Sermon on God’s Love For Mankind | Sermon by Kevin Cauley

1. Does the creation demonstrate the love of God?

1) There are many who look around the world today and only see bad things happening

2) Floods, Fires, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Volcanoes, Earthquakes.

3) We live in a society where the news media LOVES to report the bad news.

4) However, have we ever stopped to think how many good things happen every day?

5) We get sunshine, rain; we see trees, grass, etc.; we have food, clothing, shelter, etc. all on a daily basis.

6) These things far outweigh the bad things that happen in the world.

7) What about the mere beauty of the world in which we live?

8) God’s love is demonstrated through the creation.

9) Man lives in the perfect environment for his existence.

2. What do the scriptures say?

1) Read Psalm 19:1-6

2) Matthew 5:45 says that God “…maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

3) Acts 14:17 says, “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

4) Acts 17:24-28 “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”

5) 1 Timothy 6:17 says we are to trust in God “who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

1. How does the written word demonstrate God’s love for us?

1) Have you ever known a parent that loved their child that didn’t communicate with them?

2) What about a husband that loved his wife that didn’t communicate with her? Or vice versa?

3) When we love someone or something it is simply natural to reach out and communicate with them.

a. People talk to their pets.

b. They talk to the plants.

4) Talking to each other indicates our love for our fellow man.

5) How much more does it indicate God’s love for us?

2. Moreover, if God expects a certain standard of behavior and doesn’t tell us what that standard is, how can we say that He loves us?

1) Can the parent say he loves the child who doesn’t warn him of danger?

2) Can the husband say he loves the wife who doesn’t tell her his expectations and vice versa?

3. The Bible reveals to us that God, in His love for man, communicated with man.

1) Consider Deuteronomy 30:11-16 “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”

2) Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

3) John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

4) Acts 20:32 “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”

5) Can we not see the great love of God simply in the fact that God has given us His word?

1. Has God shown his love through giving us a standard of morality?

1) What would happen if we had no standards for human behavior in the world?

2) Would that be a situation you would want to be in?

3) Would a parent be loving if he had no standard of behavior for his children?

4) The fact that God has given us a standard for behavior means that He loves us and wants us to live happy lives.

5) The standards of morality that God has given are designed to do just that.

2. What do the scriptures say?

1) Read Psalm 19:7-10

2) Consider Romans 13:8-10 “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” If God’s standard of morality involves love, then would we not expect the one who gave it to be loving us when he gave it?

3) It is loving to teach others to love. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”

4) Consider the warnings the Bible has for man such as 1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”

5) God hasn’t left us without standards for behavior. He has loved us enough to give those standards to us.

1. Without God’s love, then man would be in an awful fix.

1) Sin separates man from God according to Isaiah 59:2.

6) And just one sin will condemn us eternally if we are not under the blood of Christ (Romans 6:23).

7) What is man to do if he is to escape the consequences of sin?

8) He needs someone to pay the debt for him.

3. God loved the world enough to do that.

1) Consider Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”

2) Romans 5:6-9 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

3) 1 John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

4) Finally, in this sermon on God’s love for mankind…

1. Did God have to promise eternal life?

4) I suppose that God didn’t have to promise eternal life to man

5) That is, it would have been enough NOT to be punished eternally for our sins.

6) But God has gone beyond that and said, not only will I not punish you, but I will let you live forever!

4. Let’s look at some of those promises.

1) John 3:16

2) Hebrews 9:15 “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”

3) 2 Peter 3:13 “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

4) 1 John 2:25 “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”