I. "BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER."
A. The Greek reads, agapeetoi, agapoomen.
1. We have that word that describes a quality of love that is all encompassing.
2. The Greeks spoke of eros, phileo, sturge, and our New Testament word agape.
B. Jesus said,
JOH 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
C. The Apostle Paul said,
1TH 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
1TH 4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
D. The Apostle Peter said,
1PE 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1. Peter almost defines the word when he says, "A pure heart fervently."
II. WHY ARE WE TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER?
A. Love is of God. (agape)
1. This is a divine love that comes from God.
B. Everyone that loveth is born of God.
1. Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again.
2. He had been born of the flesh, he needed to be born of the Spirit.
3. This is again speaking of that divine love, the agape.
4. Most of what the world passes off for love, is not true love.
a. Hollywood knows nothing of this love.
5. Jesus said, "By this sign shall men know that you are My disciples, that you love one another."
6. John said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren."
C. It is a proof that you know God. "And knoweth God."
1. There are many who profess to know God, but do not know Him in truth.
2. They may know about God, but they do not know Him.
a. The Greek word for know is gnosko which is to know by experience.
b. Your love for others is the evidence that you have truly experienced God in your life.
D. If you love not your brother, you really do not know God. You have not had a valid experience with God.
1. You may say that you love God, but John tells us that if we say that we love God and hate our brother, we are a liar.
E. God is love.
1. This is one of those statements that declare to us the essential nature of God.
a. God is love.
b. God is light.
c. Our God is a consuming fire.
2. There are other words that tell us of His character. When He passed by Moses, He declared His character.
EXO 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
EXO 34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].
3. In other passages we are told concerning God that:
a. He is holy.
b. He is good.
c. He is righteous.
d. He is pure.
III. IN THIS WAS MANIFESTED THE LOVE OF GOD FOR US.
A. Whenever God wants to prove His love for you, He points to the cross.
JOH 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
ROM 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
1JO 3:16 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.
1JO 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
B. In this verse John tells us that God manifested His love by sending His only begotten Son into the world.
1. Over and over in the gospel of John, He affirmed that He was sent by the Father.
JOH 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
JOH 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
JOH 5:23 That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
JOH 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
JOH 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
JOH 5:36 But I have greater witness than [that] of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
JOH 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
JOH 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
JOH 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
JOH 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
JOH 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
JOH 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
JOH 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
JOH 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
JOH 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
JOH 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
JOH 7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
JOH 7:29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
JOH 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and [then] I go unto him that sent me.
JOH 8:16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.
JOH 8:18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
JOH 8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
JOH 8:29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
JOH 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
JOH 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the day cometh when no man can work.
JOH 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
JOH 11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said [it], that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
JOH 12:44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
JOH 12:45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
JOH 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
JOH 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
JOH 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
JOH 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
JOH 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
JOH 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
JOH 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
JOH 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
JOH 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
JOH 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
JOH 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
C. The Bible declares that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
1. The psalmist in prophesying of Jesus said,
PSA 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
2. Jesus confirmed that He was begotten of the Father.
JOH 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
JOH 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].
JOH 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
JOH 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
