1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,080 All right. We've been in a time of Bible 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:03,680 study. We're calling this current 3 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:09,400 series that we're in right now the Gospel course because we got 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,920 some delay with the thing, but the Gospel course. 5 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,520 And my hope is that with this series, we all get equipped with 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,840 the fundamentals of what the gospel is. 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,320 It's so critical. This is the thing that saves us 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,560 and we need it for ourselves and we also need it on our lips as 9 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,520 we go into our life. So we started this course 10 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:37,040 describing what the gospel is. The gospel, the Word, means good 11 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,760 news, and the good news we saw from our first week in First 12 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,280 Corinthians chapter 15. The good news is a death. 13 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:49,960 It is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,000 the forgiveness of our sins. That's the message. 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,480 But we saw in the week after that that the reason why that is 16 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,840 good news is because there's also some bad news. 17 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:02,000 And that's the part that we mostly struggle with. 18 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,519 We like telling people good news. 19 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,280 And we saw that statistic while we were together, that almost 20 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,480 half of clinical physicians that were surveyed in that survey 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,520 struggled to give the bad news to their patients because of the 22 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,160 emotional cost of telling somebody something bad. 23 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,160 But that's what we really need. We saw in that second week that 24 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,480 we're all sinners. We, we don't like that word sin. 25 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:31,560 But really we need to know what we're saved from in the gospel. 26 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:34,120 And today we're going to ask this question. 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,880 We're going to see, why does God want to save me at all if I'm 28 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:41,040 really a Sinner? And if he had to go through all 29 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,080 of that to save us, why? Why would he want to do that? 30 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:47,800 I think that's a great question. I've wondered that question 31 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:49,080 myself. Why would you do this? 32 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,760 I don't deserve this, why would you do this? 33 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:53,680 And that's what we'll answer today. 34 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,640 We're going to look at our big idea is that God wants to save 35 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,520 us because he loves us. We're just going to give you the 36 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,880 answer right up front. He wants to save us because he 37 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,280 loves us. And today his love will be our 38 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,440 theme. We're going to look at 5 39 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,240 evidences of God's love in First John chapter 4. 40 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,440 So if you have a Bible, you can turn to 1st John chapter 4. 41 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:31,780 We'll be in verses 9 and 10. First John chapter 4, verses 9 42 00:02:31,780 --> 00:02:35,660 and 10. The Bible says in this was 43 00:02:35,660 --> 00:02:40,500 manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent 44 00:02:40,500 --> 00:02:44,460 his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live 45 00:02:44,460 --> 00:02:48,620 through him here in his love. Not that we loved God, but that 46 00:02:48,620 --> 00:02:53,560 He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our 47 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,040 sins. Let's take a moment and pray. 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:57,880 We're going to spend some time in these verses. 49 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,240 God, we come before your word and we confess that it's true 50 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,400 whether we always believe it or not. 51 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,800 We believe that you gave your life for us today. 52 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,400 We ask that you, you teach us in the Holy Spirit the things we 53 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:22,080 need to learn as individuals, as a church, and perhaps even that 54 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,720 we can be equipped for a conversation this week. 55 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,920 We give you permission now to speak to us. 56 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,440 Change us. Use this time for your glory. 57 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,880 I pray in Jesus name, Amen. All right. 58 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,440 Well, with love being our theme, it it's only fitting that you 59 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:52,080 should know that John, the the apostle John is really the love 60 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,400 guy. He is love, truth and light. 61 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,800 If you read John's gospel, if you read first, second and third 62 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,560 John, you'll see that he uses the greatest mention of the word 63 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,600 love and all the Bible, that's the books of the Bible it with 64 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,640 the word love being used in the the high ones are John and 1st 65 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,240 John. So it's only fitting that we're 66 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,800 hanging out with John for this particular theme. 67 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,920 So today we're going to see five reasons why God loves us and 68 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,640 wants to save us. And the first one we see from 69 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,200 our text is that God's love is evident. 70 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:32,400 His love is evident. If you look at first John 71 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:38,880 chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, it says in verse 9, and this was 72 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,080 manifested the love of God toward us. 73 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,880 And if you look at verse 10, it says herein is love. 74 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,920 So it's possible for us to know, to be able to see some kind of 75 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:57,560 evidence that God loves us. And if we're being honest, we 76 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,920 won't always feel like God loves us. 77 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,920 Feelings are not the metric for truth. 78 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,520 So if we are only looking for a feeling to validate that God 79 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:10,680 loves me, we're going to be really disoriented. 80 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,880 God says there's something that we can look to that proves that 81 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,320 He loves us, and He uses this word manifest. 82 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,560 So if you're taking notes, I gave you the definition that it 83 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:29,720 is to be made visible or known. Like if you have a manifest on 84 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,040 an airplane or on a ship, that tells you the contents. 85 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,000 It reveals what is inside. So to manifest is to make 86 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,080 something known. There's another word that's used 87 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,400 here that I told you. It's used a lot in John's 88 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,000 writing, the word love. I want to give you a definition 89 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,960 of love because you know as well as I do love is, it's a pretty, 90 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,800 it's a pretty crazy word in our world today. 91 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:54,720 But in general, this is from Google. 92 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:56,840 So this isn't like my created definition. 93 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:00,680 Google says that love is an intense feeling of deep 94 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,040 affection. You felt that before, right? 95 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,360 You're like, man, I just have all these feelings for you. 96 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,320 Or it's a great interest. I really love something or 97 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:13,880 someone. It doesn't have to be a feeling, 98 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,200 but I'm just, I really enjoy this thing. 99 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,080 And it can be difficult maybe for us to think that God feels 100 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:27,840 that way about us. And honestly, he doesn't feel 101 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:29,480 that way about everything about us. 102 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:34,120 He doesn't like sin, there's no question, but he chose to have 103 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,600 this feeling toward us. It's manifested. 104 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,000 We'll see in a moment what that is. 105 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:42,280 But you know how relationships work, right? 106 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:48,440 If you say you love somebody, there needs to be some proof. 107 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:53,360 Otherwise, it's just talk. It's just words. 108 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,560 Can you really say that you love somebody but never spend time 109 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:00,640 with them, you never seek them out. 110 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:06,640 There's no display of affection is beginning to not sound like 111 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,800 love. We know this from John 316 for 112 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:20,160 God so loved the world. John also says in first John 316 113 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,400 hereby perceive we the love of God. 114 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,240 It's perceived as an interesting word we're able to see and 115 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,640 understand. It's perceptible. 116 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,320 I can tell that God loves me. And the way that we do that is 117 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,200 that it gets really, really personal as any love 118 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:43,640 relationship does. So #2 is that God's love is 119 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:48,280 personal. If you look at first John 120 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,760 chapter 4 verse 9, and this was manifested the love of God 121 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:57,600 toward us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the 122 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,560 world. See, when it came to fixing our 123 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:06,960 sin problem and saving us, God did something very deeply 124 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:10,480 personal. And that song, the last song 125 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:13,800 that Jay wrote, sang it. It's from Philippians chapter 2 126 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:18,000 that he stepped out of heaven and into our world. 127 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,760 We see this word here, begotten. It's a very important word, so I 128 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,520 think I have it for you in your notes as well. 129 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:29,840 The definition that the word begotten is the only one of his 130 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:38,120 kind, the only one of his kind, or to be out of, to be borne out 131 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,080 from. Now the reason why this is 132 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,680 important here is because your King James Bible is more 133 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,720 accurate than any other English translation of the Bible. 134 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,960 All other modern translations remove the word begotten here 135 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,520 and in the famous verse John 316. 136 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,320 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. 137 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:03,520 Because it would not actually be true for you to say that God 138 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:08,520 sent his only son. According to the Bible, Israel 139 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,240 is the Son of God. Adam was the son of God. 140 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:16,760 Christians are sons of God. First, John chapter 1. 141 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:21,560 If we believe in him, he gives us power to become the sons of 142 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:23,800 God. So it's actually erroneous to 143 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:29,840 say that God sent his only Son. We need a qualifying word to be 144 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,360 borne out from the only one of his kind. 145 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:34,840 God has other sons. There's no other son that's 146 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:39,440 within the Trinity. So this word is important. 147 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:44,480 In fact, the sonship of Jesus Christ is so important that you 148 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,520 cannot be saved without believing that He is the Son of 149 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:53,480 God. He is the only begotten Son. 150 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,760 We see this again for like as I just quoted John 316 and even 151 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,760 into the Old Testament, we see the same concept in Psalm 152 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:06,280 chapter 2. Psalm 2 and verse 7 says I will 153 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,720 declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou 154 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,840 art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 155 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,880 And you can read Psalm 2. It's all prophetic about Jesus 156 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,400 ruling the world one day in the future. 157 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,640 He is the only begotten of the Father. 158 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,800 I think I put it to you this way in your notes, that God did not 159 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:34,240 outsource His love for you. He did not outsource His love 160 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:35,840 for you. I mean, Can you imagine this, 161 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,600 that you say that you love somebody, perhaps your kids, but 162 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,280 you can't make it to any of their sports games, so you send 163 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,360 your assistant to go and watch them for you. 164 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,000 That's, that's outsourcing right there. 165 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:56,840 That's not very personal, right? Or if you just think about Jesus 166 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,400 coming to earth to pay for our sins. 167 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:03,880 I mean, honestly, it would make more sense to the human mind to 168 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,960 take a wicked person and put them on the cross and put the 169 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,080 sins of the world on them. Like what if we just hung up 170 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,480 Hitler and poured out all of God's wrath on him instead of on 171 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,800 his son? That's what makes sense to me. 172 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:23,360 That's not how God did it. It was very personal. 173 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:31,000 And I tell you what, as a father, I can't imagine. 174 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,520 I have three sons. You guys know my kids. 175 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:44,480 I couldn't give any one of them. As much as I love you, I will 176 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:51,280 pick my sons over you. If it's life for life, I 177 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:58,480 wouldn't know how to do that. God loves you that much. 178 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,200 His love for you is not based on a feeling, it's based on what He 179 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:09,160 did for you. Thirdly, we see that this love, 180 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,320 this love, this live, it's supposed to be love. 181 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:20,080 This, this live is sacrificial. This is the kind of love that 182 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:21,640 we're talking about. Look at verse 10. 183 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:26,040 Herein is love not that we loved God, but that He loved us and 184 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:30,840 sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, 185 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,840 propitiation for our sins. We're going to look at that word 186 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:40,000 in just a moment. But this sacrifice is important. 187 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,400 This is a critical issue for how love works, is it not? 188 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,520 We sacrifice for those that we love. 189 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,840 And this would be like, could you imagine you have an 190 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,640 important date with somebody? Let's just say for me, maybe 191 00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,960 we'll project out to 20 years being married. 192 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:03,320 Hey, that's a really cool time. We better do something special, 193 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,640 right? Like you can't blow it on a big 194 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,640 one, right? Yes, my wife is in the room. 195 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:15,400 You can't blow it on a big one, but imagine cheeping out on 196 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,360 something like that. Hey, it's 20 years. 197 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:19,280 We're married. You know what? 198 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,280 I got you some of those Dollar Tree flowers that are made of 199 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,880 like, vinyl. Could you imagine here? 200 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,440 Don't you feel loved? You know, I I got us something 201 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,800 special to eat. We're going to go get McDonald's 202 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:37,760 tonight. I would think that's probably 203 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,960 not a good idea, right? And maybe you're going to go 204 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,960 out, you're going to spend some time together and you just look 205 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:48,520 at your phone the whole time. That also would probably not go 206 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:53,320 over very well, would it? See, this is not how love acts. 207 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:59,640 Love is willing to pay the cost, and relationships come at a 208 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:01,480 cost. For us to have a relationship 209 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:03,960 with God, He paid the greatest cost. 210 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,480 He did not cheap out on us. So I want you to see this word 211 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,760 propitiation. It is appeasing God's wrath 212 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:18,960 against sin. That's what that word is. 213 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,000 It's a big word, but you can handle it. 214 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:23,680 It's used just a couple times in the Bible. 215 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,880 John uses this word again in first John chapter 2 where he 216 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,040 says that he is the propitiation for our sins. 217 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:36,440 He is the satisfaction of anything that God is angry about 218 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:41,080 was taken out on Jesus. That was a significant cost for 219 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:45,720 him and John 15. Jesus in his own words, said, 220 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,440 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his 221 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,960 life for his friends. This is, as Ephesians says, the 222 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,480 great love wherewith He hath loved us. 223 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:03,200 It is with the laying down of His own life, as he says in 224 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,920 Matthew, that it was a ransom for many. 225 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:15,520 It was literally a payment so that somebody else could be 226 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,640 free. I think I put it to you this way 227 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,200 in your notes that you really have to love someone to take 228 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:28,920 their consequence for yourself. This is what Jesus did for you. 229 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,840 You deserve to die and go to hell because you're a Sinner. 230 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,280 But Jesus took your sin upon himself. 231 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:43,280 He took your consequence away for me. 232 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,720 This makes me think of I have a first cousin. 233 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,800 I have a picture of him but I could not find it on my 234 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,960 computer. His name is PJ and PJ is serving 235 00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:01,080 a 17 year sentence in prison. He's about 7 or 8 years in, so I 236 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,720 think he's got a little bit less than a decade left maybe. 237 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,320 And PJ and I ran around. We did all the same stuff 238 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:12,080 together, but he got caught for it and he's serving a long 239 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:16,080 sentence. This kind of sacrificial love 240 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:21,160 that takes the consequence would be like someone saying, I want 241 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,720 to take his consequence so he can go free and I'll go be 242 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,760 locked up for him. I mean, Can you imagine a free 243 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:33,040 person saying, well, just put me in his place and let's let him 244 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,560 out? We would do that for people we 245 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:38,360 love, maybe. Would you? 246 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,400 Bible says in Romans, for scarcely for a righteous man 247 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,280 will one die. Yet per adventure for a good 248 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:58,720 man, some will even dare to die. We may lay our lives down for 249 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,920 people we love, but even that's going to come at a struggle. 250 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,079 We're trained in our military or the Secret Service. 251 00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:09,680 Protect the important people. I'll die for them to live. 252 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:14,319 But this is a sincere kind of love. 253 00:17:14,319 --> 00:17:16,760 There's only one. That's a one time event. 254 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:21,079 I can only die for you once. What I'm doing is valuing you 255 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:25,960 more than myself. And exactly what that is, is 256 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,920 your next point. Point #4 is that God's love is 257 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:41,040 life giving. We see in verse #9 And this was 258 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,640 manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent 259 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:49,440 His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through 260 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:54,920 him. His love gives us life that we 261 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:59,400 might live through Him. This is what Ephesians says in 262 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:04,520 Ephesians chapter 2. And you hath he quickened, who 263 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,240 were dead in trespasses and sins to quicken us to make alive. 264 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,800 The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any 2 265 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:12,920 edged sword. It's alive. 266 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,640 And So what Jesus did for us is he gave us life. 267 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,880 This kind of life is a spiritual life. 268 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:25,520 You already have a physical life. 269 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,440 You're living, you're breathing, you have a pulse. 270 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,320 But that we might live through him is that we would have 271 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:38,520 eternal life, as John 316 says, everlasting life. 272 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,560 This life begins not at some time in the future when you die. 273 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:50,560 This life begins, as John 316 says, whenever you believe, that 274 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:54,120 whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 275 00:18:54,760 --> 00:19:00,760 everlasting life. So you have life when you 276 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:02,120 believe. I want to ask you a question 277 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:06,400 today. When was it in your life that 278 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,600 you understood what I'm talking about from up here? 279 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:13,360 That Jesus died for you and you chose to believe it? 280 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,880 If you haven't had a time in your life that you said, I'm 281 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,160 putting all of my faith in what Jesus did on the cross. 282 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,920 Today can be the day for you and we will rejoice. 283 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:33,920 It will be our great joy to help you come to saving faith. 284 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:36,520 But I put it to you this way in your notes. 285 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,880 Real love denies self so others can live. 286 00:19:48,190 --> 00:19:50,870 Real love denies self so others can live. 287 00:19:50,870 --> 00:19:55,550 This is what Jesus did. He said I will die so that you 288 00:19:55,550 --> 00:19:58,990 can have life. And we see this example in 289 00:19:58,990 --> 00:20:01,550 marriage Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25. 290 00:20:01,550 --> 00:20:06,510 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church 291 00:20:06,510 --> 00:20:11,320 and gave himself for it. So what Jesus did to for the 292 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:18,360 church to purchase for himself a people, he lay down his life and 293 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:22,120 if you want to be a husband, welcome to the rest of your life 294 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:24,800 when you get married. This is God's example for you. 295 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,040 The highest sacrifice that anybody could make is your 296 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:33,000 example. And we are called now to deny 297 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,280 ourselves and to love sacrificially for another person 298 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,520 that says, man, I don't really want to do that, but my wife 299 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,160 does. So we've got to figure out how 300 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:48,680 to do that. If you're not married yet, this 301 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,080 one might be backwards, but parents also have a great 302 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:56,880 sacrifice that they make. They invest in people before 303 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,240 they're really worth a whole lot to society. 304 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,560 Christianity has intrinsic value in humans because we're made in 305 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,400 the image of God, no matter how far born or how old you are. 306 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,720 But we invest in people, we pour out our energy and our life to 307 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,080 grow and develop them, and we end up exhausted and they just 308 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,880 have more energy. We see the same thing in 309 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,320 discipleship here in our church. We have a one-on-one 310 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,960 discipleship relationship where a disciple maker will meet with 311 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,960 the disciple, they'll be prepared, studied a lesson, 312 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,480 they'll be praying, they'll be leading and guiding and caring 313 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,920 for somebody else. And it is a sacrifice outside of 314 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,080 the other things you do with your life to be thoughtful and 315 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,960 considerate and lead another person and pour out your time 316 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:51,200 and energy for them. This is a Christian kind of 317 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,280 love. It says in verse 9 again that we 318 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:58,040 might live through him. This Christian love gives to 319 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:04,520 others so that they benefit. And lastly point #5 God's love 320 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:15,450 is first. I love this point. 321 00:22:15,450 --> 00:22:17,850 I think this is the anchor to our time today. 322 00:22:19,370 --> 00:22:23,330 This is in verse 10. Hearing is love, not that we 323 00:22:23,330 --> 00:22:28,730 love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. 324 00:22:30,410 --> 00:22:33,050 So did you know that your relationship with God, you can 325 00:22:33,050 --> 00:22:36,690 never say you took the first step towards Him. 326 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:42,640 It's impossible for you to say that because God already decided 327 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,920 before you were even born. I love you. 328 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,640 Check this out Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8. 329 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,120 It calls Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 330 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,440 world. You see, before creation even 331 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:08,400 happened, God had a plan. God and all of his foreknowledge 332 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,560 knew that what he would design would become flawed because 333 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,040 that's what happens with free will. 334 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,880 And he said before it's even broken, I have a plan to redeem 335 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,760 it. I will do it myself. 336 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:28,760 I know the cost. So God loved you before the 337 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:33,760 world even existed. He made a way for you to be 338 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:38,440 redeemed even into your life. If we Fast forward to the 339 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:43,680 present day and where you currently are, you were not 340 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,520 really worth dying for. Romans chapter 5 says that while 341 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,920 we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 342 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,840 See, we did not clean ourselves up and present ourselves to God 343 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:03,280 and say, OK Jesus die for me. He did not die for the 344 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,440 righteous. He died to make you righteous. 345 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:09,800 He died for sinners. There's never a time in your 346 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,560 life that you can. You have nothing over Him. 347 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:17,120 He did everything for you and before you, all you did was 348 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:25,000 accept what He's already done. Romans 3 says that none seeketh 349 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:32,240 after God, and if it were not for God himself at work in your 350 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:37,280 life, drawing you to Himself, you would never know God. 351 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,600 Thankfully he does this. He reveals himself because He 352 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,160 loves you. He made a way. 353 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,840 He died for the world, not just a few certain people. 354 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,000 John chapter 16 tells us that the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, 355 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,840 would come and reprove the world of sin. 356 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,440 So the fact that we even understand our sin and we even 357 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,840 see Jesus on the cross is proof that the Holy Spirit is working 358 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,720 in our life. This is not a thing that we 359 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:13,360 would come to in our own senses. We need God's help to understand 360 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:15,800 His Word and the Gospel and to believe and be saved. 361 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:22,520 So you really can't boast at all in your salvation. 362 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:29,200 You didn't really do anything but believe He really helped you 363 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,040 all along the way and had a plan. 364 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:38,520 Doesn't that make it so simple? I put it to you this way, that 365 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:42,240 God seeks you out before you ever considered Him. 366 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,720 I know this is true of me. Can you remember when you were 367 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,800 lost? You were doing whatever you were 368 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,520 doing. You weren't thinking about him, 369 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,400 you weren't trying to be holy. You were distracted. 370 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,400 But there came a time in your life when he intersected your 371 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,880 life and you, your eyes were open to see and understand, and 372 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,080 you chose to believe he was at work the whole time. 373 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:18,280 He is all across the world at all times, by the way, for all 374 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,360 people. He's not willing that any should 375 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:23,200 perish. This isn't we're not a Reformed 376 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,680 Church. This is not a select elect. 377 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:28,600 He's not willing that any would perish. 378 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,840 He is drawing all men to himself. 379 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:35,200 John chapter 12. And man, is he not 380 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:37,360 long-suffering to us. Word. 381 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:46,520 How long did he wait for us so that all would come to 382 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:47,720 repentance? Praise the Lord. 383 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,560 That's wonderful. I think I have a few things at 384 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,360 the bottom of your notes. We usually conclude with the 385 00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:57,320 time of prayer and we'll have a final song. 386 00:26:57,880 --> 00:26:59,800 But before we get there, I'd like to just think about a 387 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:05,720 couple of these things. If you're here today and you 388 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,800 haven't had that time in your life that you chose to believe, 389 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:14,400 today's the day. The Bible says in Romans 10 that 390 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:18,280 if you believe in your heart and then you confess with your 391 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,400 mouth, you pray back to God that Jesus rose from the dead, you'll 392 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,120 be saved. That's all you have to do. 393 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:27,360 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 394 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,360 See me afterwards. If you have any questions, I 395 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:33,200 would love to talk to you. But I would say the majority of 396 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:37,440 us have already done that. So now we get to take a moment 397 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,840 to consider how much Jesus really did for us. 398 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,000 He did more for us than we would do for anyone else. 399 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:55,440 Have you been thankful for that? Have you still been playing 400 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:57,200 around with sin like we know better? 401 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,800 Do I believe that He loves me? Maybe I need to remember herein 402 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,440 is His love. How do I perceive it? 403 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,920 It's the cross. Maybe you've lost the goal post 404 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:13,920 of God's love and you need to be reminded. 405 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:20,840 John 316 But as a church, I saved one verse for us. 406 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:26,040 And verse 11. The Bible says, beloved, if God 407 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,400 so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 408 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,240 Seeing the example of what Jesus did, we now turn to each other 409 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,040 and we have this responsibility towards other people. 410 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:44,480 We cannot die and atone for the sins of other people, but we can 411 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,080 love like God did. We can demonstrate our love. 412 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,960 It can be evident. Do we love each other? 413 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,640 There should be some evidence. We can make it personal. 414 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,680 We can't outsource it, that hey man, I'll just AirDrop you 415 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,280 something. We have to be in each other's 416 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:02,640 lives. We have to be willing to 417 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,040 sacrifice and do things that take our time and effort for 418 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,920 each other. We have to be willing to give 419 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,840 life to others the same man, let me help you. 420 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,840 Let me do something for you so you can be better for it. 421 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,760 And we have to choose love first. 422 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,600 I think this is critical of have been married for 16 years, 423 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,480 right? 16 years. 424 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,720 And I can tell you the Bible says a lot about removing 425 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:37,120 bitterness and unforgiveness. And what love does is it chooses 426 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,120 to love before the other one does. 427 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,680 I'm not waiting for you. I have to choose to love you 428 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,280 before you were worth being loved. 429 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,680 That's what Jesus did for us, and that's what we've got to do 430 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,760 for each other if we're going to function together as a church. 431 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:58,040 We in honor prefer each other. And we say, man, that person 432 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,760 offended me. And I don't really like that, 433 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,280 but I can respond in love. And maybe later I can address 434 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,160 that, but I can first. I can love. 435 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,160 The world will watch on. Jesus says that all men will 436 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,840 know that we're his disciples by the love that we have. 437 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:22,200 One for another, even thinking about evangelism, we're going to 438 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:23,920 have a lot of evangelism this summer. 439 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,160 If you're doing any evangelism at all with us on the street, 440 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,760 you're probably going to have somebody very upset with you at 441 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,320 some point, not all the time. You'll have people argue with 442 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:38,720 you and disagree with you, and you can do it just like Jesus 443 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,920 did it for you. How long did it take you? 444 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:45,600 Were you worthy when you got saved? 445 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,320 No. And we can just lovingly tell 446 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:52,480 people the truth. All right, man. 447 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,480 Well, have a good day. We need to live this kind of 448 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,040 love. Share it with other people. 449 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:02,640 So I want to give us a moment to pray. 450 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,880 There's those three things at the bottom of your notes. 451 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:09,120 I'm going to give you just a moment of silence and then I'll 452 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,400 lead us in a prayer and we'll have one more song.