He is not confessed or acknowledged with the father, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for had he understood. The perfected love of God in Christ, there would be no fear. Because perfected love casts out fear. Are you listening? A constant and a continual fear just demonstrates that we're not abiding in Christ. Now, go back to verse 17, because I want to show you the second result of understanding this perfected love of God in Christ. Verse 17 says, Here it is, our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. That's the first fruit. Here's the second fruit, because as he is, so are we in this world. The more we abide in Christ.

[John Weaver] The more we become like Christ, you know, the old adage, and it's true, folks, let's be honest. The longer two people live together, I'm talking about husband and wife, the more they look and act and think and talk like each other. It's just that simple. Alice got a birthday card the other day. And it had the husband and wife standing there together and they began to look alike. Even little hairs began to poke out on the wife's chin.

[John Weaver] Well, her beard's not quite as full as mine, but you understand. But it's true. The longer you live together, the more you think alike and act alike and sometimes look alike. And if we are continually abiding in Christ, what is the natural result? As He is, so are we in this world. Our lives will be more and more conformed to Jesus Christ. When we comprehend this perfect sacrifice and this perfect love, we want to be more like Christ.

[John Weaver] And what did our Lord say in John 8 and verse 29? He said, I only do always those things which please the Father. And the man who's in Christ wants to please the Father.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make some applications because I believe If we ever see this truth, it's going to give us the greatest comfort and the greatest courage. I understand folks. About an embarrassment over our sins. But there is a difference between being embarrassed over something and fearing something. A big difference. I'd be embarrassed to tell you some things I did as a kid. You'd be embarrassed to tell me some things. But if we're in Christ, we have no fear of punishment because of those things, because Christ has suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust. Now, let me make some applications.

[John Weaver] The first one is this perfect love should humble us exceedingly. Why? Because this perfected love. Is not ours initially or originally, It is God's love to us in Christ, and therefore we are forced to confess the truth of 1 John 4 and verse 19. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. Has it ever dawned upon you the only reason that you're saved, the only reason that you're converted, the only reason you know anything about the Father, the only reason you have any love to God at all, is because God first loves you. Where would we be? And what would we be without the love of God? I surely don't want to ponder that one too long. Because I can tell you very quickly where we would be and what we would be without the love of God in Christ. Now, let me show you one verse and then I'm going to quote two. I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 31 and get ready to look at verse 3.

[John Weaver] Jeremiah 31. I told you that this perfected love should humble us. Why? Because it was not ours initially or originally. We love Him only because He loves us. But look in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3, what God told the prophet, which also applies to all of His people. Jeremiah 31, verse three, the Lord has appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee. Now, look what God said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. You know what the word everlasting means, it means eternal. It had no beginning and therefore it has no ending. You and I could never love God initially or originally, for God loved us from eternity. You know what the Bible says in Romans 5 verse 1, listen carefully, therefore being justified by grace, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] There's no war existing between the father and the believer. We now have peace. The believer has thrown down his weapons of warfare. He is in submission and now wants to be in obedience. You know what the Bible says in Romans 8? There is therefore now no condemnation of them who are in Christ Jesus. If there is no condemnation in us, why should we fear? If you understand perfected love, it will humble you Because it's all because of God that you are what you are.

[John Weaver] Secondly, by way of application, I must confess that while my love to the Father is not perfect, yet His love toward me is perfect. Do you realize unhappily that even in the best and the most holy acts of faith, There is still sin mingled with our worship, our adoration and our obedience and service. Yet in returning his love, thankfully, he accepts the will for the deed. I'm so thankful that God does indeed know our hearts. He knows our wills. He knows our desires. He knows our motives.

[John Weaver] And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 12, For if there first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not. And God accepts the will for the deed. I may not be able to love him perfectly now, but I shall love him perfectly in eternity. The third application is this. A corollary of the perfected love is that we also love the brethren.

[John Weaver] Now, if we understandably hold upon God's perfect love toward us individually, we cannot help but exercise that same love toward others. Do you realize that is precisely what Christ did for us?

[John Weaver] Now, listen, let me just quote to you Hebrews 2, verses 11 and 12. In reference to Jesus Christ, the Bible says this, For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church I will sing praise unto thee. What did Christ do? He did for His brethren, that is, us.

[John Weaver] Go back to 1 John chapter 3. Look, if you would please, at verse 16. 1 John 3, verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God. How do we perceive it? How do we comprehend it? How do we lay hold upon it? Here's how. Hereby understand we or perceive we or comprehend we the love of God because He laid down His life for us. Watch the corollary. We ought to lay down our lives for the bread.

[John Weaver] That's exactly what Christ did for us. So therefore, we must also love the brethren and sacrifice for them.

[John Weaver] Now, if that is not clear, look in first John four and verse twenty one, and you'll see once again, it's in the form of a command. And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. Here's my fourth and final application, it is useless illogical and unscriptural to declare our love to our Father, while at the same time declaring our hatred, enmity and ill will toward our brethren. Look in 1 John 4 and verse 20. If a man say I love God and hated his brother, what? He's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Look in verse John 3. Verses 14 and 15, 1 John 3, verse 14.

[John Weaver] We know that we pass from death into life. How do we know that we pass from death into life? Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Isn't that interesting? He who loves God will love his brethren. I cannot help But love the people of God if I understand the perfected love that God has for me in Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ laid down his life for his brethren.

[John Weaver] What does the Bible say in John 17? Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end. And likewise, we must do the same. He who possesses the perfected love of God in Christ not only loves the Father, but the brethren as well. If you understand what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, there will be no fear. There will be no torment. Because perfected love cast out fear. We're not afraid to face our father. We may be ashamed. But we're not afraid.

[John Weaver] Let me ask you, I know the answer because I know the answer in my life. Knowing what you know now. If you could live your life over and go back and undo some things, would you not undo those sins that you committed? Well, of course, knowing what you know now. But those sins have been dealt with. What does the Bible say? He's put them behind his back. He's put them as far as the East is from the West, and he will never remember them against us anymore.

[John Weaver] There's no fear in a perfected love. And in Jesus Christ, we have a perfected love. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for the perfect love that we have from thee in and through Jesus Christ, our Savior. We give ourselves to thee this day and ask that you increase our love, our affection, our obedience unto thee. Thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your so great salvation. In Christ's holy and blessed name we pray.

[John Weaver] TV. TV.

Perfect Love

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	118151725263
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations: Prepared Hearts
Genre	Sermon
Date	2004-01-18
Dictation Name
Book	Book 136: Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations - Volume 1 — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	83

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Problem of Perfection

Weaver introduces the topic by noting that the word 'perfect' appears many times in Scripture, yet Christians know they are not sinlessly perfect. He reads 1 John 4:14–21 and highlights the command to be perfect as the Father is perfect.

Well, let's open our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. We're going to read verses 15 through 21. 1 John 4 verses 15 through 21.

Now, let me say that probably today I'm going to be reading or quoting a number of verses, because if I don't just simply go ahead and quote them, we will be here for a mighty long time because I've got a lot of verses and a lot of ground to cover. A number I'm going to ask you to turn with me to, and those are the ones I believe that are vitally important for you to see in light of what I'll be teaching. So look in 1 John chapter 4, and let's begin reading with verse 15. 1 John 4. In fact, let's read verse 14. The apostle writes,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:14–21

"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior 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. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."

Now, I want to call your attention to verse 17. "Herein is our love made perfect." Look in verse 18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." Let me give you one word and want your reaction. The word is perfection. Now, the word perfection is a term that usually horrifies most Christians. I'm going to ask the question, why does perfection horrify most Christians? I'm not using correct grammar at this point, but I'm expressing a real truth because we know we ain't. We know that we are not perfect. Would it surprise you to find out that the word perfect occurs 99 times in the Bible, 42 of which occurs in the New Testament? And the count of 99 does not take into consideration the words perfected, perfecting, perfection, perfectly, and perfectness. If you count those words, then there are an additional 29 times, and thus a total of 128 times, the word perfect or its equivalent occurs. Now since most of us know that we are not perfect, have never been perfect, and will never be perfect in this life, we have a problem.

Biblical Demands for Perfection

He surveys New Testament passages that command or aim at perfection (Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 3:15; Colossians 1:28; 4:12; Hebrews 13:20–21; James 1:4; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Timothy 3:16–17), showing that God expects maturity and completeness.

Well, what is the problem? Well, look back in your Bibles, hold 1 John 4, but look back to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48. Here's our problem, very plainly delineated. Notice, if you would please, Matthew 5 and verse 48. Here the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 5:48

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect."

Our problem is that God demands perfection,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 5:48

"be perfect, even as your Father, who is in heaven, is perfect."

Now, the Bible tells us in Luke chapter 6 and verse 40 that the disciple is not above his master. But everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Is that interesting? In our Lord's High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17 in verse 23, here is one of his prayer requests. He prays, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, and that thou hast loved me." Note he prayed that they may be perfect in one. Now, if you look in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, Paul is giving his farewell to the Corinthians.

And I want you to note what he leaves them with. Admonition. Notice in 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, at verse 11. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 11, the apostle Paul says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 13:11

"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you."

Now, isn't that a great admonition? "Finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect." Well, that's quite an admonition that you and I are to be perfect. When Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 3, verse 15, he said this, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. If in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal it even unto you." Now, he said, "let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Interesting that the Apostle Paul is talking about perfection.

Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter 1 and verse 28, because here you're going to see one of the aims of the ministry. Well, when I read this and I think that this is one of the goals in the ministry, sometimes it makes me cringe, but I want you to see what it is. Colossians 1 in verse 28, the apostle is talking about Jesus Christ and he says,

Scripture Reading — Colossians 1:28

"Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

Hmm. So one of my goals, one of my aims as a pastor, is to preach, to teach, to warn, for what purpose? That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Now, if you go on in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, look there if you would since you're right there at chapter 4 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul reveals one of the prayer requests that Epaphras had for his brethren. In Colossians 4 and verse 12, the Bible says, "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you always, laboring fervently for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God."

That you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God. So Epaphras prayed then for the Colossians that they would stand perfect. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 and 21. Now listen carefully. "Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Note this, "make you perfect in every good work to do his will." So one of the apostle's prayer requests for us is that we would be made perfect in every good work.

Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 1. This verse is very clear. James 1, look in verse 4. Here the scripture says,

Scripture Reading — James 1:4

"But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

So patience is to have her perfect work, why? That we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Now, the Bible in 1 Peter 5 and verse 10, Peter writes,

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:10

"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you."

So God then tells us that we are to be perfect. Now, let me ask a question. Why did God give us the scriptures? I'm looking for a practical answer. And I can get that answer in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. If you will turn there very quickly, you will find why God gave us the scriptures. Look in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. Here is a proper use of the scriptures, by the way. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

Literally, the Greek word is theopneustos. That is, all Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture is exhaled from the mouth of God. So watch. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Why? Because that Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why? That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. That the man of God may be perfect. Now, the question arises.

Sinless Perfection Is Unattainable

Weaver argues from Philippians 3:12, James 3:2, and 1 John 1:8,10 that no believer achieves sinless perfection in this life. He distinguishes between positional perfection in Christ and practical imperfection.

Need to be answered in light of what we've just read. Now, when God said in Matthew 5 and verse 48, that we are to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, perfection may indeed be our aim and our goal in this life. But sinless perfection in this life is unattainable. Now let me explain. Look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. And look what the Apostle Paul said in verse 12. Now, I suppose if I were to ask you who was the greatest apostle in the New Testament, all of us would probably say the Apostle Paul. Certainly God used him to write most of the New Testament. Well, in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul had to confess this. He says, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect."

"But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of in Christ Jesus." Notice this, "I have not already attained, nor am I already perfect." So even the mighty Apostle Paul admits that he certainly was not perfect. And if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of James, chapter 3, right after the book of Hebrews, you're going to find here there's a good reason why you and I cannot admit to being perfect. In James chapter 3, look in verse 2. In James 3 and verse 2, James writes this.

Scripture Reading — James 3:2

"For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."

How many of you have never, ever offended in word? The truth is, all of us have. Many times when we have spoken, we have been misunderstood. Sometimes we've spoken ignorantly, unknowingly, unwittingly. And very obviously, based upon that, we cannot classify ourselves as perfect men because we are not able to bridle even our tongues, much less the whole body.

I want you to understand that the doctrine of total depravity dictates against perfection in this life. Go back in your Bibles to the book of 1 John, it is where we are in our text, 1 John chapter 1. And I want you to look at two verses in 1 John chapter 1, verse 8 and verse 10. Now, these two verses teach us very clearly the deception in seeking what you and I would know as sinless perfection in this life. Look what the Bible says in 1 John 1 and verse 8. He says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Now, I'm going to come back to this verse in just a moment, but look at it carefully. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Now look at verse 10. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him," that is God, "a liar and his word is not in us."

Now, what is he talking about in verse 8 when he says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us"? Did he not say the same thing in verse 10 when he said, "If we say that we have not sinned"? No, they're two different things. Verse 8 is talking about our sinful nature or our sinful propensity. He said, if we say that we do not have a sin nature, we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If I were to sit here today and say, "Look, folks, I'm perfect, I just don't have the problems that you people have," I'm deceiving myself, says God, and the truth is not in me. But look in verse 10, "If we say that we have not sinned," that is, if we have not committed actual acts of sin, we make him a liar and his truth is not in us.

His word is not in us. Why? For the scripture says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that doeth good." So in verse 8, you have someone who wants to deny their sin nature or their sinful propensity or the depravity of the flesh. And in verse 10, you have individuals who want to deny their sinful acts. "Well, no, I don't do that. I have not committed sin. I do not commit sin." God said, anybody who says that is going to deceive, but he's a liar and God's word is not in him. Years ago, when Alice and I lived in a South Georgia city, there was a man who owned a dry cleaning establishment and he was a professing Christian man. And I took my clothes in just simply because he's a professing Christian man.

I walked in one day and I had a couple of suits in my hand for him to clean and he was behind the counter. And I knew that he was a Christian. And I just said as I threw the suits on the counter, "Isn't it a wonderful thing to be a Christian and have your sins forgiven?" He looked at me. God is my witness. Here are his exact words. He says, "I don't know. I haven't sinned in 20 years." And when he said that, my mouth fell open. I was stunned. It took me a moment to regain my composure. And when I did, I said, "Well, you just broke your record for you just did." And I quoted 1 John 1:10, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us."

I said, "You shouldn't have lied. You could have kept your record, you know." But ridiculous to think that he had not sinned in 20 years. Now, let me tell you. We may now be positionally perfect in Christ, and there's a difference. But we may now be positionally perfect in Christ, but we are not yet practically perfect. I can say that in Christ, in my position in Him, yes, I am perfect. But practically speaking, on this earth, in this day, in this time, I am not sinlessly perfect. Neither are you. Neither is anyone else.

Sinless perfection is unattainable in this life. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 John 2 and get ready for this. I want us to read in just a moment verses 1 and 2. But before I read that scripture, I want you to listen to what I'm going to say. And try to think this thing through with me, OK? Here it is. If sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is—there is no man that is sinlessly perfect in this life. I'm not talking about Christ. Christ was the only one who was sinless. There is no man in this life outside of Christ who is sinlessly perfect. Now, if sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is, an equally dangerous heresy.

The Danger of Denying Sin or Necessity of Sin

He warns against two heresies: claiming sinless perfection (1 John 1:8,10) and believing we must sin. John wrote so that we sin not, but provides an Advocate when we do (1 John 2:1–2).

Is that we have to sin? Now, the fact is, we do sin, but many times we do not have to sin. Look what John wrote in 1 John 2 in verse 1. He writes,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:1–2

"My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not."

Did you see that? Why did John give us 1 John? He said, "I'm writing these things to you so that you sin not." Then he says this, "And if any man sin," he knows we're going to. "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:1–2

" So here's his position. I'm writing this to you. Why? Because I don't want you to sin. You don't necessarily have to sin, but he says, I know you're going to sin. And when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, I'm not necessarily fond of Dwight L. Moody or his theology. But Dwight L. Moody had something written in the flyleaf of his Bible that was true. He wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, "

Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book." And that's certainly true, you see, as you and I keep our minds upon Christ.

And in his word and on his word and endeavor to live our lives obediently, we're not going to be sinning as regularly and as often as someone who totally disregards his word and has no concept of the mind of Christ. But when we do sin, because we are not perfect, nor can we be perfect in this life, he said, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, let me ask you a question. How in the world are we going to understand all of those passages that I read in my introduction about being perfect? Well, the way we answer them is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13, the Apostle Paul says we compare spiritual things with spiritual. One of the problems that you and I get in in biblical hermeneutics, which is the science or the art of interpreting Scripture, one of the problems that we get in in the interpretation of Scripture, we'll read something and we'll say, "Oh, look at that. Here's what that says." And we totally ignore the rest of Scripture. No, the Word of God says we must compare Scripture with Scripture. You and I cannot make Scripture contradict plain passages. And you and I cannot make one passage contradict another passage. Another problem is this: simply because when we read a word in the Bible today, that does not mean that the word that we just read had the same meaning in the Bible as it does in our day and time.

Understanding 'Perfect' in Scripture

Weaver explains that the Hebrew word shalem and Greek word teleios mean whole, complete, mature, or full-grown, not sinless. He illustrates with Noah (Genesis 6:9) and applies this to New Testament commands.

The meanings of words change. For instance, I could give you the word flesh. Did you know that the word flesh, and you think you know what flesh is, but did you know the word flesh has four distinct meanings in Scripture? If I were to throw out the word world, what everybody knows what the world is, do they? I can show you at least 12 different meanings for the word world in Scripture. See, just because you think you know the meaning of a word does not mean that is the way that word is to be understood in Scripture. We must understand the scriptural usage and we must understand the scriptural meaning of the word. Moreover, we must consider the words in their context.

Now, I quoted some Old Testament verses probably as well as some New Testament verses, but let me tell you, you will find the word perfect in the Old Testament just like you'll find the word perfect in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for perfect is shalem, which is usually interpreted or translated in our Bibles as whole, complete, finished, sound, or blameless. Now, let me show you. Go back in your Bibles to the book of Genesis 6. Genesis 6. Look, if you would please, at verse 9. Genesis 6, verse 9. Remember, the Hebrew word means whole, complete, finished, sound, or blameless. Watch this. Genesis 6, verse 9. Here's the Hebrew word.

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:9

"These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God."

Now, when the Bible says that Noah was perfect, does that mean that he was sinlessly perfect? Well, of course not. Would someone care to tell me what happened in Genesis 9 and verse 21 to Noah? He got what? Drunk.

Now, there are some people that are going to try to defend his drunkenness and say, "Well, he didn't know that he would get drunk." Whether he did or didn't is immaterial. He got drunk. And drunkenness is a sin in the Bible. Now, when the Bible says that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, all that means is that Noah was usually a blameless man. In other words, he lived his life more holily and more godly than he did in evil and wickedness and rebellion and sin. It meant that he was a mature man, that he was a whole and complete man. Now, when you get to the New Testament, the main word for perfect is the Greek word teleios, which primarily means having reached an end, complete, full, perfect, mature or full grown. Now, you can go back to each of these verses that I read to you in the New Testament. And you can interpret the word perfect as mature or complete or full grown and you will have a perfect understanding and a right application of that verse. When the Bible says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire," what's it mean? That you may be mature and complete. That you may be full grown, that you're not a child tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

No, the word means that you and I are to be totally mature and totally full-grown. We're not to be children. In fact, the only way that you and I are to be children in the Bible, the Apostle Paul says, in malice we're to be children. But otherwise, we're to be mature, full-grown in the faith.

Now, let's go back in our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4 because, here's why, it is not the term perfect or perfection in general that I really want to deal with today. It is the term or the phrase perfect love.

The Foundation of Perfect Love (1 John 4:14–16)

He expounds verses 14–16: the apostolic testimony that the Father sent the Son as Savior; confessing Jesus as the Son of God brings mutual indwelling; knowing and believing God’s love in sending Christ as propitiation.

Now, let me set the stage by asking you a question, and I pray, I really pray that God in his mercy and grace will allow you to see this today. Because if you grasp what I'm going to share with you, it will give you more peace and more comfort than you can imagine. But here is my question. Look in your Bibles, 1 John 4, verse 17. "Herein is our love made perfect." Verse 18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." How is it that we are to experience, possess and understand perfect love? Is perfect love attainable? What is it? And how do I know whether or not I possess perfect love? Now, let's begin by looking at 1 John 4 verses 14 and 15, because those two verses basically set the stage for what I want to share with you in verses 17, 18 and 19.

So in verse 14, he says this, "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." Now, since faith in Christ works love to God, and love to God must tend to love to the brethren, the Apostle here confirms the prime article of the Christian faith as the foundation of such love. He proclaims the fundamental article of the Christian religion which is so representative of the love of God. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." Now, watch very closely. In verse 14, first of all, you have our Lord's relationship to His Father. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son." That is, He is the eternal, begotten, unbegotten Son of God. He is the eternal, unbegotten Son of God. So therefore, He's referred to as the Son. He is the Son of God, as no one else is. His Sonship is oneness with the Father. OK, so His relationship to God the Father, He is considered the Son. Note His relationship in office toward us. He is the Savior. He is our Savior, not only by His death, but by His intercession, by His power that He has given us against all enemies.

And then the ground by which he became so. It was the Father who sent the Son, the Bible says, to be the Savior of the world. And then look at John's assurance in verse 14. He said, "And we have seen and do testify." In fact, that is what 1 John is about. Go back to 1 John 1 and look at verse 1. He says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shown to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." John said we have seen Christ, we handled Christ, we touched Christ, we know that Christ is the Son of God. So he is giving a personal assurance in verse 14. He says, "And we have seen and do testify." We know, he says, this is the Son of God. Now look at verse 15.

He said, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God." Now, let me deal with the word confess. It's a very important word. He said, if we shall confess Christ or whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. The word confess is the Greek word homologeo. Homo means one or the same, and lego I say. So to confess means to say the same thing. OK, now let me show you another example of this word. Look in 1 John 1 and verse 9. Look in 1 John 1 and verse 9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now, what does the word confess mean?

Remember some of the—suppose I went back to Luke, stuck my hand in his pocket and stole a hundred dollar bill from him. And then I say, "Lord, I stole $100 from Luke. Lord, please forgive me." Now I'm going over to Heath and trying to get $100 from him. Have I confessed that sin? No. I may have bragged about it, but I certainly haven't confessed it. You know why? Because if I confess, I take the same attitude that God takes. I say the same thing that God says. If I stole a $100 bill from Luke and I actually confess that sin before God, I have to acknowledge that it's wicked, that it's wrong, that it's ungodly, that it deserves death. For the soul that sinneth it shall surely die, and the wages of sin is death. I have to confess and acknowledge the awfulness of that sin, and then also have to agree with God and acknowledge with Him that restitution should be made. And I go back to Luke, and I give him that money back, and I ask his forgiveness.

And then I ask the Father to forgive me. You see, the word confess means that you say the same thing. Now, when you come to 1 John 4 and verse 15, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God," what are you doing? You are agreeing with everything that God the Father says about God the Son. Whatever the Father's attitude is about Jesus Christ, that is your attitude. Whatever the Father says about Christ, you say about Christ, we agree with the Father. And by the way, it is only the grace of God that brings us to such confession. Do you remember? In Matthew 16, our Lord asked Peter and the other disciples and said, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" They answered, "Well, some say that you're John the Baptist or Elias or one of the other prophets." Our Lord said, "But whom say ye that I am?" And in verse 16, verse 15 it is, Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And in verse 16, our Lord said, "Blessed art thou, Peter." Are you listening? "For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee," help me out, "but my Father who is in heaven."

The only reason we know who Jesus Christ is, the only reason we know that he is indeed the Son of God is because the Father has been pleased to reveal him to us. You see, in Matthew 11, verse 27, our Lord said, "No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and no man knoweth the Son save the Father, but he to whomsoever he reveal him." The only way we can know the Father is the Son must reveal him. The only way we can know the Son, the Father must reveal him. So when we confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we are confessing and acknowledging everything that God says about Jesus Christ is true. And we agree with the Father in what He says about Christ.

Now, the result of that saving confession is that God dwells in us and we in Him. Of course, you know, the scripture we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, so God dwells in us. Now watch verse 16. See now, verse 14, John is testifying that they knew. They had firsthand knowledge that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Verse 15, we are agreeing with God the Father and with the apostles who gave their testimony that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Now look at verse 16. "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." Now, notice if you would please, verse 16, look at the two words know and believe. He said, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us."

In the Greek, these are perfect active indicatives. I will explain that. Here's actually the impact of that statement. You could read that we have known and continue to know. And we have believed and continue to believe that God has sent this love to us. We have known and continue to know. We have believed and continue to believe. Now watch verse 16. We have known and continue to know. We have believed and continue to believe the love that God has to us.

Now let me ask you this question. What is this love that God has to us that we know and continue to know, that we believe and continue to believe? Well, look back in 1 John 4 verses 9 and 10. In the context, "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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now, what is the love of God that we have known and continue to know, that we believe and continue to believe? It is that love that God sent His Son to be our propitiation. We know it. We continue to know it. We believe it. We continue to believe it. In other words, we know and we believe that God the Father gave His only begotten Son. We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is our propitiation. We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is our Passover, that He is our sacrifice.

We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is salvation and that we live in Him. Now watch. Verse 16. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love."

Now look what he says. "And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Now, how in the world is love dwelling in God? Because we're talking about the love that God had in sending his Son, Jesus Christ. So if we have Jesus Christ, we dwell in God, and God dwells in us. Are you listening?

Perfect Love Defined and Its Fruits (1 John 4:17–18)

Weaver explains that 'our love is made perfect' refers to God’s love perfected in Christ, received by faith. This perfected love produces boldness in judgment and increasing Christlikeness. Perfect love casts out fear.

Now, verse 17 is the icing on the cake. Watch carefully. "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." Now, I want you to note the word herein. Herein. Herein is our love made perfect. The Greek word herein is the little preposition en. Many times in our Bibles, it's translated as our English word in, "in this we know." Or you could say "by this we know," or "herein we know," it's all the same thing. So he says 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. Now, listen to me carefully, I'm going to give you a brief lesson in New Testament Greek, OK? Look in verse 17 at the two words made perfect. When you get to those two words, those two words come from one word that is a perfect passive indicative. You say I don't know what that means.

Well, I'm going to tell you. It's a perfect tense. It's passive. Which is the opposite of active. When something is passive, you have nothing to do with it. It's a perfect passive indicative, and here's what the perfect tense means. Listen carefully. It means it happened, the perfect passive, it means it happened one time in time past, but it has a continuing result. All right, now watch this. You can read this. Herein is our love or herein our love has been made perfect and it continues to be perfect.

So what is he saying? Our love has been perfected once and for all. It has been perfected once and forever with continuing results. How can our love have been perfected once and for all with continuing results? Well, let me ask you the question in the context, what is our love? Our love is that love which God gave us in giving us Jesus Christ. Are you listening to me? Perfect love is when the Father gave His only begotten Son. We believed Him. We agreed with Him. We confessed that God was holy, just and righteous in giving His only begotten Son. And now in faith and through faith and by faith, we are abiding in this love. What is our source of love? Well, look in 1 John 4 and verse 19. I'm going to come there in just a minute again. Look in 1 John 4 and verse 19. Help me out now. We love Him. Why? Where did we get our love from? From God. You know what the Bible said in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5?

The Bible says that we're not ashamed. Why are we not ashamed? Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Where does our love come from? It comes from God. And therefore, it is perfect. Now, are you listening? We may not be perfect, but He is perfect. The act of giving Jesus Christ was perfection par excellence. The sacrifice of Christ was perfect. The atonement of Christ was perfect. The reconciliation of Christ was perfect. The salvation of Christ was perfect. We have confessed. We believe.

We agree with the Father. We are now abiding in this perfect love. What does that mean? The love has been perfected once and for all forever with continuing results in Jesus Christ. Now watch. What are the immediate fruits of comprehending and understanding this perfected love? Well, look in verse 17. "Herein has our love been made perfect and continues, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." Ah, the first fruit of having understood, grasped and comprehended this perfect love that we have in Jesus Christ is that we have boldness in the day of judgment.

Now, let me ask you a question. When we think of our sins, when we think of our disobedience and our wickedness, sometimes we shudder. Why? Here's the answer. Because we know that we're guilty. We violated the law of God. And we know that God is a righteous judge. You know, one of the greatest things, if you ever comprehend this, is it once you see the perfected love that we have in God, the Father? That perfected love in Jesus Christ teaches us that God is not just simply a righteous judge. He is also our loving, heavenly Father. Therefore, in the day of judgment, you and I are not going to be facing a harsh, strict, uncontrollable judge. We will be facing our Father.

And what does that give us? Boldness in the day of judgment. You know why? Because we know, and I'm going to show you the scripture before I end today. We know that our Father has loved us, does love us, and continues to love us. And we know that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake.

Now, I want you to look at verse 18 before we go further, because verse 18 is rather a further expanding of this thought that we have in verse 17. In verse 17, he said, "Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment," and then he actually explains that a little further in verse 18, when he says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." Now, if love has not been perfected, that is, if you have not grasped what God has done for us in Christ, there can be no boldness in the day of judgment. What is he saying? He is saying that fear is not only the opposite of faith, it is also the opposite of love. Let me show you. Hold 1 John 4, I'm coming right back there, but look in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Please stay with me. Look in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7.

I can quote this, but I want you to see it. 2 Timothy 1, look in verse 7. 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Watch closely.

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

So love is the opposite of fear, just like faith is the opposite of fear. And what has God not given us? God did not give us a spirit of fear.

Now, if a man is fearful about judgment, he has just not comprehended the work of Christ. Now, go back to 1 John 4, look in verse 18, watch carefully. He says there is no fear in love. If you have comprehended the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ and the perfect sacrifice of Christ, there will be no fear in facing the Father. Why? Because a perfected love, that is the love, and by the way, the perfect love in verse 18 that casts out fear is the same perfect passive indicative that is used in verse 17. Because he says that once and for all perfected love casts out fear. It throws it out. Fear cannot dwell with a comprehension of the perfect work of Jesus Christ. He says, "He that feareth has not been made perfect in love."

So the one who fears, there is something wrong with him. He has not understood. He has not confessed or acknowledged with the Father, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for had he understood the perfected love of God in Christ, there would be no fear. Because perfected love casts out fear. Are you listening? A constant and a continual fear just demonstrates that we're not abiding in Christ. Now, go back to verse 17, because I want to show you the second result of understanding this perfected love of God in Christ. Verse 17 says, "Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." That's the first fruit. Here's the second fruit, "because as he is, so are we in this world." The more we abide in Christ.

The more we become like Christ. You know, the old adage, and it's true, folks, let's be honest. The longer two people live together, I'm talking about husband and wife, the more they look and act and think and talk like each other. It's just that simple. Alice got a birthday card the other day. And it had the husband and wife standing there together and they began to look alike. Even little hairs began to poke out on the wife's chin.

Applications of Perfect Love

He draws four applications: perfect love humbles us because it originates in God’s eternal love; God accepts our imperfect love; we must love the brethren; and claiming to love God while hating a brother is a lie.

Now, let me make some applications because I believe if we ever see this truth, it's going to give us the greatest comfort and the greatest courage. I understand, folks, about an embarrassment over our sins. But there is a difference between being embarrassed over something and fearing something. A big difference. I'd be embarrassed to tell you some things I did as a kid. You'd be embarrassed to tell me some things. But if we're in Christ, we have no fear of punishment because of those things, because Christ has suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust. Now, let me make some applications.

The first one is this: perfect love should humble us exceedingly. Why? Because this perfected love is not ours initially or originally. It is God's love to us in Christ, and therefore we are forced to confess the truth of 1 John 4 and verse 19. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. Has it ever dawned upon you the only reason that you're saved, the only reason that you're converted, the only reason you know anything about the Father, the only reason you have any love to God at all, is because God first loves you? Where would we be? And what would we be without the love of God? I surely don't want to ponder that one too long. Because I can tell you very quickly where we would be and what we would be without the love of God in Christ. Now, let me show you one verse and then I'm going to quote two. I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 31 and get ready to look at verse 3.

Jeremiah 31. I told you that this perfected love should humble us. Why? Because it was not ours initially or originally. We love Him only because He loves us. But look in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3, what God told the prophet, which also applies to all of His people. Jeremiah 31, verse 3, "The Lord has appeared of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Now, look what God said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." You know what the word everlasting means, it means eternal. It had no beginning and therefore it has no ending. You and I could never love God initially or originally, for God loved us from eternity. You know what the Bible says in Romans 5 verse 1, listen carefully, "Therefore being justified by grace, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ."

There's no war existing between the Father and the believer. We now have peace. The believer has thrown down his weapons of warfare. He is in submission and now wants to be in obedience. You know what the Bible says in Romans 8? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." If there is no condemnation in us, why should we fear? If you understand perfected love, it will humble you because it's all because of God that you are what you are.

Secondly, by way of application, I must confess that while my love to the Father is not perfect, yet His love toward me is perfect. Do you realize unhappily that even in the best and the most holy acts of faith, there is still sin mingled with our worship, our adoration and our obedience and service? Yet in returning his love, thankfully, he accepts the will for the deed. I'm so thankful that God does indeed know our hearts. He knows our wills. He knows our desires. He knows our motives.

And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 12, "For if there first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not." And God accepts the will for the deed. I may not be able to love him perfectly now, but I shall love him perfectly in eternity. The third application is this. A corollary of the perfected love is that we also love the brethren.

Now, if we understandably hold upon God's perfect love toward us individually, we cannot help but exercise that same love toward others. Do you realize that is precisely what Christ did for us? Now, listen, let me just quote to you Hebrews 2, verses 11 and 12. In reference to Jesus Christ, the Bible says this, "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church I will sing praise unto thee." What did Christ do? He did for His brethren, that is, us. Go back to 1 John chapter 3. Look, if you would please, at verse 16. 1 John 3, verse 16. "Hereby perceive we the love of God." How do we perceive it? How do we comprehend it? How do we lay hold upon it? Here's how. "Hereby understand we" or "perceive we" or "comprehend we the love of God because He laid down His life for us." Watch the corollary. "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

That's exactly what Christ did for us. So therefore, we must also love the brethren and sacrifice for them. Now, if that is not clear, look in 1 John 4 and verse 21, and you'll see once again, it's in the form of a command. "And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also." Here's my fourth and final application: it is useless, illogical and unscriptural to declare our love to our Father, while at the same time declaring our hatred, enmity and ill will toward our brethren. Look in 1 John 4 and verse 20. "If a man say I love God and hateth his brother," what? "He is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" Look in 1 John 3, verses 14 and 15. 1 John 3, verse 14.

"We know that we pass from death into life." How do we know that we pass from death into life? "Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Isn't that interesting? He who loves God will love his brethren. I cannot help but love the people of God if I understand the perfected love that God has for me in Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ laid down his life for his brethren.

What does the Bible say in John 17? "Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end." And likewise, we must do the same. He who possesses the perfected love of God in Christ not only loves the Father, but the brethren as well. If you understand what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, there will be no fear. There will be no torment. Because perfected love cast out fear. We're not afraid to face our Father. We may be ashamed. But we're not afraid.

Let me ask you, I know the answer because I know the answer in my life. Knowing what you know now, if you could live your life over and go back and undo some things, would you not undo those sins that you committed? Well, of course, knowing what you know now. But those sins have been dealt with. What does the Bible say? He's put them behind his back. He's put them as far as the East is from the West, and he will never remember them against us anymore.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Biblical Perfection as Maturity, Not Sinlessness

Summary: The Bible commands perfection, but the original words mean whole, complete, mature, or full-grown, not sinlessly perfect. Believers are positionally perfect in Christ but practically imperfect.

Evidence: Weaver explains that the Hebrew shalem and Greek teleios mean complete or mature, not sinless. He cites Noah as a 'perfect' man who later sinned (Genesis 6:9; 9:21).

God’s Love Perfected in Christ

Summary: Perfect love is not our love for God but God’s love for us demonstrated in sending His Son as propitiation. This love is perfected once for all and continues.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Perfect love is when the Father gave His only begotten Son. We believed Him… we are abiding in this love.' He references 1 John 4:9–10, 16–17.

Boldness in Judgment Through Perfected Love

Summary: Understanding God’s perfected love in Christ removes fear of judgment because believers face a loving Father, not a harsh judge.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'In the day of judgment, you and I are not going to be facing a harsh, strict, uncontrollable judge. We will be facing our Father.' He cites 1 John 4:17–18.

Love as the Opposite of Fear

Summary: Fear is incompatible with perfected love. A continual fear of judgment indicates a failure to abide in Christ and comprehend His finished work.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If a man is fearful about judgment, he has just not comprehended the work of Christ.' He references 2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18.

Love for the Brethren as Evidence of God’s Love

Summary: Those who have received God’s perfect love will love fellow believers. Claiming to love God while hating a brother is self-deception.

Evidence: Weaver cites 1 John 3:14–16; 4:20–21, emphasizing that Christ laid down His life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Key Arguments

Sinless perfection is unattainable in this life

Summary: Even the Apostle Paul admitted he was not perfect (Philippians 3:12), and James says all stumble in word (James 3:2). 1 John 1:8,10 warns against claiming sinlessness.

Evidence: Weaver reads Philippians 3:12: 'Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.' He also cites James 3:2 and 1 John 1:8,10.

The word 'perfect' in Scripture means mature or complete

Summary: The Hebrew shalem and Greek teleios denote wholeness, maturity, or full growth, not sinless perfection. This resolves the tension in commands to be perfect.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'The main word for perfect is the Greek word teleios, which primarily means having reached an end, complete, full, perfect, mature or full grown.'

Perfect love is God’s love perfected in Christ, received by faith

Summary: 1 John 4:17 uses a perfect passive indicative, indicating a once-for-all completed action with continuing results. Our love is perfected when we believe and abide in Christ’s sacrifice.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Our love has been perfected once and for all. It has been perfected once and forever with continuing results.' He references 1 John 4:9–10, 16–17.

Perfected love casts out fear of judgment

Summary: Because God’s love in Christ removes condemnation (Romans 8:1), believers can have boldness, not fear, when facing judgment. Fear indicates a lack of understanding of Christ’s work.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If you have comprehended the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ… there will be no fear in facing the Father.' He cites 1 John 4:18 and Romans 8:1.

Abiding in Christ produces Christlikeness

Summary: The second fruit of perfected love is that 'as he is, so are we in this world' (1 John 4:17). The more we abide in Christ, the more we become like Him.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'If we are continually abiding in Christ, what is the natural result? As He is, so are we in this world. Our lives will be more and more conformed to Jesus Christ.'

Love for God necessitates love for the brethren

Summary: 1 John 4:20–21 commands that those who love God must love their brothers. Hatred of a brother contradicts a profession of love for God.

Evidence: Weaver reads 1 John 4:20: 'If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar.' He also cites 1 John 3:14–16.

Scripture References

1 John 4:14–21

Context: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. It speaks of confessing Jesus as the Son of God, God’s love, perfect love casting out fear, and loving the brethren.

Matthew 5:48

Context: Cited to show God’s demand for perfection: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.'

Luke 6:40

Context: Mentioned to illustrate that the disciple is not above his master, but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.

John 17:23

Context: Jesus’ prayer that believers may be perfect in one, showing His desire for their perfection.

2 Corinthians 13:11

Context: Paul’s farewell admonition: 'Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace.'

Philippians 3:15

Context: Paul says, 'Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded,' indicating a call to maturity.

Colossians 1:28

Context: Paul’s aim to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus through preaching and teaching.

Colossians 4:12

Context: Epaphras’s prayer that the Colossians may stand perfect and complete in the will of God.

Hebrews 13:20–21

Context: A prayer that God would make believers perfect in every good work to do His will.

James 1:4

Context: Patience is to have her perfect work, that believers may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

1 Peter 5:10

Context: God, after believers have suffered a while, will make them perfect, establish, strengthen, settle them.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

Context: Scripture is given that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Philippians 3:12

Context: Paul admits he has not already attained or is already perfect, showing sinless perfection is not achieved.

James 3:2

Context: All offend in many things; if any offend not in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body.

1 John 1:8, 10

Context: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves; if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. Used to refute sinless perfection.

1 John 2:1–2

Context: John writes that we sin not, but if we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Genesis 6:9

Context: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, illustrating that 'perfect' means blameless or mature, not sinless.

1 John 4:9–10

Context: God’s love was manifested in sending His Son as propitiation for our sins, defining the love believers know and believe.

Romans 5:5

Context: The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, showing the source of our love.

2 Timothy 1:7

Context: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind, showing love opposes fear.

Historical References

Dwight L. Moody

Context: Weaver mentions Moody’s note in his Bible: 'Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book,' illustrating the power of Scripture.

Important Quotes

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.

Significance: This is the key verse Weaver expounds to show that perfected love produces boldness and Christlikeness.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Significance: Weaver uses this to explain that comprehending God’s perfect love removes fear of judgment.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Significance: Weaver cites this to refute the heresy of sinless perfection, emphasizing our sinful nature.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Significance: Used to show that denying actual sins contradicts Scripture.

We love him because he first loved us.

Significance: This verse grounds the entire message: our love originates in God’s prior love.

If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Significance: Weaver uses this to argue that genuine love for God must express itself in love for fellow believers.

I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Significance: Weaver quotes Jeremiah 31:3 to show God’s eternal, initiating love that humbles believers.

Discussion Questions

Why does the command to 'be perfect' often horrify Christians, and how does understanding the biblical meaning of 'perfect' change that reaction?

Context: Weaver introduces the problem of perfection and explains that the Greek word teleios means mature or complete, not sinless.

What is the difference between positional perfection in Christ and practical perfection in daily life?

Context: Weaver distinguishes between being positionally perfect in Christ and not yet practically perfect.

How does 1 John 1:8,10 guard against both the heresy of sinless perfection and the denial of actual sins?

Context: Weaver explains that verse 8 addresses denial of a sin nature, while verse 10 addresses denial of sinful acts.

In what way is God’s love 'perfected' in believers according to 1 John 4:17, and why is this a once-for-all action with continuing results?

Context: Weaver explains the perfect passive indicative verb, showing that our love has been perfected in Christ’s sacrifice.

Why does perfected love cast out fear, and what does persistent fear indicate about a person’s understanding of the gospel?

Context: Weaver states that fear of judgment shows a failure to comprehend Christ’s finished work.

How does abiding in Christ lead to becoming more like Him in this world?

Context: Weaver explains the second fruit of perfected love: 'as he is, so are we in this world.'

Why is it impossible to truly love God while hating a brother, according to 1 John?

Context: Weaver cites 1 John 4:20–21 and 3:14–15 to show that love for God and love for brethren are inseparable.

How does the truth that God loved us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3) produce humility in believers?

Context: Weaver applies the doctrine by noting that our love originates entirely in God’s eternal love, leaving no room for pride.

Applications

Perfect love should humble us exceedingly

Summary: Because God’s love for us in Christ is not originally ours but His, we are forced to confess that we love only because He first loved us. This truth humbles believers.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'This perfected love is not ours initially or originally. It is God’s love to us in Christ, and therefore we are forced to confess the truth of 1 John 4:19.'

God accepts our imperfect love

Summary: While our love to the Father is imperfect and mixed with sin, God accepts the will for the deed. He knows our hearts and desires.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Even in the best and the most holy acts of faith, there is still sin mingled… yet in returning his love, thankfully, he accepts the will for the deed.'

We must love the brethren

Summary: A corollary of receiving God’s perfect love is that we also love fellow believers, following Christ’s example of laying down His life for us.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If we understandably hold upon God’s perfect love toward us individually, we cannot help but exercise that same love toward others.' He cites 1 John 3:16.

Professed love for God must be matched by love for brothers

Summary: It is useless and unscriptural to claim love for God while harboring hatred toward a brother. Such a claim makes one a liar.

Evidence: Weaver reads 1 John 4:20 and says, 'If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:16:44Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:53:03Z

Clean Transcript

Perfect Love

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Well, let's open our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. We're going to read verses 15 through 21. 1 John 4 verses 15 through 21.
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Now, let me say that probably today I'm going to be reading or quoting a number of verses, because if I don't just simply go ahead and quote them, we will be here for a mighty long time because I've got a lot of verses and a lot of ground to cover. A number I'm going to ask you to turn with me to, and those are the ones I believe that are vitally important for you to see in light of what I'll be teaching. So look in 1 John chapter 4, and let's begin reading with verse 15. 1 John 4. In fact, let's read verse 14.
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The apostle writes, "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior 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. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."
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Now, I want to call your attention to verse 17. "Herein is our love made perfect." Look in verse 18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." Let me give you one word and want your reaction. The word is perfection. Now, the word perfection is a term that usually horrifies most Christians. I'm going to ask the question, why does perfection horrify most Christians? I'm not using correct grammar at this point, but I'm expressing a real truth because we know we ain't. We know that we are not perfect. Would it surprise you to find out that the word perfect occurs 99 times in the Bible, 42 of which occurs in the New Testament? And the count of 99 does not take into consideration the words perfected, perfecting, perfection, perfectly, and perfectness. If you count those words, then there are an additional 29 times, and thus a total of 128 times, the word perfect or its equivalent occurs. Now since most of us know that we are not perfect, have never been perfect, and will never be perfect in this life, we have a problem.
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Well, what is the problem? Well, look back in your Bibles, hold 1 John 4, but look back to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48. Here's our problem, very plainly delineated. Notice, if you would please, Matthew 5 and verse 48. Here the Word of God says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Our problem is that God demands perfection, "be perfect, even as your Father, who is in heaven, is perfect." Now, the Bible tells us in Luke chapter 6 and verse 40 that the disciple is not above his master. But everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Is that interesting? In our Lord's High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17 in verse 23, here is one of his prayer requests. He prays, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, and that thou hast loved me." Note he prayed that they may be perfect in one. Now, if you look in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, Paul is giving his farewell to the Corinthians.
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And I want you to note what he leaves them with. Admonition. Notice in 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, at verse 11. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 11, the apostle Paul says, "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you."
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Now, isn't that a great admonition? "Finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect." Well, that's quite an admonition that you and I are to be perfect. When Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 3, verse 15, he said this, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. If in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal it even unto you." Now, he said, "let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Interesting that the Apostle Paul is talking about perfection.
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Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter 1 and verse 28, because here you're going to see one of the aims of the ministry. Well, when I read this and I think that this is one of the goals in the ministry, sometimes it makes me cringe, but I want you to see what it is. Colossians 1 in verse 28, the apostle is talking about Jesus Christ and he says, "Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Hmm. So one of my goals, one of my aims as a pastor, is to preach, to teach, to warn, for what purpose? That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Now, if you go on in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, look there if you would since you're right there at chapter 4 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul reveals one of the prayer requests that Epaphras had for his brethren. In Colossians 4 and verse 12, the Bible says, "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you always, laboring fervently for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God."
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That you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God. So Epaphras prayed then for the Colossians that they would stand perfect. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 and 21. Now listen carefully.
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"Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Note this, "make you perfect in every good work to do his will." So one of the apostle's prayer requests for us is that we would be made perfect in every good work.
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Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 1. This verse is very clear. James 1, look in verse 4. Here the scripture says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." So patience is to have her perfect work, why? That we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
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Now, the Bible in 1 Peter 5 and verse 10, Peter writes, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you." So God then tells us that we are to be perfect.
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Now, let me ask a question. Why did God give us the scriptures? I'm looking for a practical answer. And I can get that answer in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. If you will turn there very quickly, you will find why God gave us the scriptures. Look in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. Here is a proper use of the scriptures, by the way. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
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Literally, the Greek word is theopneustos. That is, all Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture is exhaled from the mouth of God. So watch. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Why? Because that Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why? That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. That the man of God may be perfect. Now, the question arises.
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How do we address all these verses? What is God demanding and how do we apply these truths? When you look back at 1 John 4, which is our text, which we're going to be looking at in detail in a little while, but when you look at 1 John chapter 4, what in the world is the text talking about when it talks about perfect love? Let me ask you a couple of questions. Do you have perfect love? Let me make it a little more applicable. Do you have perfect love toward Christ? Do you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your being? Let me go a little further. Do you have perfect love towards your husband or perfect love towards your wife? Or perfect love toward your children? Can you truthfully and accurately say, "I have perfect love" now? These questions.
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Need to be answered in light of what we've just read. Now, when God said in Matthew 5 and verse 48, that we are to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, perfection may indeed be our aim and our goal in this life. But sinless perfection in this life is unattainable. Now let me explain. Look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. And look what the Apostle Paul said in verse 12. Now, I suppose if I were to ask you who was the greatest apostle in the New Testament, all of us would probably say the Apostle Paul. Certainly God used him to write most of the New Testament. Well, in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul had to confess this. He says, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect."
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"But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of in Christ Jesus." Notice this, "I have not already attained, nor am I already perfect." So even the mighty Apostle Paul admits that he certainly was not perfect. And if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of James, chapter 3, right after the book of Hebrews, you're going to find here there's a good reason why you and I cannot admit to being perfect. In James chapter 3, look in verse 2. In James 3 and verse 2, James writes this.
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"For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." How many of you have never, ever offended in word? The truth is, all of us have. Many times when we have spoken, we have been misunderstood. Sometimes we've spoken ignorantly, unknowingly, unwittingly. And very obviously, based upon that, we cannot classify ourselves as perfect men because we are not able to bridle even our tongues, much less the whole body.
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I want you to understand that the doctrine of total depravity dictates against perfection in this life. Go back in your Bibles to the book of 1 John, it is where we are in our text, 1 John chapter 1. And I want you to look at two verses in 1 John chapter 1, verse 8 and verse 10. Now, these two verses teach us very clearly the deception in seeking what you and I would know as sinless perfection in this life. Look what the Bible says in 1 John 1 and verse 8. He says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Now, I'm going to come back to this verse in just a moment, but look at it carefully. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Now look at verse 10. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him," that is God, "a liar and his word is not in us."
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Now, what is he talking about in verse 8 when he says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us"? Did he not say the same thing in verse 10 when he said, "If we say that we have not sinned"? No, they're two different things. Verse 8 is talking about our sinful nature or our sinful propensity. He said, if we say that we do not have a sin nature, we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If I were to sit here today and say, "Look, folks, I'm perfect, I just don't have the problems that you people have," I'm deceiving myself, says God, and the truth is not in me. But look in verse 10, "If we say that we have not sinned," that is, if we have not committed actual acts of sin, we make him a liar and his truth is not in us.
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His word is not in us. Why? For the scripture says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that doeth good." So in verse 8, you have someone who wants to deny their sin nature or their sinful propensity or the depravity of the flesh. And in verse 10, you have individuals who want to deny their sinful acts.
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"Well, no, I don't do that. I have not committed sin. I do not commit sin." God said, anybody who says that is going to deceive, but he's a liar and God's word is not in him. Years ago, when Alice and I lived in a South Georgia city, there was a man who owned a dry cleaning establishment and he was a professing Christian man. And I took my clothes in just simply because he's a professing Christian man.
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I walked in one day and I had a couple of suits in my hand for him to clean and he was behind the counter. And I knew that he was a Christian. And I just said as I threw the suits on the counter, "Isn't it a wonderful thing to be a Christian and have your sins forgiven?" He looked at me. God is my witness. Here are his exact words.
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He says, "I don't know. I haven't sinned in 20 years." And when he said that, my mouth fell open. I was stunned. It took me a moment to regain my composure. And when I did, I said, "Well, you just broke your record for you just did." And I quoted 1 John 1:10, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us."
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I said, "You shouldn't have lied. You could have kept your record, you know." But ridiculous to think that he had not sinned in 20 years.
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Now, let me tell you. We may now be positionally perfect in Christ, and there's a difference. But we may now be positionally perfect in Christ, but we are not yet practically perfect. I can say that in Christ, in my position in Him, yes, I am perfect. But practically speaking, on this earth, in this day, in this time, I am not sinlessly perfect. Neither are you. Neither is anyone else.
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Sinless perfection is unattainable in this life. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 John 2 and get ready for this. I want us to read in just a moment verses 1 and 2. But before I read that scripture, I want you to listen to what I'm going to say. And try to think this thing through with me, OK? Here it is. If sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is—there is no man that is sinlessly perfect in this life. I'm not talking about Christ. Christ was the only one who was sinless. There is no man in this life outside of Christ who is sinlessly perfect. Now, if sinless perfection is a heresy, and it is, an equally dangerous heresy.
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Is that we have to sin? Now, the fact is, we do sin, but many times we do not have to sin. Look what John wrote in 1 John 2 in verse 1. He writes, "My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not." Did you see that? Why did John give us 1 John? He said, "I'm writing these things to you so that you sin not." Then he says this, "And if any man sin," he knows we're going to.
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"We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." So here's his position. I'm writing this to you. Why? Because I don't want you to sin. You don't necessarily have to sin, but he says, I know you're going to sin. And when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, I'm not necessarily fond of Dwight L. Moody or his theology. But Dwight L. Moody had something written in the flyleaf of his Bible that was true. He wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, "Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book." And that's certainly true, you see, as you and I keep our minds upon Christ.
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And in his word and on his word and endeavor to live our lives obediently, we're not going to be sinning as regularly and as often as someone who totally disregards his word and has no concept of the mind of Christ. But when we do sin, because we are not perfect, nor can we be perfect in this life, he said, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
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Now, let me ask you a question. How in the world are we going to understand all of those passages that I read in my introduction about being perfect? Well, the way we answer them is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13, the Apostle Paul says we compare spiritual things with spiritual. One of the problems that you and I get in in biblical hermeneutics, which is the science or the art of interpreting Scripture, one of the problems that we get in in the interpretation of Scripture, we'll read something and we'll say, "Oh, look at that. Here's what that says." And we totally ignore the rest of Scripture. No, the Word of God says we must compare Scripture with Scripture. You and I cannot make Scripture contradict plain passages. And you and I cannot make one passage contradict another passage. Another problem is this: simply because when we read a word in the Bible today, that does not mean that the word that we just read had the same meaning in the Bible as it does in our day and time.
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The meanings of words change. For instance, I could give you the word flesh. Did you know that the word flesh, and you think you know what flesh is, but did you know the word flesh has four distinct meanings in Scripture? If I were to throw out the word world, what everybody knows what the world is, do they? I can show you at least 12 different meanings for the word world in Scripture. See, just because you think you know the meaning of a word does not mean that is the way that word is to be understood in Scripture. We must understand the scriptural usage and we must understand the scriptural meaning of the word. Moreover, we must consider the words in their context.
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Now, I quoted some Old Testament verses probably as well as some New Testament verses, but let me tell you, you will find the word perfect in the Old Testament just like you'll find the word perfect in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for perfect is shalem, which is usually interpreted or translated in our Bibles as whole, complete, finished, sound, or blameless.
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Now, let me show you. Go back in your Bibles to the book of Genesis 6. Genesis 6. Look, if you would please, at verse 9. Genesis 6, verse 9. Remember, the Hebrew word means whole, complete, finished, sound, or blameless. Watch this. Genesis 6, verse 9. Here's the Hebrew word. "These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God." Now, when the Bible says that Noah was perfect, does that mean that he was sinlessly perfect? Well, of course not. Would someone care to tell me what happened in Genesis 9 and verse 21 to Noah? He got what? Drunk.
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Now, there are some people that are going to try to defend his drunkenness and say, "Well, he didn't know that he would get drunk." Whether he did or didn't is immaterial. He got drunk. And drunkenness is a sin in the Bible.
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Now, when the Bible says that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, all that means is that Noah was usually a blameless man. In other words, he lived his life more holily and more godly than he did in evil and wickedness and rebellion and sin. It meant that he was a mature man, that he was a whole and complete man. Now, when you get to the New Testament, the main word for perfect is the Greek word teleios, which primarily means having reached an end, complete, full, perfect, mature or full grown. Now, you can go back to each of these verses that I read to you in the New Testament. And you can interpret the word perfect as mature or complete or full grown and you will have a perfect understanding and a right application of that verse. When the Bible says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire," what's it mean? That you may be mature and complete. That you may be full grown, that you're not a child tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
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No, the word means that you and I are to be totally mature and totally full-grown. We're not to be children. In fact, the only way that you and I are to be children in the Bible, the Apostle Paul says, in malice we're to be children. But otherwise, we're to be mature, full-grown in the faith.
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Now, let's go back in our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4 because, here's why, it is not the term perfect or perfection in general that I really want to deal with today. It is the term or the phrase perfect love.
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Now, let me set the stage by asking you a question, and I pray, I really pray that God in his mercy and grace will allow you to see this today. Because if you grasp what I'm going to share with you, it will give you more peace and more comfort than you can imagine. But here is my question. Look in your Bibles, 1 John 4, verse 17. "Herein is our love made perfect." Verse 18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." How is it that we are to experience, possess and understand perfect love? Is perfect love attainable? What is it? And how do I know whether or not I possess perfect love? Now, let's begin by looking at 1 John 4 verses 14 and 15, because those two verses basically set the stage for what I want to share with you in verses 17, 18 and 19.
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So in verse 14, he says this, "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."
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Now, since faith in Christ works love to God, and love to God must tend to love to the brethren, the Apostle here confirms the prime article of the Christian faith as the foundation of such love. He proclaims the fundamental article of the Christian religion which is so representative of the love of God. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." Now, watch very closely. In verse 14, first of all, you have our Lord's relationship to His Father. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son." That is, He is the eternal, begotten, unbegotten Son of God. He is the eternal, unbegotten Son of God. So therefore, He's referred to as the Son. He is the Son of God, as no one else is. His Sonship is oneness with the Father. OK, so His relationship to God the Father, He is considered the Son. Note His relationship in office toward us. He is the Savior. He is our Savior, not only by His death, but by His intercession, by His power that He has given us against all enemies.
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And then the ground by which he became so. It was the Father who sent the Son, the Bible says, to be the Savior of the world. And then look at John's assurance in verse 14. He said, "And we have seen and do testify." In fact, that is what 1 John is about. Go back to 1 John 1 and look at verse 1. He says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shown to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." John said we have seen Christ, we handled Christ, we touched Christ, we know that Christ is the Son of God. So he is giving a personal assurance in verse 14. He says, "And we have seen and do testify." We know, he says, this is the Son of God. Now look at verse 15.
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He said, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God." Now, let me deal with the word confess. It's a very important word. He said, if we shall confess Christ or whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. The word confess is the Greek word homologeo. Homo means one or the same, and lego I say. So to confess means to say the same thing. OK, now let me show you another example of this word. Look in 1 John 1 and verse 9. Look in 1 John 1 and verse 9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now, what does the word confess mean?
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Remember some of the—suppose I went back to Luke, stuck my hand in his pocket and stole a hundred dollar bill from him. And then I say, "Lord, I stole $100 from Luke. Lord, please forgive me."
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Now I'm going over to Heath and trying to get $100 from him. Have I confessed that sin? No. I may have bragged about it, but I certainly haven't confessed it. You know why? Because if I confess, I take the same attitude that God takes. I say the same thing that God says. If I stole a $100 bill from Luke and I actually confess that sin before God, I have to acknowledge that it's wicked, that it's wrong, that it's ungodly, that it deserves death. For the soul that sinneth it shall surely die, and the wages of sin is death. I have to confess and acknowledge the awfulness of that sin, and then also have to agree with God and acknowledge with Him that restitution should be made. And I go back to Luke, and I give him that money back, and I ask his forgiveness.
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And then I ask the Father to forgive me. You see, the word confess means that you say the same thing.
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Now, when you come to 1 John 4 and verse 15, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God," what are you doing? You are agreeing with everything that God the Father says about God the Son. Whatever the Father's attitude is about Jesus Christ, that is your attitude. Whatever the Father says about Christ, you say about Christ, we agree with the Father. And by the way, it is only the grace of God that brings us to such confession. Do you remember? In Matthew 16, our Lord asked Peter and the other disciples and said, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" They answered, "Well, some say that you're John the Baptist or Elias or one of the other prophets." Our Lord said, "But whom say ye that I am?" And in verse 16, verse 15 it is, Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And in verse 16, our Lord said, "Blessed art thou, Peter." Are you listening? "For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee," help me out, "but my Father who is in heaven."
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The only reason we know who Jesus Christ is, the only reason we know that he is indeed the Son of God is because the Father has been pleased to reveal him to us. You see, in Matthew 11, verse 27, our Lord said, "No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and no man knoweth the Son save the Father, but he to whomsoever he reveal him." The only way we can know the Father is the Son must reveal him. The only way we can know the Son, the Father must reveal him. So when we confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we are confessing and acknowledging everything that God says about Jesus Christ is true. And we agree with the Father in what He says about Christ.
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Now, the result of that saving confession is that God dwells in us and we in Him. Of course, you know, the scripture we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, so God dwells in us. Now watch verse 16. See now, verse 14, John is testifying that they knew. They had firsthand knowledge that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Verse 15, we are agreeing with God the Father and with the apostles who gave their testimony that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Now look at verse 16. "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." Now, notice if you would please, verse 16, look at the two words know and believe. He said, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us."
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In the Greek, these are perfect active indicatives. I will explain that. Here's actually the impact of that statement. You could read that we have known and continue to know. And we have believed and continue to believe that God has sent this love to us. We have known and continue to know. We have believed and continue to believe. Now watch verse 16. We have known and continue to know. We have believed and continue to believe the love that God has to us.
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Now let me ask you this question. What is this love that God has to us that we know and continue to know, that we believe and continue to believe? Well, look back in 1 John 4 verses 9 and 10. In the context, "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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now, what is the love of God that we have known and continue to know, that we believe and continue to believe? It is that love that God sent His Son to be our propitiation. We know it. We continue to know it. We believe it. We continue to believe it. In other words, we know and we believe that God the Father gave His only begotten Son. We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is our propitiation. We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is our Passover, that He is our sacrifice.
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We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is salvation and that we live in Him. Now watch. Verse 16. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love."
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Now look what he says. "And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Now, how in the world is love dwelling in God? Because we're talking about the love that God had in sending his Son, Jesus Christ. So if we have Jesus Christ, we dwell in God, and God dwells in us. Are you listening?
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Now, verse 17 is the icing on the cake. Watch carefully. "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." Now, I want you to note the word herein. Herein. Herein is our love made perfect. The Greek word herein is the little preposition en. Many times in our Bibles, it's translated as our English word in, "in this we know." Or you could say "by this we know," or "herein we know," it's all the same thing. So he says 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. Now, listen to me carefully, I'm going to give you a brief lesson in New Testament Greek, OK? Look in verse 17 at the two words made perfect. When you get to those two words, those two words come from one word that is a perfect passive indicative. You say I don't know what that means.
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Well, I'm going to tell you. It's a perfect tense. It's passive. Which is the opposite of active. When something is passive, you have nothing to do with it. It's a perfect passive indicative, and here's what the perfect tense means. Listen carefully. It means it happened, the perfect passive, it means it happened one time in time past, but it has a continuing result. All right, now watch this. You can read this. Herein is our love or herein our love has been made perfect and it continues to be perfect.
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So what is he saying? Our love has been perfected once and for all. It has been perfected once and forever with continuing results. How can our love have been perfected once and for all with continuing results? Well, let me ask you the question in the context, what is our love? Our love is that love which God gave us in giving us Jesus Christ. Are you listening to me? Perfect love is when the Father gave His only begotten Son. We believed Him. We agreed with Him. We confessed that God was holy, just and righteous in giving His only begotten Son. And now in faith and through faith and by faith, we are abiding in this love. What is our source of love? Well, look in 1 John 4 and verse 19. I'm going to come there in just a minute again. Look in 1 John 4 and verse 19. Help me out now. We love Him. Why? Where did we get our love from? From God. You know what the Bible said in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5?
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The Bible says that we're not ashamed. Why are we not ashamed? Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Where does our love come from? It comes from God. And therefore, it is perfect. Now, are you listening? We may not be perfect, but He is perfect. The act of giving Jesus Christ was perfection par excellence. The sacrifice of Christ was perfect. The atonement of Christ was perfect. The reconciliation of Christ was perfect. The salvation of Christ was perfect. We have confessed. We believe.
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We agree with the Father. We are now abiding in this perfect love. What does that mean? The love has been perfected once and for all forever with continuing results in Jesus Christ. Now watch. What are the immediate fruits of comprehending and understanding this perfected love? Well, look in verse 17. "Herein has our love been made perfect and continues, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." Ah, the first fruit of having understood, grasped and comprehended this perfect love that we have in Jesus Christ is that we have boldness in the day of judgment.
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Now, let me ask you a question. When we think of our sins, when we think of our disobedience and our wickedness, sometimes we shudder. Why? Here's the answer. Because we know that we're guilty. We violated the law of God. And we know that God is a righteous judge. You know, one of the greatest things, if you ever comprehend this, is it once you see the perfected love that we have in God, the Father? That perfected love in Jesus Christ teaches us that God is not just simply a righteous judge. He is also our loving, heavenly Father. Therefore, in the day of judgment, you and I are not going to be facing a harsh, strict, uncontrollable judge. We will be facing our Father.
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And what does that give us? Boldness in the day of judgment. You know why? Because we know, and I'm going to show you the scripture before I end today. We know that our Father has loved us, does love us, and continues to love us. And we know that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake.
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Now, I want you to look at verse 18 before we go further, because verse 18 is rather a further expanding of this thought that we have in verse 17. In verse 17, he said, "Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment," and then he actually explains that a little further in verse 18, when he says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." Now, if love has not been perfected, that is, if you have not grasped what God has done for us in Christ, there can be no boldness in the day of judgment. What is he saying? He is saying that fear is not only the opposite of faith, it is also the opposite of love. Let me show you. Hold 1 John 4, I'm coming right back there, but look in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Please stay with me. Look in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7.
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I can quote this, but I want you to see it. 2 Timothy 1, look in verse 7. 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Watch closely. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." So love is the opposite of fear, just like faith is the opposite of fear. And what has God not given us? God did not give us a spirit of fear.
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Now, if a man is fearful about judgment, he has just not comprehended the work of Christ. Now, go back to 1 John 4, look in verse 18, watch carefully. He says there is no fear in love. If you have comprehended the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ and the perfect sacrifice of Christ, there will be no fear in facing the Father. Why? Because a perfected love, that is the love, and by the way, the perfect love in verse 18 that casts out fear is the same perfect passive indicative that is used in verse 17. Because he says that once and for all perfected love casts out fear. It throws it out. Fear cannot dwell with a comprehension of the perfect work of Jesus Christ. He says, "He that feareth has not been made perfect in love."
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So the one who fears, there is something wrong with him. He has not understood. He has not confessed or acknowledged with the Father, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for had he understood the perfected love of God in Christ, there would be no fear. Because perfected love casts out fear. Are you listening? A constant and a continual fear just demonstrates that we're not abiding in Christ. Now, go back to verse 17, because I want to show you the second result of understanding this perfected love of God in Christ. Verse 17 says, "Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." That's the first fruit. Here's the second fruit, "because as he is, so are we in this world." The more we abide in Christ.
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The more we become like Christ. You know, the old adage, and it's true, folks, let's be honest. The longer two people live together, I'm talking about husband and wife, the more they look and act and think and talk like each other. It's just that simple. Alice got a birthday card the other day. And it had the husband and wife standing there together and they began to look alike. Even little hairs began to poke out on the wife's chin.
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Well, her beard's not quite as full as mine, but you understand. But it's true. The longer you live together, the more you think alike and act alike and sometimes look alike. And if we are continually abiding in Christ, what is the natural result? As He is, so are we in this world. Our lives will be more and more conformed to Jesus Christ. When we comprehend this perfect sacrifice and this perfect love, we want to be more like Christ.
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And what did our Lord say in John 8 and verse 29? He said, "I only do always those things which please the Father." And the man who's in Christ wants to please the Father.
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Now, let me make some applications because I believe if we ever see this truth, it's going to give us the greatest comfort and the greatest courage. I understand, folks, about an embarrassment over our sins. But there is a difference between being embarrassed over something and fearing something. A big difference. I'd be embarrassed to tell you some things I did as a kid. You'd be embarrassed to tell me some things. But if we're in Christ, we have no fear of punishment because of those things, because Christ has suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust. Now, let me make some applications.
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The first one is this: perfect love should humble us exceedingly. Why? Because this perfected love is not ours initially or originally. It is God's love to us in Christ, and therefore we are forced to confess the truth of 1 John 4 and verse 19. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. Has it ever dawned upon you the only reason that you're saved, the only reason that you're converted, the only reason you know anything about the Father, the only reason you have any love to God at all, is because God first loves you? Where would we be? And what would we be without the love of God? I surely don't want to ponder that one too long. Because I can tell you very quickly where we would be and what we would be without the love of God in Christ. Now, let me show you one verse and then I'm going to quote two. I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 31 and get ready to look at verse 3.
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Jeremiah 31. I told you that this perfected love should humble us. Why? Because it was not ours initially or originally. We love Him only because He loves us. But look in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3, what God told the prophet, which also applies to all of His people. Jeremiah 31, verse 3, "The Lord has appeared of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Now, look what God said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." You know what the word everlasting means, it means eternal. It had no beginning and therefore it has no ending. You and I could never love God initially or originally, for God loved us from eternity. You know what the Bible says in Romans 5 verse 1, listen carefully, "Therefore being justified by grace, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ."
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There's no war existing between the Father and the believer. We now have peace. The believer has thrown down his weapons of warfare. He is in submission and now wants to be in obedience. You know what the Bible says in Romans 8? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." If there is no condemnation in us, why should we fear? If you understand perfected love, it will humble you because it's all because of God that you are what you are.
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Secondly, by way of application, I must confess that while my love to the Father is not perfect, yet His love toward me is perfect. Do you realize unhappily that even in the best and the most holy acts of faith, there is still sin mingled with our worship, our adoration and our obedience and service? Yet in returning his love, thankfully, he accepts the will for the deed. I'm so thankful that God does indeed know our hearts. He knows our wills. He knows our desires. He knows our motives.
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And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 12, "For if there first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not." And God accepts the will for the deed. I may not be able to love him perfectly now, but I shall love him perfectly in eternity. The third application is this. A corollary of the perfected love is that we also love the brethren.
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Now, if we understandably hold upon God's perfect love toward us individually, we cannot help but exercise that same love toward others. Do you realize that is precisely what Christ did for us?
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Now, listen, let me just quote to you Hebrews 2, verses 11 and 12. In reference to Jesus Christ, the Bible says this, "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church I will sing praise unto thee." What did Christ do? He did for His brethren, that is, us.
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Go back to 1 John chapter 3. Look, if you would please, at verse 16. 1 John 3, verse 16. "Hereby perceive we the love of God." How do we perceive it? How do we comprehend it? How do we lay hold upon it? Here's how. "Hereby understand we" or "perceive we" or "comprehend we the love of God because He laid down His life for us." Watch the corollary. "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
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That's exactly what Christ did for us. So therefore, we must also love the brethren and sacrifice for them.
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Now, if that is not clear, look in 1 John 4 and verse 21, and you'll see once again, it's in the form of a command. "And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also." Here's my fourth and final application: it is useless, illogical and unscriptural to declare our love to our Father, while at the same time declaring our hatred, enmity and ill will toward our brethren. Look in 1 John 4 and verse 20. "If a man say I love God and hateth his brother," what? "He is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" Look in 1 John 3, verses 14 and 15. 1 John 3, verse 14.
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"We know that we pass from death into life." How do we know that we pass from death into life? "Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Isn't that interesting? He who loves God will love his brethren. I cannot help but love the people of God if I understand the perfected love that God has for me in Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ laid down his life for his brethren.
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What does the Bible say in John 17? "Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end." And likewise, we must do the same. He who possesses the perfected love of God in Christ not only loves the Father, but the brethren as well. If you understand what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, there will be no fear. There will be no torment. Because perfected love cast out fear. We're not afraid to face our Father. We may be ashamed. But we're not afraid.
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Let me ask you, I know the answer because I know the answer in my life. Knowing what you know now, if you could live your life over and go back and undo some things, would you not undo those sins that you committed? Well, of course, knowing what you know now. But those sins have been dealt with. What does the Bible say? He's put them behind his back. He's put them as far as the East is from the West, and he will never remember them against us anymore.
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There's no fear in a perfected love. And in Jesus Christ, we have a perfected love. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for the perfect love that we have from thee in and through Jesus Christ, our Savior. We give ourselves to thee this day and ask that you increase our love, our affection, our obedience unto thee. Thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your so great salvation. In Christ's holy and blessed name we pray.
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TV. TV.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:16:44Z

Perfect Love

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines 1 John 4:15–21 to explain the biblical concept of perfect love. He clarifies that sinless perfection is unattainable in this life, but believers possess a perfected love through God’s gift of Christ. This love, once received by faith, casts out fear of judgment and produces boldness, Christlikeness, and love for the brethren.

Introduction: The Problem of Perfection

Well, let's open our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. We're going to read verses 15 through 21. 1 John 4 verses 15 through 21.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:14–21

"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior 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. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."

Biblical Demands for Perfection

Scripture Reading — Matthew 5:48

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect."

Our problem is that God demands perfection,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 5:48

"be perfect, even as your Father, who is in heaven, is perfect."

And I want you to note what he leaves them with. Admonition. Notice in 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, at verse 11. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 11, the apostle Paul says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 13:11

"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you."

Scripture Reading — Colossians 1:28

"Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 1. This verse is very clear. James 1, look in verse 4. Here the scripture says,

Scripture Reading — James 1:4

"But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

So patience is to have her perfect work, why? That we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Now, the Bible in 1 Peter 5 and verse 10, Peter writes,

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:10

"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you."

Sinless Perfection Is Unattainable

Scripture Reading — James 3:2

"For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."

The Danger of Denying Sin or Necessity of Sin

He warns against two heresies: claiming sinless perfection (1 John 1:8,10) and believing we must sin. John wrote so that we sin not, but provides an Advocate when we do (1 John 2:1–2).

Is that we have to sin? Now, the fact is, we do sin, but many times we do not have to sin. Look what John wrote in 1 John 2 in verse 1. He writes,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:1–2

"My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not."

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:1–2

" So here's his position. I'm writing this to you. Why? Because I don't want you to sin. You don't necessarily have to sin, but he says, I know you're going to sin. And when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, I'm not necessarily fond of Dwight L. Moody or his theology. But Dwight L. Moody had something written in the flyleaf of his Bible that was true. He wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, "

Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book." And that's certainly true, you see, as you and I keep our minds upon Christ.

Understanding 'Perfect' in Scripture

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:9

"These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God."

The Foundation of Perfect Love (1 John 4:14–16)

We know and continue to know and believe that Jesus Christ is salvation and that we live in Him. Now watch. Verse 16. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love."

Perfect Love Defined and Its Fruits (1 John 4:17–18)

I can quote this, but I want you to see it. 2 Timothy 1, look in verse 7. 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Watch closely.

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

So love is the opposite of fear, just like faith is the opposite of fear. And what has God not given us? God did not give us a spirit of fear.

Applications of Perfect Love

Perfect Love

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	118151725263
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations: Prepared Hearts
Genre	Sermon
Date	2004-01-18
Dictation Name
Book	Book 136: Romans: Sin, Judgment, and Gospel Foundations - Volume 1 — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	83

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Problem of Perfection: Weaver introduces the topic by noting that the word 'perfect' appears many times in Scripture, yet Christians know they are not sinlessly perfect. He reads 1 John 4:14–21 and highlights the command to be perfect as the Father is perfect.
Biblical Demands for Perfection: He surveys New Testament passages that command or aim at perfection (Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 3:15; Colossians 1:28; 4:12; Hebrews 13:20–21; James 1:4; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Timothy 3:16–17), showing that God expects maturity and completeness.
Sinless Perfection Is Unattainable: Weaver argues from Philippians 3:12, James 3:2, and 1 John 1:8,10 that no believer achieves sinless perfection in this life. He distinguishes between positional perfection in Christ and practical imperfection.
The Danger of Denying Sin or Necessity of Sin: He warns against two heresies: claiming sinless perfection (1 John 1:8,10) and believing we must sin. John wrote so that we sin not, but provides an Advocate when we do (1 John 2:1–2).
Understanding 'Perfect' in Scripture: Weaver explains that the Hebrew word shalem and Greek word teleios mean whole, complete, mature, or full-grown, not sinless. He illustrates with Noah (Genesis 6:9) and applies this to New Testament commands.
The Foundation of Perfect Love (1 John 4:14–16): He expounds verses 14–16: the apostolic testimony that the Father sent the Son as Savior; confessing Jesus as the Son of God brings mutual indwelling; knowing and believing God’s love in sending Christ as propitiation.
Perfect Love Defined and Its Fruits (1 John 4:17–18): Weaver explains that 'our love is made perfect' refers to God’s love perfected in Christ, received by faith. This perfected love produces boldness in judgment and increasing Christlikeness. Perfect love casts out fear.
Applications of Perfect Love: He draws four applications: perfect love humbles us because it originates in God’s eternal love; God accepts our imperfect love; we must love the brethren; and claiming to love God while hating a brother is a lie.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Sinless perfection is unattainable in this life

Even the Apostle Paul admitted he was not perfect (Philippians 3:12), and James says all stumble in word (James 3:2). 1 John 1:8,10 warns against claiming sinlessness.

Weaver reads Philippians 3:12: 'Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.' He also cites James 3:2 and 1 John 1:8,10.

The word 'perfect' in Scripture means mature or complete

The Hebrew shalem and Greek teleios denote wholeness, maturity, or full growth, not sinless perfection. This resolves the tension in commands to be perfect.

Weaver explains, 'The main word for perfect is the Greek word teleios, which primarily means having reached an end, complete, full, perfect, mature or full grown.'

Perfect love is God’s love perfected in Christ, received by faith

1 John 4:17 uses a perfect passive indicative, indicating a once-for-all completed action with continuing results. Our love is perfected when we believe and abide in Christ’s sacrifice.

Weaver states, 'Our love has been perfected once and for all. It has been perfected once and forever with continuing results.' He references 1 John 4:9–10, 16–17.

Perfected love casts out fear of judgment

Because God’s love in Christ removes condemnation (Romans 8:1), believers can have boldness, not fear, when facing judgment. Fear indicates a lack of understanding of Christ’s work.

Weaver says, 'If you have comprehended the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ… there will be no fear in facing the Father.' He cites 1 John 4:18 and Romans 8:1.

Abiding in Christ produces Christlikeness

The second fruit of perfected love is that 'as he is, so are we in this world' (1 John 4:17). The more we abide in Christ, the more we become like Him.

Weaver explains, 'If we are continually abiding in Christ, what is the natural result? As He is, so are we in this world. Our lives will be more and more conformed to Jesus Christ.'

Love for God necessitates love for the brethren

1 John 4:20–21 commands that those who love God must love their brothers. Hatred of a brother contradicts a profession of love for God.

Weaver reads 1 John 4:20: 'If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar.' He also cites 1 John 3:14–16.

Scripture References

1 John 4:14–21: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning. It speaks of confessing Jesus as the Son of God, God’s love, perfect love casting out fear, and loving the brethren.
Matthew 5:48: Cited to show God’s demand for perfection: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.'
Luke 6:40: Mentioned to illustrate that the disciple is not above his master, but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.
John 17:23: Jesus’ prayer that believers may be perfect in one, showing His desire for their perfection.
2 Corinthians 13:11: Paul’s farewell admonition: 'Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace.'
Philippians 3:15: Paul says, 'Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded,' indicating a call to maturity.
Colossians 1:28: Paul’s aim to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus through preaching and teaching.
Colossians 4:12: Epaphras’s prayer that the Colossians may stand perfect and complete in the will of God.
Hebrews 13:20–21: A prayer that God would make believers perfect in every good work to do His will.
James 1:4: Patience is to have her perfect work, that believers may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
1 Peter 5:10: God, after believers have suffered a while, will make them perfect, establish, strengthen, settle them.
2 Timothy 3:16–17: Scripture is given that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Philippians 3:12: Paul admits he has not already attained or is already perfect, showing sinless perfection is not achieved.
James 3:2: All offend in many things; if any offend not in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body.
1 John 1:8, 10: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves; if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. Used to refute sinless perfection.
1 John 2:1–2: John writes that we sin not, but if we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Genesis 6:9: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, illustrating that 'perfect' means blameless or mature, not sinless.
1 John 4:9–10: God’s love was manifested in sending His Son as propitiation for our sins, defining the love believers know and believe.
Romans 5:5: The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, showing the source of our love.
2 Timothy 1:7: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind, showing love opposes fear.

Historical References

Dwight L. Moody: Weaver mentions Moody’s note in his Bible: 'Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book,' illustrating the power of Scripture.

Important Quotes

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.

This is the key verse Weaver expounds to show that perfected love produces boldness and Christlikeness.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Weaver uses this to explain that comprehending God’s perfect love removes fear of judgment.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Weaver cites this to refute the heresy of sinless perfection, emphasizing our sinful nature.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Used to show that denying actual sins contradicts Scripture.

We love him because he first loved us.

This verse grounds the entire message: our love originates in God’s prior love.

If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Weaver uses this to argue that genuine love for God must express itself in love for fellow believers.

I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Weaver quotes Jeremiah 31:3 to show God’s eternal, initiating love that humbles believers.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why does the command to 'be perfect' often horrify Christians, and how does understanding the biblical meaning of 'perfect' change that reaction?

[Context]

Weaver introduces the problem of perfection and explains that the Greek word teleios means mature or complete, not sinless.

[Question]

What is the difference between positional perfection in Christ and practical perfection in daily life?

[Context]

Weaver distinguishes between being positionally perfect in Christ and not yet practically perfect.

[Question]

How does 1 John 1:8,10 guard against both the heresy of sinless perfection and the denial of actual sins?

[Context]

Weaver explains that verse 8 addresses denial of a sin nature, while verse 10 addresses denial of sinful acts.

[Question]

In what way is God’s love 'perfected' in believers according to 1 John 4:17, and why is this a once-for-all action with continuing results?

[Context]

Weaver explains the perfect passive indicative verb, showing that our love has been perfected in Christ’s sacrifice.

[Question]

Why does perfected love cast out fear, and what does persistent fear indicate about a person’s understanding of the gospel?

[Context]

Weaver states that fear of judgment shows a failure to comprehend Christ’s finished work.

[Question]

How does abiding in Christ lead to becoming more like Him in this world?

[Context]

Weaver explains the second fruit of perfected love: 'as he is, so are we in this world.'

[Question]

Why is it impossible to truly love God while hating a brother, according to 1 John?

[Context]

Weaver cites 1 John 4:20–21 and 3:14–15 to show that love for God and love for brethren are inseparable.

[Question]

How does the truth that God loved us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3) produce humility in believers?

[Context]

Weaver applies the doctrine by noting that our love originates entirely in God’s eternal love, leaving no room for pride.

Applications

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