WHAT LOVE IS
1 John 3:11-24
V:11 "This is the message you heard from the beginning:
We should love one another."
A. God is Love.
1. The greatest
doctrine of the Bible is Love.
2. God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who ever
believes in
Him shall not parish, but have everlasting life.
3. God has no
beginning and no ending.
4. I supposed, It
was His great love that caused Him to create and include man in His
Love.
5. He created man
in His own image and His own likeness.
6. He created us
to be the image of His love.
B. Because God is
love, we ought to love one another.
1. When God gave
Moses His commandments, the first one He gave was,
"Thou
shall have no other gods before me."
2. Jesus said,
"If you love me, keep my commandments".
3. Jesus said the
first greatest commandment is to love the Lord and the second is
to love your
neighbor as yourself.
4. We were created
in love to love.
V:12. " Do not
be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why
did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were
righteous."
A. A person without
love in his/her heart is full of evil thoughts.
1. Hate, jealousy,
envy, selfishness and anger are common attitudes of a person
who don't
know true love.
2. God never
describes love as a feeling or an emotion.
a. Love is
what you unselfishly do for another person for their best interest.
b. Love is what you do for another person who is in need.
B. Cain killed his
brother because he became angry that God was pleased with His
brothers
offering and displeased with his.
1. Cain loved his
self evaluation more than he loved his brother.
2. Caught up in
his anger, Cain killed his brother.
3. A person
without love in his heart, is capable of doing the unthinkable.
C. God commands us to
love, because love is the key to building relationships.
1. God commands us to love, because love is
the foundation of family.
2. God commands
us to love, because love over looks our differences.
3. God commands
us to love, because love draws us
together.
V:13. " Do not
be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you."
A. The world hates
Jesus.
1. Jesus own people hated Him because He preached the
truth.
a. The
world loves the lies and devices of
Satan because they agree with their
thoughts and opinions.
b. Jesus is
the light of the world.
c. The world
loves darkness and hates the light.
B. Being related to
Jesus has it's hazards.
1. Being hated
by the world is one of the hazards.
2. Satan knows
that your salvation is secure.
a. The best Satan
can do for believers is to try to persuade us that
the abundant life promised by Jesus is a lie.
b. Satan is
the voice of doubt that says that unanswered prayers are proof
that God
does not care about you.
c. Satan is the voice of hopelessness that
says you not going to make it or
you are not
going to achieve what you desire.
3. One of the
hazards of loving Jesus is the attacks by Satan.
a. That is why
we have to put on the full armor of God to stand against
the devices
of Satan.
b. We wrestle
not against flesh and blood but against powers in high places.
c. People will
attack you for the way you look, the way you talk, the way you
dress and
many other things that make them feel good.
d. Some people
think by putting you down that it lifts them up.
V:14. " We know
that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.
Anyone who does not
love remains in death."
A. Jesus said that
anyone who is not for me is against me.
Matt 12:30
1. We are
commanded to love our enemies and to do good to them that
hates
us. Luke 6:35
a. We don't
have to be ugly and do ugly because others are ugly.
b. We have
been born again in Christ and are now headed to a different world.
2. Any man in
Christ is a new creation. Our lifestyles have been altered.
a. Therefore,
we do not love as the world loves, but as Christ commands.
b. The world
loves those who love them , but we love because God loved us
when we
were enemies to Him.
3. On the cross,
Jesus prayed for those who were responsible for His crucifixion;
"Father
forgive them for they know not what they do".
B. We have to
practice love for those around us and those who are against us.
1. The evidence
of our love for God is our love for our neighbors.
2. Our neighbors
are everyone we come in contact with; friend or enemy.
V:15. "Anyone
who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal
life in him."
A. Jesus considers
murder not just having committed the act, but also having cherished it
in the heart.
1. We have eternal
life, because we have Jesus in our hearts.
a. Jesus
does not dwell where there is hate.
b. Jesus said
"abide in me and I in you".
John 15:4
c. We cannot
produce any fruit unless we abide in Jesus.
2. Fruitful
behavior is love and not hate.
B. We have the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit which reminds us and convicts us
of our sins.
1. It is not
possible for mature believers to consider hating someone without being
convicted of
the sin.
2. When we consider
the love of God for us, we have to consider the victory we
have over all
sins.
3. We have
the power not to sin.
V:16. " This is
how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for our brothers."
A. Jesus gave us the
true meaning of love. He sacrificed His life for our eternal
salvation.
1. We should be
willing to make a sacrifice to bring others to Christ.
2. We can go out
of our way to bring others to Christ.
3. We can
sacrifice our time to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ.
4. We can put our
needs aside to show compassion for others in need.
B. Christian love is personal and active.
1. There are three
conditions that should drive us to show Christian love to another
person.
a. God has
blessed us with the means to help.
b. We know a
person has a need.
c. We have a
compassionate heart and want to share.
2. Through out the
New Testament, Jesus made it a point to see the
needs of other,
be moved with compassion to heal and make the needy whole.
a. Jesus was
constantly aware of the needs of others.
b. Jesus made
Himself available.
c. Jesus got
involve in the problems of others.
V:17. "If anyone has material possessions and
sees his brother in need but has no pity on
him, how can the
love of God be in him?"
A. Jesus said that it
is more blessing to give than to receive.
Acts 20:35
1. We could be
limiting our future blessing by not
giving to those in need,
when we have
been blessed to do so.
2. Our purpose is
not to give so we can receive, but to give without expecting
anything in
return.
B. What we do for
others in private, God will reward us in public. Mat 6:6
1. Love is an
unselfish act to help another person in need.
2. We are God's
channel of blessing to others.
V:18. "Dear
children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. "
A. This was Jesus
complaint to the Jews: Matthew 15:8
"This people
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips;
but their heart is
far from me."
1. Church is more
than praise and worship.
2. We worship the
Lord with our time and our resources.
B. God wants us to be
active in the mission of spreading the Gospel.
1. Sometimes it is
our kindness to others that draws them to Christ.
2. The needs of
others is an opportunity for us to show Christ in us.
C. Jesus drew large
crowds to Himself by healing every person that came to Him.
1. He used every
opportunity to express the faith of those who He helped
2. One of Jesus
common statements was, " your faith has made you whole".
3. This was a
message heard by all who stood by.
4. And this is
the message of the Gospel, "Your Faith Makes You Whole".
V:19. " This then is how we know that we belong to the
truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence."
A. We are always in
the presence of God when we set our minds on doing good for
others.
1. It is the will
of God that we help our brothers and sisters in need.
2. We know we are
doing the right thing when we serve the needs of others in the
name of Jesus
Christ.
B. Unselfish acts of
kindness has a way of adding joy and peace to our lives.
1. When we take
our minds off of ourselves and put it on the needs of others, purpose
and
direction is added to us.
2. When we focus
on others, God focus on us.
V:20. " Whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is
greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
A. If we study God's Word, our hearts will convict us of our
sins.
1. All have sinned
and fall short of the Glory of God.
2. We have this
confidence, that if we ask for forgiveness, God is just and faithful to
forgive.
B. God is greater
than any problem that we have.
1. We are on the
road to recovery when we focus on God's Word and doing good.
2. God knows our
needs and desires and will give us both if we focus on doing
his will.
V:21,22. " Dear
friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before
God (22) and receive
from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do
what pleases him."
A. If we make it our
desire to please God with our actions toward one another, God
will make it His
desire to give us what we ask according to His will.
1. The evidence of
our love for God, is the keeping of His commandments.
2. To keep God's
commandment we must study to know them.
3. There are
commands of God that applies to every area of our lives.
4. Before we act, we must simply ask
ourselves, would this please God?
B. Pleasing God does
not mean that our lives will be boring.
1. We never know
where God will lead us or who He will place in our lives.
2. If everyday we
wake with a desire to please God, He will provide the opportunity.
3. We will quickly
learn to be excited about life because we can expect God to do
great things
with us.
V:23. "And this
is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to
love one another as
he commanded us"
A. Two commands for
living a godly life
1. Believe in
Jesus.
a. Accept
Jesus as your personal savior.
b. Believe
that the Word is to be applied to your life.
c. Trust
Jesus with all your decisions and problems.
2. Love your
neighbor as yourself.
a. Help
others in need.
b. See
helping others in need as an obligation.
B. Trust the outcome
of each situation to Jesus.
1. Do what you
can, but leave the rest to Jesus.
2. Remember that
Jesus has all the resources you need.
V:24. " Those who obey his commands live in him, and he
in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit
he gave us. "
A. There are three that testify for Jesus, the Spirit, the
water and the blood. 1 John 5:7
1. The Spirit of
God that indwells us constantly reminds us to keep God's commands.
2. The water that
flowed from the side when He was pierced with a sword on the
cross reminds
us that we have been purified by belief in the Word,
3. The blood Jesus
shed on the cross reminds us that our
sins have been forgiven.
4. The fact that we
know this is a testimony that Jesus lives in us.
B. There are three that testify to the works of Jesus, the
Law of Moses, the Prophets and
Psalms.
1. We have a host
of witnesses that live in our life time that testify to the goodness
of Jesus.
2. We have parents,
grand parents, aunts and uncles who believe in Jesus and can
testify to
what He did in their lives.
C. We live because He lives.
1. Our own lives is
a testimony that disobedience to God's commands leads to trouble.
2. We know in our
hearts that when we are consistently obedient to God's commands
that He blesses
us in ways we can't imagine.
GOD IS LOVE, SO WE OUGHT LOVE LIKE JESUS
Rev M. Mitchell, Asst
Pastor of GMBC
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