Romans 5 verse 5 says, Hope maketh
not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. or scarcely for a righteous man
will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Listen to one of my favorite
poems, one of my favorite songs here. 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 wandering child is reconciled
by God's beloved Son. The aching soul again made whole. and priceless pardon one. Oh,
love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong. It
shall forevermore endure the saints' and angels' song. Could
we with ink the ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment
made, were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe
by trade, to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean
dry. Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how
rich and pure, how measureless and strong, it shall forevermore
endure the saints' and angels' songs. Every now and then, I
believe the Lord allows me to really get a hold of something
and think on it and dwell on it. And I believe he did that
this week. And that something was the love
of God, the love of God. The love that has come to us
from God. Verse 8 says God commended his
love. To us. And tonight I just want
to dwell on that for a second. Tonight is not about our love. Alright, I'm going to take our
love off the table. Tonight is all about his love. Now we love him. We do. We have been caused to we have
been made willing to. And we do, we sincerely do, but
it's only because he first loved us. Our love for him is only the
result of his love for us, so let's just take a minute tonight
and see what the scripture has to say about his love God's.
Love, the love of God. And I want us to enter into two
things first. Number one is the greatness of
it. Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, verse 4, it says, But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us. You know why God
is rich in mercy? It's because of his great love,
wherewith he loved us. That word great deserves a pause. Sometimes we just pass over.
words in the scripture, it deserves a ponder. His great love, great
in the extent of it. He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Do we ever get tired of hearing
that and realizing that I've loved you forever? Great in the amount of it, great
in the extent of it, great in the amount of it. Look at Ephesians
3 verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God." The poem said, the love of God is greater
far than tongue or pen can ever tell. How could we possibly perceive
the love of God, the length of it? The length of the faithfulness
of it. The width of the dispersing of
it. Just think about how God has
dispersed his love. The depth of the compassion and
the mercy of it. The depths of mercy. The height
of the glory of it. Paul said, to know the love of
Christ, it passes knowledge. It passes whatever knowledge
we have concerning love. Oh, the greatness of God's love.
God's love is great, but God's love is conditional. You know
that God's love is conditional. Before we go any farther, let's
acknowledge the condition of God's love. Look with me at Romans
8. Romans 8 verse 38, it says, For
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the condition. All of
it is in Christ. It's not in the law. It's in Christ. It's not in being
American. It's not in being American. So
many people think that just because they are American, so many people
believe that just because they live in this country, they live
in God's love. God's love is not in America.
God's love is in Jesus Christ. And that's what our text told
us back in Romans 5. Go with me back over there. Romans
5. Verse 1 says, Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. There is the condition. Everything
that we have from God and with God, we have it through our Lord
Jesus Christ. It's all because of Him. He is
the condition of God's love and favor, Jesus Christ. That's the
sweetest name I know. Fills my every longing, keeps
me singing as I go. Verse 1, 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. I'm telling you, sometimes I
just get lost in the scripture. I have time. I've been sitting
in that room all day long. And I feel sorry for y'all. Because
you're out there running around in the world. I have it better
than you. I have time to sit there and
think about glory. The love of God that has invited,
welcomed sinners like us into the family. For this cause, I bow my knees
to the Father. We've been named after Jesus
Christ. I can't wait to know what my
eternal name is. But it's attached to Jesus Christ. All of our access, all of our
standing, all of our rejoicing, all of our hope, all of it is
by our Lord Jesus Christ. All of it. Verse three says,
and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Even our
tribulations are the result of God's love to us. Everything
is God's love to us. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. Why? Why? Verse three, not only
so, but we glory in tribulations also. Why? Knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. And patience experience, and
experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us. Now, here in the next few verses,
Paul is going to tell us some things concerning God's love. Knowing the greatness of it.
Understanding the condition of it. Here are some wonderful things
for us to consider concerning God's love. And I pray the Lord,
I pray the Lord will let you enter into this, okay? Verse
five says, hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. God's love is free. God's love is free. Boy, I had some time to ponder
that. God's love is free. It's given to us, freely given. You know, I say that and we all,
me included, we all think, yeah, I know that. Let's ponder that
for a minute. Just ponder that for a minute.
God's love to us is not on the condition that we earn it. We already saw what the condition
is. The condition is being in Christ, being placed in Christ. But if we're in Christ, we do
not have to work up a worthiness of God's love. We don't have
to work up a payment for God's love. We don't have to maintain
God's love. God's love is free. Look at verse
15 right here. It says, but not as the offense,
so also is the free gift. It's a free gift with no strings attached. There
are no strings attached. Every string attached to God's
love is attached to Jesus Christ. All of the strings are attached
to Jesus Christ. Mercy in him is great. And the
grace, the gift of His love is free. God's love is free. That's
the first thing. God's love and favor is free
to whom He gives it. His love is a sovereign love. Hail, sovereign love. but to whom he gives his sovereign
love, that love is free. All the strings of payment were
attached to Jesus Christ, and it cost him everything. It cost
him everything, but every soul he gives that love to, it's completely
free. What good news that is. Verse
5 says, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
us, verse 6 says, for because when we were yet without strength
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. God's love is particular. God's love is particular. That
verse tells us a lot about God's love. One thing it most definitely
tells us is it's particular. That verse does not say in due
time, Christ died for everybody. It says Christ died for a particular
category of people. Who is it? The ungodly. The ungodly. God's love was for
the ungodly. Is that not amazing? Is that
not honestly amazing? God commended His love. It's
sovereign love. He can give it to anybody He
wants to give it to. God gave His love to the ungodly. How could God's love be for the
ungodly? Only in Christ. That's the condition. God's love
is particular. It is extended only to the ungodly
who were placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. I would love to go into
all the churches and ask everybody. I really would love to do this.
I'd love to go into all the churches and ask everybody, starting with
the preachers of these places. Are you ungodly? I'm pretty sure I know what the
answer would be almost 100% of the time. No, I'm not ungodly. To that I'd have to say, that's
very sad to hear. Because God's love is only extended
to the ungodly. You ask God's people that go
into a place where God's people gather and ask them, are you
ungodly? And they will say, yes I am. And to that we say, good news,
good news, come read all about it. God has extended His love
to the ungodly. God's love is to the ungodly
who know that they are ungodly. Everybody's ungodly. All souls
are ungodly, but God's love is to those who have had that revealed
to them and they confess it and they cry out to God for forgiveness
and mercy because of it. And they receive that forgiveness
and mercy because God loves the ungodly in Christ. Only in Christ, only in the blood
of Jesus Christ. And that's what our text says
right here. God's love is free. God's love is sovereignly particular. Verse six says, for when we were
yet without strength. Completely without strength,
dead in trespasses and sins. You want to see someone without
strength? Go up to a dead man. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for 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 commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
God's love is sacrificial. It is a sacrificial love. Thank
God His love is sacrificial. You know, true love is. True
love is sacrificial. Verse 8, God commended His love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Turn with me over to 1 John 3. First John 3. Verse 16 says, Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. Because He laid down His life
for us. And we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren, for each other. And the fact that He laid
down His life for us makes us want to lay down our lives for
each other. As he was sacrificed for me,
Lord, give me the heart of sacrifice with you. Let me sacrifice. Help me to have a desire to be
the one to lose so that my brother might gain. That's what Christ
did. Though he was rich, he became poor so we could become rich. If God's love was manifest to
me that way, may my love be manifest to you that way. Look at 1 John
4 verse 9, it says, In this was manifested the love
of God toward us, because God sent His only begotten Son into
the world, that we might live through Him. For God so loved
the world, He gave His only begotten Son. Verse 10 says, Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation, the bloody sacrifice, the innocent victim
offering that covering atonement. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. That's love. That is love. Amazing love, how can it be that
Thou, my God, would die for me? God's love is forgiving. I will forgive their sins and
I will remember their iniquities no more. That is, makes my heart smile. How? In Christ. For God so loved the world, He
sent Christ. In Christ, by Christ, because
of Christ. God's love is compassionate. God's love is pitiful. As a father
pities his children, so the Lord pities His people, loves His
people. His wretched, miserable people
that He chose to set His love on. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
13. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4 says,
Charity, love, suffereth long. God's love is patient. God's love is patient. God's
love is so patient. Charity suffereth long and is
kind. God's love is kind. It's so kind. If we want to know what life
is going to be like with him, here it is. It's going to be
patient, kind. Charity suffereth long is kind.
Love envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not
her own. God's love is gracious. is not easily provoked, thinketh
no evil." God's love is merciful. Oh, how merciful. Verse 6 says, "...rejoiceth not
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
Love never fails. God's love is faithful. God's love is faithful. God's
wonderful, redeeming love is faithful. Christ is God's love. Christ is faithful. Verse 13,
the last verse says, and now abideth faith, hope, love, these
three, but the greatest of these is love. Oh how desperately we
need the love of God to us, on us, in us, around us. I want to be in God's love. I want to be in the family of
God. 1 John 3 verse 1 tells us that
God's love is adopting. It says, Behold what manner of
love The Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. The sons of God. I want to be adopted into the
family of God's adopting love. Go back to Romans 5. There's
one more verse I want to show you. God's love is great. God's love
is conditional. God's love is free. God's love
is particular. Sovereignly particular to ungodly
sinners such as we are. God's love is sacrificial. God's
love is forgiving. His love is compassionate and
pitiful. God's love is patient. God's
love is kind. God's love is gracious and merciful. God's love is faithful, God's
love is adopting. And Romans 5 verse 8 says, But
God commendeth His love toward 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 through Him." God's
love is justifying. God's love is saving. God's love
is a saving love. Will one soul end up in hell
who our God effectually loved? Will one soul end up in hell
that God loved? Absolutely not. Not even a possibility
because God's love is justifying. God's love is a saving love all
the way to the end. All the way to the end. Thank
God. For his amazing love that has been given to us in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. I mean, let me just listen to
this. OK, this is a closing benediction
here. Second Corinthians 13 verse 14. It says the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. and the love of God and the communion
of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. All right, let's all stand together.