His Love, Part 2

Turn with you in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. If you were with us last week, we looked how Love is proclaimed in the scriptures. God's love is proclaimed in the scriptures. And then we looked about how God's love is portrayed in the scriptures. How did Christ actually portray his love by making it visible, by making it beneficial, by helping us understand that it was sacrificial? That it was volitional and that it was something that only he could do. And therefore, he demonstrates to us, portrays to us, exactly what our love is to be as we Demonstrate his love to other people.

Tonight, we want to talk about how that love is personalized. How do we personalize God's love in our life? And then how do we practice? God's love. After we understand the love of God, what does it mean to me? How does it change my life? How does it make me act different toward other people? And we'll talk a little bit about that. But in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul gives one of his great prayers to those at Ephesus that they might somehow understand. The magnitude of God's love. Listen to what he says, verse number 14.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And that you may, you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth. and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Paul was concerned that those at Ephesus would really be captivated by the love of God and that their love for him then would even overflow. In obedience as they would serve their God. And tonight, as we look at God's love personalized, I want to ask you: do you know The height of God's love.

Do you know the depth of His love? The length of His love? Do you understand how long His love really is? How far-reaching it is. That's what Paul prayed for those in Ephesus, and we should pray for it for ourselves, that we might somehow understand, first of all.

A love which is wide enough to eclipse infinity. That's the breadth of God's love. God's love is wide enough to eclipse Infinity. Think about that with me for a moment. God's love is far-reaching. It's amazing, the breadth of God's love. I'm afraid that most of us don't really grasp how wide God's love is. Over in Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 4, it's called a great love, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love. with which he loved us. It defies all measurements. God's love has no limits.

See? So we must somehow understand that the love of God will eclipse infinity. Because it is a great love, and our God is an infinite God. We read it last week, F. M. Lehm, when he said, Could we with ink the ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment made? Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scri by trade? To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretch from sky to sky. God's love is broad enough to take you in, to take me in.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God loved the rich young ruler. God loved the woman in adultery. God loved Zacchaeus. God loved Judas. God loved the priests who would judge him. God loved the crowd who would crucify him. God loves his enemies. God loves everyone because our God is a God of love. It's wide enough to eclipse infinity. Number two, it's long enough to encompass eternity.

It's long enough to encompass. Eternity. That's the length of God's love. When did it start? Well, it had no beginning because it always existed. Why? Because God him is infinite. God had no beginning. God just always was and is and ever will be. Therefore, because God is love, his love always was and is and ever will be. Jeremiah 31 3 I have loved you with an everlasting love he loved us before we were ever known he loved us before we were ever made he loved us with an everlasting love Over in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, it says this, Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to him according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory. His grace. Last week we talked about John 13, verse number 1, where it says, Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. He loved them to the end of their wandering. He loved them to the end of their waywardness. Over in Romans chapter 8, verse number 35, it says this, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or pearl, or sword?

Just as it is written, For thy sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life Nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Our Lord. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

It's a love, as we've seen in the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, that's wide enough to eclipse. Infinity. It's long enough to encompass eternity. And number three, it's high enough to evidence de.

God's love is high enough to evidence deity. It says over in Philippians chapter 2, verse number 8, that Jesus Christ Himself was humbled and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of God. Of the cross. Immanuel meaning God with us. God dwelt among man that we might understand the tr. His love. It was James Irwin, the commander of Apollo 15, said that he never felt closer to God than on his space flight. He shares that while walking on the moon, the thought came to him that this was the greatest event in history.

That man walking on the moon was the most greatest thing that ever happened. But then, as he was thinking about it, it's almost as if the Lord spoke to him and said, No. I did something greater. I walked on earth. And that was a greater thing. God walking on earth is much greater than man walking on the moon. Psalm 103, verse number 11 says, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. That's a great love. John 1:1, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.

The glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Colossians 2. 9, For in him dwelt all the photos of the Godhead bodily. God came to us to show us his love. A love high enough to evidence deity. And fourthly, a love deep enough to embrace. humanity a love deep enough to embrace humanity the love of God reaches down to us Psalm 103 verse number four says he redeems your life From the pit. No matter how deep our life is, God would reach down and redeem our lives. He came. He came from the wealth of glory to enter the womb of a girl.

To walk the streets of Galilee, to weep in a garden called Gethsemane, to be whipped in a judgment hall. called Gabbatha, to be wounded on a hill called Gal, to be welcomed back again into glory. That's our God. That demonstrates his love. It is deep enough to embrace humanity. When God came to earth, he demonstrated the magnitude of his love for mankind. Read 1 Corinthians 6, verse number 19, about the adulterers and the fornicators and the effeminate people, the people who are swindlers and drunkards and covetous and thieves.

Those are the kind of people that the love of God reaches down and saves and turns our lives around because that's the kind of God we ser Over in Romans chapter 5, verse number 8, that God demonstrated his love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For us. 1 John 3:1, we talked about it last week. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. That's the love of God. Have you been able to personalize that love? Have you been able to feel the love of God in your life because the Spirit of God has touched your soul?

Do you understand the height, the length, and the depth of God's love? The breadth of his love, how far-reaching it is, how He would come down to save a sinner such as you and me. We need to understand the love of God. We need to realize what Jesus Christ has done for us. When we do, then we can begin to put into practice that love so that other people can see the love of God through our lives. And that's point number four: love, practice. How do we practice the love of God? If God loves us and we ought to love Him, how do we practice that love?

Turn with me over to Mark chapter 12 for a moment. Mark chapter 12. As you recall, Christ, toward the end of his ministry, was questioned on this day three different times. And these quest end his earthly ministry of being attacked by the scribes and Pharisees. They ask him no more questions after this last question in Mark chapter 12. It's probably the most important question. It says this, verse number 28. And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the foremost of all?

And Jesus answered, The foremost is here, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these. The last question asked of Christ in his earthly ministry centered around man's spiritual priority, and that was, he was to love God. And upon loving God, then he in turn then could love other people. But first, he had to love God.

Let me ask you a question. Do you love God? You say, well, yeah, sure, I love God. I feel good about my relationship with God. But do you love God? Do you really love God? You see, Paul was a man who really was in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when he would pray in Ephesians that these people somehow would grasp the love of God, he was sincere. The sad thing about that is they didn't. That's the sad thing. We'll look at that in a moment.

He wanted them to understand the magnitude of God's love, it would change their lifestyle. It would do everything about do everything for them that needed to happen that they would live a life pleasing to God. Paul would say this in 1 Corinthians 16, verse number 22: If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Wow. If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Now, the word he uses there in 1 Corinthians 16, 2 is the word ph, which means tender affection. So God is looking for a minimal amount of affection on our part toward him.

His a man Agap'o, the Lord, let him be accursed. That is, to love with an uncond, volitional aspect where you are giving totally of yourself. He didn't say that. He used the word phile, which means tender affection. And God says, I just want you to be affectionate toward me.

That 's all I ask. If I can get that from you, we're on the right road. And Paul says, if you're not that way toward the Lord, then you need to be accursed. That's an amazing statement. We need to understand the love of God. True love for God is always, and I reiterate, always demonstrated in obedience to God, no matter what he asks you to do. Martin Lloyd-Jones listed ten simple practical ways of knowing whether or not we love God in his book entitled The Love of God. He said this, is there a loss of the sense that God is against me?

If so, then you know about God's love. Two, is there a loss of craven fear of God and a corresponding increase in godly fear? If so Then you begin to understand the love of God. Do I sense the love of God for me? Do I know that my sins are forgiven? Do I have a sense of gratitude to God? Do I have an increasing hatred for sin? Do I desire to please God and live a holy life? Is there a desire to know God better and draw near to him? Is there a conscious regret that my love for him is l than what it ought to be?

Is there a sense of delight in hearing about God and the things of God? Those are good questions. Suppose you fail the test. How can you know the love of God? Martin Lloyd-Jones says this. You need not start traveling the mystic way. You need not try to work up feelings. There was only one thing for you to do. Face God, see yourself in your sin, and see Christ as your Savior. Pretty good advice. If we're going to practice the love of God, then first of all, we have to love God.

That'll love God. Do you love Him? If He asked you, Do you love me? What would you say? Now, He knows your heart, right? He knew Peter's heart. He was omniscient. He knew what was really inside of Peter's heart and soul and mind. He knows what's in yours as well, doesn't he? Do you love him? Number two: not only do you love God, but you love the brethren.

You love the brethren. If you're going to practice his love, then not only will you love God, but you're going to love your fellow man. Over in 1 John chapter 4, verse number 8. It says this: The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Verse number 10, and this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for Our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Chapter 3, verse number 14, reads as follows: We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren.

How much clearer can you be? John says, do you want to know a true Christian? You know someone who passes out of death into life? He loves his fellow brother. He has concern for his fellow brother. It was Martin Lloyd-Jones who said this. John does not put this merely as an exhortation. He puts it in such a way that it becomes a desperately serious matter. And I almost tremble as I proclaim this doctrine. There are people who are unloving, unkind, always criticizing, whispering, backbiting, pleased when they hear something about another Christian.

Oh, my heart grieves and bleeds for them as I think of them. They are pronouncing and proclaiming that they are not born of God. They are outside the life of God. And I repeat, there is no hope for such people unless they repent and turn to Him. He's very clear. These people who are the church who go around slandering other people, tearing them down, using their tongue to destroy their lives, John says. You don't love your brother. You don't love God. Christ said, Well, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, because you have loved one to another.

That's how they're going to know. It's going be evident. Love God. Love the brethren. Number three, love truth.

Love truth. It says over in Psalm. 119 verse number 97 oh how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the embodiment of truth. If we're going to practice his love, not only will we love God and love our fellow men, but we going to love truth. It says in Psalm 119, verse number 127, Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. Psalm 119, 16 says this, I rejoice at thy word as one who finds great spoil. I hate and despise falsehood.

Psalm 119, verse number 165. Those who love thy law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. Do you love the law of God? So important. Are you concerned about the law of God, the truth of God? Now, listen very carefully. If you say you love God, and you say you love the law of God, and you say you love your brother, listen very carefully. You will always confront your brother when he falls or she falls into sin. Always. We must understand what God has called us to do. Do you think that God in His love refused to confront those in sin?

Not at all. He did. He always confronted the sinful environment, the sinful person. He always dealt with it because that's what love does. L doesn't just gloss over it and say, it's all right. Don 't worry about it. It's not a big deal. Love does cover a multitude of sins. It does do that. It does do it because it goes after that person and it puts a sin aside, it loves that person, but it doesn't let that person live in sin. Because he knows that to live in sin and camp out with the devil will only destroy the person's life.

You don't want your brother destroyed. You don't want your brother walking away from God. You don't want your brother living in sin. You want him falling the Lord God. You want him on fire for God. So you go to your brother in love. And you deal with them. You love truth? You love your brother? You love God? Fourthly, do you love righteousness? Do you love righteousness? Remember Jeremiah 9: and 24? God says, I delight in these things.

What's that? Loving kind, just, and righteousness. You know, as husbands, we delight in the things our wives delight in. We might not at first.

You know, my wife, when we got married, my wife loves to shop. I mean, my wife's a shopper, boy. She could shop better than anybody I know. She could find bargains quicker than anybody I know. She loves to shop. Well, when we got married, I didn like to shop. I hated shop. You know, women shop, and men, they hunt. You know, they go to the mall and they go to the store and they tackle what they want and they wrestle it to the ground and walk out with it. But not women, boy, they go in and look at this and yeah, that's okay.

No, that's all right, you know. They love to shop. Well, my wife delights in shopping. I love my wife. I learned to delight in the things she delights in. We love God. We learn to delight in the things that He delights in. Loving kind, justice, and righteousness. So you're going to love righteousness. You 're going to love doing the right things. And last, You love your enemies. You love your enemies. Matthew 5:4, you have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies.

You love your enemies? Do you have any enemies? I'm sure you do. There's somebody who doesn't like you. There's probably somebody who hates you. The Bible says woe to the man or woe if all men speak well of you.

So hopefully not everybody speaks well of you. Okay? So there is probably somebody out there that is your enemy. Maybe your enemy is in your own household. There's a lot of families like that. See, this is what's really good about husbands and wives who can't get along. God says, Love your enemies.

See, I don love my wife. Doesn make a difference. Love your enemies. I hate my wife. Love your enemies. So, if a man hates his wife, all he has to do is obey the command of God: love your enemies. See, we think we can get around that. I don't love my wife anymore. She didn't love me. So we can separate and move on now.

Can't get around it. If your wife hates your guts, your husband hates your guts, man, you to love them because they're your enemy. That's what the Bible says.

And if you love God, and the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts, did not God love his enemies? Did I pray for those on the cross? Father, as you hung on the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Oh, he loved them all the way to the end. That's our God, that's the way we should be. We should be a church, a people, filled with the love of God. Christ didn't say You know, you got to live the way your enemies live to love them. He didn't say that. He didn't say that you got to love their methods or defend their ways.

He said that true love passes the ability to see beyond the outside. To see what's on the inside, true love focuses on the soul, it sees the need and sets compassion at work. I wonder how you see Jesus. Do you see him as society depicts him, or do you see him as the scriptures describe him? There's a big difference. We tr that as we close out talking about the attributes of God Then, our only response is to number one, fear him, and number two, worship him.

And we'll talk about that in weeks to come.