So love has its source in God
himself. Secondly, God's love is as old
as is he. In Jeremiah chapter 31, the prophet
writes, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Here we have the agelessness
of God's love. It is from everlasting to everlasting. In other words, His love for
His people always has been. and always will be. There has
never been, nor will there ever be, a time when God has not and
will not love His people. That's a comforting thought,
isn't it? To know that I have been loved ever since God existed,
and that's been forever, and will be loved as long as He exists,
which will be forever. That's mind-boggling. is as old as is he. God's love
is unchanging. Malachi 3, 6 says this, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And then in Malachi chapter 1,
verse 1, he said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. As one of his character attributes,
God's love is fixed, it is focused, and it is forever. God never
hated Jacob. which is spiritual Israel, and
he never loved Esau. He never loved the reprobate.
So God's love is unchanging. God's love is his purpose to
save his elect. Jeremiah that I just quoted says
this, Because I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee. You know, God was never
obligated to save his elect. until he set his love on us.
And then he's obligated to engage every attribute of his redemptive
character to our salvation. Now, he wasn't obligated to save
us until he loved us, and he's always loved us. So that salvation
has always been sure and certain. He says, I've loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving cords
have I drawn thee. Most sinners believe that they
draw God to them by their efforts to obey his law. His testimony
denies their claims. He said, ìYou will not come to
me that you might have life.î And thatís Godís indictment against
those who will not believe. ìThy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power,î is Godís promise to the elect. It
is Christ who left the ninety and nine and went and sought
the one lost sheep. That lost sheep wasnít seeking
him. He sought out that lost one. Lost sinners seek after
a God, but it's not the one true living God, a just God and a
Savior. It's a God of their imagination,
nothing more than an idol. That's what we all seek by nature.
In every mention of God's love to His church, it is prefaced
or followed by His provision to save. Let me read you a verse
or two. In Ephesians 5.25, Paul writes,
love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself
for it." John 3.16, For God so loved the world, he gave his
only begotten Son. In Ephesians 5.2, Paul writes,
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and has given himself
for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior.
In other words, God's love provides for His holiness and justice
demands. And that love is the only cause of our salvation.
Well, let me ask you this. Has God persuaded you that His
love is the only cause of your salvation? It's not your love
to Him. It's not your love to me or your
neighbor. It's God's love to you. The prophet Hosea said under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit these words, When Israel was
a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. That
word child means young servant. When Israel was a servant of
sin, then I called them out of Egypt. I called them out of bondage
to sin. That's what he's talking about
here. He called his church out of bondage. All God's children
by nature are servants of sin. The psalmist said this in Psalm
51, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. So we're born sinners by nature.
and by practice. Christ, speaking through the
prophet Isaiah, said this in Isaiah 48, Yea, thou heardest
not, yea, thou knewest not, yea, from that time that thine ear
was not opened, for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously,
and was called a transgressor from the womb. God is a just
God and a Savior, and He saves the ungodly. He saves the transgressors
from the womb. Another reference to God calling
His Son out of Egypt is found in Matthew chapter 2. This is
a familiar story, especially at this season of the year. You
remember when the three wise men came to worship the newborn
king, and they sought out to find him, and they asked Herod
the king where he would be. And he said, I don't know, but
when you find him, you bring him to me that I might worship
him. And the angel warned the wise men of Herod's intent. So Joseph and Mary took Herod
and took him to Egypt until the death of Herod. It was at that
time that he was brought out of Egypt to save his people. So he was called out of Egypt
to redeem his people. It was impossible that he die
prematurely. Why? Because not only is God's
love the only cause of our salvation, but Christ's righteousness is
the only ground of our salvation. Righteousness had to be established
by Christ. That's why there was no possibility
that Herod could have him killed. Many times in the Gospel, Christ
asserted that my time is not yet. To his mother at the wedding
of Canaan, he said, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine
hour is not yet come. They sought to take him, but
no man laid hands on him, for his time was not yet. And in
John 17, Jesus makes this prayer to the Father. Father, the hour
is now come. Glorify Thou me with the glory
that I had with Thee before the world was. So just as it was
impossible for Herod to take the life of Jesus before the
time, it was sure and certain to happen at the appointed time. For God says in the Scripture
that when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, in Galatians chapter 4. So he was made under
the law to satisfy the law, and he did so by perfect obedience
to its precept and penalty. He never transgressed one commandment.
He never thought one evil thought. He never had one impure motive. And he walked in perfect obedience
to the law. And then, not by him becoming
a sinner, but by imputation only, God the Father charged him with
the sins of his people, the elect of God. And he poured out his
wrath on the only holy, harmless, undefiled substitute the wrath
and the judgment that was due all the elect. Christ bore our
sins in his body on the tree and imputed the merit of his
work, his very righteousness imputed to the charge of every
sinner for whom he died. Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians
5.21. He, God the Father, made him,
God the Son, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. In this transaction,
Christ became the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believed. In this transaction, he made
satisfaction the law and justice. In this transaction, he established
the only righteousness which God accepts and by which he can
reveal and demonstrate his love toward his people. Without this
righteousness, God couldn't demonstrate the love that he has to his people.
Without this righteousness, God would cease to be God, in fact.
So the greatest demonstration of God's love towards sinners
is the death of Christ on the cross. The scripture says it
is here that He poured out His, He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. It was at the cross that every
obstacle to our salvation was removed and righteousness established,
which enables God to be both a just God and a Savior. It was
there at the cross that He put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. So look at Romans 8 in verse
33 now. Based on this, based on God's
love toward His elect and Christ establishing the righteousness
they needed, the question is raised, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. God,
the ultimate and final judge, has justified his elect according
to strict law and inflexible justice." What does justified
mean? It means to declare. God has
justified his elect. He has declared his elect righteous
and holy based on the finished work of Christ to establish righteousness
for him. He has blessed his elect with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now look
at Romans 8.34. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who is he that condemneth? God
gives us four assurances here, four reasons why no one or no
thing can condemn us. First of all, he says Christ
died for us. He died the just for the unjust. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. And we know that without the
shedding of his blood there is no remission of sin. So the first
reason is that Christ died for us. Secondly, he rose again.
And what does his resurrection declare? God's pleased with his
finished work that he accomplished in his life and his death. The
third thing is that he is seated at the right hand of the Father
as King of King and Lord of Lord. to ensure the final glory of
every sinner for whom he died. And then the fourth reason is
that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us. When Satan
would accuse us, he pleads the merits of his finished work to
the Father on our behalf. So God persuades his sheep that
his love is the cause of their salvation. He persuades his sheep
that Christ's righteousness is their complete salvation. Look
at Romans 8, verse 3. Here is proof of it. For what
the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh,
God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. Our best law-keeping could never
recommend us to God, but Christ's righteousness imputed is our
complete and total salvation. I'm persuaded of this. Are you?
I hope you are. Another reason why I'm persuaded
is because God's glory is the conclusion and the final goal
of all things. God's glory. In Romans 8, verses
36 and 37, Paul writes this, as it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted
as sheep for the slaughter. But you know what? In all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. God's
purpose is to save a people for himself. He gave them to Christ
in that everlasting covenant of grace and conditioned all
their salvation on Christ. It was his love that caused him
to do so. Nothing in the center influenced
God in any way to any degree. Like the Apostle John, we attest,
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God. We certainly don't
deserve it. We didn't and couldn't earn it.
We didn't even want it by nature and stood openly opposed and
aggressive against it. But in spite of our rebellion
as the elect of God, God sent his Son in time to satisfy every
demand of the Lord of God against us. He put away our sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Then he sent the Holy Spirit
with this promise. When he has come, he will guide
you into all truth. What truth? Everything that is
true? No. We don't know all the truth.
We never will know all the truth. But these three things we can
know. that God's love is the only cause of my salvation. Christ's
righteousness is the only conclusion, the only ground of my salvation,
and God's glory is the only conclusion to our salvation. God's love
is the cause of my salvation. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. Christ's righteousness is our
complete salvation. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God they show with mercy.
And God's glory is the conclusion of our salvation. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain." I am persuaded of these truths. Are you? You
know, Paul preached the gospel to King Agrippa. And King Agrippa's
response was, Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
And Paul did it for this motive. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
he persuaded men to believe. Knowing the terror of the Lord
against those who don't believe, King Agrippa, I persuade you.
And King Agrippa's response, Paul, almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian. And what was Paul's reply? I
would to God. I pray to God. that you would
be like me, except for these bonds that I'm in. Are you persuaded
that God's love is the cause of your salvation, that Christ's
righteousness is the only ground of your salvation, and God's
glory the only goal? I trust that you are.