invite your attention to the
prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter 31. Thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah. Sandra Marvin and I were united
in holy matrimony on the 19th of May in the year of our Lord,
1975. We spent a few months of courtship
prior to that time, and on a certain Lord's Day, During that time
of courtship, she accompanied me to a preaching engagement. Neither of us now, 35 years later,
remembers the occasion. We do not remember the venue. We do not remember anything we
discussed on that day, but evidently In our trip to that venue, I
mentioned the text from which I was to preach that morning,
because when I opened my Bible to announce the text, I found
a sliver of paper torn from a sheet on which someone had written,
I love you. So I announced my text. and began
to scan the congregation hoping that I might ascertain who it
was that wrote that note. For as much as I love myself,
I've never written such a note to myself. And so while the congregation
is looking for the text, I'm scanning the congregation and
there she is, beaming a smile from ear to ear as though to
say, I wrote that note, and yes, I love you. I am not a romantic. I do not
think I am a sentimental old fool, but that note meant something
to me. So I laminated it and returned
it to my Bible, where it has remained now for thirty-five
years. and has been daily looked at. I know that someone loved me
thirty-five years ago because I have the proof in her own hand
in my Bible. You may say, well now, Moose,
that was thirty-five years ago and you're not the easiest person
there is to live with. And we all know that if you know
me very well. But Sandy came to visit me on
St. Croix a few months ago, and I told her that I had misplaced
the note and had done so just very recently, and that I could
not find it. And within a very few moments,
I had another one. I love you. And the original
was found in her Bible, which I had used on another occasion.
But I have now for 35 years on a daily basis treasured that little piece of
paper and that note. I consider myself greatly honored
that the woman whom I admire most in this world loves me. But not only do I have a note
in one place in my Bible to show a token of her love for
me. But this book itself is a love
note from the greatest lover I ever had. Now you may say, Moose, it's
not exactly a note. It's a tome. It's a big book. True, it is. But when my lover receives me
in glory, and there I learn really and truly of his love for me,
I'm going to realize this was only a note. And I know that everywhere I
turn in this book, I find some token of his love for me. I find
in one way or another In this phrase or in those words, Jesus
Christ is saying most parts, I love you. I can agree with P.P. Bliss when
he wrote, I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of his
love in the book he has given. Wonderful things in the Bible
I see. This is the dearest that Jesus
loves me. I go to the book of Genesis chapter
1 and I read of my Lord creating heavens and the earth and making
it here for my enjoyment and I read that God loves me. I read in Genesis 2 of my Lord
preparing a garden for my pleasure, a garden, though lost on this
earth now, still reserved in glory for me, a garden which
I shall enjoy in paradise. And when I read of that, I hear
my Lord saying, I love you. I read of my rebellion against
Him in that garden when I sinned and fell in my father, And yet
despite my rebellion, I read God saying, I love you. For he has declared that the
seed of the woman shall crush the head of my oppressor. And in crushing the head of my
oppressor, Jesus Christ shouts in victory, I love you. And all the way through this
book, in the books of history, I read God saying, ìI love you.î
In the Psalms I read God saying, ìI love you.î I go to the Song
of Solomon and read the sweetest love story ever written, and
I hear Christ saying to me, ìI love you.î In the prophets they
foretell He will come saying, ìI love you.î In the Gospels,
Jesus Christ walks upon this earth and repeatedly declares,
I love you. In the epistles, I read, He loves
me. And in the last book of the Bible,
He assures me one last time, He loves me. All the way through
this book, I find this love note, I love you. My darling wife simply wrote
a note in three words, I love you. But she did not in that
note tell me why nor how. But my Lord has. In his book,
he has told me why he loves me, how he loves me, to what degree
he loves me, for how long he loves me. And tonight we're going
to look at some of these. I have a message. It is 25 points. But we shall not keep you long,
I promise. But very briefly, I want you
to read these love notes from God declaring His love for His
children. And the first one here is in
the prophecy of Jeremiah chapter 1. Observe what he says in verse
number 3. Here we find that the Lord has
loved me with eternal love. For the Lord hath appeared of
old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love." Folks, that is eternal love. Everlasting love means
it will last forever. But notice that not only is it
everlasting, it is everlasting in the other direction as well.
For He declares to me, I have loved you. What did you love
me yesterday? Well, yesterday I said of the
day, I have loved you. And if I could go back to the
very first day of creation, had I been there, he would have said,
I have loved you. How do I know? Because the Lord
hath appeared of old to me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. What is it to appear of old? In the prophecy of Micah, chapter
5, verse 2, we read that the goings forth of our Savior have
been of old, from everlasting. My Lord loved me before the foundation
of the world. He loves me now, and He'll love
me when this world is over. What would be more devastating
than to hear my lover say, Moose, I no longer love you. God said
that to Ephraim for their transgressions in Gilgal. There I hated them. I will drive them from my house. I will love you no more, Hosea
9.15. But to his elect, to his people,
he declares from eternity I love you. In time, I love you. Throughout all eternity, I love
you. My love is eternal. Furthermore, second, this love
is effectual. In the very same verse, he says,
therefore, because I love you, therefore, with loving kindness,
I have drawn you. This love is effectual. Satan,
with evil intent, will draw you to himself in temptation to cause
you to sin. Your enemy will draw you to himself
in ambush, in conflict, in debate, with malice aforethought. But
our Lord says, I drew you to myself in love. I know of no sweeter place in
all the world than in the embrace of my beloved. If my beloved
will but embrace me and hold me, what sweeter place is that,
only one, when Jesus Christ reaches down and takes hold of this sinner
and draws me to himself and says, I love you this much. I draw
you to myself. And it's effectual. That's what
he does. Third, this love is preserving
love. He says in Isaiah 43, verse 4,
Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honored,
and I have loved you. Why? I am precious to Him. Consider that. His children are
precious to Him. He says, I will honor you and
therefore I will give men for you and people for your life. What does that mean? It means
that He will pass by others who are worse than I am. He will
pass by others in order to give His love to me. He should have
passed by me. There was nothing in me that
deserved His stop, but He did. I will give men for you. I will pass by others because
you're the one that's precious. I say to you, this love is preserving.
You are precious and for all eternity I am precious to Him. Fourth, this love is beautifying
and exalting in Ezekiel 16, 8 through 14. He says to his bride, when
I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was
the time of love. So I spread my wing over you
and covered your nakedness. Observe that he loved me so much
he covered my nakedness with himself. Yes, I swore an oath
to you, a vow of holy matrimony. I swore an oath to you and entered
into a covenant with you and you became mine. I heard someone tonight say,
introduced herself saying, I belong to such and such. That is so
sweet. I belong to such and such. And
her husbands can say she's mine. That means she doesn't belong
to me. She belongs to him. The one who
says she's mine. And to the lady who says I belong
to him. The Lord says to his bride, you're
mine. You belong to me. And I thoroughly
washed off your blood and anointed you with oil. Put a glow on your
face. I clothed you in embroidered
cloth. I gave you sandals of badger
skin. I clothed you with fine linen
and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments,
put jewelry on you. Then he says you were exceedingly
beautiful and succeeded to royalty because when you marry the king,
you become the queen and your fame went out among the nations
because of your beauty. Listen, for your beauty was perfect. through my splendor, which I bestowed on you. He made me beautiful. On the day that I married Sandra
Marvin, on the day before, I thought
she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. But on that wedding
day, When she walked down that aisle, I was surprised. I didn't know
she was so good looking. And she had made herself so beautiful,
but I had nothing to do with it. When the Lord's wife is beautiful,
He says, I did it. I did it. You are perfect through
My splendor. If Jesus Christ loves you, you
will be beautiful to Him because He will make it so. Fifth, this
love is Christ giving love in John 3.16. For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Only begotten
Son. I have an only begotten Son. having only begotten daughter. Please take no offense when I
say it. I love you folks, but I don't
love any of you enough to give my son for you. And if you're
honest, you won't give yours for me. You don't love me that much and
I don't love you that much. That's being fair and honest
with you, is it not? Only one person ever loved me
enough to give his only begotten son. And this is a love that
I do not understand. I have two children. I'll give
neither of them for anybody. He gave his only begotten son. And notice this. He doesn't say,
I suggested my son. He doesn't say, I recommended
my son. He does not even say, I offered
my son. Rather, he says, I gave him.
And I say to you, nothing is given until it is received. God will not offer his son to
law of humanity in the hope that one of us somewhere, or maybe
two or three of us, will accept him. He doesn't do that. God says, I'll give him, and
you will receive him. Who will receive Him? Whoever
believes in Him. Now these are the world that
God loves. That world that God loves so
much are these who show themselves to be the objects of His love
by believing in His Son through this Christ-giving love. Sixth,
this is unsurpassed love in John 15, 13. Jesus says, this is my
commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. And greater love has no one been
this than to lay down one's life for his friends. I love my country. Today is July 4th. We're showing
patriotism and I love my country. I love my country so much that
I gave four years of my life to the defense of my country.
Now granted, I would not have done it had I not been drafted. But having been drafted, I did
not flee to some other place, like a lot of others did in the
60s. But I love my country. And having gone in, I was willing
to lay my life. But I most certainly hope I didn't
have to. I did not volunteer my life,
but Christ volunteered His. He loved me that much. No one
ever loved me so much as to say, I laid down my life. For whom? For my friends. I want
to be His friend. I want to know that He loves
me. Who are His friends? You are my friends if you keep
my commandments. So therefore, if you keep His
commandments, You will hear Him tell you, I love you. And what is His commandment?
Believe in Me. Trust in Me. Number seven, this is Christ's
worthy love. In John 17, 23 and 24, Jesus
prayed to His Father that the world may know that you have
loved them as you have loved Me. Now remember, God loves His
only begotten Son More than anything in this universe, he loves his
only begotten Son. But Jesus, the only begotten
Son, says, Father, let them know that you love them like you love
me. You mean God's going to love
me like he loves his only begotten? That's right. Then Jesus says
this, You loved me before the foundation of the world. Now,
what does that mean? Jesus Christ, the divine wisdom
in Proverbs 8 says, that I was with the Father before the world
began. And then he says, and I was daily
His delight. Before the world was brought
into existence, Jesus says, I was daily His delight. Then he says,
Father, show them that you love them like you loved me and you
loved me before the foundation of the world. You know what that
means? Before time began, before the world was created, I was
daily God's delight. I don't know how it was, but
I know it's true. Because God entered into a covenant
with me before the foundation of the world. And He loved me. And He delighted in His elect
before time began. Because He loves me like He loves
His only begotten Son. And then this is demonstrated
love in Romans 5a. Because God demonstrates His
own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. A demonstrated love. Now listen. God demonstrated His love by
sending Christ to die for sinners. But let me suggest to you that
it goes further than that. God demonstrated His love by assuming my humanity and God died for me when Christ
gave His life for me. The songwriter has it correct
when he says, Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in
the death of Christ my God." The Apostle has it right when
he says, you were purchased with the precious blood of God. And there is a demonstration
of love from God in that God assumed my humanity and died
for me. This is demonstrated love. This
is inseparable love in Romans 8, 35 through 39. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Nothing. We are convinced that
nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Some people may say, well, you
know, I believe you can be saved today and lost tomorrow. Well,
when you say that, what you're saying is this. God doesn't love
me. That is what you're saying. You
may tell everybody God loves everybody. You may say so. But
if you say that one may be saved today and lost tomorrow, you're
saying God doesn't love me because nothing can separate from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. It is inseparable. Number 10, this is conquering
love in Romans 8, 36 and 37. As it is written in Psalm 44,
22, for your sake we are killed all day long, we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter, yet in all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him who loved us. My life is full of
trouble, most of it self-inflicted, toil, pain, and sorrow. an everyday thing, but if God loves me, I will beat
it every time. We are more than conquerors. I delight in seeing new converts.
You know what makes me happier than a new convert? An old one. Silver-haired folks. Some here
tonight And you've fought many battles and you've got the scars
and the fatigue to prove it. Have you conquered? Evidently,
if you did, you want to know why? God is saying, I love you. I love you. This is self-giving
love in Ephesians, Galatians 2.20. The Son of God loved me
and gave Himself for me. Now listen, this is Christ giving
love because the Father loved me enough to give His Son But
the Son gave Himself for me voluntarily as well. This is self-giving
love. This is electing love in Ephesians
1, 3, and 4, because the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ chose us in Christ before the foundation, or that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Someone may say, well, preacher,
I don't really care much for that doctrine of election. What
you're saying is you don't want to stand before God in love.
What you're saying is you don't want God to love you. Because
when God chose a people, it was so that they would stand before
him and see his love. Now, do you see why we love this
doctrine so much? This is unmerited love in Ephesians
2, 4 through 7. God who is rich in mercy because
of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace
you have been saved. Unmerited. Unmerited. I didn't earn it. It's free love. It means without a reason. God
loved me. because I did not deserve it.
God loved me with an unmerited love. Would you like to know
why I love her? Would you like to know why I
fell in love with her? I'll tell you the reasons. Number one, she's lovable and I found her
attractive. And she's loving. And attractive. And she's lovely. And did I mention
she's attractive? Now you may say, Moose, those
are carnal reasons for falling in love. Well, when I fell in
love with her, I was a very carnal man. And I assume I'm not the
only honest one in this building this night. I loved her because I thought
she earned it. I looked at her and said, she
deserves my love. No one, I have never heard anyone
say, I love her because she's the most unlovely person I ever
saw in my life. No one except God. God loved her because she's unlovable. unloving, unlovely, and he did
not find her attractive. And the same is true of all of
us. None of us merited this love.
God loved us because he wanted to, and not because we earned
it. This is sacrificial love in Ephesians
5 too. Christ also has loved us and
given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling aroma." Now listen. Sacrificial love. From the dawn of creation, sacrifices
had been made to show the love of God. For 1,500 years, the
Lord required sacrifices under the Old Covenant. And it went on and on and on
and on until one day Christ came down and he said, I love you
so much, I'm bringing an end to all these sacrifices. And
now I am the sacrifice. He gave himself and brought an
end to all those sacrifices. You want to see how much he loves
me? Look at the sacrifice. It brought an end to all the
ones preceding it. He loves me that much. to say to me, bring me no more
lambs, no more rams, no more bullocks. I'm your sacrifice. This is perfecting love in Ephesians
5, 25 through 27. Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse
her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle. or
any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish."
The world despises us, and the Lord says to me, you're perfect. Lord, how can I be perfect? I
made you that way. Why'd you make me perfect? I
love you that much. Number 16, this is consoling
love in 2 Thessalonians 2, 16 and 17. Now may our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself and our God and Father, who has loved us and
given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
Consoling love. Some of you leave the house in
the morning, and it's going to be Monday, and you're going to
have a rough day, and this is going to go wrong, and that's
going to go wrong. Happens to me. But if I can come
home and my lover would hold me in her arm and tell me, forget
it, you're home now, I'm consoled. It's all forgotten. And Jesus
Christ does that. Draws me to His bosom. And He
says, you know what? I love you. I love you enough
that I saved you. I justified you. I sanctified
you. I have already glorified you. Nothing consoles me any more
than when my lover tells me he's done all that for me. Number 17, this is correcting
love in Hebrews 12, 6, because whom the Lord loves, he chastens. I've seen little children in
grocery stores and supermarkets and hardware stores, just all
kinds of places, little children crying at the top of their lungs
and their mother tries to ignore them. And I know she can't because
she's closer than I am and it annoys me. And they just go on
and on, you know, and the mother just walks in like, you know,
like she doesn't hear. I know good and well she doesn't
hear, that she does hear. And I look at the little child
and I say, you poor little child. Your mother does not love you.
Because if she did, she wouldn't let you act like that. My father
loved me and he didn't let me act that way. because he corrected me and he
chastened me. Why didn't my father do that?
Because he loved me. The poor child who's never corrected
is lacking in love from his parents. And God the Father chastens his
children. And I've got evidence of it in
myself. But He loves me. If you can live
in sin and shame and the Lord never corrects you, be very concerned
for the Lord chastens whom He loves. Number 18, this is adopting
love in 1 John 3. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children
of God. I met a couple recently. They had,
I think, two children biologically. I have two children biologically.
Sandra and I do. And I know, oh, I love them. I love them so much. I mean,
you know, they're mine. I mean, it's myself and herself in our children. And you love them. This couple. then went halfway around the
world and adopted the little girl from another nation, from
another culture, from another race. And I'm thinking, what
uncommon love is that? I mean, I have never adopted
that is a love that I don't think I know. It's beyond me. It is uncommon love. Not only
that, this same couple now is going back to the same place
and going to adopt a second one. What uncommon love is that? I
mean, we understand a common love for your own flesh and blood,
but to adopt someone else's children who are totally different from
you. What uncommon love is adopting love? Well, that's my father's
love. He adopted me. I was a child of wrath by nature. And he said, you're mine. I bought
you and I adopted you. I love you that much. This is
proven love in 1 John 3, 16. Proven love. A young lady may say to her beau,
how much do you love me? And he will reply as we men are
prone to do, I love you so much I'd swim the deepest ocean. I'd climb the highest mountain. I'd cross the hardest, widest
desert in bare feet. I love you so much. And both
he and she know he's lying through his teeth. But be very concerned if you've
been married for 35 years and your wife says, do you love me
enough to die for me? Because she might want proof. Jesus Christ loved me that much.
By this we know love because He laid down His life for me. His own life. laid it down. Listen, folks, no one ever loved
me that much but Him. Number 20, this is manifested
love in 1 John 4, 9. In this, the love of God was
manifested toward us that God has sent His only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through Him.
Manifested love. You want to know what manifested
means? In 1 Peter 1, verse 20, we read that Christ was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in
these last times for you. You know what that means? It
doesn't mean God's love began when I saw it. Only that that
love which God had from before the foundation of the world and
was foreordained, He now has turned the light on so that I
may see it. This is manifested love. Number
21, this is propitiating love in 1 John 4, 10. For in this
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. A propitiation
is something that appeases God's wrath. Why would God show wrath to anyone? Because of sin. Our sin. It's odious to Him. He despises
it. He is too holy in his eyes to
even look upon it. He will not come to me as long
as that sin of mine is there before him. So Christ comes down
and covers my sin with himself. He is the propitiation. for my sins has covered my sin
like the blood that covered that mercy seat and made a propitiation. Propitiating love, appeasing
God's wrath, and reciprocating love in 1 John 4, 19. We love
Him because He first loved us. I suppose most young people know
all the discouragement of unrequited love. I love him so much, but
I just can't get him to love me. And I love her so much, but
I just can't get her to love me. Well, God does not have that
problem. He came to me and he said, most
parts I love you. Or he asked me, he said, do you
love me? And I said, no, I don't love you. I don't love you. And
then God says, well, I love you. And here's the proof. And He
showed me all these things I've been showing to you. And I saw
this love of God that was manifested to me. And I said, oh my God,
I can't help it. I love you. When God shows He loves you,
you'll have to love Him in return. You'll have to. You'll have to.
This is cleansing love in Revelation 1.5 because Jesus Christ loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. washed our sins in His own blood,
washed away our blood with His own. This is number 24, vindicating
love in Revelation 3. He says, Indeed, I will make
those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are
not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come
and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved
you. Listen, folks, and you're well
aware of it. You know the gospel you preach,
have preached in this pulpit, it's hated. Religion despises
us who love this gospel and preach this gospel and will not compromise
it. They despise us. And the Lord
said, go ahead and let them do it. But one of these days, I'm
going to make them come and worship before you and I'm going to show
them who I love. I love those who love me and
I'll vindicate your love for me by proving it to your enemies. And 25th, this is curse confounding
love in Deuteronomy 23 verse 5. So we go to the book of Revelation.
Now we're going to go back to the Pentateuch, the first books
of the Bible. And here's what God says. The Lord, your God turned the
curse into a blessing for you because the Lord, your God loves
you. The curse has been turned into
a blessing. He has done it. He has turned
the curse into a blessing. The curse that I inherited through
my fallen Adam. But think about this. In Adam,
I lost everything. In Christ, I got back infinitely
more. My curse has been turned into
a blessing. Why? God says, because I love
you. I love you. Let the world curse
me! He'll turn it into a blessing.
So I want you to see, my friend, that everywhere I look in God's
Word, there He is, smiling sweetly at me and saying, I love you. I love you. And since He has loved me from
eternity past, and will love me throughout eternity to come.
And since he is immutable, his love is immutable. I'll say to my wife, I love you
more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow. And
one of these days I expect her to say, well, how come you don't
love me today as much as you're going to love me tomorrow? How
come I have to wait? And we say, well, my love gets more and more
every day. God's love does not get more
and more every day. It is as immutable as He is. I love you. He will love me throughout
eternity as much as He did before the foundation of the world.
So I ask you, does God love you? Does He love
you? He doesn't love everybody. He
says there are some I hate. Does He love you? I'll tell you
this. If you love Him, He does. If you truly love God, He loves
you. That's the proof of it. By this
we know love. But, oh, my friend, oh, my friend,
I would be remiss if I did not tell you this. If you refuse
this gospel I preach and disbelieve in Christ, God hates you. You can read it in Psalms 5,
7, and 11. I'm not going there tonight.
You may go there if you wish. I want to be one of those to
whom God sends these tokens of love and says, I love you. I love you. Does He love you?