‘Touched by the Love of God’ Chapter 1
GOD IS LOVE: 1st John 4:16
‘The love of God never fails; it will never come to an end. Prophecies will fail, speaking in unknown tongues will cease and the gift of knowledge shall vanish away.’ but ‘God’s love will never fail.’ 1st Corinthians 13: 4-7
To those who would accuse Jesus of doing evil, of causing them harm, allow me to ask; would such love kill an unborn child or take the life of a teenage son or daughter?
Would Jesus destroy the very life he created? Would he send poverty, would he abuse or hurt the very child he formed in its mother’s womb?
Would Jesus crush the broken hearted, would he oppress his own or leave and forsake his own child?
No! Jesus died for the unlovable and the ungodly. He willingly ‘laid down his life for you’ 1st John 3:16 and for all those who would reject him?
Have you not heard that, ‘while you were still sinners Christ died for you?’ Romans 5:8 Have you not read that, ‘he washed you from your sins in his own blood’ Revelations 1:5.
‘Jesus was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, he carried your griefs and your sorrows,
‘Christ was wounded for your transgressions, he was bruised for your iniquities, the chastisement of your peace was upon him and by his stripes you are healed’ Isaiah 53:3-5
He took your infirmities and carried your sicknesses’ Matthew 8:17 and again he declares, by his stripes you were healed; 1 Peter 2:24, because that’s what real love does.
Jesus ‘died for you when you were ‘without strength,’ ‘while you were still an ungodly sinner, he died for you’ Romans 5:6-8 He loved his own which were in the world, indeed he loved them to the end’ John 13:1
Jesus, ‘left you another comforter’ the Holy Ghost who will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever he said unto you’ John 14:26
He left you ‘peace so that you need not be troubled’ John 14:27 and Joy that’s unspeakable and full of glory.
He ‘gave eternal life to you’ 1 John 5:11 and to all who would simply, believe.
Jesus healed all that came to him, Matthew 12:15 indeed he healed every sickness and every disease among the people Matthew 9:35
He fed the multitudes, Matthew 15:32-38 and cleansed the leper. Matthew 8:1-3
He raised the widows’ dead son and gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and a voice to the dumb. Luke 7:12-15
He preached good news to the poor, he delivered the captives and gave recovery of sight to the blind and brought liberty to those who were bruised (downtrodden and abused) Luke 4:18
Jesus took upon himself the sins of the whole world, 1st John 2:2
He was beaten until his appearance was like no other man, Isaiah 54:14 ‘they made his back like a ploughed field they laid long their furrows’ Psalm 129:3
He was crowned with thorns, spat upon, mocked and laughed at. Matthew 27: 29-31
He was nailed to a cross and even when in agony, even while forsaken (Matthew 27:46) and he forgave the dying repentant thief and, he forgave you and I. Luke 23:42-43 all because that’s what love would do…
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, Luke 19:10 he adopted you; indeed he gave you the Spirit of adoption whereby you can call God your Abba, your daddy, your Father and your God. Romans 8:15 Forever!!
Today is the very day that the Lord has chosen to give you a new life, a new beginning and all you have to do is to repent of your sins, ask him to rescue from sins power and to be your personal Lord and saviour”¦
This is your day to be touched by the love of God
‘Touched by the love of God’ Chapter 2
‘God is love’ 1st John 4:16
It is God’s nature to love; there is not one evil thought, word or action that can come from Gods heart.
He is love personified, he is love in action for true love itself is from him, ‘the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through Christ (Romans 5:5) such love in Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8)
It was love that formed man out of the red dust of the garden of Eden and it was love that pursued Adams fallen race all the way to Calvary and on that lonely hill love purchased a pardon for all who would simply believe on Christ.
Some deluded bible teachers would tell us that God sends sickness or that God allows someone to have an accident, how foolish to make such a statement of a good God, a God who is love.
Thank God for his word that never changes, praise God for faithful witnesses like James the apostle who wrote, ‘Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man’ (James 1:13)
I remember one occasion being at a meeting when one young man stood up to give his testimony, he began with words that struck me like a fiery dart; he declared ‘God broke my back and put me into hospital for months so that he could speak to me’
I was stunned and ached against such an accusation for I knew it was accusing a good God of an evil deed. I sought the Lord and he brought me to the scripture above, the young man was awestruck at the word when I revealed it to him and said it was a revelation of truth to him.
Look at the next few verses of James chapter 1 and see that ‘Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed’ (v.14) ‘then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished, brings forth death` (v.15) Instead of blaming God we need to look to ourselves and our own actions which bring about accidents and injuries and indeed sometimes sickness.
When we blame God we are as guilty as Adam was when he blamed God for making Eve who Adam in turn blamed for sin.
When we ask, ‘why me God’ we are accusing Him of some evil thing which has touched our lives, when we say God allowed it we do the same thing, it’s time we realized that God is good all the time instead of just singing about it.
God is not into evil works; see verse 16-17 ‘Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning’
Its good things that come down from above, they come from an unchanging God of light not from the god of darkness, Satan.
Ask your self would you as a mother or father hurt your children in order to teach them something? Would you allow them to get cancer? Or would you allow someone to abuse them? Of course not, then why accuse a good God of hurting those he loves?
Jesus put it this way ‘What man is there of you if a son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent?’ If you then being evil know how to give good things unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ (Matthew 6:9-11)
Does that sound like God wants you to suffer?
No; goodness cannot flow from an evil heart a good tree brings forth good fruit because it is its nature, goodness flows from a heart so full of love that it overflows and gives good things to all that ask. Is sound health a good thing? Then it is a love gift, is sufficient finances a good thing? Are peace and joy good things? Then they are a love gift from a good God.
If you still doubt that God is good then ‘Christ coming into the world to save sinners’ 1st Timothy 1:15 must surely convince even the most hard hearted that He is love.
Surely a glimpse of the cruellest of deaths, a mere glimpse of Calvary’s butchered saviour would open the eyes of the most blinded of eyes”¦ for there even the most foolish could not help but be touched by the Love of God
‘Touched by the love of God’ Chapter 3
Love and Compassion go hand in hand, if love is the glove then compassion are the fingers that reach into the dark recesses of human misery and sets men and women free.
Compassion is not pity for pity is a source of many fine words while compassion works to remove suffering whatever its root.
In Psalm 86 David writes about the Lord’s nature saying; ‘ For you Lord, are good and ready to forgive; plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon you’ ‘But you O lord are full of compassion and gracious, longsuffering and plenteous in mercy and truth’
God’s word reveals our sinful nature but it always balances it with good news about a loving God who forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases (Psalm 103:3)
Every time the psalmist bemoaned his sinful nature, every time he spoke of his sufferings he spoke of Gods great mercy (Psalm 86:13) and reminded himself of Gods compassion, his grace and long suffering.
Love is like that, I mean true love; it always is willing to forgive and to show mercy and compassion, true love does not hold grudges, it runs to help the wounded even though they are suffering at their own hands.
Psalm 103 tell us that when we deserved death, love redeemed our lives from destruction, when we deserved wrath it crowned us with loving kindness and tender mercies (v.4) when we deserved Gods anger and wrath he poured out mercy and grace (v.8) for as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him’ (v.11)
In the Old Testament we see a Father who loves his children, who would do anything to save them from their sins, a Father who gave them a blue print for living while warning them that departing from it would cause them great pain and death.
In the New Testament we see the Son Jesus doing exactly the same because ‘He worked the works of God who sent him (John 9:4) in the same measure as the Father loved, he loved, he showed the same mercy and grace, he revealed the Fathers compassion and healed the sick and fed the hungry.
Matthew (9:35) records that, ‘Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people’ that’s what love does, it heals the sick, it never walks away shaking its head or hides its eyes from the hurts of others. Love reaches out and touches the deepest need of every human being; the need to be loved, the need to feel wanted; the need to be counted worthy of someone’s time.
Compassion goes deeper than the physical needs of the human soul; it digs deeper and goes to the root of the problem desiring to bring us total freedom.
Jesus was ‘moved with compassion on the multitude because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd’ He had fed the people who had come seeking his help but the thing that moved him most was their spiritual hunger, their need of salvation, their need of a saviour.
Religion offers laws instead of grace and mercy, manmade offerings of impure grace and purchased mercy, it offers freedom in chains, shackled liberty and false hope.
Christ on the other hand shows compassion,
In Matthew 15:32 we read that ‘Jesus called his disciples and said ‘I have compassion on the multitude, for they have been with us three days, and have nothing to eat, I will not send them away fasting in case the faint in the way’
That’s what compassion does, it does more than just talk, it feeds the hunger in every heart, it meets a person’s deepest desire and fulfils his greatest need, the need to be forgiven and to be loved.
Compassion like love cares nothing for itself, it cares only for the needs of others,
Compassion is the divine nature of God revealed in Christ and in every believer whose heart has been melted by Christ’s love,
Compassion is an unworthy sinner being touched by the love of God
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Our Location: The Advent Centre, Crawford Place, London, W1H 5JE
Regular Meetings Divine Service: Every Saturday from 11:15 AM
