The text this morning is in 1
John chapter 3, a single verse, verse 1. This verse is a statement concerning
the love of God. I don't know how much you think
about the love of God, But the love of God is the wellspring
and fountain of all things, all things, concerning the redemption
of God's elect. If you trace it back, go back
through the eons, go back through eternity, go back as far as the
Word of God gives us revelation. And when you get there, you'll
find the love of God. It's the fountainhead, it's the
source of everything concerning the redemption of God's elect. And we're assured of that time
and again throughout the scriptures. He tells us in John 3, 16, for
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. When establishing his divine
election of grace, he made this statement toward Rebecca's two
unborn sons, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And this, he said, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that called it. Of the death of his only begotten
son, he made this statement, God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Of the source and knowledge of
true love, he said herein is love. Not that we love God, but
that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for
our sins. And of the results of his love,
John said, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God,
and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God, and
he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. And of its perfection, as it's
found in himself and required in us, He said, God hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy without blame. And here's the third thing, before
Him in love. Sitting next to the Father. is my representative, that one
whose very nature, whose very glory has been given to us, and
we sit in Him before the Father in love, perfect love before
the Father. The message this morning is this,
the wonder of it all. Wonder of it all. 1 John 3, verse
1. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. This word, behold, is a word
of wonder. These men had seen wonders. This man who writes this verse,
I want you to think about the wonders. He was on the mount. He tells us that at the beginning
of this very letter. He was on the mount with two other disciples and
saw the Lord transfigured before his eyes. What a wonder! I'll
tell you how wonderful it was, they wanted to build monuments
up there. This is a man who knew wonders,
who's writing this verse. Miracles and wonders, wonders
such as this world has never seen. They saw lepers cleansed
right before their eyes. They saw the lame walk, the blind
see, the dead raised up. A word from him and the devils
took flight. A word from him and the waves
on that sea laid down and the wind stopped blowing. Never a man spake like this man. They had seen wonders. Wonders were an everyday occurrence
to these blessed men who walked with the Son of God. But here's
a wonder which men who knew wonders wondered about. Behold, he said, pause and wonder,
stand in amazement, behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. The hymn writer said, oh, the
love of Christ to sinners. Who can make its wonders known?
Sin-born slaves through grace are pardoned and sit with him
upon his throne. John was so awed by the love
of Christ that he never used his own name again in his writings
when he referred to himself. You know how he described himself? That disciple whom the Lord loved. Huh? He was so awed by the wonder
of God's love for him that he never got over it. Never got
over it. And this, my friend, is the wonder
of it all. Christ loved me. Can you say
that? Can you say that? Christ loved even the chief of
sinners. The sentiments of this world,
they don't know us because they don't know him. And if I want
to keep it in the context of this, they're saying that they
didn't understand the true love of God in him and they don't
see it in you. They don't see it in you. The
sentiments of this world is a little smiley face on a bumper sticker
saying, smile, God loves you. Where's the wonder in that? Where is the wonder in a love
that refuses to help the helpless, heal the sick, or save the lost?
Where is the wonder of the love that has no will to do that which
is in His power to do? That's not the love of God. That's not the love of God. If God loves a man, if He ever
loved him, He always will. He always will. How do I know
that? Because every gift, every good,
perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow or tongue. His love doesn't change.
It doesn't change. That's not the love of God. Let
me give you five things this morning that sum up the manner
of God's love for chosen sinners. Now, love in and of itself is
a magnificent thing. And it's a thing worthy to be
studied and considered, but here John's focusing on the manner,
the manner of God's love. He said, Behold, stand in amazement,
pause and consider, stand in amazement of this, the manner
in which God has loved us. What he's saying is, what is
the word manner? What's he talking about? He's
talking about what kind. What kind of love? I know what this world calls
love. It's not official. It's not sovereign. It's not
merciful. The love they talk about is temporary. The love they talk about is a
passion. But it has, it doesn't even have a, it's not even relative
to this love. It's nothing like the love of
God. And that's what he's saying. So let me ask this question.
What kind of love has the Father bestowed upon us? What is this
manner? What manner did He love you with?
What kind of love? Well, here's the first thing.
It's sovereign love. It comes from the Father. Isn't
that what John said? Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Who's the Father? He's our wit God. He's the source
of all things. Whenever it talks about Christ,
it talks about Him being the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. In Romans chapter 9, to establish
God's sovereign election of grace, He singled out these two boys
and He said to the one, He loved him. He did this before there
was ever born or either one having done any good or evil. Jacob have I loved. Jacob have I loved. He loved
him before he was a seed in his mother's womb. He loved him. And he said the
elder is going to serve the younger because it's written Jacob have
I loved. You know, this world serves the
Church of the Living God. They provide jobs for them, they
provide police protection for them, the government protects
you with its armies and so on. This whole world serves God's
elect. Isn't that what Paul said? He
said, you're over here quibbling about which preacher you heard. He said, don't you know the world
is yours? Don't you understand that? It serves the church. Everything
in it. Everything in it. As soon as
this church is taken out of this world, it's without use. They're going to burn it to a
cinder. It's only use is for the church. It serves the church. Why? Because God loved them. Isn't that what he's saying here?
The elder's going to serve the younger because it's written,
Jacob have I love, Esau have I hate. God's love flows from
his eternal being and while he is love in its truest sense,
he's also sovereign and holy and just so that that love is
sovereign love. Sovereign love. God's love is
the love of a sovereign. He didn't love us because he
had to, but because he wanted to, if I can use those terms. My friend's man, he despises
the doctrine of election. He despises the doctrine of particular
love, of sovereign love, because they see themselves and those
around them worthy of the love of God. How could God not love
everybody? Even the statement of God loving
a few and not all is absurd in the eyes of this world. And the
problem is twofold. Here's the problem. This is why
men think this way. Their assessment of man is too
high and their assessment of God is too low. That's why. They see man crippled
but not paralyzed, wounded but not dead, one who has sinned,
not sin itself. Man has nothing in him to attract
the love of God. It says at his best state, he's
altogether vanity. altogether as an unclean thing,
all our righteousnesses, all those things which men use to
recommend themselves to God, He calls them filthy rags. The only reason you can find
in the Bible for the love of God toward sinners is because
He would. Read it. Read it. I've been reading it
for years. I've never found any other reason in the Bible for
God to love sinners. And His love goes clear back. His love, you remember what I
said at the beginning, it's the wellspring. It's where all these
other things come from. And if you trace it back, the
only reason you can find for God to love a sinner is because
according to the good pleasure of His will. That's it. That's
it. Because He would. God's love is sovereign. Secondly,
and you think about this. I want you to apply that to yourself
here this morning if you're a believer. You think about what you are
by nature and what you've done in your past and what you're
doing right now at the present. And think about your inabilities
and your imperfections. Think about what you are in the
scope of everything that's going on. He loved you. And in this love,
He took you and raised you above the angels. He took not on Him
the seed of angels, but the seed of Abraham. He didn't become
an angel when He came down here. He became a man. Think about
the love and how He's taken this center out of the dregs of the
barrel and raised Him up together with Christ and seated Him in
the heavenlies. Seated with Him. Put crowns on
your head. My soul. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine. And I think even the redeemed
in glory understand that. They understand that. that that
crown on their head belongs to Him because it says they took
their crowns off and threw them down His feet. Sovereign love, a God who's sovereign,
who could love anybody or anything, loved me. That's amazing. That's a wonder. That's a wonder. Secondly, God's
love is particular. To me, universal love is the
most ridiculous doctrine ever put over on man. It is. It's a ridiculous, totally ridiculous
doctrine. There is no kind of love that
you've ever experienced in this world even to even hint of such
a doctrine. Creature love is particular. Did you know that? Human love, creature love, they're
both particular love. I'll never forget this man telling
Henry, he said, oh, Brother Mahan, he said, I just believe God loves
everybody. He said, go home and try to sell
that to your wife. Just go home and tell her, honey,
I love you just like all the other women in this world. You
tell her that. See if she buys it. She ain't
buying it, and you shouldn't be buying it either. Husbands, love your wives. Now
listen, even as Christ loved the church. How did he love them?
In particular. In particular. Nobody else in
this world blessed with all these heavenly blessings except those
he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Universal
love is a lie made up of the spirit of antichrist to deceive
ungodly rebels into believing themselves to be worthy of the
love of God. And universal love is at the
wellspring of all false doctrine. Let them talk. See if I'm not
telling you the truth. Sit there and listen to them.
Don't interrupt them. Let them talk to you. Here's
what's going to come back to you. God loves everybody. That's
where it's going. That's where it's heading. Universal love is at the wellspring
of all false doctrine and therefore their ministry is likened in
the scripture unto a whorish woman. She's ready and willing to sell
her love to anybody willing to buy it. She's active in the streets,
loud and stubborn. She's looking for her prey and
kisses them with an impudent face, unmodest. shameless, saucy
fakes. She lies to this world, telling
them, she said, I've been looking for you. Can't you imagine some
old prostitute on the corner and this young fella comes by
that don't know up from down and she lures him over there
and she said, I've been looking for you. And he's Wallace at
hook, line, and sinker, don't he? Then she invites him into her
house. Oh, it's a sight to behold, filled with tapestries and carved
works and fine linen. And the perfume fills your nose.
It reeks of aloes and myrrh and cinnamon. And this is what she
whispers in his ears. Come, let us have our field of
love. Let's satisfy ourselves with
love. And with her much fair speech,
she causes him to yield, and with flattering lips she forces
him. And Solomon said, her house is
the way to hell. Universal love is the love of
the harlot church. It satisfies for a time and then
comes reality. In the light of those things,
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon you.
that you should be called the sons of God. What manner did
He bestow? He bestowed a sovereign love
freely of Himself, freely by His grace. And He bestowed a
particular love. Paul said He loved us and gave
Himself for us. See the wonder of it. Oh my soul,
God said His love on you. He bypassed the wise and prudent
and loved you. Now listen to this, here's the
third thing about the manner of God's love for us. His love
is a merciful love. Often when the word love is used,
it's used in conjunction with His death as our substitute.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life
for us. Herein is love, not that we loved
Him, but that He loved us, gave Himself for us. Who loved me,
gave Himself for me. And then listen to this one over
in Ephesians 2.4. God who is rich in mercy, rich
in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when
we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ, raised
us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. The love of God is merciful love. When God revealed his glory to
Moses, he revealed himself as keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. It's by way of this
merciful love that Christ was appointed our covenant head and
our surety, our substitute. God's love is merciful love,
and it gives, it appoints, it arranges, and it does. The second book in the Minor
Prophets is a book worth reading, the book of Hosea. And he told
Hosea, he said, you go marry a prostitute. That's what he
told his prophet. And he did. And he loved her. He loved her. But she continued
on in her prostitution until she was no longer appealing, no longer a profitable thing. And then she was sold into bondage. And they took that old prostitute,
her beauty faded, dressed now in rags, and they put her on
the auction block. And her husband went down there
and bought her. Bought her. Not because she was
beautiful or valuable or any such thing, but out of merciful
love. And when he did, then he told
her, he said, let me tell you something. It wasn't your lovers
that left the oil and the wine outside your door, it was me.
All those years you praising your lovers, it wasn't your lovers,
it was me. It was me. And God said this
is the story of his Israel. Not a day in the life of God's
elect that provision is not laid at their door. Not a day when
A faithful husband does not oversee your condition and provide for
her care. That's pervenient grace. That's
grace before grace. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, this merciful love. Merciful
love. And this is a faithful saying
that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom
I am pure. Can you envision the father running
out to the prodigal? Still smelled of the hog pen.
He didn't wash. And neither will you when you
come to Christ. When He drows you, you won't
wash. You'll come just like y'all. You'll crawl right out of the
hog pen and come to Him. just like you are, stinking and
smelling like the hog, got the husk still hanging out of the
side of your mouth where you ate it. You confess yourself
and take your place exactly for what you are. And the most amazing
thing to you, And we all have done it in our profession. We
all think, well, you know, if the Lord will have mercy on me,
I'll just be satisfied just to be a fly on the wall. I'll just
sit in the back of the church and I'll be a dog and wait on
the crumbs to fall on the ground. And all that's good and well.
But let me tell you something. That was all in the mind of the
prodigal when he went to meet his father. But when he got there,
it was a different story. The father ran to him. He ran
out to meet him. He'd already made preparations
for his coming. He had the calf already in the
stall, fed up. And here he was, he was going
to take his place with the servants. He came out and put the master's
ring on his finger, the royal seal. He came out and took the best
robe. Here's this man standing there
in the hogwild, and put the robe on him. That's merciful love. You see where John's coming from?
I don't have to put you there. Put yourself there. Those of
you who know God, who know Christ, who know something about the
salvation of God, you put yourself there and think about what love
this is, what a wonder it is. Merciful love. And then fourthly, here's something
else that defines the divine wonder of this love. It's affection. I read it to you a while ago.
Love never faileth. Never faileth. If you have a
love that gives up, it's not the love of God. His love don't
give up. His love never fails. Listen
to these blessed scriptures over in Romans chapter 8. He said,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who's going to separate you from
that love? Tribulation, that is trouble. Distress, persecution, famine,
nakedness, peril, sword. For his sake, we're killed all
the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. And in all these things, we're
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For, Paul
said, I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things
to come, nor height, that is, the highest authority that there
is, nor depth, the lowest demon out of hell, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Behold, the grand and glorious
manner of God's effectual love, God's love for us spared not
His own Son. Next time you feel like blaming
God for not giving you something or you're just sitting there
and you're saying, well, I don't think God would do that for me.
You think about this. He spared not his own son. And he's not going to withhold
anything. If he won't withhold his son, I guarantee he won't
withhold anything. And then think about this. That
perfect love casteth out all fear. All fear. All right, here's
the fifth one. God's love is sacrificial love. Love manifests itself in giving
and therefore Paul gave it the name charity. Charity. Charity is active love. That's what that word means.
Active love. It's not just love and it's not
just giving. It's active love. God's love
is active. And it gives. Love gives until
there's nothing left to give. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. And picture our Lord hanging
on the cross of bloody, swollen mess. He was still giving. Still giving. Gave to the thief.
This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. John, you come over
here. That disciple whom the Lord loved. He said, you come
over here. Called his mother over there and he said, Mother,
this is your son. Son, this is your mother. You
take care of her. Just gave and gave and gave until
his last breath. I'm the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And I'll tell you this. Once
you've given yourself, everything else goes with it. All the rest
of it goes with it. God's love is sacrificial love. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. No wonder John said, Behold. Behold. This kind of love, when
manifested, removes all doubt and fears. 1 John 4, 16, and we have known
and believed the love that God hath to us. Now just hold your
place there and let me ask you a few questions. How did this
man John come to know and believe that God loved him? He said he
did. I just read the verse to you. How did he come to know that?
How did he come to know that? He came to know it and believe
it through the manifestation of Christ. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, 1 John 3, 16, because He laid down His life
for us. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Yes, but how did He know God
loved Him? Verse John 4, 13, "...hereby
know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given
us of His Spirit." The revelation of Christ is not made effectual
in the hearts of all men, but in the hearts of those He loves. It's made effectual in their
hearts because He loves them and sent His Son to redeem them,
and now sends His Spirit to regenerate them and call them and give them
the power to become sons of God. In 1 John 4, verse 15, it says,
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. We know and see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. We know it and perceive it as
it's demonstrated to us through the preaching of the gospel and
the power of the Holy Spirit. We know these things, we understand
these things, and understanding these things is how we come to
know that He loves us, because nobody that He doesn't love is
given that understanding. And the man who knows nothing
of redeeming, justifying, sanctifying this work of God in Christ cannot
enter into any experiential knowledge of the love of God, because that's
where it's shown. That's where it's made known.
All right, now watch this. Verse 17, Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
Because as He is, so are we in this world. This is how the believer
perceives the redemptive work of Christ. Christ, His representative,
His federal head, His covenant charity. Our love for Him is
a reflection of His love for us. Just like that moon. A night not too long ago, I went
out and there's that big old full moon. It just lit the whole
backyard up. Moon doesn't have any light.
It doesn't have any light. All that light comes from the
day star. And it shines on that moon and
that light of that moon lights up the night. That's God's love
in us. That light, He shines that light
in you and that light reflects before the whole world. We love
Him because He first loved us. What is the wonder of it all?
The wonder of it all is that the sovereign, eternal, merciful
God of glory should love such a worm. That's what John said. That's
what he sees. He was awed by it, mesmerized
by it. He saw it in its true light.
And though this world couldn't understand a thing that he was
saying about it, yet it so moved him. And he said, every man that
has this hope in him, he'll purify himself even as he's pure. It
has a sanctifying effect on a man when he understands something
about the love of God. So much so that Paul said, the
love of God, he said, is what constrains us. I know the law restrains this
church world today, but it doesn't for believers. The love of God
constrains him because he sees that majesty and wonder in that
love. God help us to see it.