Love Incarnate
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 15 viewsNotes
Transcript
For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The Reality of the Human Condition
The Reality of the Human Condition
Illustration about a great misconception of how things truly are.
“For while we were still helpless.”
It is only when we come to a place where we have an accurate view of who we are, and what that means for us, that we can come to a place of understanding the Love of God.
Illustration on how many people think they are good.
81 percent say they believe that humankind is inherently good. Three in four believe they themselves are fundamentally a good person. When researchers asked respondents how they would compare themselves to others in their lives, 46 percent went a step further, admitting (in their eyes) they’re “better” than everyone else they know.
“New Age” Spirituality
We are all “little god’s “
While these things may not be explicitly believed by many people, these ideologies impact many people.
EXAMPLES:
Karma
Horoscopes
“Manifesting”
What this leads to is that people feel entitled to the love of God.
Entitlement is something that people love to talk about.
It can be easy to identify it in others and sometimes it is quite blatant.
The reality is, we all struggle with feelings of entitlement from time to time.
Perhaps the most common place all people feel entitled is in their relationship with God.
“though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.”
Too often people feel as though they are that good person that Christ died for.
As though Christ’s death was just to fulfill some loophole so they could go to heaven.
As though their goodness is why Christ died for them.
“God wouldn’t send me to hell, I am a good person!”
We have this idea that what God does for us, is motivated by our goodness.
If people do accept the idea of sin, they like to compare their sin to others sin.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The idea is that in comparison to others, their sin is not really all that bad.
The problem of comparison.
We like to imagine a great distance between the best of us and the worst of us.
In reality, we are all in the same lot and the great distance lies between us and God.
We often question “could God really forgive a person who has done _______”
This reveals the entitlement and self-righteousness in our hearts.
If we are accurately aware of our sin, we would wonder how God could forgive us.
We are thoroughly sinful.
The first verse alone refers to us as “helpless” and “ungodly”
The Life of David “A Man After God’s Own Heart”
Adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her Husband.
Be gracious to me, God,
according to your faithful love;
according to your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.
Completely wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you—you alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in your sight.
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge.
Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
David understood the gravity and nature of his sin.
Every person that we can look to has sinned.
This sin separates us from God.
This is not a small correctable error. We are in desperate need. We are helpless and ungodly, justly deserving destruction.
It is only through this lens of understanding just how bad our circumstances are, just how bad we are that we can truly understand....
The Unfathomable Love of God
The Unfathomable Love of God
“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In the middle of our helplessness and sin. Jesus died for us.
God’s love for us doesn’t make sense.
It is so much greater than anything we can possibly imagine.
The story of the Prodigal Son.
The idea of how the son didn’t have any possible reason to be accepted, but the father forgave and loved Him anyway.
The word Prodigal means “in excess” God’s love for us His love for you is in excess.
It doesn’t fit with what we might possibly imagine.
Think of the person you feel most justified in disliking or having bad feelings toward. Now imagine by your own love for no reason, giving them everything.
This is Christ’s love for you.
Jesus and Barabas
Messiah vs. Notorious Criminal
Who would go free?
How could the one who deserved to be punished go free and the one who deserved freedom be punished?
In this we see a picture of our own station. We are Barabas. We are the ones in the crowd shouting “Give us Barabas!”
We are the one’s shouting Crucify Him!
Why did Christ take this? Why did he allow this?
BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
In this there is no longer shame and guilt, but freedom in Christ!
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
There are two extremes when dealing with God.
Self-Righteousness
And believing that God cannot possibly love you.
When we accept the hard truth that we are as bad as we think we are, we are able then to look and see just how great God’s love for us is.
When we see the greatness of God’s love, we are able to then truly lay down all of these burdens and follow Him only.
It is not that these things are not true, but rather that Christ has redeemed us from them and called us to live in newness of life!
The love of God is compelling
For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.
Christ’s Love compels us to live for Him.
Christ’s Love compels us to love others
Christ’s Love compels you to to follow Him today.
INVITATION