How Does God Teach Us About Love?. We need to be taught about the love of God. In our age words have been changed to mean almost anything! This is true

How Does God Teach Us About Love?

We need to be taught about the love of God.

• In our age words have been changed to mean almost anything! This is true when we speak of “love.”

• Rather than letting men define love, let us look to God whose very nature defines love! God, truth and love go hand in hand. (1 Jn 4:6-8)


• 1 John 4:6-8 - We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.


• Love is the greatest thing we can possibly possess. (1 Cor 13:13; Mt 22:37-38)


• 1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


• Matthew 22:37-38 - Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment.


• We must not accept a counterfeit. We also must know that we possess love!

• How does God teach us about love?


• He tells us He loves us. (Ex 34:6)


• Exodus 34:6 - And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,


• He shows us He love us. (Jn 3:16)


• John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.


• We can conclude that He loves us. (Neh 9:30-31)


• Nehemiah 9:30-31 - Yet for many years You had patience with them, And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful.


• All teaching is found in these forms (CENI).

God shows us the sacrificial nature of His love

• God became Man in the birth of Jesus. (Jn 1:1-2, 14)


• John 1:1-2 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.


• John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.


• This loss and exposure on the part of God becoming man cannot be overstated. (Phil 2:5-8; Jn 17:5)


• Philippians 2:5-8 - Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.


• Jesus for the first time in eternity could now be hungry, tired, thirsty, and even suffer physical death. He is exposed to the great adversary Satan!

• Jesus willingly endured death by crucifixion because of His love.

• He was tempted to come down from the cross. (Mt 26:53)


• Matthew 26:53 - "Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?


• He experienced pain, thirst and weariness.• He suffered the disappointment of betrayal

and desertion.• He witnessed His enemies mocking Him at

His death.• What did Jesus do? He showed love to

His enemies! (Lk 23:34)


• Luke 23:34 - Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.


• Remember the Lord in your trials. He cares. (Heb 12:2-4)


• Hebrews 12:2-4 - looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.


• We have a faith in a Savior who understands and cares. (Heb 4:14-16; 1 Pt 5:7)


• Hebrews 4:14-16 - Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God shows us the unconditional nature of His love

• How can a man die for his enemies? (Rom 5:6-8)


• Romans 5:6-8 - For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


• This teaches me that the love of God is not dependent upon what I have done!

• Why would the creator of the universe make me the center of His love?

• I know because He demonstrated it. Why did Jesus not just die a quick death?

• Our redemption is foreshadowed in the book of Hosea.


• God has Hosea to take a wife who would become a harlot. (Hosea 1:2)


• Hosea 1:2 - When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD."


• What would be the attributes of a woman who chose to be a harlot? What kind of pain would this cause her husband?

• Her unfaithfulness is shown in the naming of the children.


• The first child was named Jezreel (whose name means "God sows; God scatters"). The second child was named Lo-Ruhamah (whose name means unpitied"). The third child was named Lo-Ammi (whose name means "not my people").


• What kind of pain did Hosea experience in knowing that some, it not all of his children born by his wife were not his? (Hosea 9:1; 2:2)


• Hosea 9:1 - Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.


• Hosea 2:2 - " Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;


• Our God hurts when we forsake Him! (Eph 4:30; 2 Cor 11:2-4)


• Ephesians 4:30 - And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.


• God does not give up on anyone! God has Hosea buy back his wife who was sold as a worthless slave. Imagine the scene! (Hosea 3:2-3)


• Hosea 3:2-3 - So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man -- so, too, will I be toward you."

The mighty demands of the love of God

• The love of God is exactly like the Son of God in His ministry. Wherever He went He disturbed, revealed and changed men who spent time with Him.

• What did He do when He went into the temple? (Jn 2:13-17)


• John 2:13-17 - Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business.


• 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."


• What did Jesus do when He spoke to the rich, young ruler? (Mk 10:17-22)


• Mark 10:21-22 - Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.


• In both cases the love moved Jesus to expose the heart.

• A failure to know God will make us unstable and undependable. (Hos 6:4-6)


• Hosea 6:4-6 - " O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And your judgments are like light that goes forth. 6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


• Have you been a “yo-yo” Christian? (2 Cor 4:1; Eph 3:17)


• 2 Corinthians 4:1 - Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.


• Ephesians 3:17 - that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,


• When we understand God’s love we will no longer be the center of our universe. It will not all be about me!

• Because God loves me, I love His word and I am serious about putting away sin in my life. (1 Pt 2:1-3)


• 1 Peter 2:1-3 - Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.


• Are you indifferent, bored or living among the “fellowship of the miserable?” Come to let God’s love melt your heart and change your life! Learn!

Satan also speaks about God’s love

• Satan will picture his ways as being found in the love of God! (1 Pt 2:16; 2 Pt 2:19)


• 1 Peter 2:16 - as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.


• 2 Peter 2:19 - While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.


• Satan will attack and accuse men who actually know and live the love of God as being unloving!

• Satan’s view of “love” exalts disobedience as being enlightened. I have seen those leave what they call “unloving brethren” to participate openly in social drinking.


• When men fail to have the love of God in their lives they can develop a religion like the Pharisees. (Lk 11:42; Jn 5:42)


• Luke 11:42 - "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.


• John 5:42 - "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.


• We can be tempted in pride to forsake patient and mercy.

• We must never forget to teach ourselves these truths. (Mt 9:13; James 2:13)


• Matthew 9:13 - "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."


• James 2:13 - For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.


• When we learn more we are tempted to be proud. We must keep God in sight. (1 Cor 8:1-3)


• 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 - Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.


• We can be proud and unmerciful and water down God’s standard and fail to rebuke those who are astray!

• Satan teaches that sacrifices can replace a merciful heart. (Micah 6:6-8)


• Micah 6:6-8 - With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?


• 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?


• Some of the most knowledgeable men in God’s law can be the harshest.

• What does God really want? What God wants is not easy! Our worship can be for us and not for God.

• Will you let the love of God be your foundation?

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How Does God Teach Us About Love?. We need to be taught about the love of God. In our age words have been changed to mean almost anything! This is true