Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS, USA

Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.

The love of God for sinners is a love which is beyond our full comprehension in this life. The measure of love is always its willingness to give and its capacity to sacrifice. This is certainly true of the love of God. He who had been the daily delight of the Father is given as the satisfaction for our sin. Such is the oneness of the Father and the Son that in giving the Son, the Father gave Himself; for “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (II Cor. 5:10). The Son was not simply the agent through whom God would send the message that He loved us. He is Emmanuel (God with us) (Matt. 1:23); God manifesting His love to us by dying for us (Rom. 5:8). No wonder John says, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.” (I John 3:1).

First, God’s love was unmerited. John says it was bestowed; it was given to us. We were God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10); we had offended God’s holiness; we had transgressed God’s law (I John 3:4); we had sinned against God and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3 10-12; 3:23). We deserved God’s wrath and condemnation. However, the Scripture declares something exceedingly wonderful: “But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins has God made alive together with Christ” (by grace ye are saved) (Eph. 2:4-5). He put our sin upon Christ and He bore our sins willingly in his own body (I Peter 2:24).

Second, God’s love was measureless. Paul prayed that the Ephesians might “be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breath, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge...” (Eph. 3:18-19). God’s love is as high, as broad, as deep as God Himself. It is truly measureless.

Third, God’s love was unlimited. Jesus said, “As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you” (John 15:9). Jesus prayed again in John 17:23 “that the world may know that Thou has sent me, and hast loved them, as Thou has loved me”. What kind of love did the Father and the Son have for each other? It was unlimited because it was without beginning or end; it was an everlasting love (Jer. 33:3). Were there any reservations in the Father’s love for the Son or the Son’s love for the Father? No. Paul reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. There are no limits on God’s love for His people (Rom. 8:35-39).

Fourth, it was an unchanging love because Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). John writes in Revelation 1:5, “He loveth us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood”. The verb ‘loveth’ in 1:05 is in the present tense, meaning that His love will never change, that it will always be the same.

Fifth, it was an unearthly love because it was not natural to this earth. That one would love the unlovely is a concept that has its origin in God. I John 4:9-10 says, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.

Sixth, it was a personal love. Sometimes we talk about a “plan of salvation”, but what we really have is a “Man of salvation”. God’s love is as broad as the world for the Scriptures say , “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”.

And yet, God’s love is as wide as the world and as particular as one person who needs a Saviour. All who believe in Christ, whatever their status, rich or poor, educated or uneducated; whatever their race, black, white, or yellow, will find a full redemption.

This love has a tremendous effect upon us. It gives us confidence. Christ’s righteousness is the basis of our acceptance with God, and it will never lose its power or merit. It gives us dignity because “now are we the Sons of God”. He has made us one of His own; we are children of the King. It gives us hope and a secure future, as “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:3). There is a desire to please the One who bought us with His own blood. Paul adds, “The love of Christ constraineth us”. That is, it moves us to become ambassadors for Him (II Cor. 5:20). God’s love gives us standing. Now are we the sons of God. We are justified and have passed from death unto life (John 5:24).

God’s love provides us with everything we need. A settled past is ours because our sins have been covered and forgiven. A satisfied present is ours because we are now a child of God, who is redeemed, accepted, sealed, protected and directed. We have a secure future, because one day we’ll have new bodies not subject to decay or weakness. We will be forever delivered from the power of sin, and we will be forever with Jesus. Such love demands our souls, our lives, and our all. To God be the glory!