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THE GREATEST LOVE

By George W. Sinquefield

(John 3:16 KJV) "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."

        The greatest love this world has ever known is God's love for lost sinners. The word "love" in this verse is the word "Agape" and it means the God-kind of love. It is unselfish, sacrificial love.

       Dr. Ray Robbins, professor at our Baptist seminary in New Orleans, pointed out to the class that God loves us not for His sake but for our sake. This is the Agape type love.

        One has said, "Love (the God kind) is the consuming, absorbing desire for the delight in another's highest good". In I Corinthians 13:5 it states that love "seeketh not her own." This Agape love always seeks the good of others.

        Today the word love has lost its true meaning for modern man. It is only through the gospel of Christ that this word may be rescued from erotic sensualism to be placed upon the pedestal it deserves to occupy.

        A pastor in the late 30's shares this with us:

       "Many years ago I was preaching in a revival meeting in the first Baptist Church, Lagrange, Kentucky. On Sunday morning I preached I John 4:18. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." I sought to point out the nature of Christian love and how it applied to our lives.

        In the congregation that morning was Mr. David Wark Griffith, who had retired and was living in that town. Mr. Griffith had been the greatest movie director in the early years of Hollywood. He had directed such early film classics as "Way Down East," "East Lynne," and "The Birth of a Nation."

        After the service he came forward and spoke to me as his appreciation for the sermon. One thing that he said has stayed with me. "I was so glad to hear your explanation of the meaning of real love, not the mess that we and Hollywood have made of the word."

        We talk much of love and yet we know so little about the nature of true love. The greatest love this world has ever known is the love of God manifest in his Son, the Lord Jesus.

        It was the wonder of the love of God given in John 3:16 that cause someone to write,

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
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 ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Tho stretched from sky to sky.

I. God's Love Is Bestowed Upon His Enemies

        An enemy is one who hates you, who tries to ruin your good reputation, who seeks to do you harm, and one who is, in every sense, against you.

        Now the Bible tells us that the lost are the enemies of God. In (Rom 5:10 KJV) "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." In James we read, (James 4:4 KJV) "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." The words that follow John 3:16 reveal that God loved a world that did not love Him, a world of men who, "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

       One has said, "The most painful experience in life is to love and not be loved in return."

       Dr. Hershel Hobbs said: "This love was not in response to man's love for God but in response to man's sin or his hatred for and rebellion against God. John expressed this truth when he said, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [basis of forgiveness] for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

        John Wesley was preaching in London, England. He said, "The love of God is so great and wonderful and Jesus loves people so much that He would save somebody even the devil does not want. He'd take even the Devil's castaways." After he preached, he was being entertained in the home of royalty. While they were sitting around, someone in the royal family took John Wesley to task. They said, "We heard you preach today; but you went too far. The Devil's castaways you said would be taken and saved by the Lord Jesus. You went to far. We don't agree with that." About that time, a servant came in and handed Mr. Wesley a note. He said, "Where did that come from?"

        He pointed out two glass doors and said, "Two old hags from the slums of London are standing out yonder on the curb and they gave me this note for you."

       Mr. Wesley took the note and read it and as he read, he began to smile and a wonderful expression came on his face. For the note read, "We heard you preach today. We have lived in sin all of our lives. We're the Devils castaways. We're broken in body, in soul and in spirit. But today Jesus took us in."

        John Wesley read it and said, "Maybe you didn't agree with it; but thank God, two poor miserable souls out yonder did."

        Often a child will hear parents say, "If you don't behave, God won't love you." This kind of talk, usually made by well-intentioned people, distorts the truth. God loves us even when we are unlovely. The Bible says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us."

        Dr. Harry Ironside told the following story:

       "I remember, when I was a boy, going to a missionary meeting. A missionary was there from Africa and was showing us a whole lot of curious things. Then he said, "Now, boys, I want to tell you the kind of gospel we preach to the people of Africa. How many good boys have we here?" The lot of us thought we were good, but our mothers were there, and so not one of us dared hold up his hand. "Well," said he, "Not one good boy here; than I have the same message for you that we have for the heathen in Africa; God loves naughty boys." "My," I thought, "He is getting all mixed up," for you see I had heard people say, "If you are good, God will love you." But, dear friends, that is not true. God is not waiting for you to be good so He can love you; God loves sinners"

       In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us to act God-like in our relation to our enemies. When we return good for evil, we are acting like God.

(Mat 5:43 KJV) "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

(Mat 5:44 KJV) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

(Mat 5:45 KJV) That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

        Verse 45, "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven" would be better if read "That it may be evident that you are the children of your father which is in heaven." People can tell that we are His child when we act like Him.

II. God's Love Is The Greatest Love Because It Is Bestowed Upon Those Who Are So Unlovely

        Human love delights in bestowing its affection only on the lovely. It isn't hard to love some people. They have lovely ways, lovely dispositions, and lovely personalities. But there are others who are hard to love. They are ugly, vile, hateful, selfish, repulsive and unattractive in so many ways. Now the truth is that God puts the whole human race in the latter class.

(Rom 3:10 KJV) "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

(Rom 3:11 KJV) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

(Rom 3:12 KJV) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

(Rom 3:13 KJV) Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

(Rom 3:14 KJV) Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

(Rom 3:15 KJV) Their feet are swift to shed blood:

(Rom 3:16 KJV) Destruction and misery are in their ways:

(Rom 3:17 KJV) And the way of peace have they not known:

(Rom 3:18 KJV) There is no fear of God before their eyes.

(Rom 3:19 KJV) Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."

        A minister once said, "Suppose my wife and I decide to adopt a child, and go to the orphanage to select one. As we enter the campus surrounding the orphan home, a lovely little girl with golden curls meets us, and smiles at us. She takes hold of our hands and says "I want you to be my mother and father." It would not be hard to love and adopt that child. But suppose that as soon as we had parked our car, a little dirty, ragged boy came out to meet us. He is chewing tobacco, and spits on us. Then he reaches down and throws sand in our faces. Then just for good measure he kicks us and curses us. Can you suppose our going into the office of that orphanage and telling the superintendent that we had fallen in love with this little rascal and wanted to adopt him? And yet my friend, that is exactly what God has done for every one of us. For all of us were tobacco chewing, spitting, sand throwing, cursing sinners in the sight of God. I think of how God loves us in spite of such sinfulness and unloveliness on our part.

        Despite all the ugly wreckage made by sin in our lives -- an ugly wreckage which is far uglier to the holy eye of God than any of us can realize -- God still loves us.

        One day a man and his wife went to a great surgeon and he examined the man. "I think I can restore your sight," he said. Joy filled his heart -- but fear gripped hers. Sensing her reserve, the blind husband asked, "Why do you not share my joy?" "I do," she insisted. Then he said, "you have never before lied to me. Why do you lie to me now?" When she told him of her blemish, he said, "I love you so much that I will stay blind. Your happiness means more to me than my sight." He allayed her fears by closing the door to the possibility that he might stop loving her if he could see her.

        A far greater love flows from the heart of God. He sees the ugliness of our sin disfigured soul and still loves us.

        J. Sidlow Baxter puts it like this. "The sin of man is a far more monstrous thing in God's universe than the holiest among the saints have ever yet realized; and the love of God, which suffered to redeem us, in the Christ of Calvary, is a far sublimer and profounder marvel than our dim understanding can know. But this we know and rejoice in, that when the last and the worst has been said about human sin, the victory remains with love."

III. God's Love Is The Greatest Love Because It Is Unending - Everlasting

(Jer 31:3 KJV) "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

        How comforting to know that God's love never changes and it never ends. Human love is so fickle. Friends love us today and forget us tomorrow.

        You're familiar, I'm sure, with the story of George Matheson and how he came to write the hymn, "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go."

        He was engaged to be married to a very beautiful young woman. A short time before they were to be married his doctor told him he had an eye affliction which would cause him to be blind in a few months. He told his sweetheart about this and said he did not want to force her to hold to the engagement and be tied down to a blind man. He hoped she loved him enough to stay with him but she broke the engagement and married another. Shocked by this example of the fickleness of human love, he cast himself upon God's unchanging love and wrote:

O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul on Thee,
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow,
May richer, fuller be.

        One has said that, "God's love knows no bounds." Many times in the new Testament we find the word "whosoever." In this great verse we read, "whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life."

(John 3:17 KJV) "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

(John 3:18 KJV) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

(Rom 10:13 KJV) "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

(Rev 22:17 KJV) "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

        A poor women who had had a hard struggle to make ends meet, and knew what it meant to be stinted for food, was taken on an outing to the seaside. She was delighted with the scene. As she looked out over the vast expanse of waters, tears filled her eyes and she explained, "Thank God for a sight of something there is enough of!" That is how it is with the soul when it gets its first vision of the infinite fullness of God's grace in Christ. His grace is quite enough for the soul's every need.

        I read the following somewhere:

        "Suppose you are in an overloaded lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. In order for the boat to stay afloat, one person of the thirteen aboard must leave. There are no life preservers. Which of these thirteen people would you choose to try to make it alone: the captain of the ship, a ten-year-old girl whose parents went down with the ship, a pregnant woman, a sailor with a reputation for drunkenness, a member of the Mafia, the ship's cook, and elderly passenger with a terminal illness, a wealthy playboy, a clergyman, a critically wounded passenger, an idiot, or a nurse? How would you even begin to make such a decision? Given those circumstances, I have a feeling each of those people could give a strong argument as to why he or she should not be the one chosen. Should they draw straws and simply leave so serious a matter to chance?" Thank God we do not have to make such decisions for God's love is abundant. There is enough for everyone. He so loved the world, inclusive of all people.

        The story is told of a minister who was riding on a train with several prisoners who were being taken from a county jail to the state penitentiary. The preacher asked the sheriff if he might talk to the prisoners about their souls. The sheriff said, "I don't object, but I advise you not to speak to that fellow who is handcuffed to the seat. He is the meanest murderer I have ever known. He will insult you if you even speak to him." The minister said, "I will take the consequences if you will allow it."

        He went over to the prisoner and said, "Friend, pardon me for interrupting, but I just want to tell you that God loves you, and gave His Son to die for you that you might not suffer for your sins." The big prisoner said, "It's a lie! Nobody loves me. My mother put me on a stranger's doorsteps when I was born. I have never seen anybody who loved me. Everybody hates me, and I hate everybody. I wish I could kill the whole bunch." The minister calmly replied, "But God does love you, and this Bible says so."

        Then the prisoner said, "I did go to Sunday School for a few weeks, once, and the kind woman said the black book was true for it was from God. But where does it say God loves me? I thought God hated criminals and murderers and will send them to hell." The preacher then gave him the Bible and let him read John 3:16. He then explained how God loved him and how God would save him if he would only trust him. He showed him that God would forgive his every sin and blot them out and remember them against him no more because Jesus suffered and died to make this possible. The old man was quiet for a few minutes and then very slowly, and with emotion, he said, "If God loves me like that then I want to love Him." He became a Christian and later became a missionary in prison.

        Have you accepted God's great love gift of salvation? It is yours if you believe on Jesus as Savior and Lord
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