Divine Love

Divine Love

Introduction

A) From the book, “Knowing God,” by J.I. Packer

-- There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see (and I am glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.

B) Divine Love

-- Today, I’d like to talk about God’s love for us. As much as is possible I’d like to look at it from His perspective rather than ours.

Transition: It is hard to reconcile in my feeble mind why, if God knows time inside and out (past, present, and future), why is it that He would still choose to breath a creation into existence that would cause him so much pain. In our generation, we terminate lives if they are simply inconvenient before we know anything at all about them. But, for some reason, He still chose to create me though He knew I would betray Him, not once but often.

I) The Father’s Creation.

-- What an amazing thing to know that He created all that is around us basically with just willing it into existence.

A) For His Pleasure.

-- Genesis chapter 1 describes the process, but words are so inadequate at conveying emotion and drama sometimes. Read Versus 1-2.

-- Verse 3 “He made the light.”

-- Verse 6 “He made the sky.”

-- Verse 9 “He made land.”

-- Verse 11 “He made plants.”

-- Verse 14 “He made other lights.”

-- Verse 20 “He made birds and fish.”

-- Verse 24 “He made land creatures.”

-- Verse 26 “He made man.”

B) For Our Pleasure.

-- He gave you life!! That’s the greatest gift that has ever been given to anyone or anything ever!

-- Then, he put the first people in a beautiful paradise of absolute perfection with no limitations other than to love God and obey him on one single command.

-- They had constant access to God on a personal level that no one after Adam and Eve ever experienced again.

-- Keep in mind that this world you are in now is not the way it was in the beginning. We are living in a fallen world corrupted by sin

Transition: The world is corrupted because we just couldn’t accept that the Father knew best and wanted to spare us the knowledge of good and evil. We reached out for that tree with a disobedient heart and all creation must have moaned in agony because it knew we blew it. Just like a break in a damn spells doom for those below it, one small sin tore a hole in the fabric of perfection that spelled doom for all creation, because sin meant death had arrived on the scene.

II) The Father’s Sorrow.

-- Your God had poured himself and His creativity into this beautiful place and took the time to breathe into your nostrils. He gives you only one command…trust and obey Me. And, because we were too selfish to simply do what He asks, we turned His joy into sorrow. Do you ever wonder if He wept? His Son wept…John records it in his gospel. I think He wept…and I think He still weeps today every time I sin.

A) Our Disobedience.

-- Our disobedience causes Him pain that we probably can’t totally understand.

-- Becky told me a story about a man, his camel, and his tent.

-- Any parent could tell you that a little disobedience today can make it easier for a lot of disobedience tomorrow.

B) Our Rejection.

-- You know the part of disobedience that must hurt God the most is the fact that it is a rejection of Him.

-- Probably the only people who can even come close to understanding what this must feel like is a parent who has had their child turn his back on them.

-- You poured your life and love into this child only to have him curse you and walk away…that’s what God experiences every time you sin against Him.

Transition:

--“Grandpa walked into the family room and found his little grandson, Jeffy, standing up in his playpen, crying.