Nothing motivates a Christian to live godly more than basking in the bottomless ocean of divine love. To live in the love of God is to experience the nearness of God.
Jude commands believers to: ἑαυτοὺς ἐν ἀγάπῃ θεοῦ τηρήσατε (“keep yourselves in the love of God”; v.21).
1. The Love of God is Available.
God’s love surrounds the child of God. No child of God needs to approach the Father and ask Him to begin pouring out love. No child of God needs to perform a particular ceremony in order to begin the outpouring of divine love. The love that God gives is ever-available. It is near, it is perfect, it is available, and it is full. The love that God gives is rich and it never runs dry.
2. The Love of God is Beautiful.
Nothing can warm the believer’s heart more than the love of God. The love that God displays is captivating to the believer’s heart and soul. The love that God gives is beautiful because it finds full expression in countless ways. It is a beautiful love because it aggressively pursues its object. God’s love is beautiful because He liberally bestows it upon even the most vile of sinners who repent and turn to Christ in faith. What a beautiful love that is offered.
3. The Love of God is Ravishing.
The free love of God ravishes the soul of His elect. It takes the soul of a man and seizes it. God’s love captures man’s heart and chains his being. The love of God is strong, effectual, and powerful. How amazing to think that God’s self-giving love is so powerful that it can overpower and seize the heart of God’s child so that the son or daughter of God finds himself gloriously glad by being overwhelmed by it. It is a ravishing love that overpowers man’s sinful will.
4. The Love of God is Eternal.
God’s love will not fail. The love of God cannot run dry after millions of ages. God’s love will never cease flowing after a sin is committed. The love that God bestows upon His elect is a love that will endure for endless ages to come. His love endures as long as the sun endures. It endures as long as the stars endure. It endures as long as God Himself endures. The love of God manifested most gloriously in the gospel of God is a love that cannot end, it cannot fail, it cannot be minimized, it cannot be ignored, it cannot be temporal. No temporal boundaries constrict and constrain the love of God. It endures forever.
5. The Love of God is Protecting.
As a father who loves his newborn son protects him, so God protects and cares for His helpless little children. This tender love is a protecting love. It is a love that protects from Satan and his wily schemes. God’s love protects from demonic powers and influences. The love of God protects from the world and its overpowering effect upon God’s child. The love of God safely preserves and keeps His elect child until everlasting glory. As a mother bear watches over her young cubs with all diligence so as to protect them from predators, so God diligently, faithfully and constantly protects His children from all soul-predators.
6. The Love of God is Electing.
Most gloriously manifested is the love of God displayed in the eternal act of election. Sovereign election is that divine, supernatural, monergistic act in eternity past whereby God, out of His own sovereign will and by His own sovereign grace, chose to bestow spiritual life to individuals. God elects because of His love. His love drives His election. God’s election draws the sinful wretch out of the pit of dung-infested sin and gloriously and sovereignly calls that soul to Himself. The sinner can do nothing to merit this. The sinner does nothing to contribute to this whatsoever. This love of God entirely stems from the sovereign will and power of God.
7. The Love of God is Fatherly.
Far from being a dominating kind of oversight or a ruthless kind of authority, the love that God gives His adopted children is a father-like kind of love. It is like an adopted father who jubilantly brings his new son home to his house to love, care for, provide for, bestow family blessings to, and display him to others. God’s fatherly love is a warm love. It is a love that warms the heart of the Christian who knows that God affectionally and effectually cares for him. It is a faithful love. Even if the child of God sins, he knows that God will still receive him back with open arms. It is a disciplining love. As a father who genuinely loves his son disciplines him for disobedience and sin, so the Father must discipline His children because of their sin. God does this out of heartfelt love, out of zealous passion, out of fervent love for them. The father-like love of God is protective and providing. The believer in Christ knows that the love of God will protect Him from the spiritual minions of the darkness and that God will provide for his every need. God will protect both physically and spiritually according to His sovereign pleasure and will. The child of the risen King can rest confidently in the love of God.
8. The Love of God is Supreme.
The love that God gives is the best kind of love. It is supreme. It is supernal. It is a preeminent love. No love can compare with the love that God bestows upon His children. The love that a husband has for his wife pales in comparison with the kind of love God has for His bride. The selfless love that relentlessly pursues a wayward spouse can only begin to describe the love that God displayed toward wayward rebels. The sacrificial love that Jesus poured out when He suffered being forsaken by the Father is a love that no man can ever fully understand in this life or the next. The unconditional love that the Father grants to His children is a warm motivation for obedience, submission, and commitment. It is a love that is not based on the conditions of good works or particular ceremony obligations. It is a love that is based solely in the sovereign love of God. These are reasons why the love of God is supreme. No love can compare with the kind of heavenly love that God gives to His children.
