1 John 4:7-12 • That's a Bleeding Love

📖 1 John 4:7-12 — "God is love" is the most quoted three words in the Bible. It's also the most abused. John wasn't done writing when the world closed the book. ⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • June 4, 2026. Everyone knows "God is love." It's on coffee mugs, bumper stickers, and in the mouth of every person who wants to shut down a conversation about sin. But they quoted half a verse — and John was in the middle of a breath. This topical-doctrinal expository sermon through 1 John 4:7-12 does what the culture refuses to do: it finishes the verse. And when you finish it, you find a word the world cut out entirely — propitiation. That word is why a God of love still needed a cross. If you've been handed a soft, harmless, grandfather-in-the-sky version of God who's all love and no holiness, this message is for you. Because a God like that has no need of a cross. And a God with no cross can't save you. This verse-by-verse message through 1 John 4:7-12 walks through one of the most beautiful — and most misunderstood — passages in the New Testament, showing: • Why "God is love" is not the same as "love is God" — and what happens when you flip it • Where love actually comes from (and why it wasn't in your heart before salvation) • What "manifested" means — and why love is not a mood, a feeling, or a Sunday morning emotion • The first time love appears in the Bible: Genesis 22, a father, an only son, and a mountain • Why a God who is only love has no need of a cross • What propitiation actually means and why it's the word the coffee mug crowd skips • How the wrath of God and the love of God didn't cancel each other out at the cross — they met there • How to love difficult people: spouses, kids, siblings, church members who've hurt you • Why you can't manufacture this love — and what you're supposed to do instead • What it means that the love of God is "perfected in us" — and what the world sees when it happens ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction — The thirst every man is born with 01:42 - The problem: "No man hath seen God at any time" 03:40 - The most abused three words: "God is love" 08:00 - God is love vs. love is God — the blank check 09:22 - What else the Bible says about God (consuming fire, jealous, furious) 10:34 - Love manifested: it has a date, an address, it happened 11:45 - Genesis 22: the first love in the Bible 16:52 - Herein is love — not that we loved God, but that He loved us 23:38 - Propitiation: the word they skip 28:59 - The wrath and the love met at the cross 32:25 - John 1:18 — "He hath declared him" 38:40 - "If God so loved us" — loved us this way, not this much 44:09 - His love is perfected in us — the invisible God becomes visible again 🌐 Learn More: pilgrimbaptist.church ✉️ Contact Pastor Fortunato: [email protected] 📞 Call: 931-219-2224 Plan your visit: pilgrimbaptist.church/plan-your-visit #GodIsLove #Propitiation #ExpositoryPreaching #FamilyIntegratedChurch #KJVBible #ChristianMarriage #BiblicalPreaching #CookevilleTN