[Ralph Helge] Greetings to everyone! You know all our life – our Christian life, our church life – we’ve heard about the love of God. The love of God. But you know, when I thought back on it, I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon on the love of God. Now if I missed it, I missed it. Maybe I was absent from church that day. I don’t think I ever gave a sermon on it that I recall. And why? Well, you know if you think about it – maybe as a man – it is just a little bit wimpy. Right? Love, love – you don’t quite grab it. It’s not quite macho. See? Not quite macho. And again, you wonder, “Why talk about something that’s obvious?” Why talk about something that is obvious? Well, we’re going to bring some of those things together. I had a chance to think about this over many years, and I’ve become a little more acquainted with the concept, and a little less concerned – or afraid to talk about – this love of God. So, I have a better understanding of it today than I did, you know, 50, 60 years ago.

So today I want to speak about the love of God. Now this term, the love of God, can be viewed two ways. It has two kinds of meanings to it or approaches. One is our love of God – the love of God – our love of God. And the second way is God’s love for us. So, it is kind of carried forth in that one statement – both those concepts.

So, I want to speak, first, about our love for God – our love for God. Now God immediately puts us in our place, when you start to research this and you go through the Bible and search all the scriptures. Because that is the thing you must do on the topic. You must bring together all the scriptures. So, when we speak about our love for God, God immediately puts us in our place – so we are not too self-righteous. He tells us about our love for Him in 1 John 4:10. He says:

1 John 4:10 – This is love…. That’s the beautiful type of scripture you want to find when you are doing research. You see this is…this is sin...this is the patience of God, etc. – puts you right on track. You get a perfect rudder. This is love – itstarts off with a negative – NOT that we love God – not that we love God – but that He loved us. See, we’re talking about the love of God. That’s true, but God is switching it around and giving us a clue here right now, because it says in 1 John 4:19:

1 John 4:19 – We love because He first loved us. Isn’t that beautiful! You don’t just say, “Oh God, I love you”. Yeah, wait a minute. That is because God loved you first.

Now you can reciprocate and give God the love that He deserves. It kind of brings up the point: “Well we know why we love you God, but why in the world do you love us? We are but dust” – what David talked about. “Why are you concerned about me? Why are you concerned about us?” David asked that question, you see. So, we love because God loved us first. This kind of brings up a side point that all aspects of salvation come from God. He gives us everything we need for salvation. We don’t have it. We don’t conjure it up. He gives it to us. That helps us, first of all, to know about the love of God.

Now a person who is new in the church may sincerely ask, “Why should I love God?” Why? I’m going through life around here. I am earning my money. I earn my living. I got my education and I can do things. I have a few extra bucks in the bank. I got a car. Why should I love God?” That may sound like a preposterous question. Well, you might say, “That is kind of obvious. Why even talk about that.” But you see, it is not obvious. It is not a given fact of life that we should love God. What do we find when we go into the world? Revelation 16:9.

Revelation 16:9 – And men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the name of God. They didn’t say, “I am sorry, Lord, please get me out of this.”  They blasphemed and they cursed God – the name of God – who has the power over these plagues – a little side point there about the power of God. We read about Jesus and the sea. He calmed the sea. That’s good. He calms the oceans, but He can also send plagues and control plagues – a lot of power there. And they did not repent – they did not repent – and give the glory to God. Instead they cursed the name of God. And we go on with Revelation 16:11:

V-11 – They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They did not repent of their deeds. They didn’t love God. The same thing in Revelation 16:21. So the love of God is not a given. Some people don’t love God.

In John 5:42, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees – to bring it back there – Jesus Himself recognizing…He says:

John 5:42 - But I know you – I know you, Pharisees – that you do not have the love of God in you. It wasn’t there. So, everybody doesn’t have the love of God. It is not a given.

So, the full answer to the question, as to why we should love God…to understand that, we need to get the big picture. I keep preaching about how we should get the big picture – from beginning to end – of what is in the Bible. So, the answer as to why we should love God really requires an understanding of that big picture. So here’s a very, very, short summary of why we should love God. You have to understand this. You have to meditate on it, so that you really believe it? You are born with a physical body that supports only a physical life. From the time you are born, you start going down-hill. You get a little stronger and it is all down-hill from there. Okay? You start very negative, but it is a positive end. But it’s negative – from the time you are born, you start dying. Everything starts running down. That is all because of the sinful conduct of Satan and Adam and Eve. You initially have no connection with God. You are without hope. You’ve got to grasp and believe this very negative position, if you are going to appreciate why you love God.

See, your destiny – your future without God – is an eternal death – a disintegration of the physical body. As God said in Genesis 3:19, you are dust and you’re going to return to dust. So, this begins to tell you – you must get this foundation – if you are going to know why you should love God. However, you see, that is your destiny. That is where you are heading. That is your default positon. But God devised a plan to save you from that fate of eternal darkness. See, God completely turns around that horrible fate. If you want to know why you should love God, you must understand that position – where you were heading – and He turned it around.

So, God’s plan required a cooperation of His only begotten Son. The Son consented with God to come down here to earth. God sent His only begotten Son. Now that requires love. You have a child, a grandchild? You have a nephew? Somewhere some relative – a cousin – that you love? Would you send him out to die for you? For the rest of us? But God did that with His only begotten Son. He sent Him as a physical body to earth. The Son obeyed the Father in all respects. He suffered. He had to come to earth to suffer, because by His suffering we are healed. And He had to suffer a temporary physical death. He had to die for us. That was part of God’s plan, you see. You were destined…you sin and the penalty of sin is death. That’s it – death - penalty. You got sin…penalty – death. But Jesus came and suffered a temporary physical death through the shedding of His blood. And the shedding of His blood…remember in Isaiah? It said it poured out. I have some friend of mine that says, “Oh no, that didn’t happen until after He was dead.” No, He died from that spear being plunged into His side, you see, because He didn’t just die from being whipped, because that was not the way the sacrifices were. If He died from being whipped, then it wasn’t a proper sacrifice. The sacrifices…the blood was poured out. So, this is why we should love God now – because of our destiny – what it was and what happened.
 
The Father resurrected the Son and exalted Him to His right hand. Now when you are called, you repent, you’re baptized, you have hands laid on you, a tremendous miracle takes place. God performs a miracle because He loves you and me. He performed a miracle, and because upon repentance and by the blood of Christ, your sins are forgiven. We said, “You sin, it’s death.” But the blood of Christ washes away that sin. It’s not there. Hence, there is no penalty of death – there’s no sin, you see. The prosecutor comes up – he’s going to prosecute you to death – and says, “Where’s the evidence?” Not here. There is no evidence. So, you are free. You’re free, you see. And, of course, the penalty of death has been paid by Jesus.

So, upon the laying on of hands, you receive the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God enters your mind and gives you a potential of eternal life. Why should you love God? Look at the turnaround! And what else is in addition to that? You have the potential of eternal life. You are,  in type – in type – born again. Born again – that’s the type that Jesus was talking about to the Rabbi. Born again – that is the ultimate birth when Christ returns. But at least at baptism you are born again in type, until you become a new creation – a new creation. Now you are no longer separated from God – no longer separated.  You are reconciled to God. Now God hears you. You can talk to God. You are at one with God – at one. You live in God, and God and Jesus live in you. The scriptures bring that out. That’s what you have now. You are one with Them.

So you have the hope now of your physical body being resurrected to a spiritual body – a spiritual body that has eternal life – will never die, never degenerate, never deteriorate, unlike your physical body. It just remains the same. It will not go downhill. For all eternity, you’ll have that life. Further, you’ve got the promise of inheriting and entering into – inherit and entering into – the kingdom of God. That is out there. That is another thing He has come to give you.

And in addition to all of that, why you should love God doesn’t end there. He tells you, “Andfurthermore, when you qualify to come and enter into my kingdom of God and have eternal life forever – if you do this on earth, I will bless you.I will bless you here physically. I am going to bless with what you put your hand to do – what you put your mind to do. I am going to do that. Plus, you’re going to get a spiritual reward on top of it all when Jesus returns.”

So, the answer to the question – why you should love God – is all these reasons. Put them all together. Think about it. Then you will be able to answer the question, “Why should I love God?” and “Why should I be thankful to God?” Keep that package in mind we   just talked about, because I am going to bring it up later – all the reasons why you should love God.

Okay, so that raises the question, “How do you acquire this love for God?” How do you acquire it? Do you keep saying, “Love God, love God, love God, love God,” like some religions do? Do you have it on a little windmill outside, and the wind blows – and you’ve got “Love God” on there – and it spins, and each time it spins it’s the love of God going up? Or is it like the whirling dervish? Have you ever seen them? They have these big skirts they wear, and they twirl and they twirl and they twirl, and the skirt goes out and they twirl and they twirl and they twirl until they collapse. Is that the way you acquire the love for God? Do you acquire the love of God when you sit down a certain way, cross your legs together, put your fingers tight together and think about your navel? Is that the way? No that is not the way. The love of God is given to you. Like all the other aspects of salvation, it’s given to you. People talk about money. You don’t buy it, because it cost you…it’s too valuable. No, you don’t pay for it, because it is not for sale. God says, “I am going to give it to you. It is not for sale.”

So, the love of God is given to you like all other aspects of salvation. Romans 5:5:

Romans 5:5 – Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God – what we are talking about – has been poured in to your hearts – you see, it is given to you. It is given to you by the Holy Spirit that was given to us. So, that is the way you get the love of God. Deuteronomy 30, and verse 6.

Deuteronomy 30:6 – And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart – meaning, He’s going to take away the heart of stone – a stone…that you can’t communicate with God and God can’t communicate with you. It’s a carnal mind. A carnal mind is enmity against God – a hatred against God. He is going to take that away. The term circumcise…circumcision of the flesh is the type and the spiritual circumcision is giving you a heart of flesh, where you can understand God and appreciate God. He will circumcise your heart to love the Lord your God – coming from God. You see, He will do that so you can love God.

How do you love Him? Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, that you may live. And you see, it’s always implied in there – this condition – that you’re not living – the default position. That is where God said, “Jesus didn’t come to condemn you. You’re condemned already!” You’re condemned already. He didn’t have to double-down on your condemnation. …so you may live. He takes you out of that position of sin you were in – of death – so that you may live. And over, and over again you get these words: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul – over and over you hear that.

2 Timothy 1:7 – Where did you get the love of God? For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So, let’s cut out the other words in there – God has not given us a spirit of fear but has given us a spirit of love. That’s what God gives you through His Holy Spirit. Then you have the power and ability to love God.

1 John 3:1 – Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us – that He has given to us. You don’t conjure it up. You don’t get a warm fuzzy feeling. You can have that too. It doesn’t hurt as a secondary aspect of it, but the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. A tremendous truth is all bond up in that – for another sermon. There are many other sermons. …that you should be called the children of God – literal actual children of God, once you receive God’s Spirit.

Again, where do we get this, the love of God?  

1 John 4:7 – Behold let us love one another for love is of God. You can’t get any clearer than that. You can’t fight the scriptures or argue around them.

So, you, having a love for God, you want to understand, it is not something optional. “Well, maybe I can love God, maybe not. I’ll go along and I won’t sin. I’ll try to be nice.” No. Loving God is not an option, Okay? Deuteronomy 30, verses 15 and 16.

Deuteronomy 30:15-16 – See I have set before you today, life and good – that’s over on that side – and death and evil – that’s over on this side – almost like asking the question, “Would you rather be rich and healthy or sick and poor?” That is the choice. In that I command you – He’s not making a suggestion – I command you today to love the Lord your God. That is a command that you have. “Well I have a command to keep the Sabbath. Boy, I sure do that. I keep the holy days. I sure do that.” But here is a command to love the Lord your God. In Joshua 22:5, He adds to that.

Joshua 22:5 – Take careful heed…. Now Joshua was saying, “Be careful, listen up, listen to what I am going to say. He says: …to do – do! That is an action here – do the commandment and the law which Moses –  “Moses! Now you’re back in that old book.” No – the servant of the Lord…. He’s telling you he’s an agent of God. He’s an agent of God. God has appointed him. When the agent acts within the bounds of his authority, that is the same as God acting. See that? So, Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you to love the Lord your God – to love the Lord your God – to walk in all His ways – whatever His way is, you walk in it. You do it. Right? You keep His commandments. …to hold fast to Him.

To hold fast to Him – you know when I read that it made me think. Not too long ago, I was over here and one of the mothers was holding her baby, who was not quite a toddler yet. She was holding him and I walked over and said, “Hi buddy, how are you?” And the little baby – child – kind of looks at me with his left eyeball, you know. “Who is this guy? I don’t see him around the house.” He looks and he looks and then he puts his head on his mother’s breast. He puts his head down while looking at me, and I see his little fist close up on her dress – hold tight. He is not about to let loose. He is going to hold tight to his mother, because there is safety and security from this intervening person. See that? So that’s what it says here. Hold fast to Him – hold fast to God – and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Those words are repeated over, and over again. And now, again, it repeats: with all your heart and with all your soul. God the Father deserves the glory and this honor. You can’t have a dozen gods and love each one with all your heart and all your soul.

So, in Mark 12:28 through 34…you want to ask, “Is this just old testament stuff?” We’ll read that, because that is where Jesus is talking to the scribe – a very, very major conversation takes place there when the scribe asks Him about the greatest commandment of all. What is the first one? That’s what He talks about. The first commandment – that God is one and you love and you love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might and so on. That is the point you just can’t get over – that you love God. That is the love of God, and that’s where it comes from, and it is not optional.

So, do you have the love of God? Do you have the love of God? God does not accept a simple, “Oh, I love you God. Oh God, I just love God,” or talking to the brethren, “Oh I love the Lord.” No, He doesn’t just accept that. That’s not good enough, you see. He has a means – God has a means – of determining if your profession of Him – your love for Him – is genuine. In Deuteronomy 13:1 through 3:

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 – If there arises among you a dreamer of dreams – these are the bad guys, just conjuring things up – you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, of the dreamer of dreams. If the bad guys are coming, you can determine: “This guy is a phony, an astrologer – or this or that. I’m going to listen to him. I’m not going to pay attention to God over here.” He says: For the Lord your God is testing you. Isn’t that interesting? He’s testing you. He sees you, He knows you, He knows what you are doing at the time. He can see what you think – not that He forces you into this. He’s watching to see what you are going to do. He’s testing you to know. See, “to know” is the same thing that God did when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, and then He said, “Okay, don’t do it. Don’t sacrifice him, because now I know that you are going to obey me. I didn’t know it before, but now I know for a certainty, because of your actions.” And He is testing you so He knows whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You can’t get away from those words. You can’t do it. Every scripture you read it is there. That tells you how much – that is another question: How much should you love your God? Okay, that tells you that the command itself is not enough – that you’re just saying, “I love you.” We just saw that, but also how much? With all your heart, with all your soul. No reservations!
 
What is, at least, one of the standards that God uses to test us? What is one of the standards in order to really know if we mean it – really mean it when we say, “God I love you” – when we say that in our prayers, walking down the street, “God, I love you God.” Okay, what is the standard that God uses? We know He tests us now, so what is the standard? That is what you do in law all the time – when you want to go to trial on something, you must ask, “What is the standard I have to meet to prove my case? What’s the standard I must meet to refute the other guy’s case?” So, what is the standard God uses to know – to test us – to know. He doesn’t know until He tests us.

1 John 4:20-21 – If someone says, “I love God” – there’s our statement, right? – “I love you God! – and hates his brother – and there is the clue that is going to come up over and over again – he is a liar. Now I didn’t say that. You say, “That’s harsh language. That’s not” – what do they call it today – you know, proper language to use. No, I didn’t use it. John used it – John, the apostle of love. You’re a liar if you say you love God and hate your brother. …for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees – God is giving a little logic here – how can he love God whom he has not seen? No man has seen God. And this commandment – again, not a suggestion, not a hint – and this commandment we have from Him – that he who loves God must love his brother also. He is saying, “This is the fact – this is a fact of life.” If I take a 10-pound weight and let loose here, it is going to fall. It is a fact. It’s going to fall. He says, “If you hate your brother, you cannot love God.” That’s it. It’s a fact. So don’t try to prove otherwise.

1 John 3:10 – I’ll read this the way it is, first of all, in the New King James:

1 John 3:10 – Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God – the NIV says: …is not God’s child – is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. A little bit not clear, so let’s just read it clearly. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not God’s child, nor is he God’s child who does not love his brother. You want to be a child of God? You’ve got to love your brethren. Remember we talked about being named children of God? You are not a child of God if you don’t love your brother. Again, fact of life. Absolute. Case proven. You don’t love your brother, you are not a child of God. That’s it. Judgement. Case over.

1 John 3: 16-17 – By this we know love – by this we know love – because He laid down His life for us – fundamental basic concept of the Bible – and  we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has – now this is the point: this is the standard God uses to know if we love God – but whoever has the world’s goods…. Now, first of all has –  you’ve got to have it. Mr. Armstrong always said, “You cannot give what you don’t got.” So, if you have to have the world’s goods – and sees his brother in need – in need – that is not, “Would you sign this guarantee for me please, because I want to buy this new Cadillac for 50 thousand bucks. Would you sign that please, because my Mercedes is in the garage temporarily and I want this new Cadillac?” No that’s not a need. A need is a necessity. So, you don’t feel obligated when they say, “I want to buy this Cadillac, would you please loan me the money?” I used to teach a class in this, and that’s one of the things I’d bring up. “Hey, wait a minute. Should I sign this guarantee for this guy? Should I pledge all my credit, all my goods, my house and my family security?” I say, “Wait a minute. I don’t have a Cadillac. Why should I pledge my credit for you to have two Cadillacs?” It doesn’t make sense.

So, what God is saying is, “When you see your brother in need, and you’ve got some extra goods, and you shut up your heart – he’s in need and you shut up your heart – how does the love of God abide in him? How does it? He is saying. An interesting article I was reading, in some magazine that was sent to me, says many of these questions are, in fact, statements. They’re statements. The love of God doesn’t abide in him – when a brother is in need and he’s ignored. At home, you can read – because it is kind of long to read here – Deuteronomy 15:7-15. It talks about the poor man – the burden – when you see him in need, you must help fulfill his need. Otherwise, he is going to cry out and the sin is going to be heard by God.

Galatians 6:9-10 – Let’s not grow weary. That’s one thing you see in life in the church, after you’ve been in for years and years, you go to church every Sabbath, all the Holy days. Don’t grow weary in well doing. Don’t grow weary and say, “There’s no end to the people in need of help.” Don’t grow weary doing good. For in due season the time is coming. Salvation is nearer now than when you first believed. For in doing good, in due season you will reap – for in due season, you’ll get your rewards. You will get your spiritual blessings. That is what Mr. Ward was talking about in Hebrews. You may not get the promises now, but they are there and you’ve got to have faith. By the way, it was a very good sermonette – or what we call a first message for today.

While doing good, in due season we shall reap if we don’t lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity – opportunity. You don’t have to go knock on every door down the street and say, “Oh do you need help?” …as you have the opportunity, let us do good to all people – that bum on the corner – if he is really a dirty down bum, and he doesn’t have anything, it wouldn’t hurt to give him a few bucks. I know I said that one time while I was out speaking, and a guy approached me, and said, “That’s wrong, that’s wrong. I’ve been to these seminars, and they told me, ‘When you give money to these people, you are just enabling them.’ What I do is give them a quart of milk and a loaf of bread.” I didn’t say it, but how would you like to have dinner tonight with a quart of milk and a loaf of bread? So, it says: Do not lose heart. As we have opportunity let us do good to all, especially – especially – to those who are of the household of faith – the brethren – the people sitting next to you that you see in other churches and so on. In Proverbs 21:13 it says:

Proverbs 21:13 – Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor – whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor – will also cry himself and not be heard. That’s a stern warning. I wouldn’t want that to happen to me and I don’t think you would want it to happen to you.

1 John 3: 16-17 – By this we know love, because he laid down His life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brothers in need…. I mentioned that already. This is the scripture I just read.

So, I just want to request you, wholeheartedly, to read Matthew 25:34-36 at home. That’s a very important scripture, where it talks about, “Because you did this to Me” – Jesus is saying – “I’m going to bless you, because you gave me a drink.” “How did I give you a drink?” “Because you gave a drink to one of the least of your brethren.” “While I was naked you gave Me clothing.”
“When did I give you clothes?” “When you gave it to the brethren who are in need, you gave it to Me.” You can read that when you get home.

So, these scriptures tell us one way that God tests us to know if we really love him – in that we must show love to our brethren – to our brothers and sisters – by our actions – by our actions, not by words – not by saying, “Be blessed, be fully clothed, be fed.” That doesn’t mean anything. It’s meaningless, you see. So, in today’s language it is kind of like saying, “God is testing us to see if we’re going to just talk the talk or walk the walk.” Just that simple.
 
So, remember, we talked about the meaning of the love of God has two meanings that we can understand. One is our love for God, and now we will talk about God’s love for us – God’s love for us. In God’s love for us is an attribute of God. It’s the character of God. You see that? It’s something that is instilled in God. It can’t be changed.

1 John 4: 7-8 – He who does not love does not know God. You don’t love, you don’t know God. Again, you want to say you love God? You don’t even know Him, for God is love. God is love. That is the character of God.

2 Corinthians 13:11 – Finally, brethren – Paul is leaving a farewell – Finally, brethren, the God of love and peace be with you. You see, it’s an attribute of God. It’s a natural thing of God to love us. That is why, when David says, “Why are you concerned about me?” – because it is an attribute of God – He can’t do anything else but love us, as long as we’re trying to get along with Him, of course, and not sinning.

So, how does God show His love for us? Remember I told you all the things that God did for us as why we should love Him? Well, all those things – evidence – sending Jesus and so on – all these things show the love of God for us as well – all of them. So, what are some of the other things – the actions of God that we can cite as evidence that God loves us?

1 John 4:9 – And this, the love of God, was manifested toward us – in this the love of God was manifested. Here is how you know God loves us – that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Again, what is the implication? Without Him you weren’t going to live. You’re not going to live. It’s death – eternal death. This is showing how God loves us. Now I know these are old hackneyed scriptures here, but you got to think about them. You’ve got to think about the alternative.

John 3:16 – For God so loved – not only us – the whole world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish – again, you’re going to perish, but He sent His son so you wouldn’t perish – but have everlasting life – a dual thing. Not only will you not perish, but you will have everlasting life. This is some of the love that God shows to us.

Ephesians 2:4-5 – But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love – His great love – not just love – great, mighty love – with which He love us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He still loves us. He’s still concerned about us. He wants us to repent. He wants us to change and turn and come to Him. His great love which He loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive – again, what? – made us alive. You were dead meat. You were walking dead meat on the hoof, as they say – the walking dead. That’s where the scripture comes up…he says, “Oh Lord, can I just do something else? I must bury my dead relative.” He says, “Let the dead bury their dead.” See, those were the people without God’s Spirit. He looks upon them like the walking dead. So, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. There is the key – the great love – by grace. You can’t buy it. You can’t earn it. He gives it to you, because He loves you. In Romans 5:8 you can read that:

Romans 5:8 – God demonstrates His love toward us in that why we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And God the Father sent Him – an assuring fact that God is not perfidious. We can live our life with confidence, knowing with confidence that God’s love for us is continuous – never ending. God doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t sleep, so that you can’t say, “It’s a big gap now when God doesn’t love me.” No, God loves you continuously.

Romans 8:38-39 – For I am persuaded that neither death nor life…. It was mentioned there in Hebrews 11 – even though you die, even though you haven’t got all the promises fulfilled in their full type yet, still the love for God has not failed. …neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities or powers – that is talking about Satan – nor things present, nor things that are to come – that’s the persecution that’s promised. And to be persecuted, you’ve got to endure. Not those things – nor height nor depth – all the way up and all the way down, whichever way you go – nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

God loves us with the love that cannot end, unless He says you must go…and it seems to be that even the people at the end, that blaspheme God and are cast into a lake of fire, God still loves them unto the end. He says, “I only wish they had repented.” He gives us every opportunity. That’s when it says, “You know, God isn’t coming.” Don’t you understand that He is giving you time to repent – to change and to love God. So, nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And you cannot get any better warranty or guarantee than that! So, that’s the sermon that came to mind about the love of God – our love for God and God’s love for us.