Does God Love Me?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | What would it look like in your life

00:00:06.700 | to know that God loves you?

00:00:10.260 | I mean to know that he really loves you.

00:00:13.540 | Would that love be proven in a new job

00:00:15.540 | or maybe a better job?

00:00:17.200 | Would it be an open door

00:00:18.380 | that will allow you greater financial independence?

00:00:21.520 | Maybe it would be to find a spouse

00:00:23.300 | or maybe deliverance from chronic pain

00:00:25.860 | that depletes your energy.

00:00:28.020 | Or maybe it would look like being delivered

00:00:29.320 | from the consuming demands of a special needs child.

00:00:32.380 | But what if the answer to that question,

00:00:35.100 | whether God loves us or not,

00:00:36.360 | was something altogether different than what we expected?

00:00:40.220 | What if instead of any of these things,

00:00:42.300 | God showed his love to you by letting you die in sickness?

00:00:47.300 | It's a crazy thought, right?

00:00:50.120 | Totally counterintuitive.

00:00:51.800 | And yet this is exactly what we read about

00:00:53.720 | in John 11, verses one to 44.

00:00:56.680 | Listen to this extraordinary story

00:00:59.120 | because in it we find a life-changing lesson

00:01:01.480 | God wants all of us to grasp.

00:01:04.440 | Here's Pastor John to explain

00:01:05.520 | in one of his sermons from 2001.

00:01:07.560 | This is John 11.

00:01:10.400 | I have used this text now in about five settings

00:01:13.160 | in the last couple of months

00:01:14.840 | because no other text has gripped me like this

00:01:19.640 | in driving home this central point.

00:01:25.640 | Now a certain man was sick, John 11, one.

00:01:29.320 | Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany,

00:01:32.520 | the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

00:01:36.320 | It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment

00:01:40.740 | and wiped his feet with her hair.

00:01:43.060 | So this is clearly a picture of sweetness and love.

00:01:48.040 | Mary loved Jesus and Jesus loved Mary.

00:01:53.040 | Mark that word love.

00:01:55.540 | It will show up several more times.

00:01:58.000 | It was this woman whose brother Lazarus was sick.

00:02:02.420 | Verse three, so the sisters sent word to him saying,

00:02:08.320 | "Lord, behold, he whom you love," there it is,

00:02:12.960 | "he whom you love is sick."

00:02:15.960 | But when Jesus heard this, he said,

00:02:19.260 | "This sickness is not to end in death,

00:02:22.720 | "but for the glory of God,

00:02:26.160 | "so that the Son of God may be glorified in it."

00:02:31.160 | So now you have two profound realities on the table,

00:02:37.080 | love and glory.

00:02:40.720 | The love of Christ and the glory of Christ.

00:02:45.760 | And my question is, how do they relate to each other?

00:02:50.460 | Verse five, "Now Jesus loved Martha

00:02:55.100 | "and her sister and Lazarus,

00:02:58.000 | "so," verse six, "so when he heard that he was sick,

00:03:04.520 | "he stayed two days longer in the place where he was

00:03:11.980 | "and let him die."

00:03:15.460 | Notice three things.

00:03:18.300 | One, Jesus chose to let Lazarus die.

00:03:21.840 | Two, he was motivated in this

00:03:27.060 | by his zeal for the glory of God to be manifest.

00:03:33.560 | Verse four, third, this motivation is love.

00:03:39.320 | Do you see the word so or therefore

00:03:47.100 | at the beginning of verse six?

00:03:49.900 | Do you see what it's preceded by and followed by?

00:03:53.460 | It's preceded by Jesus loved Martha.

00:03:58.460 | Jesus loved Mary.

00:04:01.580 | Jesus loved the dying man, Lazarus.

00:04:05.540 | Therefore, he did not go heal him,

00:04:10.060 | but stayed two days longer where he was

00:04:13.020 | and saw to it that he died.

00:04:17.180 | Now what on earth could possibly turn that into love?

00:04:21.700 | Verse four, "This is not going to end in death.

00:04:27.740 | "This is all about the glory of God,

00:04:34.140 | "that the Son of God may be glorified in him."

00:04:37.700 | So here's my definition of the love of God

00:04:41.360 | based on this text.

00:04:43.300 | God's love is his doing whatever needs to be done

00:04:48.300 | at whatever cost so that we will see

00:04:55.020 | and be satisfied with the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

00:04:58.780 | Let me say it again.

00:05:01.500 | The love of God is his doing whatever needs to be done

00:05:08.340 | at whatever cost to himself or to us

00:05:11.920 | so that we will see and be satisfied

00:05:19.760 | by the love of God in Christ forever and ever.

00:05:24.680 | Let me confirm this with John 17, 24.

00:05:30.360 | Here's Jesus praying for us,

00:05:32.440 | and he loves us in this prayer.

00:05:34.920 | Oh, how he loves us in this prayer.

00:05:38.700 | John 17, 24, "Father, I desire that they also,

00:05:43.700 | "whom you have given me, may be with me where I am

00:05:50.260 | "so that they may see my glory."

00:05:55.900 | If Jesus loves you and prays for you,

00:06:00.160 | do you know what he finally asks for you?

00:06:05.760 | That you may see him.

00:06:09.860 | The ultimate answer to the prayer of love is,

00:06:15.340 | "Show them my glory, Father.

00:06:18.180 | "Show them my glory," and they will have arrived

00:06:22.820 | at ultimate satisfaction.

00:06:26.940 | Why do you want to be loved by God?

00:06:31.660 | Yes, not to perish.

00:06:33.580 | Yes, not to go to hell.

00:06:35.220 | Yes, not to have a guilty conscience anymore.

00:06:37.980 | Yes, to have the marriage put back together,

00:06:40.380 | but if that's all you want, you don't know him.

00:06:43.020 | You don't know him.

00:06:45.100 | It's for life, and what is life?

00:06:49.240 | It is to know him and his son.

00:06:52.580 | It's to fellowship with him.

00:06:54.020 | It's to behold him.

00:06:55.380 | It's to be satisfied with him.

00:06:57.340 | It's to enjoy him until Christ becomes our treasure.

00:07:05.000 | We don't know what it is to be loved by God.

00:07:07.520 | Why are you thankful for the love of God today?

00:07:13.040 | I hope before we're done, God will have worked in your heart

00:07:20.140 | so that you see enough of God the Father

00:07:22.360 | and enough of God the Son, Jesus Christ,

00:07:25.820 | so that you will know and feel that it is not finally

00:07:32.860 | for the relief of your conscience.

00:07:35.560 | It is not finally for escape from hell.

00:07:39.140 | It is not finally for health in our bodies

00:07:42.340 | or reconciliation among our family members.

00:07:46.000 | It is finally to bring you home to God,

00:07:51.000 | where you can see him and enjoy him forever

00:07:56.080 | and ever and ever.

00:07:58.600 | And I wanna know, do you want this?

00:08:03.600 | Do you want this?

00:08:07.120 | Do you want to be loved by God for God?

00:08:10.680 | Do you wanna be loved by God for God,

00:08:12.680 | or do you only want to be loved by God

00:08:15.360 | because it feels good that he seems to make much of you?

00:08:20.360 | Have you taken the American definition of love,

00:08:24.960 | being made much of, and so twisted God

00:08:29.280 | to fit that definition?

00:08:30.800 | Now, the only way you would feel loved by God

00:08:33.640 | is if he makes much of you,

00:08:36.400 | when in fact, the love of God is so working

00:08:39.680 | as to change you so that you enjoy making much of him

00:08:42.920 | forever and ever and ever.

00:08:45.400 | And that's the end of your quest.

00:08:47.480 | There isn't anything beyond it.

00:08:50.400 | I do believe that is in every heart in this room.

00:08:54.800 | And we are all fallen and we are all sinners.

00:08:57.720 | And I know that every person in this room

00:09:00.600 | has a distorted desire for God.

00:09:04.000 | And it's on the way to being purified.

00:09:06.600 | And it's being tricked.

00:09:08.600 | You're being tricked, many of you,

00:09:14.120 | into thinking that the satisfying thing in life

00:09:20.240 | is to be made much of.

00:09:23.480 | If I could just get some people to clap for me,

00:09:26.400 | to like me, to approve me, to give me a raise,

00:09:32.880 | or to give me an advancement,

00:09:35.640 | if I could just get someone to pay attention to me,

00:09:40.040 | I would be satisfied.

00:09:42.340 | You wouldn't.

00:09:43.360 | I promise you, in the name of Jesus Christ Almighty,

00:09:47.840 | you wouldn't.

00:09:49.080 | You will be satisfied when you forget yourself

00:09:54.080 | and are swallowed up in Jesus Christ.

00:10:00.040 | And he becomes your treasure,

00:10:03.360 | and he becomes your delight,

00:10:05.640 | and he becomes what you cherish and what you value.

00:10:09.720 | And you spend the rest of your eternity

00:10:12.080 | growing in your capacity to see and savor,

00:10:16.280 | to know and delight in him forever and ever,

00:10:20.000 | and it will get better and better and better.

00:10:22.980 | - Powerful.

00:10:23.860 | The love of God is his doing whatever needs to be done

00:10:26.680 | at whatever cost to himself or to us

00:10:28.480 | so that we will see and be satisfied

00:10:30.600 | by the love of God in Christ forever and ever.

00:10:34.200 | Did you get that?

00:10:35.600 | That was from John Piper's sermon

00:10:37.280 | preached on November 18th, 2001,

00:10:39.440 | titled "Thankful for the Love of God,"

00:10:41.880 | a sermon on 2 Corinthians 12, verses seven to 10.

00:10:45.040 | The entire message is, of course,

00:10:46.360 | online at desiringgod.org.

00:10:48.100 | Do you have a powerful clip from a John Piper sermon?

00:10:53.640 | If so, email me.

00:10:54.640 | Give your name, hometown, the sermon title,

00:10:57.000 | the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio,

00:10:59.040 | and tell me how it impacted you.

00:11:00.220 | Put the word clip in the subject line of an email

00:11:02.120 | and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:11:05.800 | That's our email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:11:09.660 | Well, back to dating questions next time

00:11:13.200 | with an email from a young woman

00:11:14.360 | asking whether or not she should settle

00:11:17.320 | for a spiritually lethargic boyfriend.

00:11:20.520 | What standards should be in place?

00:11:23.520 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.

00:11:24.360 | We are rejoined in studio with Pastor John

00:11:26.560 | when we return on Friday for that, and we'll see you then.

00:11:29.200 | (upbeat music)

00:11:31.780 | (upbeat music)

00:11:34.360 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Does God Love Me?

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