ROMANS UNWRAPPED 73

     

                                       THE HEART OF THE MATTER

"And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us."   Romans 5v5

How does the Spirit of God make good to us the blessings that God has given us?   The answer takes us to the very heart of things.   Until now Paul has been stating facts.   Now he goes to the feelings behind the facts, the passion of it, the opening of the very heart of God, and only the Spirit of God can do this.   The Spirit of God is not merely an influence but a real Person within us, although unseen.   He reveals within us, in no uncertain terms, what was behind all these Divine blessings  "the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts."   The word used is as strong as it gets, it means poured forth, or flooded, or gushing forth, or drenching within the heart, of the love of God.   Before hand, hearts that were filled with self, self love, the love of the world, self gratification leading to all kinds of sin, are now being flooded with a love which is like no other.   This is agape, another kind of love such as has never been seen; it is a love of a higher kind; it surpasses the greatest acts of love ever in human history.   It is God's kind of love, with no comparison anywhere.

The Bible speaks of great loves.   It was said in 2nd Samuel 1v26 as David mourned the loss of his friend Jonathan  "thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of women."   The love of Jacob for Rebecca was one of the greatest love stories in the Bible (he served seven years for her).   But Paul is speaking here of a love that surpasses all human loves.   It is variously described as follows:

"love to the uttermost"  "love which surpasses knowledge" "because of His great love wherewith He has loved us" "behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us."   Later he will compare God's love to the best of human love.

It is love from the greater to the lesser, it is love from the Creator to the created, it is love from the beautiful to the ugly, it is love beyond human imagination, it is an awesome kind of love, it is the love of God.   In the consideration of this kind of love we have to consider a number of factors which bring it to the fore.

• The costliness of the deed   -   what did it cost God to display this kind of love?   this is answered in two short statements in the Bible;  John3v16     "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."    Romans 8v32    "He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all."    God's Son is His most precious possession, more precious to Him than all else in the universe, in giving His Son He gave everything that He had.
• The greatness of the Person   -   There should be little need to expand on this but Creator, Sustainer of the universe, Supreme object of worship, Sovereign God of all history, without a rival anywhere, this is the One who demonstrated ultimate love.
• The unworthiness of the objects of that love   -   he is going to expand on this, but for now we mention them, the ones to whom this love was extended are described as helpless, ungodly, sinners, and enemies.  
• The greatness of the benefit secured   -   because of His love demonstrated at Calvary, millions will be blessed eternally and secured for ever and experience the unbroken bliss of fellowship with their Creator.  
• The freedom of the act of love   -   there was no compulsion on God to do anything about our situation.   There was no reason why He should bless us at all, let alone go to these lengths to achieve it.   He freely chose to bless mankind, there was nothing attractive in us, there was no cause.   "I have loved thee because I have loved thee" seems to be the nearest we will ever get to a reason.   It is later stated that "God is love" that is He is in essence love and because of that He must show it, but He was under no constraint to do so.  

Those of you who are reading this today should take this on board very seriously, that any who turn away from this supreme demonstration of Divine love, who choose to ignore it or even insult it, are turning away from the very heart of God and there is nothing more can be done, or will be done.   This as we shall see later is a breathtaking display of love such as the world has never seen and we must respond to it or perish.   The lack of human words to describe the love of God is obvious but the Holy Spirit has inspired some to write tremendous things about it.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

• Refrain:
  Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
  How measureless and strong!
  It shall forevermore endure—
  The saints’ and angels’ song.

When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean 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 ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.          Frederick Lehman.

Involved in the love of God, is all the passion within the heart of God, the tremendous cost He was prepared to pay for little or no return, it is this that the Holy Spirit is infusing into the hearts of His people so that they will understand more and more the glory of God's love that has secured for them eternal salvation.   Paul will visit this theme time and again in his writings to impress upon us the extent of Divine love.   When God demanded of His people of old that they were to "love the Lord their God with all their heart, strength and mind"   He was not asking them to do something He would not do Himself.   Love begets love and surely this love flooding our hearts will bring greater assurance and change lives to God's glory.


God's love demands a response from us all!!
Tomorrow d.v. we continue in the love of God.