God's Marvelous Love Attributes Of God - Part 2 Of Love (4 Of 10 Sermona)

For example, if someone asked you to tell them something about God, what could you tell them? If you know the God of the Bible, you could tell them a great deal, because the Bible has a lot to say about the attributes of God. If you do not know the God of the Bible, there is not much you could tell them. For example:

Illus: If someone asked you if you knew (_______), and you did know him, you would be able to describe him. You might say, "Yes, I know him. He is tall, dark, handsome, rich, and all the women who know him think he is a knock out!" (If I gave you that description about ___________ you would know that I did not know him.)

The attributes of God are a description of the God of the Bible. We cannot really tell people about Him if we do not study His attributes. 1 Peter 3:15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." If you asked most folks to tell you something about God, the first thing on their list would be, "GOD IS LOVE!"

God's love has inspired many people to write beautiful POETRY...

Illus: Such as this beautiful poem by Helen Steiner Rice,

"Somebody Cares"

Somebody cares and always will,

The world forgets but God loves you still,

You cannot go beyond His Love

No matter what you're guilty of-

For God forgives until the end,

He is your faithful, loyal friend,

And though you try to hide your face

There is no shelter any place

That can escape His watchful eye,

For on the earth and in the sky

He's Ever Present and Always there

To take you in His tender care

And bind the wounds and mend the breaks

When all the world around you breaks...

Somebody Cares and Loves You Still

And God is The Someone who always will.

GOD'S MARVELOUS LOVE has also inspired men to write beautiful hymns.

Illus: One such beautiful hymn is: "THE LOVE OF GOD" Look at some of the magnificent words that describe THE LOVE OF GOD, especially the third verse.

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,

tho' stretched from sky to sky.

Chorus: "Oh love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall for ever more endure

- the saint's and angel's song."

GOD'S MARVELOUS LOVE has inspired POETS and SONGWRITERS, and it has also inspired preachers to preach about it. In the previous message you saw TWO things God's Word tells us about His Love. For example we saw that:

1. GOD'S LOVE IS UNCHANGING In John 13:1 we read, "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father; having loved his own which were in the world, HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END." In spite of the fact that:

a. The disciples fled from Him like scalded dogs,

b. Judas betrayed Him with a kiss, and,

c. Peter denied Him three times. Still, God's Word tells us, "...HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END."

The Bible also tells us that...

2. GOD'S LOVE IS UNENDING In Jeremiah 31:3, we read, "...Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

Illus: We have all seen young couples who seemed to be madly in love with each other. Then after a few short years, that couple that seemed to be so madly in love with each other could not stand the sight of each other. What happened? They did not have real love. They had a "love" that ENDED, but GOD'S LOVE IS UNENDING.

In this message, I will be preaching about THREE more things about GOD'S MARVELOUS LOVE. For example...

I. GOD'S LOVE IS UNBELIEVABLE

As humans, we love people who are LOVABLE. The problem that we all encounter is that there are so many people who are UNLOVABLE.

Illus: In fact, many of those we know do not get ulcers - they give them! We all have met people who were so UNLOVABLE that we could not help but wonder if their mothers even loved them!

Illus: Such is the case with a particular woman who was always finding fault with her church. She went to her pastor one day, and she was highly upset, threatening to leave the church. She said, "I feel that this congregation does not love me." The pastor already had figured out that she was planning to stop coming to church anyway. He had been holding his tongue for a long time, hoping that she would let the Holy Spirit work in her life. Since she had not done that, he decided he may as well let her know the truth. He said, "I think I know what your problem is." She almost went into shock when he told her, "The problem is with you. You are the most unlovable person I have ever met." He went on to explain how: