The Love of God - Session 2 - Ron Matsen - Body Builders #2

[Music] [Music] you Laure were grateful that your word tells us that you not only know of us but Lord your thoughts to ward us who were before the foundation of the world we're grateful Lord that those thoughts even knowing all of our capacity to break your heart yet Lord your thoughts to ward us were that of good and not of evil we're grateful for your word and its instruction and we pray now by but that by the power of your Holy Spirit you would open your word to us and that we would know and understand and appreciate even deeper the love that you have for us Forte's in the name of your son Jesus Christ we ask this amen in our study last week we looked at this topic the love of God we begin by looking at what is this love and what love is this every major theistic religion in the world encourages its followers to love God and of course that's the whole basis of religious rituals are people expressing themselves and their adoration of God and really it becomes a duty through which we try to earn our way into a place of acceptance before God but Christianity alone tells its followers that God loves them that's a real unique aspect there are many things about Christianity which are unique but one of them certainly is the fact that as a believer in Jesus Christ we know that the Bible tells us that God loves us in last week's study we looked at 1 John chapter 3 and we really focused and unpacked the first part of the first verse of that chapter where John tells us behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God and so we really sort of soaked in the reality of the fact that God's love is something which he bestows upon and he bestows it upon us because we are unworthy of it he treats us and wants us to be before him as newborn babes totally and completely dependent upon him so that his love may be manifested towards us now as we go to session 2 in this session we're going to be looking at how do we know this love it's one thing for us to read in Scripture that God loves us but now let's really come down to the to discover and look at the facts of how does he describe that how does he love us you see we have a challenge before us when the world hears Christians speaking of the love of God they often ask well if God is a God of love then why is there suffering in the world have you ever experienced that you're trying to tell people about the love of God and they rightly come back to you and say well if God's a God of love why is there suffering in the world or why do innocent people suffer or how can he send anyone to hell or and you know just on and on and on questions that are legitimate questions concerning this topic of the love of God you see part of the problem that needs to be addressed here is not that God loves man but how does he show that love and that's where people who don't understand what the love of God is therefore they can't see the love of God in the world that surrounds them all they see is pain and suffering innocent suffering wrong being done and not righted and so from their perspective God seems to be an absentee landlord for people that he might send love letters to but there's nothing really there that is tangible to them to understand when we speak of the love of God show me how that's revealed the answer that we can give the world the answer is found in the antidote for man's greatest cause of suffering you see sin is man's greatest problem every evil in the world ultimately finds its source in man's sin every evil sickness death itself that began after the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and from that point the decay that we see in the world is a result not specifically my personal sin doesn't bring a hurricane on to you no on to a people where they suffer my personal sin doesn't bring about some terrible disease that causes an individual to suffer or die but the existence of sin in the world is why the world is is a suffering from a personal point of view though we do inflict injury by virtue of our sinful actions our sinful nature yes and the macro we're not directly responsible for that which was seed sown by our forefathers in that sense but sin does have its repercussion and so ultimately when we consider of the suffering that's in the world the suffering is there because of the sin of man not because of a lack on God's part and one of the ways to address people who say to you well if God is a God of love why does he allow such-and-such to happen it needs to be turned right around and put back to them that suffering is there because of the sin of man what we need to do is cure the root and you will fix the fruit and that's the issue that God focuses on when it concerns himself with the suffering of man now when we consider man kinds greatest problem we need to also recognize that man is his own worst enemy he does not by nature seek a solution for his greatest problem the Proverbs puts it this way proverbs chapter 8 verses 35 and 36 whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord but he who sins against me wrongs his own soul all those who hate me love death how succinct Solomon puts that truth if you are one that seek after God God will pour his favor upon you but if in your consistent and persistent rebellion you avoid the goodness of God you bring upon your head the natural result of your own sin let alone the fact that you live in a world which is full of sin and rotting because of sin decaying because of sin 1 John chapter 3 verse 4 says whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness now what is sin if man's greatest problem is sin what is sin in the society in which we live today most will struggle with that they do so because we live in a society which the predominant view of what sin is is affected by moral relativism in other words situational ethics what right to me might be wrong to you but just so long as I don't cause you any injury that's okay and thus we have people who are really not interested in trying to define what wrong is anymore in fact we live in a society where the word sin is rarely used with regards to the ill deeds that mankind get involved in for example people will often say oh I slipped you know it was an accident a mistake a mishap when in fact often that's a way of covering sin or they'll simply say well you know it's you need to understand it's a sickness it's it's a neurotic response that I have the fact that I lash out at you in this way or or or react in this way it's a sickness that I have or it's just who I am hey get used to it you know you don't like the way that that I act around you when you get in my face well hey that's who I am or you know you you moved into my territory and you threatened me and so you got my natural response so often people will redefine their error as something other than sin they're very careful not to even use that term well it was just a or you get that sense of sorry if I offended you you know how do you respond to those types of apologies right that's not even real repentance because all they're apologizing for is that you might have been offended it's something they did to injure you so the problem is not really there's the problem is yours man trying to redefine what is sin the word sin from the Greek is harm attea and harm attea literally means to miss the mark it is not something that is defined by the sinner it's defined by the law giver to miss the mark it is as though you were playing darts and someone drew a target on the wall and as you begin to throw the darts every time you were out of the bullseye it was a miss you miss the mark and that's the sense of what the Greek term means it's used 174 times in the New Testament and it's very concise to miss the mark well how do we know what the mark is well romans chapter 3 verses 19 and 20 tell us now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin so simply put man's greatest problem is his sin and that sin is defined not by the sinner but by God who was the lawgiver he is the one who describes what is right and what is wrong he is the creator we are the created we respond to the one who designed us therefore he knows how best to live our life for he designed us for a specific purpose and he's laid around us prohibitions and guidance to protect us in the same way if you were to design some mechanical device for use in your home and as you saw a particular purpose you put your creative energies to work and you designed this device and it had many parts which were created specifically for achieving that objective and then you decided you know this was working really good I'm going to go ahead and put this on the market but with this I need to provide some instructions first how to use it and secondly how to care for it well could you imagine someone who says well that's a pretty nice they see it in this job they pick it up they take it home and they immediately begin to abuse it and use it for that which it was not created then they want to send it back to you and say why did you create such junk what's wrong with you you're a lousy engineer you're a lousy designer we'll see the purpose of the law of God needs to be seen as God's prescription to us as our own as the owner manual and that's why when people finally come to an understanding that that's the purpose of it oh how much easier that makes things those of you that have ever assembled something you know you get that assembly manual that comes with the device and and you get it out you know and I'm one of those that feel like I'm pretty intuitive and and I sort of get into it and and then find well this doesn't fit together quite right they made this wrong and and I'm missing some parts here and and pretty soon you know my wife will say to me let's read the instructions and you go back ah I see so that wasn't a piece of junk that I threw away I've got to dig through the bin to try to get that piece and let's put that back together and I see oh this goes on the top not on the bottom or whatever I have assembled and unassembled and reassembled many things because of that but how much more complex are we there for sin is not a method by which God can condemn man that's part of the problem man does not want to identify sin because he sees that sin as lawlessness and he associates lawlessness with the laws of man rather than the laws of God now there are some laws of man which are good and helpful but there are some of those times where you come across some laws and you think lashes ridiculous some politician has just gone wild here and you want to rebel against that law but when we are dealing with the laws of God we're dealing with the creator of the universe who created you as a specific peculiar creation like none other in the whole universe and therefore he has laid down for us not only who we are but our maintenance and care and when we begin to understand the law as that then we don't see it as a list of prohibitions but rather guidance and prescription which should lead us into a better way to live in this fallen world and so the purpose of the law is to show us what we have missed the purpose of the law is to show all mankind is dilemma so that all mankind will seek a deliverer you see when you recognize the laws there to show us that we can't keep it and that we understand that by not keeping the whole law we are or keeping at keeping all the law less one thing we're guilty of breaking all of it when we understand the result of that then is when we're going to cry out and look for a savior we're going to look for a deliverer Romans chapter seven begins this way in verse 18 Paul so eloquently presents the dilemma of man in verse 18 we began for I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells for to will is present with me but how to perform what is good I do not find for the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil I will not to do that I practice now if I do what I will not to do it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me I find then a law that evil is present with me the one who wills to do good for I delight in the law of God according to the inner man but I see another law in my members warring against the law in my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members o wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death you see in those few verses of chapter 7 Paul quite eloquently describes what happens when a you recognize that God is a lawgiver and that man is a law breaker and that that means that the judgment of man is justifiable and no amount of intestinal fortitude no amount of willpower will keep you consistently in a place of moral perfection there will be that you stumble across and stumble on no matter how hard you try in your own flesh and so at the end of chapter 7 of the book of Romans Paul is is revealing really the struggle that all of us find ourselves in saying I want to do better but the will to do is there but the capability is not there you see when man sees that his greatest problem is found in his own sin then man will see God's greatest solution is found in God's only son you will not see the importance of the salvation that's available through Jesus Christ until you come to terms with the fact that you are a sinner we don't solicit people into the kingdom like salesmen you know tell them all the benefits but try to hide anything that might turn them off you know the don't have you ever experienced you know a door-to-door salesman I don't know we get many of them out here in the country but but that sense of someone coming to the door and and they'll tell you whatever they think you want to hear in order to gain your confidence and so often people turn in evangelism using those types of techniques that's not the way of biblical evangelism and that's certainly not presenting the gospel we have another series called the Gospel where in two sessions we go into a lot of detail about what we should say to the person who says what must I do to be saved and the Bible is very clear on that issue but here man's greatest problem is his own sin and he needs to see that his own solution resides in the one who is the law Giver now first of all we need to appreciate that when we look at God's solution for man's sin that that solution is through the person of Jesus Christ but that Christ was sent by the father we're familiar with probably the most famous verse in the New Testament John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life you do realize that the prime mover in your salvation is the father it is the father who sends forth the son we sometimes narrow focus our view of the act of salvation as though it is Christ alone who's involved in that the father sends him and he goes and takes upon himself the sins of the world but it is the father who loves the world you see that yet again it is the love of God that compels the father to send the son and that is why verse 5 of 1 John chapter 3 we can see Christ now is our Redeemer and you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him there is no sin as we begin our series in session 1 we looked very close in the first few verses of 1 John chapter 3 you're going to find as you read the whole of the First Epistle of John John's focus will be on bringing all who read into a better understanding of God's love for them because he understands that the more that you comprehend that the more it will produce within you a burning desire to seek after God's best in your life one of the problems I believe in the church today is you have many many many people who are in churches asleep in their salvation oh yeah I mean I'm in Christ now I'm safe let's go to sleep and they live unvectorized when in fact John when you read the whole of the First Epistle of John you recognize that it's really a call to action and so Christ is our Redeemer because the Father sending to me so all of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross was according to God's plan Galatians chapter 4 beginning in verse 4 but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons notice Paul here using the same type of conclusion that John used in 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God this adoption assigns the whole idea of us being brought into the family of God part of the problem I think that people have when they consider the offer of salvation that Christianity presents to the world is they compared it to other offers made by other religions no other religion offers the ability to be a co inheritor with God himself yes to adore him or their the deity that they worship yes to recognize his greatness perhaps in some place of eternal servitude or unity of some sort but when the Bible reveals not only the love of God but the purpose of that love of God bringing you unto himself he's bringing you into an everlasting relationship as a family member one who will inherit according to the purposes of God now when John the Baptist introduced Jesus John John's Gospel chapter 1 verse 29 the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world what an amazing statement you know what's interesting about this declaration of John is to recognize that he makes this declaration to a nation who understood the day of atonement but the day of atonement the nation of Israel don't offer a lamb they offer a goat in fact for the nation of Israel concerning their national sin they never offer a lamb for their national sin so what is he referring to here he's referring to Genesis chapter 22 in Genesis chapter 22 Abraham takes his son Isaac up to the top of Mount Moriah yeah and as Isaac is going with him Isaac begins to say dad I see the wood I see the fire where's the sacrifice you know the story and Abraham prophesized at that point and says God will provide himself a lamb now you remember what happens he then goes up they build the altar they lay the wood out on it Isaac gets on the altar this wasn't a struggle he was obedient to the command of the Father and as the knife is raised the angel the Lord stops him and makes him noticed that there is not a lamb in the thicket but a ram you see that is predicting what would take place by the father with the son on that same Mount Moriah that's the only place the Lamb of God is sacrificed it wasn't sacrificed by Abraham as a replacement for Isaac that was a ram it's not sacrifice for the nation of Israel yes there are sacrifices of lamb for individual sins but in terms of the Day of Atonement that which is for the sins of the nation that is a goat now John the Baptist makes this introduction of Jesus behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world how did he do it what does the death of one man mean how can that possibly be an appropriate exchange for the cost of the sin of man well 2 Corinthians chapter 5 tells us he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him there was an exchange that took place there was a balancing act in the sense that the debt of your sin was placed upon the shoulders of Christ and the righteousness of Christ was then put in the place of our debt that exchange took place because this exchange between the father and the son he made him who the father made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us that's important for us to get that idea Colossians chapter 2 verse 13 and 14 and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh he has made alive together with him having forgiven you all trespasses having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us and he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross so the father put upon the son the guilt of us all and the son took that guilt because he was nailed to the cross and that became the mechanism by which the father who is both just and merciful you see that's a problem in our judicial system today if you have a judge who is merciful he cannot be just because if you've broken the law and you go in and you tell him some shaggy-dog story you know you got to understand yes I did break the law but such and such and such because okay I know you broke the law but I'm gonna let you off this time he would not be just he would be unjust but if you went in and he said all these extenuating circumstances and son he'd say but you broke the law sorry do the crime pay the time that would be just but he wouldn't be merciful God is able to be both just and merciful because his mercy is shown in the fact that he is going to pass over our sin he is just in that our sin is not simply winked at but it's dealt with in the death of Jesus Christ when we consider the sacrifice of the son what we are dealing with here fundamentally is the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ it's not just simply that one man in one place in the history of man suffered a cruel death it was literally the exchange that took place the substitutionary death of Christ is what's at play here you know this is a common reference but a very complex reality the exchange that takes place as Christ is stay is standing in our stead for the whole of mankind it's incredibly a complex what really takes place in this exchange you see he reminds his captors that his life was not forcibly taken it was freely given John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18 therefore My Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again no one takes it from me but I lay it down of myself I have the power to I have the power to take it again this command I have received from my father there are so many mysteries associated with the sacrificial work of Christ upon the cross this statement that he makes before Pilate is amazing palaces don't you know I have the capacity to to set you free Jesus cuz you have no capacity at all except that I give it to you how astonished was he he's a representative of the most powerful nation in the world at that time and yet Jesus says look I'm doing this because my father loves me and I love my father we have a deal here and what's important for us to recognize that deal was struck before the foundation of the world the son knew what he needed to do for that mankind that they were yet to create he already knew what needed to take place you see when we consider the cross of Christ it is one of those topics which many in the media and many through mystical means have misrepresented it what's important for us to understand is that there were many that suffered crucifixion at the hands of the Romans you know there was a popular movie here a number of years ago that sort of really tried to capture the crucifixion really and it was brutal it really was sort of 60 minutes of just brutality and to my surprise lots of Christians really liked it I didn't I didn't for lots of good reasons one is what took place before you was a Hollywood example of something they have no personal knowledge of and number two there were thousands of people that were crucified in that manner historians at this time tell us that's what they did to anyone that they wanted to humiliate plucking the beard beating nails in that in the and the in the wrists and and in the feet scourging that the beatings that's how the Romans were able to subdue the world was through fear you see when we consider the suffering of Christ the reason why I don't like Hollywood trying to represent that because it I believe it represents the wrong thing that's important for us to gas grass beer you see in our greatest imagination of horror the Hollywood depiction of Roman crucifixion sits right at the top of one of the most horrible ways you could possibly be treated and yet when we study what the Bible has to say there was a type of suffering that Christ suffered which was far greater than anything that can ever be represented by physical pain Paul and rain to the Corinthians in chapter 15 is first Corinthian epistle beginning in verse 54 says this so when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory Oh death where is your sting o Hades where is your victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is in the law now when you understand the real dilemma of man is his sin and that sin is lawlessness breaking the laws of God that if man Stan without the covering work of Christ's atonement at the cross man would face this sting of death interesting term that's being used here by the Apostle Paul the sting of death see we look at the the the shock and awe of physical crucifixion and and we're we're stunned by that and and and our senses are just driven into into excess and and we can we can hardly cope with what that might be like to suffer in that manner and yet when did Christ cry out during his passion when they plucked his beard when they beat his back when they scourge Tim no no none of these things when they pierced his hands not a sound so what's the sting of death then it was when the sins of the world were placed upon him he experienced a depth of suffering which the physical pain could not even come close to you see in Matthew chapter 27 were given some insight into those final hours upon the cross beginning in verse 45 Matthew writes now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness all over the land and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lama sabachthani that is my God my God why have you forsaken me throughout the entire earthly Ministry of Jesus Christ any recorded statement of Christ concerning the father was that of a relationship he referred to him as my Heavenly Father or the father or father throughout his earthly ministry here and here only he does not address God as father but now is God why because as he is taking upon himself the sins of the world he's experiencing something that Paul calls the sting of death see when we think of a sting you know perhaps in our mind we can get this this idea of a mosquito bite or a worse than that you know maybe the sting of a bee or something but I think Paul in his Corinthian epistle is using a term which because it is so difficult for us to understand he just uses something as a total package the sting of death and that sting of death was the only pain that caused Christ to cry out during the crucifixion what was the ultimate cost of Calvary some have proposed that perhaps it was his divine humiliation in eternity past in unity with the Father now he is being bathed weighted down with the sin of man Philippians chapter 2 verse 8 Paul writes and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross some have wondered that perhaps it was just a type of humiliation that the son knew that he needed to end or one that he really didn't desire but knew he needed to endure it but some of proposed that in this exchange for the salvation of man Jesus Christ would experience some type of permanent loss of some aspect of his being I I know a number of very well-known teachers who suggest this view and I personally would have to agree I sort of buy into this representation of the suffering of Christ it was some permanent loss I don't know what a number of years ago my third eldest son John was getting married and he invited me along with all of his mates to go out on a his stag do and we went out to this paintball course and so I thought great invite the old man it's good you know and I always with my four sons you know like to be able to go out and I was impressed and pleased that he was willing to have me come along and so we go out and I don't know if you know much about this but it's just a bunch of grown men running around with with face masks on and and these things that look like guns but they're called markers can you shoot paintballs at each other and if you get hit by a paintball you're dead for that game I mean it's silly I know but nonetheless and and the idea is you're pitted against two teams and you you you have a particular objective you're trying to achieve and and in this particular and these the games last for anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes or so and then and then one team wins or loses and and then you go to another part of the field and in this particular one there was they had like an old western fort you've seen those western movies with the the wood around the side and and there was a one gate and there was a flag in the middle and and and the opposing team were inside of the fort and and my son's team when I was on we were supposed to rush in and take the flag and get out and so they were all in defense and we were on offense well as John took everyone else and began to go around the side of the for it I'd made this plan I said look what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take two guys with me and we're gonna crawl up through the grass and I'll get right up to the gate and the idea will be that I will run in and everyone will see me and just shoot me and and I'll take and it hurts by the way it's not just pain it does hurt but I thought you know to win a game it's worth it right so so I said we'll I'll run in and then while they're focused on me then number two you run after me and then if you get shot number three and so we'll just create a blur of people running in and certainly as we run through somebody will get free so we crawled through the grass and we got up to the edge and ever the plan looked like it was going well and so I ran in and of course pop-pop-pop-pop but I'm getting shot by everybody and all of a sudden I fell to the ground because I had snapped my Achilles tendon hmm so I stood up didn't really know what had happened to me but I couldn't walk it took me a week I was too stubborn it took me a week to finally have a doctor do something about it I thought it was a sprained ankle it didn't feel like a sprained ankle but nonetheless I went in and sure I had snapped my Achilles tendon I spent more than three months in a cast and it took me over a year to learn how to walk again you see life when you make decisions doesn't have reset buttons when Christ is there in the garden and he is crying out to the Father I wish I could hit and reach the reset button I was never the same after that up until that point I could still outrun most of my kids I know you don't believe it but it's true now I can hardly run at all I decided I would sacrifice myself but had I known the cost of that sacrifice I would have said okay this is a great plan you young guys you go in I'm the general I'm gonna stand outside you know but what Christ is doing here is not something that's just a humiliation I believe it's something that is is much more telling than that we get insight from the dr. Luke chapter 22 beginning in verse 41 and when he had withdrawn from them about a stone's throw he knelt down and prayed saying father if it is your will take this cup away from me nevertheless not my will but yours be done then an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him and being in agony he prayed more earnestly then he sweat then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground there is more stress going on in the Garden of Gethsemane than there was on the cross of Calvary concerning Christ I'm not saying he physically didn't experience physical trauma don't get me wrong it was horrible you want to you know shock yourself sometime read some of the medical reports that have been done on just the crucifixion itself that the Romans would carry out horrific but Luke gives us insight here into something that was even more troubling Christ knew that something was going to take place there in exchange the sting of death he was going to experience it for us all now how did this exchange take place how did Christ do it we know what the father did he sent his son but how did Christ do it Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 we begin there but Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal Redemption you see the right of the hebrews here is making reference to the day of atonement when the nation of Israel were carrying out in anticipation by type and shadow of what Christ would do on the cross of Calvary they would take two goats the high priest would cast a lot and then he would take one of the goats and he would sacrifice it he would take the blood of that goat and go into the Holy of Holies placing it on the mercy seat the place of redemption he would do that one time of year then he would come out take more of the blood of the escape of the of the Lord's goat and he would sprinkle it on the scapegoat that's where that term comes from and they would take that goat and the priests would lead it out into the wilderness to be banished because the type and shadow there is not only would there be death but there would be separation there would be some loss so in type and shadow they are laying out for us the fact that in the cross of Christ as God is paying for the sin of man through the exchange of Christ on the cross there is some permanent exchange that takes place to redeem us unto himself Hebrews chapter 12 therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Father notice notice why he did it we know how he did it and what he did he became a high priest and offered his own blood why did he do it he did it for the joy that was set before him what joy what joy what was the motivating force behind Jesus Christ enduring the cross despising the shame and having now sat down at the right hand of the throne of God it was the knowledge that that was the only way for man to be saved that's why he says to the Father if there is any other way let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done he knew there was no other way that's why it is such an insult for us to think that we can gain access or better access to God through our own endeavors you're insulting the completed work of Christ by doing that what does this sacrifice show us 1 John chapter 4 verse 9 in this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins when people say to me if God is a God of love why does he allow such-and-such to happen rather than trying to defend or answer their questions based on a failed understanding of what God's love is I find it much better to just redefined well let's define what love is first love is not simply giving someone everything they want that is not love those of you that have raised children understand that in fact if you raise your child and give them everything they ask for you will be an unloving parent because you will not teach them as they should be taught the love of God is manifested in the cross of Christ that's how he shows us his love when it says the love of God may it keep you in and and and sustain you and it's used throughout so many of the Pauline epistles especially what the love of God should produce in you the love of God that's being referred to there is the love of God that was first and foremost expressed in the cross of Christ he's a loving father but his greatest act of love was in sending his son and his sons love toward you was he saw you in the Garden of Gethsemane he saw you as the prize that he was going for John uses this turn propitiation now that's a word that we rarely use in the English language today it means atonement 1 John chapter 2 verses 1 & 2 my little children these things I write to you so that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world boy that verse a little side tangent there that verse should knock into the head this doctrine of limited atonement that the work of Christ was only in anticipation of those who would accept Christ as Savior not so this and many other verses make that very clear but the substance I want to focus on here is that he himself is our atonement our propitiation the payment in full for our sins there is no other payment that is necessary we can't merit the gift of God this manifestation of love God's love points to the cross of Christ Romans chapter 5 beginning in verse 6 for when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly for scarcely a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life and not only that but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received the reconciliation when God is manifesting his love toward us first foremost preeminent in every circumstance is the cross of Christ you see we can experience in our life times when we might question God's love we might experience a tragedy we might have something that is not only unexpected but undesired we might like a spoiled child say God have you really loved me you wouldn't let this happen those of you that have raised children perhaps you've heard your child say that to you you know that sense of if you really loved me you'd give me what I want and what is our response is a loving parent I do love you and I'm giving you what you need so too as the father reveals his love he does it through the son who showed us that love in the cross of Christ now what does this love producing you it's lovely to be the recipients of God's love isn't it when you really begin to understand the height the breadth the width the depth of God's love concerning ASUS as Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 8 when you when you really start to comprehend that it's mind-blowing but what is that produce in you beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another that's what it should should produce in us that's the byproduct that should naturally be in our life because of the love of the father that he has for us let's close with prayer Lord we're thankful that you do love us and that Lord it's not as the world loves Lord you laid down your life for each and every one of us Lord you knew from before time began what was necessary to bring those who by virtue of giving us choice knowing that with that choice we would choose to rebell yet your love endured to draw us not when we were good but we were in the depths of sin unto yourself so that we might be cleansed not by our own righteous acts but by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ words in his name [Music]

Channel: Koinonia House

Views: 14,721

Rating: 4.890244 out of 5

Keywords: the, acts, of, holy, spirit, apostles, jesus, christ, chuck, missler, koinonia, house, khouse, institute

Id: 88Hrvhu7HzA

Length: 60min 25sec (3625 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 07 2017