Rejoicing in God’s Gift of Love

Main Point: The Love of God is the Key to Understanding the Gospel.

Divine love can rake a dunghill, and find a diamond!

Charles Spurgeon

Romans 8:31–39 LSB

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, 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.

The Main objective for the Christmas Season is to Observe the Full Definition of Love:

God’s Love Protects, Delivers, Justifies. (v. 31-32)

Justification is God’s act of remitting the sins of guilty men, and accounting them righteous, freely, by his grace, through faith in Christ, on the ground, not of their own works, but of the representative lawkeeping and redemptive blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ on their behalf.

J. I. Packer

1. The Christian man and woman who holds to the Biblical view of God, His role in the universe, His finality, and totality are found in peace because the LORD is their protector.

2. God, through the Only Begotten One, delivered humanity from depravity, sin, and death, into eternal life through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. It is the life of the Christ-child that begins the justification God makes available to you and me. His perfect life, His holiness leading him to lead a quiet life until the the due time for His earthly ministry which centered on calling sinners to repentance and to surrender (obedience) to God’s perfect law.

3. The Righteous came to live among the unrighteous so that in perfect life, through an undeserved death, those who call on the name of the Lord would enjoy the fullness of life.

God’s Love Magnifies The Glory of the Godhead. (v. 33-34)

The Trinity is the basis of the gospel, and the gospel is a declaration of the Trinity in action.

J. I. Packer

1. Who has the authority and right to call humanity to answer for her sin through Adam? Jesus Christ.

2. Who is the one who died to cover the sins of a broken world? Jesus Christ.

3. Who stands as the faithful advocate for the Church in the celestial throne room of the Father to present His bride as holy and refined by His blood? Jesus Christ.

4. Who sent the Holy Spirit to make the way known to sinners, to open the blind eyes of man’s soul, and to give new life to the repentant men and women? The Father and The Son.

God’s Love is Totally & Unalterably Powerful. (v. 35-37)

John 3:16–21 LSB

16 “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. 19 “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.”

1. The World expected, and continues to expect, “saviors” whose persona is greater than life; whose social acumen is renowned; whose perceivable power is unlimited and unhindered. That is a problem.

2. Beyond the troubles outside of us, the turmoil that can take place within us is a real stumbling block when our desire for prideful power, recognition, ambition, and selfishness would have us be the center of our own lives. This is a major problem.

3. What God provides us is the awareness that while our human abilities falter regularly, it is the power of the God-Man Jesus, in his ability to know all aspects of life, we have the victory over all aspect of temptation and sin, if only we would turn to Him as a longing child to his/her mother. Knowing that His love is enough.

The Sum of God’s Love is Evidenced Through His Son. (v. 38-39)

Isaiah 25:8–9 LSB

8 He will swallow up death for all time, And Lord Yahweh will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For Yahweh has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God in whom we have hoped that He would save us. This is Yahweh in whom we have hoped; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

1. If we are honest, it is hard for us to look at a baby and think, “Boy, your death is what gives me life.” It is hard for us to fathom God choosing to do what He has done the way He did it.

2. Even more so, it is far more difficult to think that we have eternal life because of a perfect life that is totally foreign to us as individuals.

3. God makes it so clear and poignant that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts, are not our thoughts. It the annunciation, birth, and life of the Savior we have the clearest evidence of God’s complete and totally abounding love for us.

God’s wisdom shows us, today even, that the way of eternal life moves from the cradle to the cross; from the manger to the empty tomb; from failed and lost humanity to eternal life through the blood of the Only Begotten Son of God.

So Why Christmas?

1. Because Joy is the True Mark of Love and Hope.

2. Because Peace is Defined in a Single Individual.

3. Because God Keeps His Word.

4. Because The Gospel Message Matters Today, Still.

How to Respond to the Gospel Message?

1. Repent, Confess Your Sins, Trust the Perfect Priest, Prophet, and King—Jesus Christ.

2. Repent, Confess Your Waywardness, and Come Back to the Father’s Embrace.

3. Be Joined to the Lord’s Bride through the Local Church.