Take your Bibles, if you would, to turn to 1 John chapter number 4. 1 John chapter number 4. I hope several of you are starting to enjoy the warmer spring weather. I say warmer because it's pretty typical. I guess, I don't know if it's just Connecticut or what, but when you start to get that warm weather, it's almost like it tries to fake you out just a little bit, and then it goes back to the cold, and then it goes back to the warm. It wants to try and tease you a little bit. And I always, it's amazing how it just happens. I like to do a nice spring cleaning of my car in the spring sometime, you know. And whenever it starts to get warm, I think, oh, that's it right there. I'm going to go and clean the car. And I set that date for that Saturday or what it might be. And then I maybe perhaps get ready and it realized that today it decided to be 30 degrees, you know. So you don't want to be out there trying to clean the car frozen to death. So you have to wait a little bit longer. So it's just the way it works, I guess. But hopefully you've gotten out and you've got to enjoy some of it. Yesterday was beautiful. And it's nice to have spring here again. Although I have to admit, I'm not against snow. I guess I'm one of the unusual New Englanders. But the sleet, freezing rain and ice stuff, that can hold off. I don't care about any of that. Spring is nice, amen? 1 John 4, I want us to look here at a few verses, starting with verse number 17. 1 John 4, verse 17, we'll read to the end of the chapter. It says, Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. Let's begin, if we would, please, with a word of prayer. Our dear, gracious Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for your word, and we're so grateful to have the opportunity, especially in our country, to come to church and to be able to worship you on the first day of the week. And Lord, we're so grateful for having the ability and the just the talent and other things you've blessed us with in our church, the gifts, and Lord, the ability to send missionaries out and to reach the world with the gospel. I pray that you'd help us now during this time as we go through this passage and look at some others, and that you'd help impress upon us this truth that, Lord, I want to share this morning. Fill me with your spirit, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to key in specifically this morning on verse number 19. It says, we love Him because He first loved us. Love is a very fundamental, basic thing. It is important. When we teach young people in Sunday school especially, one of the first things I think that was ever established, perhaps in my life, was the fact to know that God loves you. When we were in college, they were training us in terms of soul winning and witnessing to people when we go out on visitation, and they had, everybody's got a little simple plan by which you have God's simple plan of salvation, you've got some other, the Roman's road, and you have some others, and they used a simple five finger approach, they called it, and you could use your finger and you could point to the different ones, and it's very simple to remember, and you could just talk to anybody at any time, and scripture references to go with it, but to very simply put, the first one, if you use your pinky or your thumb, which I guess, whatever first, it'd just be that God loves you. When you tell anyone and talk to them about the gospel, the first thing they need to know and understand is that God loves them. And of course, not only does God love them, but all men are sinners, and that sin must be paid for, but Christ paid that sin debt, and we must personally ask Christ to be our Lord and Savior and give us the free gift of salvation. So those five little points, and you think of the first one, God loves you. And we live in a world today who, you know, the world thinks they have a monopoly on love, they think they have a firm grasp of love, but the truth is, is the world really doesn't know what true love is. You have in this passage of Scripture, of course, the root words for love, having different Greek words, especially in the New Testament. You have, of course, a phileo love, that of friendship, and this particular love in this passage is not referring to that love. There's, of course, it's not talking about the eros love, the attraction or sexual love. It's specifically talking about the agape love, that love by which is translated also charity in Scripture. It is a sacrificial love, it is a unconditional love, it is, if you would, really a supernatural love that only God can give. And because of God's love for us, we're able to give that love to others, but also back to the Lord. God loves you and me. And the thought I had this morning is so simple, but I believe it is the most profound. the most profound. It's nothing new, but it's important. And I want to share with you this thought and just be honest with you this morning. There are times in my life when I struggle with the feeling of perhaps just inferior of my love for God. I just don't love him the way that I ought to love God. And I think if you're honest this morning, I think you'd have to honestly say there are a lot of times that you are inferior with your love for God. We don't love Him the way He ought to be loved. We don't give Him the full capacity of our lives that we ought to give Him because the love that we ought to show is not fully manifested. We all lack in our love for God. We don't love God as much as He deserves. So my question this morning, and really the key point I want us to understand from this passage, is this thought. How can I love God more? How can I love God more. If you would, let's turn over very quickly. Really the only other passage we'll look at, turn to, is Matthew 22. Matthew 22, I just want us to look at a few verses here. You have here some Pharisees that are seeking out, some Sadducees, to seek out the Lord, and they're trying to ask Him a question. They're trying to trap Him, if you would. Never a good idea. And they ask Him a question, and of course, the Lord is not angry. He answers them, but He gives them an answer that I don't think they were expecting. And they're trying to trick him about the law and it says verse 36 actually, verse master, which is the great commandment in the law. Verse 37, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. If this is the most important commandment that were given in Scripture, they were expecting perhaps a different answer, because they're all important. Of course, if this was, you know, by Ellen G. White, who began to push the Seventh-day Adventist movement, she would have said that when she had her vision, that the halo placed itself over the Sabbath day, and worship of the Sabbath day, and that's the most important commandment. But the Bible is very clear. Jesus says it here in my Bible in red letters. This is the first and great commandment. Obviously, she has neglected some parts of Scripture. It is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. We're to love God with every ounce of our being. It's interesting that God did not say the greatest commandment was, thou shalt not kill. or thou shalt not steal, or thou shalt not commit adultery. All those, of course, are sinful acts, and all those are terrible things, but God did not say those were the greatest commandments. He said, Love the Lord thy God. This is the greatest commandment. Well, I had this thought. If this is the greatest commandment, then what could possibly be the greatest sin I could ever commit? Wouldn't it be logical to think that the greatest sin you could commit is against the greatest commandment? That would be logical, wouldn't it? Is the greatest sin murder? No. Greatest sin stealing? No. Greatest sin lying? No. The greatest sin would be not loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with every ounce of who you are, to love God fully. That's the greatest sin. It's an interesting thought. It's a very powerful thought. It's a very compelling thought. not loving the Lord thy God. So thinking about that this morning, where is our love for God this morning? Now, we just came from a missions conference, and what a wonderful conference it was. We're supporting missionaries around the world, and we have a part in sharing that good news with other people that they do not know that Christ died for them and that He loves them. Essentially, that's what they're doing. And we get to have a part in such a wonderful thing And as Christians, we can get caught up in our actions, and yes, we ought to have acts of love. We decide to do things that show our love, but how is our capacity? How is our love for God? We'll turn back over to 1 John, if you're still in Matthew. And there are times in my life when I feel my love is inferior. So how do I love God more? And I really don't have specific points other than some thoughts that I want to share with you this morning. And the first thing I'd like us to think of is this key in verse 19 where it says, we love Him because He first loved us. Because He first loved us. John 15.10 says, we're commanded to abide in His love. It's an interesting command. 1 John 3.24, just across the page, says that, and he that keepeth this commandment dwelleth in Him, and in Him, and hereby we know that He abide in us by the Spirit which He hath given us. Jude 21, a very good verse, says keep yourselves in the love of God. We say, how do you do that? How do I love God more? Very simply put, I think this verse has the answer. It says we love Him because He first loved us. You see, in order for me to love God more, I have to learn about how God loves me. The more I learn about God, the more my love grows for Him. I love Him because He first loved me. You say, well, why? Why does He love me? The Bible says He loves me because of regardless how unlovely I am. You see, I know Bobby McKeever really well. But God knows me more. He knows me better. And He knows how unlovely I can be. He knows how unlovable I can be. He loves me in spite of myself. But yet, God loves me. Others need to know that God loves them. You see, it's important to understand that it doesn't matter who we are, where you came from, what color you are, what culture you came from, what social status you have, how rich or how poor, God loves every single person. And it's amazing the scope of it. Just think of how many songs we have written in our hymn book and other songs that have been written about the love of God. It was mentioned several times in the songs we sang this morning. It is a profound but simple matter. There's the song, My Savior's Love, which we've sung many times. It says, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. Oh, how marvelous, oh, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. You know the real reason why people are still lost? The real reason why people are without Jesus Christ today is because we simply haven't shared with them and helped them understand that God loves them. That God loves them. Probably more than any other specific thing I hear when I hear someone give a testimony about salvation is the fact that they've realized that God loves them. It's amazing, when God loves them, you have a sense of response, not responsibility, but a sense to wanna love someone back. And some people put up guards and barriers against that. And also people don't wanna see their sin because if God loves them, he obviously gave them life, he gives us everything we have, then they're responsible to God, and then God demands things of us, and wants us to live a good life and godly life, and people don't like that. But God loves them. Why do we love him? Because he first loved us. Missionaries go around the world to share the gospel or the good news with other people. The good news is not that they're all lost and dying and going to hell. Now, they need to know and understand that. In order for a person to get found, they need to be lost first. They have to understand that they are, without Christ, lost. But they share the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is not that there's no hope and it's over. The good news is that Jesus loved them so much that He died for them. See, we need to be very careful. Sometimes we can get caught up and emphasize, I think, too much, perhaps, the fact that God is vengeful, God is wrathful, God demands. Now, God is those things. God is holy. However, God is also love. And it's because of God's wrath, God's love saves us from God's wrath. The more I realize how much God loves me, the more it makes me want to love Him. Romans 8.38 says, There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God. That's definitely a different type of love than people have today, isn't it? Love can be separated. Love can be divided. Love can be split. And it's no longer love. But God's love is everlasting. God's love never fails. That's the very definition of love. 1 John 3 says, that we should be called the sons of God. Jesus Christ, of course, was the only begotten Son of God. He was that of deity robed in flesh, but we are the sons of God. Amen? I think, if I'm being honest, I would tell you that I love the Lord today. I'm so grateful we can come to church and we can hear preaching and we can sing songs and we can give offerings because we love God. You say, why? Because He first loved me. If you look at 1 John, same chapter, verse 10, it says, If you think about this, you just think about creation. God created the world and all the things that are in it. It was for His honor and His glory, no one else's. God created everything. He created you and He created me. It cost Him nothing. Salvation cost him his son. You think before us, angels were fallen. As far as we understand scripture, God didn't do anything. But when man fell, God gave his son. He loves you and me. Do you realize how much God loves you this morning? How often we go about our daily life and our routine and we tend to forget the simple thing, how much God loves you. 1 John 4.19, the Bible says we love Him because we read our Bibles. Nope. We love Him because we go to a good church. Nope. We love Him because we live a good life. Nope. We love Him because we belong to the right denomination. Nope. We love Him because He first loved me. The more I dwell on His love, the more I'm going to love Him in return. I'm reminded of a story when my parents in 1994-95 went to Russia, and they were able to be a part of handing out Bibles. And some people might have thought, are they being called to Russia on the mission field? No, they just wanted to go to a mission field to help give out Bibles. And it was a wonderful experience. I think they went two years in a row, or one year after, second year, two years after that. And they enjoyed it. And they handed out Bibles, and my dad would tell stories, and I won't forget it, he'd show slides on the projector. I'm pretty sure people know what that is. Used to sit in our car in the middle between the two seats in the van, and then we'd pull it out, and I think I still got it. And we got reels of projector, you know, you'd flip through the slides, and then one would get stuck, and you'd have to go over and hit it real quick, and it'd fall back down in place. He'd show the slides of Russia, and he'd go to a few different churches, and it was amazing, you'd see someone, What seemed to be someone and they're down on their hands and knees probably in a box and they're just lifting up Bibles like this. And they would just literally be pulling them out and then people would just be reaching in hands wise and just grabbing the Bibles and then just walking away. And that's all they would do. And then a box would be empty. They'd get another box, open it up, and then they would do the same thing all over again. Imagine you do that in Boston, man. People would just get away from you, right? It's not the same thing. And oh, what an impact it had. And on with all of that, he said he remembers specifically one lady who took the Bible after they gave it to her. And it was a nice, nice Bible. She took the Bible and she would, she took it and she was looking up to heaven and she would kiss the Bible. And she just, with tears down her face, she said, God's book. This is God's book. And I think about that often. And I think about that story because how often do we love God so much that we shed tears for Him? You know, you might shed tears for someone you love. You might shed tears for a family member, someone who gets married, tears of joy. Someone passes away, tears of sadness. We shed tears, but have you ever really shed a tear for what God, who God is, and how much God loves you? When you look at your life and you see who you really are and you realize God loves me in spite of who I am, does that really happen for us? How truthful is it? Another thought I want us to think of is, you know that I can only love God to the degree that God loves me. You say, what do you mean? God, I can only love God to the degree that God loves me. If we look at 1 John 4, specifically at verse 8 and verse 16, we understand the very simple definition that God is love. We learn in the first part of 1 John that God is light, and we learn that God is love, and in chapter 5, you can kind of summarize that God is life. Three main definitions of God. And God is love, verse 8 and verse 16 of chapter 4. When we receive the love of God, that means that in return, I can return that love back to God. You see, you know you hear of parents should love their children. And parents will do things for their children and they'll sacrifice for their children and they'll love their children. But honestly and truthfully, someone who does not know the Lord can't really fully love their children in the full capacity that they should until they know Christ. Because it's that love, that sacrificial, that charity, that unconditional love that is real love. There's a story of a great man, I can't remember his name, but I remember the story, who was on his deathbed. And family gathered around, family and friends gathered around that deathbed. He was a preacher, a great theological mind, studied the Bible for years. And around that deathbed, there was those who had asked him this question. They said, what is the most deep theological truth that you can think of that comes to your mind now at the end of your life? What is it that comes to your mind? In a very faintly whisper, he began to sing the song, Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me. We sing the song, I'm so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me. I'm so glad that Jesus loves me. I love the last phrase, Jesus loves even me. Man, isn't that wonderful? My favorite song as of right now, It could change. It's probably the song, of course, there's the song, The Love of God, how rich and pure. But there is my favorite, which is This Love is Mine, written by Al Smith. This love is mine, I cannot comprehend it. This love revealed in Christ my Lord divine. When on the tree he died for me, God's wondrous, glorious, mighty love, this love is mine. It belongs to me and it belongs to you if you're saved. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Oh look, there's another song. It's amazing how many songs there are. Notice also from verse 19, another small thought. We love him because he first loved us. He loved me first. So what does that mean? He said, does that mean that he loved me before I loved him? Does it mean He loved me before He loved anything else? Does it mean He loves me before everything, like, on a list? I'm at the top of the list. What does it mean when it says, because He first loved us? Well, if you were to think of all those things I just mentioned, they're all true. Because He loved us. He loves us first. He loves us more than anything else. And He loved us before we loved Him. because they loved us before the foundation of the world. They're all true. This truth is so simple but so profound. We sing this month a song that's our chorus, Let's Talk About Jesus. And there's a reason why we emphasize let's talk about Jesus. When you come to church, that's what we're gonna talk about. Because the more we talk about, the more we think about, the more we read about, the more we meditate on, the more we love Jesus in return. You see, you can't just have more love for God simply by thinking it. You can't just have more love for God just by deciding to do it. You cannot have more love for God just by saying it. Now, yes, you can determine in your heart to show love to God, but we cannot just think it and make it so. We have to study more, read more, meditate more how God loves you. And you'll grow to love Him more. And the more you learn, the more you understand that God loves you, the more you're going to want to love God back. And you realize, man, it doesn't matter who I am, you know. It doesn't matter how good-looking or how ugly I can possibly be. You can be as ugly as a snub-nosed cat. You could just be as—but God loves you anyway. Those are some of the ugliest creatures, I tell you. God loves you. You see, when you settle your love life as a Christian, it settles a multitude of problems. You say, well, I just don't love church the way I ought to love church. Well, then you ought to love God more. You know, I don't love giving as much as I wish I loved giving. Well, maybe you ought to love God a little bit more. You see, if you love God the way you want to love, you don't mind telling other people about who Jesus is. If you love God the way you want to love God, you don't mind giving to missions. If you love God the way you love God, you won't mind being involved in the church. When someone asks you about something you could possibly help with, Or is it, boy, I'm so thankful that Jesus loves me, and I have a part in being able to give back just that little bit that God wants me to do? You see, if we settle our love problem, it settles a multitude of problems in the Christian life. And we have the Spirit, the same mind of Christ, because it dwells in us richly. If we start to love Him because we realize He loves us, how do we love God more? We simply learn the fact that the more we learn from Him and love Him about how He loves us, we'll love Him more. And that's really the simple matter of it. And if someone doesn't know Christ as their Savior, they can't fully understand that. So we've got to tell them. And we have to share with them the truth, so simple and profound, but that God loves them. You know, there are people struggling with all sorts of things today. And they come to church, maybe perhaps for the first time, and it could be that one person that says, hello, how are you? Welcome to the church. It could be that one person that says, we're glad you're here. That changes their life. Or I should say, leads them to changing their life. We have no idea who it could possibly be. It could have been you. But the truth is, is that's why we're here, is it not? It's to love others, even when people are unlovely. Even when people don't deserve it. But yet the Bible says this is the agape love. It's speaking here in 1 John chapter 4 of loving the brethren. And before that he warns about false teachers and false prophets. It's not talking about loving them. It's about loving the brethren because Christ loves us. And if you're not saved, you can't know that. God wants you to know it. And God wants you to be saved today and to know the truth. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the time you've given us.