How I Know That God Loves Me

How I Know that God Loves Me

Malachi 1:2

The book of Malachi is about the indifference of Israel to God’s love. The Lord tells Israel, “I have loved you” – literally I have loved you in the past and continue to love you. To which they replied “How have you loved us?” Their reply reflects their obliviousness to what God had done and was doing for them. Being so focused on their problems they failed to see God’s unfailing love. At times in our lives we may find ourselves asking the same questions as we focus on our problems. Does God love me? How does God love me? How do I know that God loves me? For the next few minutes I want to share with you how I know that God loves me.

I. I know that God loves me for the Bible tells me so.

A. Jeremiah 31:3 “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.”

B. One day C. H. Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside with a friend. As they strolled along, the evangelist noticed a barn with a weather vane on its roof. At the top of the vane were these words: GOD IS LOVE. Spurgeon remarked to his companion that he thought this was a rather inappropriate place for such a message. “Weather vanes are changeable,” he said, “but God’s love is constant.” “I don’t agree with you about those words, Charles,” replied his friend. “You misunderstood the meaning. That sign is indicating a truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love.” - copied

C. 1 John 4:16, 19 “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him…We love him, because he first loved us.”

D. I trust and accept what God says in His Word, the Bible – He loves me.

II. I know that God loves me because He sent His Son to die for me

A. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

B. God demonstrates His love for us through the death of His Son. The Bible declares that our sin separates us from a holy God and that no amount of human goodness, works, morality, or religious activity on our part can gain acceptance with God. Yet He still loves us and provided the means for us to have everlasting life through the death of His Son on the cross.

C. 1John 4:9-10 “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

D. I would like to tell you a story about a man named John Griffith. John was the father of an 8-year-old boy during the 20’s and 30’s. John was very fortunate during those times, because he had job. John loved his son very much. He was the apple of his eye. John’s son was a normal little boy who constantly wanted to go to work with his father. John decided he would take his boy to work with him one day. John was bridge conductor across the Mississippi River. John was in charge of raising and lowering the bridge so that boats could get through and trains could pass. John’s son was so amazed at the gears and all the things that went along with his father’s job. They had brought their lunch to work with them that day and decided to eat their lunch on the bank of the river. John and his son was eating lunch and John had realized that in about 3 minutes the Memphis Belle carrying 300 passengers was getting ready to cross the bridge, but the bridge was not lowered. John didn’t want to alarm his son so he patted him on the shoulder and told him to sit right their and he would be right back. John hustled up the stairs, he grabbed the lever to lower the bridge and he had realized that somehow his son had climbed to the bridge and had fallen in between the gears of the bridge. John could hear the train coming carrying the 300 passengers. In his mind he started going over ways he could get his son from the gears and still lower the bridge, but he knew he had to make a choice. John lowered the bridge just in time for the train to pass crushing his son in between the gears. John looked at the train passing by and saw a man reading his newspaper a woman drinking her tea and another talking to his wife. John screamed at the top of his lungs “Hey, Don’t you know what I’ve just done for you” they didn’t hear him so he screamed again “Hey, Don’t you know what I’ve just done for you” But again they just went along with their lives not ever realizing what John had done for them. God is asking us the same question “Don’t you know what I’ve done for you. I sent my only son to this earth for you. He died a terrible death so that you could spend eternity with me. Why are you going on with your busy meaningless live not serving me, and some of you have not even accepted me as your savior. I love you so much. – copied Brent Williams, Sermon Central