Sermon title: The origin of love.
Text: 1 John 4:7-11

Point 1: The origin of love is God.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 1 Cor. 13:4-8

Point 2: Unless one has been born of God and therefore knows God, one really can’t love as God loves.

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Ps. 46:10

Point 3: Being unloving, as defined by Scripture, is an indicator that a person doesn’t know God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

Point 4: Love is more than a feeling; it plays out in word and deeds.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9

· Jesus
And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. Luke 24:19

· Moses
And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. Acts 7:22

· The Apostle Paul
For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed. Rom. 15:18

· All Christians
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col. 3:17

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Point 5: We didn’t take the initiative in our salvation, God did.

In 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. 1 John 4:10

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Rom. 5:8-11

Point 6: Since God loves us, we should love one another with…the same love that God has for us.

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

Application: Just as we have learned about love from God – who is love – others will come to know God’s love through us. For many people, our love for God, each other, and all men will be their origin of observing and experiencing God’s love.