CHALLENGE: Know the God Loves You
1 Peter 3:17-18 – For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
If you’re going to suffer, suffer for doing the right thing rather than wrong. And we know the difference between the wrong thing and the right thing, don’t we?
I think back to the Garden of Eden where God made such a simple request, don’t eat the fruit off the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And it was so well known that even the serpent knew it. He expanded it, denied the consequences, and questioned God’s motives. However, there was never a question in Eve’s mind that she wasn’t supposed to eat from it. She just wanted the fruit anyway! Often, we don’t sin because we lack the knowledge, we sin because we ignore the knowledge! She knew. Adam knew.
Sin is anytime we break God’s commandments. We knew but we did what we wanted to do.
I remember a scary night as a teen when my brother and I were out later than we were allowed. We were blazing down the road trying to beat my dad home from a church board meeting. We wound up behind him and this was NOT good. We knew we would be in HUGE trouble if we pulled in that driveway after he did! Fortunately, he had to drop someone off. Whew! We knew!
So many times, when we get ourselves into trouble, there was no question as to what was right and wrong. We were just making excuses and deliberately doing what we shouldn’t.
Kids, you know when you’re doing what you shouldn’t be doing! Right??!! You know when you’re being mean. Or when you’re not listening to your parents. Or you’re fighting. I remember my brother chasing me and me ducking down and tripping him. He flipped over me and this right in front of my dad. I got into trouble!
Peter says to not suffer for doing wrong and tells us to do the right thing! Doing wrong brings consequences. Our world has been suffering because of the deliberate choice Eve and Adam made to eat the forbidden fruit. And our choices to disobey God are also disastrous.
- There are natural pests. I’ve been running and this time of year you run for fitness and run to not get eaten alive by deer flies. That’s part of the curse.
- There are diseases and death. / There is war. There is politics.
- There is selfishness and pride. / There are hurtful broken relationships.
- How insidious is sin? It makes it difficult to trust people and that’s why we will point you to Jesus. There are so many issues that have come into the world as the result of sin.
Yet there’s hope. God loves you!
- JESUS LOVES YOU ENOUGH TO SUFFER FOR YOU
Jesus suffered because of you. He suffered doing the right thing to save you. There was a huge cost to him as he endured intense pain.
1 Peter 2:24 – “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Look at the example of Jesus. He committed no sin. He told no lies. Yet he paid a price! How so? It says that – He bore our sins in his body on the cross. He was rejected and betrayed by a friend. He took a vicious beating where a whip shredded his back. He endured the crown of thorns. The nails. The thirst. The indignity. The feeling of being abandoned. The death.
And he suffered for you because he loved you! He suffered to save you! John 15:13 – Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
2. JESUS LOVES YOU ENOUGH TO DIE FOR YOUR SINS
once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous
Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He loved us enough to die for us! We weren’t angels and you don’t have to be to have God’s love! We love our families unconditionally. We love them even when they’re driving us crazy.
Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We have all sinned and we all fall short of the glory of God. Fall way short. It would be like trying to broad jump the Grand Canyon. No matter how much effort you put into it. No matter how strong you are. No matter how fast. You cannot broad jump the Grand Canyon. Gravity will pull you down into the cavernous bottom and you’ll die.
There used to be a daredevil named Evel Knievel. And Evel jumped all kinds of vehicles on his motorcycle and had all kinds of crashes. Back in my day, they took motorcycles and jumped rows of cars or trucks! He wound up breaking 433 broken bones over his career, a Guinness Book of World Records!
He got into his head that he wanted to jump the Grand Canyon but the government told him no. So, he found the Snake River Canyon in Idaho and decided that he would jump that. He put a rocket engine on a motorcycle and had a special ramp built and millions of people tuned into watch it. It was quite the spectacle.
He went airborn but the parachute deployed early and he didn’t even come close! Even on a rocket propelled motorcycle, he fell far short and plunged into the river below! We can’t get into heaven on our own! We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God!
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The wages of sin is death. And that means eternal separation from God. That’s the true hellish existence. While we may not totally understand exactly what the Lake of Fire is, we know that God is not there. And if God is not there, I don’t want to be there either. God’s presence brings beauty and his absence brings misery. I wouldn’t want to be thrown into Lake Erie for eternity, let alone the lake of fire!
Jesus died to pay for your sins so you can avoid eternal death and have eternal life! It was the righteous for the unrighteous. He was the righteous, and we the sinners. He died for my sins. Because of my sins. To pay for my sins. He took my place and absorbed the penalty of God’s anger!
When I was in 8th grade, I switched classes with my identical twin brother. And while I was in there, I took a test for him. The next day the teacher made a big fuss over my twin bro. She said, there was one perfect score in the entire class and that goes to Bob McMinn.
The better at math guy took the test for the not so good at math guy. And the grade counted. Jesus got me the A when he died on the cross. My behavior grade is now perfect. He took the test for me so I have Christ’s test score! He was righteous. He healed blind people and lepers. He raised the dead. He taught truth. He loved people. And all that good living and perfect character is now part of my score. I’ll take his grade on my report card! I wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t get the perfect score. I needed God. Jesus died to forgive you of your sins!
How bad you were or are is not the issue. The issue is the goodness of Christ! Ephesians 1:7 – In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
3. JESUS LOVES YOU ENOUGH TO BRING YOU TO GOD
to bring you to God.
There was a purpose to Jesus Christ dying for you – it’s to bring you to God. I’ve always loved these words! I don’t have to get myself there or figure out the way. I just have to trust in Jesus Christ.
When I was a boy, I pictured Jesus as the bridge into eternity. And as soon as God opened my eyes to that truth, I accepted it. A simple prayer. God forgive me of my sins and give me eternal life through Jesus. And that was the day for me!
And here’s the thing. Any one of you can have that same salvation today. The Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. We receive it when we believe it!
Most of the things I trust are things that I use all the time. And I believe that they’ll do what they are intended to do. I pour tea into a glass pitcher believing it will hold the tea! It’s what it’s designed for
I plant cayenne peppers believing that they will be hot because that’s the property of the plant. I expect some spicy heat. I planted a Carolina Reaper one year which cross pollinated with the other peppers. When it says it’s hot, you can believe it! It’s exactly as billed – wicked hot!
The property of Christ is that of saving and forgiving. It’s what He does. If you want to go to heaven someday then he’s the one boat! He’s reliable and his purpose was to get you to God!
When Noah built an ark, he had to believe in judgment and the ark would keep him above the flood waters. Jesus is the ark and we’re safe with him. We believe in a future day of standing before God and realize that we need forgiven. Thus we need to have faith in Jesus Christ!
4. JESUS LOVE YOU ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU A NEW LIFE!
He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit
Jesus died but Jesus was made alive by the Spirit. Guess what? So are you! You have a new life in Christ! You’re new!! You can have a changed life through faith!
1 Peter 1:8-9 – Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Can we say this. We love him and believe in him. This is what those being baptized are saying. Even though we don’t see, we believe!