Embracing God's Lavish Love

There is a television show, the one of those reality shows a group of builders who find a family that is in desperate need and they bill them at palatial house a magnificent house they could be living in a shack that's falling apart but by the time these builders finish. It is not a shack anymore. They could be living three or four kids in the room and could be those some of those houses health hazards but by the time this team of builders finished the new house.

It becomes a mention it becomes a palatial house design.

The furniture exterior and interior designs were lavished attention is given to the needs of that family. In fact, even to the hobbies of those kids lavish living. What takes place is nothing short of a transformation as some may even call it extravagance, and in every case the camera is very pointed to capture the amazement on the part of the recipient family. The camera is always anxious to reveal the depths of emotions on the part of the recipient family and the heart of gratitude and the thankfulness on the part of the recipient family.

The camera always ready to reveal that overwhelming sense of thankfulness and appreciation of the recipient family. Of course it's impossible to know how long that feeling of appreciation that feeling of thankfulness lasts but that's beside the point. For some, I'm sure be a long time for others, probably for a lifetime, but that does not even come close to how lavished we are by the love of the father and I want to determine if you have and are ready to first John chapter 3 that would lavish love of the father is the most incredible word in his what John is saying you want a literal translation okay that startle you could help is the love of the father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God. What John is saying is this, that God's love is so radical that God's love is so extravagant that God's love is so lavishing that God's love is so extreme in its nature that God's love is so unbelievable to the human mind that God's love is so awe-inspiring that God's love would make you marvel that God's love dazzles you that God's love is all striking, not just for a minute and not just for a day, not just for a week or a month or a year. It is for the rest of your life and the rest of my life is what he say that if you took time and you contemplate the reality of this lavishing love of the father if you take time to allow that lavishing love sink in sync and in your mind and in your heart and in your intellect and your emotions and your imagination. It's enough to make a frozen chosen person shall presently say is enough to make any frozen chosen Louisiana human liberation and politeness.

It would make you not care out with about what people think of you and the expression of your thankfulness to God I'm been approved to you grammatically from the Bible grammatically that the apostle John was shouting when he was writing this verse but particular, the first word is he is dictating to a scribe and we don't know whether he was dictating or is he writing at longhand but if he was dictating to ascribe the scribe would've jumped like you did earlier. That's exactly what happened and I'm can tell you why in the very first word in verse one. It is in the interest imperative.

All of you who hated grammar I'm gonna make you love grandma today I'm gonna make you love grandma because this terrorist since imperative mood is gonna explain the entire epistle of first John will explain it to you in a minute. You know what it means to put a word in the interest imperative. You know what it means. That's what I'm not doing justice is it in the face of God's lavish love is meant for you to be stunned literally every day of your life and stay stunned is meant because it is so radical in its nature it supposed to make your life radical in nature. It was going to make you amazed every single day it's supposed to give you goosebumps all the time. It supposed to excite you always. It supposed to mesmerize you daily. It supposed to make you ecstatic in every situation and telling you as I was having one man revival this week. Just contemplating that word lavishly, I thought of my past rebellion I thought of my past selfishness and I thought of my sin and I thought of my wanting to do my own thing of my unworthiness of the grace of God. I thought of my past hopelessness. I thought of my past helplessness and I thought of my past contempt toward God and then I see the new school, lavish love of God that I want to say how incredible the love of God is how extreme God's love toward us, how extravagant God's generosity is how drastic his redemption. How to keep and intends his mercy is how unreal God's forgiveness is slow you guys said you know God loves you so much is like your grandmother is getting your picture with them all the time. Remind me of the Sunday school kid when he came home from Sunday school and his mother asked him.

She said who taught you the class today. He said Jesus is grandmother. She said Jesus is grandmother said yes.

She talked about them all the I thank God for those people who have experience 11 should love God and they continue to pass it on to the kids a number of years ago, Arnold Palmer, the great golfer was playing golf in Saudi Arabia and the man who was the king of the time watching him play and he very much like the way he played and he was become fond of honor, and finally he did end of the time in his visit to Saudi Arabia, the king went to see the king and the king said to him, and said them. I want to give you a gift before you depart out what kind of a gift. Can I give you an honor, modestly said no thank you very much and that gift is not necessary.

I enjoyed my visit on your playing here. Thank you for your hospitality, but gift is not really necessary, but the king insisted. So, honor, did not want to offend out of hospitality and is a look if you give me a golf club that I can remember my visit with and go and then he left and the next day. The message of the king comes to his hotel room and was handing him the deeds to a 300 acre golf club is Lewis thinking about this sensitive an earthly king can lavish a gift beyond the expectation of the recipient.

How much more the king of all kings who lavish his love upon us. Yeah hey man, God was a similar lesson.

I know some of you know my not be all of you with some of you know that this concept is very hard for some of you to accept it's it's very hard for you to really put your arm around it and receive it for what it is. I know that I know some of you think of this extravagant lavish irresistible love of God is just a hard concept to get hold of, especially those of you who grew up in homes where the love of the parents was conditional with her parents it if you don't do this on the gun. Love you.

I'm going to love you only if you do this and if you're anything like me, you could never have met the expectations you could never measure up to you. You could never be as good as your brothers. You could never be sure if you're accepted, you could never accomplish enough if you get a B. You should've had a night if you get an I should've had an A+ and he could never measure up, and I want to tell you this kind of upbringing because I speak from experience because this kind of experience can play havoc in your understanding of the lavish love of God the father through God the son really does everything and when I became enamored with the lavish love of God to change my life completely to understand how extravagant God is in his love. You have to forget and you have to sort things out in your mind that God doesn't work this way because some of these folks. Bless your heart.

You feel that you have to be good enough for God to love you that you have to be good enough for God to accept you, you feel that you have to work harder and you have to strain and have to struggle to measure up for God to accept you and love you that I have to prove that I am worthy of God's love to me now, beloved brethren, listen to me sisters listen to me. I got news for you if you promise made mistakes listen, we are not there to condemn parents and all parents make mistakes but if your parents made that mistake. If your parents told you that they would only love you if you do this and do that that that the governor love you only if you accomplish certain things with egg on the love you and if you behave in a certain way. I want you to remember how he lavished you with his love. The Bible said while we were yet Christ died for us here and wait for you to improve because you can't improve on your own. Why listen to me when you insist on earning God's love. I can tell you and I say it with every ounce of love in my heart and I say it because I know what it is to pervert the grace of God. When you insist on you making yourself worthy of God's love your perverting the grace of God for the very essence of grace is unworthiness.

What was it called grace.

If you have to be good enough for God to love you wasn't called grace and that perverting of the grace of God is the Protestant and Evangelical way of going back to medieval time of salvation through works, it really is just the sanitized way all but listen, there are other deadly consequences to this type of thinking listen to me. There are some deadly consequences. You know what it is. It is the temptation that is going to come to you every time you become weary of trying hard to earn God's love and you become tired and you cannot do it and you cannot hack it and then you give up. And the reason some Christians life is up and down, up and down and up and down is because they will try and then when and if they get tired they fall in that temptation and then they try again and they get tired in the fall and that temptation and that was a problem with the Gnostics, to whom John is writing to refute those heretics that are been bringing up in the series of messages life at its best, who were trying to decimate the church.

The saying, the body is evil anyway.

Might as well just give in to sin. But John is saying that when you allow yourself to bask in that incredible lavish love. When you allow yourself to be overwhelmed with the palaver should love this undeserving love. This love that is so pure in grace, you're not going to habitually sin. As for the rest of that passage and not focus too much on the first verse. But that's all right because it ended. In fact if you look at versus some to all the way to 10 that's up on the John is making here, I can summarize it for you that if you tried to comprehend and if you know how lavish the love of God is how the lavish love of the father, through the son is not going to habitually sin, because why you're too busy overwhelmed with that love is love as well have to listen to people in love. I'm in the worthless public just that's how it is when you see how much he loved Jesus and expression of appreciation of his love for you. You are not going to give into the temptations like the kid and said, you know, and that temptation comes knocking us in Jesus.

Terms of the door first John chapter 3 verse one is the key to the entire epistle. If you understand that verse you have understood the entire epistle that the rest of the passage is basically an explanation about the difference between those who have received and are delighting themselves in the lavished grace of God. The lavish love of the father and those who don't. It's that simple is the contrast between the two. If you comprehend this talk, then you're going to hate sin, then you're going not to habitually sin, then you're not going to carelessly sin, then you're not going to calculating leasing then you're not going to carelessly sin, then you're not going to live in doubt and disobedience and fear.

But love for the word of God.

In fact, Johnson when you're really get that lavish love of God when you really get it to spending the rest of your life purifying yourself, purifying yourself as just over occupied with sin and fighting that temptation in fighting this and fighting the nun on just going to spending the rest of your life. Thank you Jesus and being empowered by that lavish love because he said while we don't know what glorious things are awaiting us. On the other end. We don't know everything about that, but we know one thing is that as we are princes and princesses in waiting will will not everything about what is going to happen, but we are waiting because when he come going to be with him. That's enough, I remembered an illustration that will make the point far better than I can and I remember this was said to me many many many years ago and was sent to me by a villager in the Middle East and it comes right out of the slums in the village with which he was experience. It will give you this understanding, the John is trying to tell you that when you see that lavish love of the father.

All of your life is going to be a matter of being in the presence of the father and when sin comes, you just be cleansed. This man said you know in the village you can see a duck in a pond.

That pond is filthy is murky waters dirty and muddy, but that duck is in its element in that dirty murky selfie pond you take the duck out and you wash it and within seconds she is right back into that dirty filthy murky water in the pond. He said, but if you notice a dove on the side of the street, muddy street and then a car would go by and as the car goes by it splashes some dirt and mud on the dove. He said you know what happens. Watch the dove. It immediately gets busy with its beak cleaning itself never rests. Why, because by nature the top of and sustain her and Mark and Phil, but not the dark enjoys being in that filthy water and then he looked at me and his brother Michael. The way a person knows whether he or she is transformed by the power of Christ have experience that lavish love to ask the question on my back on my dove, beloved only tell you I have seen people get into trouble for going to church these and go to prayer meetings. They pray they even cried buckets and as soon as a trouble is over they not anywhere to be seen to these of the ducks is of the ducks. Why because they really are like the duck they have never allowed the lavish love of the father to overwhelm them and change their nature and so they temporarily clean themselves. They temporary make an effort they temporary, but the like. The doctor immediately go back to the pond murky dirty filthy palm for those who will be washed by the blood of the Lamb.

Those are been covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Those who have been living in a state of awe and wonder and amazement at the lavish love of God. Those who are truly experience and responded to the extravagance of the love and the grace of God. Whenever sin comes into the life they lack the dove immediately. Can't stand it because it's against the nature it's against the nature look at verse nine no one who is born of God will continue in sin because God's seed remains in him.

He can't go on sinning because he has been born of God. The first message life at its best. We saw the only answer to sin not rationalizing up not explaining it. Nothing will. The culture has made me do it.

This person made me do it because I have inherited my father and my mother and I he said there's only one way verses eight and nine of chapter 1. He said if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we what he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. The dove goes immediately into asking for forgiveness. The duck will continuously and habitually live in the state of lawlessness. The duck may experience temporary conviction or temporary confession or temporary repentance, but the nature has not changed the nature has not changed and only God can do that and so the question is this. Are your duck. Listen.

Be honest with God because if you are Jesus can turn into a dove today.

He really can't he alone can change your nature and therefore you can come to him and he will turn you from a duck and thought of but if you're a dove who's trying to live like a duck. We listen to me. Please you a living in a state of conflict fitness which we saw in the last message and the reason you living in the state of conflict, fitness is because you were not made for the mug of sin is not made for the motives you made to be cleansed in the database confess and washed in the purifying and you can begin that state of cleansing by confession. Thanks for listening to this message from Dr. Michael use that recently featured on leading the way. If you'd like to know more about us, please visit LTW.org that LTW.org