THE TRUTH AND EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S SALVATION

Lesson Eleven     

GOD’S SALVATION – THE SOURCE OF SALVATION IS GOD’S LOVE (1)

III. God’s Salvation

A.  The source of salvation is God’s love – Eph. 2:4-5; Titus 3:4-7

1.   God’s love was manifested in sending His Son into the world to be our Savior – John 3:16; 1 John 4:9

Burden to Impart:

God’s salvation has its source in His love. This message is the first of four on the source of salvation being God’s love. Here we deal mainly with Eph. 2:4-5 and John 3:16. We were in a pitiful condition, dead in offenses. But God made us alive together with Christ. What was the source of such a great salvation? It was God’s love. “God so loved ….” Our salvation has such a wonderful source in the very love of God.

Memory Verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Facts to Teach:

  1. What is God’s love? Love is the heart of God. God’s love issues out of His heart. What was in God’s heart originally? Love. Love was the fountain, love was the root, and love was the source of it all. God loved us before He predestinated us, He loved us before He called us, He loved us before He justified us, and He loved us before He glorified us. Before everything and anything else He loved us. Our salvation originated with the love of God. Love is the source of all that God does for us, and this love is His heart. Love was the source of God’s eternal salvation; salvation began with God’s heart of love.
  2. God is rich in mercy “because of His great love with which He loved us” (Eph. 2:4). The object of love should be in a condition deserving love, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. Hence, God’s mercy reaches further than his love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But we became pitiful by our fall, even dead in our offenses and sins; therefore, we need God’s mercy. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us from our wretched position to a condition which is suitable for His love.
  3. John 3:16 says “God so loved the world ….” The world here refers to sinful, fallen people, who constitute the world. Although men are utterly fallen, God still loves us with His divine love, which is Himself (1·John 4:8, 16), because we are vessels created by God according to His own image to contain Himself (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 9:21a, 23).
  4. Moreover, He so loves us that He gave us His only begotten Son, His expression, that we might obtain His eternal life to become His many sons and be His corporate expression for the fulfillment of His eternal New Testament economy.
  5. Hence, God first regenerates us by His Spirit (John 3:3-6) that we may have His eternal life (vv. 15-16, 36a). Then He fills us with His unlimited Spirit (v 34) that we may become the bride of Christ, who is above all and is all-inclusive (vv. 31-35), to be His increase and fullness (vv. 28-30). What love, and what a full salvation!