Last week a friend of mine suggested that I tell people about the love of Jesus. I think this is an excellent suggestion. But before I tell you about the love of Jesus, I thought I’d start out by talking about God’s love.
God’s Love
Let’s start with John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Romans 5:8 says But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Ephesians 2:4-5 states: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth (Psalm 86:15). Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not (1 John 3:1).
God’s Wrath
People want to talk about God’s love, but typically they don’t want to talk about His wrath. Why is there wrath? Because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You don’t think God is capable of anger over sins? What about when God saved Noah and his family? Eight souls were saved through God’s love, mercy and grace. But do you realize that the rest of mankind was destroyed during the flood? I’ve heard estimates that there may have been around 3 Million people who died during the great flood. Yes, God is merciful, kind and loving. But He also can’t tolerate sin and be sure my friend, your sin will find you out.
Deuteronomy 7:9-11 says: Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
God is merciful to those who love Him, to those who keep His commandments. (And this is what too many professing Christians are missing today – holiness. God says be holy for I am Holy. But many professing Christians miss this. They focus on God’s love and ignore His commandments to love Him and to keep His commandments.
But also notice the words in these verses in Deuteronomy. God repays those who hate Him. He destroys them. So Moses admonishes the Israelites to keep God’s commandments. Now we know that none of us have kept the 10 Commandments. We have all lied, most of us have stolen, we’ve all lusted and coveted and none of us have loved God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength every second of every day. We are all guilty before a righteous and Holy God. But that’s why we all need a savior. That’s why we all need Jesus. That’s why we all need the love of Jesus.
These next two verses are great verses about God’s love: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).
Now we are getting to the good part. God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to save us; that we might live through Him; that we might receive eternal life through Him. Not because of who we are or what we have done. NO, all we have done is sinned against God. All we have done is rebel against God. All we’ve done is go away from God from our mother’s womb. All we’ve done is said No to God and Yes to ourselves. Until you are born again, you are a selfish, self-pleasing person. Oh, you may do good things for the wrong reasons. You may help the poor and needy; but you do it to make yourself feel better.
None of have loved God first. HE first loved us. God loved us first. He takes the initative to reach us. Jesus said No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44). God loved us when we were unlovable. God loved us while we were yet sinners. God loved us while we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. God is the one reaching out to you tonight.
Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means that the wrath was satisfied. Make no mistake tonight, there is Hell to pay. Jesus either paid it for you when He suffered, bled and died on the cruel cross or your guilt still remains upon you. If you die in your sins, then you will suffer the torments of Hell forever. It’s one or the other. It is salvation through the sinless Son of God or it is your damnation for your own sins which you will suffer for all eternity if you die as an unrepentant sinner. If you want to see how much God hates sin, look to the cross. If you want to see how much God loves us, look to the cross.
The Love of Jesus
This brings me to the love of Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:10-14).
Jesus is God and He has existed from the beginning. He left His throne in Heaven a little over 2,000 years ago; He was born of the Holy Ghost and the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He willingly laid down His life as a ransom for many. Jesus paid the sin debt that He did not owe. He paid the sin debt that we owe, that we could never pay ourselves. That’s why unrepentant sinners suffer in Hell for all of eternity. They can’t pay the sin debt in this life nor can they pay it in the next life. All of us mere mortals have sinned against God. None of us are righteous, no not one. We have all gone astray.
But Jesus never sinned, not one time! He is the perfect sacrifice. He is the only Savior. He is the only one who could meet the perfect demands of God’s Holy Law. Only Jesus obeyed God perfectly. Only Jesus can take away your sins and He can do so because He never sinned. He was the propitiation for our sins. He suffered God’s wrath over our sins. He was beaten beyond recognition. He was beaten so severely that you couldn’t even recognize Him.
The Roman soldiers mocked and scorned Him to shame. They beat Him with the reed. They spit on Him and laughed at Him. They taunted Him and made fun of Him. They platted the crown of thorns on His head. Have you ever been stuck by the thorn of a rose bush? I don’t think they are anywhere near as awful as the thorns pressed upon Jesus’ head that caused Him to bleed. Do you realize how many nerves are on your head? On your forehead? Do you realize how sensitive your forehead is? Imagine thorns being pressed into your skull.
The Roman soldiers also beat Jesus with 39 lashes across His back. Many people who were scourged died just from this alone. They ripped the flesh and nerves in His back. The soldiers were very good at their job. They inflicted as much pain as they could muster. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God was beaten to a bloody pulp.
The Cross
Then He was forced to carry the cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull, the place of death. Then they stripped Him of His clothes and nailed him to that old rugged cross. They didn’t use 16 penny nails like we use in construction today. No this is a replica of the nails they used. I’d call this a spike instead of a nail. They pierced His hands and feet. They nailed Him to the cross. They lifted Him up in the air and violently thrusted the cross into the ground.
Jesus was already in excruciating pain. Our word excruciating comes from the Latin word crucifixion. It was a horribly painful, agonizing way to die. Every time Jesus took a breath, He had to lift Himself up. In doing so, His already raw, bloodied, mangled back scraped against the old rugged cross as He heaved up and down. This is pain like you and I have never known. Jesus endured this unbearable pain for six long, torturous hours. The sinless One bore the punishment that you and I deserved.
And if the physical pain wasn’t enough to bear, He was also the propitiation for our sins. He bore God’s wrath. God’s anger over our sins was poured out upon His own precious Son. The anguish of God’s wrath was even worse than the physical pain that Jesus suffered on behalf of guilty sinners like you and me. But He willingly endured the physical pain. He willingly endured God’s wrath over sinful man, in order to make a way for us to get back into a right relationship with God. Adam broke the relationship when he sinned in the garden of Eden and all of us have sinned ourselves. We deserve God’s anger over our sins. But Jesus didn’t deserve it, yet He took the punishment anyway.
Jesus then said It is finished. He commended His spirit into the Father’s hands. You see, the soul that sins, it shall die. Jesus never sinned, so He wouldn’t have died, except He gave up the Ghost because He finished the task. He was obedient to God the Father, even obedient to death, the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). Jesus died on the cross. He was buried and He rose from the grave on the third day. He rose victoriously from the grave. He defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan. God offers everlasting life to each and every person who repents and puts their faith in Jesus.
Experience the Love of Jesus
Oh, you want to know about the love of Jesus, look to the cross. You want to see the horribly high price that Jesus paid for guilty sinners like you and me? Look to the cross. He paid an extremely high price. That’s why Jesus isn’t looking for you to make a decision for Him. He isn’t running for office. He’s looking for complete and utter surrender. Put up the white flag tonight. Stop rebelling against God. Stop hanging on to your pet sin. Confess and forsake your sins. Repent and trust Jesus. Oh experience the love of Jesus tonight. Be born again. Repent and believe the Gospel. Be saved. Your sins can be forgiven. Your conscience can be cleared tonight. Your bondage to sin can be broken. Fall, broken over your sins at the foot of the cross. Come to Jesus (Revelation 21:17). Surrender your life to Him. Receive salvation. Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus. Do this tonight and receive the love of Jesus.
(This message was proclaimed in the open-air in downtown Springfield, MO on February 19, 2016)