"The God Who Loves"

The God Who Is There
Written by D. A. Carson

“The God Who Loves” – Chapter Nine

Confused about God’s Love

• If someone believes in God today, the one attribute they are likely to ascribe to God is love.
• However, the world’s definition of love—a love that is non-discriminating, non-judgmental is not the Bible’s picture of the love of God at all.
• God is also holy, righteous, true, and just.
• Any definition of God’s love that is true to the Bible must see that his love operates in full harmony with all of the other attributes of his being, without taking away from any of them.

Speaking of God’s Love

• The Intra-Trinitarian love of God
• God’s general care and grace for all of creation
• God’s moral, inviting, yearning love calling people to turn from sin and destruction.
• God’s love is sometimes described as selective.
• Once in relationship with his covenant people—the love of God may be spoken of in a conditional sense:
  • “Keep yourselves in God’s love”
  • Connected with obedience
  • A relational love (including discipline)

John 3:16-21
 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

God’s Love in John 3:16

• In the Bible it is simply astonishing that God loves us.
• The measure of God’s love for us is Jesus.
• The purpose of God’s love for us is that we might have life.
• The means by which we come to enjoy this love and life is faith.