Experiencing the Unconditional Love of God
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Pastor Faithful Coronel
That I May Know Him • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:19:33
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12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Good morning po sa bawat isa!
Purihin po ang Panginoon dahil muli tayo ay narito sa bahay sambahan Niya upang tayo mag magpatuloy na matuto at lumalim sa ating pagkakilala sa Kanya.
Purihin ang Panginoon sa ating mga natutunan sa mga nakaraang pagaaral natin na naka linya pa din sa ating pangkalahatang tema ngayong quarter: “That I May Know Him”; at ang aking panalangin ay tunay na makilala natin ng lubos ang ating Panginoon at lumalim tayo sa Kanya.
If there is a greatest pursuit in life, that is to know God. Not knowing our Creator could only lead to superstition. And a superstitious faith could lead to destruction. Akala mo nasa tama ka, napapahamak kana pala.
Knowing God is our necessity in life decisions, in problems, and in every dealings of our life. Because God is the author of every life.
You are accountable to Him.
_________________________________
Now lets dive to our study.
Our topic today is about “Experiencing the Unconditional Love of God”
If I would to ask you: Have you ever thought of yourselves how much love God has he given to you?
If so, then do you care? Or are you taking it granted?
Sa ating binasa, Jesus was in the final moment with His disciples and at this moment, Judas Iscariot is not with them anymore. So the audience of Jesus message is directed solely to the Eleven disciples. This all happens in the upper room where Jesus spent his last hours (chapter 13 to chapter 17) (It happens on Thursday) before his ultimate sacrifice. He ate with them, instituted the New Covenant in His blood, gave them last-minute instructions and encouragement, and prayed His “high priestly prayer” over them. Then He went out to face the sorrow, betrayal, rejection, and death for which He had come into the world.
(Additional information: Jesus lived with his disciples around 3 to 4 years)
Let’s dive in:
For us to fully experience the unconditional love of God, there are three things that we need to understand:
We need to understand the:
I. The Greatest Expression: “Of God’s love is in the Life of Christ”
I. The Greatest Expression: “Of God’s love is in the Life of Christ”
“The greatest expression of the love of God is expressed in the life of Christ.”
The final moment of Jesus with His disciples is full of emotion. The emotion of love.
In chapter 15 alone, we can read repeatedly (10x) the word “love”
John 15:9 “9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
John 15:10 “10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
John 15:12 “12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:17 “17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
John 15:19 “19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
Grabe ang pagibig ng Panginoong Hesus sa kanyang mga disciples and we know that this love extends to us today.
In verse 13, Jesus said:
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Wow! Just feel the emotion on what Jesus is saying to His disciples. He is saying, “You are my friends, and I am to die for you to save you from your sins”
Who is Jesus in the eyes of His Disciples:
Jesus is God and Man.
Jesus is God and Man.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus is perfect and sinless
Jesus is perfect and sinless
22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
Jesus came to save sinners
Jesus came to save sinners
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Jesus is the perfect sacrifice
Jesus is the perfect sacrifice
“Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins”
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
“He did it once and for all”
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Jesus is the only way to heaven
Jesus is the only way to heaven
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’ death is God’s greatest expression of love to you
Jesus’ death is God’s greatest expression of love to you
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
That is Jesus. Wow.
To believers a persuasion of God’s fatherly love is more delightful than all earthly enjoyments.
John Calvin
To know Jesus is to know God and His great love. Neglecting Him in your life is neglecting God because Jesus is God and He is meant to be known and loved.
Secondly, We need to understand that the greatest experience of God’s love in us is through a relationship with Christ alone:
II. The Greatest Experience: “of God’s love is through a Relationship with Christ”
II. The Greatest Experience: “of God’s love is through a Relationship with Christ”
Remember, Jesus is now with His beloved disciples (without Judas) and in chapter 15, notice how he recognized his relationship with His disciples. He called them friends.
That is 3 times in chapter 15. But the most impactful is what He said in verse 14.
“You are my friends”
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
That is after he said that his greatest expression of love that he is willing to die for his friends.
Remember this, love without a relationship is nothing or in vain. Love without a relationship is of no value.
At this very moment, that Jesus was about to leave (physically) his disciples, “how sweet” it was to hear this words of Jesus.
Grabe, pwede pala no? Pwede pala natin maging best friend si God.
We can’t describe how intimate this moment was for Jesus and his disciples. Nakakakilig. Parang tayo nagbabasa ng love letter.
Ito pa ang nakakakilig:
“You did not choose me”, “I chose you”
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
“but I chose you out of the world”
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
We believe about on the doctrine of election which defines as:
“An an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.”
That is why we believe that salvation is a sole work of God.
That is why our relationship with God is a privilege.
And for Jesus disciples, Jesus name is the sweetest name their ear could hear.
How the discples died for Jesus’ sake:
Peter and Paul
Peter and Paul
Both were martyred in Rome about 66 AD, during the persecution under Emperor Nero. Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified upside down at his request since he did not feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.
Andrew
Andrew
He went to the "land of the man-eaters" in what is now the Soviet Union. Christians there claim him as the first to bring the gospel to their land. He also preached in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, and Greece, where he is said to have been crucified.
Thomas
Thomas
He was probably most active in the area east of Syria. Tradition has him preaching as far east as India, where the ancient Marthoma Christians revere him as their founder. They claim that he died there when pierced through with the spears of four soldiers.
Philip
Philip
He possibly had a powerful ministry in Carthage in North Africa and Asia Minor, where he converted the wife of a Roman proconsul. In retaliation, the proconsul had Philip arrested and cruelly put to death.
Matthew
Matthew
He was the tax collector, and writer of a Gospel ministered in Persia and Ethiopia. Some of the oldest reports say he was not martyred, while others say he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.
Bartholomew
Bartholomew
He had widespread missionary travels attributed to him by tradition: to India with Thomas and back to Armenia, Ethiopia, and Southern Arabia. There are various accounts of how he met his death as a martyr for the gospel.
James
James
He was the son of Alpheus and is one of at least three James referred to in the New Testament. There is some confusion as to which is which, but this James is reckoned to have ministered in Syria. The Jewish historian Josephus reported that he was stoned and then clubbed to death.
Simon, the Zealot
Simon, the Zealot
As the story goes, he ministered in Persia and was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.
Matthias
Matthias
He was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. Tradition sends him to Syria with Andrew and to death by burning.
John
John
The only one of the apostles generally thought to have died a natural death from old age. He was the church leader in the Ephesus area and is said to have taken care of Mary the mother of Jesus in his home. During Domitian's persecution in the middle '90s, he was exiled to the island of Patmos. There he is credited with writing the last book of the New Testament--the Revelation. An early Latin tradition has him escaping unhurt after being cast into boiling oil in Rome.
(The most plausible theory of John’s death states that John was arrested in Ephesus and faced martyrdom when his enemies threw him in a huge basin of boiling oil. However, according to the tradition, John was miraculously delivered from death. The authorities then sentenced John to slave labor in the mines of Patmos.)
(Play video)
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer’s ear!
it soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds
and drives away our fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
and calms the troubled breast;
it satisfies the hungry soul,
and gives the weary rest.
Dear name, the rock on which I build,
my shield and hiding-place;
my never-failing treasury, filled
with boundless stores of grace!
Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,
my Prophet, Priest and King;
my Lord, my life, my way, my end –
accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought;
but when I see you as you are,
I’ll praise you as I ought.
Till then I would your love proclaim
with every fleeting breath;
and may the music of your name
refresh my soul in death.
John Newton (1725-1807)
How does Jesus sounds to your ear?
We need to understand that the greatest embodiment (manifestation) of God’s love to us is by our Obedience:
III. The Greatest Embodiment: “of God’s love to us is through our Obedience”
III. The Greatest Embodiment: “of God’s love to us is through our Obedience”
Ang sabi sa verse: “You are my friends ‘if’ you do what I command you”
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
You cannot be a Christian without obedience.
… obedience is taught throughout the entire Bible… true obedience is one of the toughest requirements of the Christian life. Apart from obedience, there can be no salvation, for salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory impossibility.8
A. W. Tozer
If we look at the context of our text, this command does not ‘feel’ like out of authority (though we know it is) but out of love. In contrary to the notion that Christian obedience is a duty or a ‘burden’ to others.
We know that it is impossible for man to please God because of our sins. Thats why you need faith.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
And true faith only comes from the enablement of God. Because salvation is a sole work of God.
The verse implies that since salvation is a sole work of God, it is only then through the enablement of God we can obey Him. That is through the work of the Holy Spirit that is within the life of believers.
At makikita natin yan on the proceeding verses. Sabi nya: “I will give you a ‘Helper’”
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
“He will guide you into all the truth”
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Kaya nga, tandaan nyo ito:
“Ang tunay na nakaranas ng pagmamahal ng Dios ay ang mga sumusunod sa Kanyang mga utos at kalooban”
That why the disciples were willing to die for their Master, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We believe in the perseverance of the saints, but many are not saints, and therefore do not persevere. Nominal saints exhibit no final perseverance.
Truth Stranger Than Fiction, Volume 35, Sermon #2081 - Joel 2:25
Charles Spurgeon
13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Now, if I would to ask you, how is your obedience to Christ? Are you willing to die for your Master and Lord?
For our meditation:
1. How does understanding the greatest expression of God's love in the life of Christ impact your personal relationship with Him? How does it affect your view of His sacrifice and the depth of His love for you?
2. In what ways does having a personal relationship with Christ enhance your experience of God's love? How does knowing that Jesus chose you and desires a close friendship with you affect your perspective on your worth and value to God?
3. How does the concept of obedience as the greatest embodiment of God's love challenge your understanding of Christian faith? How does it shape your attitude towards following God's commandments and living a life that reflects His love to others?