How Do I Love Jesus? Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: January 7, 2011

Date Preached: January 9, 2011

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus

Sermon Title: How Do We Love Jesus?

Sermon Text: John 1:14-32 [ESV]

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. 15 John bore witness about Him, and cried out, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.'" 16 And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known. 19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because He was before me.' 31 I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

Introduction:

[Sing softly] “I love you Lord! I and I lift my voice… to worship You… oh my soul… rejoice! Take Joy my King, in what You hear, may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear!”

We sing those words, but do we live those words in our life each and every day? We say with our mouths that we love Jesus, but does our life reflect that love for our Savior?

If a stranger walked up to you in a crowded mall, when you least expected it… would he or she be able see a love for Jesus flowing out of your life, even if you never spoke a word?

Here is my point this morning… we SAY we love Jesus, but does the way we life our life SHOW the world around us beyond ANY doubt, that we love Jesus? Many of you may be sitting there wondering to yourself, “Well preacher, how do I show the world I love Him? How can I love Jesus like I should?” So the ultimate question for us this morning, how can we love Jesus as He deserves to be loved?

When we look at our passage of Scripture today, we can see that John the Baptist understood what it meant to love Jesus… and the Apostle John writes about 4 very specific ways John the Baptist reveals his love for Jesus:

John Recognized His Sovereinty v.14-15

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.

15 John bore witness about Him, and cried out, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.'"

And the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us. The Apostle John wrote these great words about Jesus. Jesus is God and God chose to dwell with His creation in the flesh, that happened with the coming of Jesus. God in the flesh… Immanuel, God with us is how the Angel described it to Mary and Joseph.

And John the Baptist fully understood who Jesus was, even though he had never seen Him before this time… John understood and was willing to submit to the sovereignty of who Jesus is… The God of the Universe!