Join Rick Hughes in a thought-provoking discussion on the essence of God’s love and how it extends beyond human emotion. This episode covers critical aspects of prayer, leveraging precise procedures to communicate with God, and the importance of impersonal love for others. Rick challenges listeners to assess their love for God through obedience to biblical mandates, aiming to inspire Christians to live a life aligned with divine purpose and understanding.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to The Flotline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. For the next few minutes, please, stick it around. Stay with me. It’s going to be 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education. And you know this. I always say it. Every show I say it. No manipulation. That’s right. No gimmicks, no games, no solicitations, no asking for money, no trying to get you to join anything. This is not an infomercial. This is a show about understanding the plan of God for your life. My job is to verify and identify that plan. Your job is to orient and adjust to the plan if you choose to do so. But The Flatline is a show designed to teach you the importance of the Word of God in your life by establishing a main line of resistance in your soul. In your soul, you can build a forward line of troops, F-L-O-T, flat line, a forward line of troops. And this analogy, military metaphor we’re using here, imagines 10 problem-solving devices on the main line of resistance, 10 unique problem-solving devices found in the Word of God. This is nothing new. This is no new discovery. This is not something that I’m trying to develop and sell. These are 10 problem-solving devices taught in the Word of God that have always been taught in the Word of God. If you learn them and if you use them, then you can stop the outside sources of adversity from becoming the inside sources of stress because adversity is always inevitable and stress is always optional. Notice these problem-solving devices are provided by God for the Christian. If you’ve never trusted Christ in your life, you can’t use these. You can’t access them because it starts with the filling of the Holy Spirit. And if you don’t have Jesus Christ in your life, then you can’t not have the filling of the Holy Spirit. So when we believe in Christ, here’s the unique thing. When we receive Christ as our Savior, something happens we’re not even aware of, and that is that we’re baptized by the Holy Spirit or placed into union with the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us. and he is the one who activates our dead human spirit. Keep this in mind. When you’re born, you’re born with a body, and you’re born with a soul, and you’re born with a dead human spirit. If you’re an unbeliever and all people are born spiritually dead, then your job is to believe in Jesus Christ and be born again. The Bible talks about being born again, but it’s not a physical birth. It is a spiritual birth. And by that, we mean this. God, the Holy Spirit, at the point of your salvation, will come to indwell your human spirit, your dead human spirit, and you will be made alive in Christ. and that’s your second birthday. Everyone should have two birthdays. The Bible says you’re either gonna have two births or two deaths, one or the other. Birth one, you’re born into this world. Birth two, you’re born again. Death one, it’s appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. Death to whoever’s name is not found written in the Lamb’s book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, Revelation chapter 20. So it’s really up to you. God made the grace provisions. God provided everything in Christ Jesus, our Lord, a free gift of eternal life. That’s the best news you could ever have, that the anointed son of God redeemed you and me out of the slave market of sin. He paid our debt to God. and we are now free from the penalty of death, and we’re free from the power of sin. We’re guaranteed a resurrection, and we’re guaranteed by means of the Holy Spirit that we no longer have to live under the slavery of our sin nature. So that’s a wonderful promise from God, and that’s one of the unique provisions from the unfailing love of God for us. You know, we started a series last week talking about this, And I want to go back to this series and talk about the unfailing love of God for us as Christians. In Psalm 33, 13 through 18, I’m going to read it. We commented on some of it. We’ll comment on the rest of it this morning. It says in verse 13, Psalm 33, From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind. from his dwelling place he watches all who live on the earth he who forms the hearts of all who considers everything they do no king is saved by the size of his army and no warrior escapes by his great strength A horse is a vain hope for deliverance. Despite all of its great strength, it cannot save. But, and here’s our verse, the eyes of the Lord are on those who respect him, those who fear him, and on those whose hope is in the unfailing love of God. What exactly is the unfailing love of God? What exactly does that mean? Well, let me give you some principles and break it down. First of all, before I begin to do this, I want to tell you about a book. There’s a book that my pastor wrote many years ago called The Unfailing Love of God. And you can get this book free of charge. They will never charge you a dime for this book if you want it. But you will have to contact them and ask them to send it to you. You simply would contact Theme Ministries. That’s T-H-I-E-M-E. Theme Ministries. T-H-I-E-M-E. Their mailing address is P.O. Box 460-829. 460-829. That’s their P.O. Box, 460-829. And they’re in the city of Houston, Texas. And their zip code would be 77056. So if you want this book on the unfailing love of God, and I highly recommend you get it, contact Theme, T-H-I-E-M-E, Ministries, P.O. Box 460-829, Houston, Texas, 77056. And they will send you the book free of charge. I vouch for that book. I verify it’s a great book. And many of the things I’ll tell you today I’ve learned from reading that book. And so I can never go wrong by recommending that. He was my pastor for many years, and he pastored his own church there in Houston for 53 years. 53 years in one pulpit. 53 years of changing the lives of people throughout the city of Houston. How many of you know a pastor that survived two years, three years, four years, 53 years? Thousands of hours of tapes recorded, all still available free of charge. Hundreds of books written, all still available free of charge. His ministry was predicated on grace. He never charged a dime for anything. And he was the best, solid, sound, systematic Bible teacher of those days that I ever found. So he taught me about the unfailing love of God. And these are some of the things I’ve learned about it. First of all, unfailing. What does that mean? Well, it means that his love can never be compromised. God’s love can never be compromised. And number two, he will never tune you out when you go to him. His love is never compromised. He’s never going to say, I don’t love you anymore. You’re a jerk. You did something stupid, so I don’t love you anymore. That’s not going to happen. Two, he will never tune you out. Three, he will never abandon you. Our God will never abandon you. If you’re a member of his royal family, he will not abandon you. And four, he will always answer your call. You’re not going to hear it verbally. It’s not going to be a loud speaker coming up saying, attention, attention. That’s not what I’m saying. But when you go to God and pray in the correct manner, in the correct manner, that’s with no sin in your life. If you think you’re going to get God to answer prayers when you have unconfessed sin in your life, you’re wrong. Because the Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So the first thing you have to do to have a correct prayer is make sure you’re maintained or filled with the Holy Spirit. And that’s problem-solving device number one. On the flat line of your soul, that’s rebound, confessing your known sin to God. Secondly, the correct procedure, following precisely correct procedure in prayer. That means this, that when you pray, you pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You do not pray to Jesus Christ. You do not pray to the Holy Spirit. You pray to the Father in the name of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. So remember that. When you go to God using precisely correct procedure, he will answer your call. And five, there will never be a father-son spat like on television. There’s a TV show that became quite popular a few years ago, and I understand it’s back now. It’s about some motorcycle builders, I think up around the state of New York, and It’s a father and son, Paul and Paul, and they have a big running spat all the time. And sometimes they can’t stand each other. Sometimes they want to fight each other. That’s not that way with God. He’s never going to get mad at you. He’s never going to get angry and turn on you like this father and son does on television. So his love is unfailing, never compromised, never tunes you out, never abandons you. will always answer your call and there will never be a spat. You got it? So what is the love of God? What is it? The unfailing love of God. Back to Psalm 33, 18. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him and on those whose hope is in his unfailing love. Well, 1 John 4, 8 tells us God is love. There, right off the bat, God is love. If you want to draw a picture of God, you’re going to have to learn how to draw a picture of love because that is part of the essence of God. That’s not all of it. God is sovereignty. God is righteousness. God is justice. God is love. God is eternal life. God is immutability. God is veracity. God is omnipotent, omniscience, and omnipresence. Those are 10 things that are part of the essence of God. Sovereignty, he’s the king of kings and lord of lords. Righteousness, there are none that are righteous, no, not one. He’s the only righteous one. And when we believe in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Christ is given to us. And that’s what the Bible says. He that knew no sin was made sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God through him or by means of him. So he’s sovereign, he’s righteous, he’s just. He doesn’t make any mistakes. The Supreme Court of Heaven is open 24 hours a day. And no one gets away with anything. He’s love, unfailing love, perfect love. He’s eternal life. He’s always existed. He always will exist. He’s immutable. He never changes. He’s veracity. He’s absolute truth. He’s omnipotent. He’s all-powerful. He’s omnipresent. He’s everywhere at one time, imminent and transcendent. And he’s omniscient. He knows everything. You want to teach your kids something? Teach them the essence of God like I just told you. If you need some information on that, let me know. We’ll get it to you so you can teach it This is critical that people understand this. God is love. These components of God are wrapped in the shell of love, his love. And verse 9 of 1 John 4, 8 describes how that love works. 1 John 4, 9, In this… was manifested the love of God towards us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live eternally through him. That’s the love of God being manifested, being demonstrated, being shown. God sent his Son, only begotten, uniquely born Son. into the world so that we might live eternally through him that’s an amazing love you didn’t earn it you didn’t deserve it but by grace he gave it to you that’s why the bible says for by grace you were saved through faith faith in what the finished work of christ on the cross and that not of yourselves not you can’t produce it it’s a gift from God and not of works lest any man should boast Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 so this love of God 1st John 4 9 in this was manifested the love of God towards us that we love of God towards us that God sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live eternally through him and Verse 10, 1 John 4, 10. Herein is love, or this is love. Not that we loved God, and we didn’t, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. John 3, 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the propitiation. He satisfies the justice of God. So when we come to God the Father by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, God receives us because we have the righteousness of Christ by means of our salvation. So this is what love is, 1 John 4, 10. Not that we loved him first, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. And then in verse 11 of 1 John 4, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And that’s the mandate to use impersonal love, problem-solving device number seven in the front line of your soul, where you can love someone that’s unlovable. And this is exactly what God did for you. John 3, 16, God so loved the world, but you were wrapped up in sin. How could he love you? How could a holy God love you? He loved you impersonally. He loved you with his character assets, not yours. And once you got saved, once you became a member of the family of God, now he loves you with a personal love, your royal family. So remember this. We have to use the same impersonal love as believers in Jesus Christ whenever we’re confronted with people we don’t like. if God loved us we ought also to love one another I assure you I guarantee you there are people in your church you don’t like you don’t want to sit next to them you don’t want to be in a room with them you don’t like them and that’s a problem because you’re mandated to love one another I mean come on did Christ die for them? yep did Christ die for you? yep Did he love them? Yep. Did he love you? Yep. So why can’t you love them? I just don’t like them. They just offend me. They’re rude. They’re this. They’re that. That’s not the problem. The problem is not them. The problem is you. You have to love them based on your righteousness, not theirs. Exactly what God did for you. Ephesians 2, 4 through 7. Because of his great love for us, That’s the unfailing love of God. Who is rich in mercy, he made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. Because it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. That’s the love of God. But there’s a difference between the love of God and love for God. That’s the difference. We get to that in just a second. So there is his love manifested to you and to me. His riches to us. Let me read it again. In order that in the coming ages, Ephesians 2, 7, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. His riches to us are the spiritual assets that we have as believers in the church age today. It’s our unique spiritual life. We have this life. It’s very unique. And the Bible calls it a treasure. Listen to this, 2 Corinthians 4, 7. But we have this treasure in our earthly vessels that the excellency of the power may be from God and not from us. Well, this may shock you, but the Greek word for treasure is an English word you probably know is pronounced thesaurus. Thesaurus. It’s a word treasure. The love of God in your life as you learn Bible doctrine. As you learn God’s word becomes a treasure, a great treasure to be honored, to be held, and to be used and spent by means of the faith rest drill. It’s treasure. And his love was demonstrated by a sacrificial act of sending his son as our substitute. We learn that from the word of God. That’s the treasure of the Bible. We learn about grace. We learn about forgiveness. We learn about justification, sanctification, propitiation. These are words you should understand what they mean. Sure, they’re theological terms. You should understand them. They’re not hard to understand. It’s our treasure. He gave us a treasure called the Bible, the scriptures. And when you learn them, when you use them, then you can live the most unique life the world has ever seen called the Christian life. Why did he do this? Because he loved you and me. John 15, 13, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Christ died for you. Christ died for me. He loved you, he loved me, and he loves us today. That’s what you got to remember. The unfailing love of God will never fade in eternity. That sacrificial death of Christ was a demonstration of the unfailing love of God. And your virtue love, my virtue love, is demonstrated in the same manner. We sacrifice ourself. We become a bond slave for Jesus Christ. We serve him voluntarily. And Ephesians 6, 6 says, not by way of eye service as being a man pleaser, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from our heart. Slaves of Christ doing the will of God from our heart. Jesus did the will of the Father. He said it. I’m here to do the will of the one that sent me. And it is our way of saying we love him when we obey him. Romans 1.1, Paul called himself a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated into the gospel of God. His motivation, our motivation, is to serve him as free slaves because we love him. Doulos is the word for slave, D-O-U-L-O-S, a free slave, not a bond slave, a free slave. We serve him because we love him. That’s our motivation. And in 1 John 5, 3, we read, for this is the love of God that we keep his mandates and his mandates are not hard. In 1 John 4, 19, we love him because he first loved us. That’s reciprocal. So God demonstrated love for you to begin with by sending his son from eternity past to eternity future to be the sin bearer for the world. And we now love him reciprocally because he loved us. And since we love him, this is the love of God. You want to give yourself a little test today? Do I love God? That’s a question you should ask yourself. Do I love God? Because I promise you, if I stood in your pulpit Sunday morning and asked that question, 99.9% of the people would raise their hand and say, yes, I love God. But listen to the verse. This is the love of God. This is demonstrating the love of God that we keep his mandates and his mandates are not grievous. Oh, you say you love God and you don’t obey God? Well, I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t dance. People say, dance? Listen, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Do you obey that one? Grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you obey that one? Do you? Oh, I know you’re growing at about one mile an hour. That doesn’t cut it. Listen, if you think going to church for an hour a week is growing in grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you haven’t understood it. You’re not gonna grow going to church an hour a week. The only way you’re going to grow is to sit under a well-qualified pastor that will teach you God’s Word, and I would say a minimum of an hour a day. I know, I don’t have time to do that. Oh, I know. I have the same battle that you do. I try to find my time to sit under my pastor and listen to him teach me the word of God an hour every day. Sometimes I’m able, sometimes I’m not, but I don’t put it down and I don’t walk away from it like you did. You did. You walked away, didn’t you? You said, I don’t have time to do that. I’m too busy. And you got sucker punched because you turned your back on the very one who loved you to start with. The very one who sent his son to die for you to start with because you didn’t have time. You can’t love someone you don’t know. And you don’t know God unless you know the scriptures. I gave you the essence of God earlier and I went through the whole rundown on the essence of God today. Did you know any of that? Did you know omniscience? Did you know sovereignty, righteousness, justice? Did you know immutability and veracity? Do you even know what those words mean? You know, it gets to me that people say I love God and they don’t. They love their life. They love what God does for them. They don’t love God. That’s for sure. Well, let’s move on. Our faithfulness is our demonstration of our love for him because he would never ask you to do something you can’t do. Remember 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation overtook you, such is not common to man, but God is faithful, he loves you unfailingly, and he will not suffer you to be tempted above what you’re able. Now finally, don’t equate divine love with human love. They’re not the same. Emotion does not enter into God’s response. Quoting my pastor, long on emotionalism and short on knowledge of Bible doctrine, people are confused about salvation, confused about the spiritual life, confused about God and his love because they try to humanize God and wind up making God like man. And that’s not true. He says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. Isaiah 55, nine, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. My thoughts higher than your thoughts. And that means his love does not work off human emotion. He doesn’t fall out of love like you do. He doesn’t fall into love. His love is unfailingly, always consistent, never temperamental. That’s important you understand that. His unfailing love for us demonstrated by providing eternal security. He promises you will be in heaven. He gave the gift of the Holy Spirit. He gave a Bible. He gave pastor teachers. He gives spiritual gifts. He gives the right spouse. He gives a geographical will. He gives spiritual gifts. I mean, I could go on and on and on what God has provided for you in his unfailing love. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re learning. I hope you’re beginning to see how much there is to hear. And I hope you will order that book I talked about. If you need refreshment, contact me. We’ll send you the name and the address by email. Thank you for listening. I hope you’ve learned something. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
