The Love of God - Part 1 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, The worries of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is Lassare Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bowed down with care, God gave his Son to win.

His erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin. O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong, It shall forevermore endure the saints and angels song. O love of God, how rich and pure, O tell the love of God. I hope you'll stay tuned as we bring you a message on the love of God. We've had a lot to say in recent months as we've looked at Old Testament scriptures about the holiness of God and the fact that his wrath is poured out on the wicked because God hates sin.

And some say, well, I just have trouble with those messages. Well, it's a part of the truth that we need to understand about God. But I do love, on the other hand, to talk about God's grace, God's mercy, God's love. So we're talking today about the love of God. My text is 1 John chapter 4 verse 8. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. John 4.24 says God is spirit. 1 John 1.5 says God is light. And the text we've just read said God is love. So it doesn't just say that God loves, but God is love. This is his character. This is the way he is.

How wonderful to know that. Would it not be a dreadful thing if some of the theories of those that worship the false gods of Greek mythology were correct? That God was evil and angry and ready to devour us at any time. God is a God of wrath because in his holiness he hates sin. He has at various times displayed his wrath when he has sent tremendous judgments upon this earth as a result of man's wickedness. But he has wrath because he is holy, because he despises sin, hates every evil way. But how reassuring to know that he is a God of love.

As we think about the characteristics of this love, we first take note that it is unmerited. Man by nature does not love God. He is not interested in the holiness of God. God's holiness doesn't appeal to him because in his fallen sinful state he is very self-focused.

Man wants his own way, wants to do what he wants to do, doesn't want to be accountable. And I'm confident, well, from a biblical perspective we can say this is absolutely a fact that man seeks to discredit God, to deny that he is the sovereign creator, not because he is lacking in scientific information, but according to Romans chapter 1, it's because he suppresses the truth about God because he wants to get rid of him. A man can convince himself there is no God, now I'm free to do what I want to do and there is no judgment day and there is no accountability. But God is a holy God and that's difficult for us to fathom because we are corrupted by sin and even if we have had an experience of grace and have been born again and there is a new nature, the old Adam nature is still there. And so we are influenced by the very desires of our fallen nature.

Natural man walks in an evil course. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Turn to Romans chapter 3 which gives a pretty vivid description of man's fallen state. Verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Now it's true that man will seek a God after his own making and after his own desire. Multitudes seek after false gods, but man by nature does not seek the true and living God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of aspens under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now you might object and say, well, I am better than that. That description is too hard, that doesn't describe me. And if that's your response, it indicates that you don't have a clear sight of yourself. Because the fact may be that there are certain sins in which you have not been involved, and they do not appeal to you. And things that others have done that you haven't done, don't do and will never do.

But the problem is deep seated. It's your nature, your inclination to ignore what God requires and do basically what you want to do. Jesus summarized the law, saying that you are to love the Lord God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength.

And just look at that commandment, a summary of what is in the Ten Commandments, the first part of it. Could you possibly say that you have come anywhere close to keeping that? That all of your life, your first and primary concern has been to please God.

That you have loved Him above everything else. Every decision, every choice, every activity, everything has put God first. Surely you recognize that you have failed miserably in that regard.

There no doubt have been times and seasons in your life when you've given little thought to God at all. You made your own plans. You went where you wanted to go. You did what you wanted to do. You defended yourself. You excused your actions that might have been questioned by others.

You did not love God supremely. And then to love your neighbor as yourself. You may have done some noble deeds along the way. You may have been kind to others. But to truly say, I have loved others as much as I love myself. I have ministered to them. I have been unselfish. I have been kind.

I have loved them with an undying love continually. You'd have to say you have failed. So the point we make is that man in his fallen natural state walks in an evil course. He is alienated from God. He is described as being an enemy of God, not his friend. He doesn't love God. He doesn't seek God.

He doesn't fear God. So it requires God's love to turn him around. We turn to the book of Ephesians chapter 2, reading in the first verse. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Here again there is a description of man in his natural fallen state.

He is walking according to the course of this world, according to Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air, among whom also we had our conversation in times past. In the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now there is man's plight, dead in trespasses and in sin, and yet actively walking in a course of evil, subject to Satan's jurisdiction.

Now, what's going to be necessary to bring about a change? Verse 4, But God, here's where the change is brought about. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. So what are we talking about today? We're talking about the love of God.

What made the difference? What changed the situation with these individuals that are here described? Which describes all of us by nature. Going in the wrong direction, yielding ourselves to the lust and desires of this flesh and of the mind, but it's God who intervened. God, who is rich in mercy, doesn't have just a small amount of it, but an abundance of it, he's rich in mercy, and it's because of his great love, not just a small amount of love, a great love, a marvelous love, tremendous love, wherewith he loved us, so even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us, he brought us to life, and therefore the conclusion is, by grace ye are saved.

I've talked to people who work so desperately trying to find some place to take a little credit for their salvation. They will misconstrue various parts of scripture, they will refer to their own experience and try to set that up as being superior to what the Bible itself has to say, but the fact is, no matter how you may look at it and how you may object to some of the principles of it, it comes back to this, it is by grace that any sinner is ever saved. Any soul that has ever been saved that will ultimately be saved, it will be by the sovereign grace of God. God's love then is not based on worth in man, merit that man may possess. Let's look at Romans chapter 9 verse 11, For the children, being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth.

It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated. Now somebody will try to reason and say, well, surely there was something in those individuals that influenced the choice of God.

But here the inspired word specifically says that was not the case. Before they were born, before they had done any good or evil, it says, Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated. Now what will be the response? Man's response generally is this. That doesn't seem fair. So the Holy Spirit knew what kind of response people would make and he raises the question, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Was God unrighteous? Was God unfair? Is this not right?

What's the answer? God forbid. God forbid that you should charge God with making a mistake, with being unfair, and doing the wrong thing. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. This clearly sets forth God's absolute sovereignty.

I will. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It's not paying an individual what he's entitled to receive. It's condoning his conduct and therefore rewarding him. It is God, according to his own sovereign pleasure, having compassion on whom he will have compassion. The fact is that God is not under any obligation to man. Verse 21, Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Let God willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endure with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. I understand there's a part of our human nature that struggles with that.

How can this be? We're so accustomed to thinking in terms of people being rewarded on the basis of their effort and their conduct, and everything having to be done fairly on the terms that we stipulate and that we deem to be fair. And so for God to come on the scene and say, as the sovereign creator I'm in charge, I'm the potter, you're the clay, I have the right to do with my own what I please. There's a tendency to resist that. But even if that's difficult for you, even if you say I'm having a hard time with that, would you not say I do respect what God has revealed in his Word?

I may not understand it, but I'm not going to complain about it. I'm not going to speak against God and say I like the way he runs his business. Let's say God is a God of wisdom and God is on the throne and God is working his will and I'm just a poor little weak creature of earth and I'm going to bow. And even in the words of Jesus say, even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. God's love is unmerited and God's love is eternal. If God loves today, he didn't just start this morning. God loves today as he loved yesterday and he loved from all eternity. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. An everlasting love. Love from before the foundation of the world.

Now that's rather remarkable, isn't it? To think that before God created the heaven and the earth, God knew all about you. God knew your name. God is in charge.

God is ruling and working his will according to his pleasure. And if you're one of his, he embraced you and loved you in the covenant of his grace. Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 and the 22nd verse, And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. And them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one, that the word may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. The Father loved the Son, and he loved those that he elected and gave to the Son, and he loved them before the foundation of the world.

So isn't that remarkable to consider? That if you're one that has come to faith in Jesus Christ, giving evidence that you belong to him, he loved you before he created the world. You may sometimes feel some of your friends don't pay the attention to you that you wish they did. You may feel a little lonely from time to time, but if the God of heaven thought about you, knew you, chose you, embraced you in his covenant before the world began, that's something that ought to bring you joy every day of life. In the most difficult of times, in the times of doubt and fear and trouble to come back and say, God loves me and has loved me from eternity and will always love me, that gives you the greatest and brightest hope that you could possibly have. Psalm 89 verse 29, His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the things that are gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. And so here is an acknowledgement that sometimes God's children go astray. If the children forsake the law, it doesn't give them an excuse and a right to do so, but the good news is, although he will visit their transgressions with the rod, nevertheless, he says, my lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. God's love is immutable. His covenant cannot be broken. Of course, that passage will not take time to read it.

We've read it several times recently, but it's such a marvelous portion to confirm what we're talking about. Romans 8 verses 35 to 39 telling us that no matter what may come, things present, things to come, height, depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is given us in Christ Jesus our Lord. You may sometimes look at the troubled conditions that exist in the world today. You may have apprehension and fear about what the future holds. I hear people often say, I just have concern about what my children or my grandchildren are going to face in their lifetime.

None of us know. There may be some terribly dark and troubled times ahead because the Scriptures do confirm that evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse. But the good news, the comfort that we have is that nothing, no matter what it is, no matter what kind of a war, no matter what kind of a terrible situation may exist on this earth, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is given us in Jesus Christ. Then we think about the manifestation of this love. It is certainly manifest in a beautiful fashion when we understand that God gave His Son to redeem us. Back where we took our text in 1 John chapter 4 after saying in the 8th verse, He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love. It then says Him, This was manifested, the love of God, toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The manifestation of His love. God loved and He displayed it by giving His Son.

Sending His Son Jesus Christ here to this earth. He was God and He was man. Jesus knew what He would encounter.

He knew what He would suffer. He knew that from the beginning, but He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Humbled Himself to the death of the cross because He was coming to be obedient to the Father and He was coming to accomplish that, the greatest work of all times. God gave His Son. It describes it this way in Romans 5, 8, But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That commends His love.

That's a manifestation of His love. While we were yet sinners, He died for us. Should we not be perpetually thankful for what He has done for us? Because of His substitutionary death, the sin question has been resolved and we can now have fellowship with God and anticipate that someday we will live in His presence and enjoy the bliss of heaven forever. And then His love is further manifest according to the fifth verse of Romans chapter 5, And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us. Not only did God love by sending His Son, but He loved by putting His love in our hearts.

The spiritual birth, being born again. There had to be a major transformation in that by nature we were going the wrong way. We loved sin and hated righteousness. We loved ourselves and we were enemies of God.

Something had to be done. The Holy Spirit of God moves upon us, quickening us, giving us life so that that change occurs. God shed abroad His love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. You can't take credit for that any more than you can take credit for any other part of salvation. Certainly the love of God is a wonderful theme. We stand amazed that He would love us as fallen rebellious sinners. But we know that it's through His grace, redemption that's given us and His Son Jesus Christ that we can be a part of His family.

I hope that you are right and let us know that you have listened. Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Until we greet you next time, this is LeSara Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story.

This is my song. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior all the day long.