Truth About God's Love
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: The Godhead
Hope: To draw closer to God by having a better understanding of God the Father, Son, and Spirit as both a whole and individually.
The world is filled with a lot of confusing ideas about how God is love.
Typically the emphasis is placed so heavily on God’s love that many think he is incapable of negative thought against anyone.
Others see God as so remote and unapproachable that we have to “do something” to earn his notice.
This morning we are going to examine the reality that God is love by studying the “Truth About God’s Love.”
So with that said let’s look at our lesson for this morning.
Misunderstanding God’s Love
Misunderstanding God’s Love
God Only Loves The Perfect.
God Only Loves The Perfect.
God’s love was clearly demonstrated to the world while mankind was all in sin.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This doesn’t mean God approves of sinning.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
This doesn’t God accepts the worship of those that are in sin either.
8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. 9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness.
However, in order for there to be a way back to God for sinners God demonstrated his love for all sinners by offering a way back.
But this love cannot be misunderstood to ignore his severity towards those that refuse his love.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Another misunderstanding about God’s love is that…
God Only Loves The Deserving.
God Only Loves The Deserving.
To answer this let me ask a question…
Do children deserve their parents love or do children receive that love from their parents given them freely?
Every parents knows that children “in the beginning” do nothing to deserve their parents love but a good parents will freely given their love to their children.
In the same way it is with God toward us.
God loves us not because it is an innate part of our being but because it is an innate part of his being.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
19 We love because he first loved us.
The reality is God doesn’t love us because of our past actions.
In fact we all sin who reach the age of accountability.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
God’s love toward us cannot be mistaken as something we deserve but as it is freely given.
Which by the way is far more powerful.
Another common misunderstanding about God’s love is that…
God’s Loving Relationship Is Unconditional.
God’s Loving Relationship Is Unconditional.
How many times have we heard this or heard this implied?
“God is love and cannot send anyone to hell.”
“God is love and therefore it doesn’t matter how you act, worship, or treat others when you die you go to heaven.”
God is love and this is his nature which means it is not dependent on us.
This is clearly seen in that all humanity benefit from God’s love both the good and evil.
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
God is love which also means God wants a relationship with all of us.
This is evident by this patience towards all of us sinners.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
But that relationship God desires to have with us based on his “nature of love” is not unconditional.
It requires us to love him back.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Summary
Summary
God is love but if we misunderstand God’s love we can find ourselves in a world of spiritual hurt.
God’s love is only for the perfect or deserving but it also isn’t unconditional.
So now that we have established God’s loving relationship with us is not “unconditional” it is important for us to consider…
What God’s Love Will Not Do
What God’s Love Will Not Do
Accept You As You Are.
Accept You As You Are.
As we just read a moment ago sin separates us from God.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
God didn’t accept Adam and Eve in their sin.
God didn’t accept the utter sin of all mankind except Noah and his families.
God didn’t accept Sodom, Gomorrah and the other three cities sin during Abraham’s day.
And God certainly will not accept those today that find it comfortable to remain in sin.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
With that said that doesn’t mean that sin stops God’s love for man.
By that I mean his longing for us and his desire for reconciliation.
But sin does stop his association with us.
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
That reality is reconciliation between us and God requires change in our lives and thus is conditional.
We have to turn to God and strive to leave sin behind.
3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
We have to continue on God’s path of righteousness.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
We have to continue in the faith i.e., continue to trust God and live for him.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
This means our acceptance by God is conditional.
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
This tells us that God’s love will also not…
Automatically Forgive You.
Automatically Forgive You.
Forgiveness only comes from being “in Christ.”
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
And it’s only through obedience to God’s plan of salvation culminating in obedience to the gospel that we find that forgiveness.
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Yes God is loving and loves us but he is also just according to his loving nature.
So if he will not automatically forgive you this means God’s love will also not…
Force You To Love Him.
Force You To Love Him.
In fact, the very nature of love is that it allows a freedom of choice, even if the choice is not what is wanted.
Love is an action not an emotion and therefore God can and does show us great love but he does not force us to reciprocate that love.
He desires it but he will not force it.
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
God’s love will not force anyone love him back but it also will not…
Prevent You From Being Punished.
Prevent You From Being Punished.
God has done literally every single thing possible to show us how much he loves us and wants us to have a relationship with him.
He did the hard work of offering his only begotten son.
He is offering an incredible incentive of eternal life with him.
He has informed us all of the dire realities of ignoring him.
But if we choose to disregard his love, reject his offering, reject his incentives, and ignore his warnings that injustice requires a response.
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Summary
Summary
God’s love will not just accept us as we are or automatically forgive us, or force us to love and serve him.
And it certainly will not prevent us from being punished.
So it’s important then to consider…
What God’s Love Does Do
What God’s Love Does Do
It Provides A Way To Be Saved.
It Provides A Way To Be Saved.
As I said earlier God did the hard and painful part.
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
There are requirements to be met but they are do able.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
And if we make mistakes there is a way to return.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God’s love does provide a way to be saved.
We also see…
It Provides An Inheritance.
It Provides An Inheritance.
When we obey the gospel and have our sins washed away in that watery grave during our immersion (Romans 6:3-5; Acts 22:16) God tells us that the Holy Spirit stamps us with a guaranteed inheritance.
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
And as we studied last week “God Is Truth” and therefore cannot lie (Titus 1:2) we know this is the case provided we practice the qualities of faithfulness.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s love provides a way to be saved and provides and inheritance to the faithful.
But that is not all…
It Provides Incentives.
It Provides Incentives.
When we obey the gospel and are added to God’s family by Christ (Acts 2:47) there are several incentives given the child of God.
We receive fellowship with our Creator.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
We receive everything we need in this life to get us to the next.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
We receive the greatest retirement package ever offered.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Summary
Summary
God’s nature, love, provides for everyone of us a way to be saved, a guarantee of eternity in God’s home, and all the incentives anyone could imagine.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God is love and that is true.
It is his very nature but there are so many lies about his love that people have been deceived by.
Satan has pulled the wool over so many peoples eyes.
Don’t be one that is deceived, know and understand the truth about God’s love for you!
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.