"Wake The Town And Tell The People

Wake the Town and Tell the People

I John 4:7-21

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

I once heard someone say that there are four exceptional means of communication:

 Telegraph

 Telephone

 Television

 Tell a woman

Obviously this predates e-mail.

Well, the Christian faith is a faith to be told about. We’ve found something wonderful. God loves us in spite of our sin. We’ve learned that Jesus Christ died to save us. We’ve come to know a Savior who is more wonderful than anything else in heaven or in earth.

The Bible instructs us to tell others what we have experienced. Psalm 107:2: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

The angel at the empty tomb of the resurrected Christ said to the women: “Go and tell my disciples what you have seen” (Matt.28:10).

Jesus said, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”

Just before His ascension, He said, “You will be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

He was simply saying, “You know who I am. You know what I’ve done, and you have a message of redemption for the world. Now go and deliver it!”

Some years ago there was a popular song entitled, “Wake the Town and Tell the People.” Its theme was that of a couple in love who were so excited about their love for one another that they wanted everyone to know about it. O, that you and I would have that same desire—to tell the world about our Savior’s great love.

The world celebrates romantic love; we celebrate a higher love—God’s love.

God has always loved us. He always will. He loves the good and the bad, the rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant. He loves not just in word, but in deed.

The Bible is full of His love. The world is full of His love. The church is full of His love.

Illus.: “The Things We Do For Love”

Lynette was a typical teenager with typical teenage wants and needs. And like most teenagers, she felt an overwhelming need to be loved. But that need went unmet at home. There was no love there, and the longer Lynette went without it, the more she craved it. Her relationship with her parents continued to deteriorate until one day she ran away from home. Ending up on a street in California, she decided that whoever loved her first could have her. And that’s how Lynette’s need for love was met. Before long, someone did come up to her on that street corner. He put his hand on her head and told her that he would take care of her. True to her ideals, Lynette devoted the rest of her life to that man. What a beautiful story that could have been if only it had been a Christian who had found her first—someone who would have told her about God’s love for her. Instead, the person who found her was Charles Manson. Currently, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme is serving a life sentence in prison for demonstrating her devotion to Manson. At his request, Lynette attempted the assassination of President Gerald Ford in 1975.