1 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:11,880 You would take your Bible and make your way to 1st John 2 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:18,160 chapter 4 verses 7 through 12. First John 47 through 12. 3 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,360 Today, as we arrive at this passage, we are. 4 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,680 Coming to what is. Perhaps the most well known and 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:31,600 probably also most loved portion first John. 6 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:37,360 And as we do, John is returning to a theme now for the third 7 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,680 time that he just won't let go. Of and he won't. 8 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,240 Let go of us until He has hammered this into us with 9 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,560 absolute assurance that we get the message. 10 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,800 That he's going to speak. To us about today the title of 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,400 the message is let us love because this is the simple 12 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,840 command and instruction that John is going to give us 13 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:03,160 returning to the theme of love for the third time in this 14 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:08,840 letter y'all it has been said that the failure of power in 15 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,600 many modern. Day churches, much like the. 16 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:19,000 Failure of an electrical current is often due to the failure. 17 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,480 To love. I agree with that. 18 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,760 I think one of the things that can be missing amidst all the 19 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:32,040 things of the way we do church in the modern era can be a 20 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:36,560 failure to truly love one another like they first did in 21 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:40,200 the New Testament era. John is going to call us back 22 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,240 now for the third time to this idea of love as God has loved. 23 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,160 Us and that love being. Shown through us to one another. 24 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,920 But just how important is the singular ingredient of love 25 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:54,560 that. Quote may sound great, but. 26 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,880 Is there any Bible behind that? Well, let me turn. 27 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,160 You don't have to turn there, but I want you to listen to 28 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,880 another biblical author by the name of Paul, who in the most 29 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,320 famous chapter on love, First Corinthians 13, speaks of how 30 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,080 critical this singular ingredient of love is in our 31 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:11,240 lives as believers. Listen. 32 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,320 To this. He says in verses one through 33 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:17,880 three of First Corinthians 13, if I speak in the tongues of men 34 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:24,160 or of angels, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or 35 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,760 clanging symbol. He says if I have the gift of 36 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,160 prophecy and fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and 37 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,040 I have a faith that can move mountains but don't have love, I 38 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,920 am nothing. If I give all I possess to the 39 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:44,600 poor and give my body over to hardship that I may boast but do 40 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:51,080 not have love, I gain nothing. Worship help me out here. 41 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:58,880 Minus love equals preaching minus love equals adult Bible 42 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,120 fellowship or Sunday school that hopefully you just got through 43 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,880 doing. Minus love equals missions, 44 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:11,040 minus love equals discipleship, minus love equals benevolence in 45 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:17,800 our community, Minus love equals Should I keep going right? 46 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,800 How important is love? Well, without love, Paul says 47 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,840 you don't have anything. In fact, we're nothing without 48 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,080 love. No wonder John under the 49 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,280 inspiration. Of the Spirit returns to this 50 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,360 theme. This simple. 51 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,920 Incredible singular instruction he gives. 52 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:38,840 This over and over. So if I I think if John were. 53 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,000 Here. If he could look us in the eye 54 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:42,280 this morning. He'd simply say this. 55 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,080 He'd say CFBC. Carter's well, first. 56 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:50,560 Family you must love 1. Another. 57 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:57,040 You must, if you don't, no matter what else you do, will 58 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,520 mean anything. Without this one ingredient, you 59 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,480 have nothing. I want you to listen to what he 60 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:03,640 actually says. First. 61 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:09,600 John 4, verses 7 through 12. Beloved, John writes, Let us 62 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:14,360 love one another for love. Is from God, and whoever loves 63 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,079 has been born of God and knows God. 64 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,720 Anyone who does not love does not know God. 65 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,480 Because God is love. In this the love of God was made 66 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:30,080 manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so 67 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,360 that we might. Live through him. 68 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:38,440 And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he 69 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:44,160 loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 70 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:49,680 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love 1. 71 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,440 Another. No one has ever seen God. 72 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:58,000 If we love one another, God abides in US and His love is 73 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,440 perfected in us. We must love one another. 74 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,640 Church family. First of all, because John says 75 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:10,120 God is love. We must love one another because 76 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,480 God is love. This is verses 7 and 8. 77 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,560 Before John gives us the instruction again to love one 78 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,240 another, he addresses us with another terminology expressing 79 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,720 love. He says, beloved, I, I tend to 80 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,680 think of that like he'd say like this, Hey, you who've been loved 81 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,000 by God. Hey, you who've received this 82 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,000 love that I'm going to ask you to show. 83 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:34,440 Hey, you who are covered and saturated and surrounded and 84 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,280 your life's been changed by the love of God. 85 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:40,480 Hey, beloved, let us love one another. 86 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,040 What exactly is he asking? Us to do when he says to love. 87 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,600 One another well, we've talked about this this be review for 88 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,680 some if not, hopefully this just allows it to sink in deeper, 89 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:50,560 right. The word for love that he uses 90 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,840 this is the word agape. Remember the Greek language had 91 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,040 multiple words for different types of love. 92 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,400 And so just to give you some reminders on that, Eros is the 93 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,640 Greek word for romantic love. That's not what he's talking 94 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,080 about. Another word for love is filia. 95 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,200 That's a friendship or brotherly love. 96 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:09,720 That's not what he's talking about. 97 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,200 Another Greek word for love is store gate. 98 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,920 That's family love, parent to child, child to parent, brother 99 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,800 to brother, sister to, you know, that's not what he's talking 100 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:19,240 about. What he's talking about here is 101 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:23,040 the 4th Greek word used for love in the New Testament for God's 102 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,640 love, which is the love that we've received, we're now asked 103 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:30,760 to show, and that's agape love. It's not an emotion, it's not a 104 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,000 feeling, it's not a response love. 105 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,400 It is a choice decision of the will to love. 106 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,760 It's a gift kind of love with no strings attached kind of love. 107 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:48,360 You see human love, Eros and Filia and Storgay to some degree 108 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,480 or another. They're all loves that are based 109 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,280 on human response. So typically Eros has been 110 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:57,920 described as an all take. Kind of love and then. 111 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,600 Filia and Storge is like a give and take, but agape is an all 112 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,360 give kind of love. But human love is almost always 113 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:09,480 a response, right? She's so beautiful, I love her. 114 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:15,160 He's so handsome, right? They're so wonderful. 115 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,600 Human love is almost always a response. 116 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:23,560 That's not agape love. Agape love is when you choose to 117 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,560 give unconditional love and what that love is. 118 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,600 What I mean by that is you choose to unconditionally act 119 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,040 for the good of another, regardless of what it costs. 120 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,760 You. So that's agape love. 121 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,360 You want a dictionary definition. 122 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:44,960 It is choosing to act for the good of another sacrificially, 123 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,680 even if it costs you. So this is a this is a type of 124 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,600 love that God. Has shown to us. 125 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,320 And So what John is saying is, beloved, let us let we must act 126 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,360 unconditionally, act for each other, for each other's good, no 127 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:00,920 matter what it cost us. Why is that? 128 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:02,320 Well, let's breakdown John's reason. 129 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:04,080 He gives us three right here in these. 130 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:06,680 First couple verses number. One, we love each other because 131 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:08,600 love is from God. Love is from God. 132 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:10,560 So he's talking to us as the people of God. 133 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,080 Now just remember what being the people of God in Bob's right. 134 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,760 We've been born of who born of God. 135 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,720 We've been loved by God, born of God, made alive by God, saved by 136 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:21,160 God. We've come into a personal 137 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,240 relationship with God. We are here to worship God. 138 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:26,360 We're indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God. 139 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,920 We're ambassadors of God. We're sent out by God on world 140 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,799 to make disciples for God. He said, hey, people of God, 141 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:37,760 love because love comes from and you're the people of God. 142 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,640 So we love because love is from God, right? 143 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:45,000 And then he says #2 he says love because whoever loves has been 144 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,760 born of God and knows God. Now just this one, he gets a 145 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,480 little point blank, black and white with all right, Whoever 146 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,600 loves, John says you can be sure knows God. 147 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:55,920 Whoever doesn't love you can be sure does not. 148 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,680 Know God, in fact. He says agape one another 149 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:03,120 because whoever agape's has been truly saved and is truly in a 150 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,480 personal relationship with God. But watch out what he says next. 151 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:10,120 Whoever does not agape, John says, has not been truly saved 152 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,320 and is not in a. Personal relationship with God. 153 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:14,840 Now John and. Jesus are on the same. 154 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,680 Page The words of Jesus out of Matthew 7. 155 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,840 Jesus says something like this. Not everyone who says to me, 156 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,600 Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the 157 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,320 one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 158 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,040 Many will say to me on that day. That's the day that we either 159 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,040 breathe our last or Jesus comes back and we see Jesus face to 160 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,120 face and stand before him for the judge. 161 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,760 Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy 162 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,600 in your name and in your name? Drive out demons out in your 163 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,320 name and before many miracles, and I will tell them plainly, 164 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,760 Jesus says, I never knew you away from me, you evil doers. 165 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,480 John and Jesus are both warning against the incredible eternal 166 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:57,400 danger of being what I'm going to call an unsaved Christian. 167 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,200 Can I use that terminology? Does that make sense? 168 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,280 What's an unsaved Christian? Someone who thinks they're a 169 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,120 Christian. Someone whom everyone else 170 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:11,800 thinks is a Christian, but God knows they're not. 171 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:15,080 John says how do you know the difference? 172 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,280 Do they have agape? Love in their life or not, 173 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:20,440 whoever agape has been born of God and knows God. 174 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,120 Whoever does not agape does not know God and has not been born 175 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:24,840 of God. You don't really get. 176 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:32,680 Much more clear than what John tells us there. 3rd Because God 177 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:36,120 is love, John says we ought to love one another to love and let 178 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:41,040 us agape one another because. God literally is agape, he says. 179 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,680 That's an amazing statement, that God is agape. 180 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:44,760 What in the world does that mean? 181 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,440 Well, what it doesn't mean is that it is true to say God is 182 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,040 agape, but it's not true to say that agape is God. 183 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,640 You can't reverse it. Does that make sense? 184 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:58,880 God is Spirit God, John is saying, in his essence and in 185 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,000 his being as a part of the necessity of who he is. 186 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:07,000 He is totally and completely saturated and permeated by agape 187 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,120 love. This is part of his nature. 188 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,280 You can't separate God and love. God is always loved and you can 189 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,160 never be without love. I want you to think about God 190 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:16,640 and love like white. And. 191 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:24,000 Rice like water and wet like sun and light like blue and sky like 192 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,160 fire and heat. You don't get one without the so 193 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:32,280 God is God is agape means that everything God does love is not 194 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:34,440 just like one thing on God. 'S To Do List. 195 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:40,680 For the day everything God does 24/7 is infused with His love. 196 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:44,920 So when God creates, he creates in and when God judges, even he 197 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,120 judges in love when he rules and when he creates and when he 198 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:52,680 guides and when he saves. And even whatever God does is 199 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:57,520 informed by and motivated by ultimately a God who is agape in 200 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,040 all that he is and in all that he does. 201 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:08,000 God is love. God is agape means so much. 202 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,800 More than just God loves you. I want. 203 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:16,240 To see if I can to help bring that to life with some insight. 204 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,880 That you may have never. Thought about before and for 205 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,360 some of you in the room I prayed this is self because some of you 206 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,680 in the room are watching online. Maybe struggle with the fact 207 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:27,720 that God could love you. You just really haven't 208 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:29,640 wrestled. That one, you haven't gotten 209 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:30,920 your mind and heart around that yet. 210 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:34,400 Why? Because maybe of past mistakes, 211 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,360 maybe of a lifestyle you've lived, maybe if things you've 212 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,160 done, things you've said, people you've heard, I mean, you name 213 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:42,720 it, whatever, whatever it is, right? 214 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,840 You just got this mountain of stuff that's blocking your view 215 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:47,840 and ability to process the love of God for you. 216 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,120 And I think here this truth of the Bible will help set you 217 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,960 free, the fact that God is love and loves you. 218 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:56,840 And here's the deal. And this will kind of mess with 219 00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:59,760 you a little bit. But listen, God loves you, hear 220 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,800 me close. Not because you are you, but 221 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:07,920 because God is God. There's nothing in me or you and 222 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:09,880 us that's naturally lovely in the eyes of God. 223 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:13,040 We're sinners deserving of separation from God and judgment 224 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:14,800 of God. You can't earn on the days you 225 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:16,720 feel unlovely and like God couldn't love you. 226 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:18,480 You're thinking about it the wrong way. 227 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,080 The sun doesn't shine on the earth because the earth is the 228 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,320 earth. It shines because the sun is the 229 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,400 sun. God loves you because God is 230 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,080 agape, not because you're worthy of agape. 231 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,880 Don't you see how? The amazing reality of the 232 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,360 character and nature of God changes everything for us. 233 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,200 Now it's. True that we are the crown of 234 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,520 God's creation. We are the only ones on the 235 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:51,560 planet made in the image of God. You can sit and behold whatever 236 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,960 sunset wherever around the world you want to, and God looks at 237 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,520 you and believes you're more beautiful and valuable to him. 238 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,160 You can find any creature on the planet, no matter how cool they 239 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,240 are. God looks at you and you're the 240 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:07,440 only one that bears His image as a human being made in the image 241 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,760 of God. You're different, but God loves 242 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,040 you because God is God, ultimately. 243 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:16,600 Don't forget that. That'll help you on certain 244 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:18,720 days. CFPC let us love one another 245 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,600 because God is love #2 We must love one another because God has 246 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,200 loved us. Verses 9 through 11. 247 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,040 How so? John tells us two ways in love. 248 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:33,840 Number one, God sent his Son to give us life, to give us life. 249 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,720 1st 9:00. God sent his only son into the 250 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,560 world, John says, so that we might live through him. 251 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,840 If John 316 is too many words for you, that right there just 252 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,800 puts it more concisely. John 316 says For God so loved 253 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:49,800 the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever 254 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,920 would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting 255 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:54,520 life. And in first John, John just 256 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,000 says God sent his Son into the world, that through him we might 257 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,280 have life. This is the best news 1 you 258 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,920 could ever hear. This is the good news of the 259 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:07,440 Gospel that John brings out here, this reality that if you 260 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,280 need a little bigger context and kind of step back to understand. 261 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,120 Why it's such good news? Is we understand the Bible says 262 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,360 God created all. Things by the word of his power. 263 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:20,640 Literally, He spoke everything into being and after He put 264 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,920 everything into being and He made mankind and He gave us His 265 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:24,960 instructions for how to live and how to honor Him. 266 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,480 We, of course, mankind did what we typically tend to do somebody 267 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,000 they just went first. They turned their back on God. 268 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,640 They did what they wanted to do instead of what God said to do. 269 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,200 They didn't honor God and that's called sin in the Bible. 270 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,200 Sin is when we fall short of the glory of God. 271 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,240 When we do that which is unrighteous in God's sight, 272 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:42,720 whether we think it, want it, say it, or do it. 273 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,800 It's all that stuff that doesn't honor him. 274 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:48,560 When we sin, that open the door wide for the curse of sin to 275 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:49,760 come into our. World Why are there? 276 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,720 Natural disasters why is there disease? 277 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,280 Why is there all sorts of death and destruction? 278 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,080 All that is because of the curse of sin in our lives. 279 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,160 Why is it we do things that don't bring US life? 280 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:01,320 Because we're sinful? Because we're born in a world. 281 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:06,800 Full of sin, God sent His Son into the world that we may have 282 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,400 life. Because of our sin, we 283 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,040 experience the effects of physical death. 284 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:17,560 He knew what that is. When you breathe your last, your 285 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,440 body and your soul are going to separate. 286 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,560 And because of sin, we don't just face physical death, we 287 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:25,640 face spiritual death. And what that is, is not a 288 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,960 separation of body and soul, but of separation from soul, from 289 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:33,560 God, forever in eternity. Jesus came that we might have 290 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,560 life through him, that we might reverse the curse of sin. 291 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,240 The Bible says if anyone would believe on Jesus by faith and 292 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,720 receive his love, his forgiveness, and the life he 293 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:47,000 offers, they can be rescued out of the death from our sin. 294 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,600 That we deserve. The death we deserve. 295 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:51,760 Both now and forever and experience life. 296 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,760 This is why Jesus came. Can I just ask you, have you 297 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,400 understood that message to the point you gave your life to 298 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,320 Jesus Christ in faith, receiving His love and forgiveness in the 299 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,599 life He offers? If not the. 300 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:13,319 Love of God has not changed you yet the right response to the 301 00:17:13,319 --> 00:17:16,839 love of God is receiving it by faith in His Son who came that 302 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:22,240 we may have life, but Jesus not only came that we may have life 303 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,880 in love. God has loved us a second way 304 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,079 that He sent His Son to give us freedom. 305 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,840 See, this is another aspect of what God has saved us from, and 306 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,040 it's based on that word propitiation there you see in 307 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:34,320 the text. Look at verse 10 again. 308 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,280 And this is love. Not that we love God first. 309 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,840 We didn't go first in this deal, but that he loved us and sent 310 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,080 his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 311 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:48,160 That's a word John is used in this little letter twice now. 312 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,360 I love this word because it's the essence of the good news of 313 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:53,280 the Gospel and what Jesus has done for us. 314 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,160 You say God, what in the world does that mean? 315 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,680 Right. God gave us send his Son to give 316 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:00,640 us life. And now with the way we're going 317 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:04,800 to put it is God sent his Son to give us freedom from God's 318 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:06,360 wrath. You say God's wrath. 319 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:08,760 God, that sounds kind of crazy. What in the world do you mean? 320 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,240 And what are you talking about? You see, it's not just that 321 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,080 because of our sin that we're headed towards physical and 322 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,440 spiritual separation from God. That's true. 323 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,400 But you see, the other result of our sin is not just a 324 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,480 separation. There is a suffering coming 325 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:28,200 under the just judgment of the wrath of God against sin. 326 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:30,000 That's in addition to our separation. 327 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,600 It's not that just God is going to send us to hang out forever 328 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:34,640 separated from Him if we don't trust Christ. 329 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,640 It's that we're under His just and holy judgment against sin if 330 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,840 we choose to refuse Christ. Do you see both John's saying 331 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,440 that Jesus came not just to give you life and make you alive and 332 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,760 bring you back together with the Father, but to rescue you from 333 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,520 the eternal collision with the wrath of God that's coming for 334 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,400 you if you refuse Jesus as your Savior. 335 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,560 This is why Jesus came to give you freedom from that. 336 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:05,320 Propitiation is a fancy word. It simply means to atone for 337 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:12,920 wrath to appease wrath for sin. The Bible says equals God. 338 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,200 'S wrath. Because God is holy, He knows no 339 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,680 sin and he's righteous. He's a good judge, so we must 340 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:23,560 judge sin. Praise God that Jesus provided 341 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,640 the atonement for the wrath of God as our propitiation to set 342 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,680 us free from what we would collide with and experience 343 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,400 forever if Jesus did not give us a way of escape. 344 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,480 Have you been saved? That's why we use the word saved 345 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:39,560 saved. From separation. 346 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,760 From God saved. From suffering under the 347 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,160 righteous judgement of God, some people. 348 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,360 Hear the judgement of. God or propitiation. 349 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:48,880 And they think man God must be some angry, nasty, volatile, 350 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:53,280 violent God in the sky. No, no, no. 351 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,600 You've just not understood the heinousness of sin to a holy, 352 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:05,120 holy, holy God, God who is holy, righteous, always. 353 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,240 And yet he must judge sin. So here's a question we often 354 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:11,920 don't like to ask or have a hard time wrestling with. 355 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,360 Can God both love sinners and be angry at them at the same time? 356 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,440 Yeah. You know the proof? 357 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,920 The cross. Because on that cross where 358 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:33,200 Jesus died, as the song says, the wrath of God was what? 359 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:36,960 That's propitiation. If it just sounded better, we'd 360 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,480 put it in the song. On that cross where Jesus died, 361 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,160 the wrath of God was satisfied. On the cross, the love of God is 362 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,800 on display because God solved the problem by sending His Son 363 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,960 for you to take it all for you. And yet God didn't back away 364 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:53,480 from his righteous just judgment. 365 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:57,040 He poured it out on Jesus so you, by faith in Him, could 366 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,440 receive life and escape. Escape forever. 367 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,040 The judgment we deserve, that Jesus took in your place. 368 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,080 Has your life been changed? By the love of God. 369 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,280 If you have not trusted. Christ, you've not rightly 370 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,640 responded to the love of. God, I heard a. 371 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,200 Preacher once say this is not an encouraging statement, but I 372 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,960 think this is often true. Human beings are often more 373 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,880 moved by the love of their dog than they are by the love of 374 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:31,360 God. Has the love of God changed your 375 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:35,400 life? It's given you life. 376 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,440 It's given you freedom. We ought to love because God has 377 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:45,840 loved us y'all. Here's some descriptions that 378 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,640 might help it bring it to light for you even more. 379 00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:53,200 The King died for traitors to his Kingdom. 380 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:58,440 The Creator died for his disobedient creation. 381 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:05,360 The betrayed offer himself in the place of the betrayers. 382 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:10,680 Who does this? A God who is loved and who is 383 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,400 righteous and must judge sin. He did it all for us through 384 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,200 Christ on the cross. No wonder verse 11 then says, 385 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,280 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to what? 386 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,160 My goodness, if the love of God has given you life and then 387 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,760 ought to change the way you live toward one another, this ought 388 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,040 to characterize every interaction and every thought 389 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,600 and every deed and every motivation and the way you do 390 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,920 life and living, especially among the family of God. 391 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:40,000 So again, John says, let us love one another unconditionally and 392 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,080 act for the good of one another no matter what it cost us, 393 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:44,560 right? So how does that like 394 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:46,960 practically play out? What would you say Pastor Kyle 395 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,480 would say would look? What would that look like in our 396 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,240 lives if we embraced loving one another among the family of God? 397 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:54,200 Like God has loved. Us. 398 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:55,760 Well, let me give you a few practical things. 399 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:56,560 You just may. Not have thought. 400 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:01,600 About #1 the love of God ought to change why you come to 401 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,200 church. Why is that? 402 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,760 Well, let's be honest, most of the time when we think about, am 403 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,320 I going to get up and get dressed and set my alarm and am 404 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,360 I going to go to church today? Who are we thinking about? 405 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,040 Me and myself. When you came to church today or 406 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,000 when the average Christian came to church today, most of the 407 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,600 time for most people going to church, they're not thinking 408 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:23,960 about going to church for anybody. 409 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:29,080 Else but for who? Is if this what they want to do? 410 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,840 Are they? Is it going to be worth it for 411 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,080 them? Are they going to be ministered 412 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:35,040 to? Are they going to receive? 413 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,200 Are they going to get? Are they going to? 414 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,040 But the way if John said, if this is true, what John says now 415 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,120 the love of God ought to change the way we relate to one 416 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:43,520 another, then it ought to give us a whole nother reason why we 417 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:45,720 show up not just for ourselves, but for who? 418 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,040 One another. OK, Kyle, how does that then 419 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:51,640 practically look like? Well, it's going to look like 420 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,240 things like this. What about simple things? 421 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,560 When you show up, and it's not just about you, you're probably 422 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:57,920 going to be open to looking and trying to meet people you don't 423 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,360 know. How many times, though, do you 424 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,080 come to church? And you're really not worried at 425 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,600 all about meeting anybody new. It's just looking for people you 426 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:10,920 already already know or what. About the people that you. 427 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,360 Do know, and just watching the expression on their face and 428 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,720 wondering, my goodness, it looks like they could use a word of 429 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,960 encouragement. Sure looks like they could be an 430 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:21,880 arm put around their shoulder and prayed for. 431 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,520 But how often? For us to pray for one another, 432 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:27,800 do we have to do it as an official thing in the service 433 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,080 and not just as the normal operation of life in the church, 434 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:35,640 in the church hall, or in the welcome area? 435 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,360 Right it this ought to change. Why you? 436 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:42,800 Come and it ought to change what you do when you. 437 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,640 Come. So think about it like this, but 438 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:45,760 it ought to change your. Posture. 439 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:47,600 Now I realize I'm talking to people sitting right now, all 440 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,520 right, so I know. I know. 441 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:51,920 But if you're coming to. Church. 442 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:54,520 For reasons that don't just involve you, then all of a 443 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,760 sudden there's going to be a lot of one another kind of going on. 444 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,600 And it means if you're coming, then you're probably. 445 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,280 Not just going. To be a posture of sitting, but 446 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:07,840 you're going to be a posture of serving because if you're coming 447 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,960 and it's not just about you. And you have to. 448 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,360 Be in a position to actually seek the good of somebody else, 449 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,360 even at your own expense. You can't do that completely 450 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:20,640 totally just in the posture of sitting. 451 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,000 It goes from sitting to serving. And then the love of God ought 452 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,080 just not change. While we come to church and what 453 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:28,960 we do while they're at. Church at all to also ought to 454 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,920 affect. How we treat each other outside 455 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,240 of church. But again, in the modern day, we 456 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:35,480 often do Church of like, well, those. 457 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,720 Are the people I see on. Sunday, but it bears no. 458 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,720 Often impact in our lives between Sunday to Sunday. 459 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:45,360 Does it? I had the instance come up where 460 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:47,160 I had breakfast with a guy this week in our church. 461 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,800 We were at Waffle House down the street and the guy walked up to 462 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,160 be our waiter and I recognized him from church and it was his 463 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,040 first day on the job at Waffle House. 464 00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,520 I was like, man, in your pastors like your first? 465 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:00,560 I don't. He was the first person. 466 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,480 That he served, but we just were able to put a hand on him and 467 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,360 pray over him right there in Waffle House. 468 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:07,880 This ought to. And I don't say that. 469 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:09,880 I mean I any of y'all would have done that too. 470 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,920 But I'm saying this ought to change the way you relate to 471 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,200 people that are part of your faith family even in the normal 472 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,240 to and fro of life. Maybe who you check on and who 473 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,080 you text and and who you pray for and who you send an 474 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,160 encouraging text message to or make a phone call to to check in 475 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,680 or stop by or ask what needs you can meet. 476 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,520 We ought to relate to one another differently than if just 477 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,360 were any other Joe out there now. 478 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,080 We're supposed to even love our. Enemies and love those that we 479 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:37,520 don't know, but there ought to be something. 480 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,520 About the family of God, if people look at it and be like 481 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:40,520 what is? That. 482 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,320 What is that? That's not. 483 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,120 Natural. Ought to change how we relate, 484 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:49,640 but we ought to love one another. 485 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:52,920 Let me give you one more reason we ought to love one another, 486 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:59,840 that you may not think about this command in the Scripture 487 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,480 and this reality that God is agape and that we ought to love 488 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,960 because God is. Love is the Achilles heel. 489 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:12,280 Of atheism, agnosticism and philosophical naturalism. 490 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,240 Now if that doesn't make any sense what I just said. 491 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,040 What I mean is the viewpoint that all is random and 492 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,640 cosmically things were thrown in a dryer starting with microbes 493 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:26,280 and it spit out all of the order of photosynthesis and 494 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:31,480 mitochondria and protoplasms and and all the ocular functions of 495 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,080 your eye. If you threw that in a cosmic 496 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,600 dryer and believe it, just spit it out and it all works. 497 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,160 If that's what you believe, you've got. 498 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,080 No explicable reason why love is a thing or a good. 499 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:48,160 Thing you've got no rationale. Or why you? 500 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,360 Shouldn't just walk out of here and take somebody's life or hate 501 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:53,760 them or do what you want to if. It's all the survival of the 502 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:55,680 fittest and randomly. Chaotically. 503 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:57,280 Just hurling through the universe. 504 00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,080 There's no reason for right or wrong. 505 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:01,040 In fact, there can be no such. Thing as right or wrong. 506 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,480 Or true morality, and you've got no reason, no reason why love 507 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:13,600 should even matter. Unless God is agape, unless God 508 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,840 has made you in his image to agape, unless we've been loved 509 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:23,800 1st and then told to love 1. Only the gospel has that reason 510 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:28,480 why doesn't mean an atheist can't love and be somewhat 511 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:29,960 moral. They certainly can be. 512 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:31,680 Why? Because they're still made. 513 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,000 In the image of God. And they can operate. 514 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,760 With a remnant of that. While they deny that God, they 515 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,680 say they don't believe in and walk and live in a little bit of 516 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,320 that image that still remains and argue for something they 517 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,840 can't explain. God is agape changes everything, 518 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,600 changes the way we ought to show up at church, what we do while 519 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,240 we're here, what we do when we leave, and our reason for those 520 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,000 that want an answer for our faith. 521 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:05,600 Because God is agape #3 love one another because love makes God 522 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,240 visible. I'm going to go quick on this 523 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,040 one. Love one another because love 524 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:10,640 makes God visible. This is verse 12. 525 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:12,720 I'm going to read it again. No one has ever seen God. 526 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,560 That is. Fully face to face yet? 527 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:20,040 If we love one another though, God abides in US and His love is 528 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,240 perfected in US, God abides in us. 529 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,000 If we love one, that means the Holy Spirit truly indwells us. 530 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,640 God truly is living through US and in US in the presence of God 531 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:30,760 permeates us. And even further than that, if 532 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:33,920 we love one another, God's love, the Bible says it's perfected in 533 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,040 us. That means its purpose comes to 534 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,640 full fruition. The goal or objective is 535 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,920 achieved, and that goal is as though God, though is invisible. 536 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,840 His plan is for His love lived out of His people makes Him 537 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,880 visible to a lost and watching world. 538 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,920 When they say love, it brings it to life. 539 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,680 It brings it to light. It pierces the darkness and 540 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,080 opens people's eyes. Oh my goodness, that doesn't 541 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,080 make sense. Where does that come from? 542 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,960 The love of God in our lives makes God visible. 543 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,840 If we love one another, God who is invisible is made visible 544 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:08,720 through US. Let me tell you a little. 545 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,120 Story about that. Of God's. 546 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,600 Love being made visible and received as we close. 547 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,960 His name is Jacob Deshazzer. He was one of the members of 548 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,240 General Jimmy Doolittle's crew who bombed Tokyo. 549 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,840 In World War. 2 So he was captured by the Japanese and he 550 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,640 was put in prison. He absolutely hated his Japanese 551 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,680 captors, and his Japanese captors feared James to Shazzer 552 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,240 because he was so violent and hateful back to them. 553 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:39,800 They put him in solitary confinement and they feared him. 554 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,360 It didn't matter what they did to him. 555 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,200 He just got meaner and meaner. And meaner and would. 556 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,680 Lash out against him, but in a remarkable way. 557 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,920 Jacob obtained a copy of the Bible while a prisoner of war 558 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:54,040 and began to read it all alone. In the loneliness of his cell, 559 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:58,760 he came to realize the life that Jesus Christ offers. 560 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,760 Him an amazing. Change came over him. 561 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:06,160 His hatred while a prisoner of war of the Japanese totally, 562 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,560 completely went away. They were astonished. 563 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:13,840 He became like the most docile, eagerly cooperative and kind of 564 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,360 their prisoners, even back to his captors. 565 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,080 Eventually the story of James's change of heart was written up 566 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,640 in a little track and it was distributed after the war 567 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,080 throughout Japan. It fell into the hands of a 568 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:32,240 young Japanese captain by the name of Mitsuo Fujita, the man 569 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,040 who, by the way, led the air raid against Pearl Harbor and 570 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,280 who gave the command to drop the bombs on December the 7th. 571 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,040 This man returned from that mission. 572 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,880 He was a war hero, obviously, in Japan, and yet he writes about 573 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,400 how his heart was completely empty. 574 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,480 Somehow he had read the track, though, that told of James 575 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,240 Deshazzer's story, an amazing change of heart. 576 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,920 And he was arrested by the story, but he was puzzled by he 577 00:31:57,920 --> 00:31:59,760 didn't understand. Again, this is an out of this 578 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,760 kind of world kind of change. He obtained a copy of the New 579 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:03,920 Testament. He began to. 580 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:05,800 Read it with. Growing interest in amazement 581 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,440 and at last he came to the. Story of the crucifixion. 582 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:12,880 When he read the Lord's. Words from the cross, Father. 583 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,720 Forgive them, for they know not what they do. 584 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:22,800 His heart broke and he realized this One who could love his 585 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:27,240 enemies and pray for those who persecuted him and despitefully 586 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:32,400 used him was manifesting a quality of life that no natural 587 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:35,000 human being could possibly show. Why? 588 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,760 Because Jesus was putting the love of God on display. 589 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,400 And he saw it. Fuchita became a Christian. 590 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,720 The man who gave. The command to drop the bombs on 591 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:48,280 Pearl Harbor on December 7th became a Christian. 592 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,720 Did you realize he became a preacher and an evangelist, 593 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,680 travelling the Japanese coast, telling people of a love that 594 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:56,400 had the power A. Love. 595 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,600 That had the power to change the human heart. 596 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,880 When we love, we make. God. 597 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:13,120 Visible for others to see. CFBC, we must, We must love to 598 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,520 one another. John and Praise team are about 599 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:16,720 to come. Here's what I want to ask you to 600 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:19,480 consider number one. Here's the simple basic question 601 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,440 I've asked you already. Has the. 602 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:30,240 Love of God changed your life. If it's not changed your life, 603 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:31,880 you haven't grasped the love of God. 604 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:37,720 When I say. Changed your life. 605 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,800 I mean the way that happens, it's just like the Japanese 606 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:48,240 captain realized Jesus, Jesus did for you what no one or no 607 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:53,000 one else could possibly do. He died for your sin. 608 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,040 He defeated death, rose from the grave to offer you life. 609 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:03,200 Have you received life and love from Jesus Christ by faith? 610 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,280 If not, I'm asking you this morning to step out from where 611 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,960 you are when I stand right here, because I stand waiting for you 612 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:10,920 to simply say pastor. Kyle, I'm ready to. 613 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,480 Receive the love of Christ. I want to trust Jesus. 614 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:19,159 I'm not waiting another day. Would you come now? 615 00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:21,159 Christian, let me talk to you. If you've received the love of 616 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:24,000 Christ, Is the love of Christ changing the way you live? 617 00:34:25,679 --> 00:34:27,360 Is it part of the reason you come to church? 618 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,719 Is it changing what you do? While you're at church, is it 619 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,480 changing what you do outside of church toward one another and 620 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,719 toward even your enemies and the people that if you don't like, 621 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,239 but God's called you to love, is God? 622 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:42,880 Is God's love changing your life? 623 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,040 Is God being put on display in your life because you're 624 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,239 choosing to love when it doesn't make sense? 625 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,639 Somebody's going to look at that and say, no natural human being, 626 00:34:53,639 --> 00:34:56,040 you got something supernatural. What is that? 627 00:34:56,120 --> 00:35:01,160 What is that? You can have a chance to say 628 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:02,560 God. God is love. 629 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:08,520 He's loved me and I can't help now but show his love. 630 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:10,920 I'm going to ask you if the love. 631 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,400 Of God needs to change your life for you to step out and come, 632 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,960 whether it's to talk to me or get on your knees or stand and 633 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,160 just say God, I'm responding to your love today in a way that I 634 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,480 have not before. I'm going to ask you to come 635 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,880 after we pray in Jesus name. I ask, Father, that you would 636 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,880 allow us by your Spirit to say yes to you, Father, that you 637 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,800 would have your way, and God, that you would speak to our 638 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:34,960 hearts in this moment. Help us. 639 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,000 To not let anything hold us back by obeying in faith. 640 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,600 In Jesus name I pray. Amen. 641 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,920 Would you stand with me? Would you? 642 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:43,800 Come as the Lord leads you, as we worship. 643 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,040 Let's sing together, and you come.