In chapter 4, 1st John chapter
4. The name of the message is everlasting
love. Everlasting love. We're going
to read verses 7 to 21. We'll finish the chapter Lord
willing tonight. Read verses 7 to 21 just to get
the context of our verses. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God
and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. In this was manifest the love
of God toward us, and again, he's writing to born-again believers,
because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that
we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son. to be the propitiation
for our sins. We just sang about that, beloved.
We just sang about that. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love Him because He first
loved us. If a man say, I love God and
hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from Him that he who loveth God love
his brother also. Now last week we looked at verses
16 to 18 where we saw that perfect love casts out fear. Because
fear hath torment. And knowing that this love God
has for us and for his people, casts out fear. Casts out fear. And that's a slavish fear. The
fear, we looked at that fear that was spoken of there. It's
a slavish fear. It's a superstitious fear. It's
a fear of wrath, of censor, of loss. That fear is. We don't
have that anymore. We don't have that anymore. Every
born again blood, washed believer, now we have a reverent fear for
God, we looked at that too last week, we have a reverent fear
for God, but not a slavish fear. We don't fear his wrath. We don't
fear his censor. Because he's our king, he's our
father. He's our father. And we are free
men and free women in Christ. Free men and free women in Christ.
And our love for our great Redeemer, our worship of our great Redeemer
has nothing to do with being afraid, does it? No. Because we know we have peace
with God now, in and through Christ. So our worship is not
about fear. Our worship is in giving in thanks
and praise for what He's done for us. Makes our heart fill
with joy, don't we? We want to come, we want to hear
the gospel preached and proclaimed. We want to sing praise to our
great God because of what he's done for us. We used to fear
death. There was a time when I was totally
terrified of death. Totally terrified. And I know
it probably was the same for you before the Lord saved you.
Terrified, absolutely afraid of it. Now I know it's just the
doorway to see my King. And it's the same for every believer.
It's just a doorway. Death is but a doorway for the
believer into the presence of our great king. We're here one
millisecond, and we're there in the next. A blink of an eye,
we're with our Lord. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. So the worship and love of our
great Redeemer has nothing to do with being afraid of him.
No. Well, the religious professor,
though, is driven by fear. The religious professor is driven
by fear as their failures are ever accusing them. Ever accusing
them. And forcing them to live in fear
for their constant failure. They try to live up to their
profession, but they can't. They can't. And the religious professor has
a burden too heavy to be borne. And it can never be fulfilled
by any of their works, no matter how hard they try. No matter
how hard they try. The religious professor is tormented
because he can never do enough. Never do enough. No matter how
hard he tries, he's tormented because he knows that he's living
a lie. He speaks of a love for God, but the notion of that love
makes him feel an extreme obligation, thus he is tormented. But marvel at God's love to us,
beloved. It has no fear. It has no torments. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. And with this in mind, with this
in mind, that perfect love casts away fear. Let us look at this
in Romans chapter eight. I know we've read it many times,
but I'd like us to read it slowly here. And look at this, Romans
chapter eight, verse one to four. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus, there's the
clause. If you're in Christ, there's
no condemnation. Therefore, there's no fear of
judgment, is there? Because all our sins were judged at Calvary's
cross. Who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit, were born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
He guides and directs us. We're still sinners, but we don't
walk according to the flesh like we did at one time. Look at this,
for the law of the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. 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.
Now, the law of God requires perfection, doesn't it? It requires
absolute perfection. None of us can do that. None
of us can do that. But look what the scripture proclaims
here. It says, for what the law could not do, it can't redeem
us, it can't save us, it can't justify us before God, in that
it was weak through the flesh because we're all sinners. Verse
three, we're all sinners. God sending his son, and we know
from 1 John 4.10 that he was sent by the Father to be a propitiation
for our sins, right? We know that. Always compare
scripture with scripture. He sent his son in the likeness
of sinful flesh. He's bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh, and yet he's perfect, sinless, spotless, without sin. The only one, think of this too,
the law required a perfect righteous life. That's what it requires,
it demands that. We can never do it. We can't
be saved by that. Now the law shows us our sinfulness
though, doesn't it? But see, Christ fulfilled the
law in our place, in our place. He did that which is impossible
for us to do. 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, he sent to
bear our sin on Calvary's cross. That's what he sent here for,
right? He shall save his people from what? From our sins, from
our sins. Condemn sin in the flesh. That
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, and
it's fulfilled in Christ, isn't it? We're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, but it's fulfilled in Him. And we're clothed in
it. So when God the Father looks
upon us, and I've said this many times, and I'll keep saying it,
when God the Father looks upon us, He sees Christ. He sees His
righteousness. But also, don't forget this,
when He looks upon us, He sees one of His sons or daughters
in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? And we're
gonna look at that a little bit more. As we look at tonight,
I'm really gonna focus on this everlasting love. This love that
God has for us. You know, we read 1 John 4, verse
19, you know, we love him because he first loved us. And that can
become almost commonplace sometimes. We read, oh, I know all about
that. We're gonna really dig into that. And just contemplate
what that verse means. Because it should never just
be, oh yeah, I know that. It's, there's, beloved, there's
so much there. Right in those sentences, in
that one sentence, the everlasting love of God is trumpeted. It's
trumpeted, it's proclaimed for God's people. And oh, how it
would fill our hearts with joy, it will. Now Christ had made
peace, how? By the blood of his cross, right?
He's reconciled us to God. He was sent by the Father to
reconcile us to the Father by the sacrifice of himself for
our sin, the sinless one, the spotless one. He was sent to
do this. And Christ alone has propitiated
God. He's appeased God's wrath. That's
what that means. He's appeased God's wrath toward
us. And see, that's why we're not
tormented. That's why we don't have fear
of the judgment. Because our sins were already judged in Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment. Oh, what freedom we have, beloved.
What freedom we have. Oh, God give us grace just to
live in that. Just to live in that. Let's go back to our verses
again. We'll read verses 15 to 21 again. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and
God in him. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, But
perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, being God,
because he, God, first loved us. If a man say I love God and
hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother,
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth, love
his brother also." Now we know that this love in
our studies, as we've been going through this book, we know that
this love that John is speaking of, is the love that we have
for God the Father, the love that we have for the Son, the
love that we have for the Holy Spirit, the love that we have
for the Gospel, the love that we have for God's people. We
know that all this comes from our great God. We know that. He's the source. Verse 19 brings
that out very, very clearly. Who's the source? And this love
of God in us causes us to love Christ. It causes us to love
Christ. It causes us to love his gospel.
It causes us to love his word. It causes us to love his people.
And this is not natural to us. This is not natural to a natural
man to love God. It's just not. It's just not. Again, we see in verse 19, the
source of this love for the brethren, and we know John's been speaking
of this love, hasn't he, all through the book. He's been bringing
this up. And now we see the source. Verse
19, we love him, God, because he, God, first loved us. There's
the source, beloved. There's the source. Now lest
we think that this love that God in one another is from ourselves,
the apostle John, again, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, brings
forth that God's love is prior to our love for him. God's love
for us is prior to our love for him. So lest anyone gets any
ideas saying that, well, yeah, I love God and therefore he loves
me. No, this scripture declares that his love for us is prior
our love for him. Very plainly and very clearly. Very plainly and clearly. And
remember, John's penning this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God. This is not just John's words
or John's thoughts. This comes from inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God. And notice what it says here.
We love him because he first loved us. Now this speaks of
the everlasting love of God towards his people. The everlasting love
of God. Now, now, When I think of how
long it's been for the Lord to save me, and knowing that I've
loved him only from that time that he granted me faith, and
that I was born again by the Holy Spirit of God, he granted
me faith to believe on Christ, and then when I see this, and
knowing he's the cause, and knowing that this love that he's had
for me, and if you're a believer for you, we bring it right down
to every individual believer. This is broad, beloved. And this
is wonderful, that he had an everlasting love for every single
one of his sheep from eternity. You can't plumb that. You can't plumb the depths of
that. You can't plumb the width of it. It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. So
this verse speaks of the everlasting love of God towards his people,
which is from everlasting, beloved. It's from everlasting to everlasting. It knows no bounds. It's deeper
than the deepest ocean in this world. Brother John, you were
out in that ocean. You know how deep that ocean
is. This love, this love that God has for his people, that
ocean, the depth of that ocean don't even compare to this love
that God's people, that God has for his people. Doesn't even
compare. Doesn't even compare. It knows no bounds. It's deeper
than an ocean. It's higher than the highest
mountain in this world. The highest mountain in this
world is nothing compared to the height of God's love for
his people. Absolutely nothing. I've seen
mountains. I've seen the Rockies. I've seen
the Canadian mountains. I've seen mountains out in Oregon.
And they are big. And they are huge. But God's
love for me, every believer can say, doesn't even compare. Those
mountains don't even compare in the height of God's love for
me. My, my, not even, it's like a
little grain of sand compared to how high, God's thoughts are
not our thoughts, beloved. His ways are not our ways. This love is so vast. It's everlasting. It reaches from everlasting to
everlasting. And marvel at this fact again.
We, God's people, God's elect, we love Him. We love God. Because He, God, first loved
us. He's the first cause. He's the
first cause. Think of this when we were dead
in sin and had no care for God. His love was even set upon us
then. My. It's so vast. What mercy. What mercy. John Gill brings this marvelous
truth to life in this quote. He said, God's love is from everlasting
as well as to everlasting. For he loves his people as he
does his son. He loves his people as he does
his son, because we're in Christ, remember that. He goes on to
say, and he loved him from before the foundation of the world.
His choosing them in Christ as early and blessing them with
all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ
from all eternity. That was all done in eternity,
beloved. That's how far back it goes. He goes on to say, the gift of
grace to them, to God's people, in him, before the world began
and the promise of eternal life in Christ, all this shows the
antiquity. Now mark that. The antiquity
of God's love. What does the scripture say?
He's the ancient of days. He's loved us since then. There's
never been a time when he hasn't loved us. I can't even wrap my head around
it, can you? I believe it because the word says it, right? We believe
it because the word says it. But when we stop and really ponder
it, I was talking to Vicki at lunch about this. I said, boy,
we read these verses time and time again, and they become really
well-known to us, right? And then you start to really
dig into these verses, and it just sends your mind off. It's
just, it's incredible. And his love is from everlasting
love to us in Christ. And we looked at in verse 10
that this wondrous everlasting love of God towards his people.
Look at verse 10. This love is manifested, this
everlasting love, this eternal love is manifested to God's people
how? Well, when God the Father sent
the Son into the world to be a propitiation for our sins.
Look at this. Here in His love, not that we
love God, or actually look at verse 9. And this was manifest,
the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through Him. So that love,
that eternal everlasting love, was manifested to us when God
the Father sent Christ into this world. And why did He? Here in
His love, not that we love God, because we didn't, right? We weren't even born 2,000 years
ago. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us. He loved us, and how did he manifest
that love? Well, he sent his son to be the propitiation for
our sins. That's incredible. That is immeasurable
love. Again, you can't plumb the depths
of this love. You can't plumb the height of
this love. It's immeasurable. But the word of God says it to
be so. And the believer in Christ, we believe it. We look at this
and we marvel at this, don't we? So the scripture here is telling
us that he's loved us from eternity, right? Because it says in 19,
he loved us before we loved him, right? And we know, we're gonna
look later on, we're seeing Jeremiah, that's an everlasting love. And
then we see that this love was manifested 2,000 years ago when
Christ was sent to die to be a propitiation for our sins.
We weren't even born. And yet that was a token of God's
love to us. The fact that Christ was sent
to be the propitiation for our sins. It's incredible. It's absolutely
amazing. So let the truth of verse 19
sink in deep into your souls that this everlasting love was,
and every believer can say this, the everlasting love, eternal
love of God was manifested to me towards every one of God's
chosen people at Calvary's Cross. It was manifested to us, and
we weren't even here. It's amazing. This is truly amazing
love, amazing grace. It was manifested to us at Calvary's
Cross when the Lord Jesus Christ, what did he do at Calvary's Cross?
He purchased our souls, didn't he? He purchased us. He purchased those whom God has
loved from eternity. He purchased his bride whom he
loved. Now think of the love that drove
him to come here to die for us. It's the same love the Father
has for us, beloved. Because Christ is God. He's God
the Son. God doesn't change. And His love
doesn't change. When the Lord Jesus Christ purchased
us on Calvary's cross, He purchased those He loved. And loves for
maternity. And He purchased our peace, didn't
He, too? He purchased our redemption. He purchased our salvation. He
purchased our full pardon. How? By the shedding of His precious
blood. He is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, dying in our place
at Calvary's Cross. And this was manifested, the
love of God towards us, towards God's people, because that God
sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live
through Him. Verse 9. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So again, God's love was manifest,
shown to God's people in the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because he came here on a mission, beloved. He came here on a mission
to save his people from their sins, to glorify God the Father,
to honor the law and justice of God in our place. He came
here on a mission. He fulfilled the law in our place.
And all this was done for God's people when we had no love for
Him. Right? This was all done for
us when we had no love for Him. My goodness. This is love. This is, this love is Again,
it's, you can't measure it. It's everlasting love. And think
of this too, God's everlasting love is also the cause of our
regeneration, our conversion. Right? The Lord said you must
be born again. And it's the Holy Spirit of God
who regenerates us, beloved. Remember, there's God the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit, and they're one. One. The Holy Spirit regenerates us,
and this is His mighty work, raising us up from the spiritual
deadness that we're in, in our natural state. And we're born again by His almighty
power. And then we're receivers of the
grace of God, which brings faith in Christ Jesus. We're granted
faith to believe on Him, to look to Him. Why? because he's loved us from eternity.
He loved us before we loved him. His love is set upon us, beloved,
from eternity. Turn, if you would, to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, chapter 31. Now remember that this love,
again, that we have for God is produced in us by the Holy Spirit
of God. And the source of this miracle,
the source of the miracle of this grace can be found in the
wonderful words, because he, God, first loved us. There's
a wonder of wonders in there. That's the source and the miracle
of grace. God first loved us. And nothing will fan the flames
of our love for God than to contemplate this everlasting, eternal love
that God has for his people. I was so excited today studying
this. It'll lift your soul, beloved.
It'll fill your soul with joy, because we know that there's
nothing in us that merits this love. Nothing. And knowing about and learning
about the everlasting love, the eternal love that God has for
His people, it'll fan the flames of our love for God. And knowing
the fact that we love Him because He first loved us, oh my, oh
my. That verse, one second there,
that verse where it says we love Him because He first loved us,
that shows us that God's love is free. That God's love is sovereign. that God's love is distinguishing,
and of course we know it's unmerited. Now let's look at here, Jeremiah
31, verses three and four. Listen to these wonderful words,
and think of how they tie in with our text. I'll read our
text again. We love him because he first loved us. Look at how
these two verses just tie right in. Look at this. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Again, I will build thee, and
thou shalt be built, O Virgin of Israel. Thou shalt be adorned
with thy tablets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that
make merry. Now look at these words here.
Look at verse three. And keep in mind what we saw
there, and I'm gonna read 19 again, over there in 1 John,
chapter four. We love him because he first
loved us. Now look at this. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee, with an everlasting
love. That's God saying that to his
people. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. He draws us to Christ, doesn't
he? So let each believer marvel in these words. The Lord hath
appeared of old, saying unto me, yea, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Marvel at these words. Here we
have God himself declaring that his love to the church has been
from everlasting. It's been from everlasting. It's
declared right there. So what we see over there in
1 John, chapter 4, verse 19, we love him because he first
loved us. It's declared right here in Jeremiah 31.3, very clearly. This love that God has for his
people is an everlasting and eternal love. And think of why it's, have you
ever considered why this love is everlasting and eternal? Because
God is from everlasting and he is eternal. Therefore his love
will be from everlasting and eternal, won't it? Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, we love Him. Because He first
loved us. Listen to what Robert Hawker
brings forth with this verse here in Jeremiah 3, where it
says, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me. Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Robert Hawker says this, no space
could have been before either, from everlasting to everlasting.
There's no space that could be before either. For in that case,
it could, it could not be said to have been from everlasting. So that God himself and his love
to the church are expressed by the same words, from everlasting. So let the truth of 1 John 4.19
sink in, and never let it become commonplace. Never let it become
commonplace. Again, sometimes we read the
scriptures that we've heard many times in certain verses, And
we say, oh, I know that, but let these words just sink into
your soul. Let them sink deep into your soul. This is a testament. This one verse right here is
a testament, a proclamation of God's everlasting and eternal
love for his people. And he alone, as we see here,
is the source of this. Again, the scriptures declare
we love him because he first loved us. And over there in Jeremiah
chapter 31, 3, it says, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. That's God saying that. He's
loved us from eternity, that's what he's saying there. With
a love which will always last and never change. Think of this,
now let this sink into your heart. This love will never change.
Ages roll by, right? But this love is from everlasting
to everlasting. Unmoved by circumstance, unmoved
by time. Despite the storms of life raging
on, millennia's passing, the storms of our lives coming and
going, despite all that, God's love for us never changes. Never. Never, ever, ever. Why? Because like himself, he
is sovereign, his love is sovereign. He is unchangeable, therefore
his love is unchangeable. He's from everlasting, therefore
his love is from everlasting. See, we change. We change all
the time, don't we? He never changes. We change from
a little one, to a medium one, to an older one. He doesn't change. He is the ancient of days. Oh
my. Oh, isn't that wonderful? It's
absolutely wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. In our
text, he says, I have loved thee. Look at Jeremiah 31.3, God proclaims
of His people. He says, I have loved thee. Individually,
He's loved each one of His sheep. From everlasting. Because then
our text proclaims, we who are believers love Him, love God,
because He, God, first loved us. And that's written to every
believer. So when God says, I love thee, we as believers can say,
that means me. Glory be to God. It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Who
is God? Well, He's the Great I Am. He's
the Great I Am. He's the Great God, the Creator
of the ends of the earth, the King of kings and the Lord of
lords. A God of infinite purity, of infinite holiness, infinite
righteousness, and He does whatever He pleases. He does whatever
he pleases in the heavens and on the earth and no one can stay
his hand. That's God. And he says to the believer in
Christ, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. And then
he tells us over in 1 John that we love him because he first
loved us. Well, there's the source, isn't it? There's the source. This love is an eternal, everlasting,
unchanging love. And it's with the same love that
he now loves his people. We are loved with the same everlasting
eternal love that the Apostle Paul was loved with. That Job
was loved with. That Abraham was loved with.
The same everlasting eternal love. And it's all found in Christ
Jesus our Lord. He loves his people. And this
is brought forth in a very personal way when he says there in Jeremiah
3, 31-3, he says, I have loved thee. A people of his choosing. A people of his choosing. And
as Sister Jill sang on Sunday, praise God he included me. Praise
God he included me. Didn't that make your heart say
that when we read this text tonight? Oh my. Oh my. I have loved thee. He says, with
an everlasting love to His people, people of His choosing. And this
is clearly brought forth in the New Testament. Turn, if you would,
to Romans chapter 9. This is clearly brought forth
in Romans 9.13, but we're going to read the context. We'll start
in verse 9 and we'll read the verse 16. Always important to
read the context of verses. And then we'll go on and read
17 to 23. Look at this. Romans chapter
9, verse 9. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebekah also hath conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. Let's read that verse again,
look at this. For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not of works. And we're told constantly
in the scriptures that our salvation is not of works. Not of works. Not of works. But of him that
calleth. Even our election is not based upon anything we do.
No, God chose us in eternity. Unmerited favor this is. Look
at this. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall then we say? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Paul says, well, because God
loved Jacob and hated Esau, is there unrighteousness with God?
No, if you can understand why God loved Jacob, then you understand the grace
of God. Because it was only God who made
Jacob to differ from Esau. Just like it's only God who makes
us to differ from our friends and our family, it's only God
who's made us to differ. Look at this. What shall we then
say? Is there unrighteousness with God? Paul says, God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. His choosing. And I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. Notice the word I. Now think of this, when you read
that, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, the believer
can say, that's me. I'm one of the ones he had mercy on. God says, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion. The believer says, God's have
compassion on me. And then look at verse 16. This
verse destroys works-based religion. Free willism and everything.
For it is not of him that willeth, it's not by the will of man,
nor of him that runneth. That means it's not by works,
but of God that showeth mercy. Oh my. So next, now in the next
verses here, we have an example of God's distinguishing grace.
Because it's God who will have mercy on the people of his choosing.
Look at verse 17. For the Scripture saith unto
the Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he harden. There's
the distinguishing grace of God right there on display. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Who's resisted the will of God?
I'll give you an answer. No one. These people talk foolishness
when they say God can be resisted. Our great God cannot be resisted. When He calls His people, He
calls them with an effectual, invincible call. And they are
drawn, we saw, remember? With loving kindness. With loving
kindness. By a love that's been set upon
them from everlasting. and is unchangeable, just as
God is unchangeable. Oh, what a love. And then it
says, nay, but O man, who art thou that replyest against God?
Some people say, well, that's not fair. That's what Paul's
dealing with here. People say, well, that's not
fair. You don't want fair, and neither do I. We don't want fair. How fair
would be we all perish in our sins. But look at that. Who art thou
that replies against God? Animated dust. Shall the thing
form say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? There's the sovereign mercy of
God on full display. That verse brings forth again,
verse 21 brings forth the distinguishing grace of our great God, beloved. And then look at 22. What if
God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known and
endured what's much long suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction? And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory. Look at that. We, who are God's
people, know the riches of the glory
of God in Christ. We know that. And it says here,
we're vessels of what? Mercy. What did our dear brother
Paul write? He said, I have obtained mercy. We, all we who are here, who
are born again, who are the blood-washed saints of God, we've obtained
mercy. We didn't deserve it, not at
all. We've obtained mercy, beloved,
that he might make known the riches of his glory. Oh, my. And the only one who made Jacob
to differ from Esau was God. And it is God and God alone who
makes us to differ, beloved, from all the people of this world.
Only Him. Only Him. And that His love has
been set upon us from everlasting, and that love is an eternal,
everlasting love that does not change. Aren't you thankful it doesn't
change? Aren't you thankful it's not
based upon us? Yeah. Not based upon what we do. That
this love is eternal. That this love never changes.
I'm sure thankful. I'm sure thankful. Oh my. We love Him because He
first loved us. He chose us in Christ from eternity,
and this love that God has for His people is unchanging. Do
you know we can never be separated from His love? We can never be
separated from His love. Because it's in Christ, in Christ
alone. Therefore, with loving kindness,
He draws us. God the Father draws us to Christ. Where does He draw us out of?
Out of a miserable, dead spiritual state we were in, out of Satan's
hands, out of the pit wherein there's no water. Out of the horrible pit, the
miring clay pit of sin. Drawn unto who? Unto Christ.
Drawn unto Christ. To His person, to His blood,
to His righteousness. And by faith, which again is
a gift of God, remember that. Faith is a gift from God, it's
given to us. By faith we look to Christ, don't we? We look
to Him alone. Laying hold of Him alone is all
of our salvation, all our wisdom, all our sanctification, all our
redemption. And looking to Him is our all
in all. That's what He is. He's our all
in all. Let's read verses 19 to 21 again.
We love Him. We love God because God first
loved us. If a man say, I love God and
hate his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love
his brother also. So we know from our study tonight
in verse 19 that the source of our love for God, our love for
Christ, our love for the gospel, our love for the brother, it
all comes from God. And so we can see then in verse
20 and 21 that there's nothing more contradictory than for a
man to say, I love God, but hate my brother. That's what John's bringing forth
here. It's contradictory. And they're deceiving themselves.
One who says that, they're deceiving themselves. It's impossible for a born again
child of God to love God and hate his brother. It's impossible. If a man say, I love God and
hate his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love
his brother also. So we see then that John is again
bringing up another argument for brotherly love, drawn again
from the authority and commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again,
this is a theme that the Apostle John has been bringing forth
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. We must never forget
that, that this is being brought forth by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit of God. And Christ gave us commandment
not only concerning the love of the Father, but commanded
us to love one another. We see that over in 1 John 3,
verses 23 and 24. It says, And this is His commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another, as He gave us commandment. And he that keepeth
his commandment dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we
know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given
us. And in our Lord Jesus Christ, over in John chapter 13, verses
34 and 35, he said this, A new commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love
one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples. How? If ye have love one to another. So, beloved, marvel at this.
Marvel at this love of God that we've looked at tonight. Marvel
at it. Think about it this week while you're at home. Think about
this eternal, everlasting love that has been bestowed upon you
who are one of Christ's born-again, blood-washed saints. This eternal,
everlasting love of God, it's unchanging. And it's been set
upon you from everlasting. from everlasting, from all eternity,
marvel at these words, we love him because he first loved us. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank
you for allowing us to look at these wondrous scriptures, oh
Lord, where we see your everlasting, eternal, unchanging love on full
display for your people. And we saw over in Jeremiah,
O Father, that you've loved us with an everlasting love. And
we know the Son has loved us with an everlasting love, and
the Holy Spirit of God has also loved us with an everlasting
love. Father, the Son, and the Spirit, an everlasting, eternal
love. And it was that love which you
have for us that caused you to send the Lord Jesus Christ into
this world to be the propitiation for our sins. And it was this
love that caused our Savior to go to Calvary's cross, to redeem
us from all our sins, to purchase us with His precious blood. And
it's this marvelous, everlasting, eternal love that causes the
Holy Spirit to regenerate us. And that the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts, all because of this eternal, everlasting
love. May we think upon this this week, and may we glory in
this fact that we are one. We who are your people are one.
of those you love with an everlasting love. Glory to your name, in
Jesus' name, amen.