6 Tests to know if you really love God
Notes
Transcript
Do you really Love God?
Do you really Love God?
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Introduction
Introduction
Before we can even embark upon this journey we first have a question that begs to be asked: Does God Love Us?
This answers several questions:
His love will bring action
God cares for us
God is looking for/after us
God will help us through trials/tribulations
God will save us from sin/evil/corruption/death
God will provide a way to deliver us from the Holy Judgement of His wrath against sin.
If God does love us, then He is going to expect us to respond.
True Love Expects (even demands) Love in return. It must be reciprocated.
To know the Love of God, we must experience it!
If we do not love God then we only have uncertainty and devastation in this life, without hope!
Q: If this type of love is real and obtainable, how would we know that it is true? What are some tests that we can check ourselves against?
Q: If this type of love is real and obtainable, how would we know that it is true? What are some tests that we can check ourselves against?
We are going to look at 6:
Do I experience Gods love?
Do I constantly turn away from sin or give myself to it?
Do I exhibit Gods love?
Do I find a clean heart withing myself?
Do I test the Spirits/False-Teachers or give in to them?
Do I truly love others (Neighbor/Fellow-man)?
1) Do I experience Gods Love?
1) Do I experience Gods Love?
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Q: What does God’s love look like?
Its unmerited, you cannot earn it.
Its unjustified; we...
Ignored, neglected, cursed, disobeyed, disbelieved, rejected, denied God… and continue to do so.
It forsakes all self-preservation
It forgives all that wanted it.
It bears all of the burdens of those that partakes of it.
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Best of all; It provides victory to people that cannot even enter the race and understanding to those that cannot even comprehend it.
God’s love truly is the greatest overcomers story.
He transforms us from incapable, worthless, dead wretches in to beautiful, powerful, priceless sons/daughters of God.
We do not have to wait on this, its ours now for the taking, if we want it.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
God’s love is:
Pure, Holy, Blameless and Perfect… and motivationally so.
God expects these same qualities either coming from, or being sought after by us.
2) Do I constantly turn away from sin or give myself to it?
2) Do I constantly turn away from sin or give myself to it?
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Q: What does this mean to you?
This question usually spurs two more questions in people:
Am I really a sinner?
We have already answered this question: Yes, we are all sinners.
How bad of a sinner am I?
We like to seperate individual sins:
Bad Sins:
Rape, Murder, Bank Robbery… the stuff that makes headlines
Not so bad sins:
A mistake, psychological quirks, bad decisions, irrational acts, social flaws
But thee are not sins. These are the acts that sin causes.
Sin Is:
Choosing your way instead of Gods way
Acting how you want instead of how God wants/Rebelling against God
Ignoring/Neglecting God
Denying God instead of confessing Him.
Disobeying/Disbelieving God
Mankind are sinners, and of the worst sort!
Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
We have been promised Deliverance from this condition THROUGH JESUS(John 3:16), but something must happen...
Repent. Turn away from your sins.
Not only is this what allows us to receive the wonderful Love of God
But the willingness to continue to do it is our first evidence of our Love for God in return.
If Sin is to Reject God, then Repentance is to Love Him.
Many people believe that the test of whether you are Christian or not is whether you:
Have professed Christ
Been baptised
Joined the church
Attend Church
Fellowship with Christians
Read the bible
Pray
But you can do all of these things an not be a Christian.
You can do all of these things and not Love God.
In order to show your love toward God you must repent of your actions against Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
Q: Do you love/live like Jesus?
The hope of God’s deliverance is that we are now free from living-in and practicing sin and can now practice the Love Of God.... Which brings us to our next question:
3) Do I exhibit Gods Love?
3) Do I exhibit Gods Love?
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
There are two forms of Love, but different ways to exhibit it:
We can exhibit love through Agape/Philea/Eros love
But the 2 forms are:
True Love
Gods Love
False Love
Our/Satans/The Worlds love.
Gods love is Holy, Righteous and Pure
Therefore, if you do not exhibit this love, you are not exhibiting Gods Love.
We can look at our nature, the way that we live and feel in our heart, and see whether we align with God or not.
If you align, or seek to align, with God in a life changing way, then you Love Him.
John equates Righteousness with Love in these verses:
To show the righteousness of God is to:
Love your brother
Sacrifice for others
Showing Compassion
Giving to others what they need
To not show the love of God is to produce:
acts of hate/murder
We all produce actions.
Love is Righteous deeds in action
Without Righteous deeds, love does not exist.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Lets do a quick comparison to see if True love lives in/through us. Do we....
Criticize, backbite, spread rumors, degrade, attack, abuse, gossip, destroy, murder, dislike, talk about or hate?
These actions are NOT Love
Remember/Note: dislike, unjust-anger, bitterness, envy, resentment are just as serious as murder.
Do I love my brothers, or hold things against them?
Do I think evil thoughts about my brothers/sisters?
Do I talk about my brothers/sisters, criticize murmur-against, grumble, gossip or backbite them?
Do I perform evil acts against them?
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
The world doesnt know the Love of God, it confuses and infuriates them.
The World will fight against you if you exhibit the Love of God.
Q: Do you suffer for Christs sake?
Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man’s sake.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
4) Do I find a clean heart within myself?
4) Do I find a clean heart within myself?
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Q: What does an unclean heart look like?
If we look to God’s love we can see a stark contrast.
We may look at someone suffering and say:
They deserve it
They are getting paid back
God is judging them for their evil
They made their bed, they can lie in it
They are reaping what they sew
If he wasnt lazy he would find work
He could better himself if he tried
All of these things are things that Jesus condemned the Pharisees for
Yet many think these are righteous sayings today.
Actions and Words go hand-in-hand and both must be exhibited
Often-times our words condemn us.
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
But there is something more to having a clean heart.
We are never going to always do what is right.
However, having a clean heart means that when you fall-short, God will chasten you.
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
You will not be able to live in opposition to God and His ways long if your heart is pure, the conviction will get to heavy to bear.
5) Do I test the Spirits/False Teachers or give in to them?
5) Do I test the Spirits/False Teachers or give in to them?
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Q: Why is this test important?
Because it reveals whether we are seeking after the love of God or note.
A False teacher may have a way that seems good, but does it line up with the love of Jesus?
A false teacher may:
Live a good live
Seem satisfied/fullfilled
They may show signs of good feelings and pleasure
They may have a great education or alot of possessions
They may even be recognized for their nice/polite/loving qualities
They may be Moral, good, just.
They may serve/help others
They may even have their own ministry and tell people to live a life like Jesus
They are very personable, attractive and appealing
.... Yet never submit their life to Christ and And still be a false teacher.
For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Merely believing in Jesus is not what saves us:
Its what we believe, and whether we submit that saves/changes us.
A false teacher will say:
Believe in the man
He never exhisted
He didnt really die
He didnt really raise from the dead
Our sins arent that bad
A True teacher will say
Believe in the God-man
He walked here on earth
He suffered and died
He not only arose, he sits at the right-hand of the Father.
It took the death of a Righteous God to overcome my sins
If we do not look for the false-teachers then we will either become susceptible to them or may actually be the false-teacher.
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
We can also look at the followers of the false teachers to see if they stand true to the image/love of God.
Both the false teacher and their followers will:
Excuse sin
Exalt mankind over God and one another.
Stress ego and self-image over the power of God and His Holy Spirit
Focus upon the discipline and control of the flesh over the power of and submission to God’s Holy Spirit.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
6) Do I truly love others (Neighbors/Fellow-man)?
6) Do I truly love others (Neighbors/Fellow-man)?
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
This is the culmination of it all.
This is the culmination of it all.
Do you love God?
Then you will love others.
Because God loves others.
Q: What does it look like for a person not to know/love God?
They...
Live selfishly
Hoard
discriminate
show prejudice
steals
neglects others
abuses
criticizes
backbites
gossips
curses
hates
murders
All because they do not love others.
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There are two ways to know whether we love God or not like we should
We know God because we know His Love for us
We know God because we do not hate our bother.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
God loved us while we were yet sinners.
So we should love others while they:
Oppose us
do evil things against us
ignore us
distrust us
curse us
reject us
persecute us
kill us
Loving others, regardless of cause, shows that the love of God is in us.
Q: What is the ultimate show of love toward other men/women?
To present the Gospel to them
In this way the love of God is complete within us.
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
Q: Is there someone that you are not willing, or are reluctant, to share the Gospel with because of some feelings that you have toward them?
Then its time to repent and ask God to produce His love within you once more.