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Men love to think of God as love,

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because what they love to think of

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in their estimation of what love is

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they love to think of a God

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who isn't going to punish them for their sin.

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They love to think that they can go on in their sin,

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and that they can then have glory at the end,

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and they're going to deal with a god

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who's more like Santa Claus than the Biblical God,

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and he's going to "ho, ho" them all the way in there

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and it all be great and all be glorious

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and yeah, they accepted Jesus back then,

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and lived in all their sin

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and they're going to have their cake and eat it too.

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They're going to live their life of sin

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and they're going to get glory at the end.

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And so they like to extract the love of God,

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but let me tell you what, God is like that sky

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Oh, this is even a small picture for me to even liken it to Him,

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but you can not take

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one of the hues of color out of the great umbrella

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of the twilight sky and do justice to it,

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and in the same way, the Bible says God is love,

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but the Bible also says God is what?

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(various responses from the room)

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There are four propositions set forth to us

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in all of Scripture that says, "God is..." and then a word.

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God is light. Where's that one? Does anybody know where that is?

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1 John. Absolutely right. Are you memorizing 1 John too?

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1 John. God is light. We heard God is love,

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there are two other expressions in our Bibles

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that set forth propositions about the attributes of God in that same way.

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God is... a consuming fire.

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Anybody know where that one comes from?

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Hebrews.

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God is light.

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God is love.

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God is a consuming fire.

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Basically, love seeks the greatest welfare,

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where hatred seeks the least welfare.

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It wants to damage, destroy, hurt...

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Love wants to cause the greatest amount of joy,

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the greatest amount of pleasure,

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the greatest amount of well-being,

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the greatest amount of joy, the greatest amount

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of goodness that can be imparted possibly to another person.

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That's what love is.

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We know that. We feel that.

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You feel you're loved by somebody.

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When they're ready to invest their time,

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their money, their efforts in making you happy.

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Because here's the thing, God created us...

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This is not a bad thing, by the way,

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but God created us to want to be happy.

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To want to seek pleasure.

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To want to have that well-being.

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He has created us to want joy,

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to want goodness, to want happiness,

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Anybody here want to be miserable?

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Anybody here want to suffer?

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Listen. Sometimes people say crazy things like,

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"oh, look how much they hated themselves, they committed suicide."

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I guarantee you people do not commit suicide

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because they hate themselves.

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They commit suicide because they love themselves,

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and typically, they commit suicide because they have

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come to a place of such pain and misery in this life

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that they really believe that death

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is going to free them from that.

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Or they hate somebody or despise somebody enough

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that they think that their own death is going to inflict pain on another.

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But they do it for reasons that they actually think

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are going to bring some relief to them.

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You see, it's built into us to want happiness.

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But then right here is where sin comes in,

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the deceitfulness of sin...

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Sin is a lie. Because what does sin do?

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What's the lie of sin?

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Come follow me and I'll give you happiness.

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And see there's where the allurement is...

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You know, you get the teenager.

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Alcohol says, "Come, come. This will be fun."

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Sin doesn't all of a sudden show the guy in the gutter;

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the guy we deal with down in the inner city

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that's slept all night in his vomit,

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he's lost his whole family, he's lost everything he owns.

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He has nothing left. He stinks like a sewer pit.

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He has nothing to his name.

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He doesn't know where his next meal's coming from.

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Sin doesn't show you that. It says, "Come. I'll give you fun."

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And you know what? The Scripture says

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there are pleasures in sin, are there not?

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But, for a season, and you see love doesn't entice people to sin,

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because it's only for a season

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and it's not for people's greatest well-being.

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But if I draw somebody to Christ,

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now there's an expression of love,

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because there is pleasure forevermore at His right hand.

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God is love. And I'll guarantee you this,

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I truly believe it.

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That that same emotion that welled up in Christ

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when He loved that one man who walked away,

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and when He loved that whole city that He would wail for them.

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If you're here and you're not saved,

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yes, folks, there is a day coming

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when His Father will say to Him,

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"Ok, My Son, it's time. It's time.

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The time has run out for the sinners,

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and Our expressions of kindness

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that are meant to lead them to repentance,

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have come to closure.

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It's done."

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And those who have trusted Him are going to be swept

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into a world of love.

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We're going to be swept into the perfections of that inner-Trinitarian love

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It's true already, but there we'll see Them.

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Father. As He can be seen with whatever senses we'll have,

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the meek shall inherit the earth.

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He's going to come down to dwell among those people

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in a new heaven and new earth

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It says we are going to see Him,

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the pure in heart, they will see God.

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Swept into this world of love,

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and we are going to have love for one another,

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and Christ will love us,

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and the Father will love us,

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and the Spirit will love us,

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and we will see eternal expressions of the love

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that the Father has for the Son

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actually shed upon us, because we are in Christ

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and what is Christ's is ours,

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and what His inheritance is we have in Him,

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and we will just be consumed in this

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and who can recognize what this is,

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but for those who reject such expressions of love

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that are offered to you who have sinned;

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your transgressions are deep,

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and as I said last week,

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they are mounting up on your shoulders,

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and for you to be offered pardon and such love,

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when you have hated God and you have despised Him,

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the day's going to come when it runs out.

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The kindness of God towards Christ-rejecters

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is going to come to an end one day.

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The love of God and those expressions

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and His rain falling on you,

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and the sun shining on you...

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the day's going to come

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when the Father says, "That's it.

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They've filled up the measure of their sin.

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My Son, they will not be a grief,

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they will not bring tears from You,

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they will not bring sighs from You anymore.

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It's done."

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But today, while it is still called today,

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you are bid to come to Him.

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Today is the day of salvation.

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Today is the day to flee to Him,

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and find yourself consumed

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in these very expressions of love.

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God so loved the world,

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that He gave His only begotten Son,

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and I'll tell you what,

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you come to Him, you trust Him,

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you put your faith right there,

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You will find yourself swept into this whole thing,

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in Christ, into a love that God doesn't have for everybody.

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He has a special love for His children

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that only those who have been

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partakers of it even in this life can know of.

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Like you found here, men swept up into expressions of it.

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The most loving thing God can do is show you Himself,

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and overwhelm you with visions of Himself.

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That is the love.

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Moody had to cry out for it to stop.

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Isn't that what you want? Don't you guys want that?

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Such expressions of love that this world knows not of...

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God is love.

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Amen.