WHAT IS THE LOVE OF GOD? (PART 1)

God is love

 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my com­mands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s com­mands and remain in His love – John 15:9-10

 INTRODUCTION

Remain in my love – Jesus calls us to a life of holy inti­macy and personal devotion to Him. This is possible because of God’s love for us, which he has poured into our hearts by the holy spirit (Romans 5:5). God demonstrated His great love through Christ’s dying for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). We remain in Jesus’ love by pursuing spiri­tual intimacy and communica­tion with Him, and by obeying His commands, just as He did with the Father.

See what great love the Fa­ther has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. – 1 John 3:1

CHILDREN OF GOD

The truth that God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children is one of the greatest revelations in the New Testament.

1. Being a child of God, adopted in Christ as His very own (Ephesians 1:5), is a high honour on privilege of our salvation. (Galatians 4:7).

2. Being a child of God is the basis for our faith and trust in God (Mat­thew 6:25-34) and our hope of glory for the future. As God’s children, we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Ro­mans 8:16-17; Galatians 4:7).

3. God wants us to be increasingly made aware through the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of Sonship” (Romans 8:15) that we are His children. The Spirit produces the cry “Abba, Father” in our hearts (Galatians 4:6) and gives us the desire to be “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14).

4. Being a child of God is the basis for our discipline by the Father (Hebrews 12:6-7-11) and the reason we live to please God.

God’s ultimate goal in mak­ing us His children is to save us forever (John 3:16) and to conform us to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29).

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easi­ly angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not de­light in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is an activity and behaviour and not just as an inner teaching or motivation. Other aspects of love are characteristics of God Himself who has been revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ.

The love of God is His pas­sion to sustain and uphold and exalt His holiness and His Son for your everlasting enjoy­ment. If you put yourself at the centre, you’re suicidal because it robs you of the very glory of God and his enjoyment.

1 John 4:8 describes one of God’s primary attributes as love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” This verse does not define God as love; it de­scribes God’s love as perme­ating His essence in all He is and all He does. As for today’s headlines tout stories of scan­dal, tragedy, and war; believ­ers can be confident knowing all they need is God’s love.

I agree with the Theolo­gian A.W. Tozer once stated, “Nothing God ever does, or ever did, or ever will do, is separate from the love of God.” Everything He has ever done has been out of love.

THINGS WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD

1. God’s Love Is Incom­prehensible. – “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” – Ephesians 3:17-18.

2. God’s Love Is known and Proven – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoev­er believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”. – John 3:16.

3. We Can Trust In God’s Love.

4. God’s Love is Pure.

5. God’s Love is Perfect.

6. Our Salvation Is An Ex­pression Of God’s Love.

7. Our Ability To Love Is En­abled Through God’s Love.

8. We Can Rest In God’s Love.

9. We Can Have Confidence In God’s Love.