Passage: 1 John 4:7-10

Title: Three Truths about God’s Love

Focus: Brotherly Love

INTRODUCTION: “Calvary shows how far men will go in sin, and how far God went for man's salvation.” -H. D.
Trumbull

We hear it all the time, "God Loves You”. It’s a message that is easy to say. It’s written on barns, railroad cars,
and bridges all across this country. “God loves you.” The message of God’s love is one that John would
declare with passion, desire and boldness. He, along with all the other apostles, would shout it from the
rooftops and jail cells whenever they could, “God loves you.” They experienced God’s love in ways that were
unheard of to the people in their lives. Today we must take that message a step further and declare, just as
John and the other disciples did, that God does indeed love you and the reason for this love is because God is
love.

SCRIPTURE: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God
and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God
was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins.” 1 John 4:7-10

TITLE: THREE TRUTHS ABOUT GODS LOVE

POINT #1: God’s Love is Existent (1 John 4:7)

• Explanation: We can see the attributes of God throughout His work in His creation and in His written Word
to us (the Bible). In our study of His footprints, we see that we can come to appreciate God’s love and learn
about how He is described through what we see and read. John states, “love is from God, and whoever loves
has been born of God and knows God.” (4:7) We see four traits of God in His love.

1. God’s Holiness (set apart/sacred – The Creator):

i. "In Him there is no darkness." 1 John 1:5

1. There is no sin and no darkness in God.

2. God’s Agape Love: Agape = Christ’s death on the Cross – The Son.

i. God’s love of giving us Jesus is a demonstration of good will (salvation) and concern for the fallen creation.

1. “God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
 “Agape” is one of several Greek words for love. When the word “agape” is used in the
Bible, it refers to a pure, willful, sacrificial love that intentionally desires another’s highest
good.
Agape love is a sacrificial love that unites and heals. It is the love of God that we see
through the cross of Jesus Christ. This love saves and restores humanity in the face of sin
and death.
agape, in the New Testament, the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as
the human reciprocal love for God.
God’s agape love is what Jesus Christ displayed on the cross for us as he took our place
for the sin.
Agape love is always shown by what it does. God’s love is displayed most clearly at the cross. “God, being
rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4–5, ESV). We did not
deserve such a sacrifice, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God’s agape love is unmerited, gracious, and constantly seeking the benefit
of the ones He loves. The Bible says we are the undeserving recipients of His lavish agape love (1 John 3:1).
God’s demonstration of agape love led to the sacrifice of the Son of God for those He loves.

3. God’s Gift of the Spirit (third person in the Trinity – The Holy Spirit):

The Holy Spirit…

a. Gives instruction and warning (John 3:34) “For the one whom God has sent speaks the
words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
[a]

b. Gives energy and power (2 Timothy 1:7) “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us
timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

c. Gives various gifts (1 Corinthians 12) These verses concern about the different spiritual gifts.

d. Manifests God’s glory (1 Peter 4:14) “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you
are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

• Illustration: C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor act as if
you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved
someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself
disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."

• Application: God did more for us than simply stating He loved us, He demonstrates His love for us in various
ways. Therefore, knowing what we know about God, we are called to do the same. In this love we can

o Experience God's love

o Gain a greater appreciation for Him

o Appreciate the gifts He has given.

o Understand how He sustains and redeems us in our sinful state.

POINT #2: God’s Love is Extended (1 John 4:8)

• Explanation:

Everyone who believes in God and knows God’s love, extends it as God did through Christ.


Those who have not received God’s love does not experience God fully.


God wants us to experience His love so that we can be an instrument to the expansion of His love to those people who are hopeless and unloving.


God extended His love to all of us so that we can be with Him throughout of our lives.


 God’s benevolent, merciful love is unlimited in extent. He loves the whole world of humanity.
This love extends to all people in all times. It is what Titus 3:4 refers to as “the kindness of
God our Savior and His love for mankind.”

God’s love demonstrates His willingness and sincere desire to pursue every sinner turn to Christ Jesus.


This understanding shows us ANOTHER trait about God in His love for us.

• God’s love is Permanent: God did not make your salvation dependent upon you perfection but more
through grace. In God’s grace we know God better because of Christ. God gives Jesus to die (extends love)
then Jesus gives us the gift of the Spirit (more extension of love), which we take as an understanding of our
eternal state with God for eternity.

• Illustration: The Parable of the Prodigal Son

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the well-known parable of the prodigal son. A son asks his father for his
inheritance, then squanders it recklessly as he lives a life of indulgence. With nothing left of his fortune, he is
forced to work as a hired hand for a pig farmer. He is so destitute that he longs to eat the food of the pigs.
Realizing that his father’s servants have better working conditions, he resolves to return to his father, beg
forgiveness, and ask to be his servant.

However, upon arriving at his father’s house, he is welcomed with loving arms. His father is overwhelmed
with joy at his son’s return, and holds a feast in his honor.

• Application: Therefore church God extends His love to you and we can see that God’s love is perfect and
needs nothing else added or taken away to it to make it glorious. We can freely receive it as a gift.

• "But God showed his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

• There is nothing that we need do to be loved by God. God loves you. Even while you are in the mist of
monstrous sin, God loves you unconditionally.

POINT #3: God’s Love is Expressed (1 John 4:9-10)

• Explanation:

Jesus, being God in the flesh, lived not only a sinless life but also died on the cross and rose again to fulfill
what was prophesied and cleanse the creation from sin once and for all.

God’s offering of His Son is the ultimate expression of love for us.
• Illustration: Jesus 3:16 – 12 of the Greatest

Application: John 15:13 states "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends." No one loves you as much as Jesus loves you! The fact is that Jesus died on the cross in your place.
He died as your substitute. Jesus is the perfect sinless Son of God. He died to pay the penalty for your sin
because He loves you.

CONCLUSION: God's love is existent from everlasting to everlasting. It is a perfect love that is extended to all
people in all time periods and cultures. God’s love is expressed in Christ, giving man the ability to be
reconciled (stand in a right relationship with God) through Christ.

This February 14, may we always be reminded that God’s love is existing, extended to all of us
and best expressed through the death of our Lord Jesus for us to be saved and have an
everlasting life with Him. God loves you so much.
FOCUS QUESTIONS:
What is the best way to respond to God's love?
Reading the above scriptures we find our response to God's love is to love one another. This is God's
love for us, the highest form, the agape love, unconditional, pure and perfect. It is through the Holy Spirit
that we discover God's love in us, and through us, and the ability to show God's love to others.

How do I respond to God's love in my relationship with others?

Never look down upon everyone; look up to them, respect them, give God thanks for what God does for
us, but also reach out in love for our brothers and sisters.