I. The Cause Of Love

• 1 Jn.4:7, love is of God = has its origin in God; w/o God, there would be no love

– “Anyone who shows love is a child of God.” Wrong!

• Verse 7 is abbreviated; 2:29; 3:23

– “If love is of God, how does an unsaved person learn love?”

• Mt.5:46; Jn.15:19

• Gospel makes people aware of love

1 Jn.4:8

• “God is love” expresses His nature

– We learn love by studying God (4:9-10, 19)

• His children try to reproduce His nature

– “God is love” is not reversible: “love is God”

II. Counterfeit Loves

1.1. Lovers of Lovers of moneymoney Lk.16:14 (2 Tim. 3:2); cf. 1 Tim. 6:9-10 –

• DesireDesire • StrayStray

– Mt.19 – Ac.5:1-11 – 2 Pt.2:15

• PiercePierce

2. Lovers of 2. Lovers of praisepraise, Jn.12:41-43

– More anxious to please menmen than God

– To confess Christ would costcost them positions of power and honor

– Their belief lacked onlyonly confes-sion. 1 Co.1:26

3. Lovers of 3. Lovers of themselvesthemselves, 2 Tim.3:2

– Describes times when self-love becomes openly avowed and commended

– They love neither God nor men in comparison with themselves • These care more for their

wants than for others’ needs

4. Lovers of 4. Lovers of pleasurespleasures more than of God, 2 Tim.3:4

– Ep.5:1-2, walk in lovewalk in love as Christ…

• Popular culture’s love is a deadly fraud

– Ep.5:3-5, contrasts Christ’s truetrue love and society’s falsefalse love

Society’s false love

• SexualSexual immoralityimmorality, the most popular substitute for true love

– Self-gratification; not acting in another’s best interest

• UncleannessUncleanness, every kind of filth and impurity

• CovetousnessCovetousness, a rival to Christ (2); idolatry (5)

Be intolerant!

• Ep.5:1-2, walk in love as Christ…• Ep.5:3-5, contrasts Christ’s true love and

society’s false love

• Ep.5:6-11, true love is intolerantintolerant

• “We take the position that a Christian’s sins do not damn his soul. The way a Christian lives, what he says, his char-acter, his conduct, or his attitude toward other people have nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul. …all the sins he may commit from from idolatry to murderidolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger... The way a man lives has nothing what-ever to do with the salvation of his soul” (Sam Morris, First Baptist Church, Samford, TX)

Pleasure vs true love

• Ep.5:1-2, walk in love as Christ…• Ep.5:3-5, contrasts Christ’s true love and

society’s false love• Ep.5:6-11, true love is intolerant

• Ep.5:12-14, love of pleasurepleasure smothers true love (1 Tim.5:6)

5. Lovers of the 5. Lovers of the worldworld, 2 Tim.4:10

– A friend on death row is dangerous

– 2 Co.11:2-3

• Paul feared they would be seduced from the truth

• Don’t give to worldly things what God alone deserves

1 Jn.2:15

• Doesn’t say, “leave the world,” or “hate people of world”

– The worldlyworldly person says no to spiritual opportunities, yes to temptations

– The godlygodly person says yes to spiritual opportunities, no to temptations

6. Lovers of preeminence6. Lovers of preeminence, 3 Jn.9-10

– Diotrephes was a church boss

– We don’t know why he rejected John’s writings

• If John comes . . . he will remember

Love is the “make” or “break” commandment

The extremes:

a. Some will be lost because they did not love enoughdid not love enough

* Joab, 2 Sm.20:9

b. Some will be lost because they loved too muchloved too much

* True love rejects counterfeits

Counterfeit LovesCounterfeit Loves

Money

Praise

Self

Pleasure

World

Preeminence