Here in the book of Romans chapter
5, Romans chapter 5, let me read the first five or six verses here
of this fifth chapter. The writer is Paul the Apostle. He says, Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation works patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. We mentioned
hope this morning. A man without Christ has no hope. has no God, and he has no Savior. And hope maketh not ashamed. Hope, a good hope, is a gift
of God. Hope exceeds from the knowledge
of who God is. God is love. Hope maketh not ashamed because
of the love of God." The love of God. Paul somewhere told those Ephesians,
brethren, about comprehending the love
of God, do you remember? that they might comprehend. I thought it was in the book
of Ephesians. Maybe it's not. Anyhow, getting back to this
fifth verse. Hope maketh not ashamed because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
which is given unto us. And Paul to the Ephesians said
that he prayed for them that they might be able to comprehend
the love of God, the height and the depth and the length and
the breadth of the love of God. What? Ephesians 3.18. I'll read it then again. 3 and 18. Well, you can see here
he's talking to the Church of God and the Church of the Ephesians,
and he said, you might be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height,
and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God." Praise for them that they might
come to that knowledge and understanding. of the greatness of the love
of God, the mystery of the love of God, the height, breadth,
depth, length of the love of God. And then over here in 1
Corinthians chapter 13, he calls this love that he speaks of in
Romans, he calls it He says in verse 8, He says,
A charity never faileth. And in verse 13, He says, Now
abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three. But the greatest
of these is charity. That's the love of God. And back
over here in Romans again, chapter 5 and verse 5, He said, And hope
maketh not ashamed. Of course, a man's got to have
Christ as his hope if he's got a good hope, and so it's without
being mistaken, he's talking about a believer who has Christ
and he has a good hope. And the reason he has a good
hope is because the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by
the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. Now, there is a love which God has
as the God of nature. That is there in the first part
of the book of Genesis. It says that God finished His
work, and He looked upon that which He did on His creation,
and He said it was very good. So God does bear a love to creation, and it is certainly the work
of His own hand. because he said it's very good.
Whatever God does is good. But the love of God that we're
talking about here, this aspect of the love of God, as the writer
says here, is shed abroad in our hearts, in the hearts of
the believer. This love far exceeds, as heaven
exceeds the earth. There's that much difference
between love of God that he bears to his creation and the love
of God which is shed abroad in the heart of the believer. And
now abideth faith, hope, and charity, but the greatest of
these three is the love of God. So the love of God, no wonder
he calls it a mystery. No wonder Paul prays for the
Ephesians that they might comprehend it. They might know the length
and the breadth and so forth of it. All they ought to know
about it, the love of God. It is the love of God that motivates
us. It is the love of God that winds
up as our strength, our hope, and everything we need as a believer. So we ought to know as much about
it as we possibly can. But this love that is shed abroad
in the heart of the believer, God's love, as a covenant God,
by the way, It is the love of each of the glorious persons
of the Trinity. It is the love of the Father,
the love of the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit. And
it was fixed on his people without any reason. There was no reason assigned
to it as to why the love of God is fixed upon a certain people. that he fixed it upon in eternity
past. Fixed his love upon a certain
people, but he did give no reason why, no reason assigned to it
except as according to his good pleasure.
It was because he wanted to. Only his sovereign pleasure,
Now you can't get beyond that. It was not because these people
that he loved before time ever was. It was not because they
was more lovely than the others. He viewed the whole scope of
the human race yet unborn. knowing all things. He viewed
them all and he elected or selected or chose or fixed his eyes upon
this one and this one and that one and that one. Not because,
not because they were more lovely than the others. Not because
of something that he possibly could foresee in them. The only
reason why he fixed his love upon them was according to his
good pleasure. He would do it because he would
do it, not because of anything in them. And those that he set
apart and sanctified, put in Christ, chose in Christ. Now,
those people considered as sinners, sinners of the deepest sky, now,
considered as sinners, had God never loved us until we turned
our hearts toward him or turned our hearts to love him, or till he had seen some purity
or some beauty in us, he never would have loved us at all because
there never was anything in us then or even now that would cause
God to pity us and have mercy. because it pleased him to do
so. God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
the blessed Trinity, shares equally with that love as it is given
to us. God loved us because he would,
and that is the only reason that he assigns to us. And this love
of God is bound by his own sovereignty. We can't get beyond his sovereignty,
not an inch, not a hair's breadth beyond the sovereignty of God
as to reason, as to reason why. An older lady told me one time,
that there was not one redeeming quality in any of us that would
cause God to look in our direction. Not one speck of redeeming quality. And that opened my eyes to this
business of sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, and according
to God's good pleasure. not one redeeming quality, not
one good thing in you that would turn God's eyes in your direction
or my direction. He is bounded by his own sovereignty. And I've already mentioned here
that when Paul, as he enters into this solemn majesty of the
love of God, he stands amazed before these Ephesian people,
and he prays that they might be able to comprehend the love
of God, the height and depth and length and breadth. But neither
angels or men can sound the depth, get to the bottom of it. Not
even the angels of God can get to the bottom of the love of
God. They cannot measure the length
of it, and neither can you and I. In the depth of the love of
God, someone said one time and wrote it down, that it is deeper
than our miseries. It is deeper than our sins, this
love of God. It is deeper than all of our
woes. And it is from everlasting to
everlasting. And it reaches through all the
avenues of time and even goes beyond the love of God. Paul calls it in I Corinthians. It is underneath the individual
in whom God shed his love abroad in their hearts. It is underneath
him, it is above him, it is behind him, and it is before them, the
love of God. In short, they are hymned in. on every hand with this love. No wonder, Paul says here, because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We talk about
the Father's love, we talk about the love of the Son, but few
times we talk about the love of the Holy Spirit. But in this
passage here, it indicates beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the
Trinity of God, the persons of the Trinity, which are equal
and always in perfect unity, that the love of God, we have
the love of God the Father, we have the love of God the Son,
and we have the love of the Holy Spirit. No wonder he says you
can't comprehend it, you can't get to the end of it, to the
bottom of it, you can't tell how wide it is. The love of God
is shed abroad in the heart of every believer, the weakest believer,
the weakest. That one that says, Lord, I believe,
help thou my unbelief, that umbrella of love, that onrushing stream,
never-ending stream of the love of God, he is baptized in it, no end to it. Well, what induced
God to shed this love of God in the heart of a believer? What
prompted him? Why did he do this? What induced
the Father to give his only Son to you and I who were dead in
trespass and sin? who, as I've said, had not one
redeeming quality in him or about him pertaining to him that would
give God some joy. Was there anything? What was
the reason? Why did he do this? It was because
of his love. That's the only reason he was
given, is because he would, because he loved us. Not that we deserved
it, we didn't merit it, with black as the darkness of hell? No reason whatsoever in us. The
reason is always consigned or assigned to God himself. He would because he wanted to. What induced God to send the
Lord Jesus Christ and cause him to stoop, to come down to this
lower world, this earth? and take upon himself our nature
apart from sin, to take upon himself our humanity, to suffer
and to bleed and to die for us. What induced God to do that? It's the love of God, this love
of God that cannot be extinguished, it cannot be quenched. There's nothing internal, external
that can quench this love of God that's shed abroad in the
hearts of His people. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us, this
love. Oh, what induced the Lord Jesus
Christ to lay aside His glory or clothe His glory with His
humanity and leave the riches of his father's house and come
down here and be a man, take upon himself our nature and to
be rejected and despised of man. Why? Out of love for us. Loved us. God loved us. Loves us still and never will
cease to love us. Isn't that an amazing thing when
there is not one good thing about it? not anything that you could
think of that would entice God to look in our direction. Love,
this love, binds his people to his heart and will not let him
go. Love him in our miseries, we
love him. He loves his people the same
now as he did when he was upon this earth. There was no change. Talk about God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son. That same love is effective
now as it was then. It hasn't changed. It's still,
you can't fathom it. You can't tell how deep it is. It's just insurmountable, this
love of God. It's like a mountain that can't
be moved. It ever flows from the heart
of God to Himself. his people when they are weak,
encourages his people when they are downtrodden. When they are
sick, he comes to their bedside. This love, God loves us, never
ceases to love us. He loves his people the same
now as he did when he appeared here on this earth. That despised
Nazarene, that wine-dribber, they called him, He sympathizes
with all their heartaches and all their temptations, knows
all about them, first to last, from top to bottom. What can
you say tonight here after these things that I've read to you
here from the Scriptures about the love of God being shared
abroad in my heart? Can you say, I believe? I believe that he shed his love
abroad in my heart. He hath clothed me with the garment
of his salvation, and covered me with the robe of his righteousness,
and has wrapped me up in the righteousness of his Son. Can
you say that in your heart here this evening? Well, I'll tell
you this. I believe most of you can. I
believe most of you can say, This is what He done for me.
He saved my soul. He has forgiven me of all of
my sins. He has cast them behind His back. Henceforth shall never remember
them against me no more. Oh, yes, I've tasted the love
of God. I found out that He's gracious. He's sweet and He's wonderful.
Listen. the love of God, heaven itself
has no more or no better to give than the love of God. There's
nothing better. You have the best that there
is. If you be a believer, if you
have come to Him empty-handed and trusted Him as your Redeemer,
your sanctification, your wisdom, your righteousness, He's your
all in all. If you've come to Him and He
saved your soul, not because you deserve to be saved, not
because he's seen anything in you that he liked and said, well,
I'll do something for this fella. He did it out of sovereign mercy
and sovereign love, and this is the best that heaven can give. I'm talking about God. I'm talking
about Him. who is full of wealth and riches
and honor and glory and mercy, and this is the best that God
can give, is His love. Why would a man spurn this love? If a woman loved you, or a man
loved a woman like God loves us, my, so wouldn't that be something? Well, that illustration of man's
love to his wife and his wife's love beggars the truth. That
doesn't even get up the first rung of the ladder. Heaven gives its very best. It can't give no more than the
love of Almighty God. Oh, it's a great thing to see.
A father loves his children, a mother loves their children,
that they'll sacrifice for them, and do for them, and do without
for them, and all these things that mothers and fathers do for
their children. But that's nothing, that's nothing
compared to what I'm talking about, the love of God being
shed abroad in your heart, saving your soul forever, keeping you
safe throughout throughout the time you're here on earth and
through eternity, which is no end, no end to eternity, no stopping
place, no falling off. Oh, the love of God. Listen. He has no better to give. Why? Because it's perfect. Perfect. It's perfect love. There's no There is no offset
in His love. There is no blemish whatsoever.
He said there is no spot. He talks about the believer.
He said there is no spot in Him. No spot, no blemish, no flaw,
a perfect love. I have loved Him with a perfect,
I have loved Him with an everlasting love, an everlasting kindness,
no end. I see no spot in him. Faith,
the faith of God's elect, when they become conscious of what
God's done for them in Christ, this love being shed abroad in
their hearts, they say, I see no spot in me, because there's
no spot in him. Perfect love has brought this
about. Oh, there's no spot, and he beholds
a blessedness in the righteousness of the Son of God that the Lord
Jesus Christ wrought while he was here on earth and freely
imputed it to those that the love of God has been shed abroad
in their hearts. Ah, this love of God is more
desired than all this world. This love is shed abroad in the
heart as God's gift to us. God's gift. He loved us. He loved us. While we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us, loved us. God's gift, He gave
it to us, didn't pay it to us, gave it to us freely. He's given us the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful gift that is! Christ in you, the hope of glory. He has given Himself. to save
us, to protect us, to guide us, and to do all in us and for us. That is what God has required
of us. He has made us holy and righteous
in him. He has forgiven us our sins.
He suffered, was rejected and suffered and died and bled and
rose and went to heaven and there he lives standing for us. and standing for us and pleading
for us and being our advocate and our lawyer and showing His
hands and His wounds and begging for us. My soul, the love of
God which is shed abroad in our heart. Let me read it again now.
And hope maketh not ashamed. You've got that good hope. If
you don't have Christ, you have no hope. You've got a false hope.
You have hope, but it's a false hope. This is the good hope I'm
talking about. This is the hope we'll see you
through, through the foul weather and the howling storms that lies
ahead. This hope we'll see you through. It maketh not a shame because
the love of God is that shed that just reminds me of a waterfall,
this waterfall. Blackwater Falls, Niagara Falls,
the water gushing, running down, it shedding through the rocks
and forms an insurmountable river below. The love of God, there's
no depth and length and measurements to it. It's a mystery, it's a
mystery how God could love us and send the Lord Jesus Christ
to die. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, which
is given unto us. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, God's love sent the Lord Jesus Christ to
die for whom? The ungodly. For scarcely for
a righteous man will one die Yet, peradventure for a good
man, some would even dare to die. But God commended His love
to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath, the wrath of an angry
God. We'll be saved from that wrath.
How? Through Him, because of the love
of God. For if when we were enemies of
God, We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much
more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. You can't
get it any better than that. There won't be no better than
that, the love of God. Well, let's quit there with that
thought in mind.