Would you join me tonight in
the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Chapter 1. Revelation,
Chapter 1. What a full book. This book of Revelation is full. I just have to tell you, I took
a potato to class with those kids on Mundy, a baker. Now it didn't happen to be a
Malin Baker, but it was close. And I asked him to write down
all of the things that they could think of mathematical about that
baker. And you know how people are when
they're asked a question sometimes if they don't have any idea where
the teacher's headed, their minds go blank. So I started tossing
this potato up in the air, and it's, oh, wait, wait, you know? And then they're kind of dead
again. And they start thinking of length
and circumference and oval and things like that. And then I
start going, mm, mm, mm, mm, and they didn't get it. And I
reached over on the teacher's desk, and he had one of these
little things the kids kick around. Hacky sack, there we go, hacky
sack. And I went, mm, mm, mm, mm. And density. I said that, say this,
this book is dense. It's not a hacky sack dense. It is potato dense. I mean, you
can't go like that. It is firm, every word, line. Chapter, verse is just full and
running over about the things that be of Christ. And it's so
enjoyable. You just don't have to read very
far. The chapters are like Reader's Digest stories, you know? You
can sit down and very quickly get, I gotta stop and think about
that. There should be some Selahs in
here that we find in the Psalms. Stop and think about it. Stop
and think about it. Well, just put a few in. Because
there's some room to think in this book about the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And I thought for sure we'd get
through verse five last week, and we did not. So we're gonna
try to get through verse five tonight. And I've been talking
to several about how slow we're going through here. I said, my
goodness, I thought we'd be a little faster, but I guess it doesn't
matter. If we just get old and finish
it up, it's okay. And if the Lord should return,
that's okay. I guess it's just okay. So here
in the book of Revelation chapter one, beginning with verse four,
I'd like to read down through verse 16 and then finish up the
latter part of verse five. John to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace. From him which is
and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits
which are before his throne. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth, the ruler of the kings
of the earth. Unto him, we're gonna spend some
time on this, unto him that loved us. Now, I was thinking there
this afternoon in my chair, I think a whole lot more about the love
of Christ for me than I do about him giving his blood for me.
I mean, we just, we're drawn to that. We're drawn to the love
of Christ. It just, and we want to spend
some time, because there's some reasons for it. drawn to the
love of Christ. And then he goes on in this verse
here, verse five, the latter part, and he loved us unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. I
relish and delight in that. I delight in the sacrifice of
Christ, but oh, the love of God, the love of Christ for me. And
we wanna look at some verses. All right, verse six. and the
results of that, and hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his fathers. No wonder that the hymnist wrote
about worms being promoted to sons of God. Right there, I just
am just thinking about, hath made us kings and priests. From where we came from to that
is an eternity. Unto God and His Father, that's
who we're kings and priests to. We're not just out here freelancing. We have an object of it. To Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He cometh
with clouds. I can't wait to get there, to
here and to there. Every eye shall see him, and
they also, which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him, even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and
which was and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also
am your brother, I like that. This was given to a brother in
Christ. This message. This was not the
super Christian. This is just a bro. And that's
that's a lot to be said just a brother in Christ, but he's
just he's a brother and the Lord blessed him and the Lord blesses
his people for reading this book that John was blessed with. It's
not without blessing. He got a blessing for having
it given to him and we get a blessing for reading it and hearing it
and doing it. We get a blessing. I, John, who
also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom
and patience of Jesus Christ was on the isle that is called
Patmos. Now you find a map, you can find the isle of Patmos today.
It's there, it's a real place. For the word of God and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ, I was here exiled because I was a preacher
of righteousness. Now if he'd have been a preacher
like many today, he had not been bothered. But if he was a preacher
of righteousness, a preacher of righteousness only in Christ,
that's why he is exiled. I was in the spirit on the Lord's
day and heard behind me a great voice as a trumpet. Have you
ever been somewhere and heard something that just seemed out
of place? And then you found out what it
was. I was elk hunting one time. First time I ever went really
elk hunting to see elk. And I sat down and heard a train
behind me. And I'm out in the woods. It's
a train. It sounded just like a train.
What in the world? And I turned around and here's
over a hundred head of elk running through rocks. I mean, if I hadn't turned around,
I just thought, well, there's a train, but I don't know how
it could be here. It was just that sound. Well,
here John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and
heard a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I'm Alpha and Omega,
the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and
send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus,
and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis,
and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Now, he's, This way,
he hears this great voice like a trumpet saying that verse,
verse 11, and then it says, and I turned to see the voice that
spake to me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
So he's there listening to this trumpet go off, wondering what
it is, heard these words, and then turning and being turned.
Isn't that an interesting comment? He says, and I turned to see
the voice that spake to me, and being turned, now he's turning,
but he's being turned. I saw seven golden candlesticks
in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like
unto the Son of Man, clothed with the garment down to the
foot. You know who, what he saw? He saw a priest, a great high
priest. the priest, our priest. Clothed
with the garment down to the foot, gird about the paps with
a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of
fire. His eyes likened to fine brass, as if they had burned
in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And
he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went
a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun
shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying, Unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last.
And we're going to stop there. As we move through here though,
we see so much mass, so much density here. It's just compact
with comments about the Lord Jesus Christ. It isn't history,
it's just comments about his character and being, and person,
and power, and might, and strength, and glory, and praise. All these
things so compact put together, there's no room for anything
else. but praise unto God. And in this
verse five, we find the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned from
Jesus Christ. And we looked at that last week.
We've all, I'm sure all of us have looked at this from time
to time about the name Jesus and the name Christ or the title
Christ and see how it's brought out. They show him, call his
name. You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. That's why we go by the name
of Jesus. He's savior. He's the savior of his people.
He shall save his people from their sins. And then Christ takes
us back when he was. Before the foundation of the
world, before the beginning of time, he was in the covenant
of grace, mercy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And it was there before time began that it was determined
what he would do in the covenant of grace for ever eternal past. It was determined what he would
do. And his part was to be our priest, faithful high priest,
shepherd, king. All those glorious titles we
find out about the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he is, pictured
in words for us to view. As John was blessed, so are we
blessed in reading those verses. But it says here he was the faithful
witness. And we found out that he just
tells the truth. It may bother people, but it
just tells the truth. There's nothing better than hearing
the truth. And God is gracious to us to
allow us to hear the truth, to hear the truth about God, to
hear the truth about our sin, to hear the truth about what
it took to take care of our sin, to hear the truth. We're sinners
before God. He's the angry one at people
for sinning against him. The fall, all about that. The
truth of the matter. Don't put candy coat on it. It's truth. Don't try to make
it seem better. Let's not dummy down the gospel. Let's just leave it alone. Leave
it like it is. That's the way God is going to
deal with his people. When he's lifted up, he will
draw his people unto him. That's a promise we can take.
Now it says there, he's the first begotten from the dead, even
though there were those raised in the Old Testament, they were
raised by the power of Jesus Christ. He's the promised one
to be raised from the tomb. And he's the only one that came
forth from the tomb, from the grave with power over sin and
power over death. and power over the consequences
of sin, that being the second death. Others came forth from
the tomb, they had no power over sin, they're still sinners. But
Jesus Christ came forth with power over every enemy of the
church. And we notice here that he is
also the prince of the kings of the earth. He is king of kings
and Lord of lords. and he is our king as much as
he is king over all the earth i love that he rules the earth
with a rod of iron and he is king over his people individually
with the same power then it says in that verse of
scripture unto him that loved us now Before grace, we just
wallow in this and make it so, oh, it's terrible kind of love
that we have without the grace of God. That's not the love of
God. The love of God is spoken of
in scripture, and we're going to go over there, but turn with
me to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. This passage of
scripture shares with us with regard to the love of God, the
love of the Lord Jesus Christ, that this is not a passing fancy
on the part of God. He just didn't decide in time
that he was going to love a people, but he shares with us here in
Jeremiah 31. He shares with us there that
his love has been an eternal love. He has had a love for a
people, for his church from eternity, before the foundation of the
world, before Adam was created, before Adam sinned. And it's
no wonder that we read there in the book of the Romans, as
Paul was used to write that, that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. It took that love that he had
for us before the foundation of the world. Man, we're wicked,
wicked sinners against God in our nature. And God, before the
world began, before the foundation of the world, in the covenant
of grace, in eternity. We can't even fix a time on it
because there is none. We can't even fix a time in eternity
for it because there is none. But here it says, Jeremiah chapter
31, Jeremiah 31, and there in verse three, these wonderful
verses, this wonderful verse, these so delightful words, this
hymn that God gives to our soul. This poem, this love poem that
God gives to our soul to realize, to cause us to know in our heart
and in our mind that God's love for us is not a passing fancy. That it is eternal and they had
an eternal love for his church and it never has died, never
dwindled, never dropped. It has always been the same. It's an eternal love, it's perfect
love. Perfect love cast without fear.
This is a perfect love. We are imperfect lovers. Even towards God. Our love rises
and falls. My goodness, some days we wonder
how in the world could we even be saved? We don't even think
of God and love like we should. But he has not changed, and his
love is not altered by circumstances or events. His love is a constant. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
3, this is how he can say over there, He's a faithful witness
and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings
of the earth unto him that loved us. All those statements are
reminders of his love for us, but he has written about it here.
Jeremiah 31 verse 3, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me
saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. I can just rest in He's loved me with an everlasting,
even when I was unlovable and out of sorts with him, even to
the point of being enmity against God and raising my fist against
him. He had an eternal, abiding, everlasting,
unchanging love for me and for all his people. And that is why
he bathes us in his blood, washes us and looses us from our sins
in his own blood. I've loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Now, we have,
there's a book Dr. Seuss wrote about the northbound
Zach and the southbound Zach, I think it is, or something like
that. He has some strange names for things. But they're going
down the same exact path and they meet like this, and neither
one is budging an inch. No one steps to the right or
to the left. They just, and they're stuck. And they stand there for
ages, because they're stuck. They won't step aside. And you
know what? We're going through life just
like that, stuck where we are. And if it wasn't for, with loving
kindness, I have drawn you, brought you out of your stuck condition,
we'd be stuck until eternity. And then we'd really be stuck.
It wasn't for the grace of God. We'd just be stuck. He draws
us with loving kindness. His love for us is eternal. He has children in mind. Children in mind. His children
in mind. He's adopted them. His son's
dying for them. He's adopted them. One preacher
I heard one time says he can have sheep any way we can legally
have them. There's a lost one. He found
him. Have him born into his flock.
We must be born again. And on and on it goes, just the
same way. He buys them. He can buy sheep. And he bought us. He deals with
us just like we can deal with sheep. And we're his sheep from
eternity. Never, ever, ever, ever was any
of his people ever goats. They have been lost sheep going
astray and not looking for the master, but he draws us with
loving kindness to himself. Why? Because he has an everlasting
love. And turn with me to John 17. Now this, this verse of scripture
will just It just come for you. I was so
overwhelmed. This is one of them good verses
as if there isn't a book full of them. John 17. and verse 23 and 24. Notice this now, this is the
Lord Jesus Christ, great high priestly prayer, and we're about
to see him in the book of Revelation as the high priest. These are
the words of intercession on our behalf. This is the high
priest praying for his people. And he says here in this great
high priestly prayer, John 17, verse 23, it says, I and them
and thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one, And that
the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me. My doors are blown off. Thou shall love me as thou, what's
it say? And hast loved them as thou hast
loved me. Eternal in the heavens love,
forever and ever love. And then, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. And he loves his
people like he loves his son. And this glory is what we see
in the book of Revelation chapter 1, when John turned around and
saw one as the son of man. Glory to the point he fell down
as dead. So what kind of love the love
that God has for his son eternal love before the foundation love
That's the kind he has now do it or unless we'd be puffed up
that we should be loved because we're lovable turn with me to
the book of Deuteronomy chapter 7 in Deuteronomy chapter 7 we
find that Moses is sharing the words of the Lord with a people
that represent the church now There was a whole bunch a large percentage, maybe 95%,
I don't know, of Jews that had no concept about God. He was
just part of their religion. He was just who we take these
valuable animals and sacrifice to. If the Lord really cared
for us, he wouldn't make us pay so dearly for our sacrifices. And they got to offering animals
that were halt and lame and maimed. And when you start doing that,
you're sharing with the world what kind of God you have. He's halt and maimed. He can't get the job done. But
when you are offering a sacrifice that depicted perfection, you're
telling the world what kind of God you have. Lamb. All right. Deuteronomy chapter
7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Now, the Lord didn't love us
because we were more in number, just like he shares with Israel.
This is the reason that he loved his people. It wasn't because
of earthly fleshly ideas. We didn't today. Sorry to say most people fall
in love overlooks. Am I right? Yeah. If he's good-looking, he can
be loved. If she's good-looking, she can
be loved. Now, that's not why God loved his people, because
they were not good-looking. They were rebels, rebellious,
fists in the sky. Here he says, there's a reason
that he loved his people. Deuteronomy 7 verse 7 says, the
Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you
were more in number than any people for you were the fewest
of all people. But because the Lord loved you
and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto
our fathers, hath the Lord brought you out of the mighty hand and
redeemed you out of the house of the bondman from the hand
of Pharaoh king of Egypt. I have a promise to keep. That's
why he loved them. I have a promise to keep. And
that's why he loves the church. I have a promise to keep. Before
the world began, he promised to redeem a people. And he has
a promise to keep. Now it's not out of force that
he's going to keep this promise. It's out of love that he's going
to keep that promise. I've made a promise to the fathers.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit made a promise among
themselves. And that's why he loved his people with an eternal
love. Not because they were greater,
fancier, better looking, all of the things that we think about.
He says, I loved you because I made a promise about you. I
love you because I chose you before the foundation world in
Christ Jesus. Now, turn with me if you would
to the book of Malachi chapter one. Now, God has distinguishing love. He has distinguishing love. And by that I mean, there's some
he loves. He distinguishes his love. Now, there's nothing wrong with
it, because men, we do too. There's one we love more than
anyone else. That's our wives. And wives,
distinguishing love is the same. We love someone more than anyone
else. That's our husbands. Now, God distinguishes two. Now,
notice here in Malachi chapter one, the burden of the word of
the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord, yet I loved Jacob. And I hated Esau. Now, please
don't translate that incorrectly and say he loved him less. That's pitiful, but it's being
done. It doesn't mean he loved him
less. It means he has distinguishing love. All God has to do with
those without Christ is leave them alone. And he is angry with
the wicked daily. And it says here that he has
distinguishing love, and that is, I love Jacob. Now, Jacob
is a picture of the church. Jacob is a picture of the chosen
seed. Jacob is a picture of our Savior,
in fact. Jesus was the chosen seed. He
had other brothers. But he's the chosen seed. He's
the one chosen by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
to be our Redeemer. God has distinguishing love in
his Son, and he loves his children like he loves his Son. And he
says here with regard to Jacob, a scoundrel and a rapscallion. You read his life. You don't
want him as a neighbor. You're glad he went down there
into the other part of the world. You're glad he left the neighborhood
because not only does his name mean supplanter, he practiced
it. He was a rascal. He was a rascal. Now this distinguishing
love We're going to get over to the book of Romans and read
that passage with regard to the love God had for Jacob. And it's
going to say, is God unrighteous? And that is what the Holy Spirit
is saying. Don't think God is wrong for
doing this. Don't thank God. Don't be angry
at God for doing this. Now, my wife was in a church
one time back in Colorado. And the preacher said, now elections
like this, there's a whole bunch of birds on a fence, blackbirds. And God comes along and knocks
a bunch off. And that is exactly incorrect. There couldn't be anything more
incorrect. There's a bunch of dead blackbirds
on the ground. They got shot in Adam and they're
dead to the core. And almighty God, because he
loved them before the foundation of the world, went by and picked
up the ones he wanted and put on a fence and gave them life.
And that's the only reason he got on the fence. He doesn't
flick them off. He lifts them up. That's what
God does. His love picks us up out of a
horrible pit. His love picks us up from death. His love picks us up from hell.
His love picks us up from sin. His love picks us up from ourself
and from Adam and places us in Christ. And we have our first
life. And we then know what God's love
is. He picks up dead people and causes
them to have life in Christ Jesus. Now, he picked up Jacob. There's another rapscallion we
find as an example of the church so often. I've used him so often.
And he was a mean man. I mean, hateful mean, murderously
mean. He was a killer in his heart
and practiced it with his life. And that was Saul of Tarsus.
He was, we'd say he's worse than Jacob. Jacob just didn't do quite outside
what was in his heart, Saul did. And God said, there's a dead
man I've purposed to give life before the foundation of the
world, and I'm going to do it at the appointed time. And Paul
wrote about it, and he says, in the fullness of time, God demonstrated his love to
me. In the fullness of time, when it was the right time. Now,
notice there in Micah, he says, I hated Esau, and I laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Esau, not only in person, God
says, I hated Esau, but he hated the whole Esau thing. What did Esau do? Traded off
his birthright for a mess of lentil soup. He is religious, but he will
trade what God gave to him for a nothing. He is natural man,
demonstrates natural man tendency. He'll trade off his soul for
his own religion. Now jump over with me to the
book of Romans, Romans chapter nine. This whole is brought up
again and the love of God. Don't ever look at God's love
negative. Don't ever look at these verses
negative. Think of them as the most positive
thing that could ever happen to anybody. Unless God's love,
which is centered in the covenant of grace before the foundation
of the world, is directed towards individuals, there will not be
one raised from their old life to a new. We will not raise up
ourselves. We can't. God has demonstrated
the highest quality of love and eternal unchanging love that
he determined before the world began to exercise in time. And that is the worst lot of
all. I will demonstrate my love for
and I declare it now. Jacobs, I've loved you. wherever you are and I'll find
you because of my love and I'll regenerate you because of my
love and I'll draw you to myself because of my love and in so
doing what did he say over there in the book of Revelation chapter
1 verse 5 I'll loose you from your sins in my own blood. My love is so dramatic Now Romans
chapter 9, verse 7. Let's just knock this in the
head. Jacob was better. He served the Lord in time. He changed his mind. Notice what
God said about this whole thing. The excuses, the puny excuses
that people will bring up about why God loved Jacob and God just
knocks them in the head. Before they were born or could
do any good or evil. God said, I love Jacob. It wasn't what he did. It's what
God did. And if God had not done this,
he'd have been as bad or worse than Esau. He'd have never turned
around. He'd have never left that land
where he was so rich in. God is so gracious to Jacob to
demonstrate his love. And he just didn't do it. Esau
not that he didn't not that he loved him less he says Jacob
have I loved Esau is in a lot that will wail at the end there
without Christ without hope and without God in the world all
right Romans chapter 9 verse 7 the scriptures say neither
because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children
But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.
Boy, I wish we could just underline that and put it out on a banner. I'm not anti-Semitic, but please,
those people in Israel today are not the children of God any
more than the Muslims until God works a work of grace in them. They have no inheritance. The
scripture says with regard to the everlasting or to the old
covenant, they refused me and I regarded them not. And then
he shows the world his everlasting covenant. He shows his people
the everlasting covenant. Now notice here, it says there,
neither because they were the seed of Abraham are they all
children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is,
they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed, for this is the word of promise, as this time, at
this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. Well, we could
go back over there to the book of Genesis and read about Sarah
and Abraham, and they didn't have any children, and he picked
a neighbor boy and says he's going to inherit, and nope. Well,
they decided they'd raise up a son in the flesh, and they
did, and they got a son God says he's not going to inherit. No,
no, no. That's the typical way that people
will get religion is by having a fleshly experience. He says, now this baby that's
going to be the real demonstration of my children is going to come
by a special birth. That lady is going to be 90 years
old and she's going to bear a son. And everybody's going to know
she's past the time. This is not the normal everyday
sun. It's from above. All right, goes
on here and says, and not only this, but when Rebecca also had
conceived by one, even our father Isaac, 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. What a glorious word. It is wonderful
to find out that even after all the years of work, that's not
what saved us. It's not works. It's of him that
calleth. It's in his hands. It's in his
hands. He's the savior. He's the high
priest. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the great shepherd. He's the good shepherd. He's
the giver of life. And here it says, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. Verse
12, 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. What's that say? Don't get angry with God. Don't
get angry. Read it anyway. Just read it
anyway. Don't stop reading God's great
works of grace. Read it anyway. Maybe someday
God will give you a blessing in it. Read it anyway. Don't
get upset with God. Don't say God would never do
that. He did. That's what he said he did. He did it. God loved
a people with an everlasting love and those people will meet
him in glory. And Jesus says, not one of them
shall be lost. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. I have demonstrated that everlasting
love. I have washed you, loosed you
from your sins in my own blood. It took my blood to loose you
from the bloodsuckers of sin, leeches, leeches. I got a tick
on me one time, and I was just worried, I was a kid, little
kid, and I was just worried sick, what in the world, how am I gonna
get rid of this? You know what my mama did? She just put some
rubbing alcohol in a little bottle and stuck that right over the
top of that old tick, and before you knew it, he just backed right
out. He couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand
him. Aren't you glad God comes along
with rubbing alcohol in a jar and backs us out of our self? My goodness. It may smart for
a bit, but it sure saved our life. He backs us out, backs us up. By his great love wherewith he
loved us. In that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. And so as we find the account
here, verse 15, and he saith to Moses, I'll have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. And the church says, oh, amen.
Thank you, good Lord. Thank you, good Lord. I realize
left to myself, I could never love you. Now, why do we love
him? Because he first loved us. That's what the scriptures say.
We don't love him until he demonstrates his great love to us. And then
we love him. John, it tells us there in 1
John. But turn with me, if you would,
back to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 49. The love of God, God's love
surpasses a mother's love. And that's what it tells us right
here. Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 49, this great love of God. He loved the people that were
unlovable. drew them with cords of love out of Lodibar and brought
them to his great love feast. Here in the book of Isaiah chapter
49, we read about a mama. Before we read that verse, I
want to back up to verse 14. Isaiah 49, verse 14, his love. Isaiah 49 verse 14, the scriptures
say, but Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord
hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yes, yea, they may forget. Yet will I not forget thee. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually
before me. Thy children shall make haste.
Thy destroyers and they that make thee waste shall go forth
of thee. Can a mother forget her sucking
child? Yes, the Bible says that. It
can happen. But I have graven you on the
palms of my hands. Now the high priest in the Old
Testament had several symbols of who he went into the Holy
of Holies for. And the Lord Jesus Christ had the names of his people
graven on the palms of his hands when he had nails driven through
them. He knew exactly who he was dying for. And he made no
qualms about it. Jesus said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. That's what he said. He had no
qualms about it. Now, if the Lord loved everybody
equally, what did it benefit us? And if the Lord's death was for
everybody equally, what did it benefit? And pretty soon we got
to the point that the only hope we have is hopefully someday
we'll wake up enough to accept it because it's all equal to
everyone. Well, it's not all equal to everyone.
He has distinguishing love. He has distinguishing blood.
So can a mother? Yes, but I'll never forget you. Now here in his love, not that
we love God. But that he loved us. 1 John
chapter 4. Would you turn there with me?
1 John chapter 4. And verse 10. Oh my. Oh, I love Jesus. That's not
important. What's it say here? Herein is
love, not that we loved God. No. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now that's love. that he would
send his son to take care of the sin issue that was between
us and God. Now that's love. And it does
say here in 1 John, we love him only because, and I added a couple
words there, but it's the truth, only because he first loved us. He's the only one that could
give us love enough to respond to God. No man could, our parents
couldn't, our best friends couldn't, preacher couldn't give us enough
yearning, love for God to get the job done. We love him because
he first loved us. Next time, we'll look at that
fountain opened, where it says there in Revelation chapter 1
verse 5, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood. I delight and relish and read
and respond to his love for me. I want to learn more about this
last part. I know it's the truth. I know
it happened. But oh, and he says, I love you
with an everlasting love. It draws my ear. It gets me up
close. I loved you with an everlasting
love. I've loved you even though natural
people can't love. I love you. I demonstrated. I laid down my life for ransom
for you. I brought you into the family.
I made you an heir. An heir of God in a joint heir
with Jesus Christ. He's the priest, we're priests. He's the king, we're kings. Kings
and priests. That they may know that you have
loved me and that you love them just as much as you love me.