YOU CAN’T MAKE GOD NOT LOVE YOU

I am not even going to ATTEMPT the theology in the Old Testament on this subject .. I have TRIED, but repeatedly failed. Suffice it to say that through the CROSS of JESUS Christ, this message is TRUE for New Testament believers (for whom it is prepared) and for their ENCOURAGEMENT in the faith :)

I know you can do all things through Christ, but this is something you CAN’T do - YOU CAN’T MAKE GOD NOT LOVE YOU - Because of what He IS, and because of what He has DONE.

WHAT is God?? I mean REALLY, what does the Bible say about His SUBSTANCE - what He is MADE of??

There are 4 things that the Bible LITERALLY says that God is: LIGHT, LOVE, A SPIRIT, AND A CONSUMING FIRE. In THIS case, we are focusing on the fact that God is LOVE:

I Jn 4:7-8 (KJV)

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; FOR GOD IS LOVE.

and . . .

I Jn 4:16 (NIV)

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. GOD IS LOVE. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

God IS love . . from the beginning, He wanted to create someone to LOVE, because that’s what love DOES - love GIVES, love GIVES, love GIVES:

John 3:16-17 (NKJ)

16 "For God so loved the world that HE GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

YOU CAN’T MAKE GOD NOT LOVE YOU - WHEN you sin, you may think of the people in your past who loved you UNTIL you did something wrong . . . they did not have what the Bible calls AGAPE love .. their love is conditional, God’s is NOT ! !

EXAMPLE:

John 8:1-12 (NKJ)

1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.

3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,

4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.

5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"

6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

YOU CAN’T MAKE GOD NOT LOVE YOU - Because of what He IS, and because of what He has DONE. #1) GOD is LOVE and #2) God sent JESUS :)

Isa 40:1-5 (KJV)

1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

YOU CAN’T MAKE GOD NOT LOVE YOU - Because of what He IS, GOD IS LOVE ! ! ! So, if God is LOVE, substitute God for the word Love in the following scripture and you’ll see MORE of Father God:

1 Cor 13:1-13 (NIV)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.