“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10).
“We love him, because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19).
“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26).
I am not sure which is the greatest verse in the Bible. It may be John 1:14 or maybe John 3:16, but probably Romans 3:26 would win out if I had to choose. God could not save us without his justice being satisfied and he must be the justifier because no one else is qualified to be the justifier.
God himself satisfied through Calvary his own justice that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. I know of no better news than the fact that God loves man! That is the best news any one will ever hear! God loves you!
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how he could love me a sinner condemned unclean
I am so glad that my father in heaven
Tells of his love in the book he has given
Wonderful things in the Bible I see
And this is the dearest that Jesus loves me
Love divine all love excelling wonderful story of love
Tell it to me again
Wonderful story of love wake the immortal strain
Angels with rapture announce it
Shepherds with wonder receive it
Sinner, oh want you believe it
Wonderful story of love
May I say again, I know of no better news than God loves you! I have no greater announcement to make as a preacher than the announcement that God loves you! I have no greater information or greater lesson as a preacher to give you then the fact that God loves you!
The creator of the universe loves you! The only Omnipotent one, Omniscient one, Omnipotent one, the mighty God, and Everlasting Father loves you. The Ancient of Days loves you. Jehovah God loves you. The Eternal God loves you. The Sustainer of all life loves you. The God of glory loves you.
The God of Heaven, the High and Holy one, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, the only true and living God, the one who parted the waters of the Red Sea, the one who dried up the water with the winds that he sent that God loves you!
The one that told time to stand still caused the sun to stand still and time was interrupted for a while and that same God loves you. Jehovah-Jireh – the Lord that will provide loves you! Jehovah-Nissi – the Lord my banner over me loves me! Jehovah – Shalom – the God of peace loves you!
Jesus loves you this I know
For the Bible tells you so
Little ones to him belong
They are weak but he is strong
Yes, Jesus loves you
God loves the wayward person outside of the will of God and wants to woo him or her back to himself.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18).
God loves the poor living in the ghettos, the mission man, the deaf, the blind, the homeless, and those facing the sunset years of life.
No wonder John wrote, “Behold what manner of love the faith hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God”. No wonder Jeremiah reminds us that God has loved us with an everlasting love which means God has always loved you. He always will love you!
There is nothing you can do to separate you from the love of God. You may go into sin, but God will still love you. You may tip the bottle to your lips, but God will still love you. You may rustle unholy skirts, but God will still love you. You may backslid and refuse to believe the Bible any more, but God will still love you.
Do you understand young person, high schooler, college student, young couple, middle age couple, and aged one God still loves you. Jeremiah said it best when he said God loves you with an everlasting love.
No wonder David said, “He hath set his love on me”. No wonder John reminds us that we can abide in his love. No wonder Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”.
Does not the Bibles say, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor heighth, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”?
No matter how high you go, deep you go, spiritual you are, unspiritual, close to God you walk, or how deep in sin you are, God loves you! No wonder Paul said nothing could separate us from the love of God.
HE FIRST LOVED US
“We love him, because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19). What does it mean, “We love him because he first loved us”? It means that God loved you before he loved anything else. He loved you before he loved anybody else.
He first loved us! He loved you before He loved the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beast of the field, Michael the Arch Angel of protection, Gabriel the Arch Angel of messengers, Seraphim’s, Cherubims, angelic host, or any living creature.
Before God loved the sun, moon, stars, waters of the sea, lilies of the field, cedars of the Lebanon, or the nation Israel he loved us.
HE FIRST LOVED US WITH THE GREATNESS OF HIS LOVE
What does that mean? It means that more than he loved the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beast of the field, Michael the Arch Angel, Gabriel the messenger Arch Angel, the Seraphim, Cherubim, angelic hosts, all living creatures God loved us more!
God love us first and God loved us most! Why, I don’t know? How could God love you and me more than Gabriel and Michael I don’t know? I do not understand it but its true.
God loves you more than the angel who came to tell Joseph to make Mary as his wife. God loves you more than the angel who came to Mary and told her she would give birth to the Christ child.
I do not understand it, but this hunk of dust held together by some moisture God loves more than he loves anything or any creature in the whole world. He first loved us before he loved these and God loves us more than these.
HE SO LOVED US
The word “so” describes the infinite! I love you “so” much the lover says! The song was “so” pretty the listener says. The sermon was “so” good the member says. The meal was “so” tasty the eater says. When God says he “so” loves us he is saying there is no vocabulary known to mankind of which I can express my love.
No words can describe it, no tongue can explain it, no song can define it, no pen can write it, no orator can speak it, no sculpture can chisel it, no artist can paint it, no philosopher can teach it, no heart can fell adequately it, no mind can imagine it, no mathematician can figure it, no theologian can comprehend it no architect can design it, no builder can build it, no seer can see it, no prophet can understand it, no soul can fathom it, and no spirit can feel his love.
Does God love me as much as a wife loves a husband? Oh much more! Does God love me as much as a husband loves a wife? Oh much more! Does God love me as much as a mother does a child? Oh much more! Does God love me as much as a father loves a child, a child loves a dad, a child loves a mom, a brother loves a sister, a sister loves a brother, or a friend loves a friend?
Add all of the loves up together a mother for a child, a father for a child, a child for a mother, a child for a father, a lover for a lover, a friend for a friend, a wife for a husband, a husband for a wife, a brother for a sister, and a sister for a brother and you will not come close to God’s love for you!
Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the sky a parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the whole contain the scroll
Though stretched from sky to sky
Congratulations God first loved you, God loved you most, and God “so” loved you!
HE GAVE HIS ALL FOR THOSE HE LOVED
God had one son the only begotten Son! Wait a minute could you give your son for anyone? God gave his all! That is how much he loves us!
God said goodbye to his only Son for you. Jesus left the glories of heaven, the praises of the angels, and the fellowship with the Father, the celestial beauty of glory, and the fellowship of the Old Testament saints, because he loved you!
Jesus left Jacob, Noah, Moses, Isaac, Abraham, Isaiah and many others because he loved you. God gave his all for you because he loved you!
God gave his only begotten Son and he was rejected by his own synagogue, expelled from his own hometown, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief because He loved you1
God gave his Son and he had no place to lay his head, he was separated from His Father for thirty-three years, or no bed, but a mountain side all because he loved you! Jesus was betrayed by one of the twelve, forsaken by the twelve, wrongly charged for you, wrongly indicted for you, tried illegally for you, and found guilty for you all because he loves you!