Jesus Loves You

Jesus Loves You

Opening question: How do you show your love as a son or a daughter to your parents?

In our last lesson, we looked at the love that God has for the world. We looked at John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

We discussed how:

1) God loves the world – and how He is faithful, steadfast in his love to those that love Him and keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9). We also saw that God is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love.

2) God has shown His love to us through actions – by giving Jesus, His only son, on the cross for us. We also saw that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

Another aspect about God is that God is Spirit, as we read in John 4:24. That means that when we talk about God, we are not talking about a physical being, but a spiritual being that can affect and show himself in physical ways that we can see, hear, and understand with our senses.

Today we are going to look at how Jesus Loves You. Before we dive into how Jesus loves you, let’s spend a few minutes looking at who Jesus is.

1.         The first and the most important thing to know and remember about Jesus is that He is God. In John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and My Father are one.” In the earlier verses, the Jews asked Jesus to speak plainly to them, meaning to be clear about His answer (verse 24). And so He was. Jesus replied that He and God are one, meaning that they are one in Spirit - equal, have the same divine qualities, and the same characteristics, the same power and attributes. Not the same physical person, but spiritually they are one.

Q1: How did the Jews understand the words of Jesus?

In the next few verses, we see the reaction of the Jews: 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

A few pages further in John 14:7-9, Jesus said also: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Q2: How do we understand today these words of Jesus?

If one wants to know what God looks like, meaning what qualities God has and how those were shown to the world, one needs to look at Jesus to see them. If one wants to understand kindness, service, love, faithfulness, these are all shown through the life and the examples of Jesus.

There are many other verses that confirm the truth that Jesus is God. Verses like John 1:1, 14 or Colossians 1:16–17, which confirms that Jesus is the creator of all things or John 20:28, where Thomas calls Jesus “Lord and God,” or Matthew 28:18, where we read that “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Jesus.

2.        The second thing to know and remember about Jesus is that He is the Only way to the Father. Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Q3: What does the Bible mean when it says that “no one comes to the Father except through Jesus?”

In Acts 4:12, the apostles, the men who Jesus had empowered to speak in His name and on His behalf, preached among other things that “nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Q4: What does salvation mean?

Q5: According to this verse, what does the Bible teach as far as how one can get salvation today?

3.        The third thing about Jesus is that Jesus Loves You too. And, as in the case of the Father, Jesus has shown you His love through His actions.

One of the verses we read last time was Romans 5:6-9. Let’s go to it again and read it from the viewpoint of Jesus loving us: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

It was God’s desire and plan, as we will see in other lessons, for His love to be shown to us in this way. Jesus death on the cross was not a mistake, or a Plan B or something that could not be avoided. There are many prophecies in the Bible, many passages that foretell about this event.

And we know that Jesus went to the cross of His own will. In Matthew 26:53-54, we read: “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”

Q6: What does it show when something is planned and thought for in advance?

We are all sinners and we all deserve the righteous punishment, death. In Romans 3:23, we read “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and in Romans 6:23, we read, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

According to the Bible, because of everyone’s sin, all of us, each and everyone of us are guilty and deserving of death. However, as we read in Romans 5, Jesus died for our sins. He gave up His own life and has risen to eternal life, so that we also can be raised and have eternal life in Christ, which is a gift from God provided for by Jesus’ death for our sins.

Can you imagine living to be 100 years old? Some people have. God has blessed them with strong health. The Bible teaches that we are more than physical beings.

We all have a spirit. That spirit will never die.  But where our spirit goes after we die physically is up to us.  Jesus died and rose again so that we can have the opportunity to choose to spend eternity with Him, in heaven.  Free from pain, sorrow, suffering and full of the wonderful presence of God giving us joy, peace and love. 

OR, we can choose the alternative – we can choose not to accept Christ’s love for us and God’s saving plan and instead we can spend eternity without God, in darkness, sadness, sorrow, pain and to be eternally separated from Him and His blessings and presence.  God and Christ Jesus want everyone to be saved, but this is a choice we are all allowed to make individually.

Q6: What do you need to do when someone gives you a gift? Can you refuse a gift? How does that refusal make the giver of the gift feel?

Conclusion: Jesus is God and our only way to go to Heaven and be with our Father. Jesus has show us His love by willingly taking our punishment. He died in order to demonstrate His love to us.  His love is proven not just in words, but in actions. Not only did He do this, but He gave us a perfect book that explains how to be blessed, at peace, full of love, hope and joy.

What will you choose for your life?