God Is Love #3
Notes
Transcript
Preliminary:
Preliminary:
I invite your attention to 1 John 3
While you are getting there:
Apology of revival incident
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Review:
Review:
We have been discussing the Epistle of 1 John currently exploring three theological statements of John, and their relevance to our beliefs and understanding of who God is.
God is Light - The importance of understanding this basic fundamental truth about God is often overlooked. If we are going to maintain a relationship with Christ - it is going to be by walking in the light and being cleansed.
God is Love - God is Love is a two way street, it’s about God’s love to us what I want to talk about tonight - and what we have talked about the last two times - our love for God.
"He Whom Thou Lovest!" Dr. P. P. Bliss, the evangelistic singer and composer, said that he wrote the sacred song, "Oh! How I Love Jesus," when he was a young man. Growing older, however, he realized more deeply how insignificant is our love toward God compared to his love for us. Hence, in his later years, he wrote that appealing hymn, which children so love to sing,—and which is good for grownups, too: I am so glad that our Father in heaven Tells of His love in the Book He has given; Wonderful things in the Bible I see, This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me. —Sunday School Times
Walter B. Knight, Knight's Master Book of New Illustrations, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1956), s.v. “Love of God,” WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
God is Life - God is the only source of true living and eternal life. We will talk about this another time.
Read: 1 John 3:1-4 1 John 4:16
Read: 1 John 3:1-4 1 John 4:16
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. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
With the reading of our text our mind is immeaditly drawn to the unfathonmable and uncomprehensible topic of the Love of God.
We are not told that God is a loving God, or a God who loves, we are told that “GOD IS LOVE”
I want to point out a couple of things about the Love of God tonight.
1. God’s love is Wondrously Astonishing
1. God’s love is Wondrously Astonishing
A group of professionals posed the following question to a group of four- to eight-year-olds: “What does love mean?” The answers they got, as one researcher said, “were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.”
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy—age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri—age 4
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny—age 7
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby—age 5
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle—age 7
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” May Ann—age 4
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen—age 7
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica—age 7
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca—age 8 (Sollee, “Love”)
Well, it is one thing to get a child’s perspective on love, but it is even better to get God’s perspective. Several times in the Bible God gives us His thoughts on love. We find it in Song of Songs 8:5-14, 1 Corinthians 13, and here in 1 John 4:7-21. John has addressed the subject of love already in 2:7-11 as an indication that one is walking in the light and in 3:11-24 as evidence that one is a child of God.1
1 Daniel L. Akin et al., Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014).
Love is an essential attribute of God. It is always self-giving and others-oriented. Love is something true of God but it is not GOd. God’s love had no beginning and has no ending. Because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity. God does not suspend His love in order to be righteous and just. Love is not contrary to anger and wrath. God is able to be angry with the sinner, hate the sinner and love the sinner at the same time.
BEHOLD: John begins with a powerful and often overlooked word. BEHOLD
He wants to direct our attention to and help us reflect on the love of God.
It means to “ponder, to study”
Spurgeon said we need to, “Pry into this secret!”
John is saying the Love of God is wondrously astonishing
It’s not wonderously astonishing because the world is so big, or there are so many people, it is because the world is so bad, and he still bestowed his love upon us.
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.
It’s not just the quantity of love - the amount of God’s love is wonderfully astonishing - but it is also of the most extraordinary in quality - transforming us
Notice what he says - behold, the type or “what manner” of love the FATHER hath bestowed =
“What manner of love” Oh I love this- - This idea of “What manner of love” tells us this love is not from here.
The Greek word used there originally meant “of what country” The Love of God is foreign to this world, it is not from here.
It implies astonishment and surprise.
That word bestowed = this word means “to grant a request” or “to allow someone to have what the person has requested”
Behold, (look at, pay attention to) the type of love the FATHER has given to us -
Here is where the transformational part of God’s love is seen
“THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD”
Not servants - but SONS!!! Children - Family of God
The world might not recognize us, or know who we really are - but God does!!!
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.
Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –
His wounds have paid my ransom.
Stuart Townend Copyright © 1995 Thankyou Music (Adm. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com excl. UK & Europe, adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family, songs@integritymusic.com)
2. God’s love is Lavishly Extravagant
2. God’s love is Lavishly Extravagant
Changes our identity - Called the Sons of God - so changed the world does not recognize us???
Changes our destiny -
We purify now 1 John 3:3
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1, 2, 3 John & Revelation A. The Children of God (3:1–3)
The phrase purifies himself does not mean that the Christian can purify himself through good works or personal effort. It is, rather, the believer’s response to the grace bestowed upon him as a child of God. It is the moral and ethical responsibility of the individual to live according to the precepts of God. To purify means to cleanse oneself from the corruption of sin in a moral sense
We shall be like him later
Changes
This Father business isn’t mere religious talk or an attempt to tap into the power of positive thinking. If you are a Christian, you have a perfect heavenly Father who loves you and who doesn’t share any of the failures of your earthly father. What’s more, he’s the King of creation. You are royalty. Nevertheless, do not be surprised when the world rejects you; it rejected God’s Son because it didn’t know him either. You’re in good company.
Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible, 2019), 1496.
There's the wonder of sunset at evening,
The wonder as sunrise I see;
But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
Is the wonder that God loves me.
O, the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all!
Just to think that God loves me.1.
