The Joy of God-Centered Living! Part 7 - tridm.org

The Joy of God-Centered Living! Part 7

2 Cors 13:14; 1Jn. 4:7-5:3;Jude 21

Intro -- Mike Bickle asks, "Do you seek spiritual renewal? Do you desire divine satisfaction
beyond your greatest imaginations? Then focus on two things: (1) Focus on the intimate
knowledge of God's beauty, or what God looks like. (2) Focus on what we look like to God in
Christ!"

Henry Scougal declared that, "The worth of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love."

For this reason, we must understand that the God we behold is the God we become like. If we
want to experience the maximum pleasure of life, then we must have as the object of our love the
greatest, most worthy Treasure -- the Three-in-One God of the Bible. If we are to be delivered
from our self-centered, self-destructive living, into a life of joy, peace, pleasure, purpose, and
power, then we must become God-centered in our thinking, in our talking, in our training, in all
our traits.

God-centered living requires that we believe that the God of the Bible is a Spirit Being that is
Completely Righteous, Inexhaustibly Powerful, Absolutely Truth, Eternally Unchangeable,
Gloriously Holy, Infallibly Wise, Infinitely Loving and Personally Joyful!

Living on the God who is Infinitely Loving!

Professor Karl Barth, a world-renowned theologian was asked by a student what he considered to
be the most significant theological truth that he had ever learned. His answer was, “Jesus loves
me. This I know; for the Bible tells me so.”

Unfortunately, many today talk about the love of God, who are total strangers to the God of love.

Modern man's concepts of love are largely defined and formed by Hollywood and Madison
Avenue. If this premise is true, then every mention of the word "love" is filtered through this
mindset. Thus, when the typical American is told that God is love or that God loves them, they
picture God as being a warm, sentimental, slushy, emotional Being that tolerates everything,
wishes everyone well, and never punishes anyone. They assume that if God loves them then a
"get-off-easy" "everything-is-going-to-be-all-right" type of relationship must exist between God
and themselves. Because of this distorted understanding of the meaning of the word "love", we
must allow God's Word and not Hollywood or Webster's Dictionary to define its meaning.

I. Love Exists Eternally in God -- 1 Jn. 4:7,16

Carl F.H. Henry says that, "love is not accidental or incidental to God; it is an essential
revelation of the divine nature, a fundamental and eternal perfection."

A. God is Love, but Love is not God!

Professor Wuest, in commenting on the phrase "God is love" said, "God is not an abstraction.
The word "God" has the article; the word "love" does not, which construction in Greek means
that the two words are not interchangeable. The absence of the article emphasizes nature,
essence, and character. The translation should read `God as to His nature is love.' That is, God is
a loving God."

Before John declares in his first letter that God is love, he reveals two other truths concerning
God's person. I John 1:5 reveals that God is light and I John 3:7 declares that God is righteous.
Thus we deduce that God's love is pure and absolutely holy. Any sentimental notions of His love
as being an indulgent, benevolent softness, divorced from moral standards and concerns are ruled
out from the outset. No person has any basis for taking comfort in God's love while they are
knowingly, willfully, and defiantly breaking God's law. His holy law, issuing forth from His
loving nature, is a precise revelation of His perfect will.

To declare that „God is love‟ is clearly intended to go further than the proposition „God loves us.'
To say “God is love” implies that all His activity is loving activity. When God creates, He
creates in love; He rules in love; He judges in love. All that He does is the expression of His
nature, which is to love."

B. God's Love is Eternal

Though the Bible uses the word love as a noun, its primary function is that of a verb. The Bible
is more concerned about what love does than what love is. We tend to think of love more as a
noun than a verb. It's something that happens to us and we just get the can't-help-its when it hits
us.

If the word love is used basically as a verb, then God loved before there was anything else to
love! How and whom did he love? He loved Himself in the image of His Son, by the Power of
Holy Spirit! There has always been a Lover, the Beloved, and Love -- Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit!

Love of God is of Him, for Him and unto Him!

The object of God's love is first and foremost Himself! The Triune God loves Himself as the
highest possible object of His loving. The three persons of the blessed Trinity-Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, are united in the bond of perfection and live the life of infinitely perfect love. The
Father loves the Son (John 3:35) and the Son would have the world know that He loves the
Father (John 14:31), and the Spirit proceeding from both Father and Son envelops and embraces
them.

Paul K. Jewett writes: "Beyond the love of John 3:16 is the eternal love that God is in himself.
Before all worlds [ages] he is the Father who loves the Son (John 3:35) and the Son who loves
the Father -- in the Spirit. God, then, from all eternity, is the One-who-is-for-Others in
Himself; that is, He is a Trinity of holy love. And as such He reveals Himself. In creation, He

becomes the One-who-is-for-others-outside-Himself, namely, His creatures. In redemption, He
becomes the One-who-is-for-sinful-others, namely, His people whom He restores to fellowship
with Himself.

Out of the overflow of this infinite, passionate love relationship flowed the design to create and
then to redeem you and me. We were loved before time. Listen to Jer.31: 3, "The LORD has
appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with
lovingkindness I have drawn you." Ephs.1: 4, "...just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love," God
loved us before we were a historical person on earth. After we were born, He loved us when
there was nothing good to be seen in us and nothing good to be said for us.

Listen at the most mind-boggling truth in the universe: Before my mother knew I was in her
womb, I was on our Heavenly Father's heart! Before she ever held me close and gave me a
name, I was loved of God and my name was written in the Lamb's book of Life. Before I was
baby in my Mother's womb, I was a son in my Heavenly Father's heart! Before I was a
probability to my parents, I was a reality to God; before I had physical life, I had eternal
love!"

C. God's Love is Comprised Essentially of these Traits:

(1) Goodness (Benevolence) -- This is God's concern, His unselfish interest for the welfare

of all His creation. Exo 34:6, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The
LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and
truth," -- Psa 145:9, "The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works."-
- Mat 5:45, "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the
evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

(2) Graciousness (Grace) -- This is God's special favor in the face of all our demerits. Exo

34:6, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,"-- Psa 103:8, "The LORD is
merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy."-- Psa 145:8, "The LORD is
gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy."

(3) Loving-kindness (Mercy) -- This is God's tenderhearted, loving compassion for us in

our misery and fallenness. Psa 36:7 how precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the
children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. -- Psa 69:16 hear me, O LORD,
for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
-- Psa 103:4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and
tender mercies, -- Jer 9:24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows
Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight," says the LORD. --

(4) Faithfulness (Persistence) -- This is God's covenant loyalty, a patient love that will not

let us go, that withholds judgment over long periods in order to show mercy. Psa 89:1 I will sing
of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all

generations. Psa 89:2 For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You
shall establish in the very heavens." -- Psa 89:33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not
utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. -- Lam 3:22 Through the Lord's mercies
we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. Lam 3:23 they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.

These words were found scribbled on the walls of a mental institution, but the person wasn't
certainly wasn't insane who wrote them:

"Could we with ink the oceans fill,
And were the skies of 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 oceans dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky!"

II. Love is Exhibited Historically in Christ -- 4:9-10

Definition --"God's love is an exercise of his goodness towards individual sinners whereby,
having identified Himself with their welfare, He has given His Son to be their Savior, and now
brings them to know and enjoy Him in a covenant relation."(J.I. Packer)

Dudley Hall --"God's love is that essence of life that gives without regard to cost to meet the
actual needs of another, asking nothing in return!"

"Agape love is a deliberate desire for the highest good of the one loved, which shows itself in
sacrificial action for that person's good."

A. The actual, historical and geographical depiction of God's love reached its
apex at Calvary

Because love is more a verb than a noun, Sidlow Baxter writes, "The love of God is the highest
mountain of Biblical revelation. Everything else is climbing up to it. Our Lord Jesus is the
peak expression of it. The cross is the intense focal point of it. The redemption of man is the
extraordinary demonstration of it. The gospel is the magnanimous out-flowing of it."

I John 4:9, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."

When God would show His power, He makes a world. When God would show His wisdom, He
puts the world in a frame and form with a backdrop of vastness that staggers mortal minds. When
God would manifest the grandeur and glory of His name, He makes a heaven and puts angels and

archangels in it. When God would manifest His love, He becomes a man. He then permits men,
whom He had created, to chop down a tree that he had also created, and nail Him to it.

On the cross, God suffered as man, for man, with man!

"O amazing gift to ponder, He whom angels host attend. Lord of Heaven God's Son what
wonder, He became the sinner's friend. O glorious gift of Christ my Lord divine that made
Him stoop to save a soul like mind. My song will silence never, I'll worship Him forever, and
praise Him for His glorious love and praise Him for His glorious love."

B. The Love of God Satisfies the Wrath of God -- 1 Jn. 4:10

The word "propitiation" means that the wrath of God must be satisfied in order for the sinner to
be justified and forgiven. In the OT we read often that God is “slow to anger” and then the
passage goes on to refer to his unfailing love. “Slow to anger” does not mean “never angry”; it
means that God is not irascible, that his wrath is not easily aroused. But God‟s wrath is real, and
it is taken seriously throughout the Scriptures. But His love is also real, and it receives the
emphasis. The wrath is but the other side of the love. As H. H. Rowley puts it, “The wrath of
God and his love are not to be set over against one another. His wrath was the expression of
his love, no less than his justice was. For love is not soft indulgence; nor is the wrath of God a
display of temper.”

J. N. Schofield: “The love of God that ceaselessly works to save sinners is ruthlessly active to
destroy evil from the world he loves. If we identify ourselves with evil, his love must become
for us the wrath of God and destroy us. There is nothing capricious about his destructive
wrath. It is so terrible because it is the other side of his love, and it is as great as his love."

III. Love is Experienced Perfectly in Christ -- 1 Jn. 4:18

The Love of God is for us and to us in order that it may be in us and then flow through us
to others!

Herb Hodges says, notice this happy coincidence from Jn. 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”

Love is a combination of two impulses: to give itself for the other, and to have the other for
itself. Perfect love is the proper balance between those two impulses: to give and to share for the
other, and to have and hold for itself.

John 3:16 is without a doubt one of the greatest, if not the greatest verse in the Bible. But today
we view it mathematically and say God's love must be something else to love so many persons.
Thus we make the verse man-centered instead of God-centered! The verse isn't about quantity of
God's love but about it's quality.

Dr. Joe Morecraft in commenting on this verse said, "If John 3:16 is saying "see how big God's
love is that it is big enough to embrace everybody who has ever lived", then John 3:16 is
saying nothing. It would be like saying - "come, see the world's strongest man as he strains
every muscle in big body to show his great strength by reaching over and picking up a
toothpick!" The world's strongest man has not proven his excellent strength by picking up a
toothpick, nor has the infinite God exhibited His infinite love by loving something as small as a
speck of sand. The emphasis is not on the QUANTITY of God's love, it is on the QUALITY of
God's love. God loved the world so..." It is not how many people God loves, but how God loves
sinners. God's love is of such a kind that it is able to embrace mankind in rebellion against
God and undeserving of anything good from Him.

Do not ever interpret John 3:16 in such a way that it takes the greatness of God out of the
center and focuses on the greatness of the world. Do not interpret it in such a way that it limits
the greatness, power, and glory of God's infinite love by diluting it down into some kind of
harmless and helpless sentimentality rather than powerful transforming love. Do not interpret it
in such a way as to make a person continuing in his sins comfortable and peacefully assured of
the love of God for him.

Yes, God has a love of benevolence and patience with the world, but His Perfect love is found
only in Christ. Those who are not in Christ have neither appreciation nor aspiration to believe
and experience the love that God is in His essential being. God's love is not a public spectacle
that everyone can see and know. One must have grace to know and see God's love. Many saw
the cross, but they saw no manifestation of love. Apart from the work of the Spirit, like the many
who witnessed Calvary, men see no manifestation of love.

Illustration --John 3:16: In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in.
A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner; the people were in and out of the cold. The
little boy was so cold that he wasn‟t trying to sell many papers. He walked up to a policeman and
said, “Mister, you wouldn’t happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep
tonight would you?

You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it‟s awful cold in
there, at night. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay.”

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, “You go down the street to that big white
house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16 and they
will let you in.”

So he did, he walked up the steps to the door, and knocked on the door and a lady answered. He
looked up and said, “John 3:16.”

The lady said, “Come on in, Son.” She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker
in front of a great big old fireplace and she went off. He sat there for a while, and thought to
himself “John 3:16.... I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.”

Later she came back and asked him “Are you hungry?”

He said, “Well, just a little. I haven‟t eaten in a couple of days and I guess I could stand a little
bit of food.”

The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and
ate until he couldn‟t eat any more. Then he thought to himself “John 3:16... Boy, I sure don’t
understand it, but it sure makes a hungry boy full.”

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water and he sat there
and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself, “John 3:16... I sure don’t
understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I‟ve not had a bath, a real bath, in
my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as
they flushed it out.”

The lady came in and got him, and took him to a room and tucked him into a big old feather bed
and pulled the covers up around his neck and kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As
he laid in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night
he thought to himself, “John 3:16... I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a tired boy rested.”

The next morning she came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food.
After he ate she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace
and she took a big old Bible and sat down in front of him and she looked up at and she asked,
“Do you understand John 3:16?”

He said, “No, Ma‟am, I don‟t. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman
told me to use it.”

She opened the Bible to John 3:16, and she began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there in
front of that big old fireplace he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought, “John
3:16. I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.”

You know, I have to confess I don‟t understand it either, how God would be willing to send His
Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don‟t understand it either, but
it sure does make life worth living.