God's Love
Amen.
We're looking at the attribute of God's love and it's probably the most common verse that people in our culture. Today might even quote is 1st John chapter 4 God is love and of course that begs the question. What is love? I saw a podcast Sam storms as a pastor in Oklahoma and and he had a podcast that was titled Love Is Love verses. God is love. How do people use the phrase? Love is love in our culture today. Love Is Love. I mean, I'm sure you've seen the the for the phrases, the secular Creed, you know, Love Is Love.
Yeah, it doesn't matter who you love. Doesn't matter what kind of body you have, doesn't matter what identity you are. Doesn't matter how you classify yourself. Love is love. It doesn't matter, and I was intrigued by that podcast cuz the title was Love Is Love verses. God is love. When God is love we have to Define love and God according to what God has revealed in his word. Amen. And so in many ways our culture turns love into God, instead of saying that God is love
But how do we understand that? That word, I might say to a stranger. If I see someone in the store over here, I might say, hey man, I like that t-shirt. That's pretty cool t-shirt. I love that. I love that. Well, we I mean, we use the word love all the time in terms of how we like something or we think something's clever or funny or witty. But a related category to God's love. I'm going to start a little bit back and I just want to let you know, that's not an AI generated photograph. There of clouds that was taken after a thunderstorm, you know, how do you have a big thunderstorm and then and then the humidity brakes and everything in the sun just comes through. And so this was I was actually on the road, I should have taken a picture when it went when I was, well, I was probably not going too fast. I hope I wasn't too fast, but I slow down enough to take a picture with my camera and I cropped out the bottom part, where the road is. And so, you just see the see the clouds there. But God's goodness is a larger category. So what is God's goodness mean? God's goodness means that he is merciful gracious and patient. So when we talk about grace, mercy and patience, these are from Wayne grudem, dr. Wayne grudem. Systematic Theology. The great big textbook. There's a shorter version of it called Bible Doctrine, which, I highly recommend you use as a household resource, has some chapters abbreviated to make it more more digestible, but God's goodness. He classifies at three aspects he says, Mercy is God's goodness to those in suffering or distress. So, we talked about Mercy Ministry, we talked about compassion Ministry, we talked about medical medical missions that at Albion Florence participated in in the Philippines. There's an element of mercy of God's goodness to those who are in suffering and distress, Grace is God's goodness to those who deserve only punishment.
When you say someone was gracious to you that means you didn't deserve that kindness. You didn't deserve that goodness, you deserve to something else and patience is God's goodness to those who sin over a. Of time of the Bible, sometimes calls this long suffering or patience. And so if we if you're willing to accept that definition of grace, that Grace is God's goodness to those who deserve only punishment think about this. God is gracious in allowing all Humanity to live on the earth outside of the Garden of Eden. After the flood in Genesis chapter 8 after the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 Humanity was scattered over all the Earth and God is gracious in allowing us to live and breathe and maintain order and multiply and flourish despite Humanity Cent. I may be fruitful and multiply some people joke that that was the only command that Humanity ever followed, you know very well.
So what is common Grace? What we talked about all of humanity, God's goodness, and Grace is the undeserved favor by which God allows all Humanity to live. Breathe X, maintain order and flourish despite our sin. That is God allows all people all Humanity to form Nations and governments and cultures and industries. He's gracious in allowing people to for markets and companies and schools, and highways and power plants. And Fish Farms. When I went to Ecuador, it was amazing. We were driving up while we were in Quito in Tokyo, is at a higher elevation. And so, actually, we were driving down a couple hours to the edge of the rainforest, and on the on, about 45 minutes before we got to the edge of the rainforest. We were going over this this road, that was a long, a canyon and we stopped at this restaurant and then you know how, if you've ever been up in the mountains, do you stop at a place along side of the road and then behind whatever that place is? You can see kind of the hillside behind it. Well, behind the restaurant, we walk down a path on the hillside and the, the owner of that restaurant had made a fish farm and he had terrorist to the side of the Hill. Probably, I don't know. 200 250 ft high. He had terrorist the side of the Hill into different ponds and so he had water flowing down from one Pond to the other to the other. And then he had two or three Pines at the base of the, of the hill where the stream was. So he had made a fish farm. I mean, amazing amazed God in his common, Grace allows people to flourish in these ways in an accident 17. Paul, basically says the same thing, he says, some of your own poets have said when he's in Athens and he speaking to a to a paganistic group polytheistic group, he says he says, some of your own poets have said in him, we live and move and have our being That's it. That's an example of he citing the idea of common Grace. And so he protects God protects Humanity by preserving us with and withholding the full measure of his wrath. Why? So that people would come to repentance. We think about God's patience in about God's common Grace 2nd Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you. Not wishing that, any should perish, but that all should reach repentance is he guilty chapter 18, says twice and Ezekiel chapter 18, the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Therefore turn and live. So God patience is his goodness, towards those who sin over time, giving them opportunities to turn away, from self to turn away from sin and turn back to God. God's common Grace and his patience chords All Humanity.
Now. Along with that or in a separate category, from that is God's Saving Grace. So Saving Grace is the undeserved favor, God gives to those of Faith. Placing them eternally into the family of God. You remember the maybe the old gospel song? I'm so glad I'm apart of the family of God, right? When someone has saving faith, God a. They're adopted as God's child in his family eternally and he puts them into the family of God. They are sealed with the holy spirit. It's the book of Ephesians says, that the spirit is a guarantee of our inheritance. And so God with holds the punishment we deserve. He's merciful to us and then he grants us favor that we do not deserve. God does not simply bring us up from the bottom to the point of neutrality. Wiping away our sins. It says he cast your sins into the bottom of the sea, but he also grants us the righteousness of Christ. That he credits to us all of the righteousness of Christ, all of The Obedience that Christ lived out on Earth, all of the, all of the Perfections of Christ in his role, as the son of the son who was given to to save those, who would Place faith in him. He credits that to us as righteousness. He imputes that to us as righteousness, until he grants us that favor, that we do not deserve and not only that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us Say to your neighbor, the holy spirit's working on you.
The Holy Spirit working on you, maybe that's too bold to say say to your neighbor, the holy spirit's working on me. The holy spirit's working on me. Right? The holy spirit is sanctifying me The holy spirit is working on me, sanctifying me. Changing me.
So we call him to come to Psalm 103 and we see those examples of God's grace and God's patience and God's mercy. So someone or 3 verses 8 through 10, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger. And abounding, in steadfast love, he will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us. According to our sins. No repay us. According to our iniquities isn't that wonderful. God does not repay us. According to our iniquities. We had a repairman come to our house on Friday, and, and we have a, we have a hot tub at our house, that is quickly turning into a money pit, because for the amount we use it, it takes a lot more finances to, to fix it at different times and all of that. And so, I was getting so angry and so frustrated. And, you know, I do this, this manager should have told this repairmen about this issue and imagine if God repaid us immediately for our sins, What would happen? All of us would be wiped out.
Immediately. But yet God is patient. He does not treat us according to our iniquities, he does not deal with us according to our sins and so Exodus chapter 20 through 24. God gives the Covenant to the people of Israel. He says, all they say all that, the Lord has spoken we will do, they agree to keep the Covenant days later. The people are at partying and in revelry and and the people say to Aaron, make us some Gods who will go before us. And out comes this golden calf and Erin's explanation is really kind of humorous, cuz he says well you know, we just put all the gold in the fire and all the sudden out came this golden calf. God would have been Justified was justified in wiping out. The people right then? Because of their idolatry because of their betrayal of the Covenant because their hearts had turned away from him. Yet he didn't. And so what Psalm 103 is referring to is Exodus 34 Verse 6 and 7. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always try, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sin that someone at 3. Can we go to the next one? I think we have asked that the Lord the Lord Our God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but who will by no means clear. The guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and their children's children to the third and fourth generation. No. Look at the comparison, their third and fourth generation compared to keeping steadfast love for thousands.
We will never understand fully how much God loves us. Amen. That is something that we can continually learn and grow and experience more, and, and, and it will never end. We will still be comprehending New Dimensions of the love of God. Even when we're face-to-face with the Lord,
So, let me ask you this. How often does your heart turn away from God to self? I mean, I'm not melting old pieces of scrap metal in my burn pit, to turn into any sort of idle or charm. but Jesus says, The greatest commandment is this to love the Lord, your God with all your heart. With all your mind with all your soul, with all your strength and the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself.
We haven't done that. I haven't done that.
How often do our hearts turn away from God to self and yet. Even though we turn away. God keeps running after us. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father picks up his robe and runs to meet his son on the road, on the way back. If you owned land in the Middle East, in the ancient world and you had servants, and you had sons who you wanted, you were given your inheritance away to the, to the younger, son, who asked it, that was not proper for you to do to pick up your robe and run and throw your arms around your son and kiss him. God keeps giving himself to us in his son and in his Spirit. God keeps listening. Even when our prayers are selfish or forgetful.
God keeps loving you even when you are rushing and you are focused on everything but him why would God do that?
Why would you do that? Because of his love. Because that is his heart towards you. So as we think of God's love is an attribute. This is again from Wayne grudem Systematic Theology that as an attribute. God's love is the truth that God is eternally and joyfully giving of himself to others And we see that even within the Trinity, even within the Trinity. The Father loves the son, and has given all things into his hand, John 3:35?
John 1431 but I do as the father commanded me so that the Lord so that the world may know that I love the father. And then John 16 Jesus speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will glorify me for he will take, what is mine? And he will declare it to you. So God's love even among the Trinity. This the Holy Spirit taking what Jesus has said and guiding us and teaching us into all truth.
Professor Carl FH Henry. I'm not sure why they have all the middle initials there. But Carl Henry longtime professor at University of Chicago, the library at Trinity, Seminary was named after him, he put it this way and And here's a guy who can write a, he wrote a six volumes, I think God Revelation and authority of theology series, but I'll give you the best. Three sentences related to God's love. Love is not accidental or incidental to God. It is an eternal Perfection, his love like all other Divine attributes. Reflects the whole of his being in specific actions and relationships. It's not incidental or accidental. T'god. The difficulty we have in engaging with our culture today, is that people feel entitled to God's love. Why shouldn't God love me? Of course, you know, we tell people, God loves you and and and the idea that that circulates in our minds as well. Yeah. Why not?
I mean, I have so many followers on Instagram, or I have so many subscribers to my YouTube channel.
But God is not obligated to any person. The scripture says he is no respecter of persons. He does not show partiality.
Love is not accidental or into incidental to God. He it reflects the entirety of his being in specific actions and relationship towards each. One of us his actions and relationships towards me and towards you. And so that's the question I want us to. Think about today is, do we know the Beauty and the love and the power and the Comfort. I'm sorry, the power, the Beauty and the comfort of God's love towards you. I hope that is coming across in a loving tone.
Can you say as Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ, loved you and gave himself for you. The life I live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God. Who is the Son of God? What he is? The one who loved me and gave himself for me. He is the Lord of all the Earth.
He gave himself for you for us to suffer the punishment, for our sins, to protect and guide you now to guarantee your Eternal future, that is love.
God has committed himself to you.
No matter what? Come? What may is the song that we sing? Sometimes. Come what may God. It is about what God has done in Christ for us for me for you.
That is love. The love that surpasses knowledge. So we look at a seasons 3 18 and 19. These beautiful words Again, Paul is praying for the Ephesian Church. And he uses the term immeasurable several times in the opening chapters. and the idea that the unsearchable riches of Christ, And then, he gives this description. I pray that you may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ, that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now, we got to ask a few questions of the text to help us understand. Why does he ask for strength to comprehend?
Why doesn't Paul say, well, I hope you comprehend the love of Christ. Why does he ask for strength to comprehend the love of Christ? Any ideas?
I pray that you would be. Strengthened, with power, through his spirit, in your inner being the reason he asked for strength to comprehend it because we can't comprehend God's love in our own mental faculties. It takes the spirit of God, burning something into our hearts and into our minds. Renewing our mind and taking, hold of us. So that we are born again and saying, yes, Lord, you love me. I cannot understand that. I cannot believe it. We can't comprehend Christ. Love for us in our own mental limitations. It's Supernatural. Then the second question is how can we know something that surpasses knowledge? How can we know something that surpasses knowledge? Well, you know, it was deep conviction in your heart, you know, it in your emotions in your mind and in your will it takes over Who you are. It is beyond your own logical. Reasoning categories. Think of it this way you can research and you can read statistics and you can look at maps and you can look at Google Earth and you can do all the research you want about, how vast the Grand Canyon is.
But until you go there and you stand on the edge. And you see how far down it is and how far across it is and you venture down into the bottom of the Grand Canyon until you have been there. Your knowledge is it is limited. That is you don't know how Grand it is. I mean, you can read it all day long, you can look at the statistics and you can say, you know, it's this many miles to take the donkey down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. But you guys have been there right? The Grand Canyon. I mean you could you can know all those facts on a list on a spreadsheet. But you don't know it in your experience, in your heart and in the Wonder and worship of how Grand God creation is, until it has captivated. All your senses. That is how it is with the love of Christ. Amen.
God loves you. That's how the love of Christ, surpasses knowledge. We come to know it in our hearts. Jonathan Edwards in one of his sermons, The the early American preacher said, you know, you can. You can know that honey is sweet and someone can tell you that honey is sweet but until you've tasted it, you don't do, you only have a limited knowledge of the sweetness.
Now the other question is who gets to know the love of Christ in that this way not just people who are more studious or more free-spirited or more emotional or more rational know everyone that you would comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This love is for all got people to grasp individually and to comprehend together. Why does God people call us to a local church and call it a body? The body of Christ? No less. because I think if we were to stay at home churches, or if we were to do all of our worship and prayer online and if we were to watch YouTube instructional videos on how to follow Jesus and and all of these things, we would get tunnel vision and we would neglect the great variety of people who are all living examples of people whom God loves
When you get ready for church on a Sunday morning and you get ready to come? You can tell yourself. I'm going to be with people whom God loves.
And if we stay in smaller and smaller groups that that we get tunnel vision with neglect, the variety of people that God has given to us. And I praise God, that we have just such a great variety of people with talents and gifts and skills. I mean, every time we get together for a fellowship home fellowship Gathering or or one of the meals, you know, I learned something about the people that God has brought together. Amazing talent, amazing skills, amazing experiences.
So God's love for us in Christ. Let me close with four aspects 15 seconds for each. The width. What is the width of God's love? Will it encompasses all ethnicities in all Races of humanity. If you look at Revelation chapter 5 and also in chapter 7, I saw a great Kindred, a great mass of people thousands upon thousands from every Kindred tribe tongue and Nation.
What is the length of his love? It is an everlasting, love. It was always there and will continue into eternity. God has always loved. You is always loving you and will always love you.
Is Everlasting. Jesus is always interceding for us at the right hand of God. God's love is constant. It is not fickle. It is not variable based on circumstances. God's love is not like the weatherman on the Weather Channel. When a storm comes up and in a hurricane. And he says, well, here's the various models, you could go this way, this way, this way. And here's the European model over here. You know, it's, it's always like, okay, there's one that's like way of God's love is not just a scientific model that. Oh, yeah, it could. Sometimes I can really sent it and other times I can't sense it. I mean, God's love is constant, it is fixed. It is a Bedrock part of the universe because it is the essence of who God is amen. It is not fickle, it is not based on our circumstances, and God's love is, is not necessarily based on our comfort either.
He has declared it from eternity. His love is without interruption.
God's love for us and Christ the depth. The depth. How deep is it from his Heavenly Glory? Jesus Took on the nature of a servant, he was willing to be spat on flawed, cursed at mocked and during hunger and thirst and he endured the Wrath of the father and experienced death. There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper. Still Corrie, Ten Boom, said Holocaust Survivor
His love for you and for me.
The depth of Christ love for us, does not make sense. It is illogical from our standpoint because all of us, like sheep have gone astray. There is no one who does good, not even one. We are all depraved. We are all lovers of static. We are all lovers of success. We are all lovers of the approval of other people. We are all people who love things more than God. And yet, God says, I love you and I have chosen you. And I want you to follow me by faith and trust me that I will continue to provide for you.
While we were still weak at the right time Christ, died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person though. Perhaps for a good person. One might dare even to die, but God shows his love for us in this goddamn and Straits. His love for us in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Christ died for us when there was nothing in US worth dying. For
Nothing in and out of our own selves.
Jesus died for his enemies. The scripture says that you and I were enemies before, we knew God. Jesus died for his enemies. Do you have that kind of love to die for an enemy?
That is the depth of love. The Christ has for Sinners and he rejoices when one sinner repents, we were reading Ryan and an errand. I were meeting earlier this week and we talked about the parable where Jesus says, the shepherd goes after it leaves the 99 and goes after the one and brings it back. And in my mind, I'm always thinking who who's taking care of the 99, you know, like there's a lot of sheep. There's that he must have had some assistance or something. but when he finds his lost sheep, it says he picks it up. He puts his on his shoulders, he carries it back and he rejoices, and he says, he calls his friends that says Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep. The Bible doesn't say he finds the Sheep. he looks at it and says, Dumb sheep. What are you doing there? Haven't I told you a thousand times not to wander off. No, that's not God's heart, that's not God's disposition. I mean, it's like when I was a high school math teacher, I used it if a student somebody said, you know, one of the first, the worst word you can hear at a parent-teacher conferences. Well, he can do the work. No, he's capable but he's not following through. sometimes I would look at a student and if I, if I thought the student could do a lot better, you not hand them the paper back and I say,
That wasn't a loving expression. In some sense, I was trying to urge them to try harder next time but that's not the disposition that God has for each one of us, the disposition that God has for each one of us is that when your name comes upon the mind of the Triune. God, God smiles and says, yes, that person belongs to me. I love them. I gave my son for them. And they responded in faith. And I want more than anything for them to trust me and to rest in my love and care. The depth of his love how high is his love. He has made us to be children of God 1st Peter 2nd, Peter says, we are partakers of the divine nature. We are co-heirs with Christ. We are Heirs of God, we will have glorified bodies, and we will be in his presence. But the holding his glory and we will never exhaust the vastness demented, the vast dimensions of God's love in all eternity. The love of God is like the Amazon river flowing down to water. One flower. And you are that flower. May that humble us and cause a response of worship and praise and love to God. What spray?
