Ephesians 2 Lesson

GOD LOVES YOU!

There is no greater feeling in the world than knowing that you are loved by God! With God’s love behind us, there is nothing that we cannot do, and no adversitywe cannot overcome! 

For today’s lesson, we will be looking at the unsurpassed love of God.  

We will begin our study with the following two scriptures:

1. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” – John 3:16,
2. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13.

God’s love is powerful!   If we properly understood how strong God’s love is for us, we would worry less and hopemore. 

The Apostle Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans:

• “Now may the God of hopefill you with all joyand peacein believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” -  Romans 15:13.

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT GOD’S LOVE

The Bible has a lot to say about God’s love. For today’s lesson, we have highlighted the following five verses:

1. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” - Romans 5:8,
2. “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” - 1 John 4:16,
3. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38-39,
4. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:13,
5. “We love, because He first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19.

GOD’S LOVE IS BIGGER THAN OUR SHORTCOMINGS

Some people get so down on themselves that they wonder if God still loves them. 

This is a sad and lonely place to be!

People who are in this position need our compassion, not our judgment.

If they have forgotten how much God loves them, we can share God’s Word with them to remind them! 

A great place to start is with the following scripture from the Gospel of John:

• “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” – John 3:16.

Never has the world received such a precious gift!  To better understand this gift, we will divide this scripture into two parts:

1. The first half of John 3:16 tells us about God’s immeasurable love for us,
2. The second half tells us that, “EVERYONEwho believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life!” - John 3:16.

Notice that the Bible does not say that ONLY SOME of the people who believe in Jesus will not perish.  

It does not say that MOST of the people who believe in Him will not perish. 

It says that ALL who believe in Him will not perish!

That is the good news of the Gospel! 

In fact, that is what the word “Gospel” means.  It is derived from the Latin word “Evangelium” and the Greek word “Euangelion” meaning “good news” or “good telling.”

Other than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, there is no sin so big that God will not forgive us if we turn to Him and repent.  We are told this in Peter’s second epistle:

• “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:9.

CONCLUSION

God’s love for us is greater than any type of love we have ever known!  

He loves us when we are strong in our faith, and He loves us when we slip up.  

All that we need to know about God is summed up in the following verse from John’s first epistle:

• “God is love.” – 1 John 4:16.

And because God IS love, His two greatest commandmentsare also about love!   They tell us to love God and to love each other:

• “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.     The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” –  Mathew 22:37-40.

And just as God loves us, He commands us to love one another and to take care of each other.

We will end today’s lesson with the following two scriptures that emphasize this point:  

1. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” - John 13:34,
2. "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." – John 13:35.