SCRIPTURE READING:
ROMANS 5:1-11
SCRIPTURE TEXT:
ROMANS
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.
INTRO:
How often have we
disliked or even hated something that we have never
tried but once we did try it we found that we loved
it.
It is often this
way with our love for God.
There may have
been a day when we may have been indifferent towards
God all the way to hating God.
But when we
allowed God to enter our lives our attitude or love,
towards Him changed and should be even changing
still.
But the love of
God towards us never changes, we are only able to
enjoy the fullness of His love more and more as we
draw closer to Him.
God is love.
I JOHN 4:8 (KJV)
He
that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
I JOHN 4:16 (KJV)
And we have known and believed the love that God
hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
God is the
completeness of love.
As God is without
limit or boundaries so the Love He has towards us is
without limit or boundaries.
We fail to
understand or experience the fullness of God’s love
because we are limited.
There are three
major changes in enjoying the love of God.
-
GOD LOVED US
WHEN WE WERE STILL SINNERS.
-
WE BEGAN
ENJOYING GOD’S LOVE WHEN WE ACCEPT HIM AS OUR
SAVIOR.
-
WE CAN ONLY
ENJOYING GOD’S LOVE IN ITS FULLNESS IN ETERNITY.
I. GOD LOVED US WHEN
WE WERE STILL SINNERS.
ROMANS 5:6-8 (NASB)
For while we were still helpless, at the right time
Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly
die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good
man someone would dare even to die. But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
A. IT WAS GOD’S
LOVE THAT DREW US TO HIM.
JEREMIAH 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.
NOTE:
Being unaware of
God’s love did not lesson His love for us; it just
kept us from enjoying His love.
It was like
having a secret admirer who would send us gifts but
we didn’t know where they came from.
Often times we
would fail to see them as gifts.
HOSEA 11:1-4 (NLT)
"When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son, and
I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called
to him, the more he rebelled, offering sacrifices to
the images of Baal and burning incense to idols. It
was I who taught Israel how to walk, leading him
along by the hand. But he doesn't know or even care
that it was I who took care of him. I led Israel
along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted
the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed
him.
B. HE SENT
OTHERS TO TELL US OF HIS LOVE.
NOTE:
God loved us so much
that He sent others to invite us to come to Him and
enjoy the blessings of His love.
JEREMIAH 35:15 (NLT)
I have sent you prophet after prophet to tell you
to turn from your wicked ways and to stop worshiping
other gods, so that you might live in peace here in
the land I gave to you and your ancestors. But you
would not listen to me or obey.
God loved us so
much that He sent others to warn us of coming
judgment of sin.
EZEKIEL 33:10-11 (NLT)
"Son of man, give the people of
Israel this message:
You are saying, `Our sins are heavy upon us; we are
wasting away! How can we survive?' As surely as I
live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in
the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn
from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn
from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should
you die?
God love for us
allowed Him to use adversity to turn us to Him.
HOSEA 6:1-3 (NLT) "Come,
let us return to the LORD! He has torn us in pieces;
now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will
bandage our wounds. In just a short time, he will
restore us so we can live in his presence. Oh, that
we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him!
Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival
of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring."
II. WE BEGAN
ENJOYING GOD’S LOVE WHEN WE ACCEPT HIM AS OUR
SAVIOR.
NOTE:
We could not begin
to experience the fullness of God’s love until we
recognize WHO it is that loves us.
A. OUR LOVE FOR
GOD BEGINS AT THE CROSS.
1 JOHN 3:16 (KJV)
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he
laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.
NOTE:
It is not until we
begin to understand the cost of His love for us that
we can begin to enjoy His love.
1 JOHN 4:19 (KJV)
We love him,
because he first loved us.
B. WE ENJOY HIS
LOVE MORE AS WE KNOW HIM MORE.
NOTE: The more we know and understand about God, the more we can enjoy His
love.
PHILIPPIANS 3:10-14
(KJV)
That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death; If by any
means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. Not as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I
press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.
C. WE CAN KNOW
HIM MORE THROUGH:
·
Fellowship with Him.
o
The
Word of God
o
Prayer
·
Fellowship with fellow Believers.
ILL:
Song: “The Longer I
Serve Him.” Pg. 520
JAMES 1:17 (KJV)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning.
NOTE:
The more we
recognize God’s Love for us the more we will love
Him, the more we love Him the more we are able to
enjoy His love for us.
CONCLUSION:
We will
not fully understand and enjoy God’s love until we
reach heaven.
PSALMS 17:15 (KJV) As
for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I
shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
ISAIAH 33:17 (KJV)
Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they
shall behold the land that is very far off.
1 JOHN 3:1-3 (KJV)
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew
him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when
he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
AUGUST 27, 2006
“GOD’S PEANUT
BUTTER & JELLY SANDWICH”
SCRIPTURE READING:
PSALM 63:1-11
SCRIPTURE TEXT:
JEREMIAH 31:3 (KJV) The LORD hath appeared of
old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness
have I drawn thee.
INTRO:
The word,
loving-kindness, appears 705 times in the Bible in
various translations.
When you hear the
word, loving-kindness, what do you think of?
ILL:
A class
was asked, what is the difference between kindness
and lovingkindness? A little girl answered, “If I
was hungry and you gave me a slice of bread that
would be kindness, but if you put jelly on it, that
would be loving-kindness.”
God has shown to
us His loving-kindness by giving us much more than
bread and jam, He has given us a Peanut Butter and
Jelly Sandwich.
I. JESUS IS THE
BREAD OF LIFE.
JOHN 6:51 (KJV)
I
am the living bread which came down from heaven: if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world.
NOTE:
Man’s fellowship
with God had been broken by sin, by sending Jesus
Christ, the Bread of Life, God has provided a way
for man’s fellowship with God to be restored.
There are several
things about the Bread in God’s Peanut Butter and
Jelly Sandwich I want you to understand.
A.
BREAD
IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO MAKE A SANDWICH.
NOTE:
We get the word
sandwich from
John
Montagu Dunk, 4th Earl of Sandwich
who is often credited with inventing the sandwich
but actually, Hillel the Elder made a form of
sandwich a couple hundred years earlier.
Have you ever tried
to make a sandwich without using some sort of
bread?
1) Two or more slices
of bread or a split roll having a filling in
between.
2) One slide of bread covered with food.
JOHN 14:6 (KJV)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It is only
through Jesus Christ that we can have our fellowship
with God restored.
B. THE BREAD IS
NOT A FANCY TYPE OF BREAD.
ISAIAH 53:2 (KJV) For
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and
as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him.
NOTE:
There are those who
reject Jesus because He comes in the spirit of
humility and they want something that is gaudy and
fancy.
NUMBERS 21:5 (KJV)
And the people spake against God, and against
Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of
Egypt to
die in the wilderness? for there is no bread,
neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth
this light bread.
There are many
who do not like the simplicity of the Gospel. And
because of this, they are never able to enjoy God’s
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.
II. THE PEANUT
BUTTER IS A SYMBOL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
NOTE:
George Washington
Carver found over 300 ways to use the peanut.
There are many
different ways we can use peanut butter. There are
many different ways the Holy Spirit enables us to
live a victorious, productive Christian life.
A. THE HOLY
SPIRIT IS OUR COMFORTER.
JOHN 16:7 (KJV) Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go
away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto
you.
B. THE HOLY
SPIRIT CONVICTS US OF SIN.
JOHN 16:8 (KJV) And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment:
C. THE HOLY
SPIRIT GUIDES.
JOHN 16:13 (KJV)
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he
will guide you into all truth:
D. THE HOLY
SPIRIT TEACHES US.
1 JOHN 2:27 (NLT)
But
you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives
within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you
what is true. For the Spirit teaches you all things,
and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So
continue in what he has taught you, and continue to
live in Christ.
E. THE HOLY
SPIRIT PRAYS THROUGH US.
ROMANS 8:26 (KJV)
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.
F. THE HOLY
SPIRIT EMPOWERS US.
ACTS 1:8 (KJV)
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
G.
THE
HOLY SPIRIT GIVE IS GIFTS OF MINISTRY.
1 CORINTHIANS
12:4-11 (KJV)
Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there
are differences of administrations, but the same
Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but
it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge
by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same
Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same
Spirit; to
another the working of miracles; to another
prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to
another divers kinds of tongues; to another the
interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh
that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every
man severally as he will.
H.
THE
HOLY SPIRIT MAKES OUR LIVES FRUITFUL.
GALATIANS 5:22-23
(KJV)
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law.
III. THE JELLY ON
THE SANDWICH SYMBOLIZES ETERNITY IN HEAVEN.
A. JOINT HEIRS
WITH CHRIST.
ROMANS 8:16-17
(KJV)
The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs
of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together.
B. NO SIN.
REVELATION 21:27 (KJV)And
there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or
maketh a lie: but they which are written in the
Lamb's book of life.
C. NO DEATH,
TEARS OR PARTING.
REVELATION
21:4 (KJV)
And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away.
D. BE WITH GOD
FOREVER.
REVELATION
22:5 (KJV)
And there shall be no night there; and they need
no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord
God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever
and ever.
CONCLUSION:
Have you begun
to enjoy God’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
yet?
