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.
Illus: They are like the Christian businessman who was witnessing to an atheist as they walked down main street. The atheist made it clear that he did not believe there was a God. His reasoning was like the man's in the Bahamas. "How could there be a loving God with all these children starving to death around the world?" As they walked down the street, the Christian said, "You would think a town this size would have at least one barber." The atheist said, "What do you mean; we have plenty of barbers in this town." The Christian businessman said, "I have come to the conclusion that there cannot be a barber in this town, because I see so many men here who need haircuts." The atheist said, "You do not understand. We have plenty of good barbers. The reason there are some here who need hair cuts is because, for some reason or other, they have chosen not to go to a barber to get their hair cut." The Christian smiled and said, "Oh, it's like people know there is a God and the reason they are in the bad shape they are in, is because they will not come to Him for the help that they need." The atheist knew he had been trapped in his foolishness.
Listen, not only is there a God, but contrary to what some people say, He is not a cruel God that loves to see people suffer. He is a loving God. He loves everyone here!
Illus: D. L. Moody said, "It would not take twenty-four hours to make the world come to God, if you could just make people believe that God is love. If you can really make a man believe you love him, you have won him; and if I could only make people really believe that God loves them, what a rush we would see for the kingdom of God!"
Let me show you some things the Bible teaches about His love.
I. GOD'S LOVE IS UNCHANGEABLE
In John 13:1 it says, "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."
Scripture tells us that Jesus was aware that His time on earth was limited - "...Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father..." He also was aware of something else. He was aware of the fact that the crowds had come out to find fault with Him, and to persecute Him, but something far worse was about to happen. Jesus was about to be betrayed by His own disciples - ALL OF THEM!
• When the time came that they could have stood with Him, they ALL FLED LIKE SCALDED DOGS!
Illus: We are told that when soldiers are on the battlefront, and one of the soldiers forsakes the rest in the heat of the battle, they shoot the coward in the back as he runs.
I am sure that if many of us had been in Jesus place, and just when we needed the disciples most they all fled, if we could have called fire down from heaven, as He was able to do, we would have struck all of those disciples down as they fled!
However, we do not read anywhere in scripture where the Lord displayed anger for what they did. We do read that even when He was aware that He was about to leave the world to go back to the Father, even though He already knew what they would do, "...HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END."
• When the time came for Judas to stand with Him, Judas betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. The Lord was well aware of what Judas was up to. He told the disciples that one of them would betray Him. He could have easily pointed His finger in Judas' face, but He did not! Later Judas came with a group of Roman soldiers, and he had told them that the one he was going to kiss would be the one they should arrest. Judas kissed the Lord thinking the Lord did not know what he was doing, but Jesus knew exactly what he was doing, and He said to Judas, "Betrayest thou thy Master with a kiss?" When Judas heard those words, he knew he was not getting by with a thing. Still, even though Jesus knew all of Judas' evil plans, the Bible tells us, "...He loved them unto the end."
• When the time came for Peter to stand with the Lord, he ran and hid behind closed doors. Peter stood by the enemy's fireside and denied that he ever had known Jesus. Peter did not do this in secret. Jesus had told him that he would deny Him three times before the cock would crow, and Peter did exactly what Jesus told him he would do.
Even though the Lord knew that Peter would deny him, and even after Peter did it, the Lord gave him the privilege of preaching the gospel on the day of Pentecost to three thousand people. Why? BECAUSE when the Lord loves us, He loves us with an UNCHANGING LOVE. The Bible says, "...He loved them unto the end."
God is not moody. We can all be thankful that God loves us every day with an UNCHANGING LOVE. We never have to wake up and wonder if God loves us today! He loves us seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year!
One of the horrible things about Hell will be that all its inhabitants will know they had to walk all over the UNCHANGING LOVE OF GOD TO GET THERE. Sinners will recognize how much God loved them, and that they chose to love sin instead of loving God.
GOD'S LOVE IS UNCHANGEABLE. Also...
II. GOD'S LOVE IS UNENDING
Jeremiah 31:3 says, "...Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." There is a vast difference between human love and heavenly love. Human love is a conditional love, whereas, God's love is unconditional.
Illus: Sometimes we Christians, who faithfully serve the Lord, feel that perhaps God loves us a little more than He loves the sinner down the street. It may shock you, but there is not an ounce of truth to that! God loves the sinner down the street as much as He loves His most faithful servant! Why? His love is not bought with good works like our love is. The Bible simply says, "God is love!
The word translated "love" is "agape." This is the purest kind of love. It is not 75% love and 25% something else - it is 100% love! That is, the scriptures tell us, over two hundred times, that God’s love is the purest kind of love there is! The Bible brings out the fact that there are three kinds of love. There is...
(1) EROS - This is a sexually arousing love. Many divorces take place each year in this country because people make the decision to get married based on this kind of love. They have not learned that this kind of love will not keep a home together.
(2) PHILEO - This is a brother/friend love. Remember the city of Philadelphia. Translated, this means the city of brotherly love. This is a good kind of love, and we all would be in bad shape if we did not have it.
(3) AGAPE - This is the kind of love that God has for us. It is the purest kind of love. It is a love that gives, and keeps on giving, expecting nothing in return.
Illus: Many have gotten married having an EROS or PHILEO love, and their marriages did not last very long, because they built their marriages on the wrong kinds of love. When a couple accepts the Lord as their personal Savior, they then have "agape" love, because they have God in their lives, and God is "agape" love!
Someone may ask, "If God's 'agape' love shows no difference between SAVED and SINNER, then why does the Bible say that God is, "...angry with the sinner every day?" Because God is angry with the sinner, does not mean that He does not love the sinner. In fact, the "anger" that is used in the scriptures, when having to do with sinners, is an expression of love.
Illus: Some of you have children who are not walking in obedience to God's Word. Does their disobedience to God's Word please you, or anger you? It angers you! Why do you get angry with them? Is it because you do not love them? No! It is because you do love them that you get angry!
God is love, and God loves the sinner, and that is why He is angry with him every day!
Some of you, in your backslidden condition, have angered the Lord. It is because He loves you that He is angry! You know you have broken the Father's heart, and you wonder if the Lord still loves you. I can assure you that He loves you today as much as He has ever loved you! The Bible says He has loved you "...with an everlasting love..."
Conclusion:
A "prodigal" son sent his loving mother to the grave. The way he lived in sin was more than she could take. Every night he would go out to the most evil places he could go to. One evening, the boy started out of the house to go to be with his evil friends, to drink and gamble throughout the night. Before he got ready to go, his old dad said, "Son, I want you to stay home tonight. You have not spent an evening in this house since your mother died. I am lonely since she died. I want you to please your old dad by staying home tonight." The young man looked at his dad and said, "No, there is nothing for me to do here. I want to go and join my friends! The old dad broke down into tears and said, "Son, you are killing me the same way you killed your mother." Still the boy shook his head, "No." He was not going to stay home. He wanted to go to be with his friends.
That old dad, with a broken heart, in desperation said, "If you are determined to ruin your life, you must go over this old body tonight. I cannot resist you. You are stronger than I am, but if you go out, you must go over this body." After saying this, the father laid himself down before the door, and that son stepped over the body of his father. When he did that, he trampled the love of that father under his foot, and went out.
We ask, "How could any son be so cruel as to do a thing like that?" Listen, what that boy did is nothing compared to what some of you do every Sunday. God, the Father, pleads with you to turn from your sins. He loves you, and it angers Him that you would throw your life away!
I want to invite every lost person to come to the loving God. He loves you today! I want to also tell every backslider, come back to this God, Who loves you today! The Bible shows us that...
I. GOD'S LOVE IS UNCHANGING
II. GOD'S LOVE IS UNENDING
(Part II)
I. GOD'S LOVE IS UNBELIEVABLE
II. GOD'S LOVE IS UNDESERVED
III. GOD'S LOVE IS UNFAILING
