God Loves You

INTRO

Tonight we continue our “Sharing the Good News” series

Last week we learned that:

ALL Christians are called to share the gospel with ALL people

This week we begin to break down what this gospel is more deeply

To do this over the next few weeks we will walk through a simple gospel presentation that you can use called, “The Four”

The Four

Heart - God Loves You

Division Sign - Sin Separates You

Cross - Jesus Saves You

Question Mark - Will You Trust Jesus?

Each week we will look at each of these statements in depth so that you understand them yourself and you are able to explain them to others

Tonight we will focus on the Heart Symbol: God Loves You

And I want to begin by asking you a question:

What is love?

I mean we throw the work around like it’s nothing:

I love…

camp

pizza

BF/GF

Mom or dad

my phone

Then if we look at culture it tells us

Love is love

but if you don’t love the things I agree with or they way I think you should then you’re not loving

TENSION

So, if we use love in all these different ways almost as if we aren’t sure what it is

Then if culture/world can’t define it either

How in the world are we supposed to be able to understand a statement like “God Loves You” correctly or rightly?

The good news for us is we have the Bible, God’s word, in which he tells us exactly what it means that he loves us

And tonight we are going to how He does that in his word

TRUTH

Before we look at the passage we are going to spend most of tonight in I want to look the first place in the Bible we see God’s love towards us

It’s actually in the very beginning at creation

At this point God has created almost everything

earth and heavens

separated land and sea

Animals on the land

birds in the air

fish in the water

But on the n God makes something special

and we know it’s special because of what he says when creating them

Genesis 1:26–27 CSB

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

God creates man in his own image

this means you and I as humans are made in the image of God

Now, this doesn’t mean when physically reflect God’s image like we might with our parents

but that when God created us He gave us something the rest of creation doesn’t have

a soul

And because of our soul we are able to reflect Gods image in that we

love

be kind

be patient

can forgive

This is important because this sets us apart from the rest of creation

we even see in the creation account man is whom God

walks with

talks with

and desires to have a relationship with that much different than the rest of creation

Even in God’s description of the day after man’s creation is different than the others

all the other days God declare it was “good”

but after man God declares it was “really good”

So we see in the opening chapter of the Bible, the very beginning of time God created us

to be in relationship with Him

He created us as His image bear to love us

But where does this love that God has come from?

what does it even look like?

Well that’s what our main text is going to answer for us

1 John 4:7–8 CSB

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

John makes a really big statement here, “God is love”

What does that mean?

it means that God isn’t merely loving at times and not loving other times

love isn’t one of the thing God does

It means that in essence God is love

meaning everything he does in love

his love is in his mercy

grace

forgivenes

his love is also in justice

judgment

or wrath

It is not merely an attribute of his like we might say of someone

“oh they are so loving”

It is who He is

but how is this loved displayed towards us?

1 John 4:9–10 CSB

God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

God displays His perfect love through sending His son Jesus to die for our sins even when we didn’t love Him

Think of it like this… Caroline Story

This is the kind of love God has for you

He knows

All the good you’ve done

you came to church

gave money

served other people

said nice words

didn’t give into temptation

All the bad you’ve done

every thought you’ve ever had

every website you’ve ever been to

every social media page you’ve looked at

every word you have said

every word you didn’t say but thought about

every place you have been

every bad thing you’ve done that no one else knows about

And yet, loving you is the easiest thing He will ever do

Why?

because he made you to love you

he made you to be in relationship with you

Don’t believe it?

look at the cross

John is clear

God didn’t wait for you to love Him to send Jesus

God didn’t wait for your love for Him to hit a certain level to send Jesus

God didn’t wait for your love for Him to stay consistent to send Jesus

God sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for your sins when you hated Him

when there was no love for Him in you to be found

when you were living a life of direct disobedience towards Him

when you were stuck in your sin

Why?

Because He loves you

Now, hear what i’m saying here…

God does not love your sin

that is what separates you from Him

what causes your relationship with him to be broken

But even while you were in your sin He loved you so much that he would send his only son to be the sacrifice for your sins

so that you can be freed and forgiven of your sin

so that your relationship with him could be made right

So that He could love you fully and eternally

BOTTOM LINE: God’s perfect love is perfectly displayed on the cross

APPLICATION

But what do we do with this love?

how are we to respond?

Believer

be reminded that God loves you

that you have been freed and forgiven of your sins through Jesus

God’s love for you doesn’t change depending on your mistakes

your feelings or your circumstances

His love for you is perfect, faithful, and unchanging because you are secured in Christ

And because you have experienced this love, go love others

1 John 4:11 CSB

Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

When we have experienced the love of God we can’t help but share it with others

in fact now that we have God, who is love, dwelling within us (HS) it is impossible to not love

we may not love perfectly

but there is a difference between loving imperfectly and not loving at all

Unbeliever

God loves you

but God does not love your sin

While God is love, he is also Holy

meaning he can’t be near sin or in relationship with those in sin

But tonight you have heard the good news

that even in your sin tonight God loved you so much that He sent his only son Jesus to be the sacrifice for your sins

by trusting and believing that Jesus live the sinless life you couldn’t, died your death, and resurrected 3 days later you can be freed and forgiven of your sins

you tonight can experience for fulness of God’s love

A love that is much better than any love you can find in this world

family member

BF or GF

Sport or Hobby

Addiction

His love is a perfect love, an eternal love, for you and it’s found in Christ and Christ alone.