The Mighty Love of God
The sermon emphasizes the transformative power of God's love, which is the fundamental work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart.
G.W. North emphasizes the transformative power of God's love in the human heart, which is essential for becoming a true son of God. He explains that the Holy Spirit's role is to shed God's love abroad in our hearts, changing our nature from hatred to love, and enabling us to reflect God's character. This divine love is not only a gift but also a powerful force that integrates and transforms our entire being, allowing us to love God and others as intended. North highlights that this inward baptism of love is unparalleled and leads to eternal life, fulfilling the commandment to love God wholeheartedly. Ultimately, it is through this love that we can truly live as God's children.
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Our immediate concern is with this most fundamental work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart, without which no-one can be a son of God, namely, the shedding abroad of the love of God in the heart of man. It is by this alone, (according to the apostle John) that the true sons of God can be distinguished and known. To have made men righteous and holy and not loving would never have satisfied God. He would not have been able to justify Himself in the act of redemption unless thereby He could change the hearts of men from hatred and indifference to love. Men live and do things according to their nature; they form character and act characteristically, therefore if nature be not changed men are not changed.
Sons of God are people who share God's nature and develop His character and do His works and show forth His ways as of natural habit; their whole character, disposition and personality is changed. Responsibility to accomplish this in a man is entrusted to the Holy Spirit; that is why He is given us; His special duty is to ensure that we become the Sons of God in the very image of Christ, so He floods us with God's own love; He could not sufficiently change us by any other means.
What a wonderful inward baptism this is; it is the immersion and saturation of the entire human nature in the divine. The joy of it is unspeakable and the experience indescribable, earth has nothing to compare with it; the like of it is not to be found.
This love of God is the love natural to the three persons of God, it is the basic state of life in which they abide together in perfect union and bliss; love is the almighty integrating force which makes this possible. Love seems to be so utterly powerless, yet it is the greatest power of all. Love is so vulnerable, it can be so easily abused or refused or denied, it can be resisted so firmly and constantly that it can be heart-broken, but it remains tender and enduring and unbreakable and everlasting. This love that is so natural in God is all-transforming when shed abroad in human hearts because it is not natural to them.
It is not the love of humans for God, but of God for humans, and what is more it is the love of God for God, enabling a man to love God and man as each should be loved. This miracle of divine transformation is the beginning of wonderful eternal life in the soul of man. By this men can love God for ever with the love wherewith He loves them; it far exceeds the commandment He gave to Israel on the borders of the promised land centuries before, for it fulfils it. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength', God said; the love-filled heart cries a joyous, 'Yes, so I shall, I know I shall, I can now'.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Fundamental Work of the Holy Spirit
- A. The shedding abroad of the love of God in the heart of man
- B. The true sons of God can be distinguished and known by this
- II. The Nature of God's Love
- A. It is the love natural to the three persons of God
- B. It is the basic state of life in which they abide together in perfect union and bliss
- III. The Power of God's Love
- A. It is the greatest power of all
- B. It is all-transforming when shed abroad in human hearts
Key Quotes
“It is by this alone, (according to the apostle John) that the true sons of God can be distinguished and known.” — G.W. North
“Love seems to be so utterly powerless, yet it is the greatest power of all.” — G.W. North
“This love that is so natural in God is all-transforming when shed abroad in human hearts because it is not natural to them.” — G.W. North
Application Points
- We can experience the transformative power of God's love by receiving it in our hearts.
- God's love enables us to love Him and others as we should be loved.
- We can love God with all our heart, soul, and strength by receiving His love in our hearts.