God's Demanding Love

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

This passage has been called “the definition of God’s demanding love” because, within it, it demonstrates the expectations God has for those called “children of God.”

God had “given us his love” and in return “demands certain realities from his children as every parent does.

So, what are some of those “demands?”

God’s Love Demands Display

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Matthew 5:16 ESV

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

God’s Love Demands Obedience

1 John 5:3 ESV

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

God’s Love Demands Holiness

Ephesians 1:3–4 CSB

3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.

God’s Love Demands Perfection

1 John 2:5 ESV

5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

God’s Love Demands Submission

Ephesians 2:4–5 (ESV)

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

God’s Love Demands Humility

1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

God’s Love Demands Confidence

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 3:14 ESV

14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Conclusion

Invitation

Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Philippians 2:6–7 ESV

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Acts 17:30 ESV

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Matthew 10:32 NKJV

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 ESV

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Romans 6:3–5 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

1 John 1:7 ESV

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

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