Now this morning, I'm going to
begin a series of messages through 1
Corinthians chapter 13. That's going to be the first
three verses this morning will be our text for this message.
I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 to start off with.
Our text will be in 1 Corinthians 13. As you know, that's called
the love chapter. sometimes. There's a lot of love
chapters in the Bible. Not just first Corinthians 13,
but the one that Brother Joe just got through reading is a
love chapter, isn't it? But the title of the message
this morning is, The Necessity of Godly Love. The Necessity
of Godly Love. Now, I'm well aware that whenever
we do a study of the subject of love. And what I'm talking
about there is the people of God, loving God and loving the
brethren, loving one another, that these are very convicting
messages. In fact, in the past, well, probably
now, Many preachers use these kinds of messages, I believe,
in a wrong way to try to inspire, in a legal way, believers to
do what we should do. And I think that's not scriptural. I know it's not scriptural. And
I want us to look at this subject scripturally. I don't want to
lie to myself. I don't want to deceive myself.
You know, somebody said, well, do I love the Lord? And do I
love the brethren? And the first words that a lot
of times I hear when that question is asked is somebody said, well,
not perfectly. Well, that's true. We don't do
anything perfectly. That's why we must have the perfection
of Christ for our salvation. If you want to talk about perfect
love, And you must speak of Christ, God's love for us in Christ and
his love for us. There's the only perfect love
that has ever been on this earth after the fall of man. So yes,
I'm well aware that our love is not a perfect love. It will
be when we come into glory. There'll be no rival for for
our love to God and to the brethren in glory. There's rivals today,
aren't there? A lot of rivals. And that's why
we have to fight the warfare of the flesh and the spirit.
That's a big part of it. But the question I want to deal
with here is, do I love the Lord at all? Because I'll tell you
something now. If you truly, scripturally, love
the Lord at all and love his people, That's salvation. That's a product of salvation
by God's grace. And I'll show you what I'm talking
about. But we'll be looking at 1 Corinthians 13 here in just
a second. But the reason, you know, he
talks about there in 1 Corinthians 13 how love is necessary. He
said, I can have all kinds of spiritual gifts and knowledge
and abilities, but if I don't have love, it means nothing.
And we'll read that in just a minute. But the reason I want to go back
to 1 Corinthians 1 to start off with is because I want to show
you what occasion Paul, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit,
to write those words about love. Why was it necessary? You know,
a lot of times people will act as if things like love and obedience
comes naturally. Well, none of it comes naturally.
The natural man, you see, that's fleshly. It's the work of God
in us. And it's the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit in us. And we have to work at it. We're
not working for our salvation. That's not it. If you're working
for your salvation, I'll tell you something right now. Mark
this down. If you're working to earn your
salvation or earn your blessings from God, you don't love the
Lord. You love yourself. That's right. And I'll explain
that a little more later on when I get into the true nature of
this love as we go through 1 Corinthians. But the reason that Paul wrote
this letter is because there was a lot of problems in this
local congregation in the city of Corinth. And one of them was
divisions or what the Bible calls schisms among brethren. Divisions in the church. And
look at verse 11 of chapter 1. Now what were these divisions
over? What were the people of God dividing
over? And one of the first things that
he brings up, look at verse 11. For it hath been declared unto
me of you my brethren. Now Paul is careful to say my
brethren. He is not saying they are lost.
They are brethren in Christ. And he says by them which are
of the house of Chloe, this was a woman, who apparently had lost
her husband, and she was the matriarch, as it were, of her
household, that there are contentions among you. There's differences
of opinion. And, of course, we're going to
have differences of opinion. Now, we cannot have differences
of gospel. All right? There's only one gospel. And that's the gospel of God's
grace in Christ. We cannot differ on that. There
are some who believe salvation by works, some who believe salvation
by grace. You cannot have unity there.
Grace and works will not mix. If you believe that salvation
is in any way, at any stage, to any degree, at any time by
works, then you're denying the gospel that's preached here.
And there's no unity with us. You understand what I'm saying?
But now he says there's contentions among you. What was it about?
Well, verse 12, he says, Now this I say, that every one of
you saith, I am of Paul, or I of Apollos, or I of Cephas, that's
Peter, that's his Greek name, and I of Christ. What were they
divided over? Preachers. Can a Christian do that? Well,
these Christians were. They were. You see, and here's
how, listen how he answers. This is amazing to me. This is
one of the ways that we understand how the scriptures are inspired
by God. Because this isn't the wisdom
of a man. And he says in verse 13, is Christ divided? Now what
do we preach? Who do we preach? Am I preaching
Bill Parker? Well if I am, you're going to
be divided. I am not preaching me. I am preaching Christ. And
Christ is not divided. He is the head and we are the
body. He is the foundation. We are
saying my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
That is unity there. You see, there is no division
there. If your hope is built somewhere else, there is a division.
But if your hope is in Christ and Him crucified, His blood,
His righteousness, there is unity. Christ is not divided. And then
he said, was Paul crucified for you? Now you who are saying,
I'm going to follow Paul. Well, why are you going to follow
him? Did he die for your sins? Is it his righteousness that
you stand before God? Do you stand before God pleading
Paul's righteousness? Well, the answer to that is no.
Christ is not divided and Paul didn't die for you. Christ died
for your sins. You say, why are you separating
over Paul? Paul preached Christ. Paul preached
salvation by God's grace in Christ, through the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Paul didn't die for your sins. Paul's not your Savior. And then he says, or were you
baptized in the name of Paul? That's union with Christ, that
baptism. And when you confess Christ in
believer's baptism, you're baptized in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. You're not baptized in the name
of Paul, or Bill, or Joe, or anybody else. So you see, what he's telling
them there is, this division makes no sense in the Kingdom
of God over men. And I'll tell you something else,
and I want you to notice something here that's very important. that
these men that they were dividing over were all gospel preachers.
Listen, Paul, he was the apostle to the Gentiles. He wasn't a
false preacher. Apollos, he was one of the evangelists. He was a cultured, eloquent Greek,
very educated man. Apollos. I've heard people say,
well, you know, this fellow here, he's real educated and he speaks
eloquently, here's this old country preacher and I'm just going to
follow him, you know. Well, that makes no sense. Here's
the question, whether he's a country bumpkin or if he's got a PhD,
does he preach Christ and Him crucified? And then there's Cephas, that's
Peter, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle to the Jews. One of the
men who was one of the original twelve disciples, And then there
were some who said, I of Christ. In other words, I'm not going
to follow any man. I'm going to follow Christ. Now that sounds right.
But apparently they were doing that as a matter of pride and
using it as a tool of division, claiming I'm not going to listen
to anybody. I'm just going to follow Christ. Now that's not
right either. The preachers of the gospel are
under shepherds and ambassadors for Christ. And you're to hear
them and listen to them and praise God and worship Christ. But you're not to divide over
them. You're not to faction over men. I'm going to follow, you
know, this guy. We're going to start a church
over here. Now my friend, that's a tool
of Satan. It's a tool of pride. And that's the first thing. And
listen to what Paul says here in verse 14. He says, I thank
God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaze. There's
only two men in this whole, this was a big church here, Corinth. He said, I only baptized two
men. He said, I thank God I didn't baptize any of you. Paul wasn't
looking for notches on his gun. He wasn't looking for numbers
to report back to central headquarters or anything like that. That wasn't
his business. He says, lest any should say
that I had baptized in my own name. Well, how many of you baptized? I don't know, and I don't care.
I just thank God that anybody has believed the gospel under
this preaching. And the numbers don't mean anything
to me. I wish it was 10 million, but it has nothing to do with
me. It's all to do with Christ. Now, there were other problems
in this church. I'm not going to go through the whole thing
here. Incidentally, I will tell you this. Over there in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3, you know, he talks about a man who preaches the
gospel, but sowing wood, hay, and stubble. I'm going to tell
you what that wood, hay, and stubble is. That's those who
follow men and not follow Christ. That's who he's talking about.
You read the context of that. That's not preaching politics
or his works. That's those who, listen, here's
a man preaching the gospel. If you follow the man instead
of following Christ, You're the wood, hay, and stubble. Those
who are saved, those who truly love the Lord, they follow Christ,
not the man. You understand what I'm saying? See, you're not of Paul. You're
not of Apollos. You're not of Cephas. You are
of Christ, not as a tool of pride and division, but as a unifying
factor of the love of God in Christ. And that's what he's
talking about. But they had other problems.
They had abuses of the Lord's Supper. Paul dealt with that.
They had, over in chapter 12, look over there. They had abuses
of spiritual gifts and offices in the church. You know, there
in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 14. Listen to what he says
there. For the body, that's the church.
1 Corinthians 12, 14. The body, the church, is not
one member but many. like the human body, and he uses
the analogy. Now, you've got a foot. Aren't
you glad you're not all foot? Aren't you glad that you have
other members of your body? But now, if the foot shall say,
well, because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, therefore,
does that mean it's not of the body? No. You want every part
of your body. It's all needed. It all has its
mission, its purpose. It's all there for a purpose. And every member of the body
of Christ is necessary, needed, has its purpose, all for the
glory of God in Christ and the promoting of the gospel and the
edification of the body. So he deals with that. Some of
them had these spiritual gifts and they divided over that. But
now divisions among those who profess the truth of God's grace
in Christ is so sad and so tragic, and I tell you how I feel about
it too, it's an embarrassment. It's an embarrassment to the
body of Christ. But look back here, look at 1
Corinthians 11. Look at verse 17. I want to show you something
here. You say, well, why does God allow
this to happen? And He does. Well, He says in
verse 17, 1 Corinthians 11, listen to this. He says, now in this
that I declare unto you, I praise you not. I'm not going to praise
you for this. That you come together not for
the better, but for the worse. When you come together in your
worship services, and there's division. For first of all, when
you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions,
and that word schisms may appear in your Bible or in the concordance,
but the same thing, divisions among you. And I partly believe
it. Now what he's saying there is,
it's been reported to me and I don't doubt it. That's what
he's saying. I don't doubt that it's true. But look at verse
19. For there must be also heresies
Now that word heresies is sects, s-e-c-t-s, sections. There must also be heresies among
you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
Now what does that mean? When these heresies come about,
when these divisions, do you fall prey to them? Or do you
stand firm by the grace of God for the truth as it is in Christ?
That's the ones who are approved. I'm not going to be part of that.
I'm not going to be a part of that. Because it's not right. It's not glorifying to God. It's
not honoring to Him. It's not honoring to Christ.
It doesn't promote the glory of God. It doesn't promote the
preaching of the gospel. It gives the enemies of God occasion
to blaspheme. Look there. Look at that. You
know what I'm talking about. It doesn't promote the salvation
of sinners. And it certainly doesn't promote
the edification, the building up of the body of Christ. And
he says in verse 20, when you come together, therefore into
one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. Now he's talking
about coming together to eat the Lord's supper. which is an
ordinance of memory, remembrance, and of unity. Now the cure for these divisions
that he's been talking about is certainly God's power and
grace operating through true Christian love founded upon the
truth of the gospel of Christ, that's the cure. It's what the
Apostle John in his short letters emphasized as love in truth. Love in truth. Now I suppose
that there's not a more confused and corrupted subject in the
whole of the Bible than love. Because most people define and
operate in love based upon their own understanding, which is a
natural understanding of love. and not godly love. The title
of this message is the necessity of godly love. And one of the
first things you have to understand about godly love, whatever it
is, it's love in truth, not love in a lie. Not love in a lie. Now, in fact, over in 2 Thessalonians
2, you don't have to turn there. Remember when Paul's talking
about the great apostasy, the great falling away. And multitudes
are going to be deceived by Satan and the man of sin, Antichrist.
Multitudes. And you know why he says that
they're going to be deceived? He says because they receive
not the love of the truth. And that's when he says, but
we're bound to give thanks for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. And what? Belief of the
truth. where unto he called you by our
gospel. God never commands and God the Holy Spirit never inspires
love without truth. Love without truth is a lie and
self-love. Love without truth is compromise. Love without truth is deadly.
It's the equivalent of preaching Satan's message. Remember what's,
you know the title of Satan's first message? Here it is. Thou shalt not surely die. And
to the natural man it sounds loving. It sounds kind. But it's a deadly message. He
spoke that to Eve, you remember, and she was deceived. We're to
speak the truth in and with love. We're to try to be kind. We're
to strive to be gentle. But we're never to compromise
truth in the name of love. You remember when we spoke in
the last few messages on 1 Timothy chapter 1 there about contending
for the faith and preaching no other gospel, preaching no other
doctrine. And the end of that commandment
was love out of a pure heart, love out of a good conscience,
love out of faith unfamed. That's what we're talking about.
Now the world, whatever this love is that Paul is talking
about in 1 Corinthians 13, And whatever this godly love is,
mark it down. The world will not recognize
it is love. They will not agree with you.
I'll show you an example of what I'm talking about. Look over
at 2 John. 2 John. Here's this love in action. Here's godly love in action.
Second John, verse 9. He says in verse 9, he says,
whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
that's the gospel, and it's doctrines, it's teachings, hath not God. Now here comes a person, claims
to be a Christian, but does not abide in the truth. What are
you going to tell him? Well, here's what the scripture
says. You don't have God. You're not in fellowship with
God. You're not a Christian. You're not saved. Isn't that
the equivalent of what he's saying there? And he says, he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. He's in fellowship with the Father and the Son. That's
a Christian. That's saved. Verse 10, if there come any unto
you, and bring not this doctrine, this truth, this teaching, Receive
him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. Now what he's
talking about here is do not promote him religiously. Don't promote their work, their
religion, their teaching, their ministry. Don't promote them.
He says, for he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his
evil deeds. In other words, if you promote
that false gospel, what are you doing? You're in fellowship with
him in his evil deeds. Now what I want to ask you, now
you think about this. You have people all the time,
coming to you probably or different times, wanting help. I have people call me up, we've
got a singing group, can we come and sing at your church? Or I'm
a missionary and I'm going over here, can I come and present
the work? And I'll talk to them about what
they believe, what gospel do they preach. And if it's not
the gospel of Christ, what do I tell them? I tell them no,
we don't support that. Well, I'm the meanest preacher
in Ashland. I'm the most unloving person
that they've ever talked to. Well, you know what I'm saying.
Where's the love, they say? Well, I just showed the love,
but they don't recognize it. Remember what Joe read there
in 1 John chapter 3 and 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. They don't know
us. They've got a different view
of love. Well, we're all going to the same place. You heard
that? We all worship the same God,
we're just going different ways. You're a Baptist, I'm a Methodist,
and we jump pews over here where I go to church. You know what
I'm talking about. But they will not recognize it
as love when you tell them the truth. They'll think you're the
most hateful person in the whole world. And that's where we've
got to see this. Now go to 1 Corinthians 13. And read these first three verses. Look at verse 1 of 1 Corinthians
13. He says, Though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels. That tongues there is not gibberish
now. It's not what these false churches
today call speaking in tongues. It is not. Now you may think
I'm being unlovingly just to say something like that, but
I am not. That tongue there is languages. You ever heard the term glossary?
You know what a glossary is? That's the Greek word we get
glossary, glossalia. And you know what, when you turn
to a glossary, are you reading gibberish? No. You're reading
English. You get an English glossary or
dictionary. And this tongue, it's actually
defined back in Acts chapter 2. And it says there, when they
spoke in languages, every man heard the gospel in his own tongue. Preaching the gospel in other
languages. I don't know Spanish. But if I were to begin, if a
Spanish person walked in here and God gave me by the Holy Spirit
the gift to preach the gospel in Spanish to him so that he
could hear it in his language, that would be the gift of tongues.
And I'd be preaching Christ in Spanish. And the reason that's
such a miracle is because I don't know Spanish. And when they met at Pentecost,
there were people from all nations there. There were Romans. There
were others there. Jews and Greeks. And they all
heard the Gospel in their own tongue. That was a miracle. But
it was understandable. It wasn't gibberish. Like they
say today. And so Paul is saying, if I had
that gift now, to speak the gospel in other languages, but if I
had not charity, now that word charity, it's the Greek word,
you've heard this word, agape, which is love. If I don't have
the love, he said, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. Just might as well make noise
if you don't have that love. And then look at verse 2, he
says, and though I have the gift of prophecy, And this is one
gift, the prophecy and understand all mysteries. That's what he's
talking about. Being able to preach, because I understand
all, and all knowledge. Know a lot. And though I have
all faith so that I could remove mountains. That's a lot of faith. That's real faith, isn't it?
Remove a mountain. And have not love. I'm nothing. You see that? Verse 3. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor. Now you talk about, listen to
that now. If I give all my goods to feed the poor. Now we'd call
that charity, wouldn't we? Somebody who would do that. And
though I give my body to be burned. Now you see, there's sincerity.
That's conviction, isn't it? That fellow really believes what
he believes. He gives his body to be burned. Every time I read that, I think
back in the 60s during the Vietnam War. And I used to watch the
news and they would come on, you know, they talk about how
many Americans were killed in that day and all that and how
tragic it was and it was very tragic. And I remember one time
I was watching the newscast and there were a group of Buddhist
monks who doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on
fire in protest of the Vietnam War. Now, is that noble? Is that sincere? You reckon those
fellows were sincere? You think they had a problem
with sincerity? I don't think they had any problem with sincerity. But what did they believe? What
was their doctrine? Now most of the world say, well,
what does that matter, you mean old thing, you? Well, it means everything. He
that believeth not shall be damned. And here's what part, though
I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me
nothing. And I tell you, I feel sad for
people like that, don't you? It's tragic. Gave their body
to be burned, For nothing! For nothing. Now when we consider
from the Scriptures what this love really is. The nature of
it, the substance of it. I am going to get into more of
that next week. We can understand what he is saying. Look at verse
13, the last verse of this chapter. He says, And now abideth faith
and hope and charity, love. 1 Corinthians 13, these three,
but the greatest of these is charity, love. And we'll talk
about that later on. In the passage of Scripture that
Brother Joe read in 1 John 3, listen to this verse 14. Now listen to this. We know that
we have passed from death unto life. Because we love the brother. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Now, there's something I need
to know. How about you? I need to know, do I have this
love or do I not? You say, well, I don't have perfect
love. Well, if that's what this is talking about, then we haven't
passed from death unto life. Am I right? I mean, just look
at it. 1 John 3, 14. We know we have
passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. This love is evidence of being
born of God. And being born of God is evidence
of being chosen by God before the foundation of the world.
And being born of God is evidence of being redeemed by the blood
of Christ and justified in His righteousness. And so that if
I'm born again, one of the evidences of this, being born again, is
we love the brethren. And when we read these verses,
we have to understand that none of these things form any part
of the ground of our salvation. It's not my love for God or my love for you that saves
me. It's not your love for God or
your love for me and each other that saves you. No sir. Herein is love, 1 John 4, 10.
Not that we love God. So now if we're gonna talk about
the nature of this love and what kind of love he's talking about,
here's where we got, herein is love. Not that we love God. Because we don't by nature. but
that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for
our sins. You see, when we read these verses,
we understand that this love, just like faith, just like repentance,
is the fruit and the effect of salvation. It's the product and
gift of God in salvation. You see, Christ's righteousness
alone is the ground of our salvation. His love for us is the source
and cause of salvation. His blood and righteousness is
the ground of salvation. But any of these things without
godly love, these things that he mentioned here in 1 Corinthians
13, all these gifts, these great, marvelous, wonderful gifts, any
of those things without this godly love shows that we don't
have the grace of God in salvation. And we've not been born again.
So what is this love? Well, he says charity. Same word. As I said, it's that Greek word
agape. What kind of love is that? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. It's divine love. It's not human love. I'm telling
you. This is the kind of love that
no human being has by nature. You don't have it. Again, 1 John
4, 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. Not of you, not of me, of God. And everyone that loveth, everyone
that has this love, is what? Born of God and knoweth God. It comes by the new birth, which
is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, and it comes from knowing
God. You see, all we have by nature
is hatred of God. Now somebody might say, well
preacher, I don't necessarily agree with you on the gospel,
but I don't hate God. You hate the God I worship. Want
me to show you that? Turn to Romans 8. Romans chapter
8. Now that's what God says. Here's the point. I mean, this
is something, this is an eye opener. If you don't know Christ,
if you don't serve Christ, if you, listen, if Christ isn't
your hope of salvation, you hate the God of this Bible. And it's
not because you feel it or feel whatever, you know. But look
at Romans chapter 8 and look at verse 6. Well, look at verse
5 rather. He says, For they that are after
the flesh, that's an unregenerate person, not born again. They
mind the things of the flesh. Now that could be religiously,
immorally, it could be any phase of life. But they that are after
the Spirit, that's born again by the Spirit, they mind the
things of the Spirit. Verse 6, for to be carnally minded
is death. You may be religious to the core. You may never miss a service.
You may memorize your Bible, but if you don't know Christ,
you are carnally minded. That's fleshly minded. And that's
death. Now that's God's word. That's
what God says about you. Now tell me, if you're in that
state, do you love that God? Or would you rather hear about
a God who loves everybody and trying to save everybody? And
you know what I'm saying. He says, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. To be spiritually minded is to
look to Christ, rest in Christ. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood. Because the carnal mind is what? What's that word? Enmity against
God. That word enmity. That's opposition. That's hatred. For it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. If you're not
looking to Christ, you're not subject to the law of God. You
may be trying to keep the law. But in trying to keep the law,
in trying to establish a righteousness of your own, you are actually
breaking the law, rebelling against the law, because the law was
given to expose your sinfulness and drive you where? To Christ
for salvation. Now let me tell you something.
There is where the love of God is in Christ. Nowhere else. Not this agape love. Now don't
confuse the benevolence and the long-suffering of God with this
love. You see the fact that a sinner
is not in hell is the benevolence and the long-suffering of God.
But outside of Christ there is no love from God. What is this love? Well, it's
this love. That is a righteous love. A holy
love. Look over at John 3. People quote
this, verse 16, concerning God's love. But read up in verse 14. John 3, 14. It's a righteous
love. It's a holy love. He says in verse 14 of John 3,
and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Now you know the story how Moses,
how the people were bitten by fiery serpents and God told Moses
to make a serpent of brass and lift it up on a pole. And those
who looked lived. They didn't die. Well that was
a type, that was a picture of foreshadowing of the death of
Christ being lifted up on the cross. And all who looked to
Christ live. Alright? So just like Moses lifted
up that pole with the serpent in it, Christ must be lifted
up. He must go to the cross. He must
die on the cross. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Now, did you notice how
that was put? Now most people today believe
that Christ died for everybody and that salvation is conditioned
on your faith. Not according to this verse.
What's salvation conditioned on? According to this verse,
Christ being lifted up. Because if He's not lifted up,
you can believe till you're blue in the face and it will do you
no good. Listen to it. He must be lifted up that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish. If He's not lifted up, you can
believe and believe and believe and you'll still perish. But if He's lifted up, all who
believe shall not perish but have eternal life. Faith is the
gift of God. And here's why, verse 16. For
God so loved the world. That's the cosmos. That's not
every individual without exception. That He gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world. You know why? That God didn't
send His Son into the world to condemn the world? Because the
world was already condemned. When Adam fell, the world came
under condemnation. He said, in the day that ye eat
thereof, ye shall surely die, or die and thou shalt die. That's
condemnation. And so he says, but that the
world through him might be saved. God's going to save this cosmos.
That's what he said. God's going to save what he created.
How's he going to do it? Through the salvation of his
people. Who are they? All who believe in him. But in
order for him to do it, what had to happen? His Son had to
come and die. Righteousness had to be established.
Justice had to be satisfied. Sin had to be put away. That's
right. The debt had to be paid. This
love is a holy love. It's a righteous love. What we
read over here in 1 John 4 and verse 10, Herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. the sin-bearing sacrifice who
brought satisfaction, appeasement. It's a holy love toward his people. It's a powerful love. You know,
our love for one another, even for our children, is limited
to our abilities and our wisdom. And our abilities are few. There
are things that I'd love to do for my children and my grandchildren
that I am powerless to do. I can't do it. And that's why men naturally
view God's love the same way. Psalm 50 verse 21, Thou thoughtest
I was altogether such in one as thyself. Nah. We love somebody
and we just hope the best for them, but we cannot ensure the
best for them. But God's love ensures the best.
God's love is always followed by action. And what did he do? He sent his son to be the propitiation. Christ died for my sins and they're
put away. He was made sin. Christ too knew
no sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. God's love removes every obstacle that hinders my salvation. And God's love provides every
means to ensure my salvation. That's the kind of love we're
talking about. And God's love is a gift of His grace. You know,
self-love comes naturally. We all have that. I know some
people say they don't, but they do. Could be in the form of feeling
sorry for themselves. Self-love comes naturally. Love
of extensions of self comes naturally. That's why we love our children.
You say, well, that's not the only... Well, you don't love
everybody's children like you love yours, do you? You think
you do? You're lying. Your children are extensions
of yourself. My children are extensions of
myself. But this love, this love is not
self-love. It's unconditional love. We're
going to talk about the nature of that love as we go through
these verses. Alright. Let's sing as our