Let's take our Bibles and turn
to John 11. It's a very difficult thing,
any of you that's ever attempted to do it, to teach what you see and know
in the Word of God, because so much of what you see and know,
you know by experience. It's hard to teach somebody what
you have experienced. Paul spent a lifetime telling
them about that experience of grace that he had and how God
spoke to him and turned him around and changed him and gave him
a new heart. And sometimes a passage will grip my heart and I'll rejoice
in it and then stand up here and just utterly fail to try
to communicate what that verse said to me, or at least I feel
like I do. And the lesson today is just
such a subject as that. And this subject today is the
love of Christ for His own. And let me say this at the outset,
there is no way that you can bend this text in John chapter
11 or any other text in the Bible to picture the love of Christ
for all mankind. It just is not so. You can't
find it anywhere in this book. His love is for His people, those
that were given Him of the Father. And I know this, in the very
nature of man is an affection. There is an
affection in you that looks and finds an object of its love. It does not love everyone equally. Even in your own nature we know
that. And yet we rob that from God
in whose image we were made. We have in our nature an affection
that looks and finds an object of love. It makes with that individual
and sets upon that individual a special affection above all
others. The Bible says this concerning
this marriage, concerning this love of this individual. He said
they'll leave their father's house. This affection is so great
that it superabounds that of the home and the family and your
brothers and your sisters, and they leave that house. and cling
to this one until they die. And I know this is so. You cannot
find a universal anything in the Bible. Universal redemption,
universal love, it's just not so. You cannot find a universal
anything except sin anywhere in this book. You find at the
beginning that God passed by all the nations of the earth.
and chose Israel. He passed by individuals. He
passed by brothers. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. He said that before either one
was born or before either one had done any good or evil. He
said that. He passed by nations and people,
Cain and Abel. You can just go on and on and
on. The sons of Noah, all these people that we've been studying
in the Old Testament. God passed by the stronger, chose
the weaker. It says in the New Testament,
it says this, Our Lord, when they rejected Him and despised
Him and threw His message in the dirt, He raised His head
and He said, I thank Thee, Heavenly Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because You've hid these things Be wise and prudent and reveal
them unto babies. God's love is particular. And
you cannot take the scriptural definition of love and apply
it to all men indiscriminately. You just can't do it. It causes
too many problems. He said He loved us with an everlasting
love, but if some after all be rejected and cast away, then
His love is not everlasting. just last as long as circumstance
allows. You see how that just can't be?
You can't apply that. He said, love never faileth,
but it does fail if one he loves is lost forever. And he says plainly that nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord, yet thousands are in hell. You cannot apply this love
universally to all men. He says, Love endureth all things,
but the love so called which is universal will not endure
anything. It won't, will it? It will get
upset over anything. It will get upset over five dollars.
Separate a man forever. This love endureth all things. He says, Love beareth all things. But the universal love I hear
and see around me will not bear anything much. God's love is
particular. In John 13, verse 1, listen to
what this says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus
knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of
this world unto the Father, having loved his own. You see that? He loved them unto the end. That's
love. That's the love that I want to
talk to you about this morning. And when and if the Spirit of
God ever convicts you of sin and exposes the leprosy of your
nature in the darkness of this world in which we live, that
cesspool of iniquity that we call a heart, And you come to
experience your separation from God and find yourself without
strength, Paul said. He said, do you remember that?
You who sometimes were far off, have you ever been far off? You come to experience that separation
from God and find yourself without strength, without hope, alone
in the darkness. It'll not be a universal anything
that you'll seek. You'll seek something particular.
You're not going to want to hear from anybody but God. And everything in that experience
will demand the particular. His coming into the world will
do you no good until He comes to you. Barnard said to some
who were wrestling back and forth about election and predestination
and that type of thing, and he said it really doesn't matter.
When it comes right down to it, the thing that matters is have
you closed with Christ. What good is an election going
to do you if it don't bring you to Christ? If it's not unto salvation
and unto faith, then that election doesn't do the Jews any good
at all. And I guarantee you, they believed
in election. They'd fight you over it. But
they missed Christ, and election didn't do them any good. His
promises to Israel won't do you any good. You yourself must love
and come to have that Holy Spirit of promise dwell in you. His
blood spilled on the ground at Calvary. It won't do anything
unless the Spirit of God sprinkles that blood on your conscience.
And how can the love of God affect you unless He comes to you and
causes you to know who He is? It's a particular thing. His
love is particular. Faith is particular. Now, the text here is very instructive. Listen to this. Here's the first
thing he says, and I just find it over and over and over in
the book of John. It's as though this thing just appeared before
John. Because each time he talks about
it, he says, Behold. Behold. Behold. Look with amazement. Look with
wonder. Look at something unexpected.
He said, Behold. Behold, John said. what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God." The Jews had seen His power in the miracles.
They had heard His wisdom in His preaching. They had seen
His boldness in passing through their midst. They had seen all
these things. But this was something unexpected
here. This was something totally unexpected. He goes to the tomb of Lazarus,
and the shortest verse in the Bible perhaps has the greatest
meaning. It says, Jesus wept. They weren't
expecting that. They weren't expecting that. Now, if the Jews could perceive
with an outward glance at the tears on the Savior's face, Surely
we might stand in awe of His love as we see it demonstrated
in the gospel of God's sovereign grace with Him on the cross."
They saw just the tears on His face and said, Behold, how He
loved them. Behold. Let me give you four
things this morning that communicate the love of God in Christ for
chosen sinners. First of all, I know this. If
I would know this love, let me behold the sacrifice He makes. Can I not look at the sacrifice
of Christ and see His love? How can you deny it? How can
you look at that sacrifice, that suffering that He did, and not
perceive something of the love of God in Christ? I know this is so. Love is perceived
by what we're willing to give. Our Lord instructing the husband,
He said, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church
and gave Himself for it. That's what marriage is about.
It's giving yourself. If you give yourself, you give
your money. If you give yourself, you give your time. If you give
yourself, you give your mind and your heart and everything
else goes with it. Listen to this, 1 John 3, verse
16, "...hereby perceive we the love
of God." This is how we perceive it. This is how we understand
it. It doesn't just come to us in an emotion. It doesn't just
come to us in an experience. We perceive these things by things
which we behold and see. That's what he says. Behold!
Look! Look with wonder! Look with amazement! Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. And when I say sacrifice, that
is the supreme sacrifice, His death on the cross. But His whole
life was a sacrifice, was it not? What kind of a sacrifice
would it be for God to take to Himself human flesh? The closest
I find in it is in Philippians chapter 2 where he said, He that
thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of
no reputation. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. The all-glorious God taking to
Himself human flesh, walking among men, living among men,
sitting down at a table and eating with men. nearby. It was a sacrifice for the Son
of God to take to Himself the flesh of a man. Was it not a great sacrifice
for Him who knew no sin to be identified with sinners? He said,
He didn't come down here, and here's a Pharisee clean as a
hound's tooth. He didn't miss service. He was
there. Sick or well, he was there. That
man had to be dying before he didn't come through that door
because his hope was based on it. Paul said, he's touching
the law. He said, I was blameless as a
Pharisee. But our Lord didn't come and dine with Pharisees.
He came and ate with publicans and sinners. Was that not a sacrifice? I know some of you already got
places today you picked out where you're going to go eat. None
of you picked out the mission over there in Texarkana, did
you? Go down there to eat with the winos? Anybody pick that
out today? Uh-uh. He did. He did. He ate with publicans
and sinners. What a sacrifice. He said, The
Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said, Behold a gluttonous
man and a winebibber. He ate in their houses and drank
from their cups, He was seen with them in public and slept
in their homes. It says he was a friend to publicans
and sinners. Boy, I can find hope in that
and I can see love in that. Nothing else would cause a man
to do that. He who was altogether holy and
righteous and good sat at meat with tax collectors and harlots.
Was it not an unquestionable sacrifice when he willingly gave
his face to the spitters How much of a sacrifice was that
for the King of Glory, ordained from eternity to stand before
these men and have them spit in His face? That's a sacrifice. I can't hardly stand it when
somebody falsely accuses me. I get upset. They were spitting
in His face. Was it not a sacrifice when they
put that purple robe on Him, handed Him that rig and mocked
His kingship and shoved that crown of thorns down on His head?
Was it not a sacrifice when He hung on that cross and they laughed
at Him while He suffered? Gave Him vinegar to drink? Oh, and what of His sufferings
and death on the cross? I can't even begin to imagine
the heart of a perfect substitute dying the death of a sinner. Drinking the very dregs of the
cup of indignation. That's a sacrifice we look at
from a distance. But as we look at it, you can't
help but perceive the love of God. And whatever this love is,
it can be perceived by the sacrifice He willingly makes. And then
secondly, and very close akin, is the suffering He endured.
It says, Love suffereth long. Long. The Bible says scoffers will
abound in the last days, mockers of the truth, scoffing at the
validity of His promises, poking fun at, putting a question mark
on His Word, ignorant of the flood of Noah, ignorant of the
foul of man, ignorant of the judgments of God against Sodom
and Gomorrah, ignorant against all these demonstrations of God's
judgment and holiness. But it says the Lord is not slack
concerning His promises. As some men count slackness. Now, what's this word? But is
long-suffering to us-worth. Why does he suffer these things?
Fools that stand out in the day and shake their fist in the face
of God and say, if there's a God, strike me down. Why would a holy
God put up with that? Because he's long-suffering to
us-worth. not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. It is the love of God that is
manifested in this long-suffering. God has an everlasting and eternal
purpose of grace, and His love for the objects of this grace
can be seen clearly in His long-suffering to us. He suffers us. Oh, think of the times. Think
of the times. You in here this morning that
believe. Think of the times and the awful attitude and spirit
that He put up with when He wooed you to His grace. Huh? Think of that anger. You heard
the truth and it made you angry. Think about that. That's long
suffering. Long suffering. All we've got to do is just look
to our past. We can see the longsuffering
of God putting up with, tolerating to the day of your reconciliation.
And what about right now? Is there not a longsuffering
even right now by which He manifests His love for us? Winston and
I were talking about something that happened to him this morning
before the service. Is that not longsuffering? He ought to burn us up like a
sinner. And yet he's long-suffering.
Get angry over nothing. Get upset over nothing. And then there's a suffering
involved in his death that satisfied God, a righteous suffering, a
just suffering, a willing suffering that declares God to be just
and justifier of all them that believe. He says, and he shall
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. I think about this. I don't say
it a lot to her, and I should, but surely my wife must love
me because she tolerates me. She does. She tolerates me. But,
O my soul, what has the Son of God suffered to manifest His
love to me? I say that the love of Christ
can be seen in the sacrifice He made, it can be seen in the
suffering He endured, and then thirdly, the love of Christ can
be seen in the gifts He bestows. Love gives much, and it gives
often. It gives continually. Love rejoices
to give and looks for occasions to give. Look at this supreme
gift, Christ. He is the unspeakable gift. Isn't
that what the Scripture says? He gave Himself for us. He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Listen to Paul. He said, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
All the blessings of life and peace, eternal happiness were
given in Christ before the world began. promised in Christ in
the garden, manifested in Christ in His person and work on this
earth, made known to the heart of chosen sinners by the Spirit
of God through the gospel, and gathered here this morning while
the world sits in darkness." And that's where they're sitting.
That's where they're sitting. You're here. And you're here
in the gospel of Christ. Is that not a gift? Huh? That's a gift. I passed by a
church on my way over here and it never ceases to amaze me what
I read on that billboard. Talked about men being wasted
and being recycled by Christ. Huh? I'm telling you, it's a
gift that you're here this morning hearing the truth. It's a gift.
It's a gift. What the providence that brought
you here and brought me here, the gift of His Spirit, the gift
of preaching, the gift of His Word, the gift of the church.
Our Lord turned to that woman at the well and He said, if you
knew the gift of God, if, if you knew, He said, you'd ask
of Me. And I would have given you. I would have given you. It's
a gift. It's a precious gift. Oh, he
said, I'll give you water that would have been in you a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. The wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life. Righteousness is a gift. Justification is a gift. Sanctification
is a gift, freely given. He said, justified freely by
His grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. What have
you gotten, Paul said? What? Anything. Food on your
table, food in your cabinet, food in your freezer. What have
you got? Good health? What have you gotten
that you have not received? It's a gift. His love can be
known by his gifts. If he spared not his son, what's
he going to spare? Nothing. Because that love gives
much, and it gives often, and it gives all. It gives all. Love gives itself. And in giving
itself, it gives everything else. And then fourthly, and this is
the last thing I see here about this love, it can be perceived by the provocations
that it endures. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
Paul talks about this love and he says two things about it that
I want you to hear. In verse 7 of 1 Corinthians chapter
13, he said, Love beareth all things. You see that? It beareth. It will carry it.
It will carry the love. And then secondly, he says this.
I know it says other things, but I'm pointing two things out
to you. It says it endureth all things. It don't set limits. It don't set limits. Well, I'll
tell you one thing, if you don't do this, I ain't going no more. It'll endure. It'll endure. Just don't fill in no blanks.
Just leave it empty. It endures all things. If I have
this love for you, I don't care what you say, I'm going to keep
right on loving you, if I love you at all. It endureth all things. It beareth
all things. And true love, even though it's
provoked, ignored, questioned, doubted, it endures. I remember reading in one spot
where it says, though they believe not, Huh? Yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. That's
love. It endures because it's true
love. Our love for Him is up and down. It's on and off. One
day it's ready to die for and the next it's warming itself
by the fire. One day it's on fire and the
next day it's in ashes. But His love for us never changes,
never alters. never varies. How often must
his tears be seen and his spirit groan because of our doubt of
his love. Isn't that what's going on here
with these two sisters? Huh? Oh, I tell you this, God give
us a heart to love, to love Him and to love one another, but
more than that, to rest in His love for us. That's how that
love shed abroad in your heart when you rest in His love. When
you think on His love. We don't even want to think about
it, do we? We want to think about this and that and something else.
Just sit back. When whatever it is that's confronting
you, whatever it is that's troubling you, just sit back and contemplate
on the love of Christ. And you won't be moved. You won't go anywhere. You'll
be satisfied right there. My kids used to get Hurt. First thing they do is they run
to my wife, crawl up in her lap, put their head down, and she
hold them, pat them on the back. That's what we need to do. We
get hurt, cut, pain, coughed at, doubted, whatever, whatever
it is, we just need to sit back, contemplate on that love, and
run, crawl up in his lap. God give us an understanding
of what that is.