Love Others As Jesus Loves You

Good morning and welcome to CCC. We are so glad you are here with us this morning. I am ready for the forecasted cold front and change in temperatures that are also forecasted to arrive this week.

This fat man is ready for cool weather!

But seriously we are so very glad you are here this morning. I pray that you have already been blessed for being here and that God has shown you something this morning

I also pray that as we enter this time of being in God’s Word together that you are open and seeking God’s message for you this morning.

If you have not already grabbed a notes sheet please do so....Write down what God brings to you so that you will have it......if you do not write it down the enemy will steal it from you by making your forget!

Let’s Pray

START OBS

We are only going to cover two verses in I John this morning. They are huge verses. The application of these verses is heavy and will more than likely be very convicting in some lives here this morning.

These verses however and the truth they proclaim are the heartbeat of the Christian life

They are the engine that should drive Christians. I am not going to lie this morning is convicting for me. I struggle with this truth and truly living it out.

It is a truth that is easy to claim but impossible to apply and live without the Holy Spirit in your life

It takes true surrender and true humbleness to truly live out the commands in verses 7 and 8 of I John 2.

Let’s dive in shall we

1 John 2:7–8

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“Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.”

You will notice first and foremost that I am again reading out of the KJV. Again not looking to start a version war but I was drawn back to the KJV recently when I was cross referencing a verse for a message and felt God leading me back to that version for the time being. That is neither here nor there but felt I was to say it this morning

Back to I John. We have looked at this truth before and I am sure will again

As I said this is the truth that all other truths build upon. It runs through the entire Bible and is God’s heart

I wanted to start with the old commandment found in

Leviticus 19:18

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“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

This is so very important church. This commandment was quoted by Jesus when he summed up the great commandment, calling it second only to Love the Lord thy God with ALL your heart and mind and soul

James called it the royal commandment and Paul speaks of it in both Romans and Galatians

When God repeats Himself multiple times in the Bible we must pay attention to it.

It is also found in the new testament as we see in vs 8 of I John.

Now it is the same commandment but Jesus takes it to an entirely different level

John 13:34–35

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“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

It goes beyond loving your neighbors

It moves, through Jesus, to how people will see and come to know Him

As I have said before I am a high school teacher.

God has me teaching 2nd grade special education in a behavior room

I believe He revealed to me part of why I am there

To truly learn to love

I was convicted this week that I can be short with people

I can make people feel unimportant by rushing conversations and interactions

i had to contact some specific people that God laid on my heart this past week

If you are one who I have done that to let me apologize now. I am sorry for making you feel that way as you are very important and God loves you so very much!

I have also realized through the Holy Spirit that I get frustrated super easily

I also believe that is why God has me at 2nd grade to help me continue to learn patience and overcome my frustration

Love people as Jesus loves me and you

God is very serious about this. We saw it in the old testament

It is in the new testament repeatedly

God is serious

I believe we forget how Jesus loved us

You get busy

You get over committed

You get tired

You start just going through the motions both physically and spiritually

When that happens you become numb

numb to everything and everyone around you including God and Jesus!

So I want to remind you just How Jesus Loved You

To do that we must look at what Jesus endured for you

Love is easy when everything is sunshine and roses but what happens when it costs you greatly

when it hurts you deeply

when you have to truly sacrifice to love

Jesus shows us

1. Jesus Endured Physical Rejection

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Jesus came to save yet was rejected by the very people He came to save

Matthew 8:34

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“And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.”

Why

Why did the whole city come out to meet Jesus and beg Him to leave them?

He healed

He drove out demons

He preached the gospel

That is why

Mark 6:3

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“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”

Isn’t this Josh

The son of Becky

the brother of Jefferson

the women chaser

the cusser

the drunk

Isn’t he from right here in Nevada

I am offended he is a pastor

Jesus was rejected not because of what He did but because of the Truth that He was

You will be rejected not because of what you do but because of the truth you live out daily

Sin is real

The wages of sin is death

Sinners love sin

When you stand against sin and for truth they hate you and will reject you

If they did it to Jesus they will do it to you also

When you live for Jesus you will lose friends

When you live for Jesus you will lose job opportunities

When you live for Jesus it will cost you

Why

Because you will be opposite of the world

You will stand on God’s Truth

You will sacrifice for Jesus

You will be rejected and if you are not being rejected you better check your fruit

is it worldly?

2. Jesus Was Rejected By Religion

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Luke 4:28–29

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“And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.”

Let’s look at this reaction

The synagogue…the church of the time on the sabbath so on Sunday

These are not Gentiles, these are Jews.....Israelites…God’s chosen people....the very people Jesus came to earth to save

These were church members, elders, deacons, worship leaders, sunday school teachers, childrens church leaders and workers.......what the world saw as religious and godly

They were gathered to hear the scripture read.......they were gathered to hear the word of God

This was His hometown by the way....Nazareth

They got so angry with Him that they took Him to a cliff to throw Him off and kill Him

What got them so angry?

Surely it was something horrific

Nope

Jesus was only preaching the Truth

Let’s look at what happened leading up to this moment

Luke 4:16–21

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“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

First I want you to see, as His custom was.

What was His custom.....going to the synagogue on the Sabbath day no matter where He was or what He was doing He was in the synagogue on Sabbath

If Jesus did it so should you

Doesn’t mean you will be in this service every Sunday but Jesus’ custom was in the synagogue every Sabbath your custom should be in church every Sunday

Some may say, pastor church is broken and full of people who are broken. I have been hurt by church in the past you just don’t get it

Of course church is broken, of course if it full of people who are broken.....I am sorry someone hurt you but quite frankly that is no excuse.....these people tried to throw Jesus off a cliff but His custom was still to go to the synagogue......pretty sure no one has tried to throw you off a cliff......even if they did.....you shouldn’t change your custom!

Jesus just declared His ministry

Jesus just told them why He came

Jesus just told them He was anointed to preach the Gospel

I want you to notice who Jesus said He was to preach to

The poor.......those rejected by society because they lack financial standing and status

The broken hearted.....those beat up by the world who are experiencing loss and pain and pushed aside as they are too much trouble

The captives....those who are lost and held captive by their sins and lifestyle....those who need freedom in Jesus

The blind....both physically and spiritually

Those who are bruised and battered by the world…those needing freedom in Christ

He then said....I fulfill this scripture…the time is now and I am Him!!!!

They just heard Jesus say He is the Messiah they claimed to be looking for

What was their reaction

Luke 4:22

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“And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?”

They were astonished at His teaching yet rejected His teaching and Him

He speaks with authority that only the Son of God could speak with yet they said

Isn’t that Joseph’s boy

the carpenter

Didn’t He grow up here in Nazareth.....

There is no way He can be saying these things

Then Jesus spoke again

Luke 4:23–27

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“And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.”

He just showed that salvation and the Gospel were open to gentiles....

Jesus just said He has come to save all

The Jews, religion, hated Gentiles....in fact they hated anyone who was not Jewish....they believed they were just fuel for the fires of hell

The Gospel angers people

The Gospel incites those who love sin

Why

Because they seek their own way not God’s way and the Gospel shows there is only one way Jesus!

God’s way makes no sense to religious people because God’s ways only make sense to Christians because of the Holy Spirit in them

True Christian churches must look and sound and act different from religion

They don’t run as a business

They don’t follow worldly business rules and procedures and logic and principals

They follow God’s rules and procedures and logic and principals

They are stewards of course but they seek those that Jesus sought

Poor

Broken hearted

Captives

Blind

Bruised

What about you?

What about us?

Where are the poor?

Where are the broken hearted?

Where are the captives?

Where are the blind?

Where are the bruised?

I love each and every one of you

I love this body…CCC but where are we?

Are we a true body or a religious body?

We do church well, which isn’t bad in and of itself

but we are not called to do church we are called to preach to those Jesus preached to!

I’ve got news for you

That takes sacrifice

That takes time

That takes money

That takes commitment

That takes being different

We can’t be a true Gospel preaching church just on Sundays or Mondays or Wednesday or Fridays

Again I love you all

and because I love you I want to give you what God gave me

In our church management software we have 136 people.

These are people that have filled out a information card or google form

or were in the directory when I got here

Men

Women

Children

Where are they?

Again not about numbers but about hearts

Look around there are 30-50 here this morning with another 5 to 10 watching online

What if

What if we all invited 5 people to church each and every week

again not for numbers sake but to meet or grow in Jesus!

If they all showed up that would be 150-250 people here to meet and worship Jesus

What if only 1 person showed up for each of us?

Our numbers would be doubled to meet and worship Jesus

Talk to your family

Talk to your friends

Talk to your co-workers

Absolutely talk to these people

But even more importantly

talk to the poor

talk to the broken hearted

talk to the captives

talk to the blind

talk to the bruised

They will come because they are desperately seeking what you have

JESUS!!!!!!

Sure they will be rough

Sure they may cuss in church

Sure they will act lost

Sure their kids will be tough to manage

So were you

So was I

Church if we are serious about Jesus we HAVE to be serious about those Jesus was serious about

Go get them

Go love them

Go shine Jesus’ light into their darkness

That is why you love others as Jesus loves you

That is why this is the 2nd greatest commandment

We must be discerning because sometimes physical help actually hurts but we love them

we pray for them

we pray God will bring them to Him through Jesus

3. Jesus Was Rejected Spiritually

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Not only did the religious reject Jesus

Not only did the very people Jesus came to save reject him

But there was a moment on the cross when God even rejected Jesus because Jesus became the sin of the world

your sin

my sin

Matthew 27:45–46

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“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Because Jesus became sin

Because God is holy

God could not look at Jesus at that moment

God turned away from Jesus for the first time in eternity

God rejected Jesus spiritually because of sin

It wasn’t until the debt was paid and the sin was forgiven that God looked at Jesus again

If God would reject Jesus spiritually, His only, perfect Son then He will for sure reject you spiritually if you do not have Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior!

We love people as Jesus loves us because

Jesus came for you when you rejected Him physically

Jesus came for you when you rejected Him spiritually

When your religion caused you to hate and reject Him

Jesus came to you when you hated Him

Jesus took your beating

Jesus took your sin

Jesus died your death

All so you can have His love and forgiveness and salvation

Today was hard

You may be mad at me

If you are mad at me you need to get with God

The Gospel and God’s Truth angers the proud but convicts and draws the saved to Him

So if you are mad at me, you are proud and pride is a sin

Some of you are living as Jesus lived and are surrounded by those who surrounded Jesus

Praise God for you

Most are not

If you are truly saved and not surrounded by those who surrounded Jesus you are not living and walking as Jesus lived and walked.

Lean in to conviction

Confess your sin

Repent of your sin

Be changed from the inside out by the Holy Spirit

or

Continue to reject Jesus....the choice is yours!

The fact remains that Jesus lived a perfect life

He willingly took the sins, your sin, my sins, the sins of the whole world upon Himself

He willingly died for those sins, to pay the sin debt that no one on earth could pay

All to give you an opportunity to accept Him as your Lord and Savior

God loves you so much He gives you free will.....you are free to reject Him but you are not free from punishment and consequences that will come

You will face God’s full wrath

You will die the second death and spend eternity in hell

You are free to face those things or you are free to realize that you are a sinner

That you have sinned, still sin and always will sin here on earth

You realize you cannot pay the debt that sin causes

You realize you are doomed to hell and eternal separation from God

You realize that Jesus has freely paid your debt and offers you forgiveness and eternal life with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit

You realize all you have to do to claim that forgiveness is confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus....make Him Lord of your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you are saved…forgiven....free!

The choice is yours.

STOP OBS

Invitation song