God is... Love

Preliminary:

Thank you so much for your kind attention and kind words during these three days of Bible study. I love to “grow in grace and in the KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”

We have been looking at three God is… statements in the writings of John the Beloved.

Day 1 - God is Spirit - Immaterial, invisible, unlimited

Day 2- God is Light - Revelation/ Illumination, Absolutely Pure and Holy,

Today we I want to look at last of these statements:

1 John 4:7–10 KJV 1900

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

In this passage John is instructing the church that they are to love each other in the church - just as God loved us.

While I believe that part needs great emphasis in our day - I am going to be focusing on the God is statement in this passage -

I believe we need to start off with an understanding of love -

We often think of love in terms of feeling - emotion - and that definitely has some part to play in it -

Dallas Willard spoke of love as self-giving, or care for others, or he uses “will to do good.”

Love is will-to-good. Desire and love are two utterly different kinds of things. You may say you love chocolate cake, but you don’t, you don’t will its good, you just want to eat it. That is desire. Dallas Willard

God’s love is affectionate yes - but it goes beyond that to a self-giving love a loyal love.

Oswald Chambers defines loves as:

Love is the sovereign preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that that preference be for Himself

So John says ... God is Love

Not that he has love, or loves people - but that at the very center of who God is that spreads out to every part, attribute, character, thought, action, word, deed of God is love.

I mentioned at Palmdale camp - Our Calvinist friends when attempting to study who God is begin at His “sovereignty” - the idea that God has everything planned, decreed, predestined, that he controls everything and is the cause of all - the problem with this beginning place of the study of God is you end up with a moral monster who is the cause of sin and evil in the world.

Many Wesleyan/Arminians teach that the overarching attribute of God the one that all of the other fit under it this one - GOD IS LOVE

Not a sloppy, sentimental, puppy love

But a loyal, self-giving love - and from this love springs everything else.

Now I have a huge leaning toward this - not just because it sounds nice - but because that is what the Bible teaches.

Lets unpack what I mean by that -

Look especially at verse 9

1 John 4:9 KJV 1900

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

This is talking about a manifestation of the nature of Love of God - it is not the maximum of God’s love

Lets notice a couple of things about this manifestation of the love of God

It was directed toward us - Toward God’s creation. not because we were deserving or due it - but simply because God is Love

I’m going to make some statements that I make often - I don’t think I have ever explained my reasons for making them - I have heard many times preachers put the OT God against Jesus

I even heard one say one time that Jesus was like a dam for the judgment of God - that if it wasn’t for Jesus - God would have already destroyed this world and poured out his wrath.

But you know - I don’t want you to misunderstand me at all - but the Bible never says, “JESUS IS LOVE” But in multiple places it says “GOD IS LOVE” And it is always directed at the FATHER

John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Who said this? It wasn’t Nicodemus - it was Jesus - Speaking of Himself as the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, and no doubt the entire Godhead but specifically the Father

I am from Missouri, the “Show Me” state

It’s one thing to talk about love - it a whole other thing to show love.

Someone noted that we are given tow ways to measure God’s love by this verse

By what He Gives - The Eternal Almighty God - creator of Heaven and Earth - gives the Eternal Begotten Son as a gift of love to the World!!! That is a tremendous gift. There is a reason we call it sacrifice.

By Who he gives it to.

Look at verse 10 in our passage 1 John 4:10 “10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The OT writer asks the question - Psalm 8:4 “4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

God Is Love is Manifested -

Declared, revealed, made clear, demonstrated

Romans 5:8 “8 But God commendeth (demonstrated) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God didn’t say look at my people they are so clean, and good, and pure - Son go they deserve a sacrifice.

No God said - look at my people, my creation. Their like sheep they have all gone astray - every one of them. There is no good in any of them. They are completely born in sin - Son they need an intercessor, they need a redeemer, they need a bridge for the great gulf between us - they are separated from me - you bring them back.

Now that is a demonstration of God’s love.

John is so moved by this love that he writes in 1 John 3:1

1 John 3:1 KJV 1900

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

We are not told that God is a loving God, or a God who loves, we are told that “GOD IS LOVE”

God’s Love is Manifest in the OT

Look at Psalm 136 a psalm with 26 verses and every one of those 26 verses has a repeating refrain “For his mercy endureth for ever”

No doubt it was written to be sung as a call and response type song.

A beautiful Psalm that talks about the for ever enduring mercy of God over and over again.

The Psalmist isn’t just trying to write a page long paper with so many words - he’s attempting to get his grasp of God on to the page so that others can know and understand a little about his God.

This Psalm speaks volumes to me for that one word that is repeated over and over again -

“Mercy” This word “mercy” is the Hebrew word “ḥěʹ·sěḏ” I attempted to preach on this word sometime back and still haven’t found the end of its scope and meaning. It is difficult to define.

KJV = “mercy”

ESV = “steadfast love”

NET = “loyal love”

NASB = “lovingkindness”

“For a word that tries to describe the very character of God, is it any wonder that we have difficulty translating it?” (Grace Andrews)

The Logos Bible Sense Lexicon defines it“an unfailing kind of love, kindness or goodness, when talking about God’s love it is related to faithfulness to his covenant.”

It is a word used 150 times in the Bible 26 of which are used in Psalm 136 alone.

I think the Psalmist is attempting to show that God due to God’s love and faithfulness he will keep his promises.

In fact verse by verse in this Psalm - the writer opens to us the realities and possibilities of who this God is and what He has accomplished. - real life examples of God’s “ḥěʹ·sěḏ”

The Psalmist calls us to give thanks to the “God of gods…the Lord of lords…who alone doeth great wonders…who by his wisdom or understanding made the heavens” and that’s just the first four verses.(Psalm 136:1-4)

The Psalmist continues and declares “God’s mighty deeds from creation to the exodus to the entry into the Promised Land, finally rejoicing in God’s continued provision. We are called by this Psalm to praise God because He is the Deliverer. “ (Psalm 136:23-24)

Listen to this

Psalm 136:23–24 (KJV 1900)

23 Who remembered us in our low estate:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

I like how Grace Andrews put it, she says, “[God] hinted at this with His mighty deeds in Israel. But He shouts it in the incarnation!”

She goes on to say, “God did more than remember us in our low estate—He entered into it. He did more than rescue us from merely human foes— He rescued us from death and sin. “

FOR HIS MERCY ENDURETH FOREVER!!!

Charles Wesley put it this way:

Love divine, all loves excelling,

Joy of heaven, to earth come down,

Fix in us thy humble dwelling,

All thy faithful mercies crown!

Jesu, thou art all compassion,

Pure, unbounded love thou art;

Visit us with thy salvation!

Enter every trembling heart.

(Hymns, Hymn 374)

In this song Wesley prays a tremendous prayer to Jesus as the incarnation of the love of God.

“Jesus, thou art all compassion,

Pure, unbounded love thou art:”

Another tremendous Psalm that deals with HESED of God is Psalm 103 and David writes a Psalm of praise that is both beautiful and moving. In 21 verses David encapsulates the entirety of the Gospel.

Its so beautiful I have to read it all but I especially want us to notice a few verses:

Psalm 103 KJV 1900

A Psalm of David. 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The Lord executeth righteousness And judgment for all that are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9 He will not always chide: Neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, So great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass: As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; And the place thereof shall know it no more. 17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, And his righteousness unto children’s children; 18 To such as keep his covenant, And to those that remember his commandments to do them. 19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; And his kingdom ruleth over all. 20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, That excel in strength, that do his commandments, Hearkening unto the voice of his word. 21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; Ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. 22 Bless the Lord, all his works In all places of his dominion: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

more than being beautiful “Psalm 103 gives one of the most powerful descriptions of the character and nature of God that we encounter in the Christian Scriptures. It is a statement of theology of the most profound type because it reveals to us the very being of God in a manner that brings us to our knees in grateful praise. Knowing this God can only lead to a genuine and heartfelt outpouring of thankfulness. The God of Psalm 103 is not there to be deliberated over. He is there to be delighted in!” ~Jamie A. Grant, “Psalms 90–106,” in Psalms, ed. Terry Muck, vol. 2, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 480.

Bless the Lord - Because he is the God who meets all our needs (Psalm 103:3-5)

Forgiveness - If you have experienced forgiveness of sins - you have something to ever praise the Lord for. To have:

Your heart distressed, ‘neath Jehovah’s dread frown, and low in the pit where my sins dragged me down: I cried to the Lord from the deep miry clay, Who tenderly brought me out to golden day - Forgiven - pardoned - no longer guilty of any sins you have committed.

Healing - We have a God who can heal, can protect. Now we aren’t always given clear chronology concerning the Psalms - but David had times when there wasn’t healing - such as his baby from the sin of Bathsheba - yet David knew he was serving and worshipping a God who could definitely heal and protect.

I wonder though if David isn’t thinking of a more spiritual healing -

Although “In a world before antibiotics, even a tiny cut, if infected, could prove fatal. Childhood illnesses that are thought trivial today could kill, disable, or disfigure. In a world in which the understanding of human anatomy was still relatively primitive, medicines were basic, and illnesses more prevalent, to be alive was a clear sign of God’s protection and healing.7 To live into what we would now describe as one’s “middle age” was nothing short of miraculous; therefore, continued life was a sign of God’s blessing and protection and thus also a reason for praise.”Jamie A. Grant, “Psalms 90–106,” in Psalms, ed. Terry Muck, vol. 2, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 482–483.

Redeemed life - God kept him from the grave - Every day you make it on the roadways of Wichita - you have been redeemed from the grave - maybe that is a little stretch - but I truly believe that were it not for God’s hand upon people - we would not, could not survive

Crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies:

We could spend the remainder of the service here -

I love this word “lovingkindness” is from the Hebrew word “hesed” we find it 245 times int he OT. It is a word that really has no English or even Greek equivalent. We usually blend the word with “love” Such as in our verse “lovingkindness”

One has described “hesed” as “compassion on display”

Isa 54:10 “10 For the mountains shall depart, And the hills be removed; But my kindness shall not depart from thee, Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, Saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”

Michael Card in his book Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness. couldn’t define it either - so he listed all the words that it has been translated to mean:

Love, lovingkindness, merciful love, loyal love, sure love, relentless love, enduring love, extravagant love, affectionate satisfaction, love in action, dependable love, steady love, true love, fundamental love, miracle love, generous love, deep love, wonderful love, great love, incredible love, marvelous love, gracious love, loyal in love, steadfast love, expression of love, election love, unfailing love, faithful love, tons of love, loving instruction, loving deeds, covenant love, covenant of love, covenantal faithfulness, covenantal deeds of love, covenant friendship, covenant commitment, gracious covenant, loyal, loyalty, covenant loyalty, loyal faithfulness, great loyalty, unswerving loyalty, loyal mercy, loyal service, kindness, kindly, divine kindness, loyal kindness, godly kindness, merciful kindness, great kindness, everlasting kindness, mercy, mercy work, mercy feeling, miracle mercy, generous mercy, benevolence, compassion, persistent faithfulness, faithfulness, faithful act, reliable solidarity, goodwill, ardent zeal, grace, graciousness, extravagant generosity, largesse, glory, honor, honoring, pity, clemency, rock, bedrock, God fearing, piety, charity, strength, devout, active goodness, favor, immense favor, loyal friendship, good heartedness, immense favor, working graciously, generous yes, endlessly patient, generous act of goodness, devotion, devoted work, commitment, goodness, good deeds, gracious dealings, beauty, disgrace, reproach, shameful thing, wicked thing, stick with me, sticking by, sticking with, big-heartedness,

Card summed it up like this: “unlimited, unconditional, unconditioned, and all-inclusive love for all creation” Michael Card Page 7 IVP 2019 Downer's Grove, ILL

Another has defined it as “an unfailing kind of love, kindness or goodness; often used of God’s love that is related to faithfulness to his covenant.”

Now listen to this David says we need to prod our soul to bless the Lord because he crowns us with “hesed”

The idea is not that you wear a crown - it is that you are being crowned -

Its as though God himself - the creator of everything - comes down to where you are - and gently and tenderly and carefully and personally places this “hesed” on you. It also means to surround or encircle, compass, - you wrap me in your “hesed” David says

Is it any wonder the Psalmist wrote verses like

Psalm 36:7 “7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.”

Psalm 63:3 “3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise thee.”

Oh I could spend the rest of our time here and not do it justice- But this alone is worth prodding our soul to bless the Lord over

The Eternal mercy of Yahweh (Psalm 103:8-10)

He begins first with a statement about the eternal mercy of God

Psalm 103:8-9 “8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9 He will not always chide: Neither will he keep his anger for ever.”

If you have time and the interest - the Francis Asbury Society is doing a study on the book of Ezekiel with Dr. John Oswalt a tremendous Wesleyan scholar and author. But Dr. Oswalt talks about in Ezekiel how the “glory” left the temple.

When people get mad at you they gather up their toys and go home in a huff.

When the Glory left the Temple you could trace his route. He moves and he pauses, he moves and meets the Cheribums and then finally leaves - its as though he was saying - I’m still here, you have rejected me, but I still love you and all you have to do is ask me to stay and I will stay

I think its the devils job to paint God as some overbearing monster who wants to destroy and punish people

Dr. Dennis Kinlaw shares about the fascinating incident on the night of Jesus’ arrest when Peter cuts of the servants ear. (Luke 22:50-51) now the other Gospels cover this story - but only Luke records that Jesus heals the ear - perhaps because he was a physician.

Kinlaw suggests that...

Malchus, the servant of the high priest Caiaphas, was the Father’s last love note to Caiaphas.

Malchus was the servant whose ear Peter sliced off during Jesus’ arrest. In his gracious mercy Jesus restored Malchus’s ear, and Malchus’s witness to Caiaphas of that event was the high priest’s last chance for repentance.

It was God’s final witness to him: he put someone right in Caiaphas’s court who had been touched by the loving hand of Jesus.

Oh, the unending mercy of God!

If a person is lost, it will be in spite of himself and in spite of the evidence that God stacks up in his life.

I am confident that Caiaphas did not employ Malchus for long after this incident of healing.

I imagine that the sight of Malchus’s ear made Caiaphas uneasy and nervous.

Dennis Kinlaw This Day With the Master p273 Aug, 28

The Bible shows us a God who is rich in mercy who is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy

Oh how oft I have experienced that plenteous mercy

If he has extended that plenteous mercy to you - you ought to prod your soul to bless the Lord too

Then David moves into blessing the Lord for HOW HE DOES NOT DEAL

Psalm 103:10 “10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”

If his “hesed” wasn’t enough - if his “plenteous mercy” didn’t light your fire - to realize that God has not dealt with us after our sins

Oh my when I think of my sins and what God could have done - should have done - I’m nearly overcome with praise and gratitude

He hasn’t rewarded us according to our iniquities

My sins merit me death and hell

But God says - No I’ll redeem him

I was lost - but God says - I will find him

I was sick - but God says - I will heal him

Our world is wrapped up in its hunt for social justice - and if ever there was an injustice its this

I deserved justice - i deserved hell, i deserved lostness from God

But he came with mercy, and love, and compassion and forgiveness and regeneration and redemption

Psalm 103:11 “11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.”

Look at what God has done

Psalm 103:12 “12 As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

You can’t find them

They will never be remembered against us any more

I remember when my burden rolled away - I had carried them for years night and day - another verse says, I sought the throne of Grace and just a glimpse of Jesus’ face and I knew that my burdens could not stay!!!

No we have not been rewarded according to our iniquities

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities”

IS IT ANY WONDER THAT AS JOHN THE BELOVED NO DOUBT WITH INK SMEARING WITH HIS DRIPPING TEARS WRITES TO THE CHURCHES IN WESTERN ASIA MINOR AND TO US TODAY - GOD IS LOVE

My Utmost for His Highest November 21st—It is Finished

Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ’s revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption “much ado about nothing.” If God does forgive sin, it is because of the death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. “We see Jesus … because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.” The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ—“It is finished.” That is the last word in the Redemption of man.

John 17:4 KJV 1900

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ’s revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption “much ado about nothing.” If God does forgive sin, it is because of the death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. “We see Jesus … because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.” The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ—“It is finished.” That is the last word in the Redemption of man.1

1 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ.1

1 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity and compassion; that He became a curse for us out of sympathy with us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by the Divine decree. Our portion of realizing the terrific meaning of the curse is conviction of sin, the gift of shame and penitence is given us; this is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man, and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred.1

1 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).