God’s Love, 1 Jn 4:8

God is love.  There are certainly many characteristics of God.  God’s love is one of the principal ones. 

God’s Love Is:

Perfect Love

In Matt 5:43-48 God even loves his enemies.  There is a time for judgment, of course.  But look how he has given everything to his enemies.  In Acts 17:24-28 God gives all life, breath, and all things… in him we live, move and have our being.  The Lord does this for every living being on earth.

In Matt 27:39-44m the thieves who were crucified with Jesus were mocking Jesus the way the rest of the crowd was.  Yet, in Lk 23:39-43, the repentant thief realized his error and turned to the Lord.   Mind you, this was a bad man, a thief.  He had broken God’s command, “Thou shalt not steal”.  And he was bad enough that they crucified him.  Earlier, he had mocked Jesus just like the other thief, and hadn’t even apologized.  But he asked the Lord to remember him.  And Jesus replied, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”.  God’s love is incomprehensible.

In Jn 3:16, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son”.  You understand that the world is not to be loved.  The Bible says, “Love not the world”, 1 Jn 2:15.  Jas 4:4 says, “know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God”.  Yet, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.  

How can it be that God could love a sinner like me?  He loved you enough to die for you.  Won’t you receive him and trust him?  You’ve never known a love like God’s love apart from God himself.

Perpetual Love

In Jer 31:1-3 God said to Israel, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love”.  They have been idolatrous, they were more wicked than the nations that were before them, they rejected their Messiah, and they are against his gospel today.  Yet, his love for them is everlasting.  In Mal 3:6 God said, “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”.  God’s love prevails against his wrath.

Likewise, God says to us, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”, Heb 13:5.  In Jn 6:37 Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”.  You may have gotten away from the Lord, but he hasn’t quit loving you.  He never will.

Procurable Love

God’s love is not a love you can earn.  You cannot earn something so precious as this love we have described.  You and I do not deserve this kind of love.  We never will.  But we can access it.   We can procure God’s love:

God’s Love is Procurable By:

Loving God.  1 Jn 4:19 says, “We love him, because he first loved us”.  The more you fellowship with God in love, the more of his love you enjoy.

Loving the brethren.  In 1 Jn 4:10-11, 20-21, a man who truly loves God will love God’s other children.  Fellowship with each other is a joyous way to access God’s love.  Rom 5:5 says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.  When God’s love is shed abroad, it’s directed toward others.  The more you love the brethren, the more the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit.

Keeping his commandments.  1 Jn 5:1-4.  When you are obedient, God’s love in your life is more apparent.  When you are disobedient, you sense the guilt and shame that put a wedge between you and the Lord.  The more you obey him, the more you procure and enjoy his love.

Telling others.  In 2 Cor 5:13-15 Paul said, “the love of Christ constraints us”.  Since Christ died for all then we no longer live unto ourselves, “but unto him which died for them”.  By telling those whom  God loves and for whom he died, we draw closer to the love of God.

I have just told you about his love. So, why don’t you procure God’s love by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ right now.