Love, Honor, and Obey

1
Love, Honor, and Obey

• I John 417- 55

2

• Emphasis on Christian Love now believers love
  for the Father
• We cannot love our neighbor unless we love our
  heavenly Father
• Perfect maturity completeness
• Grow in love for the Father in response for
  Fathers love for you
• Mature Christian love is the great universal need
  among Gods people
• Confidence (417-19)
• Fear torment
• Reason not growing in Gods love

3

• Boldness confidence ofr freedom of speech
• Reverential fear, not tormenting fear
• Fear phobia krisisphobia fear of judgment
• Tormenting fear due to past, present, future
• No fear due to Gods love
• Secret of boldness As he is, so are we in this
  world (417) dealing with the future
• Father deals with us as He deals with His Son
• Past We need not to be afraid, because He first
  loved us (410)
• Present We need not to be afraid because
  perfect love casteth out fear (418)
• Proper fear doesnt torment

4

• For you have not received a spirit of slavery
  leading to fear again, but you have received a
  spirit of adoption as sons which we cry out,
  Abba, Father (Rom 815 NASB)
• For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but
  of power, and of love, and of sound mind (II Tim
  17)
• Fear is the beginning of torment
• Live in an atmosphere of love confidence, not
  fear and torment (Rom 835, 37-39)
• Gods perfect love in stages
• When we were lost, we lived in fear
• After trusting Christ mixture of fear love
• Growing in fellowship with God fear vanished
  gradually His love controlled our hearts
• Immature Christian is tossed between fear love

5

• Mature Christian rests in Gods love
• Evidence of mature love for God growing
  confidence in Gods presence
• Honesty (420-21)
• Warning against pretending
• Fear pretending go together
• Example of Adam Eve (Gen 310 - I heard thy
  voice, and I was afraid)
• Confidence toward God no need of pretense
• No confidence toward God leads to no confidence
  with Gods people
• Worry fear that torments
• Immature Christian try to impress others with
  spirituality (not growing in Gods love)

6

• Example of Ananias Saphira (Acts 5)
• Our life should be marked by honesty, not
  pretending
• Spiritual honesty leads to peace power
• Love truth go together
• Joyful Obedience (51-3)
• His commandments are not burdensome (53 NASB)
• Anything in creation obeys Gods will except man
• Fire, and hail snow, and vapor strong wind
  fulfilling his word (Ps 1488)
• Jesus walking on the water sleeping in a boat
• Jonah storm, whale, and plant

7

• Disobedience to Gods will hesitant, grudging
  obedience
• Secret of joyful obedience obedience is a family
  matter
• We have been born of God, love God, and Gods
  children
• We show Gods love by willing wor, not empty
  words
• We are children obeying the Father, not slaves
  obeying a master
• Test of maturing love is our personal attitude
  toward the Bible
• Unsaved person considers the Bible impossibility
  for he doesnt understand the spiritual message
  (I Cor 214)

8

• Immature Christian look at the demands of the
  Bible to be burdensome.
• Mature Christians who experiences Gods love
  enjoys and love Gods Word and looks at it as
  Gods love letter rather than textbook.
• Psalm 119
• Stages of maturing love
• As our love for God grows, we have confidence
  toward God are not afraid of his will.
• We are honest toward God others lose fear of
  being rejected
• We have new attitude toward Gods Word and
  enjoying obeying it as an expression of Gods love

9

• Stages of sin
• When we disobey God, we lose our confidence
  toward God
• Disobedience leads to dishonesty (pretending
  covering up)
• It turns us from Gods Word we either read
  routinely or ignore it
• The burden of religion is grievous
• Love lightens burden (Matt 1128-30)
• Victory (54-5)
• For whatever is born of God overcomes the world
  (4)
• Victory is the result of faith we grow in faith
  as we grow in love

10

• Faith love go together
• Overcome 7 times in Revelation
• Faith in Jesus Christ (5)
• In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of
  good cheer, I have overcome the world (John
  1633)
• Identification with Christ
• as he is
• As he is so are we in this world (47)
• a he is the light (17)
• I have been crucified with Christ (Gal 220)
• walk in the newness of life (Rom 64)
• Seated with Him in heavenly places (Eph 26)
• Be revealed with Him in glory (Col 34)
• Spiritual position in Christ
• Child of God is privileged

11

• His authority is determined by position
• Faith is God's key to victory
• Victorious faith is the result of maturing love
• Faith is not much believing in spite of evidence,
  but obeying in spite of consequence
• Maturing love be a regular practical thing in
  our daily life
• Stages of relationship to Jesus Christ
• We must cultivate friendship with Christ (James
  223)
• Friendship will be begin to influence our life
  gradual process
• Our friendship with Christ becoming like Him
  will lead to a deeper love for Christ

12

• Christian love is not a passing emotion, but a
  permanent devotion
• More we know Him the better we love Him, and the
  better we love Him the more we become like Him
• Conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 829)
• The place to begin is in the quiet, personal
  place of prayer