The Unconditional Love of God | Timeless Truths – Dr. Charles Stanley

eternal

truths

a collection of classic sermons by dr.

charles

stanley

today's selection recorded in 1997 the

unconditional

love

of god if you listen to this message very carefully this is what will happen in your life you will be able to change your anxiety for a feeling of real peace your depression but genuine joy and your fear for a great sense of confidence now you can ask the question: how do you think a sermon can make such a difference in my life? Because I want to tell you not only that God

love

s you, but that I want to explain to you how God loves you and once you start to understand how God loves you things can never be the same again in fact, it could absolutely revolutionize your life and that's why I want encourage you that if you have a Bible, I will find it, I will give you a moment to find it and if you have it here with you today, of course, we want you to move in a moment to passive writing.

To start, I'm just going to read one verse, but then I'm going to read several other verses but it would be great if you had a Bible and maybe a pencil and a piece of paper to write down some things that I'm sure will be helpful to you if you listen to me. very carefully I simply want to answer a question in this message and what is that question? The question is: Does God love me

unconditional

ly? Does God love me unconditionally? We all believe that in some way he loves us or sometimes in a certain way, does he love me? unconditionally and I want you, if you want, to start with Romans chapter 5.

Romans chapter 5, which is a great chapter of Paul's description, explanation of how God has justified us and the peace we have as a result of God declaring us not guilty for the death of Jesus Christ and it says so in verse 8 a wonderful verse of scripture a great word of assurance for all of us let's listen to what he says says but god demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were sinners christ died for us not after we got better not after we got better not after we we were saved not after we made some promises not after things got a little better not after we gave up some sins not after we gave up some habits god loved us while we were still sinners in the most evil state we could be in to be in our most vile position god loved us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us which means jesus christ went to the cross motivated by his love for you in me sent by the father for his love for us in our deepest moments of darkness and sin, disobedience and rebellion, almighty god loved you and me well throughout the scriptures, there is a declaration of God's love found everywhere, so I want us to think about some of those verses.

If we can and if you remember and we all know what John 3 16 says because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life then he will remember in 1 John towards him on the back from your bible the little epistle of first john in the third chapter how this third chapter begins listen to what he says he says see how great love the father has given us so that we may be called children of god and so we are Listen and see how great love he has given us granted the father to call us children of God and so we are, and then, if you turn to the fourth chapter of that same little book, the fourth chapter and Notice what it says in verse 8.

He says that he who does not love does not know God because God is love and what he is simply saying in this passage is that here is the character of God. God's character is that he is love. the very character of god he is the god of love now many times when we think of the love of god we think of the love of god in the same way that we sometimes love other people and so what happens when we don't understand some things? It is because we do not understand the correct biblical definition, so love is not in the eyes of God, it is not an emotion that he has, although there is an emotion in it, but it is more than an emotion, it is a commitment.

Listen when God says he loves us, he is making a commitment. an expression of his commitment to our well-being, so when you say well, does God love me? You have to ask yourself this question: Does God love me unconditionally? I know he loves me, but does he love me unconditionally? You say well, now what do you do? I mean by unconditional well, if something is unconditional, that is, if love is unconditional, it has no restrictions, it has no limitations, that is, unconditional love is unlimited love, not limited, there is nothing that limits it, nothing that restrict it, it is absolutely the full flow of almighty god. poured out on you and on me limited, for example, if his love is limited, then that means there are restrictions, that means there are certain limitations and therefore when we say that God loves us and his love is unlimited for me, That means it has no restrictions.

I can't measure it it's there in all its fullness without limitations or restrictions of any kind now there are some reasons why people don't believe in God's love um they just can't believe it's unconditional one of the reasons I think it is that somehow in our thinking how we think about how we think about your love we think about how we love other people now I don't know about you, but I'll be absolutely honest with you if you ask me if I love people absolutely unconditionally, here's my answer. how much I love the Lord and as much as I want to be obedient to him and as much as I want to grow in him and I have been a Christian for a long time if I answer you honestly I will have to tell you that I have not reached that place in my spiritual growth where I can say that yes, I love everyone unconditionally no matter what I'm not there and I would like everyone who is there to hold their ground, we're just honest aren't we?

I don't know, in fact, I don't know anyone who loves absolutely unconditionally. I think sometimes in life we ​​think we love people and we love them unconditionally, but you see, the truth is we don't really know if we do. or not, because there may be some people in our lives who will test everything in us and we think, well, I'll love them anyway and yet we don't know if we really have the capacity, I mean, ultimately, if we are Under certain conditions, I mean really bad, evil and vile conditions, if we really have within us the power to love them unconditionally, I'm not saying anyone will do it, I'm just telling you that if I'm honest with myself, I can do it.

I'm not saying I love everyone unconditionally and sometimes I think Lord, sometimes it doesn't take many conditions to not love some things in life and because we all have the potential to be disobedient now, one of the reasons it's hard for us. believe is because we don't, a second reason is because it's just natural and it's a kind of natural response to security, well it's natural to love some people unconditionally and others not, in other words it's just natural, a third reason It's because I believe Sometimes we experience guilt in our life and that guilt in our life is such that we think well, how could God love me unconditionally?

When this is true in my life, sometimes it's because we simply don't feel worthy of it. uh, we think well, I am certainly not worthy of God's unconditional love, sometimes it is because of the legalistic teachings that we have heard and then of course I think about understanding that many times we do not understand the love of God, which is not something soft. emotional feeling, but it is rather a genuine personal commitment to our well-being, it is God, listen, it is God who gives himself selflessly for our good. Kindness taught us to bless ourselves, so sometimes it's a misunderstanding of the whole idea of ​​what it means and then.

Of course, I think one of the main reasons is that there seems to be a conflict in the teaching of Scripture regarding the unconditional love of God and things like divine discipline causing pain and pain and the wrath of God and his wrath and things. like hell and judgment. How the hell can you say that God loves us unconditionally and at the same time that God would spank us, discipline us, punish us? How can you say that God's love is unconditional when God when the Bible talks about God's wrath and his wrath? Can you say that God's love is unconditional if he provides judgment and that there is a hell out there for people to die and be lost for all eternity?

How can you say that? Well, what I want us to look at for a few moments is see. If we can reconcile those things well, let's take them one at a time and think in terms of that, first of all, let me say that just because they seem to be unloving, just because they seem to be unloving does not mean that they are unloving acts of God. Now let's take for example, God's divine discipline, well, let's distinguish between what discipline is and what is not punishment. Is God executing his judgment on the wicked? Discipline listens to discipline is God's correction of one of his children to protect us from further disobedience and to protect us from further harm. consequences in our life and that is why he disciplines or punishes us and must do what returns us to the center of his will for our own good and we said it now, that is divine discipline, is there a contradiction in that and saying that the love of Gods?

His selfless giving of himself taught us to be able to send blessings and goodness into our lives. Is it a contradiction to God's commitment to us that we listen to those things that are good for us? Our good will taught us. No, there is no contradiction now, it's okay. So that's probably the simplest. What's with this whole idea of ​​the wrath of God? Look at the gospel of John here again. Jesus is talking about believing and trusting in him and in the third chapter of the Gospel of John look at that, if you want. Last verse of this third chapter, verse 36, listen to what he says, he who believes in the son has eternal life, but he who does not believe that is putting his trust in him as savior, the son does not believe, the son who speaks of faith does not obey.

He will not see life but the wrath of God remains upon him now listen friend you say well now I am not a Christian you want to tell me that I am under the threat of the judgment of God I am under the threat of the wrath of God well let's read it again here is what it says He who believes in the Son, which means believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Almighty God, says that that person believes has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son, which is what he is saying, is to obey him by placing that trust in him and his death in Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins will not see the life that is eternal life but the wrath of God remains upon him he did not say that he would come and going if you have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ if you have rejected him as your savior this is what he says says my friend you are living under you are living under you are living under the threat of the wrath and judgment of god and if you die without the lord jesus christ you will experience listen you will experience the wrath of god you said now wait a minute how can god have this wrath upon me If he loves me well? there is no contradiction in the eyes of god now look at this because you see love to be true and genuine godly love is not listening you have to have love and justice mixed together god is not just a god of love and without justice if there is no justice then no there is love you see while while god says that every sin must be punished that is the will and listening that that is the law of almighty god every sin will be punished on the other hand you have the love of god and what god has said because man has sin against me and because he has lost and he has no hope in my love.

I am sending my only begotten son. He is going to die on the cross. All the sin of man will be placed on him. He has the incredible privilege of being forgiven of every solitary sin. So in God, in God. justice sin has to be punished in the love of god he himself provides what provides that punishment in the death of his son now here's the thing look at this because god loves us unconditionally and because he is a god of justice and you can't separate those two that go hand in hand you see for love to be listen for love to be genuine godly love there has to be a good and an evil simply handing out whatever I want at any time I want it is not that God loves me I may not like his restrictions I may not like what he withholds but if in his wisdom and love he does it, he does it for our good we say oh yes, I believe in romans 8 28 because god is working all things for good, Does that mean my pain yes restrictions yes limitations yes you see?

On the one hand, we can take a scripture and we love it, but then when we say it says, asking, it will be given to you, seek and you will find, God, this is what I asked for, you didn't give it to me, if you love me, you can. give it no if he held it back it's because he loves us because he loves us that's the reason he holds back some things for us that we think well god if you loved me then this is what you would do well when I think about it and I think about the The fact that that he's going to hold back some things.

You think about this, if God overlooked sin in your life and mine, let's be honest, if He just overlooked it, that wouldn't be loving us, okay, let's take it a step further, what's with this whole idea of hell? How could God love someone unconditionally and allow them to die and go to hell? Because the Bible says it is an eternal separation from God. It is the eternal separation from all that is good. So when a person diesWithout Christ, someone says, "Okay." I don't believe in hell, you know what that has nothing to do with, whether you believe in it or not, my friend, I warn you with all my heart in love, whether you believe in it or not, it's not going to make it. change the truth the horrible horrible truth that god created hell for that listen to the devil and his angels he did not create hell to send people that he created for the devil and his angels the fallen angels those who reject the lord jesus christ those who those who play god those who act like god rebel against god he says they will be eternally separated from god well how could god love people and allow that to happen? because you can't listen, you can't separate his justice from his listening from his love now look at this We have this idea that because someone is separated from God for eternity or is in that judgment, they suddenly want to repent, they want to be okay. with God, there is not a verse in Scripture to prove it, not a single step, so to speak. a Revelation chapter six here is a good example Revelation chapter 6 is an example of what is going to happen in the tribulation period those seven years after God has removed his church in those seven years there will be the last part of those seven years a terrible judgment of God when the wrath of God comes upon man not just once but in different ways and you can read the revelation from that fourth chapter on and see it, but listen to what it says now beginning in verse 12.

This is John's. He sees what God does and I watched when he broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair and the entire moon became like blood and the stars from heaven fell to the earth like a fig. The tree shed its green figs when it was shaken by a great wind and the sky was rent like a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved from its places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the Los The rich and the strong and every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us, hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne of wrath. of the lamb because the great day of that wrath has arrived and whoever is able to resist neither a verse nor a supplication god forgive us we repent of our sin we confess our sin deliver us god forgive us have mercy on us none of that why because my friend when A person dies His character is fixed Listen God in his love has offered redemption to humanity God will never tell someone I want to be saved He is going to say no There is no evidence that anyone is crying out for salvation What are they doing? heart they want to hide from their judgment because it is seen when a person dies without Christ they endure the presence of almighty god they see what god sees now let's think about this it is not true that even those of us who believe we do not say sometimes and we do not feel that we think that we think God I feel so unworthy of being saved I feel so unworthy of your forgiveness and listen we haven't even gotten to the judgment we even know we even understand that you don't deserve his grace and you deserve his goodness think about how many times God has forgiven you of your sin think about how many how many times he has erased the sorrow how many times in his grace and mercy and goodness how many times he has come to you and poured out kindness for you to make you understand God's love for you to bring you to repentance so that you return to the will of God is it not Is it true that even we feel unworthy of God's grace, goodness, love and mercy? god in heaven surely we do and we are still here living in it the unbeliever will know that he and she deserve eternal separation from god Does God stop loving them at the time of judgment or at the time of hell?

No, he doesn't know. What happens when a person dies and is eternally separated from God? There is no verse in the Bible that says God stops loving her. Let me tell you why he listens when I think about this. It's almost more than I can understand when I think about the fact. that sin on my part saddens the spirit of god it does not make him stop loving me, it saddens his heart that i would choose to sin against him when i think about the fact that god loves us to that degree this is what happens when a person dies without christ and They come back lost you know what happens you know why God still loves them you know why you know why God doesn't stop loving them because it was them listen they are eternally lost for God's purpose each of us are in the presence of God for all eternity in heaven, you know what we are going to be, it says in Ephesians chapter 2, it says that we will be like living eternally, trophies of what the grace of God, the goodness of God, the love of God. mercy on us so that every person who dies without Christ God loses a trophy that glorifies and honors him and lifts him up and exalts him all the angels in heaven will magnify and glorify and praise the father while looking at the whole world. of the saints each and every one of us get there the same way by goodness and love and mercy and grace and goodness and forgiveness almighty god says he will stop loving them no he doesn't listen or punish us for our sin neither the wrath of god nor the judgment of god nor even hell makes the love of god limited or restricted friend think about this god loves you and me so much absolutely totally unconditional does not give me license to sin motivates me to want to walk holy and obediently before my god, that he would love me enough to love me no matter what you did.