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TEXT: Romans 5:1-8SERVICE VIDEO (link)\n\n\n\nWe\u2019ve been talking about what God is like, looking to scripture to better understand and answer that question. We have looked at God\u2019s holiness, justness, and compassion. And we\u2019ve seen each week that the Lord desires for those of us who trust him and follow Jesus to demonstrate those same traits in the world around us. It\u2019s how God created us, in His image, it\u2019s the obedience He requires of us, and it\u2019s the life of blessing others that he desires for us and for the world.\n\n\n\nToday we are going to talk about the love of God. Now if you have a good memory or have been pondering last week\u2019s topic, you may remember that our Bible translation rendered hesed, the Hebrew word behind compassion and mercy as \u2018lovingkindness.\u2019 That\u2019s a little confusing if today we are talking about love. Isn\u2019t it the same thing? Well no, our translators used \u2018lovingkindness\u2019 to try to get at the complex meaning of hesed by combining love and kindness as a variation on compassion and mercy. But today are talking about a related but different trait: love (Heb ahav Grk agape).\n\n\n\nAs in past weeks, I first want to talk about God\u2019s love for us, then our love for God and others.\n\n\n\nGod\u2019s Love for Us (Romans 5,8)\n\n\n\nThe main verse I want to key in on from our scripture reading from Romans 5 is verse 8, because it describes HOW God shows us that He loves us. It says this:\n\n\n\nGod demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.\n\n\n\nThere is so much more in Romans 5, even in the verses we read today. It speaks of the peace with God that has been accomplished through Christ. It speaks of faith and grace and hope. It even speaks of the trials and tribulations we will face, and says that because of the \u201clove of God\u201d the Holy Spirit has been given to and poured out in us that we might experience that faith, grace, and hope. Lots to dig into and give thanks for! There in verse 5 it is the love of God that gives us the Spirit that leads us to Christ and remains with us because of Christ.\n\n\n\nBut today, verse 8. God demonstrates His own love toward us in two key ways:\n\n\n\n#1 Sacrificial Love: \u201cChrist died for us\u201d\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean that Christ died for us? It is one of the central tenets of Christian faith and it is pre-figured throughout the Old Testament as well, from the near-sacrifice of Isaac to the scapegoat to the sacrifice of a lamb for the sins of the people. Jesus selfless and spotless sacrificial death was to take our place and atone for our sins. And Romans 5:8 says that it is a demonstration of God\u2019s love. And it was a choice on Jesus\u2019 part as well. Ephesians 5:2 tells us that \u201cChrist loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.\u201d God\u2019s love in Christ is a sacrificial love.\n\n\n\n#2 Unconditional Love: \u201cWe were yet sinners\u201d\n\n\n\nWhat about the \u201cwe were yet sinners\u201d part? The previous verse observes that one might dare die for a good person, but that\u2019s not what Christ did. He died for the ungodly. We are all sinful, disobedient, turned from God. And that\u2019s who Jesus came for. We see God demonstrate this same love throughout the Old Testament when He reaches out to Israel, gives laws to protect them, comes to deliver and lead them, and they disobey and turn away again and again. For example, just before the giving of the Ten Commandments the SECOND TIME \u2013 because the first generation out of Egypt had turned so completely from God \u2013 Moses tells those children that they will see the Promised Land. But he also tells them (in Deuteronomy 4) that once there they will again turn away from God and worship other gods. They will even lose their home and land and be scattered among the nations. But Moses reminds them:\n\n\n\n29 \u201cBut from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 \u201cWhen you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the