Please turn in your Bibles this morning to I John chapter 3 as we look at God’s love for us. I think it was Telly Savalis, Kojack who coined the phrase, “Who loves you baby?” And I do believe that most if not all of us have that need to be loved. Thus, we do things to try and find love. Some girls or women will give away their purity trying to find love with a man and what they end up finding is they have given away a piece of themselves and still did not find love! Others look for love in a job or maybe drugs or alcohol, or maybe in sports and the list can go on-and-on and they still come up far short from what they were looking for. They come up empty! You see, they are looking for love in all the wrong places.
This morning I hope to show you what true love is all about. And as you will see, you don’t have to go searching for it, you don’t have to work for it, all you must do is receive it into your life! Before we get to our text this morning, let me share with you this story that will help set the stage for what we will be looking at here in I John chapter 3. We are told:
There’s a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in [the] Madrid newspaper. The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.”
On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.
- Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, p. 13
How many Pacos are here this morning looking for love? My prayer as we finish this study is that you would find it, that you would receive this love into your life leaving here fulfilled, satisfied, at peace. With that said, let’s begin reading in I John chapter 3, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
John wants us to take a close look at, examine the love the Father has bestowed upon us, to behold it. What love is that? It is a love that is so rich and so deep that He has adopted us into His family, we are the children of God! John put it like this in his Gospel, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13. You see, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you are a child of God!
But here is the problem. My family tree is not very good, there is a defect in it and that defect has been passed down to me. You see, when my great, great, great, great, great . . . grandfather was born by God, he was perfect, he was sinless, he lived in a beautiful garden without weeds, it was called the Garden of Eden. Maybe you heard of him, his name was Adam and folks, believe it or not, we all are the descendants of Adam, we are all related!
So far so good but that goodness only lasted about 2½ pages in my Bible. You see, Adam sinned, he rebelled against God and God had warned him of the consequences if he disobeyed the Lord. We are told in Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” In the Hebrew it literally says, “In dying you shall die.”
In other words the death process began. Adam did not die physically that instant that he sinned, but the death process did start. Paul mentions this in Romans 5:12 where he says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” But not only the physical death process took place, but instantaneously spiritual death occurred for Adam, he was separated from God by his sin. That is exactly what we are told in Isaiah 59:1-2, it speaks of spiritual death and how it separates us from God. We are told, “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”
I do realize that some have a hard time with this idea of original sin being passed down to us from Adam. If you do, if you feel you have no original sin, that is fine because your pride is sin and thus you fall far short of perfection, your sins have separated you from God! Thus, how can a holy and righteous God adopt us sinners into His family? If He did take us in like this that would not be a righteous thing to do, He would be unjust, and we know our God is fair, He is just, He is righteous. Thus, sin must be dealt with!
Remember what John said back in I John 3:1, and this is from The Amplified Bible, “SEE WHAT [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him.” The Father has bestowed upon us His love and that love is seen in His giving His only begotten Son to pay in full the penalty for our sins. Remember what Jesus said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The problem was sin, the solution was a perfect sacrifice for our sin – Jesus, and that was all born out of a heart of love not only from the Father but also from the Son!
I think that Paul makes that point very clear in Romans 5:15-21 as he tells us, “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You see, death came through Adam, original sin and then our own acquired sin. Thus, sinning doesn’t make us sinners, but we sin because we are sinners. Think of it like this. Stealing horses doesn’t make you a horse thief, you steal horses because you are a horse thief. In other words, you are only doing what comes natural. That is what we inherited from Adam.
Now, just as sin and the resulting condemnation and judgment came through one man – Adam, so too the free gift of life that brings to us justification came through one man – Jesus Christ! You see, in God’s economy love is not just a feeling, it was an act of His will, it resulted in action on His part that brought us to life, we were born again, a new creation in Christ, we have a new nature!
Now you don’t have to raise your hands, but how many of you believe God loves you right now? I am sure that some of you are struggling with that issue, I have talked with you. Also, I have received some letters from the men and women that are in prison and they too struggle with the fact that God loves them. Why is that?
Well, there are a variety of reasons but the basic premise is what they did and didn’t do. They didn’t live up to a certain standard, they failed God, they sinned, and thus, how can God love them? It seems to make sense, but that is wrong. Let me say this as plainly, as clearly as I can. If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are a child of God, you have been adopted into the family of God, case closed. Even if you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, first of all you need to, but secondly, He still loves you, even while you are a sinner, but you are not yet His child. You see, God loves us so much that while we were still sinners He died for us, paying in full the penalty for our sins!
Thus, God can’t love you any more than He already does and He can’t love you any less. The thing is, He loves you so much that He is not willing to leave you in this condition so He will continue to mold and shape your life and make you into the man or woman He wants you to be! “Then why do I feel God doesn’t love me anymore?” Because you are listening to the lies of the Devil and that then is based on the experience, what you did or didn’t do instead of the truths of God found in the Word of God!
Listen carefully to what Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Satan loves to take us down that path where he steals away our joy, he kills our passion for God, he destroys our faith. But Christ has come to give us that abundant life, not just existence, but that full, overflowing life that is found in Him. Thus, the battle goes on but it doesn’t have to. Yes, the battle is intense, but who are you going to listen to? Or, to put in another way, who loves you baby? It is the Lord listen to Him!
I recently read a book called Running Against the Wind by Brian Flynn. In this book Brian warns of the New Age practices that are coming into the church and he should know, he was heavy into the New Age and what he was practicing he is now seeing the church involved in. “As a kid Brian hated going to church so when his father announced to the family one day they were through with church, Brian couldn’t have been more delighted. From there, Brian experimented with Ouija boards and Tarot cards. After time in the Air Force, he become consumed with the occult. In time, he developed his skills for Transcendental Meditation and eventually had his own spirit guides.” (Back cover of Running Against the Wind).
I want you to listen closely to what transpired in Brian’s life and the ensuing battle that took place. It was a battle for his soul and a battle of who really loved him. Brian was asked to come to church one day by his friend June and not knowing why, he came. A short time later June invited Brian to a seminar given by a scientist, it was a three-part series. Brian went just so he could try to refute what this man was saying but after two of the sessions, Brian’s thoughts of the foolishness of the Bible and of Jesus were shattered. We are going to pick up and see what took place on that last session. We are told:
I asked June to come with me to the last class. During the session, Don told a story from the Bible that really shook me. The story was about Abraham and his desire to have a son. God had promised him a son, but the years went by, and he and his wife Sarah were getting old. Sarah was well past her childbearing years. However, when she was ninety and Abraham was one hundred God blessed them with a son whom Abraham would name Isaac. God then tested Abraham’s faith and asked him to take his beloved son into the land of Moriah and sacrifice him. Abraham traveled many miles to arrive at the place God had instructed him to go to sacrifice his one and only son. Abraham brought his son up the hill to set him upon the altar, and not until Abraham raised the knife to slay his son did God cry out, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12). God knew that Abraham was willing to obey God even in such a difficult circumstance. Don then told us that the very same place where Isaac was to be sacrificed, 2000 years later on the same hillside, the Jewish Temple was built, and that was the same hillside where Jesus would hang on the Cross.
I realized there was no way this could be a coincidence. Abraham was to sacrifice his one and only son on the same hillside where God’s son would be sacrificed 2000 years later? The last block of my unbelief was suddenly shattered. It was true. The story of Jesus was true! For the first time in my life, I knew it was true. June and I sat in the back of the classroom as I prayed for God’s forgiveness. Right there and then I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and asked Him into my heart and make me born-again. June’s eyes welled up with tears as she put her arm around me. “Am I really a Christian now?” I asked.
She smiled and said, “Do you believe Jesus is Lord?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Then you are a Christian; you are a child of God, and you are forgiven,” she said with joy beyond her imagination.
As I stood to leave, I felt a little dizzy and disoriented. I hugged her and thanked her for being there with me. I walked out to the parking lot towards my car, when suddenly Phil’s voice [one of Brian’s spirit guides] entered my mind and said, You are not a Christian, Brian. You just said some words. You can’t be a Christian! Phil sounded a little different. He sounded angry and disturbed. You can’t live like that. You are not going to be able to be good for the rest of your life. You are kidding yourself. His words echoed in my head until I fell asleep that night. Was I really a Christian?
After I got home from work the following day, I stopped by the liquor store and decided to pick up some beer. This was unusual for me. I was not a big drinker and I rarely, if ever, drank at home. Sitting alone in my darkened living room, I drank a few beers, and then I did something I had never done before – I got in my car and drove to a video store to rent some porn videos. I had never rented one before. I had certainly seen them in the Air Force and at some bachelor parties, but I had never rented any ever before.
I felt really creepy about getting them. I always pictured someone who rented them to be desperately lonely and pathetic, and I wasn’t sure why I was doing this. I picked some out and headed home. I watched them and drank more beer. The next day, I was hung over and decided to call in sick to work. I slept on the couch in the morning and then later got up in the afternoon to return the videos and get some more beer. As I drove to the liquor store, I questioned why I was behaving this way? Miriam, [another of Brian’s spirit guides] purred in my head, “Do you really want to give this life up?” I pushed her voice out of my head. I grabbed another six-pack and instead of dropping off the videos, I decided to rent more.
When I got in line, a woman and a child stood in front of me. The mother looked at the video in my hand and smirked, drawing her child closer to her as if I was some evil villain waiting to lurch out and attack her child. I felt my face redden with embarrassment and shame, but it didn’t stop me. Without making eye contact with the man at the cash register, I paid for the videos and drove home. All that afternoon and into the evening I watched videos and continued to drink. At the end of the night, I crawled into bed tired and drunk. Phil spoke sharply, condemning me, Do you see what I mean? You are not a Christian. This is the way you are, and you are not going to change. We didn’t make you drink, Brian – you chose to do it all on your own.
I fell into a deep sleep until my alarm woke me in the morning. My head pounded as I lifted it off the pillow, and I knew there was no way I could go to work. I again called in sick.
I went downstairs and collapsed on the couch. I felt bad from the hangover, but something else far deeper was bothering me. Why am I acting this way? Why did I rent those videos and get drunk two days in a row? Aren’t I supposed to be Christian now? Why at this time? This isn’t like me. The voices of my guides were constantly ringing in my head. Of all the philosophies and religions I had looked into and considered, I never felt this type of resistance or opposition from my guides. In fact, I often felt an urging from my guides to further pursue and study Buddhism and Hinduism. What was so different about Christianity?
And then I saw it! The answer came to me in an instant. As if a veil was lifted from my eyes, I saw something I had never seen before. The reason they were resisting me was because they were opposed to Him. They hated Jesus. All at once every memory of anything anyone had ever said about Jesus, Satan and demons came flooding into my mind. And I realized my guides were opposed to Jesus, because they were demonic. They did not want me to become a Christian, because they were not of God. Satan, in his attempt to keep me where I was, revealed who he was! In order to stop me, he had revealed himself to me. He was now exposed. His real identity and the identity of my guides were revealed.
“My God,” I cried out loud. I fell to my knees and began to cry, “Oh my God, my Lord, I have been wrong my entire life! You are the way. Please Jesus save me. Please God forgive me for I have sinned against you.” I crawled into a ball and wept like a child.
From that moment on I knew who God was. The truth had been revealed to me. Jesus Christ is Lord, and I am saved. Amen!
In the weeks and months that followed I began to learn about the Bible, but this time I read it with joy and excitement. I found God’s book exhilarating, knowing it was the truth. When I went to church I went with great enthusiasm. Several times when singing, I began to weep, knowing what the Lord had done for me. He had set me free. For the first time in my life I knew who the Father was, who I was and then very soon what plans He had for my life. Is that not the answer every human being wishes to know? In one instant, I knew what truth was. I felt the peace in my heart and in my head that I had seen in other Christians. It’s a peace and assurance that has never left me to this day.
- Brian Flynn, Running Against the Wind, pp. 82-85
I do realize that was a little long, but I wanted you to understand that battle that is going on and how the enemy doesn’t love us. Remember, the enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy us and it seems he is very effective. But God does love us, in fact so much so that we are adopted into His family, we are called the children of God! Paul, in Galatians 3:26-27 tells us this, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” And in Galatians 4:6-7 Paul tells us, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
You see, God’s Spirit is telling us we are children of God, that God loves us, but we are not listening many times and because of that we come to the faulty conclusion that God doesn’t love us any more. That is wrong, God does love us!
In fact, the Godhead, the Trinity; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all attest to the fact that we are children of God, that God loves us. In II Corinthians 6:18 we are told, “‘I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.’” Thus, the Father says we are His sons and daughters! In Hebrews 2:11 we are told that, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” And thus, Jesus says we are part of the family of God! And lastly, in Romans 8:16 we are told, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts declaring that we are children of God! In other words, God loves you and it is not just empty words, He demonstrates that love to you with action on His part, He shows you that He loves you!
Love is one of those words that have been abused and misused in our society. You see, the problem comes in that we only have one English word for “love”. Thus, I love ice cream and I love my wife. Now as much as I do love ice cream, I don’t love ice cream more than I love my wife and thus, you can see how confusion can arise depending on how we use that word and the tone we speak it. But in the Greek language there are several words used for “love” and I think it is important to understand them and what love God is speaking of. Let’s look at these Greek words for love and see what we can glean from them:
That is the kind of love God has for us, AGAPE LOVE! It is not based upon our deserving it, how good we are but it is based totally upon God. God loves us unconditionally. You see, we often think we have to attain a certain type of righteousness for God to love us, but the problem is we can’t attain that kind of righteousness. Thus, God loves us in spite of ourselves, He loves us just the way we are but like I said, He loves us so much that He is not willing to leave us the way we are!
But tragically, because some don’t believe God loves them or they don’t want to receive Him into their lives, many look for love in all the wrong places and they don’t find it, not even close. Case in point:
David Scott Crother died of AIDS back in early 1993. But, before he died he infected his unnamed partner whom he had unprotected sex with and he didn’t tell her that he had AIDS. She pressed charges against Crother and this is what this woman had to say in an interview: “This is not an assault. This is murder . . . All I wanted is someone to love me, and now I’m going to die for that. I don’t think I should have to die for that.”
He was after EROS love, erotic love, sexual love and he didn’t care about the other person, it was all about satisfying his own desires. She was after PHILEO or a brotherly type of love it would seem, and she did not find it. She was willing to give her body, to have sex in order to find this kind of love, and she missed the mark by a mile! And people are looking for love today, but they are looking in all the wrong places and they are not finding what they are looking for!
Here is the glorious truth, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! . . .” I John 3:1. Do you see that? You don’t have to die for love because God loves you so much He took your place on that cross and paid in full the penalty for your sins! And not only did He save us, but He is working on our lives, molding and shaping us into His image, to be the men and women of God that He wants us to be. It is as John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:2-3.
Who loves you baby? God does, never forget that fact, never let the enemy confuse you or try to deny that reality. Believe it by faith and enjoy His love for you because as you do you then will be able to share His love with others! You see, you can’t give what you don’t possess! And Remember what Jesus said in John 10:10, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Satan loves to take us down that path where he steals away our joy, he kills our passion for God, he destroys our faith. But Christ has come to give us that abundant life, not just existence, but that full, overflowing life that is found in Him. Let us not fall prey to his lies but truly know, believe that God loves us and that love is unconditional, it is AGAPE LOVE!
As I close this morning, let me leave you with this to think about. A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on “The Love of God.” As that day arrived and the cathedral was filled with people, as the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows on that Sunday evening, the people sat and waited to hear about the love of God. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illuminated the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say. THE LOVE OF GOD!