Nico Bosman
We greet everyone in the wonderful name of our Lord and welcome you.
The choir has just sung three songs: Firstly, Jesus took my sins upon Him and every promise in the Bible is for me. Secondly, I make everything new. In the film The Passion of the Christ Jesus is carrying His cross to Golgotha and He says to His mother, ‘I make everything new.’ Thirdly, I consecrate my body to Christ. I did not choose these three songs, but if I could have, I would have chosen these three for today. This is what I would like to talk about today. God’s love towards us, God’s love in us, and God’s love from us.
Allow me to read something Charles Finney said. He lived in the 1800s: ‘A revival always includes a conviction of sin. In a true revival Christians are always brought under conviction. They see their sins in such a light that they often find it impossible to maintain a hope of their acceptance of God.’
Conviction of sin is not our rule. It was said long before we existed. Have you been at the point in your life where you are so convicted of your sins that you think you are not going to make it. Have you been where you see yourself in God’s light and realise you cannot do anything? I believe there should be a time in every Christian’s life where you reach this point and maybe even more than once.
I was watching the video When God comes down. I have probably watched it 100 times. Every time something touches me. If you have not seen it for a while, watch it.
This time when I watched where Rev Stegen referred to the time he opened his Bible and the Lord said to Peter, ‘Do you love Me?’ I thought about this – firstly God’s love, but then my love towards God. If the Lord stood here and asked each of us if we loved Him, what would my answer be? Answering knowing that God knows our hearts. He knows everything, even our thoughts, plans and intentions. If He would ask, ‘Do you love Me?’ What would my honest answer be? The more I studied and read about it, the more I realised we, or I can say I, fall short of God’s love. We fall desperately short of grasping God’s love - to realise it in my life and to realise what God has done for me. How often don’t we fall short of giving that love?
A great many professing Christians have no other idea of religion than that it is a means of getting to heaven when they die. Is your life like that? It is just a means to get to heaven. If I follow the rules, I will get to heaven. Doing anything for God while they live, does not enter their plans. I do not believe there is one in 500 of such so-called Christians who will reach heaven. There must be more to serving Christ than just following rules. There must be something deeper, something greater, something else that drives me to want to serve Him, otherwise my religion is dead.
Let me say this before I continue, there are many churches today that preach God’s love, but there are also many churches that preach only God’s love. I was once in a church where the preacher said, ‘We are all God’s children - those who do right and those who do wrong. He loves us all. Some are just His good children and some His naughty children.’ Love covers everything. I do not agree with that. The Bible is clear on God’s wrath. If we do not do what He requires of us, His wrath will be upon us. Yes, God’s love is there, and it should be the greatest love but if we trample on that love, and if we think we can do whatever we want because God’s love will cover it, then we are mistaken. Today I want to talk about God’s love but remember there is also God’s wrath.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Let’s read John 21:15–17
Peter had disowned Jesus three times before this event. Now Jesus asks Him three times if he loves Him. When Peter says yes, Jesus tells him to feed His sheep. It is one thing to say, ‘I love you Jesus,’ but the real test is the willingness to serve Him. Peter had repented and Jesus asked Him to commit His life. Peter’s life changed when He finally realised who Jesus was. Jesus asked him, ‘Do you love Me?’ Not, ‘Peter, will you serve Me?’ Not, ‘Peter, will you do good, will you live a good life, will you help others?’ He asked Him one question: Do you love Me? Possibly the answer to that question includes everything. If I love Him, I will serve Him. If I love Him, I will try not to sin. If I love Him with all my heart, I will help my fellow man and uplift him. I will do what Jesus did. Somehow this question, incorporates much, if not everything. I’ll leave one thought with you: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The Bible says so and it is true. But there is another verse in 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love drives out fear. If I do wrong, knowingly, possibly my love is not perfect which is why I fear because I do the wrong thing. If my love towards God is perfect and I do what is right and I commit my life to Him, the fear disappears.
I want to cover three issues today: God’s love towards us; God’s love in me; God’s love from me.
God’s love towards us: I do not think we will ever be able to explain it. Our minds cannot grasp even a part of it fully. If you read and think about it, it is unfathomable what God did for us. Firstly, God in heaven, the Creator of the universe, came to earth and became Man, the least of the least. He was not forced to, but He did it of His free will. In the Old Testament, He says, ‘I want to go.’ The fact that He came to earth should already make us think. He came to be rejected, flogged, beaten and crucified - for me! He was treated like a criminal, for me, for you, for us because we lived in sin and did nothing good. He said, ‘I will take My Son, send Him to earth to die like a criminal.’ We cannot grasp this.
In 2010 our son was in an accident, and he was lying in hospital. We knew that the Lord could take him. The thought often came to me, ‘My son is dying, he has the best medical treatment, everything has been done to make him as comfortable as possible, everyone is supporting us.’ We did not choose it but God allowed it. (It makes it easier to know that I cannot choose it, but God has allowed it, however, the pain is immense.) I often thought at that time, ‘God, I am going through this, yet in all the best possible conditions, but You took Your son willingly and sacrificed Him. You chose this which we are going through now, but the conditions were far, far worse. You said that if you did this, they might repent. If My Son dies on a cross, they might listen.’ He would be rejected, betrayed, flogged, scourged, beaten, spat in His face, His beard plucked out. I do not think we will ever grasp it, but we will grasp enough to know that there is no greater love than that.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
It is amazing how often John speaks of God’s love. In my Bible it adds: no stronger commitment. There is no stronger commitment than that. God showed us ultimate love.
During the 17th century Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not ring. (In those days, they had a big metal bell – inside the bell was a metal piece hanging, normally high up in a tower. They would have a rope hanging from the top to the bottom and someone would pull the rope. When they pulled the rope, the bell would swing and the loose metal piece in the middle would swing, hit the side, and make the sound of the bell ringing. It was normally a big metal part so that the sound could travel far.)
But when they pulled the rope there was no sound. The soldier’s fiancée and climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from ringing. She went, climbed up the tower, and clung to this inner metal part. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding body. No sound could come out as she clung to the clapper. She knew, if the bell would ring, they would shoot her fiancé.
Cromwell’s heart was moved. He said to her, your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. This, despite her fiancé being guilty of crimes, and deserving to be shot. He deserved to be shot, but because of her sacrifice he lived.
We so easily confess our sins but just think about it for a moment – God died for that sin and think what He went through for that. Rev Stegen once said that there can only be disgust for a person who tramples underfoot such great love. There is nothing as wicked as a person who rejects Him. That is why Paul wrote in Corinthians, If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. 1 Corinthians 16:22
God’s love in us: What should God’s love do for me in my life?
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23
Is God with you? Is your love perfect for Him? If not, the opposite is also true. Possibly that is why you do not keep His commandments and you do not live for Him because you do not realise what He has gone through for you and for me.
Some years ago, there was a boy who was continuously in trouble. He was forever breaking the rules and always getting into trouble at school. His father could not understand why. He provided for his son in every way – he had a good home, he spent time with his son, he went to his ball games, he went fishing with him and showered him with unconditional love. The father could not understand why the boy would not obey. He had been raised in the church, attended Sunday schools, consistently had the Bible read to him. He had never provoked his son to anger. His son’s conduct was a mystery to him. One day his son played upstairs with his baseball - which he had repeatedly been told not to do. He ended up breaking the bedroom window. The boy was 10 years old and certainly knew better. His father had told him time and again not to play ball in the house. The father headed off upstairs and took off his belt, so his son voluntarily knelt by the bed. But the father said, ‘Son, you take the belt.’ His father took off his shirt, knelt at the bed and said, ‘Son, I want you to give me 7 lashes across my back.’ His son began to cry but the father insisted, until the son relented and hit his father across the back. His father said, ‘Harder, son, harder.’ The boy cried. The father said, ‘Hit harder, my son.’ Until the boy eventually hit the father with great force and great difficulty, crying.
Then the father said to him, ‘Son, do you know why I had you do this?’
The son said, ‘No, I don’t understand.’
‘When Jesus went to the cross for us, He took the worst punishment that has ever been inflicted on a man. He was struck, beaten and His beard plucked out – punished as no other ever. Who do you really think did this to Jesus?’ the father asked. The boy still crying, hesitated and said he thought it was the Romans and the Jews. The father said, ‘No, it was our sins that nailed Him to the cross - everything we have ever done wrong and ever will do wrong. He took the punishment that He did not deserve to save those who did not deserve saving. That is how much the Father loved us – it was God’s love most gloriously displayed for us who deserved His wrath.’ The boy was deeply shaken by this lesson. The boy didn’t ever want to use the belt on his father again and this changed the life of his son.
Do you realise that when you sin, when you do what you know you should not do that you drive the nails into His hands? This love that God showed us should change our lives. It should remind us how we should live. Next time when you want to do that thing – think about God’s love. Because of God’s love we must have clean lives and we must cleanse our lives.
Reverend Stegen said, ‘It is terrible to drag the things of past weeks, months and even years with you - like grudges, bitterness, hatred. They will drag you down, then you cannot have His love in you. You sit with all these things in your heart. No wonder you do not experience God’s love. No wonder you do not see it, no wonder you do not understand anything. You sit with sin in your life. Throw aside anything that displeases Him and serve Him in your remaining years.’
We have considered God’s love to us, God’s love in us, and if that is true, then God’s love should also flow from our lives. The love that I have experienced should be experienced by the one next to me. I dare say that if he does not experience it from my life, I have never experienced God’s love. Do we take the crucifixion for granted as just another story in the Bible? People should experience that love from my life.
Therefore, be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]. 2 And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance. Ephesians 5:1-2
God expects us to radiate this love to others. Humans are like that – we want to see what we can get – what is in it for me? This is our sinful nature. God says that which you have received, give it to others.
‘Simon Peter, do you love Me?’ Feed My sheep. Feed My lambs. Shepherd My sheep. A sheep is your fellow man. If he needs something, physically or spiritually, do we help him? Is that love in me that Christ gave me? Is that love in me that I experienced? Do people see Christ in me? Do the people I meet every day experience that love? Those who have not met Christ yet, do they experience it in my life? It challenges me to think that Christ’s love should be visible to the next one.
The Moravian church sent missionaries all over the world - even to South Africa in 1735. They were known for their all-consuming purpose to spread the Gospel all over the earth. The church prayed for 100 years, uninterrupted. The Moravians had learnt that the secret in loving the souls of men was found in loving the Saviour of men. History has it that they wanted to send missionaries to a certain island which was occupied mainly by slaves. There was no way they were allowed to go to the island to spread the Gospel so they devised a plan. On 8 October 1735, on board a ship leaving Copenhagen for the West Indies, were two missionaries, a potter and carpenter. They were both skilled speakers and ready to sell themselves into slavery to reach the slaves. The only way they could reach the island was to be sold as slaves, so they gave themselves up as slaves and were sold on that island as slaves, to bring them the Gospel.
As the ship sailed off, they lifted up a cry that would one day become a rallying cry of the Moravian missionaries: May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward for His suffering. The Moravian’s passion for souls was surpassed only by their passion for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Because of God’s love, they gave their lives for others. In one article it says, they went by ship to those islands and were never seen again. Why? They were slaves. Possibly they could never leave the island - but they had known that beforehand. They probably died slaves - for the next person. Is that love for others in me?
Many people believe and sometimes teach that love is a feeling or an emotion. Yes, feelings and emotions are involved in love, but the greatest part of love is action. It is something you must do. It is a life you must live. It must be visible in your life. You cannot say you love your fellow man, but nothing can be seen. Love is a verb, what you do, more than a noun, what you feel.
May we experience God’s love and may it do a work in our lives. May those around me experience that same love, so much so that they will desire it. Then we will have God’s joy in our lives.
Conclusion Dietmar Joosten
Love is a form of action; it is a form of doing things. God acted on His love. He gave His only begotten Son, the only thing He had. If you have experienced this love, it will change your life.
Do the people see God’s love in action? Do they see God’s hand when He works? Do they experience it? Do we see God’s love, do we experience it? Do we see God’s love in action? Does it change our lives?
Lord, that love that You have shown us will make us like Esther who said, ‘If I perish, I perish, but I will do God’s will.’