Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from 1 John chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. And the title of the message
today is The True Love of God. the true love of God. Now, I
ended with these verses in the last message from this passage,
but I'm going to go back over some of them because I want to
focus on verses 9 and 10 mainly of 1 John 4. I ended at verse
10 last time, but I want to go back and say a few more things
about the true love of God. The reason I want to preach on
this subject is I've often told you that there are so many issues
of truth in the Bible that are so misunderstood, so confused
today by the majority. And the reason I say that is
because I was part of that majority at one time, the religious majority,
people who claim to believe the Bible, but really didn't understand
it and didn't know what it said. There were large sections of
the Bible that I just plainly ignored. because nobody would
preach on them, nobody wanted to deal with them, and claiming
to be Christian, but really not knowing what a Christian is.
I've mentioned that faith is one that has been so misunderstood,
and I've preached a lot on faith on this program. A lot of things
like that, holiness, righteousness, we could go on and on. But one
of the most misunderstood issues, truths, and beautiful truths
of the Bible is the issue of godly love. And so I want to
talk to you about the true love of God, not just the ideas that
people have naturally. Because nobody by nature understands
and knows and has the true love of God. Now you probably heard
the Greek word agape, A-G-A-P-E as we transliterate it into the
English. And that's the agape love, that's
what I'm going to talk about. There are different kinds of
love, several words for love in the Greek language. But we're
going to talk about the divine love. The divine love of God
for His people. And in order to deal with it
in truth, and that's what we're going to do, talking about the
true love of God, in order to deal with God's love as it is
revealed in the Bible, there's something else we've got to deal
with. And that is God's hatred. and people don't like to consider
that today. In fact, there are many people
who says, well, God doesn't hate anybody, or God has no hatred,
or they'll say things like, well, God hates sin, but he doesn't
hate any sinner, or he hates sin but loves the sinner. All
of those are misguided ideas, human ideas, human reasoning,
that are not ensconced in biblical truth. And so I wanna talk to
you about it. I love to talk about the love
of God. But if I'm going to be a true
preacher of the Bible, true preacher of the gospel, I also have to
talk about God's hate. And so hold on with me and follow
in the scriptures. Let's read these two verses we
talk about in 1 John chapter four. Now listen to what verse
nine says. In this, Now he's coming up on
something here. In this was manifested, the word
manifested means made known. It's preached out and it's revealed,
it's made known. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. Now the us there refers to believers. That's who John is writing to.
He's writing to the church, the fellowship of faith. And he says,
in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that
God sent His only begotten Son, and you know that's the Lord
Jesus Christ, into the world, that we might live through Him. And what we learn here is God's
love, number one, is in Christ, and God's love issues forth in
life. And then he says in verse 10,
herein is love, not that we love God. Now this shows us the unconditional
love of God towards his people. Now there are, when we talk about
salvation, we have to understand that salvation, as it applies
to sinners whom God saves, is unconditional towards them. It's
freely given, the scripture says. By grace are you saved. But there
are conditions that have to be met. So listen to this on verse
10, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now that word propitiation, we
see it about, I think, four times in the New Testament, several
in the book of John, But that word propitiation means a sin-bearing
sacrifice, now listen, that brings satisfaction to God's justice. And it's a turning away of God's
wrath so that his wrath does not abide upon any person for
whom Christ is the propitiation. And Christ is the propitiation.
He is the sin-bearing sacrifice. He bore the sins of His people
as they were imputed to Him, charged to Him. He suffered,
bled, and died, satisfied the justice of God against their
sins. He paid the redemption price, shedding His blood, and
He brought forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value
upon which God is just, to justify his people. And that's the product
of God's love, mercy, and grace. You see, God is the only source
of salvation. And it's his love, mercy, and
grace that brought forth salvation. But his love, mercy, and grace
must be shown and exercised upon a just ground. In other words,
God just cannot, without any reason, without any basis, arbitrarily
shed his love on people. Now, the Bible says here, back
up in verse eight, he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God
is love. See, what that means is this,
it's not just that God does love, But it's that God is love. Now
that means love is His nature. It's one of His attributes. But
here's the problem. God is not only love. God is
also holy. God is also just and righteous. He must do right in exercising
His love. It must be on a just and righteous
ground. And so, what is that just and
righteous ground? Well, it's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That imputed righteousness, that's
the entire merit or value of Christ's whole work of redemption
to save his people from their sins, and it's called a propitiation. If Christ is the propitiation,
here's what I'm saying. If Christ is the propitiation
for my sins, then I know that God loves me, because he sent
his son to do that, to accomplish that. And I know that I'm one
of God's chosen people, the elect, the scripture speaks of that.
Over in the book of Romans, chapter nine, a lot of people don't like
to read this chapter. And this is why I say these things
are so misunderstood because people avoid them. But here he's
talking about two boys, Jacob and Esau. Now, some commentators,
when they want to kind of lighten the load here, they'll say, well,
he's talking about two nations. Well, he's not. He's talking
about two boys, two twins, Jacob and Esau. And he's talking about
election, God's election of grace. God is the only source of salvation.
And he talks about in these boys, their mother, who was Rebekah,
it says in verse 12 of Romans 9, it says, it was said unto
her, Rebekah, that the elder shall serve the younger. Now,
according to the law of Moses, it was always the younger who
would serve the elder, the firstborn. But God told her it's not gonna
be the case with these two boys. And he said the elder here, who
is Esau, is going to serve the younger, Jacob. And he says in
verse 13, now listen to it, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Now I know your preachers might
tell you something like this, well that just means he loved
Esau less than he loved Jacob. That's not what this means, friend.
That's just a human way of trying to defend God, and God doesn't
need to be defended. God is sovereign, and you read
the whole passage of Romans chapter nine. But look up at verse 11. Now, I didn't read this at first,
because I wanted to preface it with this. He said in verse 11,
talking about Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac and Rebekah,
he says, 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. And so he
says, the elder shall serve the younger, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now look at verse 14 of Romans
9. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God being unfair to love Jacob
and to hate Esau? Is he being unrighteous, unjust? And Paul writes, God forbid. Now understand now, Paul is writing
this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So this is God speaking. And he says, God forbid, verse
15, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
It's God's prerogative. You say, well, that doesn't seem
fair to me. Well, you don't understand something. And that's this, if
God were to give any of us, no matter who we are, no matter
what we've done, if God were to give any of us what we deserve
or what we've earned, it would be his hatred, his wrath. But understand something, God's
hatred is not like ours. You know, we're told to love
everybody. Love our neighbor as ourselves. And then among brethren, there's
that special love, which is gonna be spoken of here in 1 John 4.
And we're told to love the brethren in a special way. But when we
hate, it's sinful. Because our hatred is usually
based upon selfish things, vengeful things. Our hatred is oftentimes
vengeance. We want vengeance, somebody's
done us wrong. The Lord says vengeance belongs
to Him. He'll take care of it. We're to leave it in His hands.
So God's, our hatred is often emotional and reactive. But God's hatred is not. You
know what God's hatred is? It's His just wrath against sinners
to whom sin is imputed. Now let me repeat that. God's
hatred is God's wrath just wrath, injustice against sinners to
whom sin is imputed, charged. God brings his wrath down, not
his love, his wrath down upon those to whom sin is imputed. That's why the psalmist David
in Psalm 32 and verse two said, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. God didn't charge these people
with their sins He's talking about. And who are they? They're
God's elect. Romans 8, 33, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Well, what did God do with those
sins? He charged them to Christ. And Christ was made the surety
of God's people. He took upon Himself the responsibility
of paying for their sins, their sin debt, And He substituted
Himself. He came to this world and became
incarnate. The Word made flesh dwelling
among us. The love of God in Christ, He
sent Him into the world to be God manifest in the flesh. And he substituted himself under
the law, went to the cross, and died on Calvary's cross to pay
that sin debt for his people, his church, his elect, his sheep. And out of his death comes righteousness
that God has imputed, charged to them. See, that's substitution. And out of that righteousness
comes life. And that's why in 1 John 4 he says that we might
have life, we might live. So the whole thing here shows
us that there's no sinner whom God loves, for whom Christ died,
that will ever die and perish in sin, in eternal damnation. That's God's hatred. and God
giving them what they deserve. You say, well, how do I know
if God loves me or hates me? Seek the Lord. You see, you're
not God. I'm not God. I can't determine
those things. All I can do is do what God says
in His Word, what He commands. Seek the Lord. Seek Him in His
Word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know this. I want to be among those whom
God loves. I can't earn it. Look back at
Romans 9 and verse 15. God says, for he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. And remember that's quoted from
Exodus 33 when Moses asked the Lord to show him his glory. Show
me your glory. And that's how the Lord answered
him. His glory is in his sovereign right to choose whom he saves.
I'll have mercy on whom I will. I'll be gracious to whom I will.
But here's the point, look at verse 16 of Romans nine. So then,
it's not of him that willeth, you see salvation's not based
upon your will, your decision, nor of him that runneth. Salvation's
not based upon your works, but of God that showeth mercy. Now
go back to first John chapter four. Verse 10, herein is love. Not that we love God. God's love
is not a response of anything we think, say, or do, or are
loving him. Our love for God is a response
to his love for us revealed in the glorious person and finished
work of Christ. But herein is love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Who does God love? He loves those
for whom He sent Christ to be the propitiation for their sins,
a sin-bearing sacrifice that brought satisfaction. You say,
well, that's not fair. He ought to love everybody. Read
Romans 9. There's your answer. There's
the answer from the Bible. You see, the reason you think
that God should love everybody is you think everybody deserves
God's love. But we don't. The only thing
we deserve is God's hatred. Anything in salvation is God's
mercy and God's grace. And grace and mercy are conditioned
on Christ. And that's what the love of God
is conditioned on. His love, as we said, His love
is holy. His love is life-giving. His
love is just. The Bible says, I believe it's
over in Psalm 5, that God hates all workers of iniquity. Well,
who are the workers of iniquity? You might look at a verse like
that. You say, well, we're all sinners, so aren't we all workers
of iniquity? Well, we're all sinners, but
there are sinners lost in their sins, and there are sinners saved
by grace. And sinners saved by grace are
those to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? And God chose them from the beginning.
You say, well, I want to be one of them. I do too. And that's
how you ought to think. Well, who are they? They are
those who seek the Lord. who get into his word and under
the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, they're born again
from above. And they believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so this is what he's saying,
in this was the love of God manifested. Well, look at verse 11 of 1 John
4. He says, beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. The standard of love
is not human love, It's not emotional love. It's God's love for his
people. And it bound him to us in that
sovereign mercy and grace of salvation. And if God loved me
that much, then I ought to love my brethren. That's who he's
talking about here. Now, under the law, we're commanded
to love all people without exception. That is, love your neighbor as
yourself. But I'm not bound to everybody
without exception, in truth, because I'm only bound to my
spiritual family in the truth of that divine love, that agape
love. I don't have that for the enemies
of God. Now if God saves them and brings
them into the family, the sheepfold, then we have that bond of divine
love that keeps us together under the truth. You understand that? If I have a person who's not
a believer, I'm to love them and to think the best of them
and do the best for them without expecting anything in return.
But they're not my brother or sister in Christ if they're not
yet brought to faith. We don't have that familia love,
the spiritual family of God. And that's what he's talking
about here, and we ought to love each other in that way, bound
together in the truth. Look at verse 12, he says, no
man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Now his love is perfect
in and of itself. But when God's love reaches its
goal of bringing sinners to Christ to submit to him in his righteousness
by faith in Christ and repentance of dead works, when God's love
brings us together under the gospel in the truth in the spiritual
family, it has reached its goal. That's what it means perfected
here. It's perfected, it's finished. That's the word. It's finished
its work. Because my sin debt, our sin
debt, the sin debt of all of God's people, not everybody without
exception now, but the sin debt of God's people whom He loves,
for whom Christ is the propitiation, is paid in full. And how's it paid, who paid it?
Christ paid it with the price of His blood. What can wash away
my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And everybody who's in this family, who's bound together in this
godly love, believes that, professes that, and we stay together in
that. So verse 13, he says, hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he's given
us of his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Now how do I know if he's given
me the Spirit? It's not by feeling. It's by
the truth that He has brought me to see in the gospel. When
the Holy Spirit comes, the Bible says He will convince the world,
the world of God's elect, of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. John 16, verses 8 through 11.
Of sin, because they believe not on Christ. What does that
mean? That means without Christ, I'm
nothing but sin. No matter how religious I was,
no matter how moral I was in the eyes of men, without Christ,
it's all iniquity. The only way that I can have
a remedy for sin is to have Christ as the Lord my righteousness,
my propitiation. And then of righteousness because
Christ went unto the Father. The only righteousness I have
before God is the imputed righteousness of Christ. What Christ worked
out for me as my substitute, my redeemer, my sin bearer on
the cross. God requires perfection. I don't
have it, but Christ has it and he accomplished it on Calvary.
And so I look to the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. He is the Lord, my righteousness.
And then he says, the spirit convinces us of judgment because
the prince of this world is cast out. Christ died for my sins. He was judged on the cross for
my sins that were charged to him and he put them away. And Satan's charges, the prince
of this world, no longer stick. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? So how do we know we have the
Spirit of Christ? The truth. I've heard people
come out of church services and talk about how they felt the
Spirit, the presence of the Spirit, but there was no truth preached,
no gospel preached. My friend, there's no presence
of the Spirit. If the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ, based upon
His righteousness imputed, is preached. If it's not preached,
there's no presence of the Spirit. You can mark it down that He's
the Spirit of truth. Good feelings, joy, joy, and
happy, happy, doesn't get it. I like good feelings, don't get
me wrong. I like to be joyful, I like to be happy. But when
I hear the gospel of Christ, that's what gives me joy, joy
and peace in believing. That's what makes me happy. And
so he says in verse 14, and we have seen and do testify that
the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. Now
people look at that word world and they say, well, see there,
that means everybody without exception in the world. The word
world never means everybody without exception. It means God's chosen
people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation all over the
world. Over in 1 John 5, he says, the
whole world lies in the wicked one. Doesn't mean everybody with
that exception there. Neither does it here. So understand,
this is the true love of God. The love of God that sent Christ
to be the propitiation, the sin-bearing sacrifice who brought satisfaction
to God's justice. into the world to save His people. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.