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God Doesn't Just Love, He Is Love: 7 Marks of His Love

Dr RJ Sing, 18 November 2018, 42 min, Part 2 of Fashioned by Him

This is the whole service. The video opens where he begins, at 37:56.

Originally preached as “Fashioned by Him, Part 2: The Love of God”

Sermon outline

God does not merely have love, He is love, and because His love is uninfluenced, eternal, sovereign, infinite, immutable, holy and gracious, you can rest in it instead of the fickle love of people.

Main text

1 John 4:8
Genesis 1:26
Matthew 11:28-30

Opening

He welcomes the church with Romans 10:17, prays that his mind, voice and spirit would be anointed, saying this is not a motivational talk but the preaching of God's living Word. He recaps Genesis 1:26 and Matthew 11:28-30, that God fashioned man with His hands for fellowship, and the communicable and incommunicable attributes of God. Last week was the goodness of God; this week is the second communicable attribute, the love of God.

God is spirit, God is light, God is love
God is not 'a spirit', which would put Him in a class with others; He is spirit, in a class of His own, with no tangible body and filling heaven and earth. God is light, the opposite of darkness, sin and death. And God does not just give love; He is love itself. Man's love is limited and conditional, 'I love you because'; God's love is unconditional, 'I love you in spite of'.
“It is not simply that God loves but that he is love itself.”
- John 4:24
- 1 John 1:5
- Acts 17:28
- 1 John 4:8
1. God's love is uninfluenced
There was nothing in us to attract God's love when He saved us; He saw us through the love of Jesus. His love is free, spontaneous and, in a word, uncaused, flowing from His own sovereign will. God chose you before the foundation of the world, so you are not in church by chance. We stand, function and are forgiven only because of the love of God.
“The love of God is uncaused.”
- Deuteronomy 7:7-8
- Ephesians 1:6
2. God's love is eternal
As God has no beginning, His love has no beginning or end. We cannot fully comprehend it, but we can bow and worship. People malfunction in church not because they don't know God is love but because they can't grasp and accept it. God hates sin but loves the sinner.
Illustration: When they brought the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said 'he that is without sin, cast the first stone', and when He looked up, none of her accusers were left.
“We'll never understand the love of God, but we don't have to understand it. We just have to accept it.”
- Jeremiah 31:3
- Ephesians 1:4-5
- John 8:3-11
3. God's love is sovereign
No one can tell God whom to love; He blesses, forgives and exalts whom He pleases, so it is futile to be jealous when He blesses someone. He chose David and set Saul aside, and loved Jacob over Esau, twins with the same parents. Be careful how you speak of others, especially children, because you don't know whom God will raise up.
Illustration: As a boy, a teacher hit him with a ruler and told him nothing good would ever come out of him. 'How wrong she was', because God chose to love him when she despised him.
“God doesn't need a reason to love you. He loves you.”
- Psalm 75:7
- Romans 9:20
- Romans 9:13
- 2 Corinthians 4:7
4. God's love is infinite
Everything about God is limitless: His essence, His wisdom and His power, so nothing is hidden from Him and nothing is too hard for Him. His love has no depth, height, length or breadth that any creature can measure; no tongue can express it and no mind can comprehend it.
Illustration: God is still stitching and mending you: He is a mender of menders and a healer of healers, and people may see a broken vessel while His treasure works from the inside out.
“No tongue can fully express God's love.”
- Hebrews 4:13
- Jeremiah 32:17
- Ephesians 2:4
- John 3:16
- Ephesians 3:18-19
5. God's love is immutable
God's love is fixed, set and permanent; with Him there is no variableness or shadow of turning. He loved Jacob despite his unbelief and never stopped loving Peter after his denial. God is bigger than your parents and your pastor and should be loved more than anyone you can see.
“God will never cease to love you.”
- James 1:17
- John 13:1
- Song of Solomon 8:6
- Isaiah 42:8
6. God's love is holy
God's love is regulated by principle, not passion or sentiment, and never conflicts with His holiness. It is not a weak softness: whom the Lord loves He chastens. He corrects and disciplines us when we are wrong, will not wink at sin, and His love is pure and undiluted.
“He loves us so much to correct us when we are wrong.”
- Romans 5:21
- 1 John 4:8
- Hebrews 12:6
7. God's love is gracious
God's love and favour are inseparable: the more you grasp His love, the more you walk in favour and doors open, and you are where you are because God destined it. Comparison is a curse that limits us and breeds rivalry, because God made each person unique. Calvary is the supreme demonstration of His love, so when you are tempted to doubt it, go back to the cross. Grow past needing to feel loved into maturity where you love others.
Illustration: Jesus passed three people: He ignored one, touched one and hugged one. The one He hugged was not the one He loved most but the weakest, while the one He passed by was the most mature and needed no reminder. He says there was a time he went to church to feel loved, and later went to love others.
“Comparison is a curse.”
- Matthew 11:30
- 1 Corinthians 13:11
- John 3:34
- Romans 5:5
- 1 Corinthians 10:13

Putting it into practice

Rest in God's love instead of the love of people.
Stop being jealous when God blesses someone else.
Speak carefully about others, especially children.
When you doubt His love, go back to Calvary.
Grow from wanting to feel loved to loving others.

Closing

He repeats that God is spirit and God is love, and says we should not place on our spouses the expectation that only God's love can meet, because human love has a saturation point. Before handing over to close the service, he invites anyone who has never experienced God's love, or who has backslidden, to raise a hand so he can pray with them.

Declarations he led

The goodness of God.

In his words

“Man's love is limited, man's love is conditional, God's love is unconditional.”
“God is a mender of menders.”
“When you are tempted to doubt the love of God, go back to Calvary.”
“There was a time that came that I came into maturity where I went to church to love others.”

Every scripture in this message

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