Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
7 sermons cite this verse
… Okay, whoever, he goes on, he says this, whoever does not love, does not know God because God, here it is, first time ever written down that we know about because God, John's like, but God, well, God is love. So you can't say you know God and you can't say you follow God if life isn't characterized by love because God is love. To which, you know, let's play the skeptic for a minute. Okay, John, okay, you're an old man. You're just making stuff up, right? Okay, how do you know that? How do you know God is love? I mean, there's so many philosophers. There are people wiser than you. I mean, come on, come on. What makes you think God is love? You know, make the case. He's like, oh, it's easy. This is how God showed his love among, in other words, he's saying, I was there. This is in philosophy and theology, I was there. This is how God showed his love. This is how God proved to us that God is love. …
And he says it on the other side as well. Anyone who does not love does not know God. Because God is love. What John is telling us is that it is in the love of God for us, out of that can flow love for others. Or another way of saying it is, John is saying God's love is always first. It is primary. John prioritizes it here. And what's amazing is that that is not just true of our love for others, but especially true of our love for God. Our love for God, it always comes after His love for us. That's what he says in our text tonight. He says, in this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. and he'll say it another way just a few verses later verse 19 we love because he first loved us you see what John is reminding us of is this fundamental gospel truth that God's love is not a response to our love but rather our love is a response to his love. …
… All right, so I want to remind you of a memory verse we shared here at Resurrection a few weeks ago. We memorized it over two weeks. It was 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. And I'm going to put it on the screen so we can say it again together. And those of you who are not a part of us, Mason, who just joined on last week, this may be your first time to hear it, but let's say these words together out loud. Dear friends, let's love each other because love is from God and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn't love does not know God for God is love. I mean, this is the call from Jesus for us to love. I was reading an article this week about this. It was from the John Templeton Foundation. It was pulling together research that focused on the need for love. And the article was called, Without Love We Perish. …
… and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The person who doesn't love does not know God, for God is love. Let's live these words. Let's not just memorize them, but let's live them. In Jesus' name.
… other because love is from God and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn't love does not know God because God is love. What a powerful scripture. Now, love is the driving ethic of the Christian life. In John's gospel, Jesus repeatedly claims, he says, this is my commandment, that you love one another. He says that on the night he's about to be crucified, the next day he would be arrested that night. This is my commandment, that you love one another. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he quotes twice, or once in each of those gospels, the great commandments. Love God with all that's within you. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love even your enemy, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. We read in Paul, the summation of the law. He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. …
… All right. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. in this is love. Not that we loved God. That's not the big deal. What's the big deal? That he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation. There's a big church word. It means payment. It means sacrifice that was given and accepted. The propitiation for our sins. It atoned for us. It paid the bill. We were drowning in debt that was going to take us out and sink us. and he paid the bill in one fell swoop and said, put it on my bill. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought, don't you figure? Don't you reckon? We also ought to love one another. And we'll end here. No one has seen God at any time, but if we love one another, God abides in us and his love has been perfected in us. Could we thank God for his word, church? …
… Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. Now you're going to hear that quoted many, many different ways from many different voices. This is how, here's the context around that. God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love. This is the part I want us to see. This is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And why does it matter? Because no one has ever seen God. but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us your neighbor has never seen God and neither have you but your neighbor can see God by the way that you love them and that's going to happen proportionately I believe to your ability to love yourself and find yourself in the love of God. So you don't have to start today with, oh my goodness, this new commandment, I got to love God with all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength. Jesus is reaching back to Deuteronomy for that phrase. It's the Shema, the summation of faith to the Jewish mind found in Deuteronomy 6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your …