Man, the title of my sermon tonight is The Love of God.
The Love of God.
Now, I have three points tonight, and at first these three points are going to seem kind
of strange, but once you hear the whole sermon, it's all going to make sense.
Point number one is The Love of God.
Point number two is The Love of God.
And point number three is The Love of God.
So let's start with The Love of God.
Look if you would at 1 John 3, verse 16.
It's all going to make sense.
First of all, the first point, The Love of God, is about God's love for us.
When the Bible says The Love of God, sometimes it's talking about God's love for us.
Look at 1 John 3, verse 16.
The Bible reads, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for
us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Flip over to 1 John 4, verse 9, just on the next page.
All three of these points are going to be found in the book of 1 John tonight, as well
as elsewhere throughout the New Testament.
But look at 1 John 4, verse 9.
The Bible reads, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him, here in His love
not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins.
But if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
So when the Bible talks about the love of God, it's talking about the love that God
has for us.
Now who is included in us?
Well the Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
That is not only talking about saved Christians, but it's actually talking about all the people
in the world that He loved.
The proof of that is that He then narrows it to a smaller group.
He says, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So He loved the whole world, but it's only whosoever believeth that will not perish and
have everlasting life.
And we also don't want to get this wrong idea that some people have, that somehow God the
Father is up in heaven just filled with anger and wrath, and that it's Jesus Christ who
has to somehow talk Him down or go to bat for us against an angry, wrathful God because
Jesus is so much more loving and God the Father is filled with wrath.
No, the Bible says the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
So it's God the Father who loved us and sent the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth.
So of course, just as much as Jesus Christ loves us, God the Father also loves us, and
we don't want to pit those two against one another.
Sometimes the way people will express this is Old Testament God versus New Testament
God, and they'll act like Old Testament God is so mean and vindictive and wrathful, and
then New Testament God in the person of Jesus Christ is somehow mellowed out and much more
kind.
In reality, God is love both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
It's the same God in the Old and New Testament.
We also don't want to misunderstand and think that the God of the Old Testament is somehow
just God the Father because, of course, Jesus Christ is present in the Old Testament as
well.
The Holy Spirit is present in the Old Testament as well.
You've got the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, both Old and New Testament,
and Father, Son, Holy Ghost, all loving humanity and all participating in the salvation of
humanity.
So we don't want to get this wrong-headed idea.
I've heard whole sermons about God's so angry, and then Jesus steps in and saves the day.
That's not what the Bible says.
It's God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit that all love the world, and salvation
is affected by all three of the above.
And so the Bible says that God manifested His love toward us because that God sent,
verse 9, His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.
Let me give you some other verses on the love of God outside of the book of 1 John.
The Bible says in Titus 3, 4, but after that the kindness and love of God, our Savior,
toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy,
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Another great passage on this if you want to turn there is Romans, chapter 8.
Flip over to Romans, chapter 8, and while you're turning to Romans, chapter 8, I'll
read for you from Romans, chapter 5, verse 5.
The Bible reads, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Watch this.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.
Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
God's love is evidenced by the fact that He sent His only begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him.
He gave His only begotten Son and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ's love is way above a human being's love because we might lay down our life for
our friends.
We might lay down our lives for someone that we love or respect or someone that we think
is righteous or godly or worthy of our sacrifice, but yet while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
So this is the love of God.
And if you think about it, there are two different illustrations of the love of God here because
one of them is of course Christ sacrificing Himself, laying down His life willingly for
our salvation.
He endured the cross for us and that shows His love.
But then also we have the love of the Father giving the Son.
You think about that story in the Old Testament of Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac.
And obviously that is a supreme sacrifice.
Most of us would rather die ourselves than for our child to die.
We'd be willing to sacrifice our life to save the life of our child.
And so the Father giving the Son to be the Savior of the world is also a huge display
of love that we don't want to miss.
So look at Romans chapter 8 verse 33.
The Bible reads, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth.
So when we talk about God's elect, we're not talking about Israelis in the Middle East.
We're talking about people who are justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
Talking about God's elect who are justified by God, declared righteous through the blood
of Christ.
Who is He that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?
As it is written, for Thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep
for the slaughter, nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers
nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And then you have somebody come along and say that you can lose your salvation.
What a bunch of nonsense.
There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
We are missing every possible thing imaginable.
Once we are saved, Christ Jesus is our Savior.
We have been passed from death unto life.
We shall not come into condemnation and God will never stop loving us.
There is nothing that we as His children could do where He would stop loving us.
Nothing can separate us who are justified, who are the elect.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Now look, the people out there in this world, we said that God so loved the entire world.
Did we not?
He loved everyone.
But here's the thing.
People that are not saved, people who have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, someday
they will be separated from the love of God because they're not justified.
They're not saved.
And someday they will be cast into hell and they will be suffering the wrath of God.
They will not be the recipients of the love of God.
They will be on the receiving end of God's wrath and judgment for all eternity.
But that is the unsaved.
Those of us who are saved, we've been passed from death unto life.
We shall not come into that condemnation and nothing can separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is the assurance that we have of being saved forever.
God's love and the love of Christ are something that we can never be separated from.
So that's number one, the love of God.
But number two, point number two is the love of God.
And this is the love that we have for God.
This is also called in the Bible the love of God.
So when we run into a phrase like this in English, right?
Or even in Greek or other languages, the love of God, it's ambiguous.
And we have to go by context to know whether we're talking about God's love for us or our
love for God.
Because clearly the verses that we've looked at so far, we're talking about God's love
toward us.
One hundred percent, there is no doubt on any of those.
But let's go to 1 John 5 and let's look at the love of God in the sense of our love for
God which is something different altogether, isn't it?
Back to 1 John again where we started, it says in verse 2 of chapter 5, by this we know
that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments, watch this,
for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are
not grievous.
Now, clearly the love of God here is not talking about God's love for us, is it?
Because this is the love of God that he laid down his life for us.
That's God's love toward us.
But here it says this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments
are not grievous.
So how we show our love for God is by keeping God's commandments, right?
That is how we show God that we love him.
Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments.
Now thankfully we don't have to keep the commandments in order to be saved because if we did, we'd
all be going to hell because every single one of us is a sinner, nobody's perfect, none
of us has kept the law of God perfectly, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of
God and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us.
But if we love God, we want to show our love for God by keeping his commandments.
It's sort of like my children will always be my children.
They don't have to earn the right to be my children, they don't have to behave a certain
way in order to remain my children, my DNA is in every cell of their body and nothing
can change the fact that I'm their father.
But I still have rules for them, I still have commandments for them and if they love me,
they're going to keep my commandments.
Now if they break a rule, then that's bad, they're going to get disciplined.
But here's the thing about that though, they're still my children, I still love them, they
still love me, right, but obviously the less they obey, the less they clearly love me and
the more they obey me, that shows most likely that they love me, obviously they have other
motives for obeying, like not wanting to get a spanking.
But I don't want to get a spanking from God either, so that's one of the reasons I obey
him too.
But hopefully we're obeying God also and predominantly because we love God.
This is love that we walk after his commandments, the Bible tells us in 2 John.
Go if you would to 1 John chapter 2 verse number 1.
So point number 1 was the love of God, talking about God's love for us, that was point number
1.
Point number 2 is the love of God, our love for God.
Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, my little children, these things write I unto you that
you sin not, and if any man sin, because obviously we inevitably will sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation
for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, and hereby
we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth
is not in him, but whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected.
What kind of love of God are we talking about here?
Clearly this is our love for God is perfected as we keep his commandments, as we keep his
word.
Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected.
Hereby know we that we are in him, he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also
to walk even as he walked.
Look it's possible to be saved and in Christ and not to walk as he walked, because a lot
of people are saved, they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the spirit is willing, the
flesh is weak, and they're not walking the walk that they should be walking.
In fact the majority of Christians are not walking the walk they should be walking, and
none of us is walking that walk perfectly.
All of us have shortcomings in our walk.
But at the end of the day, we are commanded to follow Christ, and we ought to walk even
as he walked, right?
It says he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
Now when it comes to abiding in Christ, and knowing him, and these type of things, this
is talking about having a close relationship with Christ, walking with God, being in good
fellowship with God, and this is something that takes work and effort and is perfected
over a lifetime.
Salvation is easy, salvation is in a moment, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt
be saved, you're born again, just like my children were born on a certain birth date,
we were born again on a certain date when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But after that, just as I would cultivate a relationship with my children, we are cultivating
a relationship with God, God is cultivating a relationship with us, and so we want to
abide in him, we want to walk with him, we want to have fellowship with him, and the
book of 1 John talks a lot about this.
Well here's the thing, somebody who claims to be spiritual, somebody who claims to be
abiding in Christ, somebody who claims to know God, and yet who is not following the
word of God is lying, because you have all kinds of people out there, preachers and otherwise,
who would make great claims about their spirituality and make great claims about their walk with
God, and then you see their life and it doesn't match what they're supposedly claiming about
their walk with God.
You see, it's impossible for you to have a good relationship with God while you're disregarding
everything in the Bible.
If we're looking at the Bible and the Bible's telling you not to lie and not to steal and
not to kill and not to commit adultery, and then you're doing those things, then obviously
you're not very close to God, obviously you are backslidden, you are away from the Lord.
You might be saved, but you're not abiding in Christ.
And so we're talking here about a relationship with God, we're talking here about walking
with God, having fellowship with God, not just being saved.
We're talking about someone who says that they're abiding in him, someone who claims
to be right with God, somebody who claims to be serving God and in fellowship with God,
ought himself also so to walk even as he walked, he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not
his commandments is a liar.
Don't lie and pretend to be some great Christian when you're not following God's word, right?
You got to follow the Bible, you got to follow the rules, and somebody who just claims, oh,
I don't need these rules, and I just have such a great relationship with God, and then
you see them out committing fornication, getting drunk, whatever, they're just kind of proving
that their talk is a bunch of baloney.
Look if you would at the Gospel of John, we're going to be back in 1 John eventually, but
if you want to flip over to the Gospel of John, let's see more about the love of God,
meaning our love toward God.
We saw a couple of scriptures in 1 John that had to do with keeping God's commandments
as a way to show that we love him.
In order to have that fellowship and walk with him, we should keep his commandments,
we should walk as he walked.
Look at John 5, verse 38.
This is Jesus Christ speaking to the unbelieving Jews, those who rejected him.
And ye have not his word abiding in you, verse 38, for whom he hath sent him ye believe not.
Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which
testify me.
He's telling the Jews, look, you don't believe in me, and you think you have eternal life
because of the Bible, but if you search the Bible, you'd realize that the Bible's all
about me.
And so if you search the scriptures, you would see that they testify of me.
Verse 40, you will not come to me that you might have life.
The will there isn't a future tense, that is saying you will not, meaning you don't
have the desire, you don't want to come to me that you might have life.
You will not come to me that you might have life.
What is it that's stopping people in this world from being saved today?
What is it that's stopping any sinner on this planet from being saved?
It's really just his own will if he will not come to Christ that he might have life.
Because whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Whosoever will may come.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And so the problem is the will on the part of man.
If he refuses to come to Christ, well then he's going to be damned.
Jesus said, you will not come to me that you might have life.
I receive not honor from men, but I know you, look what he says, that you have not the love
of God in you.
Now, what is he saying there?
Is he saying, hey, God doesn't love you guys?
No.
What he's saying is you don't have the love of God in you, meaning you don't love God.
Because if they loved God, they would love Jesus Christ, right?
Because Jesus Christ is the express image of God the Father's person, right?
And Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
And so if they don't love Jesus Christ, that proves that they don't love the Father.
You know, the Bible says if you deny the Son, you don't have the Father.
But he then knows that the Son has the Father also.
So he says, I know you that you have not the love of God in you.
I'm come in my Father's name, and you receive me not.
If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
And of course, this is a prophecy that one day the Antichrist will come in his own name,
the false Messiah that the Jews are still waiting for, and the Jews will embrace the
Antichrist.
Make no mistake about it, when the Antichrist shows up, the Jews are going to love him,
and they're going to receive him as their Savior, and then all the fake Christians around
the world are going to get all excited and say, look, the Jews are finally believing
in Jesus.
It's just like we've told you.
At the second coming of Christ, they're all going to get saved.
They're all going to believe in him, because they've twisted Romans 11, all Israel shall
be saved.
And they'll say, look, look, it's the second coming of Christ, and all Israel's getting
saved.
But really what it's going to be is a fake Christ, an Antichrist, that's going to show
up, an imposter who's going to come in his own name, not in the name of the Father,
and he's going to come in his own name, and he's going to command ultimately that men
receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead.
And what's that mark going to be?
It's going to be his name.
It's going to be the mark of his name.
Why?
Because he's coming in his own name, and they will receive him.
They rejected the real Messiah.
They rejected Jesus.
It's not like, oh, but then when he comes the second time, then they're going to have
a change of heart and get saved.
Why would they?
Why wouldn't they just get saved right now?
Like, if the Jews want to get saved at the second coming of Christ, why don't they just
get saved right now?
You know, Jesus Christ already came, and we've already got his Word, we've already got the
New Testament, and we've already got the four Gospels, and we've got the Epistles, we've
got the Word of God here, we've got the Gospel, Jesus Christ died, buried, and risen again.
Why don't they just get saved right now?
You know why they don't want to get saved?
Because they don't have the love of God in them.
Because they will not come to him that they might have life.
That's why they're not saved, because they don't want to be saved.
They say, we will not have this man to rule over us.
You will not come to me that you might have life, Christ said.
That's why they're not saved.
Why would Christ showing up a second time change that?
Is the Christ that comes the second time going to be a different Jesus?
It's going to be the same guy.
Well, funny, they didn't receive him the first time.
And funny, he's here with us right now, and they don't want him.
Because last time I checked, he's right here with, you know, wherever two or three of us
are gathered together, he's right here in the midst.
We got his Word right here.
Here he is, folks.
They don't want him.
So if they don't want him in this form, then why would they want him if he shows up in
bodily form?
Well, you know, they're going to see and believe.
You know what?
That's not the way it works.
You know, they tried that when Jesus was hanging on the cross.
You know what they said to him?
They said, come down from the cross that we may see and believe.
We want to see and believe.
But here's what you have to understand.
People say in this world, oh, seeing is believing.
No, no, no.
Here's what the Bible teaches.
Believing is seeing, right?
It's by faith that we see God, that we see the Lord Jesus Christ, that we see salvation.
And so believing is seeing, okay?
And if Christ were to show up right now, they would not believe in him.
And here's the proof.
They don't believe in him right now.
He's already here.
He already came.
He already showed up.
He's already been there.
Well, yeah, but when they see him coming in the class, well, I don't know, didn't he do
some miracles when he was here the first time?
And did that make everybody just believe in him?
Nope.
Well, guess what?
They are going to believe in the end times.
They're going to believe in the Antichrist.
And they're going to believe in the Antichrist.
They're going to love the Antichrist.
They're going to embrace the Antichrist, and they will ultimately be destroyed and wiped
out and punished because they will just fall for the Antichrist hook, line, and sinker.
That's the true story.
That's what's coming.
You say, God's not finished with Israel.
You know you're right.
He's not.
Because he has to send them the Antichrist to deceive them, and they have to fall for
the Antichrist, and they have to all be wiped out and punished.
Now, obviously, the individuals can get saved whenever they want.
I mean, look, Jews can get saved right now.
If there's some Jew listening to my sermon right now, he could literally just drop to
his knees right now and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior right
now and be saved.
Who's stopping him?
I have no ill will or rancor toward him.
Let him drop on his knees and be saved right now.
But if he doesn't, he's going to be damned.
And being a Jew isn't going to help him at all.
In fact, it'll probably just make him get a little hotter section in hell.
The section for Jews is a little hotter.
I don't know how much hotter, but it's a little hotter.
It's not a non-smoking section, my friend.
It's an extra smoking section.
Why?
Because to whom much is given of him shall much be required.
And if unto them were committed the oracles of God, you know, they're held even more accountable.
They're the servant who knew his Lord's will and did it not versus the Gentiles who, in
many cases, are in a way, they're still going to be punished.
Oh, but the ones who knew better, the ones who had that exposure to the Word of God,
they're going to be even more severely punished.
And if you're sitting here tonight and you're not saved, well, you are going to be in for
some serious damnation if you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ before it's eternally
too late.
And the Bible says here, I'm coming in my Father's name and you receive me not.
If another come in his own name, him you will receive.
That is prophetic about the fact that another is going to come, the Antichrist, the man
of sin, the son of perdition, and the Jews will believe on him.
Why are they not saved?
Because they don't have the love of God in them.
If they had the love of God in them, they would want to come to Christ and be saved.
Why don't they want to?
Because they don't have the love of God, meaning what?
Love for God.
The first point of the sermon was the love of God, God's love toward us.
Second point of the sermon, the love of God, love toward God.
In one situation, God is the subject and the other God is the object, right?
One more verse on the love of God, but woe unto you, this is Luke 11 42, you don't have
to turn there, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass over
judgment and the love of God.
These ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone.
What should they have done?
They should have done the love of God and judgment.
Well, how do you do judgment?
You judge righteously.
How do you do the love of God?
You love God.
That's what it means to have done that, to have done the love of God.
Why?
Because the greatest commandment in the whole law is to love God.
And then the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.
And so clearly we've seen, number one, that the love of God is talking about God's love
for us.
Number two, we've seen that the love of God is talking about our love for God.
But there's a third point tonight, the love of God.
What do I mean by that?
Go to 1 John chapter 4 verse 7, we're going to see point three, the love of God.
You say, what's left?
Well, the love of God here is referring to the love that comes from God.
So this is not about God loving us, and this is not about us loving God, but rather this
is about the love that we have that came from God.
We derive that love from God, and we can show that love to other people, right?
So it's the love of God, meaning that God is the source of that love.
Look what the Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 verse 7.
It says, Beloved, let us love one another, watch this, for love is of God.
What does that mean?
Love is of God.
It means that God is the source.
Another way of saying this would be love is from God.
You know, this is easy for the Spanish speakers to understand because they have the word de,
which means either from or of, right?
It could be a source or it can be possessive.
Well guess what?
It's the same thing with our English word of, although we don't really use it that way
in 2023, historically that is what it has meant.
And so when the Bible says love is of God, what's that saying?
God is the source of love.
We get our love from God.
And so it says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, watch this, and everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
So think about this, if everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God, that means
that in order to truly love, you have to be born of God and know God.
Because everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
So you say, well here's a guy over here, and he loves, but he's not born of God, well no,
that's not true.
Now obviously, people in this world that are unsaved, non-Christians, they have love.
But it's not the same kind of love that comes from God.
It's an inferior brand of love.
It's not the sublime, supreme, transcendent kind of love that we as Christians that are
born of God are capable of.
Now look, just because you're a saved Christian though, doesn't necessarily mean that you're
walking in the Spirit and that you are practicing or exercising or feeling this kind of love.
Because you obviously have to, as we said this morning, put on the new man and walk
in the Spirit, because the fruit of the Spirit, what's the first fruit of the Spirit?
Love.
The fruit of the Spirit is love.
That means, where do we get our love?
From being filled with the Spirit, from walking in the Spirit.
Love is of God, it's from God, he's the source.
So when you get saved, you now have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you're a new
creature in Christ, and now you have the capability to love in a way that unsaved people
can't love.
It's a more supreme, sublime, transcendent kind of love that the world knows nothing
about.
And that's why the Bible says here, everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
Obviously we're not just talking about an ordinary love, because we know that obviously
unsaved people, they love their children, and they love their job, and they love ice
cream, and they love their spouse, and they love their boyfriend, or whatever, but we're
talking about a par excellence kind of love here that you have to be saved in order to
be capable of having.
Does everybody see that?
Love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
Loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
Go back one page to 1 John 3.
So point number one was God's love for us.
Point number two was our love for God.
And point number three is the love that comes from God, that you can only actually exercise
this love if you have been saved.
And being saved isn't enough, because you have to be born of God and you have to know
God, which is beyond, you know, getting saved doesn't mean you necessarily are that close
with God or really know God, right?
Being God is a lifetime journey of fellowship and walking with God and reading scripture
and praying and getting close to God.
Where did I have eternal?
What verse?
1 John 3 verse 17 says this, but whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, watch this, how dwelleth the love
of God in him.
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Now this is certainly not talking about God's love for us, because just because we are a
tightwad and we're stingy and we don't care about other people, that doesn't mean God
doesn't love us.
God's going to continue to love us, why?
Because nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You could make the argument here that it's saying that if we don't help our brother,
we don't love God, because if we love God, we should love our brother also.
But I think that the more direct meaning here of how dwelleth the love of God in him is
it saying, you know, does this guy have the love that comes from God?
The love that those who are saved and know God exercise, right?
That love that is the fruit of the Spirit, the love that is of God, right?
Because we saw in 1 John 4.7, it said, love is of God.
Love is from God.
And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth,
right?
So we shouldn't just love with our feelings or with our words, but we should also show
our love through actions.
Go to 1 John 2, 1 John 2, verse 15.
And remember this third point, the love of God is the love that comes from God, right?
The love that we have as a result of being filled with the Spirit of God.
It says in 1 John 2, verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Now, obviously here, we're not talking about the people.
God so loved the world, the Bible's not saying, hey, don't love people.
That's not what the Bible's saying.
When the Bible says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, in this
context, what he's saying is don't love this world's system.
Don't love this world's way of doing things.
Don't have your affections on this present world at the expense of having them on the
kingdom of God and on eternity and on heaven and on biblical values and a biblical world.
Don't just love the way this world is, okay?
And neither the things that are in the world, meaning all of the things that this world
has to offer that compete with our walk with God and so forth.
So he says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
So I want you to pay attention to that phrase, the love of the Father, right?
Now, again, what could this mean, the love of the Father?
Well, it could mean grammatically three different things, right?
It could mean the Father loves us, it could mean we love the Father, or it could mean
the love that comes from the Father, okay?
So which one is it?
Well, let's keep reading and see.
It says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world, and the world passeth
away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
So what does of mean in this context?
Well, it says here that these things that are in the world, the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, they're not of the Father.
What does that mean?
That he is not the source of these affections.
We don't have lust and pride of life because we're deriving that from our walk with God.
We didn't learn that from God the Father.
We didn't get that from being filled with the Holy Spirit.
We didn't get that from being a Christian or from reading our Bible.
That is not of the Father.
It didn't come from him.
It's of the world.
It came from this world.
Now look, there are some evil, wicked, sinful, perverse things in this world, are they not?
And guess what?
Those things didn't come from God.
They didn't come from God.
I don't care what philosophers have decided about where these wicked, sinful things have
come from or what the Calvinists think that God's just pulling the strings and everything
is God's will and God ordained all of this and God planned all this.
Folks, that's not what the Bible teaches.
God looked at certain things that happen in this world and he said, you know what?
I never commanded that and that never even came into my mind.
So don't tell me that God is the author of perversion and confusion and wickedness because
he's not.
God does not dream up those kind of things.
God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
But rather, God has created human beings upon this earth as well as other spiritual entities,
angels, demons and so forth.
And God has created us as human beings specifically with a capability to exercise free will and
make our own decisions according to our own desires.
And you see, this is why God's not just a glorified computer programmer.
Sorry, we're not living in a simulation, okay?
People are like, you know, what Elon Musk say, we're 99%, we're living in a simulation.
Well, there's a 1% that we're not and it turns out we're not.
And here's why.
Here's why this isn't a simulation.
The reason why this isn't a simulation is because now the Calvinists, they all think
we're living in a simulation because they think God's just a computer programmer up
in the sky just ordaining everything and programming everybody and he decides what everybody does.
And you know, you just better hope that condition equals true when it comes to you being one
of the elect, you know, because he's up there just programming away and you better just
hope that you're one of the elect.
Folks, let me tell you something.
God is beyond a computer programmer.
And we live in a day where you hear a lot of talk about AI, don't you?
It's all the rage.
It's everywhere, AI, AI powered, right?
And of course, all this hype is a total exaggeration and a lot of things are called AI.
AI that aren't even close to being AI, let alone what some people might dream of as
being AI, right?
I mean, by some of these definitions, you could just say every computer is AI.
It understands things.
I type stuff in and it understood what I typed and spat out the right answer or whatever.
And obviously, you have now machines that are able to learn and computers that are able
to learn how to play chess or learn how to play Go or learn how to do tasks more effectively
and so forth and the computer can be trained and so forth.
But at the end of the day, the computer is only going to do exactly what you tell it
to do.
And it's only going to learn what you tell it to learn.
And these things can all be broken down to just mathematical algorithms and it can all
just be broken down to just lines of code of just trial and error and the thing just
mindlessly, brainlessly, soullessly executing its program.
That's what AI is.
It's not like it has feelings or it's making decisions or whatever.
Sorry, your Nintendo girlfriend isn't real, okay?
Nintendo Love Plus, your waifu isn't real, okay?
It's just a machine.
It's just some programmer that you've fallen in love with, right?
Or you're probably more likely just in love with yourself.
That's probably really what's going on.
But the point is that all this so-called AI and everything, at the end of the day, it's
just a machine doing exactly what it was told to do and, you know, sometimes we get
mad at our electronics and we yell at them and we smite them and we curse them in the
name of the Lord.
But here's the thing about that is that these electronics, at the end of the day, there's
a reason why they're doing that.
The curse causeless shall not come, right?
You know, anything that the computer does, it's doing either because it was programmed
to do it or you told it to do it, you know, somewhere, somehow, this thing didn't just
get a bad attitude and just be like, oh, yeah, well, let me just delete your file and then
what?
Then we'll see how you are.
No.
It doesn't have any will.
It doesn't have any desire.
It'll never dream up something new.
You say, well, I saw AI produce a beautiful piece of art or whatever.
Yeah, but it's not really dreaming up anything new.
It's just looking at all the artwork that's out there and it's just a big time poser.
And it's basically just duplicating what it thinks people want for art and what other
artists have successfully done and it's just mixing and merging.
But it doesn't actually create something new because guess what?
You cannot create a computer with free will.
You can't create a machine and just tell it, hey, do what you want to do.
What do you want to learn?
It'd just be like, this does not compute.
It's not going to work.
You could probably create one that would pretend to do what it wants and maybe it could fool
you into thinking that it's real, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't be real.
But guess what?
God is not a computer programmer.
God has a creative ability that goes way beyond somebody running a simulation because God
created us and we actually have free will.
He created us in his image and I do believe that there's a literal element to that, but
there's also a figurative element to us being made in the image of God that we are creative.
God is a creator.
He's the creator, but guess what?
We're creators too because he created us with the ability to dream up our own ideas and
to create our own works of art and our own plans and our own designs and so we are like
him in that sense.
That's what humans can't do.
We can't make a machine that's like us, but yet God could make a creation that actually
could also create.
From scratch, we can come up with new things.
This is what the philosophers and the Calvinists don't understand, that God has not programmed
us.
God has created us with a soul and we have the power and the ability to choose and to
make all kinds of new things.
That's why when God created the animals, he asked Adam, what is the name of this animal
Adam?
And he let Adam name the animals in Genesis chapter two, but according to the Calvinists,
God's just like secretly like, you know, typing into his terminal like, you know, telling
him what to name them and it's just an illusion of choice.
Oh, Adam, you can name them whatever you want.
Oh, just kidding because you're just going to do what I already, I already chose the
name of that animal.
No, no, no.
I believe that Adam was pulling names out of thin air, out of his own heart, out of
his own soul.
He was coming up with his own idea and whatever he chose to name the animal, God said that's
the name thereof.
And you know what?
You don't have to read very far in the Bible to get to that.
It's chapter two, okay?
It's chapter two in the Bible and already this whole stupidity of predestination so
called, obviously there's a biblical predestination, but the so-called fatalistic, God designed
everything, God planned everything, God ordained everything.
God's just a great big computer programmer in the sky.
He's just running so much more RAM and CPU than we've ever seen.
It's such an advanced simulation because you know what?
If you're a Calvinist, it is a simulation.
Everything's fake and we're all just going through the motions of a simulation.
I'm not artificial intelligence tonight.
I am actual intelligence.
I am free will.
I am a creator.
I'm not the creator, but I'm a creator.
I create stuff.
So do you.
See this is where wickedness and perversion comes from because when God gave us the power
to create, you know what?
That's a two-edged sword, isn't it?
Because we can either create good things or we can create bad things.
We can use our creativity and our free will to do good or we can use it to do evil.
And human beings have dreamed up all kinds of sick, perverse, wicked things and that
came from the lust of their own heart, it didn't come from God.
And so I do not believe for one second that God is the source of these things.
All that is in the world, verse 16, I know that was a little bit of a rabbit trail, but
it was worth it, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life is not of the Father.
He did not program that.
He did not write that code.
We did that to ourselves.
It's not of the Father, but it's of the world.
So everything's from God created everything.
No, it's not of the Father, it's of the world.
Yes, God created the world, but then the world has the power to create also and the world
has chosen to create wicked things and to rebel against God and here we are.
So these things are not of the Father, but are of the world.
What does that mean?
Source.
They didn't come from the Father, they came from the world.
And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever.
So now with verse 16 as context, these things are not of the Father, but are of the world.
Then if we go back and read verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Again, you could read this two ways, but probably the more likely way is that the love that
comes from the Father is not in him when he has affection on the world.
Why?
Because the Bible says no man can serve two masters.
Either he will love the one and hate the other or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
And so a person whose heart is consumed with the love of this world is not walking in the
Spirit, are they?
They're in the flesh.
Well, if you're in the flesh, then you're not in the Spirit, then guess what?
You don't have the fruit of the Spirit, which means that you don't have the love which is
of the Father in you.
Instead, you have all the love of the world that came from your sinful flesh.
And so the fruit of the Spirit is love.
So we've seen point number one, God loving us, point number two, our love for God, point
number three, the love that comes from God.
Now let me go to just a couple of passages in conclusion.
There are three other mentions of this exact phrase in the Bible, the love of God.
And I would say that these are ambiguous.
So let's look at these three and let's decide what these could possibly mean.
First of all, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
2 Corinthians chapter 13, we're just going to look at three verses and then we'll be
done.
We're going to look at three verses that mention the love of God.
And I consider these to be ambiguous, meaning I'm not really sure, is this the love of God?
Is it the love of God?
Or is it the love of God?
You know what I mean?
Which one is it?
Is it point one?
Is it point two?
Or is it point three?
Well, this is a great verse.
2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.
Amen.
Now, the first thing I want to say about this verse, that this is a great verse on the Trinity.
A lot of people will act like there are very few verses on the Trinity, but yet here we
have the three members of the Godhead right here present.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, God being God the Father here, as
often sometimes when the Bible says God, it just refers to God the Father.
Sometimes it's referring to God in general, the entire Trinity.
Sometimes it's just referring to God the Father.
But here it's clearly God the Father because we have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost.
Be with you all.
Amen.
But what does this mean here?
The love of God.
May the love of God be with you all.
Amen.
Right?
What does this mean?
Does this mean may the fact that God loves you be with you all.
Amen.
Well, I don't think so because I think that that's kind of a given when you're a saved
Christian that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
The love of God is going to be with us.
Is this their love for God?
The love of God be with you all.
Keep loving God.
Or is this the love that comes from God?
That makes the most sense, doesn't it?
The love that comes from God, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God
– I would say the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is talking about the grace that comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The love of God, meaning the love that comes from God that we should all have as we walk
in the Spirit, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, I would say that that's talking about
having communion with the Holy Ghost.
Or it could be the communion that comes from the Holy Ghost.
And that would probably make the most sense that all three of these are source.
And that we would say, may the communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all, meaning the
communion that comes from the fact that I'm indwelled by the Holy Ghost and you're indwelled
by the Holy Ghost.
That gives us something in common.
That gives us communion.
That gives us fellowship.
So I think it's very likely that all three of these are source, but you can't really
– I put this in the ambiguous category because it's not for sure, right?
Although I think that that's a pretty good guess.
Go to 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 5, we just have two more to look at quickly and we can
decide together what these may mean.
2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 5, the Bible reads in 2 Thessalonians 3, 5,
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.
So again, is this saying the Lord direct your hearts into God loving you?
That wouldn't really make any sense, would it?
The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, meaning you loving God and patiently
waiting for Christ?
That does make sense, doesn't it?
That's quite possible.
Or is it saying the Lord direct your hearts into you having the love that comes from God
for other people and patiently waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ?
I think that's just as possible and probably even the most likely.
And then lastly, go to the book of Jude.
This is right before Revelation.
Sorry about my coughing.
I'm still getting over that cold from a few weeks ago or whatever that was, COVID or whatever.
I forgot to get my seventh booster, so.
For the record, I didn't get any of them, all right?
I didn't get any of those vaccines, dang it.
All right, Jude, verse 20, the Bible reads,
For ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life.
Now, look, is this God loving us?
Well, no, because we don't have to keep ourselves in the love of God.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So what does this mean, keep yourselves in the love of God?
This could just be referring to us watching out for ourselves, looking out for ourselves,
making sure that we keep ourselves in check by means of the love of God as far as God
loving us.
I mean, that's the only way I could even possibly derive a way to make that fall under point
number one.
Okay, but let's think about point number two, loving God.
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life.
Keep yourselves in a frame of mind where you have love for God, or keep yourselves in the
love of God.
How about walking in love?
Because the Bible used that term, walking in love.
How about walking in the love that comes from God?
Keep yourselves in the love of God, meaning the love that comes from God that we should
keep ourselves in that frame of mind, or walking in that love.
You see, what I find is that once you understand that third possibility for what the love of
God means, then you go to some of these more ambiguous and difficult passages, and that
kind of ends up making the most sense in these passages.
And so I think it's really an important takeaway, but of course all three of them are important.
And so in conclusion, let me just say this, the love of God, the love of God, and the
love of God.
All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your love for us, Lord, and Lord, we love you, and Lord,
I pray that we would all have the strength to show our love for you by walking as you
walked and by keeping your commandments, Lord.
And also, it's so important, Lord, that we have that love that comes from you, and that
we show that love toward others.
And thank you, Lord, for giving us the ability to love with a love that the world can't even
understand.
And what they have today as unsaved people is really just a shadow of the true love that
only those who are born of God and know God really possess.
Lord, we thank you for our church, and we ask that you give us safety and blessing as
we go our separate ways, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.