Open with me, if you would, again
to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4, let's read verse
10 together. It says, herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's an eye-opening
verse right there. That's a very eye-opening verse.
Herein is love. Not that we loved God. but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now let's talk
about love, true love. I mean true love, not the love
that man knows. Not the love that man is only
capable of. Not the love of this fleshly
sinful world. Not the love that is selfish. Do you know why you love your
kids over other kids? It's because the love of man
is selfish. Well, those are mine. And I'm not talking about the
selfish conditional and easily influenced. You know, we're always
saying, well, I'm biased, but I'm not talking about biased
love. I'm talking about true love,
love that only God can know, love that only God can show,
unselfish. And you talk about unselfish. Uninfluenced, unchangeable, true love. Verse nine, right here in chapter
four, it says, in this was manifested the love of God toward us because
that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. And we should, we should. But that does not mean that we
have the ability to love each other with that love that God
has loved us with. He loved us with an abundant
love, a holy love, a godly love. He described it to us in this
way. If you'll turn with me over to
Matthew chapter five, And while you're turning there,
let me give you a secret to the Scripture. And I'm being very,
very honest here, very sincere. This is a secret to understanding
the Scripture. As we read the Scripture, if
you want to understand the Scripture and understand what we're talking
about here, this true love, here's a secret to it. We're commanded
to love each other. We're about to see that. That's
true. We should, we must, we're commanded to love each other.
But like the apostle Paul said in Ephesians five, after saying,
husbands love your wives. After he said that, he said,
husbands should, but that's not what I'm talking about. That's
not what I'm talking about. He said, I'm talking about something
much greater than the marriage of an earthly man and woman.
He said, I'm talking about Christ and his church, Christ and his
bride. As we read this, let's know that
we should be this way towards each other. Absolutely. We should, but this is talking
about something much greater than that. This is talking about
Christ toward His church. This is talking about what Christ
did in true love for His people. Matthew 5, look with me at verse
38. He said, you have heard that
it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that you resist
not evil. And he did not. When all of the
evil of the wretched, horrible sin of his people. When that
was laid on him, God the Father said, this is my will concerning
you. And he said, Father, I delight
to do thy will. He did not. You know, he heard
he said in the law. All right, now, from his point
of view, this is what you've done to me. You've sinned against
me, David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned.
He said, you've sinned against me. And you've heard that it
hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
He said, but this is what I'm saying to you. Don't resist the
evil. That evil was laid on him and
he did not. Verse 38. You've heard that it
hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek, Turn to Him the other also. Can
we not see the events of the cross right here? Them smiting
our Lord on the right cheek and Him in love because that's what
we deserved. We deserved to stand there and
for that law to smite us in the face. This is what He did. He
turned to them the left. Verse 40, And if any man will
sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy
cloak also. They stripped him naked, they
parted his garments, took everything from him. Verse 41, and whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too. The scripture says where our
sin abounded, his mercy and his grace much more abounded. I love the thought He paid our
debt, and we think, well, that's how much we owed, and that's
how much He paid to the penny. That is not so. This is how much
He owed, and He kept paying and paying and paying. The payment
so far outceded the debt, God the Father could never say, well,
that's not enough. Much more abounded. He didn't just pardon,
He abundantly pardoned. Verse 42, he said, give to him
that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn
not thou away. This is what he said. He said,
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I love that. He said, if any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. He told that woman at the well,
he said, if you ask of me, I'll give you living water, such that
you'll never thirst again. Scripture says, ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the water. Verse 42, he said, give
to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
thee, turn not thou away. You have heard that it hath been
said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies. He said, love the very ones who
are at enmity against you. Break down that middle wall of
partition. That's what he's saying. Those
who just keep stacking that middle wall, just wanting to build that
wall, build those bricks. He said, break down that middle
wall of partition and abolish that enmity. And that's what
he did in his own flesh on the cross of Calvary. And he did
it for his enemies. He did that for his enemies.
He called us friends. He said, you're my friends. We
said, you're our enemy. Did that for his enemies. Verse
43, you've heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies with a perfect love, a holy and true love of God. He said, bless them that curse
you. That's what he did for Peter,
isn't it? Peter cursed him and cursed him
and cursed him. And after he arose, our Lord
said to Mary Magdalene, he said, I want you to go tell Peter. The blessing of God is on you.
Grace be to you and peace from God, the father and from our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he did for Peter.
That's what he did for all of us. He said in verse 44, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you. He did. He prayed, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. Oh,
they know what they're doing, but they don't know what they're
doing. They don't know what they're
doing. He said in verse 45, do this, that you may be the children
of your father, which is in heaven. Is he an acceptable son in the
eyes of the father? The father said, he's my well
beloved. He's my only begotten. In him,
I'm well pleased. I accept him. That's what the
father said. I claim him. Why, Father? Because of the love
that He has for His own, the true love, that love that endures
to the end. Verse 44, He said, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you. that you may be the children
of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the
same?" He said, isn't that what the sinners do? That's what a
publican was, a sinner. Isn't that what the sinners do?
Verse 47, and if you salute your brethren only, what do you more
than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your father, which is in heaven, is perfect. That can be said
about one man only, Christ our Redeemer. Alright, now I want
to read the same account in Luke. This is the same moment, same
account, it just has a few changes in the wording. Turn with me
over to Luke chapter 6. Luke 6, verse 27. But I say unto you which hear,
love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them
that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also
the other. and him that taketh away thy
cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man
that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask
them not again. He said, don't give something
expecting to get it back, which is what we do. Yeah, I'll let
you borrow that, but I want it back. He said, don't give anything
expecting to get it back. Give it freely. If you're going
to give something, give it freely. And if they take it from you,
let them take it freely. Give it completely and don't
ever ask for it back. This is what the scripture says.
It says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
He will never take it back. That's beautiful. He'll never
take it back. He will never change his mind. Not even to one who was his enemy.
Now that's true love. That is true love. Verse 31,
he said, as you would that men should do to you, do ye also
to them likewise. That means do it to them first.
Do it to them first. Verse 32. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those
that love them. In the message tonight, we're
going to see that we love Christ. We do. We do. We love Christ
with our tainted, selfish, sinful love. We love Him, but it's only
because He first loved us. That's the only reason. That
is the only reason we love Him. It's because He first loved us. What glory is there in a shallow
love like that? We're just so, yeah, well, we
love God. At least we love God. Well, what
glory is there in a shallow love like that? Loving somebody who
already loves you first. He said there's no glory in that
at all. None whatsoever. That's the pitiful, worthless
love of man. That's what that is. But that
was not the true and glorious love of God. He loved them who
loved Him not. We get these flowers. She loves
me. She loves me not. Every petal
on His flower said, they love me not. They love me not. They
love me not. They love me not. They love me
not. They love me not. They love me
not. Grab another flower. They love
me not. That's true love. That's true love. Verse 32, If
you love them which love you, what thank have you? For sinners
also love those that love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners also do even
the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. But love your enemies. and do good, and lend, hoping
for nothing again. This is grace. If you wanna know
what the grace of God is, it's right here. Lend, hoping for
nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and you shall
be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful as your
father also is mercy. That's true love. His grace,
his mercy herein is love. This is love. I love Psalm 103. Turn with me over there. Such a wonderful psalm. Psalm
103. Verse 1, it says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness
and tender mercies, loving grace and tender mercies. He said he
has crowned his people with that. Verse eight says the Lord is
merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Are you not glad to read that?
What that's saying is the Lord is nothing like us. That's what
it's saying. If you want to know what He's
like, look around. He's nothing like this. The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will
not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He
hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. Where did He do that? In Christ. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us. They're not just paid for, they're
gone. They're not there. Verse 13 says,
like as a father pitieth his children, if you get a concordance
and look up that word pitieth, it means love, loveth. Like as a father loves his children,
so the Lord loves them, pities them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his
days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it's gone, and the place
thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his
righteousness unto children's children." That's true love. True love. And where is that
love found? It's found in Christ, our forgiver. In verse three,
he said, who forgives all thine iniquities. That's Christ, our
forgiver. It's found in Christ our healer,
it went on to say, who heals all thy diseases, that's in Christ,
Christ our healer. It's found in Christ our redemption,
verse four, who redeems thy life from destruction, Christ our
redemption. It's found in Christ our mercy,
who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, that's the
love of God. The true love that He has for
His people. That love is, and that love is found in the person
and the work. It's found in the sacrifice and
the substitution. How could God love me? Only if
Christ substitutes me for Him. Only if when God looks at me,
He sees Christ. And how could God judge Him?
How could God judge His beloved Son? Only if when He looks at
Christ, He sees me. That's it. It's all in the sacrifice
and the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's read
our text again. Go with me to 1 John 4. The end of verse 8 says, God
is love. Where? How? in this in this right here verse
9 says in this was manifested the love of God toward us because
that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through Him. God sent His Son. How is God
love? In this. Here it is. He sent
His Son to die so that we could live. Verse 10 says, Herein is
love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation." That
means the sacrifice. That means the covering. It means,
when you look it up in the concordance, it means the bloody victim. That's
what it means. Translates, He sent His Son to be the bloody
victim for our sins. Our sins. Our vile, wretched,
miserable sins. God the Father did that. for
our sins. God the Father did that for our
sins. Amazing. You talk about amazing
love. How can it be that you would
die for me? That's amazing love. So verse
11 says, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one
another. We know that our love will not
be perfect like His love is. We know that. But for His sake,
because of His great love to us, we ought to strive to show love with whatever ability
He gives us to show it. We ought to strive to show love
to Him and to each other. And may the Lord show us this. We ought to strive
just looking at what he endured. See what he did to me? You know
what? Let me tell you what he did to me. You know what we ought
to do in that moment? We ought to strive to love just seeing
what he did for us. We ought to strive to with whatever
ability he gives us, love him and each other. Now let's close
with the gospel of John. All right, we're gonna close
with, turn with me to the gospel of John. This will be an important
verse to set up the message tonight. John 13. John 13, verse 34. He said, a new commandment I
give unto you, that you love one another. As I have loved
you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples. If you have love, one to another. For Christ's sake, He said, as
I have loved you for Christ's sake, as He has done for us,
let's strive to do that for each other. Let's strive to do that. That love that He has shown to
us, He has put that love in us, and He has given us some ability. He does this for His people.
It's not perfect, But He gives some ability to use that love
and to show that love to Him and to each other. Love is beautiful. His love really is so, so beautiful. And the Lord willing, tonight
we're going to look at our love for Christ. That's what the message
is going to be on tonight. our love for Christ. If the Spirit
will help us, we're going to try to enter into what it is
to love Christ. We talk about loving the Lord
Jesus Christ. If the Lord will help us, we're
going to look at what it is to truly love the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray the Lord will help
us and make it a blessing to us. All right, let's all