Let's go to John chapter 3. Look at the third chapter of
the Gospel of John. A very familiar verse. For God
so loved the world. This is verse 16, of course. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish. but have everlasting life. There are seven statements in
the New Testament about the nature of God. I'll give them to you
briefly. In John chapter 4 verse 24, God
is spirit. We won't look these up. You can
note them if you like. But we read that God is spirit. That is, God is immaterial. He is immortal. He is invisible. God is omnipresent. And God is
indivisible. He is Spirit. Secondly, Mark
chapter 12 verse 29 says, the Lord our God is one Lord. The Father, the Son, and the
Spirit, the divine Trinity, they're one in essence, one in power,
One in purpose, one in humanity, one in glory. Thirdly, 1 John 1 verse 5 says,
God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. Darkness, as you know in the
scriptures, frequently means sin, evil, error, ignorance,
and death. Well, our God is light. There's no darkness in Him at
all. He is the sum of everything that's good, everything that
is holy, everything that is righteous. He is all truth, He is all knowledge,
and He is all life. Fourthly, God is faithful. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, And
verse 9, God is faithful. God can't lie. It's impossible
for God to lie. He's absolutely trustworthy. God is always, he's faithful
to his promises and he's faithful to his threats. I'll remind you
the statement we made Sunday evening in Isaiah 34, 16. No one of these shall fail, none
shall lack her mate. That is no divine word from God,
no divine promise and no divine threat will ever lack a fulfillment. Why is that? Because God is faithful. God is faithful. Number five,
God is a consuming fire. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 29. What does that mean, God is a
consuming fire? Well, Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse
24 makes it obvious that by fire is meant jealousy. Our God's
a jealous God. He's jealous of His glory. He
won't give it to anybody else. He's not going to share it with
anybody else. He's jealous of the reverence
that we owe Him. He's jealous of worship. Of worship. And then, number six, we read,
the Lord is gracious. That's 1 Peter 2 and verse 5.
God is gracious. What do we know about the grace
of God, the graciousness of God? God's grace is sovereign, it
is saving, it is sufficient, and it is sure. And then the
seventh thing is God is love. 1 John 4, 8 and verse 16 as well. God is love. Let me speak to
you on divine love this evening. And as we have selected this
for our subject, let me say several things about this divine love. And I think we ought to start
right here with this. Whenever we think about God's
love, whenever we think about divine
affection for us, we must never divorce the love of God from
Christ Jesus. Go back to that scripture in
Romans chapter 8 that Brother Stan read to us just a little
bit ago. Romans chapter 8. And I want you to look down at
verse number 39. Romans chapter 8 and verse 39. Now he's spoken about from verse
35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ. If you get
down to verse 39, he finishes it off by saying that neither
height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate
us from the love of God. Underline this if you haven't
already, it ought to be underlined, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. The love of God is in Christ
Jesus. Now I rejoice to read and I rejoice
to know that God is love. Love is in God. Love issues forth
from God. Outside of God there is no love. But this has just got to be understood. The love of God is revealed.
And the love of God is expressed. And the love of God is known.
And the love of God is manifested. And the love of God is only to
be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God never gives even
the very slightest of hints that love can be found anywhere else
except in the blessed Savior. And those who speak of the love
of God towards sinners, and they separate it from the Lord Jesus
Christ, those who speak of the love of God and they separate
it from that only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
they speak in direct opposition to the Word of God. If we're
going to speak on the love of God, think on the love of God,
meditate on the love of God, we have to remember this, God's
love is only to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. Outside of the Savior, God's
got no love, got no grace, got no mercy, got no salvation for
any son or daughter of Adam. And I know that's clear to you.
The second thing is this. This love of God that is only
to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely unconditional
and absolutely free. In Hosea chapter 14 and verse
4, the Lord says, I will love them freely. Don't you like that? I will love them freely. We are
said to be justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. What does the word freely mean?
Without a cause. without a cause. It's the same
word used by the Savior when He says of His enemies, they
hated Me without a cause. That is, they hated Me freely. There wasn't any reason to be
found in the Savior why anyone would hate Him back then, nor
why anyone would hate Him today. He says, they hate Me without
a cause. And the love of God to sinners
is a love that is freely expressed by God. That is, there is no
reason in the sinner, there is nothing within the sinner to
be found as to why they should be, why you should be, why I
should be an object of God's love. He loves us freely. Freely. Without condition. without
condition. There was nothing within us to
draw forth that love. There was nothing within us to
attract that love. There is nothing within us even
now to attract that love. Did you know that? God doesn't
love us now. He doesn't accept us now because
of what He sees in us. He loves us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He always loves in Christ. When we read that God loves freely,
that simply means that God's love to us is unconditional,
it is unmerited, it is unqualified, and it is uncaused. God doesn't love us because of
something desirable in us. In fact, we read in Romans chapter
9 where God says, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated.
We read that God made His choice and God loved Jacob rather than
Esau. He made this divine determination
before those boys had done anything either good or bad. that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. So there was nothing
within us either good or bad that would draw forth the love of
God. Well then why did God love us? Because He would love us.
The only thing you can trace the love of God back to is God's
eternal purpose of grace. He willed to love us, that's
all. The reason is to be found within
the heart of God Almighty. His ways are past finding out. He loved us because He purposed
to love us. And understand this. the love
that we have to the Lord. It's not the cause of His love
to us either. You see, our love to the Lord
is just the response of His love to us. In fact, John says we
love Him because He first loved us. We read herein is love, not that
God loved us. Not that we love God, but that
God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. God loved us even when we fell
into sin. God loved us when we were lost.
God loved us when we were ruined. God loved us when there was not
the least bit of love toward Him nor faith in Him. When we
were His enemies, when we were alienated from God, when we were
weak, without strength and helpless and ungodly, He loved us. Go back a couple of pages here
or a page or two in Romans chapter 5. Look at Romans chapter 5 verse
6. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. or scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth, God manifested,
God put on display, that's what that means, His love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more
than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God, when did He reconcile us? When did
this reconciliation take place? When we were yet His enemies.
He did the reconciling. Well, how did He do that? By
the death of His Son. Much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved, ultimately saved, fully delivered, by His
life or literally in His life. God loves us freely. And here's
what this means further. It means that the death of the
Lord Jesus, that's not the reason God loves us. You see, the death of the Lord
Jesus, that is the reason we're forgiven. The death of the Lord Jesus,
His sacrifice upon the cross, that is the reason for our justification. The death of our Savior, that
is the reason why we're righteous. His death is the reason for our
redemption. It's the reason for our salvation.
His death is the reason the Spirit of God comes to us in regenerating
power and grace. And gives us life so that we'll
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. His death is the reason for all
of those things. But our Lord's death on our behalf
is not the cause of God's love for us. This is evident back
in our text. Go back in John chapter 3. John
chapter 3, for here's the gospel in verse 14. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. There's substitution, there's
satisfaction, there's blood. There's the way of salvation.
There's the way of redemption. There's the way of reconciliation.
But when we get to verse 16, this is the reason, the reason
for the death of the Lord Jesus. You see, the Son of God, He didn't
come into this world to get God into the notion to love us or
even to release the love of God toward us or to make God to love
us. No, He came into the world because
God did love us with an everlasting love. John 3.16 is not the gospel,
it's the reason for the gospel. God so loved the world of His
elect that He gave His Son to die. An old hymn writer, John
Kent, he wrote these words, long time ago, t'was not to make Jehovah's
love toward the sinner flame, that Jesus from His throne above
a suffering man became. "'Twas not the death which he
endured, nor all the pangs he bore, "'that God's eternal love
procured, for God was loved before. "'He loved the world of his elect
with love surpassing thought, "'nor will his mercy ever neglect
the souls so dearly bought.'" The death of the Son of God is
the evidence of the love of God. It's the result of the love of
God. But He didn't make God to love
us. No. And here's something else. The
love of God, not only is it in Christ Jesus, and not only does
God love us freely, absolutely freely, without condition, without
cause, but thirdly, His love is eternal. His love is eternal. That love which is in Christ
Jesus, it bears the date of eternity
upon it. I guess that's the best way to
say it. It bears the date of eternity upon it. It had no beginning. It will have no end. The Lord
said to Jeremiah, I've loved thee with an everlasting love.
Look at John chapter 17. What a precious verse this is. I was looking at it earlier today
and I tell you, the Lord makes my soul to rejoice when I read
this. I rejoice in the Lord's love
to me through Christ Jesus. John chapter 17 and verse 23. The Savior hears his high priestly
prayer for his people. He says, John 17, 23, I in 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." That's one of the most astounding
statements you'll ever read in the scriptures. And has loved
them. That's all of his elect. That's all that he gave to the
Lord Jesus in covenant grace. And has loved them as thou hast
loved me. And I would suggest to you if
our poor souls could grasp that. At least to some degree by faith. If God the Spirit would take
those few words of our Savior's high priestly prayer and just
drive them into our heart, oh, how thrilled we would be! In
what way does God the Father love God the Son? Well, He loves
Him infinitely. You cannot describe the love
of the Father to the Son. They've always been together,
eternally the same, eternally in union. As I said, one in purpose,
one in essence, one in glory. But in the same way that the
Father loves the Son, that's exactly how He loves you. you and all of His elect. Oh, for faith to grasp this. Think of this, He delights in
us even as He delights in His Son. He accepts us even as He
accepts His Son. And He is well pleased with us
even as He is well pleased with His Son. Because don't you see,
the love of God is in Christ. And if we can get a hold of that,
or maybe I should say it this way, if that would ever get a
hold of us, Oh, how thrilled we would be. I've heard people, preachers,
not any preacher that I had any confidence in, but I remember
hearing preachers years ago saying, you know, I hope that when I
die, the Lord will say to me as he did the Apostle Paul, well
done thou good and faithful servant. He will say that to you if you're
a believer. If you're one of His chosen vessels
of mercy, if you've been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus,
if you're made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is well pleased with you and when you get the glory in the
Lord Jesus Christ, God will say to you, well done thou good and
faithful servant because He says it to everybody who's in Christ. Everybody who's in Christ. Well,
I hadn't done much. Well, me neither. But in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we've done all things. And we've done all
things perfectly. We're in Him, don't you see? And what He did, we've done. All that He suffered in His death,
in His sacrifice, we were in Him when He died. We were in
Him when He was buried. We were in Him when He arose
again. We were in Him when He ascended back to glory. And we
are still in Him. We have always been in Him. We
are still in Him. We will always be in Him. As the Father has loved me, That's
how He loves you. That's what Christ is saying
to us in this passage of Scripture. And here's something else, number
four. The love of God is immutable. Big word means unchangeable,
right? Immutable, irrevocable, and indestructible. You see, God's love is not like
our love. Man's love is mutable, revocable, and it's destructible
as well. Someone you love, they might do something so horrible
to you To absolutely kill that love. To destroy that love. That happens
in marriages. But God's love, you can't kill
it. You can't destroy it. You can't change it. You can't
alter it. You didn't do anything to get
it, and bless the name of God, you can't do anything to lose
it either. You see, having loved us, He
will never withdraw that love. And only people who understand
grace can really get a hold of this. He doesn't love us more
when we are obedient children, And He doesn't love us less when
we're disobedient children. Now, we want to be obedient children. Sure. We have the life of God
in us. We love the things that God loves. We hate the things that God hates. And we seek to obey Him to do
His revealed will. But even when we do His revealed
will, And that imperfectly, I might add, even when we do His revealed
will, that doesn't mean God thinks more of us, or God accepts us
to a greater degree, or that He loves us more. And when we
don't do His revealed will, when we're disobedient children, which
we often are, He doesn't love us the less for
it. His love cannot be increased and it cannot be decreased. And we can't do anything to destroy
that love. Why not? Because the love of
God is in Christ Jesus. See? That's where we started
off with. That's the basis of all this.
Remember what He said about the Savior in John 13 verse 1? Having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end. Here are some verses of Scripture. Write this one down. Song of
Solomon chapter 8 verse 7. Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it. The floodwaters of your own
depravity which flow much more than we want to admit. But those floodwaters of our
own sinfulness, they can't drown out God's love. As we did nothing to attract
God's love in the beginning, we can do nothing to repel that
love. In other words, God's love is
not dependent upon our faithfulness. Aren't you glad? Aren't you thankful? Our faithfulness or our lack
of faithfulness has nothing to do with its continuation because
God's love is immutable. It's unchangeable. Very quickly, let me give you
a list of God's acts of love. Number one, our election unto
salvation in Jesus Christ was an act of divine love. I know
the natural man is very much opposed to the doctrine of God's
electing grace people say of election unto salvation. That's
a hard doctrine. That's a brutal doctrine. But
to the people of God, it's not a hard doctrine at all. It's
a delightful doctrine. Because it's a doctrine that's
absolutely filled with the everlasting love of God. Listen to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verses 13 and 14. But we're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Loved of
the Lord, that's what that means. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So our
election, it was an act of love. Number two, our adoption into
the family of God was an act of divine love. First John chapter
three, you know this verse. 1 John 3, verse 1, Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. We are sons of God by divine
adoption. Now, it is a fact as to our adoption. It is a fact that we are made
to realize and know about and experience the reality of our
adoption into the family of God upon the new birth. But the new birth doesn't put
us in the family of God. The new birth is the evidence
that we are in the family of God, and we've been in God's
family, we've been adopted into His family ever since He chose
us in Christ unto salvation. Adoption is an everlasting adoption. We're His children. And we're
His children because of His love. We are the living sons and daughters
of God. What a great, great privilege
is ours. You read in Ephesians chapter
1 in verse 4, Paul is talking about election. God chose us
in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and blameless before Him. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself. In love, He adopted us. I'm in
the family of God. How long have I been in the family
of God? Forever, as long as God's had a family. In fact, as long
as he's been my father, I've been his son. Though I didn't
know it, I wasn't made to realize it under the new birth. And then the Spirit of God showed
me, you're God's. Because you're God's and because
He loved you with an everlasting love, your sin debt's been paid. You're justified with God. You
have a righteousness imputed to you that's the perfect righteousness
of God Himself. I didn't know about that until
the new birth, but that didn't change the fact of it. And I'll
tell you something else, our redemption by the blood of the
Lord Jesus, it was an act of divine love. Greater love hath
no man than this, than that a man lay down his life for his friends. How do I know Christ loves me?
Because He died for me. He died for me. He loves me with
an everlasting love. He loved me, therefore He assumed
my nature. He loved me, therefore He assumed
my indebtedness. He loved me, therefore He laid
down His life for me. He loved me, therefore He arose
and ascended and He represents me in heaven even this very moment. It's all because He loves me.
Hey, number four, our regeneration was an act of divine love. I
quoted a little bit of this verse a while ago, Jeremiah 31, 3.
To Jeremiah the Lord said, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore in loving kindness have I drawn thee. It's effectual grace. God's calling
of us. That's His love at work. It's
His love at work. You see, the love of God is not
passive. It's active. It's always active. God's love has always been active
for the objects of His love. In choosing us, in redeeming
us, in regenerating us, in keeping us, in preserving us, in supplying
our needs, and someday in glorifying us. His love is always active
for us. And I'll tell you this, our preservation
and salvation, that's an act of God's love. Who shall separate
us? Who shall put a distance between
us and the Savior's love? Nobody. You read the passage
there in Romans chapter 8? Nothing and nobody can separate
us from that love. He keeps us safe forever. We
shall not perish. For He's given us everlasting
life. And then our care and our provisions, they're the continual acts of
God. He always cares for us. He always
provides for us. And His providence His providence
which is always at work bringing to pass that which He predestinated. It's a continual act of love. And therefore we read the very
first verse that Stan read to us out of Romans 8, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, for those whom He did love. Listen. Love is behind it all. That is
the bottom line. Love is behind it all. Divine
love is back of all of it. So let us go to open our psalm
books to number 2. Love divine. Let us sing love
divine. Hymn number 2. Hymn number 2. Love is behind it all. Kevin,
come lead us as we stand and we will sing this. Number 2.