Sermon Central
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Why I Am A Christian
Contributed by Gene Gregory on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Looks at the reason to become a believer & the responsibilities that go with it. Expanded outline.
No, I am not a Christian, I do not love Jesus or God because I am basically or by nature a good person.
The Bible describes those who don’t know and love the Lord as blind, and dead to sin.
I am not a Christian, I do not love the Lord because of the blessings He has given me or because of what I think He will give me. I do not love the Lord just because of the family I came from, though the Lord uses our families to help. I do not love the Lord even because I am basically a good person. No, I love the Lord for one reason and one reason only. That reason is found in the book of 1st John. It is found in the 4th chapter of 1st John, there toward the end of your Bibles. Open your Bibles this morning and look there with me please at 1st John 4:7-19.
- Read 1 John 4:7-19
Did you see it? Did you see the key? It’s there in verse 19.
> 1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.
We love because He first loved us.
It is because of the love of God, that even though Adam and Eve sinned, God provided a covering for them in their nakedness, and promised a Redeemer to crush the serpent’s head.
Verse 10 of this passage says it is God’s love that caused Him to send Jesus Christ into the world.
It is God’s love for you, that caused Him to send His holy and perfect Son, Jesus Christ, from the glories and majesty of heaven to earth. God’s love moved Jesus from the palatial throne rooms of heaven to that little manger, in the animal stall of a minor backwater-town called Bethlehem. It is God’s love, that moved Jesus from the riches of a home in heaven to the poverty of a carpenter’s family in Nazareth. It is God’s love that later caused Jesus to roam, with no place to lay His head.
It is God’s love, that allowed Jesus to be rejected by men. It is God’s love for you and me, that caused Jesus to be beaten and hung on a cross. It is God’s love for you and me, that caused God to lay our sins on His Son. God’s love for us caused Him to turn His back on Jesus.
- Isaiah 53:5-6
Why am I a Christian? Why do I love God? Because He first loved me.
If I truly love the Lord, how am I to respond?
WE SHOW OUR LOVE FOR GOD BY
1. Loving His Children
> 1 John 4:20-21
How do we love one another? Forgiving. Praying for one another. Encouraging one another. Helping one another. Etc.
2. Keeping His Commands
> 1 John 5:1-3
What is our response? Go love someone? No! This week, go spend time in your Bible, filling up on God’s love, and see if the love of Christ doesn’t constrain you.
