God, The Greatest Lover of All - Part 1

Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, October 13 laboratory – unconditional statement as to understand how you can embrace what he offers and deliberated to love the greatest gift that God has overalls is the one that we probably have the most difficulty receiving because somehow we just have a hard time understanding what about talking about. I'm talking about God's love for us and I think the two primary reasons we have difficulty receiving number one we don't think we deserve it and we don't. And secondly, we don't understand and those two primary reasons we have a very difficult time receiving accepting God's love for us and so the reason I think we have difficulty is because we can't quite make his love harmonize with our love and so we will know we will be able to feel that God loves us the way we love others, then when we put it in that light. Somehow, if God loves us like we love others, then I'm not sure God will always love me the way the Bible says he does so what I want to talk about in this message I want to talk about God's love for us in the time of this message is God, the greatest lover of all and I want you turn if you will to first John chapter 4.

This book is full of love first job is revelation from the back June 3 second first John and I know that most of you know where it is. But every once in a while somebody doesn't know where these small epistles are first John chapter 4. So beginning in verse 16 he says I look at this and we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. We believe it we know it. God's love and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him by this, that is, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence of the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If someone says I love God, and hates his brother, he's a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from him. But the one who loves God should love his brother also now all of us are probably at different levels in our understanding of God's love or even being able to fail and that I should ask you this morning. How many of you genuinely believe God loves you more than likely most of you could raise your hand inside the but if I should send you how many of you as a way of life in your daily life. You feel God loving more than likely most of you probably would say well I know he does but to ask me if I feel like it.

Not exactly. And more than likely the reason you don't feel like it is because number one you don't think you deserve it. And so if you don't think you deserve it and why should you feel something you know you don't deserve it that you don't just think you don't deserve it. You know you don't deserve God's love and so therefore how the world could you think. So what I want to talk about of this message is God's love for us and I want to talk about 23 things.

Number one I will talk about what it's like, what is the love of God, like what was this love that God has frozen. Secondly, how does God express this love to you and me. Well, as I think about big the kind of love that God has for us. First of all, it is a gift in James chapter 1 that 17 verse you recall what he says in this passage, he says that every good and perfect gift is bestowed. It is a perfect gift. It comes from God the father from above, and he says there is no variation, no shifting shadow. That is whatever God gives us. It is in the shifting kind of thing isn't something it's changing God's love for you and me is a gift that is his caring for us his kindness toward us, his goodness told us all the aspects everything that is wrapped up about of the caring and the comfort and the security and the satisfaction and and and the meeting of needs all the things that are wrapped up in love.

God's love for you and me is a gift.

Therefore, it means since it is a gift.

I do not have to do anything to deserve once I began to deserve something there. What happens is I distort love is a gift you cannot pay for it when I say gift and has no fine print. It has no footnotes.

When God says he loves us. He loves this as a gift is something given that has absolutely nothing to do without deserve. Secondly, it is perfect is the only kind of love that God knows how to express. For example, God is the absolute perfection of everything.

Is that is it God is powerful is perfect power. God is beautiful is perfectly beautiful.

If God is all knowledgeable, it's perfect knowledge. Anything in every single attribute of God is absolutely perfect.

That is, it is it has reached the peak of its perfection. You cannot improve it to any degree. God's love for you and me is absolutely perfect and that's the only kind of love that God knows that you and I can't love and about a perfectly because will in the flesh, and we all have our desires and we are.

We all have our prejudices and and and we get covetous about things and whatever the flesh is the flesh deliver change.

We can't love anything anybody perfect God has nothing within him. Not a single solitary aspect of anything that would keep him from loving to perfection, and the only time you not going to be of the love like that as we get to heaven and we harder have the lefties all bodies behind and we have a glorified body, and there is absolutely no presence of sin. So will be no presence of any kind of prejudice on our part selfishness on our part are self-centered, then we can live with our whole heart, absolutely perfectly like God loves that's the way he loves his love is a gift. It is perfect love. Third is everlasting love. And I think about that I think about this passage in the Jeremiah chapter 31 he says in the third verse, the Lord appeared to him from afar say missing this, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have drawn you with loving kindness know what is at me to know that God loves me with an everlasting love means that there is nothing that can interfere with his love for me absolutely nothing. If it is everlasting. It is continuous if it is everlasting. It is uninterruptible that you and I can love someone in situations and circumstances. Our disagreements can crop up and we may not feel that love you space to love them or you may not feel at all. Some people can just quit love and someone but the one thing about God's love is this, you never have to worry about if God is going to stop loving you remember this if your idea about the love of God is that it is something you deserve, because of something you have done, are doing all will do, then you may question the pack will you know how exist unless that none of us will be loved by someone who only loves when we meet all the requirements are. When we please them in every aspect. Nobody can please everybody else. And in this world. Nobody can do that. But you see, if I see that God's love for me is based on anything but the fact is just his nature to love then I'm going to say what I know he loves me today on now, but listen when God says I love you.

There are no but snow and snow. If no wherefores of therefore, it is the nature of God to love. It is absolutely everlasting and eternal unceasing unchanging.

You recall, in the Romans chapter 8 what the apostle Paul says about that love. He says, verse 35 who shall separate us in the love of Christ shall tribulation the distress of persecution or famine or neck. It is a perilous sword. Then he says in all these things we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us. Then he says I'm convinced Paul says you will allow the center of the love of God. His will understand that neither death nor life, nor angels, principalities, things present, things to come-depth any other created things you'll ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Listen once God loves you, which is forever is that when they start before you ever born.

He started working on that improvement. Nothing.

What can I do to deter nothing. The love of God is the love of God. It is absolutely eternal and unchanging, has nothing to do with conversation character, conduct behavior, nothing will.

What I want you to see is the love of God comes from him.

It is not compromised since it is all from him. It is his very nature being poured out upon the UK do anything to stop it. Anything to change it and anything to interrupt. So does that make us what it means. It means that every day you and I walked under the canopy of the love of God, it doesn't make it a difference if you get out of the will of God over here and you living in sin and being disobedient to God.

You know what happens. Most people think are all canopies down the canopy is not down because, listen, you can put it up if you put it up by good work you got. Keep it up.

God is the one who put the canopy out there that is his love for you and me. It is making a difference you gone right wrong lamp brightness making a difference.

The love of God is the love of God. I want you to see the source of his love is God, not us under any condition it is in eternal and everlasting. Likewise, his love arises unconditional.

Now we said that oftentimes because most people it is human nature to believe that somehow there must be some conditions to the love of God, you mean to tell me that God cares for me, his kindness, his goodness is security is meeting monies that these there is no condition none. No condition was or what condition what condition could there be God loves you just the way you are. It doesn't make a difference. What's going on in your life. I didn't say that you would enjoy life because he loves you. I didn't say that God was going to overlook sin.

I didn't say that you can live video you want to, any and everything this be fun.

I said that God loves you no matter what because it is unconditional love is likewise a sacrificial love and it's interesting, and in first John, as we said before, every time the word is used in all that many times, every single time it is agape love sacrificial love John 316 is not for God so loved you in a brotherly fashion has affection for you, but God still loves you, sacrificially, that he gave his only begotten son, Jesus, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. God's love for you, me, as a sacrificial that is it costing some God saw humanity he saw you and me because he doesn't say people in mass he so you knows you by name, he saw you in your sinfulness and your helpless, hopeless, sinful condition and knowing that there was not be one thing in this world you can do to forgive yourself to make yourself acceptable in the eyes of God, and God decreed it had been any other way. He'd told us, and because of his nature and his justice is not a little of the justice in order to remain just and expresses love. He had to send somebody to pay the penalty for your sin in mind. That's what the cross is all about the cross is all about one word and that word is substitution, God the father substituted his son at the cross to pay for our sins in order that he could express his love to you and me is a sacrificial love.

So the sacrifice was in the guards at all on just going to love you and meet your needs. No is no sacrifice. The product got to meet our needs. Always got to speak every single thing you and I would ever need into my and it would have been done but to atone for our sin. God sacrificed his only begotten son, the listeners and I repeat this also again because I want you to understand God the father paid the greatest price possible for all mighty, omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent holy God could possibly pay for yours in my best to give his only begotten son is a sacrificial love and that's why my friend listen to me carefully. That's why if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ listen to me. If you reject the Lord Jesus Christ unaware that Christ Bisno given his Bible church business you to reject the greatest most profound active sacrificial love ever demonstrated to humanity and ever can possibly be demonstrated for you to reject that and then you wonder why you would die and be separated from God for eternity is in the God stop loving you is just that you have. Listen, you have broken the heart of God.

You have read G did the greatest expression possible for all mighty holy, all loving God to express to you and you turn your back upon the sin is the awful horrible sin of ingratitude, of rejecting the kind of love is a sacrificial love. That's the quality and that's the kind of love that he loves us with it is likewise an immeasurable love turn if you will to Ephesians chapter 3 in the 17th verse of Ephesians 3 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and the link and the high and the death and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge. How do you measure the love of God. The only way I even can come close to measuring. It is looking at the cross and I think in my heart that love is so deep it reaches all the way down to the depths of my heart is so broad that it reaches around the world is so high that it comes all the way from heaven. It is so long it can reach the longest point on this universe. No matter where it reaches out there is absolutely immeasurable. It knows no limitations. All of us have limitations of their love, whether we like it or not, we can't love with that in measure love that we can love all about hardens that you not do anything in this world for you. God is the only one who can say that and do it without the slightest bit of inhibition in any way, because nothing can stop God loving now something can stop my loving him and something can stop and hinder my ability in my capacity to enjoy and receive an experience that love but nothing can stop him loving is a love that is absolutely immeasurable and it is a love beyond our understanding. Listen back to Ephesians chapter 3 he says in verse 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to the fullness of God. Now to him who is able look at this to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within is that is God's love is immeasurable is inexhaustible is infinite, and because he has all power to do all things. His love knows no measure one last call that I mention the many others there's no way to exhaust the subject by far and that is it is available how available is God's law for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. Now to make it a little bit more personal. For God so loved you. He loves all of his individually. His love is such that it reaches everybody so therefore everyone, everyone lives under the canopy of that love.

There's no such thing as a solicitors there's no such thing as escaping the love of God.

You can find it, you can resist and some people do.

Some people do not have the capacity took to receive love vacate is what happens when people of whatever the situation may be. Maybe it's a home Negra van. Or maybe it's the circumstance. Or maybe they've been hurt somehow somehow there those people who who can't receive love the part of the barrier is what happens, the more you try to love them the ball. They back away. The sweeter you are to them, the more difficult they become and the more you give them and the more you try to express love is what happened they feel so uncomfortable with your expressing love. They will become even hostile before they will say yes to your love and then understand what's happening inside of but it's like they become angry when you try to love they resist of that can accept because of the one hand, sometimes their expression is one of you lovely you must be expecting me love you to turn or if you love me, you must be expecting something from me or I don't deserve to be love. I can't be love. Look at my life. How can anybody love me and they reject the love of God, the same way they reject someone else's love. Many people reject the love of God, because somehow they just how could God love me how how could he love me because he's love is even a person is distorted in their emotions that they can accept God's love. They can accept someone else's love because they can give you enough reasons that are at its absolute proof that they are undeserving of being love. You don't have to go through life feeling unloved and it's one thing to go through life feeling unloved by somebody but it is a tragedy to go through life feeling unloved by Almighty God, one always up there. I know he loves most books is not within the love they look at me, therefore, how could he love me that's not even the question not look at me. How could he love me but one look and hear how can he love me if I look at me and I say, how can he love me but if I look at him. Yes, I can say yes. He loves me because it is the nature of God to love thank you for listening to God the greatest (if you like to know more about Charles Stanley for intense ministry and had started enlarging this podcast is a presentation of intense ministry in Atlanta Georgia