Does He Love me? I love Him not!
John 3:16-21
Probably the best-known verse in the Bible is found in our text. Most of us have memorized it. Some of you have even learned how to speak it in a different language.
We sing about God’s love and as a child I am sure most can remember singing, “Jesus loves me”. We talk about His love and sometimes we even question His love with questions like; how can God love someone like me? Or does God really love me, if so why am I going through this.
But God’s love is the foundation of everything. If God did not love us, then why did He create us? If God did not love us, then why did He leave Heaven and come here on this world to die for us? If God did not love us, then why is He up in heaven preparing a place for us to spend eternity with Him forever? I don’t know about you, but if I have to spend eternity with someone then I sure would want to make sure that I loved them.
I was watching one of my favorite TV shows last week, “Joan of Arcadia” and God used it to inspire my sermon. Joan if you have not seen the show is a high school student who has a close personal relationship with God. He appears to her as different people and is always giving her assignments.
In this episode, Joan finds out that her boyfriend cheated on her. Although he says that he loves her, he chose to follow his own desires and it breaks Joan’s heart. And who is there to help her pick up the pieces? God.
And that is the way that God works. His desire is to have a personal relationship with Him. He cares for us. And when we hit our low and we think things are at their worst, God is there. And it this scene, He just wraps His arms around Joan and loves her. He didn’t lecture her or criticize her, He just loved her.
So this morning I wanted to spend a little time looking at this subject of God’s love and what it means to us and then ask the question, “Do you love Him? “
Consider the Source of the Love
God’s love was demonstrated in the giving of His only Son to die on the cross. Now before you go to sleep with the simplicity of the message, think about the sincerity of it.
I have two boys of my own. Now I would give my life for either of them, but I would not give their life for one of you. His “Only begotten Son”; and Jesus did not die for someone. He died for everyone.
Would you be willing to give your child to die for someone else? I wouldn’t! So who are the …
The Beneficiaries of the Love
“Whoever believes in Him”
Notice that not everyone benefits from His death. It is only for those who believe in Him. Now He died it for everyone, but not everyone accepts His gift.
I heard about a young man who was getting ready to graduate and it was customary in the neighborhood for parents to buy their children a car for a graduation present. The young man and his father went to the car dealership and he found a car that he loved.
After his graduation the father approached his son and handed him his gift. As the son opened the gift expecting to find something representing the car of his dreams, a look of confusion came across his face. Inside the box was a Bible. The father was always trying to teach his son about God and His love.
The boy disappointed, thinking that his father was trying to cram religion down his throat, threw the Bible down and ran off. He went with his friends to the beach and got a job while he was there and decided to live there.
He would talk occasionally to his mom, but he never once spoke to his dad. One day he received a call from his mom in tears, telling him that his father had a massive heart attack and had died.
The boy returned home and after the funeral while helping put his fathers things away he came across the gift that had caused the separation between he and his father. He took the Bible out of the box and as he opened it a piece of paper came floating to the ground.
It was a check written on the date of his graduation for the amount of the car that he and his father had chosen.
And that is how many respond to His gift as well. It is there. It is paid for. But many never accept the gift. So what is the…
The required response
It is simple faith in Jesus Christ. It is so simple that some believe it is to good to be true. But it is that simple.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast.
Nothing that we can do, no fine print, nothing other than by faith trusting in God; believing that He was who He said He was; believing that He died for your sins and that He rose again on the third day and He reigns in Heaven and you accept Him as your only way to go there to be with Him. So let’s look at the …
The importance of that response
Those who believe will live forever; and those who do not believe will perish forever. It is not as simple as some believe. You live, you die, and you are buried.
We all when we leave this world will reside forever. Where we reside is a matter of choice. We can either choose to live forever with Him in a place that He has created which as the song states, “I can only imagine”. Or we will spend an eternity in a place called hell where we will be in everlasting torment.
Now you may be thinking, how can a loving God send someone to hell? He doesn’t, we choose to go there ourselves.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
So God does love us. He loves us unconditionally. Nothing we can or have ever done can change that. So now my question to you is do you love Him?
Why should you love Him?
1 John 4:19 We love Him, because He first loved us.
Unlike Joan’s boyfriend, He will never leave us or never forsake us. His is an unconditional love that does not depend on nothing else but His existence.
Do you love Him? Joan’s boyfriend said that he loved her but his actions with the other girl did not prove that. His walk did not match his talk. And that is the way it is with us.
We say we love Him. We sing songs that say we love Him. But our walk does not match our talk.
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy, Abhor (or hate) what is evil. Cling to what is good.
Do we love Him? If we love Him, we must love one another
1 John 4:20 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?
Do we love Him? If we do we do what he tells us to.
John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Instead of the world’s philosophy, “don’t do as I do, do as I say”. He has the opposite approach. He says, “Do as I do and as I say”. One of the sins that are often unnoticed is the sin of nothing.
God tell us to do something and we do nothing. God tells us to say something and we say nothing.
So do you love Him?
Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior? If so…
Does you walk match your talk?
Can you say that you are not caring a grudge against someone you need to forgive?
Are you being obedient to His commands?
If you did not answer yes to any of those questions, you can change that today.
Let’s Pray
