GOD IS LOVE
1 John 4:7-19
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
V:7. " Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
A. One of the key doctrines of the Bible is Love.
1. God's creative
process begin out of His Love.
2. It is clear
from the first three verses of this chapter that God has two types of
people.
a. Those who
love Him.
b. Those who oppose His commands.
c. Those who
love and those who hate.
B. A relationship with the Lord begins with our Love for
Jesus manifested by
faith in His death
and resurrection.
1. The word
Beloved or friend says that all believers are related.
2. The evidences
of our love for God is our love for each other.
3. The word love
is the Greek word agape which mean moral affection.
a. In my mind
John 3:16 gives a better definition
of God's love.
b. God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
c. So, God's
love (agape) is the sacrificial unconditional giving of
one's life for the salvation of all those who
believe.
4. We certainly
cannot approach God love, but we can exhibit moral
affection toward each other.
C. To love we must be
born again.
1. Any man in
Christ is a new creation.
2. The new
creation in us loves and knows God.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU LOVE GOD?
V:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is
love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His
only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him."
A. Again, the text points out that there are two groups of
people in the world:
those who know
God and those who do not know God.
1. The first
group; those who do not know God can be put into two
subgroups.
a. Those who
were not predestined to be called out of the world before the
foundation
of the world.
b. And those
who were predestined, but not yet called out.
c. All of us at
some point fit into the second subgroup before our call out.
B. Since Saint John
is talking to believers, we must realize that at some point
in our lives, we
did not know God.
1. It was by
God's grace that when we did not know Him, Christ died for
our sins.
2. We did nothing
to deserve the blood shed on the cross covering our
sins.
3. About now
should be a Shout for Joy, because He elected us by no
good deed of
our own.
4. Christ death is
a free gift of eternal life to those He chose.
JESUS IS THE GREATEST EXAMPLE OF LOVE
V:10-11. " In this is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
A. Here we have God's definition of His divine Love.
1. The sacrifice of
the life of God's Son, Jesus Christ for our sins is divine Love.
2. God does not ask
us to give up our life for one another, but see and treat
each other with
respect and service.
B. Jesus lowered Himself from the heavenly throne and took
on human flesh
to be a servant to
us.
1. To love others as
we love ourselves, we must see others as equal to us and one
with us in the
body of Christ.
2. Through our faith
in Jesus, we are one with the Father who dwells in us.
THE HOLY SPIRIT REMINDS US OF GOD'S LOVE
V:12-13. " No one has seen God at any time; if we love
one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we
know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit"
A. This is the evidence of the existence of the Holy
Trinity.
1. We have God the
Father.
2. We have God the
Son.
3. And we have God
the Holy Spirit.
B. We have never seen God, but we know God because He abides
in us through
the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit.
1. God is infused
in our consciousness.
2. Even if we have
not grown spiritually from acceptance of Christ as our
personal
Savior, God is still in us.
C. The text presents a problem that affects us all; the love
of another person.
1. It is easy to
love some one you like, but difficult to love someone you
dislike.
2. We partially
shut God out of our lives when it comes to someone we can't
get alone with.
a. That is the
reason we can act unchristian like sometimes.
b. We draw a
line in the sand which love can't cross when it comes
to someone
we don't like.
3. It is not that
God is not in us, but it is that we want allow our love
for God to be
shared with a person we can't get alone with.
D. Since we are in Christ, we know if our actions do not line up with the Word,
they are not of
God.
1. It is in verse
three that informs us that if the spirit does not confess Jesus Christ
it is not of
God.
2. The truth is
that there are times when we let our flesh over rule the Spirit of God
that indwells
us.
3. We have to
began to know that when we are upset with another person, to the
point where
we cannot love them, that it is not of God.
Luke 6:32
4. One of the
fruits of the Spirit is self control.
5. Love should be
in control at all times.
CONFESS JESUS AND ABIDE IN THE FATHER
V:14-15. " We have seen and testify that the Father has
sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is
the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."
A. It is the Word of God and the Spirit of God that testify
to our hearts that Jesus is the
Son of God.
1. No one can come
to Jesus unless the Father draws him.
John 6:44
2. It is the Father
that draws us to a belief that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
B. Since our confession of faith in Jesus seals us by the
Holy Spirit until the day
of redemption, we
have God abiding in us.
1. Since we have
the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, it is a conscience decision to
obey the Word
of God or to disobey the Word.
2. John 14:15- 23 states that Love is obeying God's commands.
3. Ignorance of
God's commands is one of the causes of our disobedience.
4. It is our ignorance
of the importance of God's commands that we use to
pick the part
of God's Word we will obey.
5. God still loves
us, but He does not love our disobedience.
GOD IS LOVE
V:16. " We have come to know and have believed the love
which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in
God, and God abides in him.
A. Abiding in the Word of God should be a key focus of our
spiritual growth.
1. The word abide
or dwell, is the Greek word meno which means "to be presence".
2. Since God is
present with us, He has made known His love for us.
3. Here is where
we mix our old world thoughts with the ,Word of God.
a. We fail to
realize the ever presence of the Lord.
b. Because we
ignore His presence in us, we give ourselves license to
do what we
want regardless of God's commands.
B. We operate outside
of the abidance of God when we ignore His commands.
1. Abiding in God
is to keep His commands,
2. Our love for
God is defined as keeping His commands.
3. If we want God
to abide in us, we must make up our minds to study His
Word to know
what He expects of Us.
LOVE IS PERFECTED IN OUR OBEDIENCE
V:17. " By this, love is perfected with us, so that we
may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in
this world."
A. It is the knowledge of the Word of God that is the
beginning of our perfection in God.
1. Acting
according to the Word of God perfect our abiding in Him.
2. The Holy Spirit
cannot help our lack of study of the Word but
does enlighten
us as we study the Word.
3. The more we know
of God's Word, the more confidence we will have in
God.
4. The more we act
according to the Word of God, the more we will see
God working in
our lives.
B. The more confidence we have in God keeping His promises
to us,
the more boldly
we will rely on the Word of God.
1. When we conduct
ourselves according to the Word of God, the
love of God is
perfected in us.
2. We must practice
being a Christian.
3. Practice makes
perfect.
GOD HAS NOT GIVEN US
V:18. " There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not
perfected in love."
A. Fear is sin. 1
John 4:1-3
1. It is not from
the Spirit of God.
2. God has not
given us the spirit of fear, but power, love and sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7
3. Fear is a
learned reaction to uncertainty.
4. Fear grows in
our lack of total trust in the Word of God.
5. Fear grows in
our lack of obedience of the Word.
6. Fear grows in
our ignorance of the Word of God.
7. Our love for
God will not be perfected in fear because it
springs from
disobedience, distrust and God's wrath.
B. When we are confident that God will take care of us in
all situations, our fear is
relieved.
1. When we reflect
on our past, we can see how God has worked in our lives.
2. We must carry our
history with God into our present situation.
3. God want stop
being God because we have a new situation.
4. What He did for
us in the past, He will do for us in the future.
5. Fear has no
place in our love for God.
C. When we know we are loved, it is easy to love others.
1. When we have
nothing to fear in the Lord, we can encourage others not to
be fearful.
2. The more we
trust God, the more our love for Him is perfected.
3. The more we
live by the promises of God, the more our love for
Him is
perfected.
4. The more we
trust God the more our love for others is perfected.
LOVE PRODUCES LIFE
V: 19. " We love, because He first loved us."
A. Love does not begin with us.
1. Love has it
origin in God.
2. Before our
relationship with Christ, we learned love from the
world's way of
thinking.
3. According to the
world, love is an affection we have based on how
we feel about
someone.
B. We get our first glimpse of true love from our parents
1. They loved us unconditionally because we
belong to them.
2. Love involves
discipline and obedience.
3. Love involves
caring and compassion.
4. Love involves
respect and trust.
5. Love involves a
level of sacrifice.
C. The love we received
from our parents get distorted with worldly
thinking.
1. Those outside the
family does not receive the same love
as those in the
family.
2. Those outside
the family receive our liking based on how we
feel about
them.
D. God's love is universal.
1. God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that who ever
believes in Him shall not parish, but have
everlasting
life. John 3:16
2. Before we were
born, Christ died for us.
3. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
4. God's love is
universal because Christ died for the whole world.
5. God's love is
first because He chose us in Jesus before the
foundation of
the world.
6. The blessings of
God's love are conditional because they are
based on our
belief in the death and resurrection of
His Son.
E. God's love has nothing to do with us but everything to do
with Him.
1. Our love for God
is based on Him drawing us to Himself.
John 6:44
2. Our love for God
is based on the change He created in us so we
could love Him.
a. Any man in
Christ is a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17
b. God sealed us
to the day of redemption so we cannot return to
our formal
selves. Eph 4:30
F. We are commanded to love others because He loves us
unconditionally.
1. Our light must
shine so the world will know how to love.
2. We must walk in
the light so others can see our light.
3. Our light shines
brightest when we love unconditionally.
LOVE LIKE JESUS
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
For more of my lesson follow
me on facebook and
visit my blogs:
www.revmmitchell.com and
goodnewsrevmitc.blospot.com
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