John 3:16-21
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

2 Corinthians 5:14,15
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

1 John 4:16-21
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

1. If it had not been for God expressing His love through Jesus Christ, we would not know what love is.
   1. We would call many things love.
      1. We would call sexual passion love, but that love is rooted in our physical natures and desires.
      2. We would call loyalty love, but that love is rooted in causes.
      3. We would call commitment love, but that love is rooted in purposes.
      4. We would call the desire for things love, but that love is rooted in materialism.
      5. We would call all those things love, but we would not know how to love people.
         1. It is God through Jesus Christ that teaches us how to love people.
         2. Without understanding and developing that love, we don't know how to love people.
   2. Jesus teaches us a unique form of love that is reserved for loving people.
      1. We know this love because it is the form of love that God has for us.
      2. We know this love because God revealed it and illustrated it in the life and death of Jesus.
      3. How is this love God teaches us through Christ different?
         1. It is a love that comes from the mind as well as the heart or emotions; it begins in a person's will, not his feelings.
         2. People have this love because of their will as well as their feeling.
         3. This love:
            1. Is unselfish.
            2. Is sacrificial.
            3. Treats other people as the person wants to be treated himself/herself.
            4. Seeks the best interests of other people.
            5. Had rather forgive than judge.
            6. Had rather show compassion than seek justice.
      4. Humanity did not know this kind of love until Jesus lived it. This world had never experienced the form of love that was shown in Jesus' life and death.

(Sing the alto and bass verses of "The Greatest Commands.") The bass verse: "Love bears all things, believes all things, Love hopes all things, endures all things."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

2. This is the love that lives in men and women who allow Jesus Christ to live in them.
   1. How can we look at Jesus and see this form of love?
      1. It was the love that washed the disciples' feet when the disciples were too proud to wash each others' feet (John 13:3-20).
      2. It was the love that touched people who suffered from incurable leprosy when law forbid it and no one else wanted to touch them (Luke 5:12-16).
      3. It was the love that gave the living water to a Samaritan divorcee who was an outcast in her own village (John 4:3-42).
      4. It was the love that forgave prostitutes (Luke 7:36-50).
      5. It was the love that ate and associated with people who had the earned, public reputation for being evil people and for using dishonesty to defraud (Matthew 9:10-13).
      6. It was the love that moved Jesus to feed thousands of people when he knew that most of them would misunderstand why he fed them and turn against him (John 6:1-15, 22-71).
   2. In short, it was the love that cared about people who in no way deserved his love.
      1. This love cared so deeply that it looked at people and saw men and women made in God's image--even when they were filled with evil, greed, and selfishness.
      2. This love proved that it cared, and it declared itself in terms of people's eternal worth even when they did not respond to his love.
   3. Jesus did not love people after they responded to him; Jesus loved people before they responded to him; Jesus even loved the people who refused to respond to him.

(Sing the alto, bass, and tenor verses to "The Greatest Commands.") The tenor verse: "God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love."

John 13:34,35
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

John 15:12-14,17
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. . . . This I command you, that you love one another" (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

3. How could Jesus call the commandment to love one another a new commandment?
   1. The law of Moses commanded the Israelites to love fellow Israelites.
      Leviticus 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
      1. That commandment is as old as the nation of Israel.
      2. The Jewish people had always understood that they were to love their neighbors as themselves.
      3. Even Jesus declared that commandment was the second greatest commandment that God gave.
   2. Why is this a new commandment? Because loving your neighbor as yourself never approached the form of love that Jesus had and has for his disciples.
      1. The love that Jesus had for his disciples, the love that Jesus has for us, is distinctive.
      2. It is so unlike any other form of human love that any man or woman who loves others with Jesus' love is recognized as Jesus' disciple.
      3. Only when we follow Jesus can we love like he loved.
         1. Only he can teach us how to love with that form of love.
         2. Only he can give us the strength to love with that form of love.
      4. That is the love that let him die on the cross for us.
         1. That death is the greatest declaration of love that will ever be declared on earth.
         2. That is the greatest manifestation of love that will every be revealed on earth.
   3. Are you a Christian? Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Do people know that you belong to Jesus by the way you love other people?
      1. Can they see that love in your family? In the way you treat your family?
      2. Can they see that love in the way you treat your neighbors, the people you work with, and the people you go to school with?
      3. Can they see that love in the way you treat people who don't like you, don't respect you, or harshly judge you?
      4. Can they see that love in the way we treat each other as disciples of Christ?

(Sing the alto, bass, tenor, and soprano verse of "The Greatest Commands.") The soprano verse: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, all thy strength, all thy mind. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, for God is love, God is love, God is love."

It is a very simple thing for us to say, "Oh, yes, I believe in Jesus Christ."
"Oh, yes, I believe in the resurrection."
"Oh, yes, I believe that Jesus is Lord."
"Oh, yes, I believe that God sent Him."

Do you really believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross? Do you really believe that God raised him from the dead? Do you really believe He and God did that for you? Do you believe it in the same way you believe George Washington was the first President of this nation?
If that is the way you believe, then you missed the point about Jesus.

You believe that it was a fact that it happened and you are glad he did that? Or, do you believe that with a life-changing faith? Do you believe enough to let Jesus change your life, your mind, your heart, and your relationships by teaching you how to love?

Repentance means: I can't go on living like I have been living since I have come to understand what God has done for me. I want to die with Christ. I want to be resurrected with Him. I do that by being baptized. I want my old existence to die and be buried with Jesus. I am resurrected in Him because I don't ever want to be who I was.

Begin a new existence. Has Jesus' death and resurrection changed your life?
If you really believe it, you can never be the same, because God's love has touched your life.

The only thing you have to give to God is your sin.

Joyfully take His forgiveness.