We continue our series with the next segment entitled “Six Tests that prove one really LOVES God.” Our Scripture passage is from 1 John 3: 1-3.
We have been tested to see if we really KNOW God. But knowing someone and loving someone are two different things. Are you sure that you love God as you should? READ SCRIPTURE / Mention the children’s song / PRAYER
Tonight we want to talk about experiencing God’s incredible love. There’s no greater subject in the world to talk about. Why? Because if God loves us, it means:
• That God is not unreachable, He isn’t distant, He is NOT unconcerned with the world.
• It means that God is not mean and vengeful.
• It means that God doesn’t cause all the bad things that happen to us, like accidents, diseases, and death.
• It means that God is not hovering over us looking for every mistake we make so that He can punish us.
That is not at all what God’s love is. In fact, it is quite the contrary. Since God is love it means that God is bound to show us His love. It means:
• That God cares and looks after us.
• That God will help us through all the trials and temptations of life.
• That God will save us from the sin, evil, corruption, and death of this world.
• That God will provide a way for us to be delivered from the coming judgment of His holy wrath against sin.
But if God loves us that much, He expects us to respond. He expects us to love Him. You see, if someone loves you, and you never receive that love, then that person’s love never touches you. You never experience that love. So to know love, we have to receive it and share it. Love is that one thing that you can give away and still have it.
So our focus needs to be on loving God because if we don’t we will never experience the love He has for us. And we are talking about it because the fact is, far too few people truly love God. And because of that they have to walk through life without knowing God’s love. They have to face all of life’s trials, temptations, suffering, sorrow, and death all alone. They have no hope beyond this life.
I could go on and on listing the things that a person has to face if he doesn’t love God but I think we get the picture. But thanks God, He loves the world. And because God loves the world any of us who want to know God’s love can do so. All we have to do is open up our lives, receive His love, and respond to that love.
And that’s what we are going to be looking at tonight and the next 5 sessions: the love of God and our love for Him. How can you tell if you really love God and how can you be sure that God is pleased with the love you give Him?
Think about how wonderful it is to be called a child of the Supreme Majesty of the universe. There is no greater privilege than to be called a child of God. No one becomes a child of God because of any merit or work on his own. It’s simply the love of God that has given us the privilege of adoption into God’s family.
In fact, man has rebelled against God. Man has chosen to go his own way and do things his own way without God. Man has chosen not to be restrained by God. Man has rebelled against God, ignored God, neglected God, cursed God, disobeyed God, disbelieved God, rejected God, and even denied God.
And that’s what makes the love of God so amazing. It was while we were rebelling and opposing God—while we were sinners and enemies of God—while we were standing against God—while we were hostile with God—while we wanted little if anything to do with God—that God poured out His love upon us.
Romans 5:8 – “8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In fact, let me read you this whole section from Romans 5.
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. . . 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. . . .11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.”
Note that God’s love is the giving of His Son to the world. Would any of you give one of your children to die for someone else? Now you begin to understand how much God loves us.
Now John says in verse 1 that the reason the world doesn’t know us is that the world didn’t know Him. That’s why the world really doesn’t understand us as believers. They want to know what all the HOOPLA is about. This helps to explain why as believers we are ridiculed and mocked and persecuted. Did you ever go to school and have someone call you “church boy?”
And you’ve been through it whether at your work or at school or in your neighborhood or even within your own family. You’re not alone. Just about every Christian has gone through it or may be going through it right now. The reason for it is because the world doesn’t understand:
• Why believers separate themselves from the pleasures and things of the world. “Why don’t you have just one drink with us?” “Why won’t you play golf with us on Sunday?” “Why do you spend more time with your church family than you do with us?”
• Why believers deny themselves and live sacrificially so that they can carry the message of Christ to the world.
• Why believers go to church so much and talk so much about Christ.
The reason the world doesn’t understand the believer in Jesus Christ is because the world doesn’t know Jesus Christ. God’s Son came into the world but the world didn’t know Him—they rejected Him. So if they rejected Him they are bound to reject those who believe in Him. Now look at verse 2.
The great hope and mystery of God’s love is that we will be transformed eternally. Read verse 2 again. Notice that this doesn’t say that we are going to be children of God. It says that we ARE children of God—not in the future but right now. So NOW we are children of God.
But then it says, “what we WILL be has not yet been made known. We know that when He appears we will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.” And how is that? We know what we are now (Children of God) but we don’t know what we will be like when Christ returns. What does that mean?
It means that God knows that our minds, our intelligence cannot understand. Our little finite minds cannot comprehend such a tremendous truth. So God didn’t explain it to us in detail what it means to be like Christ. God does that a lot in the Bible. That’s why we shouldn’t read into Scripture what is not there. We will just wait and let Him show us on that resurrection morning.
That’s what I mean when I say that when the resurrection occurs, we shall be like Christ in person and in character. Believers will possess a perfect body and being. How can we be assured of this? The Bible says so.
Ephesians 1:4; 4:24 – “. . . he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless eternally.
Ephesians 1:5 – “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.”
1 Cor. 15:49; Ph. 3:21; 1 Jn. 3:2 – “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”
And even though we don’t know exactly what we will be like, we ARE given a few glimpses of what we will be like. We know that the body of the believer is going to undergo a radical change just like Jesus’ body underwent a radical change.
1. The body will not be perishable but imperishable. In other words, there will be no more death. That means our bodies won’t age, hurt, deteriorate, sag, decay, or decompose. Our bodies will be transformed and never perish. 1 Cor. 15:42-43 says, “The body is sown corruptible (perishable), it is raised incorruptible (imperishable). It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:”
2. We also know that the body will not be a body of dishonor but a resurrected body of glory. That means that every human body is dishonored, shamed, disgraced, degraded, and deprived by death. This body will be reduced to dirt. But not the resurrected body. That will be a body of glory. Glory means to possess and to be full of perfect light; to dwell in the perfect light, brilliance, majesty and grace of God Himself.
3. We also know that the body will no longer be a body of weakness but a body of power. Our earthly bodies are subject to sickness and disease and eventually death. But our resurrected bodies will be filled with strength, might, health, authority, and control. It will be perfect.
So even though we don’t know exactly what Scripture means when it says we are going to be like Jesus, we are given some general ideas.
READ verse 3.
Here we have to ask the question why would someone want to experience God’s love? What is it that is the great driving force to want to receive God’s love? What is it that people are missing without God’s love? That answer is purity. God wants people to be just like Himself—people who are pure, holy, and righteous just like He is.
We have to remember that God created man for one reason—to have fellowship with him. He wants us living with Him in fellowship and communion. He wants us worshipping and serving Him forever.
And that’s the reason God saved us in Jesus Christ and gave us the hope of being eternally transformed—all so that we can live with Him in glory. If we keep our eyes on the great glory that lies ahead, it should stir us to want to live pure lives.
God has done so much for us. He has loved us with such an incredible love—so much so that we should be stirred to live as Christ lived. It should excite us to want to please God. And God is going to purify us. He is going to make us perfect in every sense of the word.
And so we should want to purify ourselves now, while on earth. We should seek to be as pure as Jesus is pure.
So the test is this: Do you understand the incredible love of God? I hope you do by now. Are you stirred to live a pure life because of His incredible love for you? The Bible says, “Dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Cor. 7:1)
Do that, and you pass test #1 that proves that you really love God.
