The Love of God

Contemporary preaching seems to overlook and neglect the righteousness and holiness of God, so the subjects of sin and judgment are passed over or denied altogether. Because of this I have written a few times about the judgment to come. But is judgment all I think about? No. The love of God is the sweetest theme of the Bible.

How can we know that God loves us? I believe there are three ways we can know this. They build upon each other. They are (all comments in quotes are by Adam Clarke, the great Methodist preacher and theologian):

1. We can know God loves us because He says so
John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Amen! This verse alone is the Gospel.

For God so loved the world— “Such a love as that which induced God to give his only begotten Son to die for the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle “so”, and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. The same evangelist uses a similar mode of expression in 1 John 3:1: Behold, WHAT MANNER of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.

Let the reader attend to the following particulars.
First, The world was in a ruinous, condemned state, about to perish everlastingly; and was utterly without power to rescue itself from destruction.
Secondly, That God, through the impulse of his eternal love, provided for its rescue and salvation, by giving his Son to die for it.
Thirdly, That the sacrifice of Jesus was the only means by which the redemption of man could be effected, and that it is absolutely sufficient to accomplish this gracious design.
Fourthly, That sin must be an indescribable evil, when it required no less a sacrifice, to make atonement for it, than God manifested in the flesh.
Fifthly, That no man is saved through this sacrifice, but he that believes, i.e. who credits what God has spoken concerning Christ, his sacrifice, the end for which it was offered.
Sixthly, That those who believe receive a double benefit:
1. They are exempted from eternal perdition-that they may not perish.
2. They are brought to eternal glory-that they may have everlasting life.”

2. We can know God loves us because He sent His Son
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

But God commendeth his love.— "God hath set this act of infinite mercy in the most conspicuous light, so as to recommend it to the notice and admiration of all."

1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  
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. 

In this was manifested the love of God— "The mission of Jesus Christ was the fullest proof that God could give, or that man could receive, of his infinite love to the world.”

3. We can know God loves us by the testimony of the Holy Spirit in our heart
1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
John uses two different words for know. This one refers to a knowledge grounded in personal experience. I am told God loves me, and I believe it. But beyond that, I know it, I have experience of it. How?

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.  

Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts— "We have the most solid and convincing testimony of God’s love to us, by that measure of it which he has communicated to our hearts. There it is poured out, and diffused abroad; filling, quickening, and invigorating all our powers and faculties. This love is the spring of all our actions; it is the motive of our obedience; we love God because he first loved us; and we love him with a love worthy of himself, because it springs from him: it is his own; and every flame that rises from this pure and vigorous fire must be pleasing in his sight: it consumes what is unholy; refines every passion and appetite. And we know that this is the love of God; it differs widely from all that is earthly and sensual. The Holy Spirit comes with it; by His energy it is diffused and pervades every part; and by his light we discover what it is, and know the state of grace in which we stand. Thus we are furnished to every good word and work; have produced in us the mind that was in Christ; are enabled to obey the pure law of our God in its spiritual sense, by loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and our neighbor as ourselves. This is, or ought to be, the common experience of every genuine believer."

My first encounter with this love of God was the day I was born again. I had believed in Christ and called on His name at my house and was on my way to church for the evening service at First Baptist Church Donelson, TN. A song was playing on the radio, “Were You There?” The last stanza was:

“Were you there when he rose up from the dead? Sometimes it cause me to shout glory . . .”

When they got to “causes me to shout glory” the love of God was shed abroad in my heart! At that moment I knew that if I had been the only lost person on the planet, Jesus would have died for me!!

Amen and Amen!