Would you open your Bibles with
me this evening to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. Now, I've been preaching through
the book of Jeremiah and we've been dealing with this section
of Jeremiah's prophecy beginning back in chapter 30 and going
all the way to chapter 33. which is commonly called, and
rightly so, the Book of Consolation. Herein are prophecies of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Messiah, to do his great work of redemption for
his people, and to secure the salvation of all of God's chosen,
chosen before the foundation of the world, as a result of
God's covenant love, and to bring them to glory. Herein we have
the establishment of what is called in the Bible the New Covenant.
Especially in chapter 31, he brings that forth. We'll look
at some of that tonight. Well, the New Covenant refers
to time. You know when we look at the
Bible, we study and read the revelation that God has given
of himself, there are some things, a lot of things in this book
that are sort of mind-boggling to us because it deals with issues
of both time and eternity. Well the new covenant has to
do with time. The New Testament It's sometimes
called the gospel age or the gospel economy. And that's the
establishment in time by the coming of Christ and his work
and it goes from that time under his ascension under the father
all the way to his second coming. Now the new covenant is the establishment
in time of an eternal covenant, called the everlasting covenant
of grace. And so what Jeremiah, he's speaking
of here, look at chapter 31, it says in verse 1, at the same
time saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of
Israel and they shall be my people. And thus saith the Lord, the
people which were left of the sword, that is the people who
escaped death, found grace, That's how God deals with His people.
Found grace in the wilderness. That's how you found it. That's
how we found it. We found grace in the wilderness,
the wilderness of this world. And that's how salvation comes,
by grace, in the wilderness. Even Israel, when I went to cause
him to rest, and I love that language. If you've entered into
the rest of God's grace, the rest of Christ, it's because
God caused you to do it. By His power and His grace. And
then here's my text this evening, verse three. And he goes on,
he mentions all the benefits and blessings of salvation by
grace. Well, the source of all those
blessings and all those benefits, and even the source of the Lord
sending his son into the world is right here, verse three. The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. And then you see that, those
two dots, that's a colon. Now he's going to explain that. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Now what I want to talk to you
tonight about is the everlasting love of God. The everlasting
love of God. And what a subject. No, you really
can't do justice to it in one message, but it's here. It speaks
of the nature of God. You know, when the scripture
speaks of God, His attributes, His character, His nature, God
revealing Himself to His people, revealing Himself to us through
Christ. The Bible says this, it says,
God is spirit. There is no bodily form, physical
form for God. He is spirit. That is how we
can talk about God as being omnipresent. John 4 and verse 24 says that.
You can't contain God. You can't put God in a box. The
Bible tells us that God is light. He's the light of purity, the
light of holiness, the light of truth. That's His nature.
God is holy. There's no one like God. There's
no one to compare God with. That's why He's so unique. That's
what really holiness refers to. It refers to purity. Because
He's the only pure being in the universe. God is. God the Father. God the Son. God the Holy Spirit. He's holy. And then we read this
in 1 John chapter 4 in the opening of our service. It says it twice
in 1 John 4 in verse 8 and verse 16. God is love. It's not just that God loves. He does. Because His love is
in action and we're going to see that tonight. But God is
love. That's what He is. That's His
very nature. And expressions and acts of God's
love come from His nature. And must be consistent with His
nature. So that when we speak of God's
love, and I want to just give you some general thoughts about
God's love, then I want to give you three points about it. When
we speak of God's love, we must speak of it as a holy love. Holy love, not a diminished love. We must speak of it as a righteous
love. When God loves, He must love
in a way that is righteous, and just, and holy, and right. We must speak of His love as
a sovereign love. Because God Himself, He is sovereign. He loves, just the scripture
says, God judges according to truth. That's right. Well, He
loves according to truth. And of course, we know the greatest
expression and the greatest act of God's love is in the salvation
of the people whom he loves by his free and sovereign grace
through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's speaking of
right here. Salvation is the product and
fruit of God's sovereign everlasting covenant love and that love never
changes and never can change. And that's why we know very little
about it by experience. We know it's true because this
book says it's true. Because God says it's true. But
as far as our experience of it, we know very little about it
because our love constantly changes, diminishes. It shouldn't. We ought to strive for perfect
love, shouldn't we? That's what we should strive
for. But we always fall short. But his love never changes and
never can change. It's God's eternal love for his
elect in Christ. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. There's never a time. Now you
say, well, he's talking to Jeremiah. No, he's talking to all of his
covenant people here. He's not talking to all without
exception here. He's talking to his covenant
people. I'll show you why in just a moment. But in what he's
saying is this, if you're one of his covenant ones, one of
his elect, one of the redeemed of the Lord, there never has
been a time that God has not loved you. Now get a hold of
that. And there never will be a time
that God will stop loving you. And all that time, God's love
has never diminished towards you. And at no time was that
love ever conditioned on you. Now, by experience, we don't
know anything about that kind of love, do we? I've often said
the closest we come to it probably is in our children. Especially
our grandchildren. Because they can do a lot of
bad things and we still love them just the same, don't we? But this is God's eternal love,
unchangeable, immutable love for His elect in Christ. That's
the everlasting love of God. It's not this weak, well-intentioned
love that most people speak of today in religion in the name
of Jesus. When they say to all without
exception, without distinction, indiscriminately, smile, God
loves you. Or God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. I know this, the ones he's talking
about here, God does love them and he does have a wonderful
plan for their life, doesn't he? I never forget when I first started
coming to 13th Street Baptist Church, one of the first messages
I heard was entitled Sovereign Love. Brother Mayhem was talking
about, he mentioned Noah's Ark. He said, could you imagine a
bumper sticker on the back of Noah's Ark floating there and
all those people drowning out in the flood? And it said, smile,
God loves you. At the time, it made me angry. But you see, I began to understand
some things as God revealed them to me in his word. You see this
love, this everlasting love is not the love whereby God wants
to do something and is trying to save somebody but cannot or
will not because that person will not cooperate of their own
free will and bow to Him. Because I'm going to tell you
something, that kind of love wouldn't save anybody. And the
only reason a sinner thinks that it would is because that sinner
thinks too highly of themselves. I know, I've been there. That kind of love reduces God's
love to a mere sentiment that's patterned after human emotion.
God said it. He says, you thought that I was
altogether one such as yourself. You're wrong. For a sinner to imagine that
God does not love everyone without exception to them is just unjust
and unfair. Why would any person feel that
way? It's because they believe they're deserving of God's love. But the Bible teaches us this,
that none of us deserve the love of God. None of us deserve it. None of us deserve God's love.
None of us can ever earn God's love. This love that never changes
and never diminishes. It's an uninfluenced, unconditional,
unearned, unmerited love of God towards those who deserve the
opposite and who have earned the opposite. That's what we've
earned. We've earned God's hatred. You
say, well God doesn't hate anybody. You better read your Bible. The
Bible says God hated Esau and he loved Jacob. Romans 9. People
say that's unfair. No, it's not, because neither
Jacob nor Esau deserved or earned God's love. That's why it's not
unfair. You say, well, why didn't God
pick both of them? That's God's business. That's right. You say, well, I'll take that
up with Him. Will you? Will you? Who are we? Who are we to question God? That's the way Paul answers that
in Romans 9. Shall the pot say to the potter,
why have you made me thus? Whatever God does is right and
fair and just. I know that so. This book says
it. Whether I see it that way or feel that way or not. Whether
or not I can make it fit with my way of thinking. I'll tell
you something right now. If I can make it fit with my
way of thinking, I'll tell you right now, it's not of God. This love was always and is always
unearned and undeserved. Sometimes you'll see that word
foreknew, whom God foreknew. The word knew or know there describes
an intimate love relationship between God and his people. You
could just as well say foreloved. And God's love is not based upon
foreseen faith. It's not that God looked down
through a telescope of time and foresaw that you would earn his
love. No, God's love for his people
is as old as God. And how old is God? Well, he
has no beginning and no end. That's why God's love for his
people is as infinite and timeless as God. He has no end. God's
love for his people is as powerful as God. God is the only source
and originator of salvation. His sovereign everlasting love
is the only cause of salvation. And when God chose a people before
the foundation of the world, He set His love upon them. And
He proved it by giving them to His Son and conditioning all
of their salvation upon His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He
determined to send His Son, Christ, into the world to fulfill those
conditions. by putting away their sins in
his redeeming work of death on the cross of Calvary and working
out an everlasting righteousness of infinite value whereby God
could be just and justify the ungodly. God's love is accompanied
with infinite power and infinite wisdom to remove every obstacle
that would hinder the eternal salvation and final glory of
all the objects of his redemptive love. Anything that stands in
the way of our salvation, it's God's love by His power that
removes it. And His love is so powerful that
it provides every means to ensure our salvation and final glory
in heaven. Everything that God requires,
because of His justice and His holiness, He has loved freely
and fully provided for us in and by the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that kind of love is powerful
and effectual towards its object. This love is in Christ Jesus.
There is no love from God outside of Christ. Now don't confuse
the love of God with the benevolence of God. Or even the goodness
of God. There's a sense in which we can
say God is good to everybody. You take a breath, that's God's
goodness towards you. It may end up being a curse if
you don't ever come to see the glory and majesty of Christ. But the fact that you're alive
is God's goodness. But his love is his redemptive
love. His love is in Christ Jesus.
His love gives ungodly sinners every reason to trust Christ
and flee to Him for all salvation. Let me give you these three things.
Turn to Romans 8.28 first of all. First of all, this everlasting
love is love of purpose. Love of purpose. Look at Romans
chapter 8. It says here in verse 28, And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Now who is it that loves God?
Well we read over in 1 John chapter 4 earlier it says, We love Him
because of what? He first loved us. So this is not man's volitional
love based upon his free will choice. That's not what it's
talking about. This is the product of God's redemptive love that
reveals His purpose. He says to them who are thee
called, invincibly called by the Spirit according to His purpose. And what is His purpose? It's
to glorify Himself in the salvation of His people through Christ.
And let's look at it. For whom He did foreknow. There's
that word know. That's that intimate love relationship. A covenant love between God and
His people. You could say for whom He did
forelove. You see this love is God acting
before us. This love is God acting before
we ever existed. Our only existence. In this foreknowledge
is as we existed in the mind and the purpose of God. And it says whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son. There's predestination. It's
all in accordance with the acting of God's love according to this
purpose that he might be, Christ might be the firstborn among
many brethren. What that means is Christ has
the preeminence. Moreover, whom he did predestinate.
Now here's what love provides. Them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. That's the eternal security of
God's purpose in salvation through Christ. It's not an empty love
that cannot accomplish its purpose. We love each other, we love our
children, but there are certain things we cannot do for them.
Isn't that right? You love your children. If you
had the kind of love that God had, You'd provide everything
your children need and they'd do everything you wanted them
to do. You'd remove every obstacle that would hinder them. And I
guarantee you, you'd save their souls. And that's what God's love is
for his people. You see, Christ did not die for sinners so that
God would be merciful and love us. It was because that God in
His nature and purpose before the foundation of the world was
merciful and because He loved us that Christ was sent to save
us from our sins. God, Paul wrote to the church
at Ephesus, commended His love toward us because He looked down
through the telescope of time and saw that we would obey. That's
not what that says, is it? Ephesians 5 verse 8. It says,
God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Christ put away our sins. Why? Because God loved us. Christ
brought in an everlasting righteousness which God had imputed to us.
Why? Because God loved us. Herein is love, 1 John 4.10. Not that we love God. You see
the turning point in this thing, the condition of this thing is
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 to the justice of God. Why? Because
God loved us with an everlasting love. God's love for His people
did not begin with the death of Christ. The death of Christ
is the result of God's everlasting love for His chosen people. Again,
we love Him because He first loved us. God is the first cause. 1 John chapter 3, look at this
one. And I'll tell you, now this is
something, as the old preacher said, this will float your boat
now. Right here. Here's the question that we ought
to be asking. Is why in the world did Almighty
God, Holy God, before the foundation of the world set his love upon
a wretch like me." Now there's the question. That's right. You say, well,
how do you know he did? Because I love him. That's right. And I love him because he first
loved me. Well, how do you know you love him? Well, hold on.
Look here in verse 1 of 1 John 3. Behold, what manner of love
The Father hath bestowed upon us. Now that's what we're talking
about. That's what's being revealed back there in Jeremiah. That's
what manner of love. The Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. Who's the we there?
Sinners who don't deserve the least of God's mercies and blessings. And it's such sinners as those
that He calls the sons the children of God. In other words, not only
God in His love has He redeemed us with the precious blood of
His Son, now what manner of love is that? That He gave His only
begotten Son, that's what John 3.16 is all about. That's right. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. That's not talking about all
without exception there. That's talking about God's created
universe that He saves through a remnant. And it says that we
should be called the sons of God. And therefore the world
knoweth us not because it knew Him not. We're right now the
sons of God. God determined, purposed, and
acted toward His people in Christ in electing love. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 1. Now we could spend all night
in this passage right here. Verse 3, this is speaking of
God's love. He says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now why did
He bless us that way? That much? Was it because we
earned it or deserved it? is because of His covenant, everlasting
covenant love according as He has chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world. You see that? There's the according
to. It's not according to our works. It's not according to
some foreseen knowledge through a cosmic telescope. No, it's according as He's chosen
us in Christ before the foundation that we should be holy without
blame before Him in love. There's the goal of His love.
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, behold
what manner of love now, by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of whose will? His will. And it says, to the
praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, accepted of God in Christ. You see, his love
is a holy love. We don't have any holiness. Where
are we going to find holiness in Christ? His love is a just
love. Sin has to be paid for. The debt
has to be paid. Righteousness has to be established.
Where are we going to find it? In Christ. His love is a righteous
love. We are accepted in the Beloved
in whom we have redemption through His blood. There is the payment
right there. The payment is not anything we did, you see. There
is what love provided. The blood of His Son. The forgiveness
of sins, there's the result, there's the fruit of that death.
According to the riches of His grace, we didn't earn it, didn't
deserve it, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according
to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. There's
the reason for it right there. If you want to know why God loved
Jacob and hated Esau, there's your answer. According to the
good pleasure which he had purposed in himself. The Lord put it this
way in Matthew 11, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And
he says in verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.
It's talking about his church there, his people. In whom also
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. That's the everlasting love of
God. His love is sovereign love. It's love of purpose. Secondly,
this everlasting love is love that we find in a person. Now
in what person do we find it? Well, we've been talking about
it. the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over Romans chapter 5. If
you want to find the love of God, if you want to experience
the love of God, there's only one person in whom you will find
and experience this love and that is in Jesus Christ the Lord
of glory and a saving union with Him. That's right. Look over to Ephesians Romans
chapter 5 I mean. Romans chapter 5. This is redeeming
love. Look at verse 1. He says, Therefore
being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace. In other words, our access to
God is in Christ. We look to Him for access to
God. This grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God Not only so, but with
glory in tribulations, that's trials, also knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, patience experience, experience hope, and hope maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Now, the love
of God shed abroad in our hearts. How is that accomplished? Is
it just some good feeling? Some emotional feeling that we
have? Well certainly emotions could accompany it and I wouldn't
deny that at all. But here's how that goes about,
here's how God accomplishes that by the Holy Spirit. Look at verse
6. For when we were yet without strength. You see that? When I didn't have any power,
In due time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. He shows me
Christ. That's how the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It's not just
a feeling. It's not just poetic. It's not just romanticism. It's
not just emotionalism. It's a saving view of the Lord
Jesus Christ who died for the ungodly. And you say, well, what's,
you know, somebody might, I don't know who would say, I don't know
who'd say this, but somebody said, well, what's the big deal
about that? Well, here's the big deal. Look at verse 7. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die. You'd die for somebody who
deserved to be died for. That's what he's talking about
there. Yet per venture for a good man some would even dare to die.
You take some people, you know, who would give their lives for
somebody who's worthy of that sacrifice. That's easy for us
to understand. But here's something that's mind-boggling. Look at verse 8. But God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. We weren't worthy of it. We didn't
deserve it and certainly didn't earn it. Christ died for us. Christ satisfied justice for
my sins. Christ gave me righteousness
and inheritance and eternal life. And it says, much more than being
now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
Him. That's salvation in a person.
The person of Christ. Go back over to Ephesians 2. And listen to this one. Ephesians
2. You want to talk about the kind
of people that Christ died for. Listen to this, verse 1, he says,
and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin.
Spiritually dead. When in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. That's us by nature. Among whom
also we all had our conversation in time past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. No
better, no more deserving than those who end up in wrath. So
that I can honestly say to you that if God were at any time,
right now, to give me what I've earned and what I deserve, it
would be wrath. But look at verse four, but God,
who's rich in mercy for his great love, that's the kind of love,
his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are
saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Not only
has He put away our sins, He has given us His righteousness
and the inheritance of grace. The riches of grace. A place
and a position in the household and family of God that can never
be taken away and can never diminish and can never go away. A permanent
Abiding position in the household and family of Almighty God forever
and ever and ever that's the love that we're talking about
and it was all because Christ died for us the ungodly I Love
that passage in John chapter 13 and verse 1 Speaking of the
Lord He came upon the scene before the feast of the Passover And
it says, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that's the
hour of Him to be arrested and to go through His suffering,
the trial of His suffering and death, obedience unto death. When Jesus knew that His hour
was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,
listen to this, having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end. And you know that word end is
the same word end that's translated finished in John 19.30. He said
it's finished. It's the same word that's translated
end in Romans 10.4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. To them that believe it. What
he's saying there is he loved his people, his sheep, God's
elect, his church so much that he was determined to finish that
work. To save them. And therefore this love has always
had in view the redemptive work, the very righteousness of God
in Christ. Here's the third thing. This
everlasting love is love of power. Now look back at Jeremiah 31.
And let's read this verse 3 one more time. It's love in power. There's a power to this love.
Now my love is sometimes powerless. You take one of your loved ones,
get sick with a deadly disease. You take them to the doctor,
you seek every means of cure, you pray for them. But there
comes that moment in time, hopefully if they're one of God's own,
He's going to take them to be with Him. If not, you know what's
in store for them and you're powerless to do anything about
it. But that's not the kind of love that God loved his people
with. His love is love of power. Look at it again, verse three.
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Now look at the rest of
it. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. This is the drawing power of
God's love. That word drawn, it's an interesting
word. It's like you drop a bucket into
the well and you draw up the water. You don't stand up there
at the well and beg for the water to jump up at you. It's like
the dragnet. Do you remember the parable of
the dragnet where they threw the nets out and they pulled
the fishes in. They didn't stand up there on
the deck of the boat and say, now fish if you want to come
on. No, they went out and got. This is the powerful love of
God manifested in the regenerating love of God by His Spirit who
brings his people under the preaching of the gospel and draws them
with cords of love into the kingdom of God as they see the glory
of Christ. Christ said it in John chapter
6 and verse 37. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He said, This is the will of
Him that has sent me, that of all which He has sent me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. He went
on to say in John 6, verse 44, No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up again at the last day. He said in John chapter 12, He
said, And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all unto Me, all His
people, the people of His love. If He dies on the cross and is
buried and raised again the third day, all the people of God's
love will be powerfully drawn by the Spirit to Christ. This
love ensures it. And He spoke that concerning
the death that He would die. One more verse, look at Romans
chapter 8. Here's the final result of the
power of God's love. Verse 14 of Romans 8. He says,
for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God. For you've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of
adoption. That's the spirit of love, isn't it? Whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. I don't remember who it was,
but he said it's kind of like saying Papa, Papa. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And if children then heirs, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with
Him that we may be also glorified together. Oh, the power of God's
love. Now that's what Jeremiah is talking
about here. He says over here, prophesies
of the new covenant. That God's going to bring his
people unto himself. He says that he's going to put
his law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts.
What is that law going to do for them? It's going to convict
them of sin. and drive them to Christ for
salvation. Because of God's powerful love,
a sinner is going to come to see that he has absolutely no
hope of salvation, of forgiveness, of eternal life, of righteousness
and glory, but in Christ and Him crucified. And he's going
to run to Christ. That's the drawing power of God's
love. He said, I'll write it in their hearts. He said, I'll
be their people, I'll be their God, and they'll be my people.
God married to His people in that marriage union of love. In Ezekiel, He said, I'm going
to give them a new heart, I'll put a new spirit within them.
They're going to be broken down over their sin, but they're going
to see hope in Christ. The love of God in Christ Jesus.
That's how the Spirit of God draws His people. That's the
everlasting love of God to His people.