Untitled Sermon (19)

Love Hurts

1 John 4:7–9 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”

A sore spot about V-Day is the marked up prices on everyday items and places à then the day after its all on clearance! Kroger had bouquets marked 80-90% off! Feels like a day to celebrate love is cheapened to a cash grab! à Love = Money

Notice there are only certain days where one goes all out for love à 1st Date; Engagement; Anniversary; what about all the other days à Where’s the Romance; Excitement à Where’s the LOVE?

The issue of consistently showing Love comes from your source of Love. The only way to consistently do something is to have a source to draw from.

Is your love based on feelings; what people say; defined by what culture says or is it based in and on the Almighty?

Love = 6x - agape

Know = 2x - ginosko

Don't Know Love

Don't Know How to Receive Love

Low Self Esteem

Psalm 139:13–14 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

Isaiah 41:10 “‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”

2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

Fear - vulerability/rejection

Past Trauma

Don't Know How to Love

Love is from God (ek = marker denoting origin, cause, motive, reason = from, of) - "Flows from God." (Vincent) "God is the Source and Origin." (Stott) Agape love has its origin from God. It follows that we can demonstrate this quality of love only if we are from God (born of God). 

The Quality of Love

The Source of Love

The Effect of Love

God personifies love (1Jn 4:8, 16) We reflect God’s love in the world (1Jn 4:7)

God loved us (1 John 4:19 “We love, because He first loved us.” ) We love God; our fear is gone; we keep His commands (1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” , 19; 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” )

God gave His Son for us (1Jn 4:9, 10) We give our substance for others (1 John 3:17 “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” ; 1 John 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” )

Christ laid down His life for us (1Jn 3:16) We lay down our lives for others (1 John 3:16 “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” )

Love (verb) (25)(agapao)  means to love unconditionally and sacrificially as God Himself loves sinful men (John 3:16), the way He loves the Son (John 3:35, 15:9, 17:23, 24). Note that agapao is a verb and by its verbal nature calls for action. This quality of love is not an emotion but is an action initiated by a volitional choice."expresses the purest, noblest form of love, which is volitionally driven, not motivated by superficial appearance, emotional attraction, or sentimental relationship." (John Macarthur)

1, 2, 3 John (1) Love Others Because God Loves You (4:7–10)

Love flows from or out of (ek) God and has God as its spring or source

1, 2, 3 John (1) Love Others Because God Loves You (4:7–10)

In other words, inasmuch as anyone has even the smallest capacity to love, this comes by the grace of God

1, 2, 3 John (1) Love Others Because God Loves You (4:7–10)

The perfect tense of “born” would include the initial rebirth of the individual and the continuing effects this would have in their life, and the present tense of “know” emphasizes that the individual is continuing to grow in knowledge of God. In other words, it is not the person’s ability to love that causes the new birth, but his ability to love flows from his regeneration in Christ

1, 2, 3 John (1) Love Others Because God Loves You (4:7–10)

The absence of love in the life of an individual proves that he does not know God (ouk egnō ton theon). The one who does not love is a stranger to God. He never even began to have a relationship with God; that is, there was never a time when this person could have legitimately claimed that he knew God.

The reason this is true is because God is love (Theos agapē estin). John has already stated that God is Spirit (

1, 2, 3 John: MacArthur New Testament Commentary Perfect Love and the Character of God

Just as God is life (

1, 2, 3 John: MacArthur New Testament Commentary Perfect Love and the Character of God

Those who possess the life of God have the capacity and the experience of loving. In contrast, the one who does not love does not know God.

1, 2, 3 John: MacArthur New Testament Commentary Perfect Love and the Character of God

God by nature is love, and therefore He defines love; it does not define Him. People constantly impose on God a human view of love, but He transcends any such human limitations. That God is love explains a number of things in the biblical worldview. First, it explains the reason He created. In eternity past, within the perfect fellowship of the Trinity, God the Father purposed, as a love gift to His Son, to redeem a people who would honor and glorify the Son (cf.

Psalm 139:1–5 “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.” -

1, 2, 3 John: MacArthur New Testament Commentary Perfect Love and the Character of God

God’s general love for mankind manifests itself in several ways. First, He expresses His love and goodness to all through common grace. The psalmist wrote, “The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Colossians 2:14 “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Galatians 2:20 ““I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Colossians 3:10 “and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—”