Sermon Central
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God's Marvelous Love Attributes Of God – Part One Of Love (3 Of 10 Sermons)
Contributed by Dr. Odell Belger on Mar 9, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: Several Christians were going from door to door on visitation in the Bahamas. Most of the people in the area were very cordial to them. However, one place was different.
They came to a home and saw one of the servants working in the yard. They began to witness to him and he professed to be a Christian, and from all indications, his life reflected that he was. In fact, he was so excited about the Lord that he wanted those Christians to talk to his employer about the Lord. The man came out to greet them and was friendly at first. However, as soon as he found out they were Christians, his attitude changed. He wasted no time telling them he was an atheist. He not only stated that he was an atheist, but he stated why he was an atheist. He said, "There couldn't be a God. Look at all the people who are starving to death." He went on to say, "I watched the programs about the starving children on television. How could there be a God of love when His children were suffering like that?"
His thinking was flawed in a number of ways. For example:
(1) GOD CREATED MANKIND WITH THE ABILITY TO MAKE PHYSICAL DECISIONS, AND THEN PROSPER OR SUFFER AS A RESULT OF THOSE DECISIONS. We see this, and experience this, as we live our daily lives.
Illus: Often people will buy everything they can afford, and everything they cannot afford to buy. Then they get depressed because they are strapped down with all the bills they have made. Then you can hear them say, in the midst of their financial crisis, "I do not know why God allows me to suffer the way I suffer." The reason they suffer is simple. They have used the gift of the ability to make decisions, and have made bad decisions.
Some will reason, "There couldn't be a loving God, because if there was He would not allow the poor, helpless children to suffer." Not only do adults suffer bad consequences from making bad decisions, but children also suffer when the adults make bad decisions.
Government leaders make decisions for people, and when they make good decisions the people prosper because of those decisions. When they make bad decisions, both adults and children suffer as a result of those bad decisions.
There are whole countries that suffer widespread starvation because of bad decisions that THE CITIZENS and the POLITICAL LEADERS made. They can blame God all they want to, but God does not have a thing to do with it. People were created with the ability to make GOOD and BAD decisions. They reap bad things, or good things, from those decisions. Also...
(2) GOD CREATED MANKIND WITH THE ABILITY TO MAKE SPIRITUAL DECISIONS, AND THEN PROSPER OR SUFFER SPIRITUALLY AS A RESULT OF THOSE DECISIONS.
We can look at people starving to death in countries and say, "How could a loving God allow His children to suffer like that?" One important thing has been overlooked by anyone who would ask this question. The only way you can become a child of the living God is to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. The people in those countries do not serve the true and living God. As a nation, they have made that spiritual decision, and they suffer as a result of that bad decision.
One of the proofs that, as a nation, Americans have served the true and living God, is that we pray to the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we are the most blessed nation in the world.
Illus: Basically this is what Elijah did on Mt. Carmel. He told the prophets of Baal, "Let's build an altar, and you can pray to your gods, and I will pray to my God, and the one who sends down fire from heaven will prove to be the true and living God.” The prophets of Baal prayed, and nothing happened! Elijah prayed, and a bolt of fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. Elijah believed in the true and living God. His God proved Himself!
The God of America has proven to all the heathen nations that we serve the true and living God. The heathen nations should be able to look to America and say, "We have prayed to our gods and have almost starved to death! We want to worship the God of love and serve the God of love that you serve, because truly He has proven to be the true and living God."
As Christians, we should guard this heritage closely, especially in this day when so many false religions are on the scene, and when the ungodly wax bolder and bolder!
The lost man in the Bahamas said, "There couldn't be a God. Look at all the people starving to death." The reason they are starving is because they have made bad PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL decisions. Still today, they will not come to God, who can help them PHYSICALLY and SPIRITUALLY.
