God Is Love-1
1 John 4:16 “….God is love;….”
Why do we need love?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
“….God is love;….”
Are there three more powerful words every written? What is the significance of this text to the human race?
1. His love motivated HIM to create an Oasis of life - planet earth for our blessing.
2. His love motivated HIM to create mankind in HIS image to enjoy the magnificent beauties of HIS creation.
3, His love motivated HIM to give HIS only begotten Son for our Redemption when we turned away from HIS truth.
4.______________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Can you think back to the events of your life that God used to draw you to himself?
Pre-Salvation
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Post-Salvation
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Sinners, who lack God’s forgiveness, are forever separated from the presence of God. They will never have the opportunity to know the richness and the fullness of HIS everlasting love. This sacrificial love that gave to us the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ will cause the forgiven sinner to worship God. What meditations do you have the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ?
1. He bore my sins.
2. He suffered for my sins.
3. He tasted hell for my sins.
4. He was innocent of any wrong doing.
5. He was shamed before earth and heaven.
6.
Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
He brought me up…, out of the miry clay”. We could not get a hold on life. Our footing was very poor. We kept slipping, sliding and sinking in the miry clay. But He laid hold of me and set my feet upon the very life of Jesus Christ.
What significant changes have the Spirit of God made in your life since coming to personal faith in Jesus Christ?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
God’s sacrificial love demonstrates His commitment to our well-being.
Romans 8:35-39 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Earlier in chapter 8, Paul tells us that all things work together for good. This is not the good of ease and comfort, but rather, it is the good of God’s will being accomplished in our lives. The good of God’s will is that we shall be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:28-29 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,….
What does that image look like?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
(poor in spirit, mourners, meekness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, purity of heart, peacemakers)
God’s love that is in us now enables us to channel His love to others.
Matthew 22:37-39 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Who has God put into the path of your life to love?
________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Psalm 145:9-12 9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. 10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
Blessed men will bless the LORD!
