Leckieville Freewill Baptist Church

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True Love

6/11/06 Brother Lee Dotson

God is Love. Those are words said by John in 1 John 4:8. I believe that what John was saying is that God's character is the very personification of love, that in His actions we see His love poured out for us. 1 John 4 goes on to say: "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

The amazing thing about the kind of love that God shows for us is that it is not dependent on anything we did, are doing, or will ever do. He loved us without our ever knowing one thing about Him. It was enough that God knew about us. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). The disciple John wrote more about love than any other biblical author. In his letters (1, 2, and 3 John), he wrote much about it being a word of action. He admonished us to love one another because God is love.

John repeatedly stated that in one action, God absolutely demonstrated His love: He maintained that we could find God's love in the life and death of Jesus, His son. Jesus left the comfort and beauty of Heaven to become man, in every way. He was tempted; He suffered pain, thirst, hunger, sleep deprivation, grief, and loneliness, all the things we might encounter. He experienced life and then He died the death of a criminal on a cross after being nearly being beaten to death. He did nothing to deserve death. He was totally without sin. "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus said, "The Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God" (John 16:27). And so we know and can rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him" (1 John 4:16).
You can know the love of God and enter into a personal relationship with Jesus if you'll trust Him as the only basis for the forgiveness of your sins. The Bible says that forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven are free gifts that Jesus died to provide. All you must do is transfer your trust from every thing you've ever hoped in and rely completely upon Him as your Savior.