think that God loves us. I heard Brother
Larry this morning doing a devotional about us being sinners and it
didn't help whenever I was listening to that because I was sitting
down at my desk and I was kind of gathering a few verses to
read this morning and was listening to Larry's devotional while I
was doing that. I'm like, here, this guy's telling
me how bad of a sinner I am, and I'm trying to think about
how much God loves me, and that just kind of don't seem to go
together. And it don't, it don't seem to go together, but thank
God it does. Thank God that he loves his people. I don't think a lot of times
we think about that very often, we just assume it. But we don't
really contemplate the tremendous love that God has for us. And
especially as us as sovereign grace people, because we tend
to harbor a lot on election and predestination and everything
is going to happen the way God has decreed it to happen. Everything
is set forth. Everything has been finished
from the foundation of the world. And, you know, we're just here,
you know, experiencing the ride, you know, and so we really don't
think it seems to almost come across to us, at least I'll speak
for myself, how sometimes I perceive things, is it's just automation,
you know, it's automation. But God really does love us.
I mean, there is no time or place or scenario that God does not
love us. The Bible says that God is love. Therefore, the very essence of
who God is is love. Now, being that God is sovereign,
he doesn't set his love on everybody. He doesn't have to set his love
on anybody. He truly doesn't lack in holiness
or righteousness or justice if he secludes some to love and
excludes others to not love. That's his prerogative to do.
And of course, we talk about that all the time. And again,
it becomes like an automated doctrinal understanding for us.
But how much does the Spirit of God give us to really feel
the weight of the fact that an eternal, almighty, holy, righteous,
fervently, fervently holy God loves us as sinners? I mean,
it just is amazing to me, and contemplating that, Uh, all this
week, uh, I was sitting on my porch the other night, uh, and
watching the clouds go in front of the moon. And, uh, just thinking
of all, you know, how often I failed God and, uh, and everything,
but yet he still loves me. And, uh, I don't say this, you
know, uh, uh, uh, boastfully or pridefully, but he loves me
no matter what I do. You know, no matter how bad I
am, no matter how much I continue to fail. I mean, now that bothers
me, but it don't bother him. And so it's just amazing to see
that. And that's kind of why the songs
that I chose this morning kind of centered on God's love. But if you would look with me
at Jeremiah 31 and if the Lord be with us this morning, maybe
bring out a few things about the love of God. And I pray that
the Holy Spirit would Encourage you by it and give comfort to
you by it Maybe at least let you think about it a little bit
in our rat race of this life, but Jeremiah chapter 31, I think
you know the verses that I'm going to but I'm gonna start
reading it verse 1 it says at the same time sayeth the Lord
will I be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall
be my people now Again, we know that there's a physical aspect
to this during this time period whenever Israel, the nation,
was chosen by God as a picture of God choosing and elect spiritually
children. But we see that this is, and
he says, all the families of Israel, okay? There were 12 tribes. All those families were God's
people. Some of them rejected, removed
themselves, some of them stayed with God and followed after God,
eventually left him. But still, he said, these are
my families, OK? And so in the type, we see that
God loved these people no matter how. Disobedient they were and
everything like that until his time of divorce, whenever he
set. An end to the old covenant, set
an end to the relationship with national Israel. But we see that
spiritually, All the families of Israel are gods. And we look at that and we see
all the Gentiles have been included. It's not just Jew, it's Jew and
Gentile that makes up all the families. And the Bible says
that God has chosen for himself a people out of every nation,
language, tribe, and tongue. So all the families of the world
are included in what God is doing in this redemptive love purpose
But look at verse two, it says, Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left to the sword found grace in the wilderness,
even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. So even though that
we were brought through Egypt, we found grace. We went into
Egypt. We were we were dead in trespasses
and sins. We were covered up as Larry brought
out this morning, his devotional. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Every one of us are deserving
of God's wrath and we're sinners. But yet we found grace in the
wilderness. And brethren, we still find grace
even today, whenever the times of our wandering, when we wander
from the Lord and when we go away from him and we go back
into our sin, we find grace in the eyes of the Lord. One of
the Noah was one of the great examples of this. The Bible says
that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah didn't
earn grace in the sight of the Lord. I know some people think
that because Noah was obedient in building the ark and was obedient
in preaching to those people, that that's why he found grace
in the eyes of the Lord, because of something that Noah did. But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, not because Noah
was looking for it. That phrase found grace that we see here
and we see as it pertains to Noah means that when grace was
to be found, it was found in the Lord Jesus. It was found
in God. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. He found grace through what God
was doing for him. He didn't go out and search for
it. He didn't go out and earn it. He didn't have to do something.
He wasn't the searcher. He wasn't the looker. God was.
God is the one who extended the grace and showed the grace, gave
the grace to Noah out of all the families of all the earth
that was on the face of the earth. Noah was a sinner, just like
every one of those, even though he was a man who was a preacher
of righteousness. Noah was a sinner, just like
every one of those. And whenever Noah stepped off
the ark, we found out how big of a sinner he was whenever he
got drunk and all that stuff that happened with that. But
yet He found grace, meaning that God chose to give him and his
family grace. Of all the families God could
have chose to show that grace to, he could have showed it to
anybody, but he chose Noah to save them and not everybody else. He gave Noah that ark to build
and the dimensions of that ark to specifically hold a specific
amount of people and animals. He didn't build it to save everybody.
He brought that ark in for a specific purpose of saving a specific
group of people. Now think about the typology
there. He gave Christ and brought Christ
forth to be the shelter and the safety and the salvation of only
His people. That death was for His people
and His people only. It wasn't one that is a universal
thing. It was for Him. But I'm kinda
getting a little off track on that. He says, Thus saith the
Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
Here it is, verse three. 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. Brethren, Whenever we think of
God's love, a lot of times we think of God only loves me whenever
I do good. God loves me only whenever I
obey his law. God only loves me whenever I'm
being religious or doing church things, but whenever I'm not,
God doesn't love me then. Or there are those who says,
well, God loves everybody. And so because God loves everybody,
now everybody is culpable to return that to God. And if you
don't, then even though God loves you against his love, he's going
to punish you and send you to hell. Well, brethren, I think
we're going to find when we get in here and start looking at
God's love, that God loves his people. The Bible says to the
end, he loved us to the end. He loves us from before the foundation
of the world, and he loves us through the time of this world
into the next world. That love continues, but yet
that love is an effectual love that isn't just an ooey-gooey
feeling that he has towards his people. It isn't just a display
of love that he shows to you, but it's actually a love that
effects the very position, the very place, the very nature,
the very person for whom you are. That love has everything
to do with who you are as a spiritual child of God. That love and how
he displays that love shows to us Not only how much he loves
us, but to what extent he loves us. See, I can show love to somebody,
but never show the extent of that love through anything that
I do to them or for them. I can say I love brother so-and-so
across the world who I see on the internet all day long. But
how can I show that love? Well, I have to show that love
somehow. I show that love through praying for them, show that love
through visiting with them, sharing the gospel with them. I can share
that love by physical things, helping them physically with
things that they need help or you know, there's several ways
of showing that love, but to just say I love somebody and
then not do anything about that love or ever convey that love,
you never know. That's just somebody could say
that, you know. I tell people all the time, you
know. Hey, love you, brother. And then I walk off and I'm like,
I have no more concern for that brother until I've seen the next
time, you know. Now, that's, again, to our natural
shame, but that's how it is. But here we see the Lord has
loved us with an everlasting love. And then he says there,
therefore. See, that therefore there means. Because of my love
for you, this is happening. Therefore with loving kindness
I have drawn you now if you remember Nobody comes to the father except
he be what? drawn right Go to verse John
chapter 6 if you would John chapter 6 I'm in chapter 5, no wonder I
can't find it. Verse 37 is where I'm wanting to go. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out for I came down from heaven not to
do my own will but the will of him that sent me and this is
the Father's will which has sent me that all of which he has given
me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last
day and this is the will of him that sent me that everyone that
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day." So this love and this
giving of the Father to the Son results in being raised up at
the last day. You can see that. All that the
Father hath given me. But if you're looking at verse
44, Jesus says to the same people that he's telling us to, No man
can come to me. See, he just said, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. But then he said, no man
can come to me. No man can come. That speaks
of an ability. It doesn't speak of God just
refusing, you know, oh, no, no, no. I know you want to come,
but I'm not going to let you. No man can come to him. That word come, by the way, if
you'll read chapter six, I don't have time to go into all this.
But you'll find later on in the verses as it goes down, Jesus
uses that word come in parallel or in the same sense as the word
believe. Okay, so that word when it says
come unto me, it means to believe. It means to believe. All that the Father giveth me
shall come or shall believe upon me. And Jesus here says no man
can believe except the Father which hath sent me Draw him. And I will raise him up the last
day. So the drawing. Is a gift of God. Out of his
love, because God loves us, he draws us to himself. He gives
us to believe upon him. And because he does that. He
also promises that he will raise us up at the last day. See that. So brethren, when we go back
to our passage in Jeremiah, we see that His everlasting love
is the cause of our believing. His everlasting love is the cause
of our being drawn to Him, our coming to Him, our believing
upon Him, and therefore His everlasting love is the cause that we are
raised up at the last day to be with Him. So God's everlasting
love is central and is the very starting point for all things. Now listen, I'm not diminishing
anything that Christ has done and Christ has done on the cross.
Give me just a few minutes and Lord willing we'll get there.
But brethren, God's everlasting love preceded all things because
it's everlasting. It preceded the cross. It preceded
you and it preceded your sin. Look with me if you would at
John chapter 17. Whenever Jesus was praying to
the Father, you'll see that this love is
a love of union. Because God loved Christ, He
loves us. So this love is rooted in the
Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 17, look if you
would with me at verse 23. Jesus prayed this, I in them
and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me. Now, brethren, this is what really
blew my mind. is God loves us as much and to
the same degree that he loves Christ. Did you get that? That is amazing. God loves us
as much and to the same degree, and I would say this to the same
length, that he loves Christ. I don't know how that hits you,
brethren, but that hits me. And as the modern day people
call now the fields, it's been my fields. Listen, whenever I
think about that, that Jesus Christ. God's only begotten son. God loves more than anything
else. But yet we're included in that
same love. That's just amazing. Look back into it in that same
prayer that Jesus prayed in verse 6. Jesus said, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. So here we see that this is only
for the ones that God has given to Christ. The ones that God
loves as much as he loves Jesus are the ones that he gave to
Christ. That's who we've seen in John
six just a while ago. All that the father giveth me.
Shall come to me all that the father hath given me are loved
of God as much as God loves me. That's amazing to me, brother. Look if you would at one John's
same writer wrote in one John. Almost a parallel passage. to
what he wrote there in John Gospel. Look at 1 John chapter
4 and verse 16. 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. So there's where that
union comes in that I'm telling you about. God loves us because
of our union with Jesus Christ. He loves Christ. But because
we have been united to Christ, he loves us. He doesn't love
us for anything in us. He doesn't love us because, again,
like I've said, he doesn't love us because we obeyed him. He
doesn't love us because we chose him or repented or believed. He doesn't love us just with
a ooey gooey lovey feeling because he is a ooey gooey love God.
No, God is a God that is love. But this love is a love that
is a determinant love. It is a seclusive love. And it is love that produces
effects from that love. And that produced effect is not
only have I loved you, I have united you to Christ, who I love,
and therefore you are loved. I have united you to Him and
I have redeemed you. I have given everything that
you need for righteousness. I have not laid your sins to
your account. We're going to get into all that
here in just a few minutes, but He's done everything. That love
has caused us to be drawn to him. That love is going to raise
us up in the end. That love is going to be on display
for all eternity as we sit in front of the throne of Christ
Jesus, who is the lamb who has been slain. The effects of God's
love or the display of God's love will always be before us. Therefore, that's why it's an
everlasting love, not only in in the feeling of love, not only
in the action of love, but in the display of that love. God
displays this love through all eternity to his children. I don't think we can ever underplay
God's love. Now we see that he talks about
drawing, but before there's ever a drawing, there's an electing,
right? Look with me back in Malachi.
We see a display of God's love in the act of election. The act of election. Now I would
also, and I'm open for correction on this, but I think if you would
think some of this through a little bit, in accordance with what
the scriptures teach, I would say election is also
where we are sanctified. Election is sanctification. The
word sanctification, whenever it's biblically used, means to
set apart for God. It means to separate or to set
apart. And before the foundation of
the world, Revelation tells us that there were names who were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of
the world and there were names that were not written down in
the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
So God made a determination before the foundation of the world to
write some in the Book of Life and to not write some in the
Book of Life. That is a setting apart of all
the people that God had decreed to be born into this lifetime. He sanctified or set apart these
and gave to Christ the rest he didn't. Now, I know that a lot
of churches and a lot of preachers talk about sanctification as
this purification process that happens within the child of grace
after he's been born again, and as he continues to study and
make appropriations of all the means of grace that God affords
to him, if he'll just be obedient to that and be diligent in that
and persevere in that, that he will make himself more and more
holy, more and more righteous, less and less sinful. I've even
had people literally tell me that they sin less now than they
used to whenever they first got saved. And I call BS, hogwash,
whatever you want to call it. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Your flesh, the Bible says, is
continuing to die and getting worse every day. It's the inward
man that is being renewed every day. But if anybody tells you that
they're more holy and that they are more sanctified, righteous
or holy, and they are sinning less now than they ever have,
they are deceived. They have been self-deceived.
What has happened is they have replaced their sin with their
self-righteousness, which in and of itself is its own sin.
The sin of self-righteousness is to think that I can earn favor
with God by things that I do. when the Bible clearly says that
all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I am now placing
my work, my effort, my studiousness, all my religious activity on
the pedestal of holiness and righteousness before God. And God says, I'm not gonna accept
any of that. That's wood, hay, and stubble. That's sand that
you've built your house upon. It's not gonna last. And so sanctification
is God choosing or setting apart a people for himself. And brethren,
when did that happen? Well, we learned that before
the foundation of the world, God set us apart in Christ Jesus. We have been sanctified in Christ
Jesus. That's eternal, vital union. If you'll look with me at Malachi
there in Malachi chapter one, Verse 2 it says, I have loved
you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, wherewith hast thou loved us?
Show us, that's what I was saying a while ago. You say you love
us, well how is it that you love us? What is the effect or what
is the commendation of your love towards us? What does God say
here? He says, was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord, yet I loved Jacob. See, he chose
Jacob over Esau. He loved Jacob, but he hated
Esau. He set Jacob apart for his blessing
and his love. Listen, Jacob was just as much
of an unrighteous sinner as Esau was. And actually in the scriptures
a lot of time, it displayed it even more so. He was a deceiver. Jacob was a deceiver. He was
a conniver. He was a weak girly man hanging
around the tents with the women. I mean, there was everything
that looked to be Jacob was as bad as he saw. And he was just
as bad as he saw as far as sin is concerned. Just as far as
those people across the street there You know, whatever they're
doing, not going to church, whatever. They're just as bad of a sinner
as the preacher here. The preacher is just as bad a
sinner as anybody else out there. There's nothing holy about me
because I stand here. The man of the cloth. Something
about the cloth that makes you holy. And there ain't nothing
about anybody that's holy. No one is righteous. And here
God is saying that. How have I displayed my love
in election? I elected Jacob and I did not
elect Esau. See, my love is shown in the
fact that I've chosen this man for blessing because I could
have left him without blessing like Esau and been just as right,
just as just, just as holy. in condemning them just like
Esau. Esau is a man who is sinful before
God. I am a man who is sinful before
God. The only thing that separates that is the love of God being
that he chose me before the foundation of the world and he didn't chose
Esau. So we see that this. Election
is showing that God has loved us, but here's the thing. God
doesn't give us name tags or tattoo something on us to say,
you're the elect. So how do we know? The election
was in eternity past. What else does God's love demonstrate
to us that he has loved us? Well, look with me if you would, to Zachariah. That's just right
before Malachi, if you had to turn from there. I'm sorry. Not
Zachariah. Can't read my own writing here.
Zephaniah. Turn to Zephaniah chapter 3. Let's learn a few more things
about God's love that maybe will lead us to the next thought here. The nature of God's love is that
it is who he is. God is love. And in the nature
of his love, he can set that love upon whoever he wants. We
see that in election. But is there security in that
for us? Is there security knowing that God has loved a people?
And am I a part of that people, right? Because just like this
week, me sitting out here on this porch watching the clouds
go in front of the bright moon, and I see a little silver lining
around that cloud, but the rest of it is like extremely dark,
I think of myself. There's an outward appearance
of righteousness, but there's an inner core of darkness. How
could the Lord love me? Well, look at Zephaniah chapter
3 and verse 17. It says the Lord thy God in the
midst of thee is mighty. See, it isn't that I'm mighty.
The Lord our God who is in the midst of us is mighty. See, we look to what he has done,
not to what I have done. So whenever we think about the
security of salvation, whenever we think about the security of
God's love towards us, how do we find safe harbor? How do we find assurance? How do we find hope in these
things? Whenever there seemed to be something
abstract back in eternity or something that even happened
2,000 years ago that none of us was there for. Well, it says the Lord is in
the midst of us. He said, where two or three are gathered in
my name, there I shall be also. See, the Holy Spirit is given
to us as we gather together, and the gospel is brought forth,
and the gospel bears witness that God loves us. We'll see
that here in just a few minutes too, I hope. Verse 17 says, The
Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. Now, brethren, there again, as
much as God's love, now it's saying that he rejoices over
us with joy. How can that be? When I hear
preachers all the time talking about how mad God is because
we're not living upright, not walking the straight and narrow.
God's mad at us. God's ready to whip us, chastise
us all the time because we're not walking on that path. Not walking in His will. Not
walking according to His law. All these things that we hear
by TV preachers, radio preachers, Preachers on just about every
corner in this town and all across the country around the world It says he Will rejoice over
thee with joy now I can think of the promises of God and say
God rejoices over his people with joy Now it's not because
they've done anything good nothing good in them brethren He says
he will joy over thee with. Oh, excuse me. I skipped the
line that I really want to bring out. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing.
He will rest in his love. Now I got to contemplating about
that, thinking that over, mulling that over. What does that mean?
God will rest in his love. as it pertains to what he's talking
about here, his people, their redemption, their relationship
with him, his love towards them. How does God rest in his love?
Well, here it is. Whenever I sin, God rests in
his love. He doesn't rest in my disobedience.
He isn't jumping up and saying it's time to take vengeance.
He doesn't jumping up and saying it's time to curse. He isn't
jumping up and saying, time for vindication. God rests in his love. Though
I have sinned, though I have committed adultery against him
by looking back to the law and trying to be religious, though
I walk away from him a thousand times and do whatever I want
to do, what I think I want to do, the Bible says he will rest
in his love. No, God continues no matter what
we do or what state we are in. He continues to only see us in
his love. Now, we've already learned that
in his love, he is elected us. In his love, he is united us
to Christ Jesus. And now we're seeing that in
His love, it is the love that directs God or compels God in
His relationship towards us in every aspect so that through
all of our life, through all of our existence, through all
of our experience, it's His love and His love only that is directed
towards us and not His hatred. Meaning wrath. Meaning judgment. And not that there isn't consequences
for sin. God factors that into our life
experience. But brethren, God is not vindictive
to us. God is not wrathful towards us. And surely at the end of time,
God will not be ultimately wrathful towards us in sending us to hell. The Bible says that we are not
appointed under wrath. That there is no wrath of God
abiding on God's elect. We've never been under God's
wrath. To the surprise of most Reformed people who think we
were under God's wrath until we were born again. We have never
been under God's wrath. The Bible says, Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin. Who can lay any charge against
God's elect? God that justifies. We've never
been under the wrath of God. But yet here we see that God
rests in His love. He doesn't stand up in judgment
towards us. He always rests in His love. Look, if you would, with me over
to Romans chapter 8. I think there's a New Testament
passage that backs up what we're seeing here. Romans chapter 8 and if you would
look with me down at verse 38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor
angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor
things to come nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord." Again, the love of God is tied to our
union in Christ Jesus. That's why I say God's love is
not universal towards everyone. God's love is only directed to
those who have been united vitally to Jesus Christ. His love is towards Jesus Christ. Therefore, His love is to all
His seed. Because ye are His seed, ye have
received His love. So all of God's love, all of
God's blessing, all of God's care is directed towards you
because He loves Christ as we've already read in John 17. So, God's love cannot be separated. It can't be taken away. It can't
be disannulled. It can't be diminished. And he
gives the reason. He shows forth that reason. There
is a reason why we can stand and say that despite my sinfulness,
despite the evil and darkness of my heart, despite the unbelief
that I sometimes and most times have, there can be no separation
of God's love towards me because God has demonstrated it so. through
Jesus Christ. See, it all ties back to Jesus
Christ, brethren. The love is because of Jesus
Christ, and the love is demonstrated and displayed by Jesus Christ,
and the love is kept by Jesus Christ as He intercedes for us,
but we'll get to that maybe in a minute. Look with me, if you
would, at John 3, 16. Probably the most famous verse
in all the Bible. And probably the most misused
verse in all the Bible. Other than. 1 Peter 3 9. Or 19 or whatever it is. John Chapter 3. Look at verse
16. For God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
son. There is the demonstration that
God loves us. That he gave his only begotten
son. I know a lot of people come to
this as a universal text that God loves everybody because it
says the word world there, brethren. But again, I think I've demonstrated
just in this morning, just in a little bit in passing that
the word world there can't mean everyone head for head because
God's love is demonstrated only to those who have been united
to Christ Jesus that uniting came before the foundation of
the world because God sanctified the people for himself before
the foundation of the world because their names were written there
to be shown that love in Christ Jesus the rest of them were hated
so this word world cannot mean everybody Because everywhere
else in Scripture, it shows that God's love is a distinguishing
love, a particular love, an explicit love, not a universal love, not
a blanket love. It's not covering everybody.
It's only covering those for whom God chose, those whom he
gave to Christ, those for whom Christ intercedes for and mediates
for. That's who God's love is for.
And how did He do that? How did He commend that love?
How did He show that love to those people? By sending His
only begotten Son. Now, again, I said, God's love
isn't just an ooey-gooey love that He says, I love everybody,
and then doesn't show it. He shows it. How did He show
it? He sent His Son. Well, what does that mean? That
means that He sent His Son to die for us. to be the substitution
for us because man who is full of sin cannot please God, cannot
obtain any kind of righteousness on their own, cannot keep the
law of God. So he has nothing to present
to God for acceptance. God rejects everything that comes
from our flesh, everything that comes from our flesh. So God
commended His love, or showed His love, or brought forth His
love, manifested His love by sending His Son to be us in our
place. He sent Christ to be us. Meaning
to walk the walk that God says to walk. Whenever you see all
those admonitions, in Scripture, all that Old Testament law, He
fulfilled every one of those laws for us. Therefore, we, because
we are in Him, united to Him, He stands in our stead. We have
kept every one of those laws. And then all these New Testament
admonitions to love and to give and to do, all these things that
the New Testament tells us to do, Christ has done that also
in our stead. He has kept every one of those
New Testament laws that He has given for us that we now live
under. Chief being faith. The chief law of the New Testament
is the law of faith. And we are unfaithful people.
But yet Christ has been faithful on our behalf. That is why we
are justified not by our faith, but by the faith of Christ. Christ
had to be our faith. Even us who have been given God-given
faith cannot perform faith. God has to perform faith in us.
God has to empower faith in us. And He gives it by measure as
He determines. So we can't claim faith. We can't
claim something. You can't tell me you need to
just believe. If you'll just believe, make
a decision, put down, I've heard this I don't know how many times
in revivals, you need to come tonight and put down your tent
peg, your tent stake. Stake it down tonight. You've
made decisions before, but come down and nail it down tonight.
Come down here and mean it when you say it. Brethren, faith isn't
something that we can shill out anytime we want. That's why it
goes on to say this. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him. That is telling you who the people
are that are the recipients of this love. And it's also telling
you what the outcome of those who are the recipients of the
love are that we've already been talking about. That we've seen
in John chapter 6. That whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, believe on me. That's a group of people. All that the Father hath given
me is who the world is right here. He's telling you the specifics
of the world in John chapter 6. All that the Father giveth
me shall believe on me. And those who believe on me I
shall raise up in the last day. Verse 16. So that whosoever believeth
in him, that's the category of people, those given to Christ,
should not perish, but have everlasting life. They're going to be raised
up at the last day. Brethren, it's just all over
Scripture, and Scripture always interprets Scripture, and Scripture
always harmonizes with itself. But the Arminian is going to
tell you that God loves everybody, but yet God's going to throw
people in hell. If God loves you, He's going
to raise you up at the last day. If Christ died for you, your
sin has been obliterated, including the sin of unbelief. And God
is going to raise you up at the last day because you will believe
and come to Him. It's all over the scriptures.
Look, if you would, with me. At Romans chapter five. In verse eight. Romans chapter 5 and verse 8
it says, but God commendeth his love towards us. That word commendeth
there means to display or to show or
to manifest. But here's something that got
me whenever I was reading through these verses. The word commendeth
there is in the present tense. He didn't say God commended. his love towards us, but he said
he commendeth his love. But God commendeth his love towards
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So there is a past tense to this. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. And Christ dying for us is God's
show of love towards us. So God loved us when we were
yet sinners. God loved us when we were the
vilest of vile, the sinner of sinners. God loved us and sent
his son to die for us. See, we didn't have to clean
ourselves up for Christ to do his work. We don't have to clean
ourselves up now because God rests in his love. What is his
love? The death of Christ. God rests
in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That is faith towards
the blood of Jesus Christ. Faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
not our faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, although we are
given faith in the blood of Jesus Christ to have justified us,
but whenever it talks about justification and salvation, it is God, His
faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. It is God and His work through
Christ in His faith towards God to redeem all those that He has
died for, to justify them. For God to be a holy and righteous
God and to keep covenant that when Christ died for them, substituted
on their behalf, that God would be appeased, satisfied, and they
would be justified. Christ did that. That's the love
of God being shown. And the love of God here, it
says, and He commendeth, meaning it is a present thing. It's an
ongoing thing. God continues to show His love
for us in that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. We always go back to Christ's
death. We always go to Christ's death. We always go to Christ's
death. It isn't God keeping tabs on what we are doing. He always
goes back to Christ's death because that's what He's resting in.
And that's what He calls us to rest in. Whenever Jesus said,
Come all unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. How do you become restful whenever
the weariness of your sin is bombarding you and the incessant
try to keep righteousness before God fails. How is the rest in that? What's
Christ telling you to do? When he says, come unto me and
I will give you rest. He said, if you will come to
the place of the cross where I took on all your sin and God's
forgiveness, God's love, God's mercy, God's grace is all shown
right there to you. He commended his love right there. Come to that and rest in that
because God's resting in it. God is resting in that fact.
God is resting in that work. You come and rest in it too.
And see, but the preachers of today are telling people just
the opposite, that God's not resting in his love, that he
is demanding something of you and that you are not to rest
in Christ's finished work, that there's something that you still
need to do. That's anti-gospel. That's anti-Christ. That is not
the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is a false gospel. And if
you're in a church that they're preaching that to you, you need
to run from that. Find a church that is preaching the sovereign
grace of God in the finished work of Jesus Christ and grace
alone. That's where you need to be. He says here that he commended
his love for us and while we were yet sinners. Christ died
for me and I was a sinner. He didn't die for me because
I was a good person. He died for me because I was
a sinner. And while I was still a sinner. Alright, there's a couple more
verses here that I'd like to look at before we're done. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Look with me if you would at
verse 4. Matter of fact, let me back up
to just show you Remind you encourage you What
we've already been talking about Check verse 1 and you who is
you? Well, if you go back to the first
of the letter Who is the you? To the Saints which are in Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus To the elect of God those
who were chosen in him blessed in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus That's who he's talking about. "...and you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience." You notice that there is a distinction
between you and the children of disobedience. All they can
do is disobey. All you and your flesh can do
is disobey. You can't do any obeying in your
flesh. But because you are a spiritual
seed of Christ. You have obeyed. Among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others by nature. This outward man, this Adamic
man is children of wrath. And again, I'm going to take
a side note here to lay down the law to the reformers. It doesn't say that we were children
under wrath as others. I don't know how many times I've
had conversations with reformed men and other sovereign gracers
who says, oh, yeah, we were under God's wrath until we were born
again or till we believe the gospel until we repented and
all that stuff. We were under the wrath of God.
God saved us from hell. God saved you from hell by sanctifying
you from the foundation of the world to not be under wrath.
That's when God saved you from hell. And He demonstrated that
in His love by sending Christ to die for you who paid the penalty
so you wouldn't have to. But you were never under God's
wrath. That says there, we who were by nature, children of wrath. That means we are children who
are wrathful against God. We are wrathful towards each
other. We are children of wrath. But he goes on to say, look at
verse four, but God. Is it that wonderful that the
butts there? You who were dead in trespasses and sin, but God. See, God has to be interjected.
If God does not interject Himself, you were by nature and still
are by nature, and nothing more. You are a child of disobedience.
But God, who is rich in mercy, wherewith Because of His great
love, He loved us. See the change. What made the
difference between you being a child of wrath, being by nature
like all others, but God sending His love and sending His redemption,
sending His grace, sending His mercy to you? Right here. Because of His great love. Because
of His great love, He separated you from them They being the
children of disobedience, you being the children of faith,
being the children of Abraham, being the children of God, the
children of grace. But God, which is rich in mercy
for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ By grace,
you're saved and have raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, not your faith, not your exercising of faith through the
faith of Jesus Christ. And that not of yourselves, it
is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Brethren, God commended his love
towards us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. And that because of his great mercy and love, he quickened us together with
him. Now, the Bible also says that because you're children,
God has sent his spirit into us, whereby we can cry out to
him. of a father. But the Bible also
says that God sends his spirit and that this spirit that is
sent into us testifies that we are his children. Where does
the hope come from? Where does the security come
from? Where does the assurance of faith
come from? It comes from the fact that God
has loved us, that he has displayed that love and through the Lord
Jesus Christ, taking care of all of our sin problem because
of that love. And now he continues to shed
that love abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby we continually are looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith, the one who has redeemed us, who has
made us acceptable for God, who has clothed us in his righteousness
and who continues to keep us in his care to preserve us until
the end, where he has promised to raise us up at the last day. He continues to give us his spirit
to teach us that, to testify of that, to give us hope of the
calling that we have. Brethren, what a great love it
is I don't think I could ever listen to a story or a preaching
on God's love without knowing that. Because if God is just
a general love for everybody, what about all this? Now you're saying that God has
levels of love. Well, God loves us better. That's
exactly what the Reformed say when they talk about Esau and
Jacob. Well, he loved Jacob, but he
loved less Esau. Have you heard that, brother?
I've heard that a lot. In fact, I used to say that. I used to
try to defend that against Calvinism. Well, brethren, Calvinism is
just as bad as Arminianism. God's love is commended towards
us, for one, because he is love. Second of all, because he rests
in that love that is in Christ Jesus we are in Christ Jesus
therefore that love cannot be severed because it can't be severed
from Christ and God showed it because he sent his son to die
for us and his son the Bible says for the joy that was set
before me endured all of it why? because he loved us his everlasting
love towards us alright does anybody got anything you'd like
to add? any comments? Anybody wanna shout amen? Praise
the Lord. It's all right for Baptists to
do that once in a while. We just can't dance to it. All
right, let's pray. Father Lord, we thank you for
your love and your mercy. We thank you for your kindness
towards us. We thank you for that eternal,
vital union that you've given us in Christ Jesus. We thank
you for our Savior who died for us. And now that there is rest,
not only on your part, but on ours, and that finished work.
Father, we pray that you'll continue to give us that faith and strengthen
that faith. Grow us in the grace and knowledge of that Lord that
has been our helper, that has been our salvation. Lord, may it always continue
to comfort us. May your spirit continue to always
keep us. Be with these brethren as they leave this week and that
you might keep them safe. Pray for my stepmom in the hospital,
Lord, that you might be with her. minister to her and my dad,
and may you be with all those who are tending them. Pray for
Heather and her kids who are sick this morning. Father Lord,
I pray that you would just bless and touch them. And Brother Len
Terry, that you might continue to minister to him and surround
him with people that might help him in his infirmity, Lord. And just thank you again for
your grace and all that you've done. for allowing us to gather
together. For it's in Christ's name that
we pray, amen.