Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, Amen. So the cultural lie that we're going to call out today, I will admit to you, may feel or come across like we are picking on something that's not even an issue or really relevant today.

And it's this, the lie of love is love. Now again, it may seem like as a society that we are beyond this, that no one says this anymore. That's so 2010 and here we are in almost 2025. Listen, I understand that sentiment to an extent, but that is exactly why we're calling this out. The reason no one really says this anymore is because our culture has so bought into it. It's now just a rolling assumption in our society.

Love is love at face value is a non-statement. We all know this. But we also know that this non-statement was one of the most powerful assertions made in the last generation. This three-word phrase became a rally cry that tipped the scales of our culture and influenced the mind of a generation to embrace homosexuality and affirm gay marriage. But of all the human interactions and all the emotions that we have, love is something we need to get right. So here's a question that I want to place before you. Is love a uniquely human experience in the sense that it is a transcendent aspect of our existence? Let me meaning, is love simply a physical emotion or is it a spiritual encounter? Is what we call love simply a series of complex chemical reactions refined throughout evolution used to motivate our desire to propagate our species and protect our genes? Is that what love is?

See, I think in your hearts, you know. You know that love is not just a fundamental principle of what makes us human. Love is a statement to our spirit, from our spirit, that there's more to life than just the physicality within us or the material world around us. And scripture, what scripture does is scripture gives us words to know and to say what our heart knows deep down. That love is from God. And one of the best paragraphs on love comes from a letter that one of Jesus' disciples wrote. His name was John. So please turn with me, not to the gospel of John, if you're newer to the faith, not the gospel of John, but to the letter of 1st John. We're gonna look at verses 7 to 12 of chapter 4 now again, this is the letter of John not the gospel John This is later on in the Bibles if you want to use the Bibles that we provided that's on page 1304 Now as you turn in there just some quick context John wrote this letter John the Apostle not John the Baptist John the Apostle when he wrote this he was more than likely the last living of the twelve original disciples. He was originally the youngest of the disciples, but now he writes this as an old man. John was once seen as the kid brother of the twelve disciples, but now he's seen as a leader in the early church.

And so when you read this letter, he reminded this came from a man who walked with Jesus. He talked with Christ. He knew what Jesus looked like he knew Jesus mannerisms. He knew the texture of Jesus hair John John was the only one there of the disciples when Christ was crucified John saw Jesus die And now John himself is in the sunset of his life a remarkable life Some other point we'll have to talk about it, but John is coming to the sunset of his own life and he writes this letter, a seemingly open letter to all Christians, because when he says the beloved, he's speaking to fellow Christians. When he addresses the beloved, he's talking about those who are loved by God, us included. And so with that, would you hear God's word?

1 John 4:7-12

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Amen. This is God's word. Let's pray. We'll continue. Let's pray. Father God in heaven above, God, you are love and out of your love, you sent your son to be the atoning sacrifice so that we wouldn't have to pay the price for our sin. And not only that, but that we'd be restored into our right relationship with you and with each other.

So we ask here and now, Holy Spirit, that you would descend upon us and help us to know the words of this message, words which you have inspired. And we do pray these things in the name of the God of love. And everyone said, amen and amen.

So church, as we look at this one passage here today, I wanna draw just one main idea that I think we see in our text, and it's this. God is love, and we know this because of Jesus Christ. If someone says, love is love, we get to respond by saying, oh no, it's so much better than that.

God is love. And while that statement in and of itself is true, taken in isolation, it's not the fullest picture. Because what God? Which God? Well, thankfully, the scriptures do give us the fuller picture.

The fuller picture is this, is that God is love and we know this because of Jesus Christ. So let me just say one thing. If you are gay, or if you have gay family members, I want you to know we're not here to pick on anybody. We're here to pull people out of darkness and into light. This is done out of the most sincere, deepest love. Love for God and love for you. So as we look at this passage, let's examine a couple things about love. First thing, love is known in our spirits. We're gonna look at verses 7 to 8 for that. Then we're gonna see that love is shown in our Savior. We're gonna look at verses 9 and 10 for that. And then we'll close it up by looking at this.

Love is completed in our connections. We'll look at verses 11 and 12 for that. So let's get into it Firstly love is known in our spirits Go back to your Bibles verse 7 beloved Let us love one another Okay, so scripture right there is telling us that love isn't just for your marriage.

It's not just for your family It's to be shared with your church family with fellow Christians. Because remember, John is speaking to Christians, and he tells us to love one another. See, you thought loving your in-laws was hard. Try loving Christians who have a different political opinion. But there is no exception to this. The church should be marked by love, the love that we have for one another. The Bible says, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. So a couple things real quick. You're going to see here that the apostle, he directly connects love with the knowledge of and a connection with God. So here's the critical idea you need to understand this is where the English language is going to fail us. This is where our Western worldview is going to point us in a direction that this text is not going. For Scripture and for the ancient world, there were many words that we in English can only translate as the one word love. It's utterly ridiculous that I have to say I love my dog and I love my kids and love that one word is the only word I can use and I have to use it for both. Do I love my dog? I do. I really do love my dog. And do I love my kids? Most of the time. Of course, yeah, I mean I love my kids, but we all know that's not the same See the ancient world the ancient world was much more careful with this word love than what we are See when John wrote this letter In his world. He was able to draw from a number of different words That we can only translate as love. Let me let me show you some in his world, here's at least three that he could draw from. There was philo, or philos. This is the love of friends or brotherhood. I see my friend Brandon out here. I can truly say I love Brandon. And I can truly say I love Tiffany, my wife.

I can truly say I love Brandon. I can truly say I love Tiffany. You know that, but you know that's not the same. My love for Brandon is a love of friendship, a deep love of brotherhood. That's philo. There's also eros. This word evolved into our English word erotic. This is the love of romance, intimacy, and passion.

There's also storge, storge love. Now the New Testament doesn't explicitly use that word, but it was a far more reaching and inclusive word. It was something akin to honest affection. This is where we see talking about family. If you want to go deeper on this, I encourage you to read the book, The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. It gets more into this. But for what we're talking about today, okay, so if those were words that were available, which word is John using here? He's not using any of these words. He's using the other option, the great word, agape. Agape is the love that John is talking about here. Agape is the love that we're talking about today. It's this divine love. It's God's love. It's God's love towards us and the love that we are to have towards him and through him to each other.

We can't know agape if we don't know God. That's what this passage is saying. Listen here. It's not saying that atheists and non-Christians can't know love. Anyone can know Philo or Eros or Storge love, but agape love, that's something different.

That's the sense deep down. It's what we know in our spirit that shows us and reminds us and confirms us we do have a soul, that we are more than just simply the most evolved species on the planet. Love, agape, is known in our spirit because it reminds us that we are spiritual beings

and that there truly is a transcendence to our existence. But it's not just known, it's shown. It's known in our soul, but it's shown in our Savior. It's shown in our Savior. Our passage continues, verse 9. It says, In this, the agape of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is agape. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. And he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is where the Bible gets so beautiful, guys.

This is where the Bible doesn't just give us a definition of love, it gives us a picture. We're not left with just a philosophy of love, but we get to experience it. God is love, but make no mistake, this isn't a love that's up for grabs by any religion, but only Christianity, because God's agape love is most magnificently seen in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Friends, the Bible doesn't just give us a theology of love, it gives us history to support it. Not just a thought, but something tangible.

If you want to know love, divine, transcendent, agape love, then we can only look to Jesus Christ. Let me read these verses again. Verse 9. In this, the agape of God was made manifest among us. The word manifest just means evident or revealed. In this the love of God was made manifest among us that he sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Verse 10, in this is agape. Not that we love God, but that he loved us. And he sent his Son to be the propitiation, meaning the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus Christ is God's great I love you to a world that is rejecting him a scripture also says for God So loved the world that he sent his only son

But listen to me Jesus Christ did not come just as a symbol of love He came as a sacrifice for sin. Oh The world can accept Jesus as a symbol of love a symbol of love among many But he's more than that. He's a sacrifice for sin. He is the fulfillment of the promise that not only can we have eternal life, but that we can have reconciliation.

We can be made right with God, not just made right as in a friendship with God. We can have God's agape love, a relationship with God restored. We can know true love, but this is only through Jesus Christ, who He Himself is the personification of God's agape love. And this leads to the last thing. Love is completed in our connections.

Go to verse 11. If God loved us, we also ought to love one another. Stop right there for a second. Just kind of seems reasonable and right, doesn't it? God's great love poured out on us as we were still rejecting him. If God loves us that much, how can we not turn around and share that love with others? Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. There we have it. There we have it. Our great response to God's love for us. Listen to me. The great response to God's love for us is not simply that we love him back. Our great response to God's love is that we love one another. We can't see God, but if we truly love one another, that's the next best thing for God abides in us.

It's easy to say we love God. I've heard, I've heard people say, I love God who have got nothing to back that up. It's easy to say we love God, but scripture tells us if you truly know God's love, then you will love others, starting with your church and starting with fellow Christians.

This is why not just church attendance, but church involvement is key. When we love others, the Bible says this, it says God abides in us. God abides in us. You see that in your passage here?

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret here. This is just for us. I'll just let you in on something here. If we love one another, God abides in us. Do you know why it says that? Because it takes God's strength to love some people.

Amen? The Bible says God abides in us. And this is also because this is how God's love is perfected. You see that in your Bibles? It says perfected. What does the Bible mean here when it says perfected?

Well, don't think of perfection in terms of pristine. Think of it in terms of completion. God loves, abides in us when we love others and we connect with others, then we see God's love fulfilled, that is brought full circle.

So what about love is love? Let's go back to that. Now, we've been saying in this series, the thing about lies is not only do they crumble under the weight of truth, lies crumble under the weight of their own deception. And so, if you are listening, you're going to hear me not once say, love is love is a lie because the Bible says so.

I don't need to say that. And the world at large doesn't buy that argument anyway. We're gonna see that love is love is a lie simply because it doesn't hold up to the weight of its own deception. The weakness of love is love is evidence. It's the first thing we'll look at. The weakness is evident. Love is love is a circular statement and definition. Simply alone, it's a non-statement. It's like saying a table is a table, but we all know this circular statement proved to be very powerful for a generation that was eager for some form of revolution.

The weakness is evident, but let's talk about the deceit, because the deceit is extensive. So let's look at this first point. It was agenda driven. When first said, love is love, never meant that all love is valid Maybe some of those meant that when they first said it, but it wasn't originally thought that by those who first bought into it Its primary purpose and we all know this was to normalize the love between two people of the same sex But here's why it was so dangerous Love is love what it tried to do is it tried to take phylos And eros and storge and it tried to elevate those loves to a gape status and that's dangerous and that leads people astray and that confuses people about God's love. It was agenda driven. The other reason it was so deceitful is because it was unchallengeable.

We weren't allowed to critique it. We weren't allowed to critique it. Love is love began a trend of demonizing those who wouldn't follow suit with where progressive culture wanted society to go. Without even their critiques being heard, people who dissented were immediately labeled as hateful and bigots and homophobes. To criticize love is love was social suicide, which is why so many pastors were so silent. It wasn't because they affirmed gay marriage. It was because they didn't want to diminish their social credibility. It was unchallengeable. Also, it's proven to be a Trojan horse. No longer used to validate homosexuality. Now, now that love is love is ingrained in our culture, its application is limitless in sexual deviancies, as we're going to see in a moment. But church, you got to hear me on this a massive a massive lesson to be learned and learned in all of this is that circular definitions are Problematic not because they don't say anything But because they can mean anything Meaning they can lead to any definition Now here's what's fascinating to me What you're gonna find is that they're gonna be you're gonna find a growing number of LGBT websites and influencers Who are beginning to openly say it's time to retire the phrase love is love and their argument for me is Fascinating it's not it's not just because it's old, but they're saying that it's outdated Because love is love is not inclusive enough anymore the argument is that love is love was used in the culture war to win the culture war to normalize a relationship between two members of the same sex. But now, the fight for acceptance and normalcy is far beyond that.

If love is love, then love between adults and minors is valid. If love is love, then love between humans and animals is valid. If love is love, then love between family members of the sexual revolution is polyamory. Not polygamy, that's too close to religion for people. Polyamory, polyamory, many loves. It's talking about group relationships. Meaning, if love is love, then why does it have to be only between two people? Can't three people love each other? Can't more than that? Love is love, right?

See, the deceit of love is love is extensive, and there's so much more that we could examine, but let's look at this last one. Love is love proves that gaslighting is particularly effective upon a culture that values revolution over revelation, meaning we know what we want, and it's not truth. Revolution over revelation, meaning we desire the perception of progress rather than the proclamation of truth. In our world, we would rather have social acceptance than logical consistency. When the phrase, love is love, is rejected, if you're brave enough to do that, you'll notice that the rebuttal and the defense is either an emotional plea, invoking the label of hate, which is really just bullying. Or as we see more and more, it brings about gaslighting.

Now what's gaslighting? So for one, it's become such a popular term that gaslighting was a 2022 Marion Webster's word of the year. Here's one definition. Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where a person causes someone to question their sanity memories or perception of reality Here's one way. I saw it play out recently. I was watching this debate online I was watching this conversation happening between these two people and they were discussing what is without question the most pressing Popular and perplexing question of our day No, no, it's not what happens beyond the event horizon of a black hole. It's not that question It's not is there really only one electron in the entire universe? Do you know there's a an emerging theory that says there's only one Electron in the entire universe and this one electron is moving at an infinite speed infinite speed back and forth through time

No, no, no. No, it's not either of those questions. The most pressing popular question of our day is, what is a woman? See, we're not evolved enough to talk about quantum mechanics at the popular level. We have to talk about things like, what's a woman? So this person said, what is a woman?

And this person gives the current, culturally acceptable response of, a woman is a person who identifies as a woman. To which the other person responded, okay, but what is that that they are identifying as? And the person responded to them with a look like they were talking to a crazy person, and they said, they identify as a woman. And the other person said, yes, but can you define what that is? And the response that was given for given, for me, is so indicative of how off the rails we are as a people. The response they gave was this, why do you care so much about definitions? Now, I see that as gaslighting, because they were trying to infer that this person is crazy for wanting a word that we all use to have a meaning that we all agree upon. The phrase, a woman is someone who identifies as a woman, can only hold weight in a culture that already accepts circular reasoning,

starting with the most famous one of them all, love is love.

Because once we accept circular definitions and non-statements as battle cries for culture, then those who want to hold on to truth will either be seen as crazy, or the enemy, or both. And I'll tell you, this primarily doesn't anger me. This primarily doesn't even confuse me. This primarily makes me sad. I think this is all very sad. I think it's sad that a generation has taken the beautiful concept of love, ripped it of its transcendence and not just redefined it, but dedefined it in order to weaponize it for a culture war that leads to places we can't imagine and brought to its extreme, it will be the collapse of society. Now, listen, you know me, I'm not an alarmist. I don't speak in such terms, but think about it when everything is permissible because that's where love is. Love has to lead. When everything is permissible, then we'll see the ugly truth. That love is love wasn't a battle cry, it was a cultural cancer that we let spread unchecked because it was popular and we were too scared to speak up. But I'm here to give you good news. All is not lost.

God has not yet abandoned us. I'm here to tell you it's not too late. When it comes to all the cultural lies that we are talking about in this series, all the cultural lies that we're being fed, we know the antidote, and it's truth. The counter to all lies is truth. And for those, those who have the ears to hear, wherever you are, whoever you are, the truth sets us free. And the truth is this, that God is love. And we know this because of Jesus Christ. Amen? Amen.

And so let's respond as we should, with prayer. Would you please stand now? As the band comes on the stage, I just want to say something real quickly. If you are gay, or if you struggle with same-sex attraction, I want you to know something about Peace Church. You're going to get a love here that I don't think you're going to get anywhere else.

You're going to get agape love, God's divine love. You'll find people here who know that love and will share that love with you. We will love you enough to tell you the truth, but I promise you it'll be truth in love. We will not lie to you. We will share the truth with you because the truth sets you free. We'll share this truth in love. And so please There's no need to be scared. In fact, I want you to be excited

I want you to be prepared be prepared to hear the truth a truth that will bring you to a love You can't even fathom the love of God through the power of the gospel Church, the world has their battle cries It's time for us to raise ours. So let's pray and we'll raise our battle cry through worship.