finishing up our study of the doctrine of God. Not that we have exhausted any information by any means. We have barely even begun to scratch the surface of the information that the Bible has about God. But we are just doing kind of a survey, hitting some high spots, if you will. And we have been looking for the past few weeks at God's attributes And we are going to end on probably the attribute that would be the number one answer of most people. If you ask them, can you name an attribute of God, this would probably be the first answer for many. And that is the love of God. Dr. Evans made this statement here. He says, quote, Christianity is really the only religion that sets forth the supreme being as love. The gods of the heathen are angry, hateful beings and are in constant need of appeasing, end quote. And it is very true. If you study out the religions that have not sprung from Christianity, that's what you'll find. It's a stark contrast. This attribute of God is probably the most well-known and the most misunderstood of all his attributes. May I say, especially in our time, in our day, the love of God has become something that people look at to take advantage of. They look at it as something almost as a license many times, if you will. Dr. Wilmington makes this statement, he says, quote, millions have simply equated love with God, thus weakening or totally denying His other perfections. But God's love cannot be separated or isolated from His holiness and hatred for sin, end quote. And that is very true. That's exactly what happens when people just simply equate love with God. It weakens God's other perfections, His other attributes, especially His holiness. That is the main problem today when people look at and talk about the love of God. They want the love of God separated from His holiness, His righteousness, His justice. They don't want that stuff. They want the love part without all the other. You can't have God piecemeal. You can't just take the part you like and leave the rest of Him. It's all or nothing. And you cannot, you cannot separate God's love from the rest of Him. You can't separate His love from His holiness. After all, it is His holiness that God wants us to remember most about Him. That's what we saw when we went through that attribute. If you go through the Bible and you see that, it is His holiness that is emphasized the most. Isaiah 6, you'll turn there, remind ourselves of this. When Isaiah in the temple saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. Verse 1, and his train filled the temple. It says in verse 2, above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With Twain, he covered his face. With Twain, he covered his feet. And with Twain, he did fly. Verse 3 says, And one cried unto another, and said, Not love, not love, love, love. He said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. In verse 5, Isaiah's reaction then said, I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. The problem today is that people have weakened and so watered down the love of God that there is no sorrow for sin. There is no seeing sin for what it is. The only way you can see sin for what it is, is to have it exposed in the light of God's holiness. See God for who He is and see our sin for what it is so that we have the same reaction as Isaiah. We have the light turned on, we see reality, and we say, woe is me. And that's when God can offer His grace and mercy and say, look, this is where you are, this is how bad your sin is, but this is who I am, this is what I've done, and I'm offering you salvation. But too often today, all of the sin, we don't want to talk about that. No, no. No. Don't talk about sin, that upsets people. That's kind of the idea. That's the idea. People need to be upset when they are faced with their sin. They've got to see it. We all have to see it. That's the last thing we want to see. You know, we're like people trying to close our eyes or stick our fingers in our ears and la-la-la-la-la and not even face it. But we must. We must. And that is why we cannot separate His love from all His other attributes. God is a God of love. We're going to see that tonight. Yes, He is. But you cannot take that part of Him and make God just that. You can't do that. And we need to understand that before we get into this attribute and studying the love of God. We need to remember that that's the love of God with everything. All of it is who He is. It's all who He is. Now, having said all that, It is quite understandable that a sinner would lay hold of the love of God. John 3.16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's just common sense. The sinner would reach out to the love, the grace and mercy that shows God's love. And that's what it's for. But again, before we start looking into the love of God, we must never forget, we cannot separate it from the rest of Him. It all must be together. God is all of these things. So let's begin by looking at the objects of God's love. Again, I do not pretend to make an exhaustive study here of God's love. That would take us who knows how long, if we could even get done with that before we all ended up dead. There's just so much about God's love. So we're just going to look at a couple things. But there are some major, some main objects of God's love that we see in the Bible. The first one is Israel. Israel, Deuteronomy chapter 7. You can just look today at the headlines and see the fact that Israel is still there makes it very clear. God keeps his word. There's no other explanation for that nation being where it is. None whatsoever. If we could get a record of the United Nations and all their votes they've taken on Israel and see how many times they voted against them and who has voted for them, we would have, I don't know, a stack this thick of votes against it and probably about that many votes for them. And most of those are from the United States and, I think, Fiji. or Nicaragua, or some of those small nations. Everybody else is against them and always has been. The fact that they're there proves that God keeps his word and that God loves them. Deuteronomy chapter 7, Moses is speaking here, and he reminds the children of Israel why they are who they are. And he makes it clear, he says, the Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, verse 8, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Because the Lord loved you. I mean, you can study the whole Old Testament into the New Testament and see over and over again the love of God for Israel. There's really no explaining it. I mean, you start with here in the Pentateuch, the first five books, and you go through the historical books, you go through the Psalms, and you go through the prophets, and see God's love, even though He's pronouncing judgment, even though the people are in the midst of filth and abomination, and yet His love. His love. And then we have Jesus there in the Gospels when He looks at Jerusalem and the Bible says He weeps. It says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, how oft would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ye would not. He wept. He wept. We have Hosea, the minor prophet, where Hosea is used as an example to show how even though Israel's unfaithfulness over and over again, and yet God still loves them. Malachi, chapter 1. Let's look at the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi, chapter 1. Written right after the time of Nehemiah. And the first thing that God says. Verse 1 says, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Verse 2, I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? How can they say that? Can they not look back on their history? Can they not look back clear to Abraham up to that point and say, yeah, God loves us. There's no other explanation. Yet, just like us, they've forgotten all that. They've forgotten all those things. Where have you loved us? Where have you loved us, God? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. God made it very clear He loves the nation of Israel. They are His people. They are still His people. The Church has not replaced Israel. It has not. It will not. They are God's chosen people. And He will not leave them. He will not forsake them. The one verse to me that makes that abundantly clear is in Jeremiah where He tells them, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Now either God's a liar or He's not. I tend to think He's not. When He said, I love you with an everlasting love, He means it's an everlasting love. And that was directed to who? Not the church, Israel. God loves Israel. The Bible is also very clear that God loves Jesus Christ. God loves the Son. Matthew 3, verse 17. Matthew 3, John the Baptist is baptizing. He sees Jesus coming to him, and John says, I need to be baptized of thee, comest thou to me? Jesus, in verse 15, answers him and says, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Any question that comes up in your mind, I don't see why I have to do that. If it's in God's word, you need to do it, because Jesus did. Jesus is God in the flesh, and yet he submitted to baptism. Why? Because he said, it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. It's fitting. It's what we're supposed to do. That ties in with our reasonable service, Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. The bare minimum. it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered it. But in verse 16, and Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. We see it again in chapter 17 and verse 5 on the Mount of Transfiguration. And if you go to Luke 20 and verse 13, Here Jesus is giving a parable about a man who had a vineyard and led it forth to husbandmen and went away. And when the season came to get the harvest, this man sent a servant, but they beat him and sent him away empty. He sent another servant, they did the same thing. Verse 12, he sent a third servant and they wounded him also and cast him out. And verse 13, then said the Lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Who is this talking about? We know who this is talking about. This is God sending his only begotten son. This is Jesus telling the Jews a parable to get them to try to see the spiritual truth that they are these husbandmen who have been misusing his prophets. And now God has sent his only begotten son. The rest of the verse, it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen and shall give the vineyard to others. But we see in verse 13, this man said, I will send my beloved son. My beloved son. In Isaiah chapter 42, Go back to the prophet Isaiah. There are many references to Christ in the book of Isaiah. This is just one of them. And here God says, here in this area of Isaiah, Christ is referred to by the Father as My servant. In chapter 42 and verse 1, God says here, Behold My servant, whom I uphold, Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." And then if you go to the Gospel of John. John, the Gospel that was written by the disciple closest to Jesus. Here in chapter 3, In verse 35, in this section, John the Baptist is speaking and he's making it very clear that Jesus Christ must increase and he must decrease. His ministry has to go away because Christ has now come on the scene. John has done his job, it was to introduce and prepare the people for Jesus Christ to come. Christ is here. And he says in verse number 35, the Father loveth the Son. and hath given all things into his hand. Chapter 5 of John, Jesus himself, in verse 20, For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. He will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. Chapter 17 then, the prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Garden of Gethsemane right before he is betrayed and led away to be crucified. And here, as he ends his prayer, he says, 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. God loves the Son. The Father loves the Son. And that is wonderful for us because what does the Bible say? When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are placed in Christ. And when God looks on us, He sees His Son. He sees Christ, the one He loves. God loves Jesus Christ. We also see in the Bible that God loves believers. John chapter 14. Those who have repented of their sin and accepted Christ as their Savior. John chapter 14. We will begin in verse 21. The Bible says, Jesus is speaking, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. The Father loves the believer. Chapter 16 and verse 27. All of this is being spoken here at what we refer to as the Last Supper. And in verse 27 of John 16, Jesus is speaking of praying to the Father. And he says, for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. And then in chapter 17 and verse 23, in his prayer once again, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. God loves believers. And that love, again, is an everlasting love, as we will see. He loves believers. Not only that, the final object of God's love, God loves sinners. He loves sinners. He loves the worst, the filthiest, the rottenest sinners. He loves them. He does not love what they do. He does not love their sin nature. But he loves them. We quoted John 3.16 a moment ago. Most everyone has that committed to memory. That's why he gave his only begotten Son, because he loved the world. He does not love the world's system. He does not love the world's philosophy. He does not love what the world loves. but by the world is meant that he loves souls. He loves people. And in Romans 5.8 the Bible says, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let's go to Romans 5 just to look at the context there. Romans chapter 5 Right before that, Paul is making it clear that it's very rare that anyone would die for a righteous man, take his place. But he admits there in verse 7, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. In verse 8, he says, but God commendeth his love toward us, he revealed his love toward us, what kind of love it is, how much he loves us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Is that not illustrated when from the cross he's looking at those who are mocking him, the ones who put him there and saying, Father, forgive them? Well, they know not what they do. I would venture to say there isn't one of us in here who would do the same thing. I wouldn't. Just being honest, I wouldn't be doing that. But he did. That's how much God loved us. And in verse 9 he says, "...much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross reconciled God to man. It made it possible so man could have an opportunity to be saved. It gave man an opportunity for God's love to be revealed. That's why we were sinners. And if God loved us that much when we were sinners, child of God, how much does He love you now? That's what Paul's trying to get us to see. If He loved you that much when you were His enemy, You think he's going to love you less now that you're his child? Of course not. Of course not. That's how much God loves. 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 and 4. Paul is referring to his exhortation that we pray, pray, supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, for all that are in authority. And he says in verse 3, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men, but God our Savior, just a free side note here, Jesus is God, God our Savior. Isaiah makes it clear, there is no other Savior. There's only one Savior. And God is our Savior. End of discussion. Verse 4, "...who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." That's God's desire. We're familiar with II Peter 3.9 where Peter makes it clear God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's what He wants. Because He loves sinners. He loves them. He doesn't want to see anyone separated from Him from all eternity. That is not His will. It has never been His will. The Lake of Fire itself was never intended for human occupancy. It was established for the devil and his angels. But because man followed the devil's example in rebellion, God is just, he is righteous, he must mete out the same punishment. But because he loved, he took the punishment himself. He paid the price so that we would not have to go there. so that we instead could spend eternity with Him, where He could spend all of eternity revealing His love to us, because it's going to take that long. That's how much He loves us. That means it's never going to stop. There's no end to it. That's how much God loves. Let's look at the characteristics of God's love, some of the characteristics. Time does not permit us to look at all of it, by any means. But first of all, we see that God's love shows infinite sacrifice. Infinite sacrifice. Let's go to Ephesians, chapter 5. We know this passage. Ephesians 5, beginning of verse 25. Infinite sacrifice. The Bible says, "...husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." That is a powerful verse. That strikes me every time I read it. And it makes me feel pretty small. Wow. How do I do that? It's not I that do it, but Christ that liveth in me. That's the key. That's what we're supposed to do. Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself. And the wife see that you reverence her husband. So we see this sacrifice, this infinite sacrifice, Christ giving himself for us in 1 John 3. 1 John 3 and verse number 16. John tells us here, He says, 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. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life. Chapter 4, verse 8, He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. in 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 here in his love not that we love God but that he loved us and send his son to be the propitiation for our sins and then verse 19 we love him because he first loved us if we go back to 2nd Corinthians 5 verses 19 through 21 You see another familiar passage. Verse 17 is, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Verse 19, to wit, that God was in Christ. Jesus is God. reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." It is striking and it should be sobering to all of us to understand and realize that when we get to heaven God has given us a new body. That is going to be wonderful. And yet when we look at Jesus Christ when we get there what do we see in his body? Scars. Scars. Eternity For us, it means a brand new body that's perfect. For him, he'll have scars. The only reason we have the new body is because he was willing to be scarred eternally for us while we were sinners. It shows infinite sacrifice. Revelation chapter 1, verse 5. The Bible says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. You can trust the Word of God. You can trust Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Infinite sacrifice. God's love also bestows complete pardon on the penitent, those who humble themselves before God. Complete pardon. Isaiah 38, verse 17. The Bible says here, Behold, for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Is that not a beautiful verse? Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Chapter 43 of Isaiah, verse 25. God says here, By the way, after taking Israel to task for not honoring him in their sacrifices, not doing what they were supposed to do, and in verse 24 he ends it by saying, "...but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." And then we have verse 25 and he says, "...I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake." and will not remember thy sins. I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions. Let's go to Colossians just quickly. Colossians chapter three. Chapter two, pardon me. Colossians chapter 2, speaking of Christ, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Verse 9, Jesus is God. I don't know why I keep coming back to this, but it's what God wants, so Jesus is God, very clearly. We go through these verses here and how Christ, how we have been buried with Him in baptism, verse 12. In verse 13, He says, And you, being dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Blotting out. I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions. That's what the Bible says God will do. Micah chapter 7. Micah 7 verses 18 and 19. And God's message to Judah here in Micah is not Congratulatory. It's not, you guys are doing great. It's judgment. It's you guys straighten up. You're doing abomination. This is awful. Do not do this. And yet here in verse 18, at the end of the book, The Bible says, Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Complete pardon on the penitent. Titus chapter 2, verse 14. Many of us know this verse as well. Passage beginning in verse 11, the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. It goes on down there, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, that's what our salvation is to teach us. Does not mean we take God's love as a license to continue in our sin. We take it for what it is, an offer of grace to deliver us out of that sin so that we can live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. And then we are to be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing, the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Why? Verse 14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. complete pardon on those who will submit and accept Christ. It also reveals His constant care. It's constant care. 24-7. It's not like God is on the clock and then He needs to take a break. So for the next, you know, 15 minutes, it's state-mandated. Sorry, it's just the way it is. He's got to take a break. So, you know, hopefully you don't get into any problems in these next 15 minutes because God's going to be on break. Never happened. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, the Bible says. He doesn't need them. He's God. 24-7, constant care. Isaiah 63, verse 9. And it's not even a case of whenever we need God, He'll come running. He's there. I am with you always. Constant care. We don't have to put out the bat signal, so to speak. So God can see it. Oh no, one of my children's in trouble. That's not how it works. He's with us at all times. All times. Isaiah 63 and verse 9. In all their affliction, He was afflicted. And the angel of His presence saved them. Speaking of Israel. coming out of Egypt in the wilderness, in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the days of old. Just that phrase alone, in all their affliction, he was afflicted. Why would God humble himself and submit himself to that? To go through affliction with his people? He's God. He doesn't have to be afflicted. If anything, He afflicts. But no, He loves them. So in all their affliction, He's afflicted too. And He bare them and carried them. Chapter 46 of Isaiah, verses 3 and 4. See, that's why we don't need places like Sweden, from the cradle to the grave. God's got that covered. God's the one who does that, and frankly, God's healthcare in Sweden, well, free country, you can choose what you want, but I'll take God's. Chapter 49, verses 15 and 16. God is answering what Zion has said. Israel said, the Lord, in verse 14, hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Verse 15, God responds and says, can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee? Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. We know the Bible says in the book of Isaiah, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And as you read through that, you see God compares Israel and says, I bear you on eagles' wings. His constant care. And then we go back to Hebrews, chapter 2 and verse 18. In verse 16 it makes it clear, Jesus Christ did not take on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. And verse 17 says, Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And in verse 18 it says, For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them, or help them, or undergird them, support them, he is able to succor them that are tempted. His constant care, chapter 4, verse 15. We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Constant care. That's what we see in God's love. And we also see that God's love is unchanging and eternal. It's eternal. There will never be a time when that switch is turned off. There will never be a time where it runs out. There will never be a time where God says, I'm tired of this. It's eternal. Isaiah 49 and verse 15. We just read this. We'll read it again. Maybe it will sink into our ears as Jesus told us. the Gospels. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Yet will I not forget thee. That's a promise. And it's from God. And we know God cannot lie. Eternal. Jeremiah 31. Verse 3. You know this one as well. And remember, this is in the middle of the message of Jeremiah, which is, judgment is coming. Jeremiah, pray not for this people. I will not hear you when you try to intercede for them. It's done. Judgment is coming. And yet, what do we see in verse 3 of chapter 31? The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. everlasting love, unchanging, eternal. Let's go to Romans Chapter 8, the New Testament version of Jeremiah 31.3. Romans Chapter 8. After saying in verse 28, all things work together for good to them that love God, he goes on and talks about how God called us and justified us. And he says in verse 31, what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justify it. The only one who can charge us is the one who justifies it. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. He's not at the right hand of God condemning us and pointing out our faults. He's at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf. The only one who can condemn us is interceding for us. The obvious implication being There is, therefore, no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. He goes on, says in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, sometimes it seems like it, or distress, anybody been distressed lately? Or persecution? or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. You go back through church history and see some of the times of persecution. What a shame every one of us. To see what some of those believers endured, and how they did suffer, and how they were literally hunted down like dogs. But Paul says in verse 37, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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. The love of God is unchanging and it is eternal, because it is God's. We're kept by His power. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 7. After reminding us what we were, Paul says, but God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." In the ages to come. eternity. God's love is unchanging and eternal. So what does the fact that God is love mean for the believer? It's just too much. Just three short things. Number one, God will always do what is best for us. this love of God we have just we haven't even scratched the surface tonight but this great love with which he loved us means he will always do what is best. The two references in Deuteronomy that's what Moses tells the children of Israel these are for your good. God didn't give us commandments for his benefit, they're for ours. Because he hates us? No, because he loves us. He loves us. Psalm 68, verse 19. I'm not going to go to all these references. I'm out of time as it is. So those of you who watch the clock, do not panic. Those of you who have heard me say that before, panic. Psalm 68, verse 19. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation, Selah. This isn't like the school lunch line where you pass through and you, poof, potatoes, move on, poof, there, I don't know what it is, but eat it anyway, poof. That's not how God loads his benefits. When the Bible says, He loadeth us with benefits daily, He loads us with benefits. That's how much God loves. Number two, because God is eternal, So is his love. I mentioned that twice because we need to understand that. We need to never lose sight of it. How often does Satan play mind games with us and try to get in our minds and try to get us to think that very thing just like Israel. God's forgotten me. God is done with me. How many times can I screw up and God not? He's got to be done. No, he will never be done with you if you know him as your Savior. Never. Never. Because he loves you. He said He would love you, and He will always love you. Love is eternal. We looked at most of these verses already. And number three, as God loved us, we should love one another. Wow. Yep. That's something else. Yes, it is. 1 John 4, we'll look at that verse. 1 John 4, verses 7 through 11. What the Bible says, Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, that knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. And 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. Here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the substitute sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. We ought also to love one another. Romans 5.5, hope maketh not a shame, for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And we'll close with Jude, right close there. After giving us a very perfect picture of the age we live in now, Jude says in verse 20, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God. Wait, you mean I can get out of the love of God, God will stop loving me? No. No. to keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves there, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ in the eternal life. Draw close to God. The closer I am to God, the less influence the world can have on me. And it's got enough influence as it is. I don't need to help it anymore. I mean, just quickly, a hundred years ago, you could go into a store and you wouldn't be hearing any music, would you? And yet today, you can't even pump gas now without hearing that. Buy your gas here. You can't get away from it. That's by design. That's by design. Because that music is not godly. It is worldly. And it is everywhere you go. Your only hope is to get close to Jesus Christ and stay there. Keep yourself in the love of God. Don't live life dangerously on the edge spiritually. That's spiritual suicide. It's exactly what the devil wants you to do. You get as far away from the edge as you can. You get as close to Jesus Christ as you can. And when you're as close as you can get, you get closer. Keep yourself in the love of God. Why wouldn't you want to be that close to someone who loves you this much? The love of God. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Again, are you here with us tonight, are you listening to us, and you do not know Christ as your Savior? Please understand, this is the truth. God loves you. He loves you so much, He died for you. He has done everything that He can do on your behalf, so much so that all you have to do to experience His love, to know God, is to repent of your sin and come to Christ and ask Him to save you. Will you do that? Christian, God loves you. That's not me saying it. God says it. Don't believe the lie that God is done with you. He can't be. The Bible makes it clear. He can't deny himself. He's not done with you. He loves you. He wants you to love him. Have you been living on the edge spiritually? Get away from the edge. Get close to Christ. Get close to the one who loves you. Father in heaven, help us. Help us to understand how much you love us. Lord, help us to understand how much we need to love one another as you have loved us. Help us, Father, to see those who are lost in sin as you see them. We need your help, Lord. We can't love like you love without you. We need to remember Galatians 2.20 and realize it is not I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. It has to be you. Lord, I pray you would help us. Help us, Lord. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.