How is it possible to love on another?

It has been said: “To dwell with the saints we love, that will be grace and glory – to live below with saints we know . . . that’s another story.”

1. God is the __________________ of love

1 John 4:78 – 7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

John makes the third of his great pronouncements about God:

▸ God is __________________

▸ God is __________________ and now;

▸ God is __________________

2. God has ________________________ His love on us

▸ The love of God is the love of ____________________

1 John 4:9-11 – 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

3. When we love, we prove that we have God’s love to __________________

▸ We show that we ________________ to God

1 John 4:12, 16 – 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. . . . 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

1 John 4:13 – And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

1 John 4:14–15 – 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

▸ We overcome __________ of judgement

1 John 4:17-18 – 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

▸ We follow God’s greatest _____________________

1 John 4:19-21 – 19 We love each other because he loved us first. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.