True Love for God: Belief and Acceptance of Christ
Summary
In this sermon, the focus is on the profound encounter between Jesus and the man at the Pool of Bethesda, as recorded in John 5:42. Jesus, amidst a crowd of hopefuls waiting for healing, singles out a man who had been suffering for 38 years. Despite the man's hopelessness, Jesus commands him to rise, take up his bed, and walk, which he does immediately. This act of healing on the Sabbath incites the anger of the Jewish authorities, who accuse Jesus of breaking God's law. Jesus responds by asserting that His actions are in perfect alignment with God's will, claiming equality with God, which further infuriates the authorities.
The sermon delves into the deeper issue of the Jewish leaders' rejection of Jesus, despite the evidence of His divine authority. Jesus points out that their disbelief stems from a lack of love for God. They claim to know God, yet they fail to recognize Him in Jesus. This highlights a critical spiritual principle: true knowledge of God inevitably leads to love for Him, and this love is demonstrated through belief in Jesus Christ.
The sermon challenges the notion that one can believe in God without believing in Jesus. It emphasizes that genuine love for God involves accepting Him as He is, as revealed in Scripture, and not selectively choosing attributes that suit personal preferences. Love for God is comprehensive, involving the heart, mind, soul, and strength, and it manifests in a desire to do His will and reject the world's values.
The ultimate test of love for God is the acceptance of His greatest gift—Jesus Christ. The sermon calls for self-examination, urging listeners to assess whether they truly love God or merely hold an intellectual belief. It concludes with an invitation to those who realize their lack of love for God to seek Him earnestly, confess their shortcomings, and embrace the transformative love offered through Christ.
Key Takeaways:
- The Nature of True Belief: True belief in God is inseparable from belief in Jesus Christ. To know God is to love Him, and this love naturally extends to His Son, Jesus. Intellectual acknowledgment of God without love for Him is insufficient. [10:06]
- The Test of Love: The real test of our relationship with God is not mere belief but love. This love is comprehensive, involving our entire being—heart, mind, soul, and strength. It is a love that transforms and dominates our lives. [12:10]
- Loving God as He Is: Genuine love for God means accepting Him as He is, as revealed in Scripture, without selectively choosing attributes that suit our preferences. It involves embracing His holiness, justice, mercy, and grace. [19:33]
- Rejecting the World: Love for God includes a rejection of the world's values and desires. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. True love for God leads to a life that is distinct from worldly pursuits and pleasures. [39:03]
- The Ultimate Gift: The ultimate test of our love for God is our acceptance of His greatest gift—Jesus Christ. This involves recognizing the significance of Christ's sacrifice and allowing it to transform our lives. [43:02]
Youtube Chapters:
- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:09] - Scene at the Pool of Bethesda
- [01:17] - Healing on the Sabbath
- [02:09] - Jesus' Claim of Equality with God
- [03:37] - Rejection of Jesus by the Authorities
- [04:59] - Lack of Love for God
- [06:08] - The Principle of Belief and Love
- [08:22] - Modern Parallels to Ancient Beliefs
- [10:06] - The Test of Love
- [12:10] - Love Beyond Belief
- [19:33] - Loving God as He Is
- [26:54] - Loving God with Our Whole Being
- [36:27] - Love and Obedience
- [39:03] - Rejecting the World
- [43:02] - The Ultimate Gift of Jesus
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide
Bible Reading:
- John 5:42
- James 2:19
- Matthew 22:37-39
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Observation Questions:
1. What was the significance of Jesus healing the man at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, and how did it lead to conflict with the Jewish authorities? [01:36]
2. How did Jesus respond to the accusations of the Jewish leaders, and what claim did He make about His relationship with God? [02:09]
3. According to the sermon, what was the deeper issue behind the Jewish leaders' rejection of Jesus? [05:50]
4. How does the sermon describe the difference between intellectual belief in God and true love for God? [10:58]
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Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the sermon explain the connection between knowing God and loving Him? Why is intellectual belief alone considered insufficient? [14:23]
2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that the Jewish leaders' understanding of God was flawed, despite their claims of belief? [06:47]
3. How does the sermon interpret the commandment to love God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength? What does this comprehensive love entail? [27:13]
4. What does the sermon suggest about the relationship between loving God and rejecting worldly values? How is this principle relevant to modern believers? [39:03]
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Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your own beliefs: Do you find yourself intellectually acknowledging God without truly loving Him? How can you move from belief to love in your relationship with God? [10:58]
2. The sermon challenges us to love God as He is, without selectively choosing attributes that suit our preferences. Are there aspects of God's nature that you struggle to accept? How can you work towards embracing God in His entirety? [19:33]
3. Consider the values and desires of the world that might be influencing your life. What steps can you take to align your values more closely with God's will? [39:03]
4. The sermon emphasizes the importance of accepting Jesus Christ as God's ultimate gift. How does your acceptance of Christ reflect your love for God? What changes might you need to make to fully embrace this gift? [43:02]
5. Think about the ways you express love for God in your daily life. How can you demonstrate this love more fully with your heart, mind, soul, and strength? [27:13]
6. The sermon calls for self-examination regarding our love for God. What practical steps can you take this week to deepen your love and commitment to God? [46:07]
7. How can you cultivate a desire to do God's will and reject the world's values in your everyday decisions and interactions? [39:03]
Devotional
Day 1: True Belief and Love for God
True belief in God is inseparable from belief in Jesus Christ. To know God is to love Him, and this love naturally extends to His Son, Jesus. Intellectual acknowledgment of God without love for Him is insufficient. Jesus' encounter with the man at the Pool of Bethesda illustrates this principle. Despite the man's long-term suffering, Jesus' command to rise and walk was met with immediate obedience, demonstrating the power of true belief. The Jewish authorities' rejection of Jesus, despite witnessing His divine authority, highlights their lack of love for God. They claimed to know God but failed to recognize Him in Jesus, showing that true knowledge of God inevitably leads to love for Him. This love is demonstrated through belief in Jesus Christ. [10:06]
John 14:21 (ESV): "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
Reflection: Consider your current relationship with Jesus. Is it based on intellectual acknowledgment, or does it reflect a deep love for Him? How can you deepen your love for Jesus today?
Day 2: The Test of Love
The real test of our relationship with God is not mere belief but love. This love is comprehensive, involving our entire being—heart, mind, soul, and strength. It is a love that transforms and dominates our lives. The encounter at the Pool of Bethesda shows that Jesus' actions were in perfect alignment with God's will, despite the Jewish authorities' accusations. Their disbelief stemmed from a lack of love for God, as they failed to recognize His presence in Jesus. True love for God involves a desire to do His will and reject the world's values. It is a love that transforms our lives and leads us to live distinct from worldly pursuits. [12:10]
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV): "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Reflection: Reflect on how you can love God with your entire being today. What specific actions can you take to demonstrate this love in your daily life?
Day 3: Loving God as He Is
Genuine love for God means accepting Him as He is, as revealed in Scripture, without selectively choosing attributes that suit our preferences. It involves embracing His holiness, justice, mercy, and grace. The Jewish leaders' rejection of Jesus highlights their selective understanding of God. They failed to recognize Jesus as the embodiment of God's love and authority. True love for God requires accepting His full character and allowing it to shape our lives. This love is not based on personal preferences but on a comprehensive understanding of who God is. [19:33]
Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV): "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Reflection: Are there aspects of God's character that you struggle to accept? How can you embrace the fullness of who God is in your life today?
Day 4: Rejecting the World
Love for God includes a rejection of the world's values and desires. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. True love for God leads to a life that is distinct from worldly pursuits and pleasures. The Jewish authorities' focus on legalistic interpretations of the Sabbath blinded them to the true nature of God's love and authority in Jesus. To love God is to reject the world's values and align our lives with His will. This involves a conscious decision to prioritize God's desires over worldly pursuits. [39:03]
James 4:4 (ESV): "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
Reflection: Identify one area of your life where you are tempted to conform to worldly values. How can you choose to prioritize God's values in that area today?
Day 5: The Ultimate Gift of Jesus
The ultimate test of our love for God is our acceptance of His greatest gift—Jesus Christ. This involves recognizing the significance of Christ's sacrifice and allowing it to transform our lives. The healing at the Pool of Bethesda is a testament to Jesus' divine authority and love. Despite the Jewish authorities' rejection, Jesus' actions were in perfect alignment with God's will. Accepting Jesus as God's ultimate gift requires a deep understanding of His sacrifice and a willingness to let it transform our lives. This acceptance is the ultimate expression of our love for God. [43:02]
1 John 4:9-10 (ESV): "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 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."
Reflection: Reflect on the significance of Jesus' sacrifice in your life. How can you allow this understanding to transform your daily actions and decisions?
Quotes
I know you that ye have not the love of God in you can you imagine a more striking about amenda see here is one whom they regarded as an upstart because he wasn't a Pharisee he was just a carpenter who'd appeared suddenly on the scene from Nazareth and here he is venturing to argue them who are the doctors of the law and the religious authorities and now he looks at them and he says I know you that you have not the love of God in you. [00:06:08]
The principle is this that there is nothing which is quite so fatal to the highest interests of our souls as to draw this distinction between believing in God and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ that's the point that our Lord is making he's already made it for part of them he has already told them much earlier on he says that whosoever honoureth not the son honoureth not the Father he says the father judges no men but has committed all judgment unto the son that all men should honor the son even as they honor the father. [00:07:39]
He says you believe that you're believers in God and yet you're proving that you're not how if you really knew him you believed in me and you'd honor me and you give yourselves to me very well that's the theme I want to discuss with you this evening because as we know this is not some old position that no longer obtained there are many people in the world tonight in the position of these views of old there are many people if you discuss these questions with them if you talk to them about religion they say oh yes cause III believe in God. [00:08:22]
The test to apply ours is the test of love I know you he says to these people that you have not the love of God in you I know he says that you don't love God now you'll notice how he puts it he doesn't to simply take up the question of a belief in God now no he says it isn't belief that matters it is the love of God that matters you remember how that is put very possibly in the Epistle of James in the second chapter of the nineteenth verse James is arguing and he says something like this he says now believe this that there is one God thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble. [00:10:06]
To love God at all is to love him as he is to love him entirely have you ever heard a person in love with another person thing oh yes sir in this respect he or she is very good and I like that very much but of course there's that other thing I hate that I just like that very much indeed does love speak like that does love discriminate and differentiate no no love loves the whole person takes the person as it is as he or she is is captivated by the whole personality. [00:19:33]
The supreme thing is the love of God my answer is that God himself has commanded it so there's no need to argue about this but God calls upon us to do is not simply to believe in him it is to love him there are men who go to hell who believe in God what God asks I say is this attitude which is described by the word love but I think I can show you that this is something which is quite inevitable in this way to know God at all is of necessity to love him because he is who and you for a man really to know anything about the being of God of necessity leads to a total love of God because of his glorious nature. [00:13:10]
The second test of whether we love God or not is this that we love him with the whole of our being we've got to love the whole of God yes and the whole of us loves God and you ever thought of that well I've got abundant authority for saying this this is the statement that our Lord Himself made as I reminded you just now he says thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy mind and all thy soul and all thy strength that's loving God eases there is the part of you that's left unaffected when you love your love with all of your being you're lost in it well very well it's equally true in our love of God. [00:26:54]
To love God include that we do not love what God hates oh these negatives are very subtle they're very delicate listen to John again putting it in his first epistle love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him what is this love of the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life that's the love of the world Oh says this holy men love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him. [00:39:03]
How may I know that I love God well it is that I look at his most priceless gift and I receive him with open arms what is God's greatest gift need I tell you it is the gift of his only begotten son God so loved the world that He gave as a gift his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting love God has given his own greatest possession his own only beloved son who was in his bosom from all eternity he sent him into the world he gave him as his love gift to mankind into the world here's the ultimate test of whether we love God or not. [00:43:02]
Do you desire to know God and to commune with him until well with him do you love God as he is and marvel of his perfection and feel astounded that he's ever gained to look upon you at all are you down in the dust and looking up to him in wonder and in amazement as he tells you to look at his only begotten son dying and expiring on that cross and his dead body taken down and buried in the grave and rising again do you say died he for me and can it be that I should gain an interest in my Savior died he for me that caused his pain for me who him to death person amazing and chemically but though my god a sky cover me. [00:46:12]
The ultimate test of love is this we are left speech we're left wondering we're overwhelmed the love of the other to us is so marvelous and so amazing that we feel that we have nothing to say you you love God if you've been convicted in this service that you don't well then I say to you go to him just as you are and confess it to him tell him that either to you've read about Christ and the 3rd of him and he's meant nothing to you that his death meant nothing to you tell him that you've seen now the shame of it all the blindness of it all the sin of it all go to him and acknowledge it and confess and their scheme to have nothing Apollo and I are showing in his name he sent his son to die for us him but he might reconcile you unto himself he will not refuse you he will not say you may go to him immediately realize that nothing less than love is sufficient with such a being with such a God cast yourself prostrate yourself before him look up at him he will so many fists himself to you that you will begin to know what it means to be lost in wonder love and we. [00:49:33]
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