SPECIAL DAY: VALENTINE’S DAY
TEXT: 1 JOHN 4:9-10
TITLE: “GOD LOVES YOU: NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!”
INTRODUCTION: A. Two teenaged boys were out cave exploring when they found what appeared to be
huge bear tracks deep inside a long, cavernous tunnel. They bravely decided to keep
going, but they moved ahead slowly and cautiously, keeping their eyes and ears open
in case a bear lurked nearby.
Suddenly, from behind a large rock formation jumped the biggest, meanest-looking
grizzly bear they’d ever seen. The bear stood up on its hind legs, beat its chest, and
roared so loudly that it sent a terrible sound echoing off the walls of the cave.
Scared to death, the two teenagers decided to run for their lives. They took off on a
dash for the daylight. They had a little bit of a lead on the bear when one of the guys
dropped to the floor of the cave and started untying his boots. He whipped his
backpack off and took out a pair of running shoe sand started to lace them up.
His buddy yelled at him, “Hey, man! Whatta ya think you’re doin’? Let’s get
outta here! We don’t have much of a chance of outrunning that bear as it is!”
The guy on the floor hopped up and began sprinting toward the cave’s exit. He
turned and yelled over his shoulder: “I don’t have to outrun the bear. All I have to do
is outrun you!”
--Do you ever feel like people treat you like bear bait?
1. When the going gets rough, they bail out on you?
2. They claim they love you until it costs them something and then they leave you
behind.
B. I understand how that feels. I had someone who was my absolute best friend for
year. We first met when I was in Hr. High. We were friends through thick and thin.
Even when no none else liked us, we were still each other’s friend.
This friend hit a very troublesome time in his life and went through some very
disappointing circumstances. Everything he had worked toward and had hope for were
gone. He was crushed. No matter what, I stayed his friend and tried to help him
through this period and find some new direction for his life.
After things began to get better in his life, things in my life began to turn sour. I
entered one of the most difficult, depressing, and spiritually dead points that I have
ever faced. But I knew I could count on one thing: no matter what else happened or
what I did, my friend would still be there.
1. Guess what?
--When I needed his friendship the most, he bailed out on me
a. I was too much trouble
b. I was going to drag him down
c. I was an embarrassment to him
2. I never felt more downhearted and disgusted in all my life
--It took me quite awhile to get over both the circumstances that had brought the
tough time and the failure of my friend to love me through those circumstances.
C. However, it was during this particular time that I really came to know someone who
had already said they loved me and I had believed them – to a certain point
--It was during this time of indecision and tough times that I truly discovered the love
of God.
1. The last part of 1 Jn. 4:8 – “…God is love.”
2. Love is not just one of the central attributes of God’s character
a. God IS love
b. God = love
c. If you want to know what love is all about, look at God
3. God’s love is different from any other love you will ever experience
4. 1 Jn. 4:9-10 (NLT) - “God showed how much he loved us
by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through
him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his
Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
--I want to share with you five amazing facts about God’s love for YOU!
I. Amazing Fact #1: GOD CREATED YOU FOR THE PURPOSE OF LOVING YOU
A. One of the most important things you need to comprehend is that you are not here by blind chance and
evolutionary processes.
1. God is a Creator God
--Gen. 1:1 0 “In the beginning, God created…”
2. You are not an accident of nature. You are created by Almighty God.
--King David recognized this fact in Ps. 139:13-16 – “For you created my inmost being; you knitted
me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your
works are wonderful, I know full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the
secret place. When I was woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All
the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
B. When God went to the drawing board and designed you He did it with the express intent of loving you
and having a relationship with you
1. The basic function of your life is to recognize that you are the object of God’s love
2. Eph. 1:4-5 (NLT) – “Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to
be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His family
by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure.” (italics mine)
C. Have you ever wondered about your purpose in life?
1. Some people think their purpose in life is to make money; achieve success; find happiness
2. I’m going to tell you what your purpose in life is (just so you don’t waste anymore time looking for
your purpose)
--Your purpose in life is TO BE LOVED BY GOD
a. God has always intended to love you!
b. Before this world was ever created, God already laid His eyes on you as an item of His desirel as
an object of His divine and perfect love.
c. If you’re living for any other reason that to enjoy a love relationship with God, you are missing out
on your real purpose in life!
--Amazing Fact #1: GOD CREATED YOU FOR THE PURPOSE OF LOVING YOU
II. Amazing Fact #2: GOD TAKES THE INITIATIVE IN LOVING YOU
A. What I’m saying is this: God did not wait for you to come to Him.
1. He has pursued a relationship with you
2. God woos or courts us into a relationship with Him
B. God has initiated the relationship process
1. The fact of the matter is that none of us, in and of ourselves, would ever seek God on our own
initiative
--Rom. 3:10-12 – “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who
understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one.”
2. Left to ourselves, we would do what that country song from several years ago described
--“We’d be looking for love in all the wrong places”
3. C.S. Lewis said that when people talk about their search for God, it’s like the mouse speaking of his
search for the cat.”
C. We all have the desire to be loved.
1. God created us with the desire to be loved
2. However, human love never adequately fills that desire.
3. Because we know that we’re not fully satisfied, we look to fill the empty place inside us with all sorts
of things
a. Pleasure – sex, drugs, alcohol, entertainment
b. Success – to be the winner in everything we do
c. Popularity – to be well-like, admired, and accepted by everyone
d. Possessions – to have a lot of stuff or to have only the most expensive stuff
4. Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, calls this search for something to fill that empty space with anything but
God a “grasping after the wind.”
--No matter what we use to fill the void in our life, if it’s not a love relationship with God, they will
never do the job.
5. When we reject relationship with God and look for other things to fill that void, we will face some,
and maybe even all, of the following:
a. Loneliness
b. Guilt
c. Fear
d. Anger (with our self, with others, and even with God)
e. Inadequacy
f. Emptiness
6. Augustine: “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they learn to rest in
You.”
D. All the while we’re looking for love in the wrong places, God is actively pursuing a relationship with us.
1. Jer. 21: - “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved with an everlasting love; I have
drawn you with loving-kindness.”
2. We’re looking in every direction but toward God but God is gently and lovingly wooing us and
courting our attention.
3. Think about that for just a moment.
--The Bible is a collection of records that tell us about people just like you and me and about the God
who sought them out:
a. Adam and Eve
b. Noah
c. Abraham
d. Moses
e. Peter and the rest of the disciples
f. Paul
g. And He also comes to you today, right here in this place, relentlessly seeking you out.
--Amazing fact #1: God created you to have a love relationship with you. Amazing fact #2 is that God takes
the initiative to establish that love relationship.
III. Amazing Fact #3: GOD’S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL
--God’s love is not tied to the worth of the person being loved. He loves you no matter what.
A. The New Testament uses a very special word that gets translated as love but every time it’s a reference
to the love that God has for each one of us.
1. New Testament originally written in common Greek
--The special word for God’s love is agape
2. 1st century common Greek utilized four different words that simply got translated into English as the
generic word love
a. Philos – friendship love
b. Eros – romantic love or passion
c. Storge – family love
d. Agape – love for it’s own sake
3. What’s the difference between the first three words and agape?
--I’m so glad you asked!
a. The first three are based on what the other party does for you; based on what you receive; what is
beneficial to you
b. Agape – sacrificial and committed; exists for the sole benefit of the one being loved
c. That’s the kind of love God has for you!
4. John Ortberg, Love Beyond Reason, states it this way: “God doesn’t just love you because he has to,
he loves you because he wants to. God delights in you. Of course, that doesn’t mean God delights in
everything you do. Your own mother doesn’t do that, if she’s at all healthy. But the fact that you
exist-you, your own self- is very good in God’s eyes. God likes to love you”
B. Not only is God’s love not based on our worthiness, the simple fact is that we can never be worth of
God’s love
1. Rom. 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
2. The word translated as sin was an archery term that meant: “to miss the mark or target [so as not to
receive the prize]”
3. God IS love but He perfectly temper His love with justice and holiness
a. Because of His holiness, God cannot allow sin in His presence
1). Because we’re all sinners, we’re separated from God
2). Because we’re sinner, we cannot come into relationship with God
3). If you remember how much God hates sin, you understand just how much Christ loved us to
leave heaven for an environment filled with unrighteousness and contaminated with sin.
4). I want you to imagine that you’re going for a very important job interview and you’re
dressed in some of your best clothes. You’ve spent a good deal of time making sure you’re
perfectly presentable for this interview.
As you walk toward the building where the interview is being held, you meet a relative who
has a three-year-old child who is very special to you. This child has been eating peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches and as three-year-olds are prone to do, the peanut butter and jelly is
smeared all over him. Not only that, but every piece of dirt, grass, and leaf that he’s come
into contact with is stuck to his hands, face, and clothes.
As you get close to them, he puts his arms into the air because he wants you to pick him up
and give him a big hug. What would you do?
--Now you understand a little bit about how God feels in the presence of sin
b. Because of His justice, God requires that the penalty for sin must be paid
1). Rom. 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
2). We owed a debt we could not pay but because He loves us, God paid a debt that He did not
owe
a). Jn. 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
b). Rom. 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
C. Christ’s death on the cross was the ultimate expression of His love for you!
1. We were in need of a Savior
--God loved us enough to provide that Savior through the death of His Son on a cruel Roman cross
2. When I was young, my parents owned a cabin on Nolin Lake in Kentucky. Down a steep hill
from our cabin was the lake and the dock at which my dad kept our boat during the summer months.
In this particular cove, the fishing was pretty decent. Sometimes we would just walk down to the
dock and throw our lines in the water.
One day, when I was around ten or eleven, my dad and I were fishing off of this dock. We’d been
there quite awhile and even though the fishing was good, I got bored. I wanted to go swimming. I
kept bugging my dad just to let me jump off the dock into the lake. My dad told me no for quite
awhile but finally he gave in. Without any kind of flotation device, I ran the length of the dock and
jumped in.
It was then that I discovered why Dad was so reluctant to let me just jump in. It was 20-25feet
deep at that part of the cove. I never sank so fast or so deep in my life! Even though I was a pretty
strong swimmer, I fought and fought to get back to the surface. I didn’t think I was going make it.
My lungs felt like they were going to burst. Just about the time I’d given up, there was my dad. He
was laying on the dock with his arm in the water. He could see me struggling and he reached in,
grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to the surface. He then dragged me onto the dock where I lay
gasping for air.
--I was in desperate need of a savior! I was glad my dad was there and that he was willing to do what
needed to be done to save me from a very certain death.
3. Christ loved you enough to die an excruciatingly painful death just so you could have a love
relationship with Him
--1 Jn. 3:16 – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
4. He died knowing everything about you: everything you’d ever do, every thought you ever had, every
blemish and sin was known to Him when He gave His life for you.
5. Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, puts forth two stunning concepts:
a. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more
b. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less
--1st fact: God created you for the purpose of loving you. 2nd fact: God initiates this love relationship. 3rd
fact: God’s love is unconditional and…
IV. Amazing Fact #4: GOD’S LOVE NEVER GIVES UP
A. The owner of a photography store told about a young man who came in with a framed picture of his
girlfriend. He wanted copies of the picture.
When the shop owner removed the picture from the frame, he noticed an inscription on the back,
written by the girlfriend. It said: “My dearest Tommy, I love you with all my heart. I love you more
and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity.” It was signed,
“Darlene”, and contained a postscript: “If we should ever break up, I want this picture back.”
1. What was the girlfriend doing?
2. She was already making arrangements for the relationship to end!
3. Ps. 89:1-2a – “I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your
faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever…”
B. We’ve already discussed the New Testament’s special word for God’s love.
--The Old Testament also has a special word for God’s love
1. Old Testament written in Hebrew and the special word for God’s love in that language is chesed
2. It has the sense of love, kindness and mercy all wrapped together
3. It’s a word that designates stubbornness and loyalty in its affection.
C. God’s love stays faithful to us long after we’ve forfeited any claim to His love.
1. God’s love is a binding kind of love, a love that refuses to give up
2. As I shared earlier in this message, I’ve known this love in a very special way.
a. There have been times in my life that I’ve not been very loveable to a holy and perfect God but He
loved me anyway.
b. God has used people, circumstances, and events to let me know just how much He loves me – no
matter what!
c. And I am certainly grateful and humble when I consider that a holy and righteous God has always
wanted a relationship with sinful old me.
3. God’s “stubborn love” is described by the apostle Paul in Rom. 8:35-38 – “Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or
sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I
am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
--1st fact: God created you to love you; 2nd fact: God initiated this love relationship; 3rd fact: God’s love is unconditional 4th fact: God’s love lasts forever and finally…
V. 5th Amazing Fact: GOD WANTS YOU TO LOVE HIM IN RETURN
A. Just as “God gives of Himself to loves us, He also wants us to return that love to Him
1. The God who created all things and who needs nothing actually rejoices when we love Him in return
2. God’s greatest delight is when we respond to the love He has shown us and love Him in return
--
B. Several important things we need to remember:
1. We don’t deserve His love
2. He doesn’t need our love
3. But He wants our love
4. God simply gives us the choice to love Him or not to love Him
5. It’s totally for our benefit and not for His to do so.
CONCLUSION: A. Jason Tuskes was a 17-year-old high school honor student. He was close to his
mother, his wheel-chair bound father, and his younger brother whose name was
Christian.
Jason was an expert swimmer who loved to scuba dive. He left home on a Tuesday
morning to explore a spring and underwater cave near his home in West central Florida.
His plan was to be home in time to celebrate his mother’s birthday by going out to dinner
with his family that night.
Jason became lost in the cave. Then, in his panic, he apparently got wedged into a
narrow passageway. When he realized he was trapped, he shed his yellow metal air tank
and unsheathed his diver’s knife. With the tank as a tablet and the knife as a pen, he
wrote one last message to his family: I LOVE YOU MOM, DAD, AND CHRISTIAN.
Then he ran out of air and drowned.
1. A dying message – something that is communicated in the last few seconds of life – is
something that is difficult to ignore.
2. God’s message to us is etched on a Roman cross
a. The letters are blood red
b. They scream to be heard
c. God’s message says, “I love you.”
B. Max Lucado. A Gentle Thunder: “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If
God had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a
sunrise every morning. When you want to talk, He’ll listen. He could live anywhere in the
universe, and He chose your heart. And that Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem; not
to mention that Friday at Calvary? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you!”
1. My prayer for you this morning comes from Eph. 3:17b-19 – “And I pray that you,
being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to
grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of
God.”
2. What’s your response to God’s love this morning?
