Whoops. I've entitled the message for
this evening, God is Love. That's what it says, isn't it? Look at our text once again.
Verse 7, 1 John chapter 4, Beloved, let us love one another, for
love is of God. And everyone that loveth, and
this is talking about the love that's born of the new birth. No natural man has this love.
Everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. I've introduced a message like
this before, but certain failure is the outcome of this message.
Because I know that anything I say will fall far short of
what ought to be said. So it's kind of a pleasing anticipation
of failure, because I know I will not in any way give this subject
what it's due. If I thought I could adequately
handle this subject all I'd prove is how ignorant I am of myself
and the love of God. But let's give it a shot. God
is love. The most difficult thing for
me personally to get a hold of is that God loves me. I find such a hard time grasping
that because I know me. I know a little bit about me.
And I can see why he would in holy righteous hatred hate me. I can see that. But I have a
hard time grasping this thing of the living God loving me. You're one of my favorite hymns
we sing and this is one of the favorite lines of any hymn we
sing, when we sing that song, I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner,
condemned, unclean. When I read in Romans chapter
9 verse 13 of God saying, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated, I'm not amazed by his hatred of Esau because his hatred
is a righteous hatred. It's a holy hatred. It's not
like our hatred, vindicative and spiteful. It's with regard
to the perfection of his nature. And I have no problem grasping
him hating Esau, but what I'm amazed of is his love for Jacob. Jacob have I loved. Now, when the Bible says God
is love, and he says it once again in verse 16 of this same
chapter, when the Bible says God is love, men are not astounded
by that. They think, well, he ought to
love me. That's a job, isn't it? I mean, doesn't a loving God love his
creatures? He ought to love me. Now, let me say this. You're never going to find in
the scriptures the phrase a loving God. God is love. But to call God a loving God
is to say here's love and God reaches that. No, God is love. God is not a loving God. God
is love. Now, this is one of three statements
in Scripture where it said that God is. One statement is God is spirit. God is spirit. That means he
doesn't have a physical body like you and I have. God is spirit
means that he's omnipresent. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. To say God is spirit is to say
that God is invisible. You can't see him. That's why
he's omnipresent. He's everywhere. God is spirit.
And then God is love. That's his nature. That's his
character. That's who he is. God is love. God is spirit. God is light. In him is no darkness at all,
that speaks of his holiness, and God is love. Not here is love and God fits
that description, but God is love. Paul says concerning this love
that we're trying to talk about, it passeth knowledge. There's
no way any human being can describe adequately the love of God. Now the first thing I would want
to say about the love of God is this, the love of God is in
Christ. That's the first thing we have
to get down. The love of God is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why nothing
can separate us because that love is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He doesn't love anybody independently
of Christ. All of God's love is in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father loveth the Son and giveth
all things into his hand. God's love is for those in him. And outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ, there's nothing but God's righteous wrath. Nothing but
God's perfect, holy condemnation. Outside of the Lord Jesus Christ,
all of his love is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, To be in Christ
is to be eternally united to Christ. When we talk about being
in Christ, this is mysterious. I love it more as I see it more
in the scriptures. And I do see this more in the
scriptures. This thing of being eternally united to the Lord
Jesus Christ. If I'm in him, that means I'm
united to him. Now turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 5 for just a moment. You know that scripture in John
chapter 17 verse 23 where it says that the world may know
that thou has loved them as thou has loved me. I think about that. You've loved them as you've loved
your son. God loves me with the same love he loves his son. How
can that be? How can that be? I know me. How can that be? Well I can show
you how that can be. Look here in Ephesians chapter
5. Paul says at the end of this
chapter, talking about marriage and being a picture of the relationship
between Christ and his church, he says in verse 32, this is
a great mystery. What I've been talking about
all this stuff about marriage. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now there's good
statements about marriage here, but it's all truly about Christ
and his church. Now, look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as also Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word that he might present it to himself, a glorious church. not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish,
so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself." Now, men, you would be much better
off to love your wives as your own bodies. It'd end up being
better for you. You would be advanced about it.
Your wife would probably treat you better. Good idea, but that's
not even what this is talking about. Look at verse 28, the
last phrase, he that loveth his wife, loveth himself. When Christ loved his wife, that
union was so great, it was him loving himself. And that's how
God can say that he loves the believer as he loves his son. Because the believer in this
glorious union in Christ is himself. The two cannot be separated. When Christ is loving his bride,
he was loving himself. And that's why he could say thou
has loved them as thou has loved me because we cannot be separated
from being in him. And this is why God's love is
so secure. This is why when you go home tonight and lay your
pillow on your head you can think God is love and all God's love
is in Christ and in him I can't be separated from his love no
matter what. Now to think of the father's
love separate from the son is debasing to God's love. Let me repeat that. To think
of the love of God separate from the love he has to his son is
debasing and degrading to the love of God. All of God's love
is in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God loves Christ and
those who are eternally united to him. God's love, like all
of God's attributes, is holy and this is a holy love, this
love He bears for His Son and He bears for everybody in Him. Now, here's the second thing
I'd like to say about the love of God, the reason for God's love. Now,
I quoted that hymn, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the
Nazarene and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned,
unclean. How could he love me? Give me
a reason. What's the reason for God's love?
The reason for God's love is in himself. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 8. The Lord did not set his love
upon you or choose you because you were more a number than any
people for you were the fewest of people but because the Lord
loved you. Now his love, listen real carefully,
his love is utterly uninfluenced by anything about me or you.
Romans 9, 11 for the children, being not yet born, neither having
done any good that would draw out God's love or evil that would
repel God's love. children being not yet born neither
having done any good or evil but the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth
and that is why he can say behold I will love them freely because
his love is utterly uninfluenced by anything within me or you
there's nothing in me or you that draws out his love There's
nothing in me or you that keeps him from loving us, because his
reason for love is found wholly in himself. If I'm looking for
a reason in myself, apart from Christ, that he could love me,
there's not a reason. But thank God, the reason for
his love is found in himself. And understand this, this is
not unconditional love. People talk about unconditional
love. There's no such thing. No one
loves anyone unconditionally. You see, in Christ, as Christ
is worthy of God's love, if I'm in Him, I'm worthy of God's love. God loves only the lovely. Yes, He loves sinners in Christ.
Thank God for that. But those sinners in Christ are
united to him so that they're perfect in him. And every believer
actually deserves the love of God as they are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But it's not found in anything
in them. Now God is love. God is love. And God's love is uninfluenced
by anything in me or you. Isn't that great? There's nothing
you can do to lose it. And there's nothing you can do
to gain it. Because His love, the reason for His love, is found
in Himself. God is love. And thirdly, God's
love is eternal. God's love is in Christ. God's
reason for love is found in Himself, it's uninfluenced, and God's
love is eternal. If He loves me now, He's always
loved me. There's never been a time when
He didn't love me. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3,
God says, Behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love. A love that never began. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. Now, before time began, when
there was no creation, all there was, was God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit loving one another in a glorious
love that we can't get a hold of. Even then, He knew me. Even then, He loved me. God has never had a new thought.
He never began to love His people. His love is eternal. There's no starting point. It's
eternal. If He loves me, He has always
loved me. I've always been in Christ. His
love's always been uninfluenced by anything in me. And His love
to me is eternal in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the next thing
I'd like to say about the love of God, God is love. Scripture
says that twice in 1 John 4. God is love. God's love is a
sovereign love. That means He loves whom He will. Romans 9, 13, that quotation
from Malachi chapter 1, Jacob have I loved. That's God's sovereign
choice. He picked out Jacob as an object
of his affection. Jacob was chosen in Christ. Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now I've heard people say, well,
that means that he loved Esau less than he did Jacob. God loved less? That's blasphemous. That's utter
blasphemy. God doesn't love less. God's love is sovereign and his
love must of necessity be a sovereign love because he himself is sovereign.
Now let me emphasize this in the scripture. Turn to Isaiah
chapter 43. This is an amazing scripture. Isaiah chapter 43. Verse 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I've called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I'll be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. Now listen, I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. Since thou was precious
in my sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life." That's
a strong statement, isn't it? Regarding God's love for His
people. Now the natural man bristles
against the fact that God's love is sovereign love, and he chooses
who he'll love, and they say, well, how can that be fair for
him to love Jacob over Esau? How could that be fair? Men sit
in judgment on God. How can he be fair? He ought
to love everybody the way I do. I'm thankful he doesn't. If that's
the case, you'd be the only one saved. I sure wouldn't be. I'd
be out of picture, and so would you. Thank God for his sovereign
love, because if it wasn't for his sovereign love, no one would
be saved. Now, God's love, not only is
it sovereign, it's predestinated. It's predestinated. Ephesians
1, 4, and 5, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children. Romans 8, 29, for whom he did
foreknow, them he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now, all that God loves have this predetermined end. You're going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. You're going to be exactly
like Him. That's your predetermined end,
and God has predetermined this end. And happen, it will, because
it already has. Is predestination great or what?
The fact that He has predestinated us to this end, to be perfectly
conformed to the image of His Son, God created the universe,
so the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world would
come in time to achieve this glorious end in predestination,
and every one of God's people that He loves are gonna be just
like His Son. Then I can't talk about God's
love without talking about the giving of God's love. It's not
just in word. It's not just in word. Let me
read these scriptures to you. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten and well-beloved Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I love
that verse of Scripture. I know that it's abused by religious
people, and it doesn't say that God loves all men without exception.
It's not even in the language. But God so loved the world that
he gave. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man layeth down his life for his friends. Now, if you're somebody he loves,
he counts you his friend. Abraham, my friend. Moses spake
face to face with God as a man speaketh with his friends, with
his friend. And he laid down his life for
his friends. Hereby, 1 John 3, 16. Hereby
perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. Now, if we have the proper response
to that, it's, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the
Nazarene. Listen to this scripture in 1
John 4, 9 and 10. And this was manifested the love
of God to us because that God sent his only begotten son into
the world that we might live through him here in his love,
not that we love God. but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sin. Romans chapter 5
verse 8, God commended his love toward us in the while we were
yet sinners. Christ died for us. Are you a sinner? Then Christ
died for you. He laid down His life for you. Romans 8, 32, He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not? What could possibly prevent Him
from freely giving us all things? Oh, the giving of the love of
God. He gave everything. Is it any wonder that John could
only refer to himself as that disciple that Jesus loved? You know, people talk about other
people and say, well, they really love the Lord. Well, I hope they
do, but I like this much better. He's somebody the Lord really
loves. When with the ransomed in glory,
his face I at last shall see, will be my joy through the ages
to sing of his love for me. Child of God, for you he spared
not his own son. And you can say with Paul concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, he loved me and he gave himself for me. Love gives and God's love gives
everything. God's love knows no bounds. It is infinite because it's in
Christ. There's no stopping point. Thou
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now, is there any bounds
to God's love for a son? No. no limit. Thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me." It's immutable. Having loved
His own, listen to this scripture, John 13 1. Having loved His own
which were in the world, He loved them to the end. And that word
end is also translated to the uttermost. He cannot love you less. He cannot love you more. It's a love that is infinite
and knows no bounds. God is love. Behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Now this is a very important
point because all of them are important obviously. that this
is so contrary to what is taught by most preachers and churches
in our day. God's love is always saving love,
always saving love. Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5, but
God, who is rich in for His great love, wherewith He loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ. By grace ye are saved." God's
love is always saving love. Now, I heard a preacher that
believed in election, believed in Christ's effectual atonement,
so he said, But he said that Christ sincerely offers His love
to all men. And men in hell will realize
that they rejected His sincere offer of love. And let me tell
you something, a love like that won't do me any good. nor will
do anybody else any good. And it's a misrepresentation
of scriptures. And this preacher actually used the fact that the
Lord looked at the rich young ruler and the scripture says
he beheld him and he loved him. And he said, there's no evidence
that that man was ever saved. There's all the evidence in the
world. The Lord loved him. What else you need? What else
you want? There's all the evidence in the
world. Listen to me. There's not going to be anybody
in hell that he loved. His love is saving love. Everybody he loves, he saves. And you know, if you could love
somebody and prevent them from going to hell and let them go
to hell, what kind of love is that? It's utterly offensive
to present God's love in such a manner. Well, we'd have somebody
imprisoned if that was what their love was like. I love my child,
but I'm not going to violate his free will. If he doesn't
accept me, I'm going to let the car run over him. No, that person
would be put in jail, in prison, put to death for a love like
that. Yet that's the love of religious wicked men and women
attribute to God. It is not so. God's love is always
saving love. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. And listen to this.
God's love, anybody He loves, it's always gonna be reciprocated.
Listen to this scripture. We love Him. Why? Because He
first loved us. There will be nobody that God
loves that does not love Him in return. All He loves, He saves. He loved
me and gave Himself. For me, I repeat, God is love. And his love, according to the
scriptures, is a chastening love. It's a chastening love. It says
this, whom the Lord loveth, he chastens. Whom the Lord loveth, He chases
and scourges every son that he receiveth. Now you think about
your children. You love your children. You love them. What do you do? You chase them. You correct them. Why do you
do this? Because you love them. You don't
correct other people's children, do you? You don't chase other
people's children. You don't have any right to.
Don't be giving somebody else's kid a spanking. You do this with
your own children. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Now, I don't want to be chastened, but I don't want to be without
chastening. It's not like I'm looking to be chastened. Here
I am, give me a whipping. No, I'm not doing that. But I
would hate to be without chasing because if I'm chasing not, the
scripture says I'm a bastard, not a son. I'm not a true child.
So in that sense, I want his chasing hand upon me because
whom the Lord loveth, he chastened and scourges every son he receiveth. And this chasing is not punishment. It's given for this one reason,
according to Hebrews 12, that we might be partakers of His
holiness. That's God's purpose in chastening. God is love. And whom the Lord
loveth, He chasteneth. You see, if He loves you, He's
not going to let you leave Him. You do it. You do it. He blocks
the path. He keeps it from happening through
His glorious, gracious, chastening hand. God is love, and whom the
Lord loveth, he chastens. Now I'd like you to turn to 2
Corinthians 5. Verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us." That's true with regard to everybody
who knows His love, the love of Christ, His love to me, and
my love to Him. And my love to Him is only because
of His love to me. I know that. The love of Christ,
not my love to Him, but the love of Christ. constraineth us. That word means
it holds us together lest we fall in pieces. It compresses us. It presses
us on every side. It urges us. It impels us. It restrains us. And it constrains
us. It makes us have this judgment. We thus judge in light of the
love of Christ, that if one died for all, and you know, that's
talking about all the elect. That's not talking about all
men without exception. That's the all. If one died for
all, then we're all dead. Dead. Punishment is over dead
to sin dead to the law verse 15 and that he died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto
him which died for them and rose again now if the love of God
does not constrain me if the love of Jesus Christ does not
constrain me I don't know his love because this is true of
all of his people. The love of Jesus Christ constrains
me." Now God's love. God is love. Amen. God is love. And even as I've tried to preach
this message, I'm painfully aware that I've not done this glorious
subject justice, but nobody else could either. I don't care if
the greatest preacher ever lived could not preach this message
as it ought to be preached. God is love. But God's love,
first of all, is in Christ. in Christ. Don't ever think of
His love independent of Christ. It's in Christ. The Father loveth
the Son. God's love is uninfluenced. There's nothing you can do to
gain it and there's nothing you can do to lose it for His reason
for love is found only in Himself. God's love is eternal. It never
had a beginning point. Behold, I've loved you. with
an everlasting love. God's love is sovereign. And
if I don't present it as sovereign love, I've not presented a period.
He loves whom He will. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Well, how could that be fair? They're workers of iniquity.
God's righteous. He's just in hating all workers
of iniquity. And He loves all righteous people
and all believers are righteous in Christ as they're united to
Him. God's love gives. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not freely, freely
give us all things? Behold, said he in the book of
Hosea chapter 14, I will love them freely. And God's love knows
no bounds. There's nothing that can make
him love you more. There's nothing that can make
him love you less. God's love is always saving love. God's love is always chastening
love. And God's love is always constraining
love. And when we lay our beds on our
pillow tonight, may this be our thought. God is love. God is spirit. He's right there
with you. He's everywhere. You can't go
anywhere where He's not. God is spirit. God is light. That means everything about Him,
including His love, is holy, transparent. And God is love. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
love that's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And Lord, to know that
nothing shall separate us from thy love, which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Lord, we give thanks. We give
thanks that all your love is in your beloved son. And Lord,
he is altogether lovely to us, and we want nothing else but
to be found in him. And Lord, we pray not to be chastened,
but Lord, we pray to not be without chastening because you've said
in your word who you love, you chasten. And Lord, we pray that
we might be continually constrained by your love. Lord, let us Call
ourselves what John called himself, that disciple that Jesus loved. In his blessed name, we pray.