Luke 1142 But woe unto you, Pharisees,
for you tithe mint and rue, and all manner
of herbs, and Passover judgment, and the love of God. These ought
ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you,
Pharisees, for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and
greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are as graves which appear not, and the men
that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of
the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus
saying, thou reproachest us also. And he said, woe unto you also,
you lawyers, for you laid men with burdens grievous to be born,
and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your
fingers. Woe unto you, for you build the
sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. You bear witness that you allow
the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them, and
you build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom
of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them
they shall slay and persecute. That the blood of all the prophets
which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required
of this generation. From the blood of Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias, which perish between the altar and the temple,
verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you lawyers, for you
have taken away the key of knowledge. You entered not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in you hindered. And as he said
these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge
him vehemently. and to provoke him to speak of
many things, laying in wait for him and seeking to catch something
out of his mouth that they might accuse him." You know, I've found
in my experience in this life that if you're looking for something
against somebody, you're going to find it, aren't you? Unless
it's the Lord Jesus. When reading that, it sounds
like to me that lawyer should have just shut up, don't you
think? Boy, that's us, isn't it? When the Lord is, whether he's
pronouncing blessing or woe, we need to just shut up. Our
Lord begins here to repeatedly pronounce woe upon these religious
leaders. And now remember the context
before this, in verse 41, he had just spoken. This one Pharisee,
a certain Pharisee, verse 37 says, invited him to eat dinner
with him. And he went to dinner with this
Pharisee, of course, arranging this entire scene, causing the
Pharisee to notice that he didn't wash his hands before he ate,
causing him to marvel at it. and arranging this entire thing
to teach that man and us the truth of God. The Lord arranges
everything, doesn't he? He's arranged this this morning.
And I was thinking about this earlier today. A lot of times
the Lord will reveal why he does certain things and we'll say,
oh, okay, that's why he did it. And I'm thankful to see that,
but there's a thousand other reasons that he did it that we'll
never know, or more. But he arranged all of this,
and this Pharisee, he began to rail upon him, and he told him
in the end, he said, here, here, but rather, instead of being
like you are, instead of doing what you do and saying what you
say, give alms of such things as you have. God has blessed
you with some things right now. Honor him. Obey him. Do what he says. And then eat
whatever you want. All things are clean to you.
Eat with dirty hands or clean hands doesn't make any difference
because eating with unwashed hands that's focusing, emphasizing, worrying
about the outside and he said your problem is on the inside
and then he begins to tell them what their problem is show them
the inside of themselves in pronouncing these woes upon them. And I expected
to look at all of them, but there's just no way. We're not going
to get past the first one today. We may have to look at each one
of them individually. There's so much teaching here.
He says, do obey me. Do what you do based on the word
of God, not your own thoughts and The traditions of the fathers
is what he called it. You're not obeying the tradition
of the fathers. Yeah, but what about what God said? That's what
matters. That's what he's telling him.
Do what you do based on what God said and then eat whatever
you want to eat however you want to eat it. The outside of the
cup. When the inside is clean, when
he washes you clean, you're clean every whit. Inside and out. that you're not going to be clean
any whit until he cleans you. And only his precious blood can
wash sin away. The Lord Jesus Christ now, he
wasn't harsh towards sinners in general. And it's important
that we see this. He was very tender and patient
and kind, spoke kindly to harlots and thieves, Republicans and
lepers. People in need and wretched people. Willfully sinful people. He was kind to them. He ate with
publicans and sinners. He spoke graciously to those
who nobody else had any use for. And we should never, ever, ever,
we should never have an attitude of being better than anybody
else. And that's exactly what the Lord
condemned in the Pharisees. When that one said, I'm thankful
I'm not like him, like that publican, the Lord condemned him. He said
he went down to his house in his sins. Now there can be no
fellowship with those who walk in his light and those that walk
in darkness, not true fellowship, but that doesn't preclude kindness
and love and understanding. We're to be understanding and
kind and helpful when we can be to those who don't know our
Savior. We're to speak His word to them,
to be witnesses of Him to them. But when our Lord pronounced
woe, and as we saw last week, He had nothing He said to have
nothing to do with them. Leave them alone. Don't be like
them, don't pray like them, don't give like them, don't do anything
like them, and don't have anything to do with them. He spoke in
scathing and harsh language towards some. It was the religious leaders
of his day. There is a marked difference
in the way that our Lord dealt with sinners. and those who consider
themselves to be better than sinful. We may not be sinners,
but by their own testimony they weren't sinners. And this is what we avoid like
the plague, the false religion of our day. It is a cancer. Those who teach it, those who
propagate it, those who actively promote the cancer of free will,
man-deifying false religion. We have no part nor lot with
them. Religion is disgusting even to us as believers, even
though we're sinners just like them. And yet, by God's grace,
religion is disgusting even to us. And so you can see why our
Lord, being pure and spotless and sinless, spoke this way to
them. But we still can't look down
even on them. We're all Pharisees by nature. We all distinguish ourselves
from others by nature. That's what we saw a Pharisee
means. Distinguish yourself from others and we're guilty of all
of these things that the Lord pronounces woe upon We're saved by grace alone free
grace The Lord saved a few Pharisees by free grace actual Nominal
Pharisees and he saved a bunch of Pharisees when you consider
that's what all of us are by nature and And we're still susceptible
to these things, so let's learn from them. And by His grace, give Him glory
for forgiving even such as we. Having mercy even on such as
we are. Wretched Pharisees. It'd be woe
unto us if not for His grace. And in this pronouncement of
woe, In verse 42, let's look at it. But woe unto you, Pharisees,
for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs. And he mentions
these things because, you know, most people didn't even really
think about that. It was, you know, you tithe your
money, right? But this law said you were to tithe everything.
And they knew that. And even the little, everything
that they collected out of their garden, every little thing. No
matter how it might seem inconsequential, it might seem unimportant. They
were careful to tithe every little thing that they had, that they
possessed. But he said, you pass over judgment
and the love of God. These ought you to have done.
judgment and the love of God and not left the other undone.
Not left the tithing. Tithing, there's nothing wrong
with that. And that was according to the law and it was right for
them to do that. He said you shouldn't leave that undone but
don't neglect what our Lord himself called the weightier matters
of the law. They tithed meticulously and
according to the law at that time this was good and right.
But while they were separating out a tenth of all their little
herbs and mint and all the little things that they were meticulous
about to give according to the law, they forgot about judgment
and the love of God. Weightier matters. They paid
attention to detail and there's nothing wrong with that. He didn't
condemn them for what they did. And this is important. He condemned
them for what they omitted. For what they didn't do. What
they left out. You see the language there? What
they left undone. What they left undone. That was
the problem. And they missed that which is
most important. And notice Very important now
in this text. These ought ye to have done. What's he referring to there?
Judgment and the love of God. Judgment and the love of God
are things to be done. Not just talked about. Done. Do judgment. Now, we could talk
about a lot of different things that people have said about what
judgment is what he's referring to here. But the way we understand
the Word of God is by the Word of God. Let's look at what he
said to them in other places about judgment. In John 7, turn
over there with me. In John chapter 7, our Lord had
just healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. There were a multitude
of people laying around that pool, you remember the story,
and an angel came and stirred the water, and when that happened,
the first one in that pool was healed of whatever disease they
had. This man had a problem. He was laying. You had to get
into the pool to be healed, and he couldn't get into the pool.
That's just by nature. What you have to do to be righteous
before God, you can't do. What you need to do to be whole,
every wit, you can't do. But praise the Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ came where that man was. He couldn't go to the
Lord, he couldn't help himself in any way. He depended on others,
and nobody else could help him. Behold, they might help him to
the grocery store, but they're not going to help him walk. But
the one who could, came and did. And he did it on the Sabbath
day, and he did it deliberately on the Sabbath day, knowing that
the religious Jews would have a problem with it. And then listen
to John 7, 21. This is what he's referring to,
the pool of Bethesda and healing that man. Jesus answered and
said unto them, I have done one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you
circumcision, Not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers.
It was ordained before Moses came along. And you on the Sabbath
day circumcise a man. Your religion allows that. And
if a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of
Moses should not be broken. Are you angry at me because I
have made a man every whit hole on the Sabbath day? Circumcision
was a symbol of the cutting away of the flesh, of obeying God
and being pure before God. And he said, I've actually done
that. What circumcision only can picture.
And you're angry at me because I did it on the Sabbath day.
According to your tradition, according to your way of thinking,
that's a problem. According to God, it's salvation. I've made a man everywhere. Hold
on a second, you're angry with me. And listen to what he said
to them now. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment. Now in order to understand what
he said, you got to see what just happened here. And understand
the context of it. They acted based upon what appeared
to them to be logical. And it was based on Scripture.
They wouldn't have known that there was a Sabbath day without
Scripture. It was based upon the Word of God, but they took
the Word of God and they reasoned further. If the Word of God says
this, then it's not right for you to heal on the Sabbath day.
Said who? They reasoned beyond the Word
of God, and He reasoned with them from the Word of God. Big difference. He spoke to them
of what happened and what it pictured. And he's fulfilling
that law. He's not being, he's not doing
contrary to the law, he's fulfilling that law. And he clearly makes
that comparison between circumcision and making a man literally every
whit hole. But they reasoned, they judged
based on their own thinking, their own logic, their own human
reasoning. And what did he say? Don't judge
like that. Don't judge based on the way
things appear to you. We can't trust anything that
we think. We just can't. If God didn't
say it, then don't trust it. Don't trust it. And this is still a problem.
People love to go beyond the scriptures. Look at the whole
religion's doing this now. You look at what they're doing
and it's based on scripture somewhere, right? But even they don't know
what they're doing. I was in a church one time where
this man was doing all kinds of religious. He was pouring
things and draping things. And I asked somebody that was
a member there, I said, what's he doing? He said, I don't know.
I don't know what the heck he's doing. So he got it out of the scripture
somehow. Our Lord says to such, judge righteous judgment. And
he said that in the context of showing them what the scripture
said. What the scripture said. There's only one way to reckon
things rightly. And that is thus saith the Lord. The only way you're going to
judge righteous judgment Paul said we reckon, we reckon by
the grace of God, we reckon things a little differently than this
world does. He said we reckon that if one died for all, then
it's because they were dead. That's why the Lord had to die,
because we were dead. And the only way to give us life
was to take our place under the death, under the penalty of the
law, under the punishment of God for our sin. And he said
this, we reckon this, that if he died for us, we ought to live
for him. We ought to live for him. Now
he wasn't using human reasoning, the word of God says that. It
says present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God, which is
your reasonable service. It's reasonable that we do that,
because he gave himself for us. And that's the way now, to reckon
everything is by what God said. And listen now, the love of God,
don't leave undone the love of God. Do His love. There's a difference between
His love and what passes for love in this world. In that same
story in John 7, these religious Jews called themselves Pharisees,
distinguished themselves from others by their very title of
what they were. That's what defined them, was
their separating themselves from everybody else. They could not simply rejoice
that a man was made whole. You think about what happened
that day. There's a man that has been lame, it says, a long
time. And the Lord just came where
he was and said, will you be made whole? And he said, Lord,
I don't have anybody to help me, to put me in the water when
the waters are stirred by the angel. And the Lord said, rise,
take up your bed and walk. It'd be hard to be mad about
that, wouldn't it? You'd think it would be. You'd
think it'd be tough to be mad, but not if we're left to ourselves.
That's exactly what our reaction would have been. to be angry
about that. He said, you're angry with me
because I made a man every way at home. Think about what a stupid
place that puts us in. We crucify the son of God for
doing nothing but good. He never did anything but good. And we killed him. It made us
angry. We didn't just ignore it and
miss it. It outraged us. That's how far
gone we are by nature now. The love of God. Don't leave
it undone now. They couldn't understand, they
couldn't rejoice. In John 5, the Lord is talking
about now, I want you to turn over there with me too, turn
to John 5 please, and let's look at this. I want to look at, if
the Lord talking about, you know, you've missed judgment, you've
missed judgment, and you've missed the love of God, you don't do
those things. Let's see what he what his conversation was
with them about that throughout his ministry to them. As much
as time allows, this is something we could go through a lot, couldn't
we? And you could study this on your own. Look at when he
mentions judgment and talks about his love for sinners in the scripture. Boy, that's big subjects, isn't
it? You can see why we're just looking at this one woe today.
But look in chapter 5 of John the Lord's talking about how
the Pharisees rejected and despised him and he gave them the reason
for it in John 5 42. I know you that you have not
the love of God in you. You have not the love of God
in you. Now what's he been talking about
in our text in Luke 11? It's all about what's on the
inside. That's your problem. It's what's on the inside and
what ain't on the inside. Quit worrying about the outside.
Worry about the inside and then the outside will follow. It'll
follow. You have not the love of God
in you. I want you to turn over there
and just look at that one verse now. That's what he, that's the
reason that they left it undone. It wasn't in them to do it. Now
look at the opposite of that in Romans 5. Turn over to Romans
chapter 5, verse 5. And let's look at another verse,
and it's beautiful context. Romans 5, 5. I'm planning to
be very brief this morning. May the Lord show this to us.
Verse 5 of Romans 5. And hope maketh not ashamed because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. Why did the Pharisees, they didn't
have the love of God in them. Why not? Well, it's given to
some. It's shed abroad in your heart
by the Holy Ghost. who he told Nicodemus goes where
he pleases. And it is given unto us. Now look at the context in
which he says that. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Why did
the Holy Spirit give us the love of God? Why did he shed it abroad
in our heart? Because Christ died for us. It's just simple. It's 1 plus
1 equals 2. And it's the word of God. It's
not human reasoning added to it. The Holy Ghost shed abroad his
love on us for when we were yet without strength. When we couldn't
do anything about it. We couldn't do anything. We couldn't
do judgment or love or any of it. Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man
some would even dare to die, but God commended His love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the love of God now. That's
the fruit of the Spirit that dwells within His people. His
love. His love. And he says don't leave that
undone Love does some things and love doesn't do some things
first corinthians chapter 13 Christ died for us much more
than being now justified by his blood We shall be saved now you
think about what that says now. This is not the directly the
subject of my preaching this morning, but boy, it's really
the subject of our preaching every time we speak. Christ's
death, His precious blood is effectual. If He shed His blood
for you, you're saved. Does that not say that? Well,
Christ died for everybody. Really? It says here that if you're justified
by His blood, you shall be saved from wrath through Him. Am I
missing something there? It seems pretty clear. And this
is not the only place it says that. It's all through the Word
of God. If Christ died for us, we have
the love of God shed abroad in us. That's why the Holy Spirit
does that. He does it for those for whom Christ died. Those that
He redeemed. And if He died for us, we are
saved from wrath through Him. Now that's just clear. And if
you don't, if that's not the love that you're acting upon
in your religion, you're leaving it undone. If you don't know
sovereign love, you don't know love. And you can't do love that
you don't have. The fruit of the Spirit is love. The fruit of God's Spirit. That's
why it says the Holy Spirit has shed abroad that in our hearts.
And it happens for those for whom Christ died. Those are the
ones who are saved from wrath. He did something for them and
he did something in them. That's what it said. He redeemed
us, he died and shed his blood for us, and he shed abroad his
love in us. The Pharisee didn't have that
love. because that Savior didn't die for them. He told them now,
and let me remind us now, he was very kind, wasn't he? The
woman at the well, the leper, these wretched, sinful, that
lame man. These people weren't better.
He didn't save them because they deserved it. They were wretched. That thief on the cross, he was
somebody you wouldn't have wanted to be with, a rat. But our Lord spoke kindly to
him. But these Pharisees now, he looked them in the eye one
day and he said, your father is the devil. That's not true
of God's sheep. God has always been our father.
You're of your father, the devil. And you know what he said to
them one time? He said, because you believe not on me, you're
going to die in your sins. He didn't say be careful lest
you die in your sins. If you're not careful now you're
going to die in your sins. He said you're going to die in your
sins because you don't believe on me. That's as harsh as it gets now.
There's no hope for you if the Son of God says that to you. And this is the love that we're
talking about that he was talking about. That you leave undone. they don't have it in them they
don't know anything about sovereign distinguishing love woe unto
us if we don't love him first of all woe unto us if we don't love him you know
this this world it talks about a lot about love a lot of love
songs and Philosophy about love. You know what this world's philosophy
is and this is just one song and you'll recognize the song.
But it speaks for everybody. I've heard this over and over
in different ways, in different contexts. The greatest love of
all is learning to love yourself. That's the philosophy of this
world. I don't see that in God's word, do you? You'd think if
it was the greatest love of all, it'd be in here somewhere. Our problem is we love ourselves.
We love our sinful, wretched, foul selves. Woe unto us if we
don't love the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, any man love not the
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema manatha. If we know and love him now,
he'll be our message. That's what he told them. If
you love God, you'd love me. You'd preach me. You'd honor
me. You'd believe me. Instead of opposing him and trying
to trip him up in his language like it says in our text that
they did. They despised him. And woe unto us, he said, If
we're like the Pharisees, woe unto you Pharisees, if they were
so exacting and self-righteous in their religion that they were
hateful toward those who they deemed not to know as much as
they did, you know. We went to college and we learned
we're doctors of theology and you'll listen to us or anathema
to you. They cast the poor blind man
in John chapter 9 who was an object of God's love and mercy
and grace, they threw him out of the church. And the Lord found him and spoke
to him in mercy. There is a leaving the love of
God undone in this thing of being so wrapped up in your self-righteousness. Even if you know true things,
if you really know them, they make you gracious, not hard.
You may know some facts, but knowledge, Paul said, puffeth
up. This is part of what our Lord was condemning in them.
Their religion, it made them look down on everybody else.
Woe unto you. You leave in God's love undone. There's something about that
in this thing of always wanting to argue and split hairs and
let's debate, but never are able to just rejoice in the gospel
of God's free grace. Can we just fellowship with one
another? And rejoice that Christ has been merciful to sinners
like us. Oh, let's not leave that undone. Now the religion
of our day, like in his day, can be seen for what it is by
what they leave out. By what they leave out. A man
can preach a message and not say a single thing wrong. Everything
he says can be true and yet it still be anti-Christ. Did you
know that? I've heard quite a few of them. If you're not preaching him,
you're not preaching the truth. If you stand up and say you're
preaching the gospel and say a lot of true things, but don't
say what the Bible says about judgment and the love of God,
you're a false prophet. According to our Savior, that's
what he said. Woe unto you. You can't leave out God's judgment,
and I don't just mean wrath. We talk about this quite a bit
now because that's the first thing people think of when you
think of the judgment of God. You're thinking the wrath of
God, the condemnation of God. No, God's judgment is God's way,
God's reckoning, God's deciding of things. It's simply God deciding
things judicially. The word in the text means a
separating, an opinion or decision given concerning a thing. And
how interesting that Pharisee means to separate They separated themselves from
others by saying, I'm not like him. And the Lord pronounced
judgment upon them. But the judgment of God means
to separate, to make a distinction, to decide things, to give an
opinion or a decision concerning a thing. And it does mean a sentence
of condemnation and punishment. That is certainly included in
it and often when in the context you can see that his judgment
does have to do with his condemnation of sinners. God's wrath is certainly
a judgment of God, but so is his mercy. He judges some to
be righteous. Those who are in his son. The
question is, according to God's way of reckoning, According to
God's judgment, his way of reckoning things, how can I be saved? God's way. Man has a reckoning
on that. They've decided some things and
their deciding is that you need to decide something. That's not the way God decided
to save sinners. How can I have mercy God is strictly
holy and righteous and he can by no means clear the guilty.
So how can a sinner like me have mercy? What will God's judgment
be concerning me? And the first thing that we need
to understand about that is that the decision is his. And I'm
going to give you some homework because I'm running much longer
than I thought I would. John 5, 21 through 27. Let me
give you a brief synopsis of it and then read that later if
you would. The Lord Jesus Christ said that the Father had committed
all judgment unto him. And in the same context, he said,
as the Father quickeneth whom he will, so he hath given his
Son authority to give life to whomsoever he will. And if you
read the context of that, it is clearly saying that the judgment
concerning who has life and who don't have life is in the hands
of the Son of God. He decides that matter. That's
what he's saying when he's saying all judgment is given unto me.
And you read that and you'll see that. God the Father invested
God the Son with the ability to give life. That's stated in
John 5, 21 through 27. He's able to quicken whom he
will. But also the authority to give
life. He gives it to whomsoever he
will. It is he who decides who lives
and who does not. Now, if that's not judgment in
your judgment, then you're not judging righteous judgment. And the way that God can decide,
how can God just decide that a sinner like me gets to live?
Wouldn't that destroy his character? Wouldn't that be unjust? You
know, you can't be just and merciful. You think about that. You can't. I can't, and you can't, if Bob owes Dee a hundred bucks,
and I'm the judge, and I say, I forgive you. Well, I've been
merciful. I haven't been just. Dee's like,
wait a minute. Hold on a second. Hold it. And I could even say, as a man,
I could say, you know what, I'm gonna give you the 100 bucks. And let him go free. And I've
been merciful, but I haven't really done the right thing,
have I? Because you're the one that owes it. That's not really the
right thing. That's not justice. Justice is
for the one who's guilty. And the only way that God can
decide that a sinner like me gets to live is if somebody takes
my place now. And our Lord Jesus Christ did
it in such a way, and I don't understand it. But he took my
place in such a way that it was right for God to destroy him. And he did it in such a way that
it was right for God to justify me. We know that, we know that. And
because the Lord Jesus Christ took my place on Calvary and
bore my sin in his own body on the tree, what does that even
mean? I don't know, but I'm sure glad he did it, aren't you? I'm
so glad. And he, the one who did that,
he gives life to me now. He's able to give me life and
he's willing to give me life if I'm his. If you're one of
his sheep, he's able to give you life, he's willing to give
you life, and the way he gives you life is by giving his life
for you. And man's religion now, it leaves
undone the love of God. They cannot do his love because
they have it not in them. And they do not speak rightly
of his love. They talk about the love of God a lot, but they
leave out at least two final things about God's love. First
of all, it is distinguishing. It is not universal. The minute
you say God loves everybody, you've left God's love undone.
If 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, 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 we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
If that's not the love of God to you in your reckoning of things,
you're not judging righteous judgment, and you've left his
love undone. The second thing that can't be
left out now, it can't be undone with regard to God's love, is
that God's love is in Christ, only in Christ. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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." I heard somebody quote that at a funeral
one time and stopped right there. They quoted it word for word
and stopped right there and what they said was a lie straight
out of hell. You can't stop there. Shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Our Lord. They stopped right there because
they didn't want to offend anybody. And they snatched away every
hope from every sinner in that place. And in the context, we see what
Paul means by God's love being in Christ. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Well,
that's what we're asking. How can God justify a sinner?
How can he be just and just let a sinner go free? And more than
that, declare them not guilty. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. That's how God can be just and
justify me. You see, here's the very definition
of love in 1 John 4, 9. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. In other words, here's what God's
love looks like. It was manifested. It was shown
to us. It was revealed to us. Here's
what God's love looks like. because that God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Christ defines love now. He defines
the love of God. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. If that's not Your definition
of the love, if God's definition of love is not yours, then listen
to his word. Judge righteous judgment. And
don't leave these things undone. Don't be worried about going
to an R-rated movie or saying a cuss word and leave undone
the love of God. Or the judgment of God. If I leave out that God's love
is distinguishing, particular, electing love, that I'm blaspheming
and maligning the very character of God. And I'm saying that God
loves those that he throws in hell just as much as those he
takes to glory to be with him forever. God forbid. Utter blasphemy. What does God's love then have
to do with salvation? Is God's love impotent? God forbid. If I leave out that God's love
is in Christ alone, I destroy the sinner's only hope and give
false hope to those who hate the Son of God. If you love not
the Lord Jesus Christ and believe not on Him, you can't claim that
He loves you, and neither can anybody else. If He loves you,
you will love Him, because the reason sinners love Him is because
He loved them first. 1 John 4.19 God's love for sinners
is in Christ. And so our message is flee to
Christ. God's judgment is only rightly
understood as Christ crucified is rightly understood. God's
love is only rightly understood as Christ on Calvary shedding
his precious blood for all of his elect is rightly understood. That's why we're able to say
we determine with Paul This is by God's grace is our way of
thinking. His judgment is our judgment. He said, our brethren,
when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. I didn't come to you
to say what I think and use God's word to prop it up. It wasn't
man's wisdom, their excellency of speech. I determined, what
did you do then, Paul? I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Everything else
is just something that man came up with. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. We preach Christ crucified so
that your faith might be in the power of God, because Christ
is the power and wisdom of God. May God give us grace to not
leave undone his judgment and his love. Let's pray together.