Somebody Loves You

Guest (Male): If there was a time in the history of the world where we need the love of Jesus Christ more than ever before, it is today, this morning. This morning. What the world really needs is God's love and God's forgiveness, and He's already offering that to each of us individually.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California, where we are blessed to have you with us today for a very special message celebrating the matchless heart of God. If you feel unseen or unworthy and your search for love has landed you in all of the wrong places, stay with us here on Somebody Loves You Radio.

You'll see that no matter who you are or what's in your past, God's gracious love for you is unconditional, and that love is seen most vividly by Jesus' death on the cross. Later on, we'll offer you a copy of this message. But first, let's join Raul Ries in John chapter 3, verse 16.

Raul Ries: I want to give you a message that I preached in Romania three years ago. It was called, the title of it was Somebody Loves You. It's in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16. Everybody knows that scripture. If you've been a Christian for a while now, anybody can quote that scripture. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

What a great thing it is to know that God loves me. That's such a great thing to know in the condition that the world finds itself this morning. And there may be some of you here this morning and find yourself where you have never really been attracted by the love of God because maybe even your parents and loved ones never loved you. You were an outcast. There are many people like that today.

And it's really amazing when you find out that there is a God, no matter what happens in the world, there is a God that loves us, and He cares about us, and He cares about each one of our needs. And yet these people in the world today that have never really experienced the love of God in their own personal lives are empty wells. Empty wells.

They have nothing in life. They may have money, they may have power, but if you really don't have that spiritual life in your own personal life, it is nothing to possess anything in this world because it's emptiness of life without Christ. And that's why this morning in my heart, I was just reminded by the Lord in that place where He not only loves you and He loves me, and He is extended to you not only His love but His grace and His mercies to reach out and touch any one of us individually here.

And yet I know that this morning, there are many of you that have been not only searching for God's love, but many of you have been searching in the wrong places. There are people in the world today that every single week, every single day are searching for God's love in the wrong places and don't find any love in the world. Everything that is in the world is selfish love.

When you study the Greek language, there are actually four words for love: Agape, Phileo, and then of course we have Agape, Phileo, and Storge, and then we have Eros love. The Eros love is the love that is selfishness where someone will come up to a woman and say, "I love you." Do you mean you want to go to bed with me?

That's the kind of love that Eros is. It is a physical attraction of, "I'm attracted to you so I would like to spend time with you, but most of all I want to go to bed with you." But then the Phileo love is that love that's emotional where we can love someone at one moment, and in the next moment when they hurt us, we can hate them too.

And then you have what we call the Agape love, which is the love that John 3:16 gives to us. It is Agape love, it's a sacrificial love that no matter what we do, God continues to love you and continues to love me. That's the love that we're supposed to possess as believers in Christ Jesus.

And then the Storge is the family love, a husband for his wife and his children, those that are family members that we love. And yet when God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life was one of the greatest invitations that God has ever given to a lost and dark world today. What incredible love God has given to us.

And yet there are so many people that are discouraged today, discouraged with everything that's happening in the world today. And yet I want you to know that if you're here this morning, that God loves you so much that He reminds you that He came out of all eternity to die for your sins and the sins of the world. That's why in Luke's Gospel when Jesus was speaking, Luke wrote down in Luke 19:10, he wrote down and said for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

The world is lost. There are hundreds and thousands and millions of people without purpose in life. Eternally, they're lost and they're going on their way to hell and they don't even know it. And yet through philosophy and religion, people surely have twisted their minds and their hearts, and Satan has come along and assisted because he's come to rob, to steal, and to kill, the Bible says.

And think of the hundreds and millions of people that are already in the past that have perished and gone to hell. And today they sit in hell waiting for that white throne judgment of God. Never again to see the light, never again to see their relatives and loved ones. And that's why we have an agenda as Christians. And that's why we have an urgency in this world because every second, every moment, every hour that goes by as long as people are alive, they have an opportunity.

But the moment a person takes their last breath, it is the end of all ends. No second chances. This is it. You either go to heaven or you go to hell. And that's why there's such an urgency in my heart not only to do crusades, but to preach the gospel, to be able to share with non-believers, to share with family members that do not know the Lord.

And yet as you look at the world, there are so many young people and old people today that not only have empty lives, but they're trying to escape through the means of alcohol and drugs, sexual adventures, financial adventures. And even though some people have nothing and other people have too much, yet those material things that are in your garage or in your house or things that you wear on your body, those things never, ever, ever bring true satisfaction, but it brings emptiness of life. No matter who you are, emptiness of life.

That's why God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to give you peace of mind, to bring that emptiness into fullness by the power of His Holy Spirit as He would fill your life and cleanse you and wash you by His blood. But yet on the other side, the devil has come to rob and steal and kill through music, through alcohol, through drugs, through sex, through money, through power, through all these things that people fall, not only enemies of the cross, but people move away from the cross of Jesus Christ as Satan grabs ahold of these people's lives.

And yet Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. Nothing new. Life is just empty. And that's why we are working toward eternity, preparing as a young person in your middle age, in your old age because the Bible tells us that it is appointed for a man to die and then the judgment comes.

Everybody dies. Everybody dies whether in infancy or in your teenage years or young adult age or maybe in the middle of your 30s or 40s or your 50s, or maybe when you're 80 or 100 years old, one day will come where you will die. And you'll have to give an account and the question's going to be asked, why did you reject my Son, Jesus Christ, when He gave you His love? Such great love has been given to each of us individually.

That's the great hope that we have in Christ Jesus. And yet on the other side, how awesome it is to know that there are so many Christians that surely have experienced the unconditional love of Jesus Christ in their lives. No strings attached. How awesome. How awesome is our God that I did not choose Him, but that He chose me. I didn't choose Him, He chose me. He pursued after me. He went looking for me. And when He found me, He allowed His Holy Spirit to demonstrate to me not only conviction, but how I was lost in darkness and empty and going to hell, and He reached down and He grabbed ahold of my heart and He touched me as He touched you.

That's what the love of God is all about today. And yet as we look at this whole world, we see the problems with families breaking up. If there was a time in the history of the world where we need the love of Jesus Christ more than ever before, it is today, this morning. This morning. What the world really needs is God's love and God's forgiveness, and He's already offering that to each of us individually. And that's why this is so important even here this morning, to really, truly be born again of the Holy Spirit.

Billy Graham said this, he says, "God loves you, you're selfish, you sin, but God loves you with an intensity beyond anything that I could ever describe to you. He loves you and He loves you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, and the things that He kept Christ on that cross was love, not the nails. It was His love that crucified Him, not the nails."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We are here to help you grow in your understanding of who God is and what He desires for your life. You can visit us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of resources. You can also download our app for live-streamed Bible teaching. Now, back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Now when you look at John 3:16, the first thing that I see is the origin of redemption. What is that? God so loved. That's the first part. God so loved. That is the fountainhead of salvation. It's the love of God. God draws us by His love, by His grace, by His mercy. It is never by His wrath.

God doesn't want to judge us, God didn't prepare hell for us. The Bible says that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. If anybody ever goes to hell, don't blame the church, don't blame pastors, don't blame your family, don't blame God, blame yourself. You sent yourself there. Nobody else did that but yourself.

And that's why God's love is described in the scripture in three ways. That number one, God's love is a great love for us. Ephesians 2:4 says, but God who is rich in mercy because of His great love in where He loved us. We didn't love Him, He loved us. That's the most beautiful thing.

Secondly, it is an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3, "The Lord has appeared of old to me saying, 'Yes, I, God, have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.'" God drew you with cords of love. That's why we're here this morning.

And thirdly, God's love is a sacrificial love. Sacrificial. In Romans 5:8 it says, but God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. For you, for me, for the world, if we just give our lives to Him.

Secondly, the object of redemption in verse 16 is the world. The world. China, Asia, South America, Central America, Europe, United States, Canada, South Pacific. The world is God's object of redemption. He says that God's relation to the world number one is that He reveals that He is the creator of the world. He created you, He created me because of His great love.

In Jeremiah 10:12 he says, "He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom and has stretched out the heavens in His discretion." And then secondly here, He is mindful of the world. He's not in some cloud or some universe where He doesn't think about you, but He thinks about you and me every day.

In Psalm 115:12 he says, "The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron." And that's why thirdly He has come to redeem the world, to buy it back for Himself. Remember in the Book of Revelation in chapter 5, when the Lamb of God stood up and the title deed to the earth was standing there, and the angel was getting ready to give it to someone, but there was no one worthy of it, only one. Who? Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist says, "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Behold him, here he is." And that's why in Ephesians 1:7 it says in Jesus Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His great grace. It's all of grace, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And by the way, fourthly, He is going to judge the world. In Psalm 96:13 he says, "For He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with His truth." The Bible says the books will be open one day and whoever's name was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire where Satan, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, every demon, and every foul person will be there forever plus hell and death will be there in the lake of fire.

And then the third plan of redemption in John 3:16 is this: that He gave His only begotten Son. This was God's love of sacrifice. It was accomplished number one through God's power, not men's power. Through God's power. In Deuteronomy 7:8 it says, "But because the Lord loves you and because He would keep His oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand to redeem you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." Egypt is a type of the world, Pharaoh is a type of Satan. God redeemed the Jews, God has redeemed the church. The church of Jesus Christ. How'd He do it? Through His blood.

1 John 2:1-2: "My little children, these things I write unto you so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation." Here it is, the sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. The whole world God has died, sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for the whole world.

And guess what? It is through grace. Through grace in Jesus Christ. Romans 3:24-25 says, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by His own blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed."

Can you believe that? The sins that we committed in the past, if we've come to Jesus Christ are gone once and for all. He cast them as far as to the east of the west, He buries them in the deepest part of the ocean, and He remembers them no more.

Fourthly, the purpose of redemption in verse 16, the last part: "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. And what's the solution for men? Number one, forgiveness. God wants to forgive men. Colossians 1:4 says since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love of all the saints.

And then secondly, God wants to deliver us from the power of Satan. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself, Jesus, likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy Satan who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to that bondage."

God takes away the fear of dying. That if I die today or tomorrow the next day, it doesn't really matter. I know where I'm going. I know in whom I have believed. Why? Because God wants to deliver us from the power of sin. The power of sin. That's why Jesus Christ came. It says for He will save His people from their sins.

If this is true, in conclusion, if this is true, if salvation is God's gift to anyone that He wants to give it to, then how can I receive it? Number one, through repentance. Peter in Acts 2:38 said, "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Coming to repentance to a change of attitude, change of heart, a turning away from sin, making 180-degree turn, in notice and now turning from the world to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, it is through God's grace. Through God's grace, Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. It is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." And thirdly, it is through God's love again. Romans 5:8, but God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for each one of us.

And it is through who? Jesus only. Jesus Christ only. Acts 4:12: "Nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by where we must be saved." And listen, it is not through works. It is through faith in Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And it is through confession. If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father which is in heaven, but if you deny me, I will deny you before my Father which is in heaven.

Guest (Male): Well, if you've never received God's gift of salvation through Jesus, it's our prayer that what you've just heard will fill you with a new sense of certainty and confidence in the Lord's great love for you. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries.

If you'd like to listen to Raul's lesson again, don't hesitate to place your order. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 and ask for the Somebody Loves You message on CD for $6 or the thumb drive for just $5. Our number again is 800-634-9165. And when you call us, we'd be happy to pray with you if you'd like someone to guide you in beginning your own relationship with Jesus.

You can also write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. Raul will personally answer your Bible questions and respond to your prayer requests when you email him at pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. You can also join Raul on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10 a.m. West Coast time for Straight Talk, turning the lens of the Bible onto relevant life issues. This is a listener-supported ministry, and every gift to us is tax-deductible, and we're grateful for every partner who enables us to keep sharing the Gospel.

Join us next time as we return to our Spiritual Wisdom series for a look at the discernment and direction we can expect from the Lord when we commit to boldly sharing our hope of salvation. Here's Raul once again with a closing comment.

Raul Ries: What is the invitation? Listen carefully. Behold, I stand outside of your heart and I'm knocking. And if any man hears my voice and opens the door to their hearts, I, Jesus, will come into him and dine with him and he with me. Wow. What an invitation. To come by faith. Sin is the disease, the blood of Christ is the cure, and repentance is God's method for putting both together, that is sin and repentance.

You see, God wants to forgive, God wants to cleanse, but He also wants to write your name in the Book of Life. But you have to come with a broken heart, broken spirit, in true humility and saying, "Lord, here am I. Save me. Touch my life. I want eternal life."

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.