1 John 4:13 - Homiletics

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God-likeness the seal of a Divine indwelling.

Connecting link: This verse is closely allied to the verse preceding. Though no one has at any time seen God, yet God is within us if his love is reproduced in us by the new birth of the Holy Ghost. Hence our present topic— Conformity to God the proof that God is the Life of our lives. £ There is in some respects a considerable resemblance between this verse and 1 John 3:24 . But the student desiring to be exact in his unfolding of the writer's words will note

I. HERE IS A FACT ASSERTED . "He hath given us of his Spirit." Both the Gospel and the Epistles of John are Trinitarian. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all are there, each fulfilling his own part in the saving work. The Father the Origin, the Son the Channel, the Spirit the Agent, in the redemptive economy. The Father sends the Son. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Father plans the redeeming work. The Son carries it out objectively for man. The Spirit applies it subjectively in man. It is the last-named act which is specified here.

1 . The Spirit of God comes within man, freely. "Given." The gift of the Spirit within is as gratuitous on God's part as the gift of his dear Son. He is bestowed by the Son, as the Gift of the Father's love ( Luke 11:13 ; John 1:33 ; John 14:16 , John 14:17 ).

2 . The Spirit of God, when within us, controls us. We are "led by the Spirit;" we "live in the Spirit;" we "walk in the Spirit;" and the entire direction of the new life is in his gracious hands.

3 . The Spirit of God, by controlling us, transforms us. We come to love as God loves. We come to be, in our measure, as the governing force of our spirits is. And since that is love, we love; we catch the holy impulse of the self-sacrificing zeal; and yearn to lay ourselves out for those around us.

II. THIS TRANSFORMATION TO THE DIVINE LIKENESS IS THE PROOF AND SEAL OF A DIVINE INDWELLING . This may be set in two ways.

1 . Positively.

The living on another, drawing our life, joy, love, might, all from another, is as real to us as the air we breathe. And if we have any likeness to God, it is to God himself we owe it, and by fellowship with him it is nourished and increased.

2 . Negatively. This life of love cannot be attributed to any other cause; for:

(a) Not from the world; for there man turneth "every one to his own way."

(b) Not from the Church; for no one has power to impart the grace of love.

III. THE FACT , SO ACCOUNTED FOR , HAS IN IT MANIFOLD TEACHINGS .

1 . For the unregenerate. They should learn what it is they need. Life, life within them!

2 . For the inconsistent professors. They want reality, not a sham life.

3 . For those who do not know where they are in religion. Let them not waste time in "feeling their pulse;" let them open their hearts to receive God; they will soon know their state then.

4 . For those seeking after the evidences of Christianity. They will find them in men filled with the Spirit of God.

5 . For the students of history. They wilt find a new world of love, slowly yet surely forming, under the power of the cross and of the Spirit of our God.