Does God love you?

[Johnlove1]

(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Notice the Father in Heaven, and Jesus will love those who keep God’s Word. Does that not say the Father in Heaven will not love those who do not keep his Word?


Jesus said he would show himself to those who love him, how many people do you know that have seen Jesus?

 

[daydreamergurl15]

I think it is very important to keep the "whole" of God's word in perspective...
John 3:16 tells us

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.​

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 or God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has 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 set His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.​

I believe that John 14:21 is telling us that we should love God so that His love can be manifested in us.
I do not think it is saying that God does not love those who does not love Him, Judas asked a great question in John 14:22-24:

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."

Now, I will say that I do not have a full understanding of it and Scriptures are not popping up in my head that will help you understand this verse fully. I pray that someone with more understanding can answer this for you and I will pray for understanding of this Scripture until the Holy Spirit reveals it to me, if He so wills. Good luck and I hope you get the answer that makes Scriptural sense.​

 

[Johnlove1]

John 3:16 tells us
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Believing of Jesus, and believing in Jesus are two different things.


When John says one is believing in Jesus, he is saying that one needs to be in Jesus to believe.


You need to read what John says about being in Jesus, or Jesus being in him or her.


(1 John 2:6) “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did”


John says this is how we know we are in him. One who sin can’t believe in Jesus, because they are not living as Jesus lived.


(1 John 3:9) “No one who has been begotten by God sins; because God’s seed remains inside him, he cannot sin when he has been begotten by God.”


Here John says God is in one who does not sin. So Children of God are in God, and God is in them.


(1 John 3: 5 - 6) “Now you know that He appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in Him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.”


Here John says if one sins they don’t even know God. One can’t believe in someone they do not even know.


(John 14: 23) “Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.”


Jesus told us what one needs to do to have God be in them. Keeping God’s Word includes not sinning.


The reason my argument does not make sense to most people, is because to understand God’s Word and come to know God his or her teacher needs to be God.


(1 Corinthians 2:10-13) “These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depts. Of everything, even the depths of God. After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man, and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God”

 

[daydreamergurl15]

I quoted John 3:16 so that you can see that it says "For God so loved the world". It is not to say that God only love those who love Him.

The reason my argument does not make sense to most people, is because to understand God’s Word and come to know God his or her teacher needs to be God.


(1 Corinthians 2:10-13) “These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depts. Of everything, even the depths of God. After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man, and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God”

You quoting this to me make me realize that you didn't read my entire first post.

 

[Johnlove1]

I believe that John 14:21 is telling us that we should love God so that His love can be manifested in us.
I do not think it is saying that God does not love those who does not love Him, Judas asked a great question in John 14:22-24:
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."

Now, I will say that I do not have a full understanding of it and Scriptures are not popping up in my head that will help you understand this verse fully. I pray that someone with more understanding can answer this for you and I will pray for understanding of this Scripture until the Holy Spirit reveals it to me, if He so wills. Good luck and I hope you get the answer that makes Scriptural sense.

The Holy Spirit brings one to know God. God gives one the grace to always live God’s Commandments.


When one has given his or her life to Jesus then Jesus makes sure that they will stay clean/sin free.


Jesus said that he and the Father would make a home in those who obey God. God’s home is the kingdom of God, and there is no sin in God’s kingdom.


(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Jesus said that one needs to keep his commandments to love him, and he said those who love him the Father will love.


It sure does not seem that God the Father love those who don’t love Jesus.

 

[Ashes of Eden]

God loves me, whether or not I show him the same love in return is highly questionable. I say and believe I love God, but my actions, however, as a poor, miserable sinner, say the exact opposite. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

 

[Rick Otto]

(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Notice the Father in Heaven, and Jesus will love those who keep God’s Word. Does that not say the Father in Heaven will not love those who do not keep his Word?


Jesus said he would show himself to those who love him, how many people do you know that have seen Jesus?

J
I dint count them.
Does that not say He likes hot dogs with relish?
There's not enough bandwidth to list what any statement does not say.

However, you should feel as free to come to that conclusion as I should feel not to.

Sounds like you want to see more obedience among us.
Got a favorite command you'd like us to obey better?

 

[Johnlove1]

I quoted John 3:16 so that you can see that it says "For God so loved the world". It is not to say that God only love those who love Him.


You quoting this to me make me realize that you didn't read my entire first post.

The Holy Spirit brings one to know God. God gives one the grace to always live God’s Commandments.


When one has given his or her life to Jesus then Jesus makes sure that they will stay clean/sin free.


Jesus said that he and the Father would make a home in those who obey God. God’s home is the kingdom of God, and there is no sin in God’s kingdom.


(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Jesus said that one needs to keep his commandments to love him, and he said those who love him the Father will love.


It sure does not seem that God the Father loves those who don’t love Jesus.


Yes God so loved the world that he came to give us the power to become Children of God.


Jesus came to undo Satan’s Word. Satan’s Work was to keep man disobedient to God.


(1 John 3:8) “Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil, since thedevilhas been a sinner from the beginning. This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil.


Jesus gave us his Holy Spirit through which we are able to defeat Satan/sin. We then become children of God, and Jesus said those are whom he and the Father love.


(1 John 3:9-10) “No one who has been begotten by God sins; because God’s seed remains inside him, he cannot sin when he has been begotten by God. In this way we distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil: anybody not living a holy life and not loving his brother is no child of God’s”


I read all of your post, and understood what you were trying to say.

 

[Johnlove1]

J
I dint count them.
Does that not say He likes hot dogs with relish?
There's not enough bandwidth to list what any statement does not say.

However, you should feel as free to come to that conclusion as I should feel not to.

Sounds like you want to see more obedience among us.
Got a favorite command you'd like us to obey better?

(Romans 8: 4) “He did this in order that the law’s just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our unspiritual nature but as the Spirit dictates.”

 

[bling]

The Holy Spirit brings one to know God. God gives one the grace to always live God’s Commandments.


When one has given his or her life to Jesus then Jesus makes sure that they will stay clean/sin free.


Jesus said that he and the Father would make a home in those who obey God. God’s home is the kingdom of God, and there is no sin in God’s kingdom.


(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Jesus said that one needs to keep his commandments to love him, and he said those who love him the Father will love.


It sure does not seem that God the Father love those who don’t love Jesus.

Can you of your own free will quench the Spirit that dwells within you and do some selfish act?

 

[Johnlove1]

Can you of your own free will quench the Spirit that dwells within you and do some selfish act?

Personally I gave my will to God. My will is God’s forever.


Could I take back what I freely gave to God? I could not, but is it possible for me to do so, I don’t even want to know.


I know God, and there is no way I would ever become a servant of anyone else.

 

[Strong in Him]

(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Notice the Father in Heaven, and Jesus will love those who keep God’s Word. Does that not say the Father in Heaven will not love those who do not keep his Word?


Jesus said he would show himself to those who love him, how many people do you know that have seen Jesus?

God loves because God IS love - it's who he is and what he does.
God's love is not conditional and there is nothing we can do to earn, or be worthy of, his love. Scripture is very clear that Jesus died for sinners (Romans 5:8) and that the cross proves how much God loves us (1 John 3:16.) If we could earn God's love, then Scripture would tell us how - how many good deeds we had to do/how much money to give - and Jesus would not have come. He would not have needed to reconcile us to God if it were possible for us to do that by our own efforts.

 

[Tangible]

God loves me, whether or not I show him the same love in return is highly questionable. I say and believe I love God, but my actions, however, as a poor, miserable sinner, say the exact opposite. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

This.

Also, 1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

We keep the commands of Christ when we repent of our own efforts to please God by obedience to the law and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the sufficiency of the works of Christ on our behalf to justify sinners apart from works done under the law.

We keep the commands of Christ when we remember that we are baptized, that our sins have been washed away and we have been united in the death and resurrection of Christ, and that we have been saved through our baptism through the power of the resurrection of Christ.

We keep the commands of Christ when we eat his body and drink his blood for the forgiveness of our sins which refreshes us in body and soul and preserves us in the one true faith unto life everlasting.

We keep the commands of Christ when we believe the word of Absolution which declares to us that we are completely forgiven for our sins in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not a new Moses come to give us new laws to follow in order to earn God's love through obedience. That is the antithesis of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

.

 

[Johnlove1]

God loves because God IS love - it's who he is and what he does.
God's love is not conditional and there is nothing we can do to earn, or be worthy of, his love. Scripture is very clear that Jesus died for sinners (Romans 5:8) and that the cross proves how much God loves us (1 John 3:16.) If we could earn God's love, then Scripture would tell us how - how many good deeds we had to do/how much money to give - and Jesus would not have come. He would not have needed to reconcile us to God if it were possible for us to do that by our own efforts.

Jesus even refuses to know people who don’t live the will of the Father in Heaven.


(Matthew 7:21) “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven but the person who does the will of My Father in Heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?’ Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!”


Also Jesus told us whom it is that he loves, and it is those who keep his commandments.


(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Notice Jesus said: “I shall love him” does this not say that one is not loved by Jesus, until he or she shows Jesus they love him by keeping his commandments?


I personally believe what Jesus said.


Jesus came to save sinners, but that was to stop them from sinning.


(1 John 3:8) “Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil, since thedevilhas been a sinner from the beginning. This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil.

 

[Strong in Him]

Jesus even refuses to know people who don’t live the will of the Father in Heaven.


(Matthew 7:21) “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven but the person who does the will of My Father in Heaven.

And what is God's will?
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:40

Also Jesus told us whom it is that he loves, and it is those who keep his commandments.

Jesus commanded us to love as he loves us. How does he love us? He gave his life for sinners - for people who hated God and were dead in their sins. He died for those who despised him, and had not done, and could not do, anything to deserve his mercy and love. Do you love like that? If someone told you "I hate you and I hate your God" and beat you up and spat on you, would you willingly die so that they could find God and know him? Or would you tell them they deserved everything they had coming to them?

I don't believe we can love like that without the love that God gives; his own agape love. And I don't believe we can receive that love unless we believe in Christ, have accepted him as Saviour, are completely trusting him for salvation and are filled with his Spirit. If we are in Christ and have his love, we will be able to obey his command to love others in this way. But love comes first; John says "we love because he first loved us". So if someone knows how much God loved them, that he sent Jesus to die for them, and they respond to that love - they will receive his love and be able to love others.
Then they will be obeying Jesus' command.

Notice Jesus said: “I shall love him” does this not say that one is not loved by Jesus, until he or she shows Jesus they love him by keeping his commandments?

No.
Because that would mean that Jesus was saying to us "obey my commandments, show that you deserve my love or are worthy of it, and I'll love you." That completely contradicts the Good News that Christ died for sinners and makes God's love conditional. Jesus told his disciples that if they only loved people who loved them, then they were behaving as pagans behaved. And he would not command us to do something that God was incapable of doing himself.
Jesus set us an example in all things. We are to love sinners and God haters, because that is how God loved us.

 

[Johnlove1]

And what is God's will?
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:40

God’s will is: (Luke 9: 3-5) “A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him”

Jesus said he would love those who live his commandments.


(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


Yes, and the Protestant need to understand just what believing in Jesus means.


Believing of Jesus, and believing in Jesus are two different things.


When John says one is believing in Jesus, he is saying that one needs to be in Jesus to believe.


You need to read what John says about being in Jesus, or Jesus being in him or her.


(1 John 2:6) “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did”


John says this is how we know we are in him. One who sin can’t believe in Jesus, because they are not living as Jesus lived.


(1 John 3:9) “No one who has been begotten by God sins; because God’s seed remains inside him, he cannot sin when he has been begotten by God.”


Here John says God is in one who does not sin. So Children of God are in God, and God is in them.


(1 John 3: 5 - 6) “Now you know that He appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in Him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.”


Here John says if one sins they don’t even know God. One can’t believe in someone they do not even know.


(John 14: 23) “Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.”


Jesus told us what one needs to do to have God be in them. Keeping God’s Word includes not sinning.


The reason my argument does not make sense to most people, is because to understand God’s Word and come to know God his or her teacher needs to be God.


(1 Corinthians 2:10-13) “These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depts. Of everything, even the depths of God. After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man, and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God”

 

[fhansen]

God loves because God IS love - it's who he is and what he does.
God's love is not conditional and there is nothing we can do to earn, or be worthy of, his love. Scripture is very clear that Jesus died for sinners (Romans 5:8) and that the cross proves how much God loves us (1 John 3:16.) If we could earn God's love, then Scripture would tell us how - how many good deeds we had to do/how much money to give - and Jesus would not have come. He would not have needed to reconcile us to God if it were possible for us to do that by our own efforts.

Yes! One who doesn't understand this does not yet know God. "We love Him because He first loved us" 1 John 4:19. That's grace.

 

[Strong in Him]

Yes! One who doesn't understand this does not yet know God. "We love Him because He first loved us" 1 John 4:19. That's grace.

Amen!

 

[Strong in Him]

Yes, and the Protestant need to understand just what believing in Jesus means.

Believing of Jesus, and believing in Jesus are two different things.

I know.

Here John says if one sins they don’t even know God. One can’t believe in someone they do not even know.”

I suspect that you are the poster who was known on the other forum as "Giver". If you are, you should know that we have been through all this many times before.
A born again Christian does not have the desire to deliberately, continually sin and hurt God. I don't believe any of us here wake up and think, "now how can I screw up today? How can I purposely hurt God, wilfully rebel and disobey, not put my faith into action and prove that I was not sincere in my repentance?" It doesn't happen; we have new natures and a new heart. We love God and don't want to hurt him. Do we always succeed? No, because we are still in the world, the devil is still trying to trip us up any time he can and we still have weak, human natures. If Christians were perfect, then sections of the church would be perfect, perfect people would marry other perfect people and have perfect children and soon, whole areas of the world would be perfect. Also, because we would be just like Jesus we would be under persecution, because the world hated, and hates, him.

John says that if anyone does sin we have one who can speak to the Father in our defence - Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He wrote that to reassure Christians who do sin that Jesus is still our Saviour and interceding for us.

Jesus told us what one needs to do to have God be in them. Keeping God’s Word includes not sinning.

According to the verses you quoted, Jesus said that he will love those who keep his commands. Keeping Jesus' commands means keeping the command to love as he loved us. Can you explain to me how someone can love as Jesus loved when they do not know that he loves them and died for them? We love because he first loved us. If we do not know and accept that he loves us, how can we receive his love and therefore obey his command to love?

The reason my argument does not make sense to most people, is because to understand God’s Word and come to know God his or her teacher needs to be God.

The reason your argument does not make sense is because you have selected random verses and put them together to try to prove your point, instead of looking at the whole of the NT and what we know about God. YOUR teaching says that we have to stop sinning and obey God's word, and then God will love us. It makes God's love conditional and only for a few - those who manage to obey his word. God's word actually says that God loved us when we were sinners, God haters, without God, dead in our sins, and it was for those people that Jesus died.
Jesus' command was that we love in the same way; I'm saying that we can't love with God's love unless we first KNOW God's love and also have it inside us.

 

[Johnlove1]

Yes! One who doesn't understand this does not yet know God. "We love Him because He first loved us" 1 John 4:19. That's grace.

So you believe Jesus did not mean what he said?


(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”


(Matthew 7:21) “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven but the person who does the will of My Father in Heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?’ Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!”


Tell me have you seen Jesus?