Bulletin Insert: God is Love (Part 2)

 

GOD is LOVE; the Nature of Divine Love 

(Part 2)

(Pastor Terry L. Reese; Valley GBC, Armagh, PA; 2/28/21)

 

Intro: “God IS Love” (1 John 4:8, 16)—Love Personified!

1) Love is fundamental to the Divine Essence.

2) God’s Nature is the Source of Love, giving it real meaning. As

we grow in knowing God, we grow in the knowledge of love.

 

 

The character and nature of Divine Love

 

I. Uncompromising in holiness & righteousness (1 Cor. 13:6).

Ps. 11:7: For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness…

 

II. It is unselfish in nature (1 Cor. 13:5; Deut. 7:7-8).

Deut.7:7-8: "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you…”

 

III. It is freely bestowed and voluntary in its nature.

Hosea 14:4: “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely…”

 

IV. It endures; an everlasting love that will not let us go!

Jer. 31:3: The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love…”

 

V. It is active, not passively speculative & theoretical.

John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

 

VI. It is forgiving (and thus secure).

1 Cor. 13:5: “…it keeps no record of wrongs.”

 

VII. It is pure, and without malice.

1Cor. 13:4-5: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

 

VIII. Characterized by the “Love Chapter” (I Cor. 13:4-8).

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. (NIV)

[One can substitute the Name “Christ” for the word “love” in that passage!]