NO GREATER LOVE
EPHESIANS 2:1-7
Ephesians 2:1-7 "And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 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."
Introduction: In the December 4, 1989 issue of Newsweek magazine, there was an article about a little known mental disorder called erotomania. It is a mental illness in which a person has the delusion that he or she is the object of someone’s love. Some imagine love affairs that continue for years, yet it all exists only in the imagination of the sufferer. The title of the article was "The Delusions of Love." While romantic love may have many delusions, there is no delusion about God’s love. There is no greater love than God’s love. His love is unmerited, unconditional, unending, and undeniable.
I. God’s Love is Unmerited
A. Ephesians 2:3 declares that all mankind are " by nature the children of wrath."
B. Romans 3:10-12 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [11] There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. [12] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one."
C. John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
D. Romans 5:5-8 "…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
E. He loved us not because we were lovable, but because He is love. - C. S. Lewis
F. 1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
G. Karl Barth was invited to deliver one of the distinguished lectureships at a theological seminary in the East, and while he was there a group of ministers and theologians and dignitaries of one kind or another sat down with him in a kind of question-and-answer period. Someone asked the question, "What is the most profound thought that you know, Dr. Barth?" This is what he said: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
II. God’s Love is Unconditional
A. Even as God’s love is unmerited it is also unconditional.
B. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is unconditional and impartial.
C. Ephesians 1:4-6 tells us that Christ has "chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
D. God accepts and loves each of us just as we are.
E. When you accepted God’s love through a reception of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior God credited to you the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You cannot add or take away from what Christ did for you on the cross. You are deeply loved. You are completely forgiven. You are totally accepted by God and absolutely complete in Christ.
F. “I know what you look like. I know your past. I know your future. I know your thoughts, even those you try persistently to hide. And you know what? I love you because you’re mine.” – Steve Goodier
G. 2 Corinthians 5:21 "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."
H. A baby sitter was watching her neighbor’s five- and seven-year-olds when she heard a squeal coming from the next room--then little Becky’s voice saying, "Mike, God doesn’t love you when you do things like that." Mike replied, "Yes, he does love me. He’s ... he’s just disappointed in me." – Juanita Slater, West Chester, OH. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."
I. God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way - Leighton Ford, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.
J. God’s unconditional love is not a license to live as we please.
K. Hebrews 12:6 "For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives."
III. God’s Love is Unending
A. The world’s concept of love is that it is temporal and fleeting as expressed by one poet as he penned the following words:
Love has come and gone again,
We were bound and we were free,
Love beloved of wiser men
Never stays long with me. - Copied
B. Erwin Lutzer was preaching in the Midwest one day, when a woman came to him with a little girl at her side. This woman showed by the cast on her arm and some scars on the side of her face that she had been in the hospital. She said, "I was in the hospital because of a very serious fire. There were burns over two-thirds of my body. My husband walked into the hospital room, took one look at me, and said, ’You’re not the woman I married.’ " He left her to marry someone younger and more beautiful. Human love says, "As long as you stimulate me, as long as I can be proud of you, as long as you’re beautiful, I can love you. If you change, my love for you changes." - Erwin Lutzer, "Learning to Love," Preaching Today, Tape No. 99.
C. Even as God is eternal, God’s love is eternal.
D. Nothing that you and I can ever do or that will ever happen to us or in our lives will ever cause God to stop loving us.
E. Romans 8:38-39 "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."
F. Jeremiah 31:3 "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee."
G. Life’s setbacks are temporary, but God’s love is permanent. He’s always there to take us over the rough spots, to lead us out of our slumps and into our grooves. – Professional Baseball Player Terry Pendleton, quoted in Guidepost magazine. Marriage Partnership, Vol. 11, no. 1.
H. 1 Samuel 12:22 "For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people."
IV. God’s Love is Undeniable
A. Romans 5:8 "But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
B. “Commends” – sunistemi – to show, prove, exhibit, demonstrate
C. God proves His love by not giving us what we deserve.
1. Psalms 103:10 "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."
2. God hates sin but loves the sinner.
3. The Scripture makes it clear that man is condemned eternally. However, while there is breath, God never punishes men as much as they deserve to be punished. Even in His wrath He always thinks upon mercy and desires men to accept his love.
D. God proved His love to us by giving His Son to die for us.
1. John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
2. God laid on Him all the sins of the world and cast His wrath against sin upon Christ.
3. Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
4. For family devotions, Martin Luther once read the account of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. His wife, Katie, said, "I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that!" "But Katie," Luther replied. "He did." - Roland Bainton in Here I Stand. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 5.
5. God has to bear the pain of His Son’s sufferings eternally, for He is eternal and the death of His Son is ever before His face.
6. In St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, is a life-size, marble statue of a sculptor’s conception of Christ writhing in anguish on the cross. The statue is inscribed: “This is how God loved the world!”
E. God proves His love to us by patiently calling and wooing us to Him.
1. Numbers 14:18 "The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”
2. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
3. When Adam sinned it was not he who cried, "God, where art Thou?" It was God who cried, "Adam, where art thou?" God longs for us to establish a relationship with and live in fellowship with Him.
4. Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Conclusion: John W. Peterson, summed up the love of God in the words of the song, There Is No Greater Love. He wrote, “There is no greater love than that of Christ above, That made Him stoop to earth, Become a man, And by His death, Provide redemption’s plan. There is no greater love, That’s why I’m singing of God’s love. So rich and free, Revealed at Calvary, There is no greater love. (There Is No Greater Love © 1955. Renewed 1983 John W. Peterson Music Company CCLI License No. 754427) The love of God is unmerited, unconditional, unending, and undeniable. Have you responded to His love for you? There is no greater love.
