God's Love Made Visible: Love Perfected in Us

If you're wrestling with sin or if you haven't come to know Jesus as your own Savior, if you haven't given your life to Him and repented of your sin, you need to understand that God sent His Son to destroy sin. God's love doesn't minimize it, doesn't just look away from it. There must be payment for it, and that's what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. [00:16:44] (23 seconds)  #JesusPaidItAll

Because there is a fear. There's a weight there. So how could we have confidence standing before God? There's only one way. Instead of, as we stand before a perfectly holy and righteous God, Jesus stands in front of us. That God sees Jesus and his deeds and his life covering ours. That's the only way we stand with confidence. This is what John is saying. [00:29:32] (27 seconds)  #CoveredByChrist

Again, the Bible tells us that there's a day coming when all of us, every person, will stand before a holy and righteous God. We will be judged according to our deeds, according to our lives. And that day will be a day of great terror for those who are not in Christ. But for those who are in Christ, who have trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the children of God, this will be a day of great rejoicing, and John says, a day we can face with confidence. [00:27:27] (31 seconds)  #JudgmentAndHope

To understand God's love, you must understand the truth of who He is and who we are and the payment, the propitiation that had to be made for our sin. You've got to see those things together. Love does not minimize or excuse sin, but defeats it. Because to allow us to continue to live in our sin would be the opposite of love. It would be hatred. [00:15:26] (26 seconds)  #PropitiationTruth

God's love is not indiscriminate. It's more than a feeling or a choice. It's not cheap. God's love is costly. It's sacrificial. It's displayed to us. It's shown to us through the death of His son on a cross. God's love is deeply connected to the truth of who He is. That's why we call this whole series truth and love. You can't separate the two. [00:15:00] (27 seconds)  #CostlySacrificialLove

We've seen the nature of God is love, and the manifestation of that love is in Christ. Jesus is God's love made visible. How did God show us his love? He sent his son, Jesus, to us. Love made manifest. Love made visible. Verse 10, John says, and this is love, Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. [00:10:10] (34 seconds)  #LoveMadeVisible

Propitiation is the turning away of God's wrath through the satisfaction of God's justice. See, scripture makes it clear that our sin separates us from a holy God and is deserving of God's judgment, God's wrath. God is perfectly holy. He cannot he cannot have anything to do with sin. He must judge sin. That's part of who he is, perfectly just, perfectly righteous. [00:11:07] (25 seconds)  #TurningAwayWrath

That's our calling as Christians, to abide in God's love. We can't drum up this kind of love in and of ourselves. Have you tried that? Have you tried loving your spouse or your children or your coworker or your neighbor or a family member? Have you tried loving them with that agape love out of your own strength? You maybe do it for a while, but eventually, it'll run out, you'll burn out, or it'll become selfish, self serving. [00:23:53] (35 seconds)  #AbideInAgape

God's love is not indiscriminate. It's more than a feeling or a choice. It's not cheap. God's love is costly. It's sacrificial. It's displayed to us. It's shown to us through the death of His son on a cross. God's love is deeply connected to the truth of who He is. That's why we call this whole series truth and love. You can't separate the two. [00:14:59] (27 seconds)

To understand God's love, you must understand the truth of who He is and who we are and the payment, the propitiation that had to be made for our sin. You've got to see those things together. Love does not minimize or excuse sin, but defeats it. Because to allow us to continue to live in our sin would be the opposite of love. It would be hatred. [00:15:25] (27 seconds)