Knowing His Love

Let me begin by having you turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

! I will not preach next week. So that means you get to this week.

What I'm asking you to look at this morning is one that reflects probably one of the more consistent things I say from the pulpit.

And that has to do with my dependence upon your prayer.

Next week I will not ask you to pray for Pastor Shearer.

I'm doing it this week.

And as is appropriate, I want to frame that request in the light of Scripture,

knowing that God's people will pay attention to that carefully and think of it soberly.

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3,

1 Corinthians 1:3

I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.

No man should ever come to the pulpit to preach the Word of God without these things in his heart.

And that is the reason why over the years you've heard me say over and over again that I am desperately dependent upon your prayers.

Truthfully, I remember hearing Pastor Brock teach on the place of prayer in affecting the ear with which Tim Knoyer listened to preaching.

I sat back there where Kevin Yankovich is sitting presently.

The pews were colored differently.

But Judith and I had our youngest son, Samuel, in the nursery then.

And he was a high-kneed child.

I said that because he's sitting back there and I thought I'd take a cheap shot and get away with it.

That was really not the truth.

Don't send me an email on that.

Other things are okay, but that was just a joke.

But I remember hearing Pastor Brock teach on the role of prayer.

Listen to me.

It changed the way Tim Knoyer listened to sermons.

It made me realize that Tim Knoyer had a part to play in taking a frail instrument, imperfect at best,

and pleading with the Spirit of God to help that individual bring the Word of God with clarity,

with simplicity, and with passion.

And like I said, I will not give an introduction such as this next week.

Because you understand the logic of that, don't you?

But look at verse 4.

This is what I want you to remember.

And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom,

but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power.

That's always the desire of a man who preaches the Word of God.

That what is seen is the evidence of the power of the Spirit of God

working to touch the lives of people for the glory of Christ.

Now, I said you're getting two today.

That's number one.

Click that off.

Move on.

1 John chapter 3.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

How many of you here would admit that sometimes you're a little full of yourself?

Besides me.

I mean, you know, I remember when I heard Paul David Tripp admit that he was the biggest problem he had.

Now, I had been struggling with coming to grips with that, but he said it so well.

It's like, I can buy that.

Yes, I am a problem.

And strangely enough, that problem doesn't really show up in my devotional life or my prayer life.

It shows up in particular when I'm around other people.

Because I'd like to think that they're the problem.

And I would admit that relationships always bring sinners into close proximity with each other,

but we don't tend to see it that way.

And 1 John is all about helping professing believers understand the significance of the question of,

am I really saved?

We're looking this morning at 1 John chapter 3, verse 1, just as an intro,

1 John 3:1

and then more particularly at verse 16.

But let me read that to you.

It says there,

See what kind of love the Father has given unto us,

that we should be called the children of God.

I hope you have never gotten over that reality.

That the unbelievable blessing that you have of being God's child

and having a personal relationship with the Lord of glory

is something that at every moment puts a smile on your face when you stop and think about it.

In fact, it is the remedy to much of our moodiness and surliness and unhappiness in life.

Wouldn't you agree with that?

Here's Paul saying, and when he says,

Behold, I can't get my head around the fullness of what it's saying.

It's like, wow!

Behold what manner, what kind of love the Father has given unto us

that we should be called the children of God.

It's overwhelming.

Paul then kind of plays out through, or not Paul, but John plays out through the remainder of the first part.

He talks about the fact that this thought ends up having an effect upon the way we live.

And if you are sitting here this morning and your heart is touched with the sweetness of the truth

that you're the child of God, well, one of the takeaways as a result of that

is that you end up with a greater sensitivity to the issue of personal sin.

This morning, as I was spending time in prayer,

I found myself lamenting, just grieving of heart with one of the recurring battles of my own heart.

How many of you have those?

A couple areas where, you know, just like,

You know what?

I really wish this didn't happen anymore,

and I didn't have those kind of lousy, low-life, unacceptable, godless thoughts.

How many of you are in that space with me?

Thank you.

Mike, there's one of us here, okay?

And I remember thinking of the passage in Hebrews 1, verse 9,

Hebrews 1:9

where the author, unknown, recites a passage in the Psalms.

Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity.

And I found myself this morning as I was in prayer and preparation for the Lord's table

just saying, Lord, I so hate sin, and I long to grow in grace.

And in the passage we see in 1 John is, hey, we are the children of God,

and the truth of the matter is is that we're not what we will be,

but, man, thinking about it has an effect upon our lives.

And as the apostle unpacks the portion of passage,

he deals with this issue of sin,

and he brings it around to a very, very practical challenge in terms of relationship

and really challenges us to kind of think through the issue of

whether or not our relationships with one another are marked by the love of Christ.

And I'm not going to take the time to deal with that piece of it.

What I want to do is have you put your finger on verse 16

because it is an absolutely central truth in the believer's life.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.

It's appropriate that a passage such as this be part of our time around the Lord's table.

There's a connectedness.

You remember that when Paul is correcting the church at Corinth

regarding their time around the Lord's table,

he reminds them that when we take these elements,

he says, you do show forth the Lord's death.

The bread and the cup are reminders of Jesus dying for us.

And so here we are in a companion passage over in 1 John 3

where the apostle, as he is reminding us of our relationship with Christ,

and he's reminding us of the significance of that,

he makes this kind of foundational statement.

This is what love looks like.

Jesus died for us.

Jesus died for us.

And since we are at the table and we are going to be taking these elements,

I think it's appropriate for us to recognize what we're not doing today.

For one thing, we recognize that the enemy of our souls is great at leading us astray,

and even we who are well-framed and relatively mature believers,

how many of you would admit that there are times when your mind just is not connected

to the things it should be connected to?

I mean, there are some of us here that perhaps spend an hour,

an hour and a half in our devotional life.

We get up early in the morning and do it,

and I can tell you this, that even when you're engaged in that level of discipline,

there are times that you can go through the motions and your heart's not in it.

And so I would appeal to you that when we come to this table that we are careful

that we don't just get caught up and led astray by the enemy of our souls.

So let's recognize that for one thing, we're really not engaged in a saving ritual.

I remember talking with an individual not too long ago who said to me,

oh, I've missed communion for so long, it just doesn't feel right.

And I've got to tell you, I can understand that.

But on the other hand, I don't want any believer to ever end up having the idea

that you kind of lose all kinds of points with God if you don't take communion necessarily.

I mean, there are some people that are bed fast.

There are some people that are in the military,

and there are reasons, various reasons, they don't engage in the Lord's table.

And so don't think to yourself that when you take communion,

you get kind of extra points with the Father.

Satan has actually deceived many into thinking that the bread and the cup

are a means of salvation, and that actually taking the bread and the cup

is one of the ways that you assure yourself of your eternal destiny.

The false teaching surrounding that proposes that every time communion

is actually offered, that the priest is making a fresh sacrifice of Christ for our sins.

That is an unholy teaching.

And it is clearly contradictory to the Scriptures.

I want you to take just a moment.

You're there in 1 John, and we're going to come back to it.

But I want you to turn in your Bible over to Hebrews 7, verse 27,

Hebrews 7:27

and mark what it says,

talking about Jesus in relationship to the priestly sacrifices

that were made in the Old Testament.

He says this,

He had no need, like those high priests,

to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins,

and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all.

And I would encourage you, underline that in your Bible,

once for all.

Once for all.

We find a very similar statement over in Hebrews 10.

And in verse 10, here's what it says,

And by that will,

Jesus referring, or the passage referring to Jesus coming to obey the will of the Father,

it says,

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ

once for all.

Now stop just for a moment and listen and look up.

This is a little unusual statement,

once for all, once for all.

You don't find that kind of repetition

without understanding that the Spirit of God wants to be clear

that we're not misled.

It's pretty hard to get around a once for all statement, isn't it?

It's there to remind us.

The sacrifice of Christ sufficient and once for all.

I want you to understand that when we come to this table,

we are not here, not only to not engage in a saving ritual,

but we're not just going through the motions.

And one of the characteristics of our fellowship in preparing for the Lord's table

is that invariably, the Wednesday before we come to this table,

there is a portion in the prayer bulletin reminding us of the fact

that the Lord's table is coming,

and there are things that we should prepare for in prayer.

I'm all in favor of taking a quiet moment to quiet your heart

before you take the elements,

but how many of you admit that sometimes that can be pretty just functional?

I mean, you know what I'm saying?

Probably a more practical way to really get down to the nut of the matter

would be to turn to your wife on Saturday evening and say,

honey, are there any sin areas in my life that you think I need to repent of

before I take communion tomorrow morning?

That's a really comfortable thought, isn't it?

Inviting your wife to help you realize where you are struggling.

I mean, the last time your wife probably had a comment to say

about your spiritual deficiencies, how did you receive it?

Probably what you said is, who are you to talk to me?

You low-life, struggling sinner that you are.

You know, it's like, but here's my point, okay?

Hey, hey, come on.

We should realize that we've got to be careful

that we're not going through the motions,

and that means that we carefully do exactly what it says in 1 Corinthians 11,

where it says, examine yourself,

that you not be judged with the world.

And so, if you are into multitasking, and I think you are,

some of you are already thinking about what lunch is,

so you can handle this one too,

just go ahead and say to the Lord, help me to listen with one ear,

and with my spirit, kind of my heart,

kind of consider, are there attitudes I have

that really aren't pleasing to you?

Do I have some unconfessed sin that needs to be cared for

before I come to the elements?

And so, I want to remind you that what we're not doing today

is we're not just going through the motions.

What we are here to do this morning is think deeply

on Christ's death for us,

because I've got to tell you something, listen to me.

What He has done for us means everything to me,

and it means everything to you who know Christ.

It is the foundation for the way we live and act and think.

Isn't that right?

Isn't it right?

And it helps us to remind ourselves again and again and again

of who Jesus is and what He's done for me,

because it has a tendency of redirecting, correcting,

and helping me get back in the space that I need to be.

So here we are with this little verse,

and the apostle says this.

He says, listen,

this is how we know love.

He laid down His life for us.

So let's look at that very simple statement

and recognize that when it says

He laid down His life for us,

what it is telling us is that

Jesus made a voluntary choice.

Jesus' death on the cross was not kind of a quirk of fate.

It was not a cruel display of the heartless attitudes

of the Jewish leaders,

though they were heartless and godless.

What we understand is that

what took place on the cross

is something that the Lord Jesus

consciously and deliberately chose to do.

You are there in 1 John.

I want you to look at a companion passage

that amplifies this statement.

Turn back to John's gospel,

to John chapter 10, verse 17.

John 10:17

John chapter 10, verse 17.

John 10:17

For this reason the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life

that I may take it up again.

I lay down my life.

There are some things that you and I

have been forced to do

because they're necessary,

that sometimes we do things

because other people expect us to do them.

But what Jesus is saying here

is that His decision to die for us

was something that He chose to do.

It wasn't an accident.

It wasn't something that just happened.

The Son of God, our Savior,

the one who has redeemed me

and has blessed me with all spiritual blessings

in the heavenlies,

consciously and deliberately chose

to lay aside His pre-incarnate glory

and to come here and live on this earth

a sinless life and to die for my sins.

The wonder of His choice is really magnified

when we stop and consider

the glory of the one making the choice.

And it should overwhelm us.

It should overwhelm us.

I have not watched any basketball yet.

But I have friends that are out on Facebook

and I do check to see where they are.

And I have,

some of you remember Tom Watkins,

Dr. Tom Watkins.

He is a Michigan State fan.

And every one of his posts,

he must be going to the games quite a bit

because I hear him post this and post that

and post the other thing.

And I get the sense that he's pretty encouraged right now.

I mean, Michigan State basketball

is kind of really pretty neat.

And I'm thinking,

so that's good.

That's good.

He's a great guy.

But I want my heart to be more affected

by the sweetness of what Jesus has done for me

than any sport activity ever.

You got that?

And so,

when we think about Christ's voluntary death for us,

it ought to overwhelm us.

That's what the apostle is saying.

This is what love looks like.

Jesus laid down his life for us.

And so,

hammer that home

in your life.

Jesus died

by his own choice.

Scripture actually goes to quite a detail

to help us get that fact

in our minds.

And so,

we're going to take some time

and work our way through the Gospels

in relationship to that.

Keep your finger

there in 1 John.

We will come back to that.

But go to Matthew 27,

Matthew 27:50

verse 50,

first of all.

Matthew 27,

Matthew 27:50

verse 50.

Jesus died

voluntarily.

And Jesus cried out again

with a loud voice

and yielded up his spirit.

Now,

what does that say?

In most cases,

death comes upon people

just as a

providential flow

of the process

of

dying.

dying.

It's not like,

and I have been

in the hospital room

and at the bedside

of many individuals

over the years of ministry,

and I've watched

a number of individuals die.

It's not like anybody says,

hey,

you know what?

I'm out of here

in a minute and a half.

It happens when God

in his plan

ordains it.

But Jesus

chose the moment

of his death.

And here's what it says there.

In verse 50,

he said,

and he cried out

with a loud voice

and yielded up his spirit.

He chose

to die for us.

We're in Matthew.

I want you to turn

to Luke

Luke 23:46

chapter 23

verse 46.

Luke chapter 23

Luke 23:46

verse 46.

Then Jesus

called out,

calling out

with a loud voice,

said,

Father,

into your hands

I commit my spirit.

And having said this,

he breathed his last.

Into your hands

I commit

my spirit.

This is

an act

Jesus did

voluntarily.

John chapter 19

John 19:30

verse 30.

John chapter 19

John 19:30

verse 30.

When Jesus

had received

the sour wine,

he said,

it is finished.

And he bowed

his head

and gave

up

his spirit.

So when you take

the bread

this morning,

when you take

the cup

this morning,

I want you

to meditate

upon the thought

that Jesus

chose

of his own

free will

to die for you.

he died

for you.

And the truth

of the matter

is,

is that

if we

think

carefully

about our

own

wickedness

and the

just

punishment

at the hands

of a holy

God,

the fact

that Jesus

died in

my place

is

overwhelming.

coming.

I have

to tell

you

that there

is benefit

in reminding

myself over

and over

again of

what Jesus

has done

for me.

And the

practical

exercise this

morning of

taking a

portion of

bread and

taking a

cup that

reminds me

of both

his death

for me.

And the

new covenant

is something

that should

reorient

and reframe

my natural

tendency of

being just

a little bit

self-focused.

There's

something else

that I want

you to

understand as

you look at

this passage.

Going back

to 1 John

1 John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3,

he laid

down his

life for

us.

And the

fact that

he died

for us,

I want

you to

recognize

that Christ's

work was

sufficient.

It wasn't

wasted.

His death

was more

than voluntary,

and when I

say more

than voluntary,

I do not

mean in any

way to take

away from

the fact

that it

was voluntary,

but it

was more

than voluntary.

It was

necessary and

sufficient for

our sins.

the action

that is

spoken of

here in

the text

refers to

something that

is done

and the

matter is

settled.

It's

finished.

Jesus didn't

die to give

us a model

of how to

live a

sacrificial life,

though his

life is a

model of how

to live

sacrificially.

His death

was the

only completely

appropriate and

necessary

substitution

for our

death.

I know

that theologians

can dispute

about wording,

and I think

it's appropriate

to do so.

Some have

a great deal

of angst

over saying

Jesus died

our death.

They think

that we should

say Jesus

died for us,

and I struggle

to make a

distinction because

I believe Jesus

died in my

place.

And so,

when we stop

to think about

it this

morning,

I want you

to respond

as you take

the bread

and cup.

Think,

you died

for me,

for my sins,

in my

place.

It's

interesting,

in John

John 1:29

chapter 1,

verse 29,

when John

the Baptist

saw Jesus

coming,

he said,

behold the

Lamb of God

that takes

away the

sin of the

world.

That's neat.

That's a

blessing.

I want you

to think back

to that passage

that I referred

to earlier in

Hebrews chapter 10,

Hebrews 10:10

verse 10,

and then also

in 14,

and just kind

of fix this

in your mind

that Christ

Jesus died

for our sins

and it is

completed.

It's done.

It's finished.

How many of you

like to occasionally

get kind of wrapped

up in studies

just to find out

if it's really so?

I was studying

this morning

the Greek word

tetelestai

and I have

to confess

to you

that I

can think

of

who was

Evangelism

Explosion's

pastor?

Can anybody

help me

with that?

James Kennedy.

I remember

hearing James

Kennedy say

that the word

tetelestai

means paid

in full.

I can't say

that I found

that actually

in further

research today

or last week.

And one of the

advantages is that

you guys can sit

here and Google

right now

and find out

if I'm right.

Don't do that!

But here's my

point.

Hey, we ought

to pay attention

to being accurate

and careful.

What it does

mean is that

the matter

is settled.

It's done.

So this morning

as you think

about what

Christ has done

I want you

to understand

when he said

it is finished

he meant

that this

work of

redemption

this work

of giving

you salvation

this work

of assuring

your eternal

destiny

and where

you will

spend all

of eternity

the matter

is finished

it's done

it's settled

there's nothing

else to add

to that.

I think

of the words

of the song

that says

this

I need

no other

argument

I need

no other

plea

it is enough

that

Jesus

died

and that

he died

for me.

so this

morning

as I

ask the

men to

come

and we

will

gather

around

the

table

now

I

want

you

to

think

to

yourself

this

is

love

Jesus

laid

down

his

life

for me

I

want

you

to pray

with

me

before

we

take

these

elements

father

I can

only

refer

to my

own

heart

and I

know

how

easy

it is

for me

as I

come

to this

table

to be

careless

in my

own

examination

that is

unfitting

given the

seriousness

of the

warning

that we

find in

1st

Corinthians

regarding

taking

this

time of

remembrance

in an

unworthy

fashion

I

struggle

with

sin

father

and I

am very

thankful

for the

time of

coming

this morning

before you

and asking

for the

spirit's

help

that I

deal

with

humility

and

spirit

enabled

objectivity

with sin

and Tim

Kenoyer's

life

I'm thankful

that Jesus

died for me

that I

do not

have to

stay a

slave to

sin

I'm thankful

that because

of what

Jesus has

done for

me

that my

relationships

and attitudes

towards

others

are liberated

from being

so entirely

consumed

with myself

and enabled

by your

spirit to

be focused

upon the

glory of

Christ

and the

needs

of those

you bring

to me

and father

I would

pray that

this morning

with a

hatred for

sin and a

love for

the Lord

Jesus that

I would

long to

grow to

be more

like

him

and I

pray this

for his

glory

amen

but

I

do

I

do

I

do

do

I

do

I

do

I

do

I

do

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.