For The Love Of God Series

For the Love of God

1 John 4:7-5:5

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Intro

What do you think of when you hear the word love?

Maybe you think of puppy love.

When I think of that, I get a picture of Marcia Brady walking through her back yard in a daze because she is in “love.”

Maybe you think of your spouse and the love that you share.

Maybe you think of a loyal dog, how he loves you.

Today we are going to talk about the love of God and the ways that affects us when we have received His love and are growing in His love.

We are continuing on in our series in 1 John today and we will be reading

1 John 4:7-5:5

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To give you a quick overview, John has written this letter to a group of Christians whom he has had relationship with perhaps as their pastor, but certainly as a teacher in the past.

His purpose is 2 fold.

To Refute the false teachers who have left the fellowship and are seeking to lead this group of believers astray and

To encourage these believers in the faith and help them continue to grow so they will not be led astray.

This text today repeats some of the same things that were talked about in the message Pastor Andy preached, but now the Apostle tells us a bit more about God’s love for us and what that love produces in us.

So let’s read our text and see what we can learn and know about the Lord and His work in and through us.

1 John 4:7-5:5

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Ok,

I want to begin today and take a look at how John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

describes God’s love for us,

tells us how we receive that love, and

tells us what that love will produce in our lives as growing Christians.

First, we see that John tells us that

God’s Love for us is Sacrificial

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1 John 4:9

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Two weeks ago, on Easter we talked about John 3:16