He First Loved Us
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
It wasn’t easy for Corrie Ten Boom to forgive the Nazi captors who had tormented her at Ravensbrück.
They had caused her to suffer horribly.
Even worse, they had caused the death of her sister, Betsy.
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Ten years after her release, Corrie ran into a lady who wouldn’t look her in the eyes.
Asking about her, Corrie was told the woman had been a nurse at a concentration camp.
Suddenly the memories flashed back.
Corrie recalled taking Betsy to the infirmary to see this woman.
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Betsy’s feet were paralyzed, and she was dying.
The nurse had been cruel and sharp-tongued.
Corrie’s hatred now returned with vengeance.
Her rage so boiled that she knew of but one thing to do.
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“Forgive me,” she cried out to the Lord, “Forgive my hatred, O Lord.
Teach me to love my enemies.”
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The blood of Jesus Christ seemed to suddenly cool her embittered heart, and Corrie felt the rage being displaced with a divine love she couldn’t explain.
She began praying for the woman, and one day shortly afterward she called the hospital where the nurse worked and invited the woman to a meeting at which she was speaking.
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“What!” replied the nurse.
“Do you want me to come?”
“Yes, that is why I called you.”
“Then I’ll come.”
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That evening the nurse listened carefully to Corrie’s talk, and afterward Corrie sat down with her, opened her Bible, and explained 1 John 4:9:
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”
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The woman seemed to thirst for Corrie’s quiet, confident words about God’s love for us, his enemies.
And that night, a former captive led her former captor to “a decision that made the angels sing.”
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God had taken Corrie’s subconscious feelings of hatred, she later explained, and transformed them, using them as a window through which His light could shine into a darkened heart.
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So, please turn your Bibles to 1 John.
We will be conducting our study in Chapter 4 and focusing on verses 19 through 21.
Our message this morning is called, “He First Loved Us”
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As you are finding your place in God’s Word, I want to share that we will be focusing on God’s role as the initiator of love...
True love has no other origin than God...
We will also explore what are the effects of experiencing God’s love...
And why the love of God and the love for others can never be separated.
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) God the Initiator
1) God the Initiator
Verse 19: We love because he first loved us.
Love...
True love that is...
Always starts with God.
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Our society will tell you that love comes from within the person...
The world will say love is love...
Most people believe love to be an emotion that comes and goes as it pleases...
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But the wisdom of men have always failed to understand real truth...
They always desperately fall short of God’ truth...
And it is that man-centered way of thinking that leads people to believe a twisted definition of love...
This thinking has even found its way into the pulpits of some supposed houses of God.
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Places that seem to have forgotten that true love has no other origin than the one true God.
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The wisdom of man will say that God loves us because He saw what we would do in the future...
The wisdom of man will say that God loves us because we are amazing and wonderful...
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But that was never the case.
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Consider Isreal for example.
Why of of all the nations did God choose Isreal to be His people?
Look with me at Deuteronomy 7:7–8 for the answer to that question:
7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God did choose Isreal as His people because of the number of their population...
He did not choose them because of what they did...
God choose Isreal for His own purpose.
He choose to love them first.
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In fact, the act of loving God back is a miracle in itself.
Not only does God love His people...
He changed them from the inside in order for them to have a heart the does love.
Look at the truth found in Deuteronomy 30:6:
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
From the very beginning it has always been the same...
God loved us first...
He then transformed us...
And then we were finally able to love Him back.
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See, Church...
When you are a slave to sin...
When you have a stone heart...
When you are separated from the Chief Shepherd...
It is impossible to love.
That is why God is always the initiator of love in any relationship with Him...
And He does not leave us in our sinful and wicked state...
He turns us into a new creation...
He circumcises our hearts...
Turning them from stone to flesh.
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The ultimate act of love that God did for us was performed in the sending of His precious Son to this broken world...
Jesus lived a perfect life in obedience t the Father...
Voluntary took our punishment that we deserved...
Taking on the full wrath of God the Father...
For those who where His enemies.
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That is the reason why we take so much joy in celebrating the incarnation of Jesus next week.
It not about our love for Him but instead about His love for us as it says in 1 John 4:10:
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Never forget this fact, Beloved...
You did not choose God...
You did not simple decide out of the blue to follow Jesus...
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You only chose to follow the Lord because He first choose you...
Look at the language that Jesus uses when He speaks to His disciples in John 15:16:
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
You can’t take credit for any portion of your salvation...
You did not love Him but He loved you first....
You did not choose Him but He choose you first...
You did not follow Him but He open your eyes to the truth so you would be able to follow Him.
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And not only that...
But His love for you and me....
His choosing of you and me...
His enabling us to follow Him...
All this was done while we didn’t deserve it at all...
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Do you understand what the Scriptures say you and I deserve...
We should be hated by God for our sin....
But He loved us still.
We should be forsaken by God for our wickedness...
But He choose us still.
We should be blinded from His truth...
But He illuminated the true way of life for us.
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The mind blowing reality of amazing grace is that God loved us while we were dead in sin s as it says in Ephesians 2:4–5:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
As a recipient of God’s infinite love...
We must love others like He loved us...
We must be imitators of the one who saved us from eternal death....
We must follow the command of Ephesians 4:32–5:2 that wonderfully present what godly love looks like.
The passage says:
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Consider this note from the ESV Study Bible:
“Christian love is a gift from God, demonstrated supremely in the cross.
God’s love always takes the initiative, and the love of Christians is a response to that love.
Likewise, all morally good human actions are good not because they conform to some arbitrary human standard of good but because they are rooted in imitation of the morally perfect character of God and conform to God’s commands.”
The actions done in this world that are genuinely good...
Only come from those who are genuinely loving...
And those who genuinely love...
Have first experienced God’s infinite love.
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Therefore all of God’s children genuinely love...
And this is a mark that they are a true believer in the one true God of all creation...
And that takes us to our next point.
2) Proof of God’s Love In Us
2) Proof of God’s Love In Us
Verse 20: If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on the epistles of John says it pretty plainly:
“If one fails the test of loving his visible brother, he makes it certain that he does not love the invisible God and thus proves that there is no true love in him.”
Some people have this strange idea that they can love God and treat others in whatever way they please...
By the authority of the Word of God that is a devilish lie.
You can’t call yourself a believer and treat people poorly.
If that is the case then it reveals that one is not transformed at all.
Remember what we discusses previously is this epistle.
Remember what John the Beloved Disciple said in 1 John 3:6:
6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
You can’t have it both ways...
Darkness and light do not have any fellowship....
If you really have a relationship with God...
And if you really love Him...
You will love others...
That is the only response we can have when He showers us with His ocean of love.
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To say or do otherwise is to be a liar.
1 John 1:6 which we covered early on in our study says the very same thing:
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
In fact John specifically addresses the treatment of others in 1 John 2:9–11 when he says:
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Ask yourself this question...
Do you love your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?
Do you love your family members?
Do you love your friends?
Do you love your co-workers?
Do you love those in your neighborhood?
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Do you love those you consider your enemies?
Do you love those who hate you?
Do you love those who hate the people you love?
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How you answer these questions will say a lot about you.
It will reveal which path you are currently on...
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Those who love others...
Even when they don’t deserve it...
They are following the example of their Master.
They are walking in the light...
And by the power of the Holy Spirit they will never depart from that path.
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Those who hate others...
no matter who they are...
They to follow the example of their master...
Remember what 1 John 3:15 says:
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
They are walking the way of darkness an have no idea where they are going...
They are lost...
They are confused...
And they need to repent and believe...
For that is the only way they will ever walk on the path of light...
That is the only way they will ever know what it means to really love.
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So, hear me when I say...
Follow the commands of God...
For in His commands we find eternal life...
And it is with that that we look to our third and final point.
3) Love For Believers
3) Love For Believers
Verse 21: And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Remember what Jesus said in John 15:12:
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
The love God has shown to us is always connected to the love we show others.
In fact, Jesu made it clear that the whole sum of the command in Scripture...
All the commands in the Old and New Testament...
Fall into only two categories and therefore can be summed up in only two commands...
Look with me at the amazing truth found in Matthew 22:36–40 when Jesus was asked which was the greatest of all the commands.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Paul even put it this way in Galatians 5:14:
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
How is Paul able to say it like this?
How is “loving your neighbor” the fulfillment of the whole law?
The reason is that one cannot love their neighbor without God first loving them and they loving God...
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The command to love God and to love other can’t be separated and every command in Scripture always comes back to these commands.
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Even the most clear identifying mark of a true believer is found in the fact that they love one another...
Just look at what it says in John 13:34–35:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
You see...
If one claims to love God...
And that was the only mark of the believer...
No one would be able to question ones claims...
For it is impossible to see one’s love for God since the Father and the Holy Spirit are invisible and Jesus ascended to heaven...
However loving other can be seen and observed...
And that action reveals if we are followers of God.
That is why Jesus said that that reality would show others if we are His followers.
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So, with that reality...
Remember the wisdom and truth found in Colossians 3:12–14:
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Do you claim to love God?
Then ask yourself do you have a compassionate heart for others?
Do you display kindness and humility to others?
Are you patient with others, bearing with them their burdens?
Are you forgiving to others in the same manner that you claim to have been forgiven of?
Does the description of love binding everything together when you interact with others describe you?
Be warned...
2 John 9 says:
9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
The Faithlife Study Bible says:
“The believer’s responsibility to show Christ-like sacrificial love to other Christians is not optional;
It is commanded by God as a way of displaying His love to the world.”
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So, what does that love look like?
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As we must always do...
We must tun to Scripture for the answer...
Romans 13:8 says:
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Philippians 2:4–5 says:
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
It is imperative that we have a servants mind...
Stop looking at just your own interests...
Model yourselves instead after Jesus.
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Can you imagine the despair we would be in now if Jesus just concerned Himself with His own interests?
There would be no incarnation...
There would be no cross...
There would be no salvation...
But Jesus also looked at the interests of the Father...
And our own well being...
So, He voluntarily gave up His life for us.
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So, when interacting with others we need to do the same thing.
We need to care about others and care about their well being.
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Our Lord was a servant leader...
Although He is Lord and Teacher...
He served and He served and He served...
Just look at John 13:14–15:
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
But His greatest act of service was what He did at Calvary...
As 1 John 3:16 says:
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
So, are you laying down your life for others?
Are you serving others the way Jesus would serve them?
Do you love....
Because He first loved you?
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close, I want to share this:
On the morning of Sunday, November 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.
As Wilson and his twenty-year-old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them.
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The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks.
Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand.
It was his daughter Marie.
“Is that you, Dad?” she asked.
“Yes, Marie,” Gordon answered.
He heard several people begin screaming.
“Are you all right?” Gordon asked his daughter.
“Yes,” she said. But then she, too, began to scream.
As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was all right, and each time she said yes.
Finally Marie said, “Daddy, I love you very much.”
Those were her last words.
Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries.
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Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson.
After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?”
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“I bear them no ill will,” Wilson replied.
“I bear them no grudge.
Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life.
I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.”
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In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act.
Wilson explained, “I was hurt.
I had just lost my daughter.
But I wasn’t angry.
Marie’s last words to me—words of love—had put me on a plane of love.
I received God’s grace, through the strength of his love for me, to forgive.”
For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in Northern Ireland.
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Love can do miracles.
Just as Marie Wilson’s last words to her father lifted him onto the plane of love, so God’s love for us lifts us onto a whole different plane, enabling us to love others no matter how they treat us.
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No matter what someone has done to you...
No matter the hurt...
No matter the pain...
Do no imitate the Devil but instead imitate our Lord and Savior.
As 3 John 11 says:
11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
So, go forth this week...
This week that is leading up to Christmas...
This week that many are running around distracted from the true reason for the season...
And love on others...
Love then with a godly love...
Love them with a sacrificial love...
Love them with a brotherly love.
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Let me close with the words of Paul found in Romans 12:10 as he encouraged the Body of Christ:
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.
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