Would you turn to Romans chapter
five? I'd like to read verses six through
eight of Romans chapter five. For when we were yet without
strength. In due time, 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 commendeth his love
toward us. In the while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Some 65 years ago, something
like that. We talked about this a little
bit last night. An evangelist by the name of Rolf Barnard.
came to Ashland, Kentucky. Nobody knew him. They didn't
know what he believed. He came into a very large Southern
Baptist church and he opened the service with this statement. There's two lies being circulated
in Ashland, Kentucky. And you can be assured that that
caught everybody off guard. What's going on? He said, the
first one is that God loves everybody. And the second one is that Christ
died for everybody. Why make a statement like that? Well, there's a reason. Now,
let me say this. If a preacher gets up and says
that Jesus Christ shed his blood for every single individual,
he's not a gospel preacher. He does not. I repeat, he does
not preach the gospel. If a man gets up a preacher and
looks at a congregation and assures them, God loves you. God loves
all men. He makes the love of God meaningless, meaningless. Now we considered last night
for whom did Christ die. And tonight I would like, if
the Lord will help us, I'd like for us to consider who does God
love me. Who does God love? Now let me
say at the outset, you can't take the scriptures and say,
God loves all men without exception. You just can't do it because
Psalm 5, 5 says, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. God said in Romans 9, 13 and
Malachi 1, 2, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's what God says. The Lord
looked at one group of people and he said, depart from me,
ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. I never. At no time. Now the word no in the Bible,
Adam knew Eve. It's not he knew who she was.
It's an intimate relationship of love. And he says to these
people, I never knew you. Now, who does God love? God is love, although God has
wrath, and he does. It comes from his justice, his
hatred of sin, and there is a place called hell where he places his
enemies. God has wrath, but the Bible
nowhere says God is wrath. But it does say God is love. And the first thing I would like
to say about God's love is that it is saving love. There won't be anybody in hell
that God loves. There won't be anybody in hell
that God loved. God's love is saving love. If God loves you, he will save
you. Ephesians 2 verse 4 says, But
God, who 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 ye are saved. Everybody God loves, God saves. Jeremiah 31 three says, behold,
I have loved you with an everlasting love, a love that never had a
beginning. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee, I've drawn thee to myself. If he could love someone individually,
and that person would end up being the object of his wrath,
that would make his love meaningless. If one of those two precious
little girls of yours was out playing in the street and a car
came at him, And you said, I love you, get out of the way, that
car's gonna run over you. One of them was real rebellious
and said, no, I'm not gonna do it. But I love you, get out,
the car's gonna run over you. No, I'm not gonna do it. Oh,
I can't violate your free will, but I want you to get out of
the way. All of a sudden, the car runs over him. You'd be put in jail for that
kind of love. And yet that is the love men attribute to the
living God. You would be imprisoned for that
kind of love. His love is not generic or general. It's special and particular. All that he loves, he saves. You couldn't say to anybody in
hell, smile, God loves you. And I do too. You just wouldn't
use language like that. Now, as we consider what the
Bible teaches regarding God's love, and remember, that's our
only source of information, the Bible, what the Bible actually,
this book really is the book of God. God wrote this. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God. And the only source of information
we have concerning the love of God is the Bible. What does the Bible teach concerning
God's love and who God's love? Now, I'd first like to say some
things that the Bible teaches concerning God's love. First,
God's love and God is love. Oh, would to God that I could speak
of God's love with the reverence and with the passion that I ought
to speak of regarding his love. but his love has no cause outside
himself. Now let me repeat that and be
turning to Deuteronomy chapter seven. His love has no cause
outside himself. In other words, there's nothing
in you or me that would cause him to love us. Not a thing. Look here in Deuteronomy chapter
seven, when God speaks to Israel, He says in verse six, for thou
art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God has
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people
that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his
love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number
than any people for you are the fewest of all people, but because
the Lord loved you. That's why. He loved you because
he loved you. No reason found in me or you. He did it simply because he would. You see, God is love. There was nothing in us that
would draw out his love. His reason for his great love
is found only and wholly in himself. He said in Hosea 14 three, behold,
I will love them freely without a cause in being. How encouraging that is to me.
I see why God can love me because his love is not found in me.
If I had to find a reason in me as to why God would love me,
I would have no hope. None at all. But thank God he
doesn't have to find a reason in me. He said, I love you because
I love you. God's love eternal. You know what that means? Neither do I. It means it never
had a beginning. Now, who can understand that?
I can't comprehend it. I love it. It's the only way
it could be. But God's love is eternal. He said in Jeremiah
31 3, behold, I have loved you. Speaking of individuals. Behold,
I have loved you with an everlasting love. He said to Jeremiah in
Jeremiah 1 5, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Now, as far as my existence here
on earth goes, I was born September 9th, 1959. That's the only existence I know
of. But before the foundation of the world, God knew me individually. He knew my name. He loved me. You don't love non-existent entities. Somehow I've always been in the
Lord Jesus Christ. United to him, and God's love
is in Christ Jesus the Lord. However long God loved Christ,
that's how long he's loved me. God's love is eternal. You see, the love of God is always
before. It was before predestination.
For whom he did foreknow. Now don't, that doesn't mean,
no, it didn't say what he foreknew. It says who he foreknew. Individuals,
persons. For whom he did foreknow. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. The four dogs, I don't understand
this as far as chronological order or anything. I mean, when
we talk about eternity, we're flailing. I mean, how can
I, I've never been in eternity, but I know this, God's love is
eternal. It never had a beginning. And
the love of God is immutable. It's immutable. It's causeless,
it's eternal, and it's immutable. I am the Lord, Malachi 3.6, I
change not. Now, what's that mean? That means God knows no changes. His love
never changes. He never began to love. He'll
never stop loving. He never loves more. He never
loves less. His love has no variation, no
change. And his love, when we talk about
the love of God, it never changes. You know, our love changes, doesn't
it? And you look at life. How many times have men and women
loved one another and got married and they really did love each
other? And they end up despising each
other and get divorced. Now they did love, but they don't
anymore. They can't stand each other.
Split apart. That never happens with the Lord.
His love knows no change, no variation. And I love this point. His love is a covering love. Proverbs
12 10 says, love covereth all transgressions. Ezekiel 16 8, God says, when
I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the
time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee.
And you think about this, when God spreads his skirt over you,
all you see is Christ. That's it. That's what he does
for every believer. and I covered thy nakedness. Now, if God loves you, all your
sin is covered. It's all covered. Now, Lynn,
my wife, knows me better than any other human being. She knows
me better than my parents. She knows all about me. And if
there's one person who knows my faults, I don't want you to
know. I don't, I want you to think
I'm this great guy that, you know, everything's fine and everything,
but Lynn knows my faults, but you know what? She's not gonna
tell you about any of them. You know why? Because she loves
me. Love covers all transgressions. You see, if he loves you, He's
made sure all your sins are covered. Covered in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man into whom
the Lord will not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is
no guile. His love is a covering love and
that's because his love is a sacrificial love. He proved his love by what he
gave. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish but have everlasting life. 1 John 4 verse 10, herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent
his son to be a propitiation. That's a big word, but it really
has a simple meaning. an appeasement, his son removed
any reason for God's wrath by his precious blood. God doesn't
have any reason to be mad at me. When he says there's sins
and iniquities, I will remember no more. It's not because he,
hmm, I forgot. No, there's nothing there to
remember. That's what the blood of Christ did. It put away my
sins so completely. There's nothing there for God
to remember. Now, what kind of love is that
that he would give his son. The Lord said in John chapter
13 verse 23, greater love hath no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends. Second Corinthians 8, 9, you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became Who knows the poverty that our
Lord experienced on the cross when he was made sin? What love
that he did this for your sakes, that you through his poverty
might be rich. His love is a sacrificial love. And I'm going to talk a little
bit more about that in just a moment. But his love is a love that never
goes unrequited. What do I mean by that? You know,
when I was growing up high school, there were some girls that I
thought I was in love with, right? Whatever that I know, didn't
know, didn't know what it meant, but I thought I was in love with
them. I really felt like I was, but you know what? They didn't love me
back. Break my heart. And that was very difficult to
have an unrequited love, to feel affection towards someone and
love for someone. And they don't feel that way
toward you. Do you know everybody He loves?
They love Him in return. We love Him because, do you hear
that word because? Because He first loved us and
because He loved us, oh we love Him. Never goes unrequited. You see, God's love is not general
and generic, but it's special. He loves individuals. He loves
particular people. He loves them definitely. Now,
if Len, my wife, said to me, Todd, do you love me? Do you
love me? And I said, yes, Len, I love
you the way I love every other woman. Be some problems, wouldn't
there? That kind of love wouldn't work
at all, would it? That's not love. God's love is special and
particular. Jacob have I loved, God said. And Jacob was a worthless man.
He was a sinful man. He was a deceitful man. He was
a weak man. We could go on talking about
Jacob, but yet God says, Jacob have I loved. 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's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. And don't get stuck, well, how
could God love Jacob and hate Esau? I don't have any problem
with seeing how he hated Esau. Esau didn't have any love for
God. He didn't have any more value for God than he did a bowl
of soup. He sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. And I can
understand why the living God would hate me. Can you, I can
understand why God would hate me. I'm not amazed by Esau. Have I hated what I'm amazed
by it's Jacob. Have I loved his love is a sovereign
saving love and to make his love universal and general is to make
his love meaningless. And when some preacher looks
at a congregation and says, God loves you, God loves everybody. That man is not a servant of
God. And that man makes the love of
God absolutely and completely meaningless. He doesn't even
know what the love of God is because he doesn't know who God
is. And that's the truth. I can say this with full conviction. There'll be nobody that he loved
in hell. His love, no beginning, no ending. The Lord said in John, it said
of the Lord in John 13 one, having loved his own, which were in
the world, he loved them to the end. Now would you turn with
me to Romans eight, and this will summarize everything we've
said concerning God's love. Verse 35, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Now who's the us? Who's the us? Is it all men without exception?
Well, look in the context of this passage of scripture, look
in verse 31, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not? With Him also freely give us
all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth, who
is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us, who shall separate us from
the love of Christ. tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it's written,
for thy sake we're killed all the day long. We're Canada's
sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're
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. which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Now here's where the love of
God is. It's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's where all of
God's love is. And outside the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing but his holy wrath and indignation
against sin. The only place of safety is in
Christ. Now, when God said, when God
came through Egypt to destroy the firstborn, where'd you have
to be? In the house with the blood over
the door. And what was God looking for?
He didn't say, when I see your faith, I'll pass over you. He
didn't say, when I see your repentance or your sincerity or your good
intentions, he said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And you know what? If I was in
one of those houses, I wouldn't have stuck a finger out the window,
would you? I'd stay right in there. And here's something that
I think is wonderful to think about too. I bet in some of those
houses, there were people who had complete confidence. I'm
safe. And there's other people who
were scared to death. What if he gets me anyway? What
if, what, but you know what? That one who had complete confidence
was no more secure than that one who scared to death because
their security was in the blood. God's love, God's salvation,
God's grace, God's mercy. All that God has for the sinner
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go back to our text
in Romans five. How is it that God commends his
love toward us? Verse eight, but God commended
his love toward us. And remember that us is every
believer. It's the elect of God. It's those
he loved before the foundation of the world. It's those who
believe. It's those who repent. It's those
who come to Christ. God commended his love for us,
every believer. And here's how I did it. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal, immutable, Son
of God. He's the God-man. Fully God. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. Fully man. There's one God and
one mediator between God and men. The man. Christ Jesus. Just as fully God as if he were
not man at all. Just as fully man as if he were
not God. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He died. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God gave his son There's one reason why I'm saved. Christ died for me. That's the
only reason. I can't find any other reason.
And there's one reason Christ died for me. God loved me. That's why. That's how God commended
his love. Now, to me, one of the great
mysteries of the gospel is how the Christ could die. I remember
one time I had somebody write me and they corrected me for
something I said when I said the God-man died. And they wrote
me and they said, well, the man part died, but the God part didn't.
Oh, you've got that figured out, huh? You know, I mean, I thought,
I don't understand this, but I know the God-man died. He really
died. Sin became His, He became guilty
of it, the sins of the elect, and He died. He suffered the
full wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute. Christ died. Why did He die? Sin. How did
that happen? God took the sins of those He
loved and placed them in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ never
sinned. But he bore the sins of his people
and he bore all the filth and hell and horror of sin in his
own body on the tree. And he put it away. He put it
away. Christ died for us. Now, what I want to call your
attention to is who it is he died for, according to this text. Verse eight, but God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. He doesn't say anything about
him dying for people who were seeking him. No references made
to their sorrow for sin when he died or their promise to try
to change and do better. No confession of sin, no cry
for mercy, not even any realization of our need when Christ died
for us. I think about Adam. After he
sinned, he didn't come back and ask for mercy. He didn't ask
the Lord for forgiveness. Oh, please forgive me for the
sin I've committed against you. He ran and hid from God's presence.
And when the Lord comes to him walking in the cooling of the
evening and says, Where art thou? What have you done? He blamed
God for what he did. He said, The woman that you gave
me, she gave me of the fruit and I did eat. He wouldn't even
take responsibility for his sins. No sorrow. And yet the Lord slew
that animal and covered his nakedness and removed that covering he
made for himself and gave him a covering that he could accept.
But who did Christ die for? Now, if I said the elect and
only the elect, I'd be telling the truth, wouldn't I? If I said he died only for believers,
I'd be telling the truth. But what does the Bible say? God commended his love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Now I dare say, if I asked everybody
in this room, are you a sinner? You would probably say, yes,
yes. I don't know if you would mean
what the Bible means by the word, though, because the scripture
says sin is the transgression of the law. Now, I remember I've
taken several personality or psychological tests when I've
had different jobs back when I was a young man, when I would
be applying for a certain job. And if they were going to hire
me, they would put me through a battery of psychological tests
and personality tests. And what they do, they built
in the fact that they know that you're going to try to tell them
what they want to hear. So they try to ask you the same question
in about 10 or 12 different ways to try to see if they can catch
it and find out what you really believe. Well, let's try that. Let's try that. Do you put anything before God? Are you an idolater? Do you have false concepts of
God that you've invented that you can feel more comfortable
with yourself and make yourself feel better about yourself? Are
you an idolater? Somebody says, well, I, you know,
I don't know if I'd call myself an idolater. Are you an irreverent person?
Do you take his holy name in vain? Do you fail to show him
the proper reference? Well, I, I don't know if I describe
myself that way. Do you always rest? That's what
the Sabbath commands. Rest, no works at all. Do you always rest? What about honor for authority?
I shall honor thy father and mother. Are you a rebel against
authority? Do you have problems with authority? Are you a murderer? Somebody
says, no, I'm not that. I've never killed anybody. Well,
hold on. Have you ever murdered somebody's character by slander,
by innuendo, by making them look worse so you would look better?
Have you ever been angry with somebody without a cause? Been
jealous of them? That's called murder. Are you
a murderer? Are you an adulterer? Have you
been guilty of sexual sin? And remember what the Lord said,
to look upon a woman to lust after in your heart is to commit
adultery already. Have you been unfaithful to the
Lord? Have you looked for some kind of rest or comfort outside
of the covenant of grace, which is spiritual adultery? Have you
looked somewhere other than Christ alone, which is to commit spiritual
adultery? Are you a thief? I don't just mean shoplifting.
Have you taken credit where credit's not due? Have you stole glory
from God and brought it to yourself? Are you a thief? Are you a liar? Are you a liar? You know, even when I tell the
truth, I put a slant on it to make myself look better. Are you a covetous person? Never
content. Always wanting more. Not satisfied. Well, somebody
says, well, I wouldn't consider myself in that light. Well, what
kind of sinner are you then? You're not a real sinner. You
see, God only loves real bona fide sinners. That's the only
type of person he loves. God commendeth his love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Now let me
tell you something about the Ten Commandments. I love God's
holy law. I do. I love God's holy law. Paul said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. Let me tell you something else
I know about God's law. I've not kept one commandment one
time. No, not And if you have any understanding
of the law, you know the same thing is true about yourself.
But listen to this. I don't try to keep the law. I've kept it. I've kept it in Christ. His righteousness
is my personal righteousness before God. Now, if you're trying
to figure out, am I somebody that God loves? Are you a sinner? If you're a sinner, God loves
you. Christ died for you. You have no sin. You are accepted in the beloved. You are saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Pastor. What a blessing. Thank you, Todd.
Stand together with me and let's turn to hymn number 17. Psalm number 17. Come thou fount of every blessing,
to my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love Last verse Oh to grace how great
a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let thy goodness like a
fetter Bind my wandering heart to thee ♪ Prone to wonder, Lord,
I feel it ♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ Here's my heart,
oh, take and seal it ♪ Seal it for thy courts above We have
some refreshments here. Everybody, please stay and have
some. Let's be dismissed with a word of prayer. Our most gracious
Heavenly Father, we are so thankful to you for your holy word. Thank
you, dear Lord, for being so merciful to us to open our eyes
and open our ears and teach us the truth. Lord, we are sinners. We are sinners. Thanks be to
God for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. We call upon you
in his name and pray that if it be thy will, you would bring
us back safely to worship you one more time. We ask all these
things in Christ's name, amen. You're dismissed. I will say the service in the
morning is at 10 o'clock, so everyone knows, 10 o'clock in
the morning.