Does God Love Me? by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Things to Understand as We Answer the Question

The question is Does God love me? The aim is not only to raise the question but to answer it from scripture.

1. What Is Love?

The Bible describes love as both a noun and a verb. 1 John 4:7-11 — Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested towards us — that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:8 shows us that love is a person. Verses 9-11 show us that love is an action verb. God is Spirit (John 4), and the fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22). The fruit of the Spirit is singular — love — and everything else mentioned (joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness) are attributes of love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful or proud, does not demand its own way, does not rejoice about injustice, never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.

When you read 1 Corinthians 13 and substitute "love" with "God" — that is God's character. Love suffers long — that is the long-suffering of Galatians 5. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and all the rest are manifestations of that one love.

Faithfulness in Galatians 5:22 is not charismatic faith; it is pistis meaning faithfulness. It is God working in us to will and to do for his good pleasure. How many of us have felt disappointed in God, and yet still prayed again? That is not you being nice. It is the faithfulness working in you. He helps us remain faithful to the call.

2. The New Testament Emphasizes the Love of God More Than the Love for God

Write this down: the New Testament emphasizes the love of God more than the love for God.

Romans 8:39 — nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 2 Corinthians 13:14 — the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God. Jude 21 — keep yourselves in the love of God. 1 John 5:3 — this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. 1 John 4:9 — in this the love of God was manifested towards us. 1 John 2:5 — truly the love of God is perfected in him. Titus 3:4 — but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

The New Testament is saturated with the love of God, not primarily our love for God. Why? Because Romans 5:5 — the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The revelation of God's love toward us is what produces our love back to him. It is not emotional willpower. We love God by receiving his love — by being fully convinced that he loves us. That conviction is our love for him.

3. What God's Love Is Not: Responding to Arguments Against It

If God is love, why is there evil? There is evil because people have free will. God gave us free will. You can have good morals, train your children right, and they turn out bad — because they have free will. And even the person asking that question is asking it because God gave them free will.

If God is love, why is there hell? First, understand that hell was designed for the devil and his angels, not for mankind. Matthew 25:41 — then he will say to those on the left, "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." 2 Peter 3:9 — the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, but is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 1 Timothy 2:4 — God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God did not design hell for men. People choose to go there — not just because of what they did, but also what they didn't do. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. While building the ark, he warned people. In those days, it had never rained — water had only been seen on the ground, never from above. He told them water would come from the sky and there would be a flood; the solution was to enter the ark. They mocked. Only eight people entered.

Notice the ark had only one window — not left and right, only upward. And when you enter, you do not have the power to shut the door. It is God's ruach — his wind — that closes you in. For assurance. What came out of that ark? A dove. What killed the people in the time of Noah? They did not enter. It was not just the flood that killed them — it was unbelief in the preaching of righteousness.

We are telling people today: the last time you saw Jesus, he was on the floor. The next time you will see him, he will be coming from above. The provision for safety is the ark. But they are mocking.

4. The Cross Is the Proof

The physical suffering of Christ was not symbolic. The Roman flogging — flagrum, a whip with bone and metal — would first welt, then split open the skin. Fat layers would become visible. Muscles of the back would be visible. Roman soldiers were trained to stop just short of death — the goal was maximum damage while keeping the victim alive.

The crown of thorns was not symbolic humiliation only. The thorns used in Jerusalem were long and thick. Pressed into the scalp, they punctured a region extremely dense with nerve endings. The scalp bleeds heavily even from small wounds. This was deliberate torture layered on top of exhaustion.

Then carrying the cross — approximately 125 pounds — with an already shredded back. Every step meant the rough wood touching the torn flesh. And on the cross, every breath required lifting himself against the nails.

Isaiah 53:10-11 — it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous Servant shall justify many. Jesus will look at what he has done and be pleased — pleased that the people he did it for are worth it.

Romans 8:32 — he who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

It is different to die. But to go through that — to die that way. I don't know how else someone can prove their love. It cannot be deeper than this.

He loves you. And the cross is the proof. Lord, we thank you. Your love is not in question. The evidence is the cross. Help us receive it. Help us be convinced from it. Let this revelation of your love be shed abroad in our hearts.

If God loves you, why did you pray and your mother died? Why did your brother die? This world is broken and falling. He perfects everything in the new world he promises. Even if he raised your Lazarus from the dead, your Lazarus would still die eventually — because the perfection is in the resurrection. The promise of that resurrection is a place where there will be no more death, no more pain, no more sin, no more sorrow. If you understand how powerful the gospel is, and you have a loved one who died in Christ — you would not pray for God to bring them back. You would be wishing them evil to bring them back here. Nothing is better than there.