In Isaiah chapter 40 in verse
1, the Lord says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. For those of the Lord's people
as they journey through this world, who know what it is to
be brought into trials and to difficulties, who know what it
is to feel the burden and the heat of the sun, who know what
it is to be tried and tested and cast down, the preaching
of the gospel that brings comfort is what they rest in, they rejoice
in. They find comfort when a preacher
is sent to God's people. And in Jeremiah 31, which we
read for our reading, we find a passage here which is full
of comfort, full of comfort to the Lord's people. A passage
which is full of the gospel, full of the work of Christ for
his people. And I'd like to draw your attention
especially to Jeremiah 31 and verse 3. Jeremiah 31 and verse
3, for here's a word of comfort. 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
thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. An everlasting love. Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Consider this love, consider
the one who speaks The nature of this love. Who is it that
says this? And to whom does he say it? The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. The Lord. This is God's love. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, he says to his people. I have loved thee. This is God's
love said upon a people. The love of the holy, the righteous,
the eternal, the unapproachable God who dwelleth
in light inaccessible, the creator and the sustainer of the heavens
and the earth, The one who created man upon the earth and breathed
life into his nostrils. The one who watched as man turned
against him and rebelled in the garden and plunged mankind into
sin and rebellion and hatred and the ways of death. The one
from whom man was estranged. The one from whom man put a great
gulf between himself and his maker, as he sinned and rebelled
against God, his maker. This is the God from whom man
has been set at such a great distance, who nevertheless says
to a people, yea, I, have loved thee with an everlasting love. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, he says to those who hated him. I have loved thee. This is not
the love of man. This is not a man saying unto
a friend, I have loved thee. But this is the love of God,
an offended party, saying to those who deserve it not, those
who have hated him, those who have lived their lives in hatred
for their maker, those who have lived their lives in rebellion
against the one who here speaks unto them, those who have offended
him, those who were cut off from him, those who were thrust out
of the garden under the condemnation of his justice and his righteousness. Nevertheless, this God says unto
such a people, I have loved thee, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Oh, what manner of love is this
that is said upon such a people? What sort of a God is this that
can say to those who have hated him, I have loved thee. And not only I have loved thee,
but I have loved thee with an everlasting love. What manner
of love is this? For this is not the love of man.
The love of man grows cold. The love of man is warm one day
and cold the next. The love of man is easily offended. The love of man for others, the
love of a woman for a man or a man for a woman, is so easily
affected by the moods and the affections, so easily offended
when one hurts the other. The love of man really cannot
entirely be trusted. Those who love one another can
be offended and turn to hatred. But here is the love of one who
can say to those whom he loves that I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. An everlasting love. Here is
a love that does not fail. The love of God for His own. A love which never fails. A love which has no beginning
and no end. This is the love of God, the
eternal God, the one who ever lives. The great I am, I am that
I am. He who is everlasting, the one
who is eternal says unto a people, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. And as He does not change, as
He cannot change, as His eternal sovereign purposes cannot change
and never change and never will change, so His love never changes. This is the love of which we
read of here in Jeremiah 31 and verse 3. The
love of God. The love of the everlasting,
the eternal God. The one who is eternal and in
being before ever the worlds and the heavens were brought
into being. The one who will always exist when this world
is rolled up and destroyed with fire. The one who is from everlasting
unto everlasting. The one who has no beginning
and no end. The one who is out for an Omega. the beginning, the end, the one
without beginning, the one without end, the one who is eternal. He says unto those who deserve
it not, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Yes, he
says to a people, I have loved thee. I have loved thee. Oh, to hear such words. Oh, to
hear the voice of God come into your soul, into your heart, and
to say to you, I have loved thee. Have you heard these words? Have you heard these words? As he said to your heart, I have
loved thee. For there is a people in this
world to whom he comes, and to whom he says in particular, I
have loved thee. A people who found grace in the
wilderness, we read in verse two. Even Israel, when I went
to cause him to rest. The Lord says unto Israel, to
Jacob, to his people, that he has caused him to rest, to this
people who were left of the sword, that they found grace in the
wilderness. It is these to whom he says,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. A people who were in the
wilderness, a people who were once in captivity, a people who
dwelt in the wilderness, a people who were once in bondage in Egypt,
but whom the Lord brought out of bondage, and whom the Lord
brought out into a wilderness, and brought them through a wilderness,
a people who were once captive, but a people who found grace
in the wilderness. the people to whom he says, I
have loved thee. As he says that to you, as he
said that to you, have you heard these words? For this is said
to a people in particular, I have loved thee. I have loved thee. It is not to all. He does not
say of all mankind, I have loved thee. I have loved all mankind. but he has a people chosen out
of mankind, a chosen people to whom he says, I have loved thee.
He says it to Jacob, to Israel. As we read in Romans chapter
nine, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then, is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid, for he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up. that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore have he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault for who have resisted
his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
pot a power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto dishonor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto glory? Even
us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of
the Gentiles, as he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my
people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which were not
beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Yes, there are those people,
Jacob, whom God has loved. There are those to whom he has
shown mercy. There are those vessels of mercy
whom God has made, whom God has fashioned from the same lump
as others. He has fashioned some vessels
unto destruction, some vessels unto dishonor. but God willing
to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
months-long sufferings the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
But that also that he might make known the riches of his glory
on the vessels of mercy, which he had aforeprepared under glory,
these he shows his mercy. These he has loved. Yes, he has
a people in particular chosen in his Son. There is that people
descended, that people in Jacob, not the physical descendants
of Jacob, not the physical descendants of Esau, but those who are of
the faith of Abraham, those like Jacob whom God has loved. those, these people in particular
he has chosen to love, for he chose them in his Son before
he ever created this world, he chose them in Christ and he afore
prepared them unto glory, he chose them unto glory, he chose
to show mercy unto a people, who deserved it not, and to a
people who were out, who were fashioned out of the same lump
as others, fashioned out of the same lump of clay as other men,
fashioned out of the same lump of clay as those men who will
be destroyed, those who will live their lives hating God,
never seeking God, going astray, rebellion against God, speaking
lies, whom he will destroy in strict and fair and particular
justice against their sins. But out of the same lump, children
of wrath just as others, there are those whom God has spared,
those whom for no good in themselves, not because of any good that
they have done, for they are out of the same lump, They are
clay just the same as others. They are born just the same as
others. They are sinners just the same
as others. You're a sinner just the same
as others. Born just the same as others.
A liar just the same as others. A blasphemer just the same as
others. Rebellious just the same as others. Get out of the same lump. God
says unto Jacob, Jacob have I loved, yet Esau have I hated. And he
says unto Jacob, and all those whom he has chosen in Christ
like Jacob, all those of Israel, all those of his Israel, all
those upon whom he sets his love, he says unto this people, yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. a people chosen in Christ,
a people redeemed by Christ, a people washed by the blood
of Christ, when God gave his only begotten Son to die in their
place, a people chosen. I have loved thee, as he said
unto you, as he said unto you, I have loved thee. Yes, these people who were chosen
in Christ were just as others. They were in the wilderness.
They were all as sheep having gone astray. They had all gone
astray. And yet there came a time when
they found grace in the wilderness, when they found mercy. There
came a time when God came unto them in the gospel, And God met
them in the Gospel. And God broke them in the Gospel. He brought them to their knees
and showed them their sin. He showed them their need of
a Saviour. He showed them their need of
one to take away the wrath of God in their place. He showed
them their need of righteousness to stand before a holy God. He shows them their need of righteousness. and he shows them that they've
got none, that they've got none and they've got no means of producing
it, that they must live right, they must live right before God,
they must walk in his ways, they must turn from the evil which
they by nature cannot but help but do, they must be pure within
from head to toe, they must have a pure heart, And they find themselves
bankrupt. They find themselves utterly
unable to pay and utterly unable to do that which they know they
must do. Utterly unable to rent to God
and to his law that which they owe. And they're brought in bankrupt
and lost and ruined. And they spread out their hands
and they say, but I cannot pay. But I am guilty. But I cannot
love thee as I ought to love thee, but I cannot walk as I
ought to walk. O Lord, have mercy upon me, a
sinner. They find themselves ruined,
they find their hearts to be black with sin, and they know
it. And they know that they cannot
be right before God. They know there is nothing they
can do to make amends for their past sins. And there is nothing
they can do to prevent themselves committing future sins. There
is nothing they can do to cleanse their own hearts. And they know
there is nowhere they can go. There is nowhere they can run
to flee from the presence of God and to flee from the presence
of his strict justice. and they know that the day comes
when they will have to render an account of their deeds, past
and present. They will have to give an account
and they know not how to put things right or what to do. They know that the Judge will
come upon them and the clock ticks away to that day when the
Judge will stand before them and will ask them to give an
account of their lives and that they know they will be found
wanting They know they will be brought in guilty. They know
there is nothing they can do to escape. Nothing they can do
to be let off. No price that they can pay to
pay the debt that they owe to their maker. They know they're
guilty. And they know that the sentence
awaits. And they know that there is nothing,
nothing they can do. Have you been brought there? Have you been brought with such
a people? Has the gospel come unto you? Has the beginning of the gospel
sounded to bring you in as a guilty sinner? Do you know that you
stand before God penniless? Penniless, black and guilty. Have you been brought to bow
before God, calling upon one hope that you can call upon?
His mercy to one who is guilty. Do you know that you stand by
nature before God guilty? For if you do, if that's you,
if God has brought you to that point, if the alarm has been
sounded in your heart, if you've been brought to despair before
God, knowing that you are ruined Knowing that your nature is corrupt. Knowing that you owe God and
you cannot pay God. Knowing that you should be pure
and you are not pure. Knowing that you should be holy
and you are not holy. Knowing that you should not be
guilty and yet you are guilty in every charge, to every command. knowing that you should be pure
and spotless, and yet you are corrupt and black. If that's
you, if you've been brought there, then there's a word in the gospel,
a word of comfort, a word which brings gladness to the hearts
of guilty sinners, a word which is beyond all understanding,
all comprehension, A word which is so astounding that it could
ever be true. So astounding that it could ever
be true of any. And so astounding that it could
ever be true of such sinners such as these. Such sinners such
as you. A word of comfort, a word of
hope, a word of glory. So astonishing. So astonishing
that it should be said of any, and so astonishing that it could
be said of you. This word comes. God says unto
a people in Jacob, God says unto Israel, God says unto sinners,
as he said unto you, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. As he comes unto a people in
particular, People who deserve it not. And he says unto them,
as he said unto you, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. An everlasting love. Oh, what kind of a love is this
love? He not only says I have loved,
He not only says to a people in particular, to whom He speaks
by name, to whom He comes by His Spirit and speaks into their
own hearts in particular, He not only says unto them, I have
loved thee, but He says unto them, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Everlasting. a love that will
never fail, a love that will never cease, a love that will
never stop, a love which is without end, a love which is without
beginning. I love Thee today as I will love
Thee tomorrow. I love Thee today as I loved
Thee yesterday. I love Thee today as I have always
loved Thee. I love Thee today as much as
I ever loved Thee, and as much as I will ever love Thee. I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, everlasting. God's people have always been
loved, they will always be loved. Nothing will prevent, nothing
can prevent, stop or diminish this love. Nothing can take away
from it, nothing can mar it, nothing can come between it.
Nothing can come in the way of it. Nothing can come between
God and His people, whom He loves. When He says unto them, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, He has loved them and He
does love them and He will love them. Nothing that they do, nothing
that they have done, nothing that they can do, Child of God,
listen this day, nothing that you have ever done, nothing that
you could do today, nothing that you ever will do, will ever come
before thee and this love, this is an everlasting love. This
is a love which burns from the heart of God for his own. This is a love which burns to
those to whom he says, I have loved thee. Nothing can come
between the child of God and this love. Child of God, nothing
will come between God and you. Nothing will come before you
and your God who loves you with an everlasting love. It is everlasting
because it is that love which is made in His Son. That love which is purpose from
all eternity in His Son towards His own. He chose His people
in Christ from before the foundations of the world and He loves them
in His Son. He loves them in the Only Begotten. He loves them in Christ for Christ's
sake. If you are His, then you are
in Christ's. And He loves you as He loves
His own, as He loves His Son. Nothing can come between Him
and this love. For it is eternal. It is everlasting
as he is everlasting. This is the everlasting, the
eternal God which says to his own, I have loved thee. And if
he has loved thee, then his love is everlasting. I am that I am
is his name. He is everlasting. and all that
he is is everlasting, and all that he does and all that he
purposes, all that he wills is everlasting. If he chooses to
love, nothing will change his purpose. And if he has chosen
to set his love upon you this day, nothing will ever come between
you and that love. For he loves thee with an everlasting
love. He loves his own for Christ's
sake. He loves his own in Christ. He loves his own as he loves
Christ. He loves his only begotten Son. He loves his Son in whom he is
well pleased. And he loves his own in his Son. You say, What of my sins? What of my corruption? Surely
they come between me and this God. Surely they come between
me and such love. What of that deed I did today? What of my unthankfulness? No, believer, he says of you,
yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with
loving kindness have I drawn thee. But what of the sins? They're no more. They're no more. He loves his people because their
sins have been taken away. Because their sins are no more. Because when he looks upon that
people he never sees their sins. Indeed he never did see their
sins as he looks upon them in his son. He purposed to save
them from all eternity. And He looked upon them in His
Son from all eternity. And when this world was created
and sin entered, nevertheless, from the foundations of this
world, His Son was slain. And His blood has covered the
sins of His people from all time, from the beginning of creation.
From the beginning of the entrance of sin, that sin was covered. He chose his people from all
eternity in Christ, and there never was a time, both in time
or eternity, when their sins came between him and that love
which he set upon them. He blotted out their sins, and
he destroyed their sin in his Son. who died in the place of
that people. 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. 1 John 3.1 What manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us. What sort of love is this?
This everlasting love. Love which blots out our every
sin. Love that is placed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God. Chosen in Christ. The Brethren of Christ. He who
is the firstborn of many, Brethren of many sons. Oh what manner
of love that his people should be called the sons of God 1 John 4 10 Herein is love not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to
be the propitiation for our sins Or as Romans 5.8 says, but God
commendeth his love toward us, his own, his people, Jacob, Israel. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. John 13 verse one says, having
loved his own, he loved them unto the end, unto the end. He never did cease to love them. And that love took the Saviour
to the cross. That love took Him to the cross
to be crucified for them. For God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. You see in John 13 verse 1 As
Christ sees his death approaching, as he knows the day of judgment,
the judging of this world, was about to approach, that day on
which the Lamb of God should be slain, that day in which he
should die, the substitute of his people, as he should die,
the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous,
as the Son of God should be slain, a sacrifice for sins, a sacrifice
for sins, a sacrifice for the sins of His own, as He saw that
day approaching and the horrors of that day loomed ahead of Him,
as He looked and He saw the judgment of God approaching, as He saw
the sword of God's justice, that flaming sword of God's justice,
that stood at the mouth of the garden, at the entrance of the
garden of Eden, which prevented Adam and Eve returning to that
garden when they had sinned. That sword, that flaming sword
of justice which must prevent the sinner from coming into the
presence of God. That sword which must judge sin. That sword which would judge
sin in the Saviour. that sword which would be plunged
into Christ, the Son of God, that sword which would judge
the sins of his people in him, that sword which would not be
spared on him who would not be spared. As he saw that day approaching,
He meets with his disciples. And 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 which were
in the world, he loved them unto the end. And he had to supper with him
in which he made known what should come upon him. And he says to
this people, Afterwards, let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and
the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. If ye had known me, ye should
have known my Father also, and from henceforth ye know him,
and have seen him. Christ went to the cross, loving
his own, and loving them to the end. And he went to that cross
and he was not spared. The wrath of God, the judgment
of God against the sins of his own, crushed down upon the Saviour. In the three hours of darkness
upon the cross, when Christ cried out, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? when the light of the sun was
taken away, when he was made to be sin, when he bore the sins
of his people in his own body on the tree, and when the fires
of God's wrath were not spared but consumed him, the sacrifice,
the lamb of God, when the lamb was burnt, an offering for sin,
and consumed, and when God beat and bruised his own son, All
the while he loved his own, all the while his faith did not fail,
all the while he looked up unto his father, his father who judged
him for the sins of his people, his father who was bruising him
for their corruptions, his father who turned his face because of
what he had become in their stead. all the while he knew that his
father would raise him from the dead, he knew that he would rise
again victorious, he knew that he would rise with his people
to bring them into that salvation he had promised, he knew that
he would go to make a place for them, go to prepare those mansions
for them, go to prepare that place for that people who would
dwell with him unto all eternity, all the while he loved them with
an everlasting love. And at the end he cried out,
it is finished. For he had blotted out their
every sin. And with their every sin blotted out, there is no
sin to keep them from this love. And there is no sin which has
ever kept them from the love of God. because he was slain
from the foundation of the world, the Lamb, slain for sinners. Was he slain for you? As he said
to you, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. For if he
has, he says also, therefore With loving kindness have I drawn
thee. With loving kindness have I drawn
thee. For if you ever know this love,
it's because the Lord has come unto you in loving kindness. And if you ever will know this
love, he will come unto you in loving kindness, and he will
draw you unto himself, and he will draw you to himself. He will draw you to the Father,
and he will say unto you, yea, I have loved thee for an everlasting
love. For the Spirit in the gospel
is sent forth to bring this comfort to his people, to bring this
comfort to Jacob, to say to Jacob that the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the heights of Zion,
and shall float together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat,
for wine, for oil, the young of the flock and of the herd,
and their souls shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow
any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice
in the dance, both young men and old together, for I will
turn their mourning and to joy, and will comfort them, and make
them rejoice from sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of
the priest with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied
with my goodness, saith the Lord. He will come to such a people,
to such a remnant, and cause them to sing with gladness, cause
them to sing with gladness, For the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Jacob, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day that I took them out
of the land of Egypt, but this shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts
and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them. Saith the Lord, for
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more. For he has redeemed Jacob, and
Jacob will be drawn unto him in the gospel. No man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up the last day. Has the Spirit made known unto
you this Saviour? Has he come unto you in the Gospel? Has he caused you who were dead
to be born again of high? Have you found grace in the wilderness? Grace! Have you heard the Lord
say unto you, I have loved thee? with an everlasting love. For
the time comes when the Spirit comes to his own, and he comes
to those who were once unwilling. And he says to that people, thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. The Lord says
of his people, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. And the Spirit comes unto that
people and he makes them willing. Have you been made willing? Have
you been drawn? Have you been drawn to this Saviour?
Has His love drawn you to Him? Has it melted you? It won't until
you're first brought to see that you are nothing. Nothing but
sin. Lost, ruined, weak, helpless. A sinner. But if that's you,
if that's you a sinner, then know this day that Christ died
for sinners. Christ loved sinners, Christ
loved those whom the Father gave him. And it is for such that
know they are sinners, that know that they are lost, that know
that they are in need of salvation, it is for such that he died.
And that love is that love which draws such a people under him. And none who come to him, none
who call upon him, will ever, ever, ever, be cast out. None who call upon him for salvation
will ever be cast out. Have you called? Have you called? For if you call, such a calling
of those who know they need salvation will never be despised, you will
never be cast out. Why not? Because this people
This people are drawn with loving-kindness and this people are those indeed
whom he has loved with an ever-lasting love. Amen.