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You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible.

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To contact us call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website OpenTheBible.org.

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Let’s get to the message here is Pastor Collin.

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Today is the last message in our series on the soul.

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God has made us a body soul unity.

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The body wears out.

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It is weak in its nature.

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But your soul goes on forever.

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Your soul will never die.

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Your soul will be forever saved or your soul would be forever lost.

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That is why it is of supreme importance that you care for your soul.

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In this series, we’ve been seeing that God gives to us four wonderful friends for our

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soul.

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Friends who are to be welcomed into our life, into our heart, into our inner being.

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We have seen that these are first the Son of God, second the Word of God, third the

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Fear of God and today, this wonderful subject of the love of God.

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Each of these four is spoken of in the Bible as being in the heart, in the life, in the

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soul of a Christian believer.

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Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, here is the Son of God in you.

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Christ lives in me.

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That’s true of a Christian believer.

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Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

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We looked last week at Jeremiah and chapter 32 and verse 40, where God says I will put

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the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn away from me and this fear of God

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does us a wonderful, wonderful good.

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And today then we come to the last of these four friends as we wrap up this series and

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I do invite you to turn to Romans and chapter 5 and particularly verse 5, which is our focus

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so we will be touching on the other verses around it also.

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And here we have this was marvellous statement for us to relish and to take into our hearts

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today.

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Romans 5 and verse 5 God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy

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Spirit who has been given to us.

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And I want you to think with me for a moment about this love of God, the love of God, God’s

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love.

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The quality of any love relates directly to the capacity of the being who gives it.

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The quality of any love relates directly to the capacity of the being who gives it.

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So if you ask the question do insects experience love, I think the answer is reasonably yes.

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I mean you watch bees cooperating in a hive, there is clearly a relationship there, there’s

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partnership there, there’s common purpose that’s there developed even at the level

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of the insect kingdom.

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If you ask the question thinking about higher forms of animal life, do birds experience

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love, the answer very very clearly is yes, the relatedness of birds in migration.

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How many times have you stopped by Lake Arlington there, as these Canadian geese parade in their

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slow walk together as a group across the road holding all the traffic to a standstill.

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The capacity of birds is higher than the capacity of insects and you see the development of

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relatedness in the world of birds, move higher in the created order.

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And let’s get to cats and dogs, do cats have the capacity to love, all the cat lovers here,

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quite clearly the answer is that they do.

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What about dogs?

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Clearly the loyalty and the affection of a dog is a special gift in the lives of millions

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and millions of people.

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Now, whether cats are more loving than dogs is an issue that I’m not going to venture

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into today.

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That is the easiest way to lose half of the congregation and I’m not as foolish as

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to do a thing like that.

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All that I’m affirming is that the capacity of affection is given to cats and to dogs

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and that it is given to them in a higher degree than is given to birds or to insects.

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Then let’s move out of the animal kingdom and into the world of people, the man and

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the woman.

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People are more than developed animals.

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We are made in the image of God, and quite clearly the capacity to love given to human

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beings is greater by far than the capacity that is given to insects or to birds or to

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cats and to dogs.

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The quality of love relates directly to the capacity of the being who gives it.

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Now think with me about this, the love of God.

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Think about the capacity there.

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What are we to say about the love of God, this God who is eternal in His being,

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unlimited in His power, infinite in His knowledge.

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The capacity of God is more than anything we can fathom on earth,

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and it is more than anything that the angels can fathom in heaven.

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Therefore, the love of God is beyond our ability fully to grasp,

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which is why forever we will be lost in worship and wonder, and love, and praise,

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as the extent of His love goes on being unfolded to us for all eternity.

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The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.

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It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.

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And then as someone has written

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Could we with ink the ocean fill?

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Imagine that filling the ocean with ink.

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Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made?

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Were every stock on earth a quill and every man, a scribe by trade?

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To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry nor could the scroll

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contain the whole if stretched from sky to sky.

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No wonder the Apostle prays for Christian believers that we might have strength

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to comprehend the breads and length and depth and height of the love of Christ

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which he says surpasses knowledge. That’s our subject today the love of God and I

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want you to notice that the love of God is spoken here in two ways, first in

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verse 5 which is going to be our main focus but also in verse 8 that I’d like

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to draw your attention to now. Romans 5 and verse 8 says God shows his love for

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us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Now friends here’s

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something to tuck away in your memory and to keep with you all your life when

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you ask the question how can I know that God loves me? This is where you go for an

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answer. Romans chapter 5 and verse 8. Here’s how you know in any circumstance

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of life that God loves you. God shows his love that’s what the verse

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says. God demonstrates his love. The word could also be translated even as

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strongly as God proves his love in this. How do I know? Christ died for us. We are

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looking at objective historical data. Something happened and this is how I

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know that God loves me. How do I know? Christ died and he died for me and this

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is Romans chapter 5 and verse 8. The proof off God’s love, Christ did this and

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he did it for me. Now friends it is really important that

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you know how to answer the question, how do I know that God loves me, especially

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when you come to really traumatic events or seasons in your life. And here’s why

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it’s so important because when you face trauma, you may very well find that a

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large part of your whole emotional system shuts down, and because of the

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circumstances that you are in and what is hitting you in your life, you just

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don’t feel things as you normally would. And when you are in that place you will

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find yourself saying, well here I am in this trauma and I can’t feel the love of

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God. Of course you can’t. You can’t feel anything as you normally would. And that

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is why this objective historical revelation of the love of God is so

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important, especially at these times. You may find yourself in a place of saying,

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someone maybe there right now. Many Christians will be there at some point

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in your life. And this is why you need to talk this away and have it in your mind

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and in your heart. You may find yourself in a place of saying I can’t feel a

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thing. I come to church and I feel numb. But I know that God loves me. Because He

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sent his Son to die for me. That’s how I know even when I can’t feel a thing,

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Christ gave himself for me. And this is love. Even when what has hit me in life

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has numbed my system to the point where I cannot feel anything or relate to

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anything quite as I normally would. Now this is of huge importance.

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Romans chapter 5 in verse 8, this is where you go to answer the question how

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can I know that God loves me. But there’s more. And it’s the more that I

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particularly want to focus on in the scriptures today and let me put it to

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you this way. That the love of God is more than a truth to be believed, it is a

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gift to be enjoyed. And that is the great significance of where Romans chapter 5

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in verse 5 because verse 5 says that God’s love has been poured into our

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hearts. Now he’s talking about something that’s happening within us

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now, into our hearts, into our souls, into our interior life. And that this happens

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through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. So do you see how these two

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verses Romans chapter 5 in verse 8 and Romans chapter 5 in verse 5, two

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wonderful statements about the love of God, how beautifully they complement each

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other and how wonderfully they stand together? That the love of God is poured

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out at the cross by his Son and the love of God is poured into our hearts by

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his Spirit. It is a truth to be believed, Romans 5 8. It is an experience to be

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enjoyed, a gift to be enjoyed. Romans chapter 5 and verse 5. The love of God is

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rooted in history but it is also earthed in experience. It is universal in its

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scope, Christ giving himself on the cross here is the demonstration of the love of

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God that anyone in the world can see and yet it is to become personal in

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not only there and then on the cross, but here and now known and experienced

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in our hearts, Romans chapter 5 and verse 5. So I read Romans

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chapter 5 and verse 5, and this is my response, and I’m sure it’s yours. I find

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myself saying, I want to know as much of that love of God in this heart as I

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possibly can this side of heaven. Don’t you find yourself thinking that? Isn’t

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that what you feel? And that’s what we’re going to look at today. If all we knew of

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the love of God was what we may deduce from the fact that Christ died on the

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cross, it would still be glorious. But God speaks to us in Romans chapter 5 and

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verse 5 about something that is beyond perceiving that God loved us because

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He speaks about knowing it in our heart, experiencing it in our heart,

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moving beyond the realm of knowledge, increasing abundance of felt experience

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of what it is to be embraced in the Father’s love. So here’s what we’re

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seeking to do today at two points… it’s not always three, you know? Just two

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things today… First, I want us to look at what’s promised.Let’s look at this

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marvelous promise in verse 5… try and take it in. What is it that God is saying to

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us? And then the second thing, of course, is to answer the question, how can I know

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more? Much more than I have known before of this love of God poured out into my

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heart? These two things. But first, the promise, then, and let’s look at this

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verse, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who

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has been given to us. Notice that beautiful word, poured. Not dribbled, not

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sprinkled, not dripped. Poured. It speaks of an abundance. Let me use a picture

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from the Scriptures to try and illustrate what is being described here.

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The Apostle John tells us that six days before the Passover, when Jesus suffered

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so much for us, He came to the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, three

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siblings who loved Him and who Jesus loved very much indeed. Lazarus, of course,

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was one who Jesus had raised from the dead. That’s in John chapter 11 and this

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story that I’m telling you is in John chapter 12. And, Jesus comes to the home

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and how do you say thank you to someone who’s given you life from the dead? Can

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you imagine? How do you say thank you? And here’s Martha and Mary and Lazarus and

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they want to put on a dinner in Jesus’ honour, and they put on the

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dinner and John tells us very movingly that during the dinner an idea came

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to Mary. She took a pound of expensive ointment and she poured it on the feet

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of Jesus, and John says this, the house was filled with the fragrance of the

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perfume. Now you think about that. She takes that here’s this flask of perfume

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and she smashes it. She puts the whole lot, not just a couple of drops that you

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would normally use, but by the whole lot of this very, very expensive perfume on

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the feet of Jesus and John says the whole house was filled with the

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fragrance. It went everywhere when it was poured out, not just everywhere in the

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room but everywhere in the whole house. There wasn’t a corner of the place where

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you could not smell the beautiful influence of what had been poured out in

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this marvelous act of devotion. Now, isn’t that a wonderful picture of what we’re

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thinking of here? The Holy Spirit pours out the love of God into the hearts of

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believers. What that means, therefore, is that it goes everywhere. This love can’t

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be contained in a small corner of your life. When it’s poured out by the Spirit,

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everything is affected. The fragrance fills the whole house. Think of this—it’s

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something wonderful just to lift your mind and open your mind to think of what

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this can mean for you—the love of God in all of its healing power poured out by

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the Holy Spirit permeating every part of your interior life. That would include

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your memories. That would include your mind, your heart, your will. The

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fragrance of the love of God, permeating into all of this, the pervasive

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presence of this love being poured out to you. It’s wonderful to

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think of. And, of course, as you think of it, the natural place for the mind to

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go is to say, well how in the world would that be possible? So I want you to look

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at what the apostle says, God’s love has been poured into our hearts. How? Through

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the Holy Spirit. You see what he’s saying? Only the Holy Spirit can do this. Your

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pastor can speak to you about the love of God but your pastor doesn’t have the

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ability to pour this love into your heart. You have to go to God for that.

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Your counselor can point you in the direction of a God who loves you but she

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cannot pour the love of God into your heart. You have to go to God for that.

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But look at what it says here in the scripture. It’s not just that the Holy

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Spirit can pour the love of God into our hearts. It says He has. You see, that God’s

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love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been

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given to us. So trying to shape our minds by what the Bible actually says, Paul is

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writing to Christian believers in Rome and he’s saying effectively, now here are

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two things that you need to know about yourself as a Christian. Number One, for

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a person in Christ, the Holy Spirit has been given to you. He has been given to

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you. If that’s not true of you, you’re not yet in Christ and you shouldn’t

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pretend that you are. There’s no such thing as a person who’s in Christ who

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Holy Spirit. Check that out in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, it’s very, very

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clear. How could Christ be in your heart and how could you be in Christ if it was

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not that the Holy Spirit had done that work and made it to be so? Could not

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possibly happen otherwise. So if you’re in Christ, Paul is saying to these

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Christians in Rome, understand two things are true of you. The first is this, that

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the Holy Spirit has been given to you. And here’s the second. Therefore, because

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the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and therefore the Spirit of love,

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God’s love has been poured into your heart. These things are true of everyone

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who is in Christ. Everyone who is in Christ has tasted something of the love

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of God and a person who has not tasted something of the love of God is not yet

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in Jesus Christ. But friends there is so much more of this infinite love of God

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than any of us have yet tasted. The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen

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ever tell. You think about the vastness of this love of this infinite God being

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poured into the restricted capacity of a human heart. I mean we talk about trying

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to pour a quart into a pint pot. This is like trying to pour an ocean into a

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thimble, isn’t it? I mean, it’s just the love of God in a human heart. So the

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question that rises up therefore in the heart of any Christian believers surely

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is having tasted. How can I receive more. So here’s the second of these two things

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today the first was to gaze into what is promised and how wonderful it is and to

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get the taste of what a difference more and more of this would make in our lives.

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And then the second thing is to ask the question how can we enjoy more of what

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is here promised. I want you to notice what Paul says. God’s love has been

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poured into our hearts. The obvious question then is whose hearts. He does

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not say that God’s love has been poured into all hearts. That’s very important.

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This is not a universal experience that he’s talking about. He does not say God’s

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love has been poured out into all hearts. He says God’s love has been poured out

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into our hearts. So the question is who are the our? Who are the people into

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whose hearts the love of God is poured, because the more that we reflect the

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marks of these people, the more, therefore, we will experience what is

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promised to them. So who are the people who enjoy this outpouring of God’s love

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in their hearts? And there’s a very simple way and a

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very reliable way to answer that question. He’s speaking to a certain

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group of people so let’s look at what he says immediately before the promise and

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let’s look at what he says immediately after the promise and we’ll discover the

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people into whose hearts the love of God is poured and, if we can become more like

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them, we’re going to experience more of this love of God permeating every part

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of our being. So let me just point out these four markers very, just very

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simply. Who are the people into whose hearts the love of God is poured? Number

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one they are people who exercise faith. A love of God is poured into our hearts.

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Who’s he speaking of? Look at verse one.

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Therefore, since we same group of people have been justified by faith we have

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peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Who’s the we? People who exercise

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faith. We have been justified by faith and God’s love is poured into our hearts.

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You see the connection? Now faith is more than saying you believe. Faith is believing

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God over all other voices and the Christian life is lived by faith and

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Christian experience is mediated by faith. No one can ever believe God’s

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truth and Satan’s lies at the same time. When God says to you in Christ you are

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justified Satan comes along sometime in the course of the week and he says how

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can that possibly be? Look at you you’re a massave contradictions, look at this

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area of your life it’s a complete and utter mess how can God possibly be at

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peace with you? Well then the question is who are you going to believe? Faith

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believes God over other voices. And friends don’t think of this simply about

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you know a decision 20 years ago I came to faith and so forth that’s wonderful

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and that’s important but the life of faith is a matter of

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believing God over other voices every day. You’re going to go out this week

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and there’s what the world says you are there’s what your own heart that

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sometimes condemns you may say you are there’s what the devil himself may

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suggest to you the great accuser may say you are and then there is what God says

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that you are. There’s what the world and its constant bombardment of advertising

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says you need and then there’s what God says you need. And every day we’re making

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active choices this is what exercising faith looks like to believe God over all

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the other voices that surround us, it’s faith. Faith believes God over all other

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voices and does it on a day to day basis and it’s these people people who are

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living by this exercised faith on a daily basis into whose heart the Holy

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Spirit is pouring the love of God. Number two, the people whose hearts into whose

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hearts the love of God is poured our people who persevere through suffering

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the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts whose hearts. Verse three

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we same group of people rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering

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produces endurance and endurance character and character produces hope so

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here particularly we’re being told if you connect verse 3 and verse 5 that

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we’ve been looking at that the love of God is wonderfully poured into the

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hearts of people who are marked by having persevered through suffering

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isn’t that very striking to you that the love of God poured out would be in

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the experience of people who suffer our instinct is well if God loves me I

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shouldn’t ever suffer but think of the one who knew the love of the Father

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without measure and think of how much he suffered and how much he was loved this

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is very important because the promises of God and we’re looking at a wonderful

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promise in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5 the promises of God are really hammered

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out as someone has said on the anvil of human experience and human experience is

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often painful. But notice that these people persevere through their

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sufferings we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces

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endurance. Now friends obviously this does not mean that we should seek

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suffering, what it does mean is that we should use it and when it comes we

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should in the pain of it at least be encouraged by this that this is a place

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where we may hope to taste more of the love of God poured out even then at

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other times and to ask God that by his mercy it may be so. That’s the great

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encouragement in pressing on through the difficulties, the suffering, the pain, the

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sheer discouragement. Suffering produces endurance and character and hope and

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into our hearts the Holy Spirit pours out his marvelous and increasing

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knowledge of the love of God. Here’s number three. Into whose hearts is the

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love of God poured? Our hearts who are they our? Who are these people?

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They are people who own their need for Jesus. I’m looking at the verses just

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after verse five now, and notice how these people are described. While we were

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still weak, verse six, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Verse eight

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but God shows his love for us. Same group of people. In that while we were

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still sinners Christ died for us. And you see that the we and the us in verse

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six and verse eight are quite clearly the same group of people into whose

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hearts the love of God in verse five is poured. So here the Apostle is

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describing what we were by nature and he uses three words that are all very

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important. The first is weak. We were weak. Employers are in the business of

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hiring, they’re always looking for the people of greatest ability. It does a

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general rule that the people of the greatest ability end up being the ones

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that get chosen. But here God’s love is poured out to

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people who know that they do not have in themselves the ability to do what He has

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called them to do. That apart from Jesus Christ it is for me impossible. Then he

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describes our nature as ungodly. Christ died, verse 6, for the ungodly. Now a

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godly person is a person who is for God, and what the Apostle is saying here is

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look, that wasn’t us. We weren’t for God. We were for ourselves. We were ungodly.

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If we had an appearance of godliness at all, it was driven by our

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self-interest rather than by genuine love for Him. No, God was for us long

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before we were ever for Him. Our nature is ungodly. We’re about ourselves. Left to

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ourselves, that’s how we would always be. And we are sinners, verse 8.

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That means we are rebels, we fall short, we’re off the mark, we’re guilty and

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without excuse before God. So, you see what this is saying that the person

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into whose heart the love of God is poured

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is a person who knows if you were to take away from me Jesus Christ and all

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that is come to me through Him, then this is all that would be left by nature.

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I would remain forever a weak, ungodly sinner. And here’s the

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amazing thing that God saw us as we were, he had compassion on us, he sent his

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son for us, he demonstrates his love for us, in this, that while we were in this

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wretched condition Christ died for us. Now here’s the really important

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application at this point. The Holy Spirit will never pour the love of God

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into the heart of a self-righteous person, never. It never happens. People who

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think themselves godly and righteous and strong never get to savor his love as

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long as they continue to think that. People who feel that God owes them don’t

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taste this love. It’s never poured out into the hearts of the self-righteous. It

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is poured out into the hearts of those who own their need for Jesus Christ. And

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the more that you grow as a Christian the more you will own that, the more you

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will see that, the more you will see. If you took away Jesus Christ and

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everything that has come to me through him, what I would be left with is nothing.

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That’s why we sing that song, Hallelujah all I have is Christ. That’s what it

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means. I don’t want to present before God something that I think I’ve achieved in

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my life, because every good comes from and lies in him. And it’s my good only

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because by God’s grace he is mine. And then here’s the last. To whose hearts

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are the love of God poured. People are exercising and living

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by faith, believing the voice of God over every other voice on a daily basis

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are going to experience more and more of the love of God. People who just press

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on through suffering with endurance and find character being formed the love of

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God. Some folks are just like a rose that has been crushed and there’s a

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perfume that comes from their life. And that’s beautiful. It’s Romans 5, 5, being

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poured out into the life of a person who’s gone through Romans 5, 3. Amazing.

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The love of God is poured out into a person who really owns their need for

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Jesus Christ, and the love of God lastly is poured out into the life of a person

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who embraces Jesus Christ. Notice again, the we, same group of people. If while we

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were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more

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now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.’ What a marvellous

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statement about the Lord Jesus Christ. All that is ours through his death on

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the cross, all that is ours through his resurrection from the dead, and Paul

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brings the two together. We are reconciled to God through the death of his Son, it

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is through what he accomplished on the cross that we are forgiven, and the past

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is wiped clean, and we are brought into this new relationship with God, and

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all this flows from what Jesus accomplished on the cross but it doesn’t

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even end there. Now that we are reconciled Paul says, how much more shall

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we be saved by his life? You have got a risen Saviour who is at the right hand of

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the father even now and what that means is that, you know when your sins are

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forgiven you just begin to discover that now this is the start of a whole ongoing

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battle against stuff that you find within you that you’re battling every

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day and you have a risen Christ who is able to help you and one day he’s going

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to bring you into his presence and on that day, the battle that was begun when

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to Christ will be complete and there will not be a hint of sin in you and

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there will not be a trace of sin around you this is the kind of savior Jesus

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Christ is reconciled by the death of God’s son saved forever by the life of

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God’s son the Christ who died to save you lives to keep you and he will never

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never never let you go and it’s into our hearts that is the hearts of those who

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embrace this Christ the crucified Savior and the risen Lord into our hearts the

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Holy Spirit pours the love of God you want to know more of this marvelous love

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Exercise faith believing the voice of God over all other voices use your

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suffering and persevere through it knowing that out of this you may taste

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more of the love of God than in any other circumstance of your life

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own your need of Christ and walk in humility before him and embrace this

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marvelous Savior the crucified Savior who is the risen Lord let’s pray

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together our Father we thank you for your amazing unfathomable love that has

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been poured out for us at the cross and poured in to us by the spirit I want to

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taste and experience more of the depth and breadth and length and height of

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your amazing love so help me to walk by faith help me to endure in suffering

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help me to own my need of you and to fully embrace your Son Jesus Christ the

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Crucified Redeemer and the risen Lord of Glory so pour into our hearts the

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abundance of your love in increasing measure by the power of your spirit

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through Jesus Christ our Lord and all God’s people together said

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you’ve been listening to a sermon with pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible to

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contact us call us up 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website

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openthebible.org