GOD IS LOVE!

                                                                    1 John 4:7-14

INTRODUCTION: Love is the theme of the Word of God, and it is also the theme of the book of

First John: 1 John 4:8. We preach that message in our tots’ program, Jesus Loves Me! The

apostle John felt truly loved by the Lord Jesus Christ: John 13:23. I hope you realize that Jesus

loves you the exact same way. We need to praise our Lord that He loves us: Romans 8:35-39.

I. LOVE PROCLAIMED!

The apostle John shows us God’s love proclaimed: 1 John 4:7-8. In these verses John has

traced love back to its source. All true love finds its source in God. That was shocking to a

pagan world that only knew selfish gods. Now John goes beyond that and says God’s family

trait is love: 1 John 4:7. John is saying that the sure sign that you are a Christian is the fact that

the love of God is within you. You have the nature of the family of God. We need to be born

into God’s family so we can have His likeness in our lives. We are naturally born in the image of

our father, Adam: Romans 5:12. We inherited a nature of death, sin, hate, and bitterness from

our earthly parents. But when we are born into God’s family we take after Him: 1 John 4:7.

II. LOVE PROVED!

Our God has proved His great love for us: 1 John 4:9. Our God made His love visible to us

through the birth of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ! God sent His Son away from Himself to

this earth of sin and pain because He loved us so much! John 3:16. Our Lord Jesus was the only

begotten Son of God. We as Christians are sons and daughters of God but not in the same way

Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.

III. OUR SATISFACTION!

Then God sent His Son to be the satisfaction: 1 John 4:10. The words “atoning sacrifice

means “to be the satisfaction for our sins.” Jesus satisfied the Father for the debt of our sins.

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross God was satisfied that our sins had been paid for:

Romans 3:21-26. Have you by faith believed and received that atonement for yourself? God

sent Jesus to be the satisfaction for our sin!

IV. TO BE OUR SAVIOR!

God the Father sent His only begotten Son to be our Savior! 1 John 4:14. Jesus did not

come to save only special people, God came to save sinners just like us! 1 Timothy 1:15. Jesus

came to be your Savior and all you need to do is receive Him as your Savior: John 6:35-40.

V. LOVE PRACTICED!

Because our God is love and He proved His love for each of us by allowing His only begotten

Son to die for our sins we also now are commanded to love one another! 1 John 4:11-12. If we

long to see others come to true saving faith in Jesus Christ, the greatest thing we can do is to

love one another: John 13:34-35; Colossians 1:3-4. Every problem we have in our lives today is

a love problem. Since God has shown His great love to us we must love one another or our

lives will amount to a big zero: 1 Corinthians 13:13. We won’t need faith when we get to

heaven or hope because everything we could hope for will be ours. Love will always be with us

and in us! Ephesians 5:1-2; Colossians 2:2; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 John 4;12. No one has ever seen God

in all His glory but when we love one another people can see Christ at work in our lives. We can

only show that kind of love through God’s Spirit living in us: 1 John 4:13. John is saying that the

Spirit of God will make you a channel of His love to others. Christ’s love will compel you to love

Him and to show His love to others: 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.