If I were to ask you what God thinks of you, what kind of answer would you give? Most believers would probably say that “Oh, He loves me!” and that is certainly a true statement, but it has become almost cliché in our current culture to say “God loves you” or that “Jesus loves me”. We say the words, but do we really understand what they mean? The world today has a distorted, corrupted idea of what love is, and that is purely from a human standpoint, much more so then is the love of God misunderstood.
In this study today, we will look deeply into how the scriptures show the love of God in all of its glory. So that you can truly know the way that God thinks of you with love, and have a real revelation of what that means. The love of God will no longer be an empty statement without meaning.
Let’s begin today by reading John 14:19-23:
“Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas said to him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?
Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our stayed with him.”
Starting at verse 19, we have some amazingly comforting words and a promise of Jesus for us. The world will not see Him anymore. They will not have His presence with Him – but you see Me: because I live, you shall live also. So we can see right here that Jesus is making a distinction, a contrast between what the world will experience concerning Him, and what we will experience who believe on Him. We have something that the world does not have, and we see someone that the world does not see. Continue on to verse 20…
Jesus says that at that day, you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you. This same language is echoed by Jesus when He lifted His eyes to Heaven and prayed in John 17:23-36.
Now I want to stop here for a moment because this verse has something very vital that the body of Christ has largely forgotten… That we shall know that God is in us. We are always with Him and He is always with us, and that we have His fullness in us. So many times we pray prayers such as, “Oh God, we are helpless. Please send your Spirit down to us! Please move on our behalf! Please send your Presence!” When in reality, God has already moved, His presence is already here because He is on the inside of each of us, you already have His Spirit, and He has given you a Spirit of power, love and a sound mind. You certainly are not helpless!
Part of the reason we are not really living like the love of God means anything is because to a great extent we are ignorant of the things which He has done for us. The verse says that you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you, but many of us have not really received that truth, and our prayers expose what we really believe.
Now in verse 21 Jesus is still speaking and He says He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
In our English Bibles, this sounds as though it is conditional love – and to make matters worse, we get tripped-up by the fact that the word “commandments” is there, which makes our flesh nature immediately go back to the Ten Commandments. But no, rest assured that Jesus is not reverting us to the Old Covenant here. In the very next chapter of John 15, in verses 10 through 12, Jesus makes a clear distinction between His command and His Father’s commands… not that He is disagreeing with them – but that the Covenant is being changed – the old is passing away so that the new can come – Jesus is fulfilling the Old Covenant and placing us into a new and better Covenant with better promises and this is the will of the Father (Hebrews 10:7-9).
Jesus’ commandment (and note the singular there) is to love one another as I have loved you. And that little word “as” there is very descriptive – it means to the same degree as… In other words, you will love to the same degree as you receive the love of Jesus, and in that, you keep His commandment. That is how you demonstrate love for God – not by falling back to the Old Covenant of rules and law-keeping, but by receiving the love of Jesus… it will overflow effortlessly out of you to the point where you will not even be consciously aware of it. It will be natural for you to love because you yourself are being baptized continually in His love for you.
Many people today are actually missing this. We sing songs and use language with words such as “we are hungry for you God! We are thirsty for your Spirit!” – when Jesus said in John 6:35 that if you come to Him you will never be hungry and whoever believes in Him will never thirst again.
Oops! Again our words expose what we truly believe.
Going back to our text in John 14:21, notice what Jesus said that we shall be loved of the Father, and Jesus will love us, and will manifest Himself to us.
Now in the next verse, 22, Judas (not Iscariot, not the betrayer) doesn’t understand this and wants to know what it means. Do you realize how comforting it is to know that we can ask God questions? And when we do, He doesn’t deride us, He doesn’t make fun of us, or tell us to go figure it out for ourselves, but He answers our questions with love and compassion as we see in verse 23:
Jesus answers and says to him, if a man loves me, he will keep (guard, protect) My words. This is not really anything that surprising… we have turned it into some kind of proof or work, but really all that Jesus is saying here is that if you love Jesus, if you care about and value Him, you will guard His words, you will hold them close and not let them go. We do that all the time. If you really value someone, you will listen-to and be attentive to what they say because it is important to you.
Look at the next part of the verse… and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our stayed with him.
Different translations render the last part differently – but regardless, the meaning is the same: God will come and take up residence with all those who receive Him. This is an amazing statement by Jesus here! Take a moment and meditate on the intimacy being described here. The very creator God of the Universe and beyond, the One who made everything and formed your body from the dust of the ground and breathed your spirit into you, has now stated that if you will receive Him, we (The Godhead) will come and abide with you. The way in which He manifests Himself to us is by coming and abiding with us and in us, and making His love known to us personally. This is when you will never hunger and never thirst – this is when you will no longer cry out for God as if He were a distant being up in Heaven. This is when you will no longer cry out for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit as a thirsty person in the desert, because you will know beyond all doubt as the scriptures say, that God has made His dwelling on the inside of you and He is always with you, and His love is ever present and abounding towards you always.
In closing today, I want to show you a wonderful picture of the love God has for you, and the value that He places on you. Turn to Matthew 13:45-46:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
Now we have probably all heard this parable taught or preached before. And it is usually presented as though Jesus is the pearl of great price and that we must “sell all that we have” (which usually means forsake the world, stop sinning) and then we attain the prize. However this is actually not what Jesus has said. Read it again.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man. In this parable, Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like the merchant man. And this merchant man is looking for beautiful pearls, and when he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Friend, don’t miss this, because Jesus is telling you just how much He loves and values you here. Jesus is the merchant man, looking for good pearls. And when He finds a pearl of great price, He sold all that He had to buy it.
Only Jesus has the power to buy. Only Jesus has the power to redeem (which means to buy back). You are the pearl of great price that cost Jesus everything to redeem! He is the redeemer, you are the redeemed! He loves you more than you can possibly imagine, and today He is with you forever!
Keep this truth, guard this truth, and never let anyone rob you of it. Never let the devil tell you that you are worthless, when Jesus has told you otherwise. Never let religious teachers tell you that you have to earn, or repay, or perform in order to receive the free gift of righteousness by faith in Christ. God loves you, and He sold all that He had in order to redeem you, it cost Him His beloved One and Only Son. And it pleased Him to do it! (Isaiah 53:10)
So this is God’s love on display for you. Now when you speak of the love of God, it will be more than just words on a page. It is more vibrant than our human mind can comprehend. It is more vast than the universe itself. And it is more personal, than your closest friend. The fullness of God is within you, that you may never hunger or thirst again. All given as a free gift, paid by Jesus Christ.
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