THE AMAZING LOVE OF GOD

Transcription

1 THE AMAZING LOVE OF GOD February is Valentines month so we thought why not make the theme of Friend Day Love. And not just any love but The Amazing Love of God. Let s start by looking at a Love Letter from God. Some of you may have never gone to our church website but there the link to this Love Letter is posted under Videos and Other Info. Play link. So there you have it God s love letter as it were to us compiled from various verses in the Bible which speak of God s love. But I want to take time now to answer the question even more fully, What is so amazing about God s love? It is what motivated God to reach out to us Listen to John 3:16 and see if you can see God s motivation for reaching out to us, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. The verse makes it clear that God s love spurred Him on to do something; to send His Son Jesus into the world so that if we believe we can be saved. Have you ever wondered why God reached out to us? After all He is allpowerful, all-knowing in need of nothing. Why did He love us so much? The reason is that He created us in His image. We are the only creature created in the image of God. Indeed, umans are God s most prized creation. I remember in shop class in high school making a number of things. One was a coffee table, and one was this small book holder. I ve never wanted to get rid of the book holder because it is something I made. I even carved a football on the face of it and put my first initial C on it. It s not perfect and it s not even made in my image, but it is special to 1

2 me. If I a human wanted to keep a simple book holder, how much more would God want to save His finest creation? 1 John 3:1 gives us another insight into God s amazing love and motivation, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. 1 John 3:1 shows just how amazing God s love is. It is amazing because those who believe in God are called children of God. God could have said, Well it is sad that these humans I created have fallen into sin. I will do something to save them from hell, but I in no way want them part of My family. But the amazing thing is, God does want us as His heavenly family with all the rights and privileges that adoption brings. Some people want to ease the suffering of people, but God wants to adopt us and make us part of His family. Now that s amazing because none of us deserves it. God adopted us because of His great love. Listen to what 1 John 4;10 says. 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. God didn t reach out to us in love because we finally came to our senses and sought after Him, He did it because of His amazing love for us. Listen now to Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, actively sinning and rebelling against God, He sent Christ to die for us. It should be noted that the word demonstrates in Romans 5;8 means to prove. The verse could read, But God proved His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Love was His motivation! Isn t God s love amazing. It is hard to resist a love like that!!!! The second amazing thing about God s love is that nothing can separe us from it. 2

3 Nothing can separate us from God s love The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In other words, if we have placed our faith in God; death can t separate us from God s love even if we get sick or die in an accident. Life can t separate us, either. In this life we belong to God. Angels can t separate us. Good angels wouldn t want to separate us from God, and principalities or bad angels can t separate us from God. Present things that we may be going through can t separate us. Nothing that might come our way in the future can separate us. No power like government is able to separate us from God s love, Some of us are familiar with the Iranian pastor who is about to be executed. If he is executed, that will not separate Him from God.) Nothing above or beneath us can separate us from God s love. No created thing in this world can separate us. The Apostle Paul makes his point clear, God s love is amazingly strong, and it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we have Christ we are secure in our salvation and future in heaven!!!! Here s another reason God s love is so amazing. It is a mark of true Christians Why is this amazing? It is amazing because God takes His amazing love and puts it inside of each of us when we receive Him into our lives. Love marks God, and God designed it so that love is to mark our lives as well. 1 John 3:10 states, By this the children of God and the children 3

4 of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. Notice that I did not say that love was the only mark of the Christian life. It is one of the marks of the Christian life. Notice that 1 John 3:10 gives two marks of true Christians. The first is righteousness; the second is love. In other words if a person becomes a Christian, his life should become more righteous because he has God living inside Him in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly teaches that when a person becomes a Christian that he or she is indwelt by God s Spirit who begins to live in them and bring about good changes from the inside out. One of those changes is that a person will begin to live more righteously, more in line with God s standards and values. He will begin to embrace the teaching of the Bible and to avoid sin. In this way his life will become more righteous. In addition, the person will begin to exhibit the same selfless agape love that God extended to him. This is all a process and takes time, but a person s life should become more righteous and more loving the longer he is a Christian. It doesn t mean that the person will live a perfectly righteous and loving life, but it does mean that if God is in Him, his life should be becoming more righteous and loving. A girl once asked her mother, Is it true that God lives inside of His children? Yes the mother replied. The child then asked, But isn t God bigger than us? Again her mother answered, Yes. Then the little girl stated, Well, if God lives inside us, and yet He is bigger than us, I guess He should shine through! Indeed He should, Came the mother s reply. Yes, God should shine through our lives from the inside out in righteousness and love. Notice what 1 John 3:14 states, We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. If we have passed from death to life, in other words from being on our way 4

5 to eternal separation from God to on our way to heaven, then we should actively love our fellow Christians. We should love all people! 1 John 4:8 clearly states, The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. John 13:35 goes on to say, By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. The world will know that we belong to God if we have love for one another! It is God s plan that the amazing love that radiates from Him also radiate from us. Amazing!!! Not only is God s love amazing because; - It motivated Him to reach out to us - Nothing can separate us from it - Love is to be a key mark of the Christian - It is to be what motivates Christians to live for God It is what is to motivate Christians to live for God 1 John 4:19-21 states, 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. We are to love because God first loved us. In other words, His love is to be the motivating factor in our lives as we love God and others. One of my favorite passagess about God s love being the motivating factor in our lives is 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 5

6 14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. God s love through Christ is to be the controlling factor in our lives. As we ponder how to live we are to conclude that since Jesus died for us, we are to die to ourselves and no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again on our behalf. We are to be like the dog who is rescued from the pound and becomes eternally grateful to the one who rescued him! It truly is amazing that God reached down to rescue us, and it is only fitting that His love inspire us to love and serve Him and our fellow man.. Finally, God s love is amazing because it really is an unavoidable issue. It is something that everyone must respond to either positively by receiving God s love, or negatively by rejecting that love. It is something that everyone must respond to We are all familiar with John 3:16 which speaks of God s great love for us and God s great offer of eternal life to those who believe. But today I want to look at the verse in context with the verses after it because those who reject the offer of God s love, have rejected the only person who can save them from the penalty of sin. Listen to John 3: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 6

7 A person doesn t have to respond positively to God s love by placing his faith in Christ, but He needs to know that by rejecting God s amazing love, he is choosing to respond negatively. God will not force Himself into people s lives, but those who reject Him need to realize that Jesus is the only way to heaven. In John 14:6 Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me. The Bible clearly teaches that: - All people have sinned against God Romans 3;23 - The penalty for sin is separation from God Romans 6;23 - When a person dies he will stand before God in judgment Hebrew 9:27 - The things we think will get is into heaven won t! o Good works won t save us Ephesians 2:8,9 o Morality won t save us because even one sin makes us guilty before a perfect God James 2:10 o Philosophy won t save us Colossians 2:8 o Religion won t save us James 2:10 - All the bridges that mankind tries to build to God fall short - That s why Jesus came to pay the penalty we could not pay There s a little chorus that goes: He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay I needed someone to wash my sins away And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace all day long Since Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay. So why is God s love so amazing; - It motivated Him to reach out to us - Nothing can separate us from it if we believe - It is to be a mark of the Christian life 7

8 - It is what is to motivate Christians to live for God - It is something that everyone must respond to Let me ask, how have you responded to God s amazing love? Have you responded positively and received God s love by inviting Christ into your life to be Lord and Savior? Or have you responded negatively by ignoring or rejecting God s offer of salvation? If you have responded positively, I praise God with you. You are secure in God s love. If you have never responded positively perhaps you would like to do it right not. If so, I invite you to pray with me: Lord I need You. I admit that I have sinned and am separated from You. Thank You for loving me and providing a way to heaven through the shed blood of Christ. I ask You to forgive my sin and to come into my life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Make me the person You want me to be. I choose to follow You. AMEN 8