I think that it was back in 1995.
I was out in Rescue, California at a Bible conference in the
summer, and I saw a fellow standing in front of the church building
on the lawn with a couple of strange-looking booklets in his
hand. As a matter of fact, I didn't
know anybody was even aware of them except me and a few other
folks. Book by John Bryan on eternal justification. The other
was a booklet by John Gill, one of his sermons that was reprinted
from a sermon that was first published in the 1750s on God's
everlasting love for his elect. And that fellow was Alan Kidney.
He had those two books with him. So we got to be acquainted with
one another and been friends ever since. That's my subject
this morning. God's everlasting love for his
elect. Turn with me to John chapter
17. John chapter 17. God's everlasting love for his
elect is the fountain of all grace and salvation and the reason
for everything he does. God's everlasting love for his
elect is the fountain of all grace and salvation and the reason
for everything he does. The reason for everything he
does. In John 17 and verse 23, our
Savior declares, I in them and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now, that was my subject last
week. Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. What a pillow upon which to rest
our heads. What a comfort for our poor aching
hearts. What a glorious theme for meditation. What a cause for adoration, praise,
and worship. God Almighty loves me. as he loves his son. Astonishing. Now, read verse
24, and hear the Son of God declare that God the Father has loved
his people as he loves his Son from eternity. Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I
am, that they may behold my glory, the glory which thou hast given
me. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. Connect verse 23, the last statement,
with the last statement of verse 24. Thou hast loved them as thou
hast loved me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world." With those words, our Savior declares God's everlasting
love for his elect. Let me give you a statement that
Mr. Gill made in the sermon I mentioned
earlier. He said God's everlasting, unchangeable,
invariable love to his elect through every state and condition
into which they are called is written with a sunbeam in the
sacred writings. It's it's written everywhere.
God's everlasting love for his elect that immutable, unchangeable,
perfect love of God for his people is written as with a sunbeam
upon every page of Holy Scripture. I am again in waters way over
my head. I don't expect to expound my
subject. When I get done, there'll be
plenty more to think about and plenty more to say. But let's
just draw up the nuggets we can and show you something about
this everlasting love. I'll show you five things about
it and I won't be long doing so. First, the eternality of
it. The eternality of it. Everything
about God is eternal. God's love did not begin yesterday. It is not dependent upon today. It is not something that's born
in time or regulated by things in time. His love for us does
not begin with our love for him. We love him because he first
loved us. That means if Mary Lou Duff loves
God Almighty, it's because God loved you before. His love precedes
our love for him, and his love is the cause of our love for
him. His love is infinitely beyond
our love for him. And it is His infinite love for
us that causes us in time to love Him. Turn to that very familiar
text in Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 31. Very familiar
to this congregation. Not familiar to most folks who
have a Bible sitting on the coffee table gathering dust. But familiar,
I hope, to every one of you. Jeremiah 31 verse 3. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, and my everlasting love for you. Is that which causes
me in time to draw you to myself in effectual omnipotent Irresistible
grace to draw you to me in loving kindness God's love for us then
is eternal The father loved us ere we fail and will forever
love Nor shall the powers of earth and hell his love from
zion move was love that moved him to ordain a surety just and
good, and on his heart inscribed the names of all for whom he
stood. Nor is the surety short of love.
He loves beyond degree. No less than love divine could
move the Lord to die for me. All God's acts and works of grace. All God's acts and works of grace
are traced in scripture and must be traced by anyone with good
sense back to God's everlasting love for us. Turn to Ephesians
one. Let's look at a few scriptures.
Ephesians chapter one. Election. was an act of God's
eternal love. God chose us as his own because
of his eternal love for us. And all the blessings of grace
flowing to us by God flow to us according to his eternal love
for us by which he chose us in Christ. Look at Ephesians 1 verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath chosen, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Now watch this. According as,
according as, people everywhere talk about God's blessings. Every
blessing, every blessing of God, every
blessing of grace, every blessing presently enjoyed in providence,
every blessing of eternal life in the world to come. Every blessing
was given at one time to all God's elect in Christ before
the world began. And these blessings flow to us
in the experience of grace in time and shall be ours forever
in the world to come. Look at it now, according as. That's the only way God blesses
anybody. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. These blessings come to us according
to God's love by which he predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself before the world began. These blessings
then flow from God's eternal love for us. The covenant of
grace was established by the triune God in eternity because
of his great love for us. Now, when we speak about the
covenant, And we speak of it in terms of a covenant. A covenant
is an agreement between two or more people. It is an agreement
which is a solemn agreement. It is an agreement that has certain
stipulations. And the covenant of grace is
revealed to us in just that way in scripture so we can get our
puny brains on it. We can somehow get a little handle
on it. But don't ever imagine that God's
covenant is like one of our covenants. That's just an example used by
God to describe his sovereign disposition of grace for us from
eternity. David speaks of it this way.
The Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
all things and sure and this is all my salvation and all my
desire although he make it not to grow that is though he doesn't
make manifest presently what I know is written in that covenant
that covenant is all I want that covenant is all my salvation
that means done everything God does in time he does according
to the that sovereign disposition of grace he made for you and
with you in the substitute and surety Christ Jesus the Lord.
God's covenant of grace is a covenant of love. Trusting our souls into
the hands of Christ is our surety was a work of God's eternal love.
All that the father hath given me shall come to me. And if he that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. That's the language of the scripture.
Before the world began, the triune God Trusted our souls into the
hands of his darling son as our Savior and trusted his son with
our salvation and we are made to be to the praise of his glory
who first Trusted in Christ in whom you also trusted after you
heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation All right,
first thing then God's love is eternal second, let's look at
the immutability of it and Immutability. That's a big word we don't use
much these days and when we do, not many people really mean immutability. You say something's immutable.
No, it's not. No, it's not. That's an immutable
fact. There's no such thing as an immutable
fact unless you're talking about God. No creature is immutable. Nothing of time is immutable. Nothing about men is immutable. No word of a man is immutable. No covenant of a man is immutable. No will of a man is immutable. And there's no such thing among
men as immutable love. No such thing. No such thing.
But the love of God, that's immutable. It doesn't change. It will not
admit change. Find change in God's love, and
you have declared plainly and proved plainly that it is not
God who loves. God's love doesn't change. He
says, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. With him is no valuableness,
neither shadow of turning. God's love doesn't change. It can't be taken from us. It
can't be destroyed, not by us, and not by hell, and not by anyone
else. And that's only half the story,
Merle. It can't vary. It can't rise. It can't lower. It can't be inflamed. It can't be cooled. God's love
is always God's love as he reveals it, as he declares it, as he
expresses it. Immutable, immutable love. Look at Ephesians 1. You've still
got your Bibles open there. Verse 7. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, watch this now, which he hath
purposed in himself. God's love for us is in himself. His purpose of grace is in himself. His will is in himself. It's
not regulated by things of time. Look at Romans Chapter 8, Romans
Chapter 8. And while you're turning, let
me give you a statement. It is a statement written by
a very famous preacher who is touted by lots of folks as being
very reputable and his books are being reprinted by the hundreds
of thousands today, A.W. Tozer. He was the founder of
the Armenian Christian Missionary Alliance Church. I don't know
of any in this area, but further south there are lots of them.
A. W. Tozer made this statement
about God's love. It's in his sermon on the love
of God in Volume 8 of his sermons, if you want to look at it. God
must love and will love man until hell has erased the last trace
of the remaining image of God in him. Men are lost now, but
they're still loved of God. I believe that God now loves
all lost men. But the day will come when lost
men will no longer be loved by God Almighty. I believe the time
will come when God will no longer love lost human beings. Isn't that wonderful? Such fickle
notions of God may suit a real worshipper, but not one who worships
God. Our God does not love today and
hate tomorrow. He does not burn with tender
mercy for one today and with wrath for that same one tomorrow.
Nothing could be more dishonoring to God than failure. I read something
day before yesterday and numbers. You remember when Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram raised their rebellion against Moses, against God, really,
but against Moses. And God killed, what, 250,000
of them? And he said to Moses, he said,
all right, I'm not done yet. Stand aside. I'll kill this whole
nation. I'll kill them every one. I'll
kill every one of them. And I'll raise up a new nation
from you who'll be my people. And this is how Moses argued
with God. how Moses pleaded for Israel
with the Lord God. Now if thou shalt kill all the
people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of
thee will speak, saying, These who've heard, Jehovah brought
Israel out of Egypt. Jehovah drowned Pharaoh in the
Red Sea. This mighty Jehovah, they'll
hear that you've killed these people in the wilderness. And
they'll say, listen, because the Lord was not able to bring
this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore
hath he slain them in the wilderness. Wow. Have you ever heard that before?
Have you ever heard that before? I don't normally recommend that
you listen to the tomfoolery on religious television or radio. When you get in your car, turn
one of them on, you'll hear it. I promise you, you will hear
it. The whole religious world makes the failure of God a reason
why you ought to take pity on him and let him save you. God's
done all they can. Now the rest is up to you. Jesus
loved you and died for you, but won't it be a shame He died in
vain for so many if you won't let the Lord save you? They make
the failure of Him whom they call God to be a reason to trust
Him. Moses makes the possibility that
men might think God a failure a reason to save that bunch of
rebels. And you know what God did? He saved them. Failure? Moses said, God, that'd
be your shame. Men everywhere are talking about
you. These blasphemous idolaters would
say, see there? He's just like all the gods of
other men. He can't do anything. And since
he couldn't save them, he sent them to hell. Oh, no. God's love is immutable. Like all his gifts, Like his
love, all the gifts he bestows upon men are without repentance. Turn to Jeremiah 38, 32 rather,
verse 38. Jeremiah 32, verse 38. He will never cease his own to
cherish. His love is eternal both ways,
without beginning and without end. Oh, but preacher, You know,
we wouldn't suggest that God changes, but we do. And if we
don't behave right and don't do right, then God will cease
to love us. Oh my God, I thank you, that's
not so. Jeremiah 32. Brother Frank called me last
night and he said, I got a question. He said, our Lord said, if you
deny me before men, I'll deny you before my father. But Peter
denied him before men. I don't understand. I said, well,
frankly, I'm not sure that I understand it. But I know this much. I know
this much. If we deny him, he cannot deny
himself. He abideth faithful. and the
foundation of God stand assured. But what's the difference? What's
the difference between Peter and Judas? What's the difference? God loved Peter, not Judas. Christ died for Peter, not Judas. The Lord chose Peter, not Judas. What's the difference between
you and your neighbor who'll go to hell today? God's grace, God's mercy, God's
love, nothing else. Nothing else. Did Peter do the
same thing Judas did? Exactly the same thing for less
money. Exactly the same thing. But God
chose Peter. God loved Peter. The Lord wouldn't
forsake Peter. That's what it tells us here
in Jeremiah 32 verse 38. They shall be my people. And
I will be their God. I will give them one heart and
one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. And I will not turn away from
them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts. Now watch this. That they shall
not Depart from me. He said, Ron Wood, I'll fix it.
So in spite of everything that's in Ron Wood by nature, I won't
let him leave me. I put my fear in his heart. They
shall not depart from me. The salvation of God's elect
doesn't stand upon the precarious foundation of time, but upon
the immutable foundation of God's everlasting love. God's love
toward his elect is from everlasting to everlasting, and it never
changes to any degree for any reason. We change. but no change in his love. Having loved his own which were
in the world. John wrote that in chapter 13
at the beginning of the chapter as our Lord is in that last night
of his time on this earth before he would suffer and die as our
substitute. And he begins his last word of
ministry to his disciples with that ordinance of the Lord's
table, wherein he washed his disciples' feet. And John begins
that. He introduces that by divine
inspiration with these words, having loved his own, which were
in the world. These very same disciples who
everyone would forsake him soon. These very same disciples who
saw him walking across the stormy sea one night, and they were
so scared out of their wits, they thought they saw a ghost. These very same disciples who
were so hard to teach. These very same disciples who
were fighting at one time who would be greatest in the kingdom.
Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them to
the end. And so it is with you and me,
my brothers and sisters in Christ. Here's the third thing. The gifts
of God's love. Love gives. Oh, the gifts of
God's free and everlasting love are too many to calculate. Let
me just show you three things. Three things God has given us
to demonstrate his love for us. First, from eternity, God gave
himself to be our God. Before the world was Rex Bartley,
the triune God espoused us to himself. married himself to us
and gave himself in the totality of his being to us. Oh, what a statement. He said,
I will be their God and they shall be my people. Gave himself entirely to us. Second, he gave his son, his
only begotten son, his well-beloved son, his dear son, his darling
son, the son of his love. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable He didn't just give his son for
us to die for us, though that itself is astounding beyond understanding. He gave his son to us. He's given us his son. He's given
us his son. He spared not his own son. but
delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? God gave us his Son. What greater
love can a man have than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends? None, but his love equally great,
if not greater, God gave his son for his enemies. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. And third, God gave us his spirit. gave his spirit to regenerate
and call us by his grace, gave his spirit to reveal his son
in us, to create Christ in us, to make us partakers of divine
nature, to make us new creatures in Christ, gave his spirit as
the seal of the covenant to seal to us all the blessings of grace. I tried to deal with this a little
bit last week. Made it important to speak to all the grace and
will. Personally, I want you to understand this. God's love,
God's gifts, all these benefits, we come to receive by the gift
of faith in Jesus Christ. You cannot, you dare not, you
must not ever presume. that any blessing of God is yours
apart from faith in Christ. That's a lie. Nowhere in the
book does God promise anything to anybody outside Christ but
wrath and judgment and hell and everlasting damnation. But as
he gives faith in Christ, that faith takes it all. He gave me
the hand. and he gave me life to move it,
and sense to pick up this glass, and he put water there, and he
gives it to me. Do you know how I know he gave
me that water? Do you know how I know he gave it to me? Watch. How do you know that water's
yours? Well, watch again now. You just try to get it. That's mine. How do you know?
Because I took it. Because I took it. Because I
was able to take it. Because I did take it. And I
couldn't take it if he didn't give me the life and the strength
to reach out and take it. Faith is the hand God puts in
the soul by which we receive all the blessings of God's grace.
Somebody say, well, God gives you life if you believe. Isn't
that stupid? You've got to have life to believe.
If you believe, it's because God's given you life. The Holy
Spirit is the seal given by God to all the beneficiaries of the
covenant by which he seals to our consciences all his grace. In the Old Testament, the work
of the Holy Spirit in us was symbolized by circumcision. A
circumcised child had in his flesh a permanent seal identifying
him as a covenant child, a son of Abraham, to whom pertain all
the promises and blessings of the covenant as Abraham's physical
seed. The heaven born sinner is circumcised
in his heart and he has in his body a mark. A mark of grace
that cannot be duplicated by any. It is the work of God, the
Holy Spirit, giving faith in Christ and believing on the Son
of God. Redemption, grace, salvation,
everything is mine. I know it is because I believe
Him. Watch me take some more. Believe on the Son of God and
the water of life is yours. Believe Him. Brother Todd, I find myself this morning able
to do what I've been trying to do for years and could never
do. I believe on the Son of God. That's what I'm talking about.
This is the gift of God's love. Indeed, all that God does in
time are will do to all eternity. is only telling his people he
loves us with an everlasting love. Listen
to this great, great hymn by Joseph Hart. T'was not to make
Jehovah's love towards the center flame that Jesus from his throne
above a suffering man became. T'was not the death which he
endured nor all the pains he bore that God's eternal love
procured. For God was loved before. He
loved the world of his elect with love surpassing thought.
Nor will his mercy and neglect the souls so dearly bought. I said Joseph Hart, John Kent,
excuse me. All right, here's the fourth
thing. God's love's eternal. God's love is immutable. God shows his love by his gifts
to his people. Fourth, the love of God is distinctive. Distinctive. Turn to Isaiah chapter
43, chapter 45, excuse me. I'm sorry, I was right to start
with chapter 43. Now, people everywhere want to tell
you that even folks who claim to believe in the gospel of God's
grace They, you know, they want to be sure they have a little
wiggle room and make sure that nobody gets too upset with them.
So, well, there's a sense in which God loves everybody. He feeds the sparrow and he sends
the sunshine and the rain on the beast and the beast of the
field. He feeds them and takes care
of them. So that's a demonstration that
God loves everybody fully. What, what stupidity? No. He feeds the beast of the field
so I can eat him. Exactly right. Exactly right. He clothes the lily so if I want
to, I can go pick off the bloom and stick it in my lapel and
wear it. Look here what God gave me. That's exactly right. But it sends sunshine in the
rain on the just and the unjust alike. Surely that's proof that
God loves everybody. Is it now? Let's try that the
other way around. Let's try that the other way
around. You and I have some friends, though unknown to us by face,
in the Ivory Coast of Africa, some with whom I have corresponded
over the years, and right now they're in the midst of a horrible
bloodbath in the Ivory Coast of Africa, and no doubt in my
mind some of God's elect among them. Does that mean God hates everybody
because he sent war to Ivory Coast? He has ravaged Japan just
recently. I have some friends in Japan,
some folks who are believers. I haven't heard from them. Whether
they're gone or not, I don't know. That horrible earthquake
and that tsunami sweeping away thousands. The just and the unjust. Well, that means God's angry
with everybody. Oh, is that right? Of course not. Of course not. God's providence, which falls
with rain on the just and the unjust and sunshine on the just
and the unjust and tornadoes and hurricanes and floods and
earthquakes on the just and the unjust are acts of his love for
his elect, for the saving of his elect. His love is distinguishing
love. Now, let me show you Isaiah 43,
Isaiah 43. I stress this. God does not love
all men. Those who suggest that he does
are guilty of these horrible, horrible blasphemies. They make
the love of God changeable, as Mr. Tozer suggested. Well, God
loved them, but he couldn't save them, so he sent them to hell
and quit loving them. Let me tell you what you can
have. You can have that pussy-footin', rabbit-foot God. He ain't worth
spittin'. He ain't worth spittin'. Couldn't
save a flea unless the flea flew in his direction. They make the
love of God meaningless. If God loves folks who are lost
anyhow, what good is it for them to hear that God loves them if
he can't save them? And they destroy the greatest
motive there is in the universe for faith and godliness and devotion. The love of Christ constraineth
us. If one died for all of us and
we all died when he died, our redemption is accomplished by
him. Or what was it that I thought was too much? The Word of God
speaks in plain terms, unmistakable terms. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I loved a little bit. Esau have I loved in a different
way. Sure enough, different way. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. Now until you can get around
that and make hate sound like love, you're going to have a
tough time understanding this book. Isaiah 43 shows the distinctiveness
of God's love. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. No reason for you to be afraid
of anything. I bought you. I've called thee by thy name.
No reason you'd be afraid. I've called you. Thou art mine. No reason to fear anything. Thou
art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God. I am the Lord, the God
of everybody. No, I'm the Lord, thy God, your
distinct property. I've made myself yours, the Holy
One of the universe. No, the Holy One of Israel, thy
Savior. Well, how do I know? How do I
know, Lord, that you're my God and not the devil's God? How
do I know you don't love the demons of hell like you love
me? How do I know, Lord, that you're my God and not the God
of these Philistines? How do I know you're my God and
not the God of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram? How do I know you're
my God and not the God of Balaam and Balak? Well, let me see if
I can show you. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Oh, you are my God, aren't you?
I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Cebu for thee. You remember those nations, Ethiopia
and Cebu, Egypt? I sacrificed all of them for
you. For you, the least among all. The least among all. Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore,
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. So you don't
have anything to be afraid of. Fear not, fear not. God's love
is special, distinguishing love. He loves us delightfully. Because he loves me as he loves
his son, Bill Raleigh, he delights in me. He delights in me. He said, my delights were with
the sons of men before the world was read in Proverbs chapter
eight. God loves us. Delighting in us. Ravished with
us. He said, thou hast ravished my
heart. Now, one more thing. And I'm
done. The efficacy of God's love. God's love, God's love is always efficacious love. Now, for you young people, you
children, you say, Brother Don, what on earth does efficacious
mean? I can't even say it. This is what it means. This is
what it means. Are you listening? Are you listening? It gets the
job done. That's what it means. effectual, efficacious, irresistible,
conquering love. God loves sovereignly whom he
will. God loves sacrificially he gave
his son for the people of his love. God loves saving man. Everybody God loves, he saves. Everybody. Read this book. Find me anywhere in this book. Anywhere. I promise you. I promise you. I'm going to be
out of town until about 1 o'clock in the morning. I promise you,
you find me anywhere in this book. where there is a hint. I mean a hint that God loves
somebody he sends to hell. You find it in this book. I will
never preach again. You got my word for it. Find
it. It ain't there. It ain't there. God loves saving me. Saving me. And I'll tell you
something best about God's love. The efficacy of it. God loves
sinners. Is there a sinner in this place? Is there a sinner who hears my
voice? A sinner? Well, Brother John, everybody's
sinners. Ask. Find me one, will you? Find me
one. God loves sinners. Sinners. Men and women. who know themselves vile, base,
depraved, corrupt, obnoxious, doomed, damned, falling rapidly into hell because
they know they deserve it. Is there a sinner here? Is there
a sinner here? God loves you. Christ died for
you. The Spirit has called you. I
know he has. Because God Almighty had made
you to know what you are. And sinners believe on the Son
of God. They do. I don't know if I believe like
I ought to. If you were a drowning man, If you were a draft, you're
going down now for the fourth time. Forget the third time you
go down for the fourth time. And as somebody throws the life
raft to you and hooks the life raft around you and you are hanging
on best you can. You don't argue about the life
raft and you don't argue about your grip of the life raft. There's
all the hope I've got. It's all the hope I've got. And
I don't know much about faith in Christ. I don't pretend to.
I don't pretend to. But this I confess to God and
to you. He's all the hope I've got. I believe on the Son of God. An old lady asked Brother Scott
Richardson one time, he said, You talk about Christ, Christ,
Christ. She said, preacher, is Christ enough? He said, if he's
all you got, he is. And he's all I've got. Oh, God,
make him all you've got. Amen.