God is... Love!
Notes
Transcript
Intro!
Intro!
What’s up guys!
If you don’t know me my name is Jamie I am the Student Pastor at North campus
I’m so excited to get to teach tonight!
We have been going through a series called God is… here we talk about who God is (shocker right)
Week one we talked about how God is Sovereign - God is in complete control
Week two we talked about how God is unchangeable - that He is always the same and therefore His promises are the same
Last week we talked about how God is truth! That literally God is truth and cannot tell a lie
This week we are looking at God is… LOVE!
Before we do lets pray!
God is love
God is love
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
We have talked all throughout this series on how God self-defines Himself
He doesn’t leave it up to us to guess at who He is - but rather for us to understand who He says He is
And here God tells us very clearly who He is - He is love!
Love is something that you can’t quite define, but I think Charles Ryrie gives the best definition I have ever heard
“Love seeks good for the object being loved.”
Charles Ryrie
Love is seeking the best for the object being love
If you love someone - you want the best for them
Well the same thing is true for God
God is the very real and perfect definition of love
He is always seeking the best for the object which He loves
The question then is who does God love? and How does He show his love?
Who does God love?
Who does God love?
ONLY READ FIRST PART
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God loves the world
The object that God loves is the world!
The word world here is κοσμος which means: the created world, the universe, all created things. Refers to all that exists.
God loves the world
God created the world
God cares for the world
In creation God created everything and everything was called good, good, good, very good!
Yet, from the start of creation, mankind rebelled against God
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Sin entered the world and destroyed the fellowship God had with the World
Sin is anything and everything that goes against God
Sin is obvious things like the stuff you watch at night that you know is wrong, but sin is also subtle things - like not telling your friend about Jesus, or inviting them to church (we are called to evangelize and share the Gospel - to no do that is sinful)
We go against God everyday and we know that sin = death
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yet God still loved us!
Remember our definition of love - it is seeking the highest or best good for the object being loved
If we were still trapped by sin, and God left us in our sin - he wouldn’t truly love us
Jesus offering a way
Jesus offering a way
READ WHOLE VERSE
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God’s love was sending Jesus
God loved the world so what did He do for a broken and sinful world?
He sent Jesus
Or better yet, He gave His only Son
He offered his only son to die for the sins of the world - the object that God loved
Death was always the payment for sin, because sin = death
So God sent Jesus to be the payment for sin so that the world can come back to God
Jesus had to bear the wrath of God because of our sin!
Listen to how the prophet Isaiah puts it
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Jesus took our place
The beating He took was suppose to be ours
The wounds he faced were supposed to be ours
Him hanging on the cross should have been us
The death He took was supposed to be mine - was supposed to be yours
Yet He took our place
It should have been us, but instead it was Jesus
But like Isaiah 53 tells us, we are saved by His wounds
So what do we do with that?
3 Things
3 Things
There’s three things we need to do with the knowledge of God’s love
Accept Jesus’ sacrifice
Isaiah 53 said it best - we are saved by His wounds
If you don’t believe in Jesus as Savior the death that Jesus took is just a foreshadow of what you are going to face
As bad as it was, that is the eternal standing you face with God
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus said he is the only way to get to God - there is no other way!
It is Jesus
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We are saved by God’s grace, and through our faith in what Jesus has done
There is nothing else that can save us, nothing else that will ever save us
It is just Jesus
Worship Him for His sacrifice
Praise God for what He has done
We, without Jesus, are the enemy of God - deserving of all wrath
Yet because of what Jesus did we are called children of God - sons and daughters
A Psalm for giving thanks. 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Praise God for what He has done
You can worship and praise God in a lot of ways, but to name a few:
Read your Bible
Pray daily
Share the Gospel with someone
Flee from sin
Sing praises to Him
So many ways you can worship God!
Share with someone
Don’t take the message of God’s love and keep it for yourself, but go and share with someone!
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
In Jesus you have the answer to all of life’s questions
In Jesus you have the solution to every problem someone is facing
In Jesus you have the cure to sin and shame
In Jesus you have the only thing that will allow someone to go back to God!
Don’t keep it to yourself but go and share it!
Jesus told us to make disciples!
That means going to lost people, spending time with them, teaching them about who Jesus is!
Don’t keep the cure a secret
Why should you share?
Whatever a person maybe like, we must still love them because we love God.
John Calvin
Because God loved us first!
Because we were sinful, and deserved wrath, yet God sent Jesus
So we must go and share
Conclusion
Conclusion
Remember the definition of love: Love is seeking the greatest good for the object being loved
That means that for God He sent Jesus to save us
He sent Jesus to take our way!
So we need to:
Accept His sacrifice
Worship Him
Share with others