God's Love (Part 2)

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God's Love (Part 2) VII. God’s shows His love for us by… 1. choosing us before the foundation of the world to make us holy and without blame before Him (Eph 1:4; Col 3:12; 1Th 1:4; 2Th 2:13). 2. giving His Son to die for us (Joh 3:16). 3. sending His Son to be a propitiation for our sins (1Jo 4:9-10). 4. laying down His (Jesus’) life for us (1Jo 3:16). 5. Christ giving Himself a sacrifice for us (Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2; Eph 5:25). 6. Christ washing us from our sins in His own blood (Rev 1:5). 7. Christ dying for us when we were sinners and His enemies (Rom 5:6-10). 8. quickening us when we were dead in sins (Eph 2:4-5; Tit 3:4-7). 9. making and calling us His sons who will be like Christ at the resurrection (1Jo 3:1-2). 10. giving us the Holy Ghost in our hearts (Rom 5:5). 11. requiring us to give up much to follow Him (Mar 10:21). 12. chastening us when we sin (Heb 12:6; Rev 3:19). 13. giving us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace (2Th 2:16). VIII. God loves us both unconditionally and conditionally. 1. God loves us apart from our works (unconditionally) (Jer 31:3). 2. God also loves us conditionally, in a certain way. A. God loves us because we love Jesus Christ (Joh 16:27). i. But we only love God because He first loved us unconditionally (1Jo 4:10, 19, 1Co 8:3). ii. Therefore, our love is not the ultimate cause of God’s love for us. B. God does not love those who love the world (1Jo 2:15).  C. God loves a cheerful giver (2Co 9:7). D. God’s love is perfected in us when we love one another (1Jo 4:12). IX. God loves members of His local churches (Rom 1:7). 1. Since God loves all of His elect, His love for the saints must be a special manifestation of His love. 2. This is similar to how parents love all their children, but they love those of them who are in the faith in a special way that they cannot love those who are not. X. Jesus loved His friends, disciples, and children. 1. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (Joh 11:3, 5, 36). A. Yet, He let Lazarus die and his sisters suffer while they waited for Him to arrive (Joh 11:6, 21, 32). B. This shows us that Jesus’s love toward us cannot be known solely by whether or not He fulfills our every desire or need when we ask for it. 2. Jesus loved His disciples (Joh 13:1). A. Yet, He corrected and reprimanded them (Mat 16:23; Mat 17:17; Joh 18:11). B. He became frustrated and weary with them (Mat 16:8-11). C. This shows that Jesus’ love toward us can sometimes be displayed by His correction of us and His displeasure with us. 3. Jesus loved one of His disciples in a special way above the others (Joh 13:23; Joh 20:2; Joh 21:7). A. He loved this disciple so much that He committed the care of His mother to him as He hung dying on the cross (Joh 19:26-27). B. This shows us that we can love some people in a special way that we do not love others. C. The disciple which Jesus loved was John (Joh 21:20-24). 4. Jesus loves those who love Him and demonstrate such by keeping His commandments, and He manifests Himself to them (Joh 14:21, 23). 5. Jesus loves us in the same way that God loves Him (Joh 15:9). A. Jesus commands us to love each other in the same way that He loves us (Joh 15:12). B. Jesus loved us by laying down His life for us (Joh 10:11, 15). C. God loves Jesus because He laid down His life for us (Joh 10:17). D. We ought to love our brethren (Joh 15:17) and be willing to lay down our lives for them (Joh 15:13). 6. The love of Christ for us passes knowledge; it is incomprehensible (Eph 3:19). XI. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39). 1. God even loves His elect who are enemies of the gospel (Rom 11:28-29). 2. Paul was one such enemy of the gospel whom God nevertheless loved (1Ti 1:13-14).