The Love Of God Demonstrated

THE LOVE OF GOD DEMONSTRATED

Rom. 5:6-11

INTRODUCTION

A. AN UNUSUAL SURVEY was done a few years ago;

1. Participants in the survey were asked this question; “What 3 word sentence would you most like to hear or have said to you?”

2. The top three answers capture the heart of our needs & wants:

a. “I love you;”

b. “I forgive you;”

c. “Supper is ready!”

3. Doesn’t that pretty much sum up our needs? We need to be loved, forgiven, and we need provision.

4. God meets every one of these needs. In fact he meets all of these needs because of the eternal, unconditional fact that He Loves Us.

B. WHY IS THE LOVE OF GOD SO IMPORTANT?

1. It’s something that will change our past, and redirect our future.

2. It is something that will ease the pain of broken hearts, and shattered dreams, and give us the peace that we need for our souls.

3. It is something that will give us confidence that we are of value, that we matter, and that we are accepted by the One that matters most.

4. I want us to talk about the LOVE OF GOD!

C. TEXT

6 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

D. TITLE

1. So we’re going to look at ways God has revealed His love, who the objects of God’s love are, and the effects of God’s love.

2. Title of this message “The Love of God Demonstrated.”

I. HOW GOD DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE

A. GOD’S LOVE IS OFTEN OBSCURED

1. God’s love is often obscured/clouded in this world – by sin, sickness, death, wars, catastrophes, etc.

2. But God has made great efforts to teach us what love is. HOW?

B. HE PUT US IN FAMILIES Ps. 68:6; “He sets the solitary in families.” IN FAMILIES WE LEARN:

1. How to love each other, to get along w/ others,

2. How to forgive, to overlook an insult;

3. How to not always get our way

WE ALSO LEARN:

1. The sweetness of a mother’s love

2. The sternness/ excitement of a father’s love.

3. We parents learn the joy of loving our children from infants to adults.

4. We bond in lifelong relationships with our kids and our spouses.

5. HUMOR. Two wives were talking. One said, “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that Nathan had focused less on my looks.” The other said, “Not Jason! As I get older, he says I get even more beautiful every day." The first said, “Yeah, but that’s because your husband is an antique dealer!"

C. HE GAVE US THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

1. God made all things beautiful and for our enjoyment.

2. All the mountains, stars, waterfalls, flowers, brilliant colors, myriad of bugs, animals, undersea creatures, beautiful birds, etc., are astounding.

3. God made them all for us. "[God] has not left Himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy" Acts 14:17. But some could miss the connection to God’s love, so…

D. THE GREATEST DEMONSTRATION OF HIS LOVE

1. But God pulled back the curtain, displaying before the world His love in all its matchless tenderness and grandeur.

2. Paul describes it as having breadth and length and

depth and height (Eph. 3:18).

3. But Romans 5:8 says that God “demonstrates” his love to us. He sets it before us for our observation and admiration – so that we might be attracted and our hearts melted, so that we might come to Him.

II. WHO THE OBJECTS OF GOD’S LOVE ARE

… As shown in the death of Jesus Christ His Son.

A. WHO THE OBJECTS WERE NOT

1. Was it the Angels that were the objects? No – they did not need His death.

2. Was it only for “good” men and women? No – that would limit His love. The Bible says that “none” were good, that “all have sinned.”

B. WHO THE OBJECTS WERE