As I survey the past 12 months
and the past 52 years, I think so much of the wonder
of God's providence. I stand amazed at the fact that
He performs all things for me. I'm amazed at the fact that he
was pleased to call me by his grace, reveal his son in me. I'm astonished that he has been
pleased to give me the privilege of preaching the gospel of his
grace. And I am thankful, so very thankful, that he brought
my family and I to this place and that he's knit our hearts
together in the fellowship of the gospel. I thank God for you. I thank God for the privilege
that he's given us to serve him together. Why, other than his
wisdom and goodness, and using that which is unusable in any
other way? I can't understand why, except
that God chose to do it. He's given us a place of influence
and usefulness in his kingdom. And I keep praying that He will
make us faithful in that place to serve this generation well
for the glory of His name. And I can't help but to think
of the amazing love of God for my soul. I'll talk to myself a little
bit. You can listen in. I think maybe I've got something
that has helped me and might help you. The Lord God declares, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Behold what manner of love The
Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons
of God. God commends His love toward
us. This is how God recommends His
love to us. He commended His love toward
us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And then we read in John 13,
1, Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them
unto the end. We are, you and me, we are
in this place now, my brothers and sisters, monuments to the
unquenchable love of God our Savior. We're here now. We're here now. Worshipping Him. Walking in faith. Believing Him. Seeking to serve His interest
and His honor, His glory. While multitudes better than us, more gifted than
us, more talented than us, more promising than us. have turned
and walked no more with him, just because his love cannot
be quenched. Let's look at Psalm of Solomon,
chapter 8. Psalm of Solomon, chapter 8. We'll begin at verse 5 and move
down to verse 7 for our text. Try to picture what Solomon has
before his mind's eye as he writes this. Here comes a couple in
their nuptial chariot, days gone by. Rather than writing now,
as we've seen in chapter five, I believe it was, they're walking
together. And he sees something struck
with the splendor of this royal couple. And the couple, of course,
is Christ and his bride, the Lord Jesus Christ and his church.
Who is this? Who is this? Look at her. What a magnificent
lady she is. Who is this that cometh up out
of the wilderness? While we live in this world,
we live in this wilderness. But we're coming up out of it.
How? Leaning upon her beloved. Leaning upon her beloved. Did you ever see a man and woman,
maybe you've experienced it, who've been separated for a while,
who love one another dearly? He's been away, perhaps been
away in the military, been away at war, and comes back, and they
just walk together. They've been separated and his
wife just tucks her arm under his and just leans on him and
holds him as they walk as if, I can't dare possibly let you
go again. That's the picture. Leaning on
her beloved with a strong heart of attachment to him because
she had spurned his love and he conquered her heart. Leaning
on her beloved because he had been gone and now he's with her.
leaning on her beloved because she trusts him and loves him. And he is indeed the beloved
of her heart. We love him. We do love him. Because he first loved us, but
loving we do. He speaks and says, I raise thee
up under the apple tree. There thy mother brought thee
forth. There she brought thee forth that bare thee. And she
responds, set me, fix me as a seal upon thine heart. That which is in the place of
your most tender emotion, your deepest affection. your strongest
passion. Set me, O my beloved, as a seal
on your heart. But I need more than that. Set
me as a seal upon thine arm, the place of your strength, the
place of your might, the place of safety, the place of action. Set me as a seal on your heart.
Set me as a seal on your arm. Now watch this. is strong as death. Love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of
fire, which hath the most vehement flame." And what she's talking about
now is your love, my God. Your love, oh blessed Savior,
it's as strong as death. The jealousy of your love for
me has proved to you as cruel as the grave. The coals thereof
are coals of fire. Deep burning coals. Coals of
fire that have the vehement heat. White hot coals with a vehement
flame. Now watch this. Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would
give all the substance of his house for love, that is, if a
man would give all the substance of his house to get love, or
if a man would give all the substance of his house as a substitute
for love, it would be utterly contempt. utterly despised. What a description we have here
of our Savior's love for us, that love that passeth knowledge. It is Christ who said, I raised
thee up under the apple tree. And it is Christ who says, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love and with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. It is God our Savior who declares,
I have drawn thee with the cords of love and with the bands of
a man. He found me in a desert land,
in a waste and howling wilderness. And yet he loved me and gave
himself for me. The Lord Jesus here declares
his love for his church. And she says, set me. Fix me,
O my beloved. Fix me permanently as a seal
upon your heart. Fix me permanently as a seal
upon your arm. I will never, never, never part
from you or have you part from me. Oh, who can separate us from
the love of Christ? His love is invincible. His love
is irresistible. It's a jealous love, an unyielding
love, an unalterable love. It's compared here to fire, coals
of fire, with a vehement flame, the vehement flame of Jehovah's
infinite love for us. Isn't that amazing? When the
Lord God speaks of His love for us, He seems to stretch our imaginations,
to try to grasp something of the wonder of it. Here is the
love of Christ, its breadth reaching round the world, its length reaching
through the ages of time, its height reaching to the very throne
of God, its depth reaching to the very gates of hell, it passes
knowledge. Passes knowledge. So when I tell
you I want to talk to you about our Savior's love, I acknowledge
to begin with, all I'm going to do is just talk about it.
I'm sure not going to expound it. I'm just going to talk to
you about it. And I want to just tell you two things that are
obvious in this text. Number one. The love of Christ
for us is unquenchable love. No other love really is. I have the privilege of being
loved dearly, loved remarkably by that dear
lady. But her love is but the love
of a woman, and it could be quenched. It could be destroyed. We love our children and think nothing could destroy
that love. Somebody said, nothing can destroy a mother's love.
Oh, yes, it can. Oh, yes, it can. Nothing can
destroy a father's love. Oh, yes, it can. There's only
one love that can't be quenched and can't be destroyed. That's
the love of Christ for us. No love to compare with this.
It is infinitely beyond the love of a father or a mother, a brother
or a sister, a husband or a wife, The love of Christ is the one
and only love that passeth knowledge, the one and only love that nothing
in heaven or earth or hell is able to extinguish, cool, or
change in any way. It is the one and only love whose
dimensions are beyond all measure. No wonder Paul said to the Ephesians, and I
say to you, I want you to know the love of Christ, that passeth
knowledge, and knowing his love to be filled with all the fullness
of God. I am fully persuaded that nothing,
nothing is so powerful as love. Nothing will get your heart like
being loved. Nothing will force you like being
loved. Nothing will compel you to anything
like being loved. Loving another, that's great,
great work to love someone else. But to be loved, to be loved,
and to know that you're loved Oh, to know the love of God that
passes knowledge. Let that get hold of my heart.
And you'll come up out of this wilderness leaning on the arm
of your beloved, crying, set me as a seal on your heart, set
me as a seal on your eye. Our Redeemer's love is here compared
to fire that can't be quenched. And it is affirmed that waters,
many waters, cannot quench Christ's love for us. It is a thing of
life. How can I say this? Essential
to Him. Essential to Him. Essential to
Him. I've chosen my word deliberately.
Essential to Him. He loves us. Because it is in
His very character and nature to love us. Because He chose
to love us. And in His divine, mediatorial
character, it is essential to Him that He love us. Now, Scripture
says here, many waters cannot quench love. The waters of human
rebellion and sin and degradation tried hard. He loved us with
an everlasting love. He set his heart on us from eternity. And in our father Adam, we lifted
our fist in his face and said, get out of our way. But he loved
us still. He came into this world determined
because he loved us to redeem us from all iniquity, transgression,
and sin, to put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself.
But his love was going to cost him. Oh, how it would cost him. He must endure all the flood
of the wrath of Almighty God as our substitute. how the billows must have beat
against his soul. I try to picture him in the garden
as he anticipates being made sin for us, with his heart bleeding. And he cries, my God, my God. Oh, my God, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. He cries out to God the Father,
and he says, Now is my soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. But what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, for this calls KMI unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." Listen
to these words. These are his words, too. Let
not the water flood. overflow me. Neither let the
deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
voice. The floods lift up their waves. The Lord Jesus must be made to be sin for us. Being made sin, he must suffer
all the horror of an angry God against him. He became the object of God's
intense wrath. The object of God's intense burning
justice. The object of God's holy, holy,
holy fury. He was made to be sin. So thoroughly,
so completely made to be sin. That when He was made to be sin
for us, God the Father forsook His darling Son. And He cries,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And at last, he
must die. But not just any death. Not just
any shameful death. But he must die the painful,
shameful, ignominious death of one who is cursed of God and
publicly displayed as the curse of God. The Jews on occasion
took up stone and would have stoned him to death, but that
could not be. They would on occasion have taken
him out to a high hill and shoved him over the bow of the hill,
but that could not be. He could have been put to death
many, many ways if men had had their will. But he must die as
one who was distinctly set forth by God's providence, as by God's
justice, as a curse. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. And so he dies in naked shame
and humiliation, as one despised of men and one punished of God,
as being himself made to be sin. And so death would strive to
quench his love. How the floods must have beat
upon his soul. How the floods of divine wrath
must have come against him, what terror must have seized him,
and yet many waters cannot quench love. He said, I've set my face like
a flint, and I won't be turned back. I've determined that I'm going
to have Bobby Estes for mine. Because I love him. Because I
love him. And hell can't keep me from him. Many waters cannot quench love.
But that's not the only thing that is opposed to his love. Our unworthiness, oh, how we
must stand as objects repelling to God Almighty. Love is attracted by loveliness. It always is. It always is, as
we understand it. As we understand it. Man and woman, sometimes scratch
your head. I know folks who do the shove
it all the time. Why don't she ever see in him? Well, there
was something in me that attracted her. There was something in me,
believe it or not, that attracted her. And there's something in
her that attracted me. Love is always attracted by something
that it perceives to be lovable. Except his love. There was nothing in us to attract
his love. And that love which is attracted
by something lovable is repelled and turns away when something
ugly enough, hideous enough, unlovely enough arises within
its object. And so it turns away. But not
His love. Our unworthiness could never
quench His love. Long rejection of Him could never
quench His love for us. He came and revealed His word
to us. Caused us to hear the gospel
of His grace. Heard about His amazing love.
Amazing love. Amazing love. Aren't you amazed
that you weren't amazed with it the first time you ever heard
about it? Amazing love. He said, I want no part of it. I want no part of it. Happy enough to have someone
keep us out of hell. Happy enough to have someone
bring us into heaven. Happy enough to have someone
to make our life nice and comfortable. But as far as knowing anything
about the love of God in Christ Jesus, no thank you. I'm happy
to love myself. No thank you. But his love would
not be repelled. He called, and we stopped our
ears. He called, and we turned our backs. He called, and we
said, no! He called, and we ran! He called, and we ran! And he
ran after us. He stopped us in our way and
said, oh, yes. Oh, yes. And though he saved
us by his matchless grace, oh, what floods! of indifference and inconsistency
and unbelief and coldness and hardness would quench his love. all the torrents of our sin, all the billows of our unbelief,
all the floods of our utter indifference to the Son of God. And yet, listen now, listen now,
His love for us, Lindsay Campbell, is just as intense, and just
as full, and just as complete, and just as determined for our
good as it was when it loved us before the world began. Unquenchable love. Unquenchable
love. Oh, let it rathish my heart. Now let me show you something
else. Our text back here in Psalm Solomon, chapter 8, verse 7,
It tells us that the love of Christ is unquenchable. And it
also tells us it's unpurchasable. If a man should give all the
substance of his house for love, if a man should give all the
substance of his house to get somebody to love him, or if a
man who loves someone or a man who looks on someone and would
give them all the substance of his house instead of loving them,
either way, it would be utterly contempt, completely despised. All that a man has, all that
you and I have, could never do anything, could never in any
measure, all the very best that we have to offer, could never
in any measure attract God's amazing love for us. David said,
my righteousness extendeth not unto thee, O God. The good that I do, it can't
reach up to heaven. It can't touch God. What I look
at as righteousness, and what men look at and call righteousness,
the very best deeds I have, that extends not to God. He's infinitely
above that. How on earth can I possibly do
something, give something, offer something to compel God to love
me? You see, God's love is not a
marketable commodity. It's not something he puts on
the auction block and says the highest bidder gets it. Nothing
we offer God could ever persuade him to love us because love can't
be bought by gifts. Believe it or not, you can't. Certainly, the love of God can't
be bought by our paltry gifts. Christ's favor can't be purchased
by money. He loves without gifts. He loves before gifts. He loves in spite of the gifts
we bring. He loves freely. Aren't you thankful? He said,
I will love them freely. I'll love them without a cause. And we can do no more to offer
payment to God for having loved us than we could offer payment
to God to purchase his love. Gold and silver have nothing
to do with love, beforehand or afterwards. Nothing at all. Put that in human terms, if the possessions you have and
give in any way affect the love that you enjoy, there ain't any
love in it. That's exactly right. Well, let's see if I can make
this clear. Walk up to a fellow and offer
to pay him to love you. Pay him to love you. What a revolting
thought. But we will try to pay Christ
to love us? What wickedness, what impossibility. Love is free. And we can never do anything. We can never offer anything as
a bribe to keep the love of Christ. Nothing can ever buy his love,
and nothing can ever buy it off. Can't do it. Can't do it. Nothing can be offered to get
it. And nothing can be offered as
a substitute for it. Should the whole universe be
offered to the Son of God, the whole universe, as a condition
of Him ceasing to love us, it would be utterly contempt. Well,
how do you know that's what that's talking about? Because in Matthew
chapter 4, it's exactly what Satan offered Him. It's exactly
what He offered Him. But He set His face like a flint
to go up to Jerusalem to die for us because He loved us. Who
or what can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus? All of heaven and earth together would be ineffectual
to cool or quench His love. As I said, He cannot but love
us. It's essential to Him. And our
Savior, would never give us any substitute for his love. Suppose a man were to say to
his family or to his wife, I can't love you, but I have a substantial
bit of wealth, and this is what I'll give you, and let that suffice. Or nobody would ever think like
that. Or maybe in this day, somebody would. I don't know. But the
thought is repugnant. For Christ to say to us, I can't
love you, but I'll give you heaven. I'll give you forgiveness. I'll
give you everlasting life. Those gifts would be utterly
contempt. without His love. Utterly contempt. Now how can
you say that, Pastor? You try finding a man who has
been forgiven a crime and see if he loves the one who forgave
him. You try finding a man who has been restored from some great
difficulty and see if he loves the one who restored him. Like
him? Be indebted to him, yeah. But love him? No. Because all
things without love. All things without love. All
things without love. No exception. Put it in human
terms, put it in earthly terms, put it in heavenly terms, put
it in spiritual terms. All things without love. are absolutely worthless at best
and despised in reality. Utterly contempt. Utterly contempt. Let us never attempt, let us never attempt to offer our God Oh my God, forgive me. Let us
never attempt to offer our God anything as a substitute for
love. Nothing. Nothing. Now love gives all. That's what Christ gave. But
you can give all and not have any love. Love does anything. That's what Christ did. But you
can do anything and not have love. Let us never attempt to
offer God our Savior any gift, any service, any deed, any sacrifice,
be it ever so great, and not loving." I love the Lord because He hath
heard my voice, the voice of my supplications. Because He
hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him
as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed
me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord
preserveth the simple. I was brought low, and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. For the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee." We love Him because He first loved us. Now, children of God, keep yourselves in the love of
God. What our Lord gives is love.
What He wants from us is love. That's all. That's all. He gets
everything. And without it, He gets nothing. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. My son, give me thine heart.
This is what I pray that God will do for us. Graciously, Lord, force us constantly
into your arms. Graciously, Lord, force us constantly
to love you. Graciously, constantly conquer
my heart. Oh, my God. Alexander McLaren was a well-known,
highly regarded preacher many years ago. And he and his daughter had a
very special relationship. He would come home from the office,
and every day she'd be sitting on the front porch waiting on
him, every day. And when the weather permitted, they'd sit
right down on the front porch. He'd take her up on his lap.
They'd just talk and visit, talk and visit. When the weather wasn't
permitting, they'd walk inside, sit down in a chair. He'd take her up on his lap,
and they'd just visit every day. We came home one day, and she
wasn't on the porch. He didn't think too much about
it, thought maybe something would come up. Next day, she wasn't
on the porch. Next day, she wasn't on the porch.
And he was getting a little concerned, getting real concerned, as she's
outgrowing her young, youthful love for her daddy. That's kind
of painful to deal with. And the next day he came home,
she was sitting out on the porch. She had something beside her.
Winter was coming on, and she had learned how to knit. And
every day after she got done with her studies, she'd go upstairs,
and she was hiding away, knitting her daddy some gloves for winter.
And she brought those out. She said, Daddy, this is why
I haven't been down here to greet you. He took them, put them on,
thanked her. And he said, honey, I want you
to know something. I appreciate the gloves, but
I'd heapsite rather have you right here sitting on my lap
than anything you could ever give or do for me. Let us offer nothing to our Savior
as a substitute for love. He offered nothing as a substitute
for love for us. Now, it is my prayer that God
will cause us to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge,
that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen.