UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
(Romans Bible Study Series Tape Ten)
Recommended reading - Romans 5:6-10.
The great God has an unconditional love for all mankind.
Once we have accepted Jesus Christ, God looks at us in the same manner as
He looks at His Son. God said that He was well pleased with His Son; He
says the same thing to us. In His Son, we ultimately have peace with the
Father. We can call God, Abba Father. We have access to the grace and
power of God. We can resist temptation and behave as the very children of
God. We have the power which the unbeliever does not have. The power and
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through our Lord Jesus
Christ. The message of the love of God in our hearts is so radical,
revolutionary, and unlike any human experience that we have ever had.
I. The love of God is unlike human love.
· Human love is
egocentric and is always self-centered.
· Paul explains
God's love by contrasting it with human love.
· The two types
of love are opposite.
· The New
Testament writers described the love of God with a word that was very
obscure, in the Greek language. The writers gave the word a meaning that
is derived from the cross of Christ. The writers used the word Agape to
describe the love of God.
II. It is important to understand and comprehend the love of God.
· Paul deals with
this issue in Ephesians 3:14-19. The Ephesians were discouraged
because Paul was imprisoned. Paul was not just teaching them academic,
and historical knowledge about Jesus Christ; Paul wanted them to have
more than a head knowledge.
· The only way
for your faith to be strong, and to have Christ dwell in you
permanently, is to be rooted and grounded in the love of God. We are to
have deep roots and a strong foundation.
· The knowledge
of the love of God cannot be weak; if it is, we will never withstand
crisis.
· We cannot come
to the knowledge of the love of God simply by human reasoning. When our
hearts are filled with the love of God, we are filled with the fullness
of God.
· Paul wants us
to understand this love for two reasons.
1.) Once we understand the love of God, then and
only then, can we fully understand justification by faith.
2.) Paul wants the same love shed abroad, that the
world may see the love, through the Ecclesia of God.
III. There are four terms that we will study while focusing on the
love of God.
· Two of those
terms are found in Romans 5:6. First, when we were
"without strength". The Greek word means helpless. We are
incapable of saving ourselves. We must come to this knowledge and
understanding that we are totally helpless. Secondly, Christ died
for the "ungodly". Paul shows that God's love is in complete
contradiction with human love. Christ died for the helpless and the
ungodly.
· In Romans
5:7, Paul describes the ultimate expression of human love. We can
see the contrast to the beautiful love of God. Jesus did not die for
someone good; He died for the ungodly.
· The third term
to notice is in Romans 5:8, while we were still
"sinners". God does not say if you are good, I will die for
you. He died for sinners.
· God died for us
while we were helpless, ungodly, and sinners. God loves us
unconditionally.
· Paul now states
in Romans 5:9, we have been justified. We are justified legally
before God. We have all violated the law of God. Our nature is contrary
to the beautiful, wonderful, just Law of God. We have been justified in
the death of Christ. Christ's death and burial had to do with our
justification and forgiveness. His resurrection shows that we can have
eternal life. We should not doubt the love of God.
· Paul discusses
the fourth term in Romans 5:10, we were
"enemies". We were helpless, ungodly, and sinners. Now, it is
even worse, we were enemies of God. While all of that was going on, we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
IV. God did not leave His Son in the grave.
· Jesus was
helpless, He gave His will completely over to the will of the Father.
Jesus prayed, not my will but your will. The will of Jesus, as a human
being, was to save Himself. Jesus did not want to experience the shame,
the death, the disgrace, and the pain. He did not want to feel the total
and complete curse of being cut off from God eternally. Christ,
with all of that still said, "Not my will but your will be
done."
· How can we
distrust a Savior with so much love? How can we distrust a Father, a
God, that loved all of His children enough to provide such a sacrifice
as this?
· We must
understand that we will be saved because of Christ's life and
resurrection.
· God sent His
Son, not to condemn us, but to save us. The Son had the same desire;
together they saved us.
· Paul is saying,
this is the love God has for us. The same love that God has is the love
that God, through the Holy Spirit, will pour into our hearts as is
explained in Romans 5:5. God has offered us complete repentance,
which is the change of life, and the turn from our will to the will of
God.
V. The love of God is poured into our hearts.
· This love
should affect us in two ways.
1.) We have a God who loves us unconditionally.
Human love differentiates from the love of God. Human love is
conditional, changeable, and self- seeking. God's love is
unconditional, unchangeable, and self-giving. Christ had the
opportunity to choose himself or the world (fallen humanity). Christ
chose fallen humanity.
2.) The love should be shed abroad. All should
see this love. Paul is teaching what Jesus taught in the sermon on
the mount. Christ contrasts Godly and human love in Matthew 5:43-48.
The ability to love our enemies comes only through the Holy Spirit
living in us.
· The next time
we are blessed, don't get the idea that we are good. We are blessed
because God is love.
· We must love
unconditionally, as God loves. In John 13:34, Jesus is talking to
His disciples about love. The word new in this scripture does not mean
brand new. The Greek word means a renewed commandment. The commandment
had already been given in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. The Jews had
perverted the love of God. Christ is now saying that he is renewing the
commandment to love each other. The new part is, we are to love as
Christ loved us.
VI. We cannot generate Agape love.
· The love of God
is a gift. I Corinthians 13, deals with the spiritual gift of
Agape love. It is the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit. The love of God
will give us boldness in the day of judgment as stated in I John
4:17-18. The love of God gives us peace, boldness, and assurance in
the day of judgment.
· This is given
to us not because we are good, or if our performance is up to par, it is
because we will be as Christ is.
VII. The love of God cannot be perfected if we are insecure about
our salvation.
· A Christian is
not afraid of death because we are guaranteed life. A Christian who has
accepted and who is justified by faith, has passed from death to life as
stated in John 5:24.
· The love of God
in us shows that we are of God, I John 4:7-12. Christian love is
not the means of justification, it is the evidence of justification by
faith.
· The standard of
righteousness is the ten commandments. It defines righteousness and
love. The problem is that for us to keep the ten commandments, we need
an ingredient. The ingredient is Agape. Jesus makes this clear in Matthew
22:35-40. In I John 3:23, we see two things that are required
of us. First, we must believe on the name of Jesus Christ. That belief
is how we keep the first four commandments. The basis in keeping the
first four commandments is faith. If I have faith, I will only have one
God; I will rest in the lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ. If you are
keeping the Sabbath without faith, you are not keeping the Sabbath
according to the commandments. The only way to keep the first four
commandments is by faith.
· God gives us
agape that it may go out to others. That is why Paul can say that all
the law is fulfilled when you love one another. When the world sees this
they will say, now we know that the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation.
The world needs to see, not how good we are or how much
we know, it needs to see the love of God shed abroad through the Holy
Spirit. The greatest fruit of justification by faith, that the world needs
to see, is not raising of our hands and saying praise the Lord I am saved.
The world doesn't want to know that you are saved; what the world needs to
see is that you do have the love of God. The only way they can know God is
through His body, the Ecclesia. The gospel should transform us. The world
should see the love of God. When this has then happened the work will be
finished. The world will be lightened with the glory of God, and the end
will come. May God bless us to not only know God's truth, but that we will
exemplify, display, and magnify God and His Son Jesus Christ! This can
only be done by totally surrendering to Him and allowing His incredible
love to flow from Him, through us, and out to others. |
Unconditional Love 