IF WE EVER NEEDED LOVE

 IF WE EVER NEEDED LOVE, IT’S NOW

 

This is the last Sunday of Advent: the Love Sunday. This is what Christmas is all about.

 

How do we describe the love of God? It has been written about and sung about for centuries.

 

Perhaps there are some listening today who have never heard about the love of God. It is good for all of us to be reminded about the true message of Christmas, God’s incomparable love. 

 

Let’s hear God Himself tell us about this love by reading about it from His Word. 

 

TEXT John 3:16 (NKJV) 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.

 

It is an everlasting love. 

 

Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV) The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

 

It is an inseparable love. 

 

Romans 8:35, 38-39 (NKJV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

It is an abundant love.  

 

Romans 5:5 (NKJV) Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

It is a proven love. 

 

Romans 5:8 (NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

It is a directed love. 

 

Titus 3:4 (NKJV) But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

 

It is a personal love. 

 

1 John 4:8 (NKJV) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

It is a visible love. 

 

1 John 4:9 (NKJV) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

 

It is an initiated love. 

 

1 John 4:19 (NKJV) We love Him because He first loved us.

 

All of our attempts to define the love of God fall miserably short.

 

The Love of God

(As performed by Mercy Me)

 

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell

The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

 

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill And every man a scribe by trade

 

To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry 
Nor could the scroll contain the whole Though stretched from sky to sky

 

Hallelujah 
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

 

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song

 

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Robby Shaffer / Jim Bryson / Mike Scheuchzer / Nathan Cochran / Bart Millard / Pete Kipley; The Love of God lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

 

What is our response to this love?

 

Love your Lord.

 

Matthew 22:37–38 (NKJV) 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.

 

Love your neighbor.

 

Matthew 22:39–40 (NKJV) And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

Love one another. 

 

1 John 4:11 (NKJV) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 

Love your brother.

 

1 John 4:21 (NKJV) And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

 

Love your wife.

 

Colossians 3:19 (NKJV) Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. 

 

Love your enemy.

 

Matthew 5:43–44 (NKJV) You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

 

MINISTRY TIME

 

1 John 4:10 (NKJV) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

1 John 3:1 (NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!