OUR LOVING GODOUR LOVING GOD I. INTROI. INTRO  As we enter the Christmas season, we who are Christians cannot help but be so sweetly reminded of God’s love for us in sending Jesus to save us. ~ I would like us to particularly look at 1Jn 4:8 – “God is love.”

II. LOVE IS AT THE HEART OF GOD’S CHARACTER  Read 1Jn 4:8-9. ~ Jn 3:16~ Jn 3:16  In what sense is it true that God is love? ~ There are many ways to misunderstand John’s meaning. ~ In fact, 1Jn 4:8 seems a particular favorite of cultists.

 First, the expression “God is love” is not meant to depersonalize God or portray Him as a force, a sensation, a principle, or some sort of cosmic energy. ~ He is a personal Being, with all the attributes of personality. ~ GOD’S LOVE IS THE HIGHEST EXPRESSION OF HIS PERSON.

 Second, this verse by no means identifies God with everything our society labels love. ~ Gordon Clark: “John is not saying that all sorts of emotions called love are from God. The romanticism of Goethe, and much more the present sexual debauchery, are not from God.” ~ The love of which he speaks is a pure and holy love, consistent with all the divine attributes.

 Third, this is not meant to be a definition of God or a summary of His attributes. ~ DIVINE LOVE IN NO WAY MINIMIZES OR NULLIFIES GOD’S OTHER ATTRIBUTES.  There is certainly more to God than love. ~ Jn 4:24~ Jn 4:24 ~ Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29~ Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29 ~ Ps 7:11~ Ps 7:11

 The simple statement “God is love” obviously does not convey everything that can be known about God.  Notice, by the way, that this phrase “God is love” is not even the only such statement in John’s first epistle. ~ “God is light” (1Jn 1:5)~ “God is light” (1Jn 1:5)  Nevertheless, we dare not minimize the force of this crucial text.

~ IT IS GOD’S VERY NATURE TO LOVE – LOVE PERMEATES WHO HE IS. ~ John Stott: “God is love in His innermost being.”  Clearly the love this text describes is an eternal reality. ~ It flows from the very nature of God and is not a response to anything outside the person of God.

 For example, we know that God is holy, “undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens,” (Heb 7:26). ~ But His is a loving holiness that reaches out to sinners with salvation for them – the antithesis of aloofness or indifference.  Love surely tempers even God’s judgments. ~ He freely offers mercy to all who will repent.

~ DIVINE LOVE NOT ONLY KEEPS DIVINE WRATH IN CHECK WHILE GOD APPEALS TO THE SINNER – BUT IT ALSO PROVES THAT GOD IS JUST WHEN HE FINALLY CONDEMNS. III. EVERYONE WHO LOVES IS BORN OF GOD AND KNOWS GOD  Read 1Jn 4:7. ~ God is the source of all true love.~ God is the source of all true love.

~ Love is, therefore, the best evidence that a person truly knows God: vv ~ In other words, LOVE IS THE PROOF OF A REGENERATE HEART. ~ Only true Christians are capable of genuine love.  Clearly, the kind of love John is speaking of is a higher, purer form of love than we commonly know from human experience. ~ It is godly love.~ It is godly love.

~ Agape is unique to God.~ Agape is unique to God. ~ He is the sole source of it.~ He is the sole source of it.  Love for one’s family, romantic love, and the love of good friends all fall into the category of what Scripture calls “natural affection” (Rom 1:31; 2Tim 3:3, KJV ). ~ 1Jn 4:9~ 1Jn 4:9  Donald W. Burdick gives three characteristics of this godly sort of love:

“It is spontaneous. There was nothing of value in the persons loved that called forth such sacrificial love. God of His own free will set His love on us in spite of our enmity and sin. [Agape] is love that is initiated by the lover because he wills to love, not because of the value or lovableness of the person loved. It is self-giving. [Agape] is not interested in what it can gain, but in what it can give. It is not bent on satisfying the lover, but on helping the one loved whatever the cost. It is active. [Agape] is

not mere sentiment cherished in the heart. Nor is it mere words however eloquent. It does involve feeling and may express itself in words, but it is primarily an attitude toward another that moves the will to act in helping to meet the need of the one loved.”  All true believers have this love; and all who have it are true believers.  This kind of love cannot be conjured up by the human will. ~ It is wrought in the hearts of believers by God Himself.

~ 1Jn 4:19~ 1Jn 4:19 ~ Love for God and love for fellow believers is an inevitable result of the new birth, by which we “become partakers of the divine nature” (2Pet 1:4). ~ JUST AS IT IS GOD’S NATURE TO LOVE, LOVE IS CHARACTERISTIC OF HIS TRUE CHILDREN. ~ Rom 5:5~ Rom 5:5 ~ Godly love: one of the most important tests of the reality of one’s faith.