I Have Loved Thee

Q: What does the Bible say about God's love for the elect?

The Bible teaches that God's love is special and sovereign, directed towards His elect rather than universally. The Scriptures declare a special love that God has for His elect, a love that is distinct from a universal notion of love. In Revelation 3:9-12, the Lord Jesus affirms His love for those chosen by grace, saying, 'I have loved thee.' This love is everlasting, immutable, and sovereign, meaning it does not change based on human decisions or actions. It is a love that drives God's actions throughout history, as seen in Romans 8:28-30, where all things work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose. God's love is not contingent on our worthiness or works; rather, it is rooted in His own sovereign choice and grace.

Q: How do we know God's love is for the elect?

The assurance of God's love for the elect is found throughout Scripture, emphasizing His specific promises to them. We know God's love is for the elect because Scripture explicitly states that His love is particular and eternal. The text in Revelation 3:9-12 reassures believers that God's love encompasses His chosen people. Additionally, Romans 2:28-29 clarifies that being a true Jew, or member of God's people, is a matter of the heart and Spirit, not merely lineage. This distinction exemplifies that God's elect are those whom He has specifically chosen and set apart for His love. Furthermore, passages like Ephesians 1:4-5 affirm that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, solidifying His love towards His elect.

Q: Why is the doctrine of election important for Christians?

The doctrine of election assures Christians of God's sovereign grace and guarantees their salvation. The doctrine of election is central to the Christian faith as it highlights God's sovereignty in salvation. Romans 11:25-26 speaks about God preserving a remnant of His people, emphasizing that His choice is based on grace rather than merit. This gives believers a profound sense of security, knowing that their salvation is not contingent on their actions but rests in God's sovereign will. Election assures Christians of their identity in Christ, fosters gratitude for God's grace, and empowers them to live in faith without fear of losing their salvation, as the Lord promises in Revelation 3:10 that He will keep His elect safe from apostasy and peril.

Q: What does it mean to be the true Israel of God?

The true Israel of God refers to all who believe in Christ, not merely those of physical descent. To be the true Israel of God means to be part of the spiritual family that God has chosen through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 2:28-29 articulates that true Jewish identity is based on inward faith rather than outward circumcision, signifying that the true people of God are not solely based on physical lineage but on faith in Christ. This doctrine is essential because it asserts that all believers, both Jewish and Gentile, are considered the true Israel of God, highlighting the inclusivity of God's grace and the fulfillment of His promises throughout all nations. Galatians 3:6-7 further clarifies that 'those who are of faith are the children of Abraham,' reinforcing this identity for all who believe.

3 verses 9-12 I have a message
for you I'll give it to you in the words of our Savior himself
to you this evening I have loved the Son of God the Son of God
says to you who believe on his name I have loved He says it
three times in the scriptures, so that we'll be assured of it. I have loved him. Now in these four verses, the
Lord Jesus tells us that when he has finished all that he purposed
from eternity to do, he will cause all the world to know that
he has loved them. Everybody is going to know
that God has love. Here our blessed Savior tells
us what he will do for you and I who are the objects of his
love. There is indeed a great multitude
of sinners in this world who are the distinct objects of Christ's
love. A multitude of sinners chosen
by God's grace for whom God Almighty does all things. I want us to
look at these four verses tonight, line by line, word by word, and
seek from God the Holy Spirit grace that he may teach us now
wonderful things out of his Word. First, in verse nine, there is
a great separation declared. Our Lord always separates the
wheat from the chaff. He always separates the precious
from the vile. He always separates the sheep
from the goats. We can't and we shouldn't try,
but he does. In his providence, by his word,
and at last at the day of judgment, he will separate his own from
the rest of the world. He says in verse 9, Behold, I
will make them of the synagogue of Satan. which say they are
Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come
and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
them." The Jews, those who are Abraham's physical feet, claimed
to be God's people exclusively, and indeed they continue to do
so to this day. And many, many people today regard
the Jews as God's distinctly chosen people, around whom he
does and for whom he does all things. But in this ninth verse,
our Lord Jesus calls those who yet worship according to the
customs of Judaism, those who yet worship according to the
customs of the law of Moses, those who yet have the blindness
upon their eyes and upon their hearts so that they do not see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, The Son of God
calls them the synagogue of Satan. It is not Abraham's physical
seed, but his physical seed who are the people of God, the Israel
of God, for whom are all the promises and the covenant that
he made from eternity. Mark this down and understand
it well. You and I who believe, you and
I who are born of God's Spirit, we who are God's elect, The Church
of God is the Israel of God, and it is the Israel of God,
his spiritual Israel, who is God's distinct people, and for
whom he does all things. Look in Romans chapter 2 for
a moment. Romans chapter 2. Now the Apostle Paul makes this
abundantly, abundantly clear. Romans 2 verse 28. He is not
a Jew which is one outwardly. We have several who attend our
conference regularly over the last several years, very dear
friends of mine, who are Jews physically. But they have no
claim upon God's grace because of their physical heritage. But
rather they have a claim upon God's grace because of grace
claiming them in Jesus Christ the Lord. He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly. Is that plain enough? I don't
think anybody could miss that. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. In other words, physical circumcision
is absolutely meaningless. But he is a Jew, truly a Jew,
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that which
is of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. true Judaism, that is true
spiritual Israel, true circumcision, Abraham's true seed, Abraham's
true children, the true Israel of God, is not something to be
observed by the carnal eye, but observed by the eye of God Himself.
It's not an outward thing, but an inward thing. Look in Romans
chapter 11. Romans the 11th chapter. The
Apostle has been discussing how that God passed away, Abraham's
physical seed. How that God sent blindness to
Israel, not total blindness, for he has yet an elect remnant
among the Jews, of whom I've already mentioned. He's talking
here now about how God sent blindness upon the Jews nationally. as
a nation and a people, so that he might send the gospel to all
the world, so that all Israel, that is his true Israel, his
elect, might be gathered out of the four corners of the earth
as promised in the covenant. Look here in Romans 11 25. For
I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness
in part is happened to Israel. How long? Until the fullness
of the Gentiles, we come in. That is, until God gathers all
his elect out of the Gentile nations as well. And then, look
at it, and so all Israel, those who are the physical seed of
Abraham, and those who are not his physical seed, those who
are chosen of God among Abraham's physical seed, and those chosen
of God among the Gentiles, and so all Israel shall be saved,
as it is written. There shall come out of Zion
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The Scriptures declare that Abraham
is the father of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham
is our father, Paul says in Romans 4. He tells us that Abraham is
the father of us all, that is, of all who believe. Look in Galatians
chapter 3. The Apostle states this thing
again. Now recall that he is writing principally to the Galatians
who are Gentile believers, not Jewish believers, as was the
case in the book of Romans. So he's telling these Gentile
believers, you and I distinctly, these things. He says in verse
6 of Galatians 3, even as Abraham believed God and it was counted
or imputed to him for righteousness, know you therefore That they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
That means Bobby Estes and Don Fortner, we belong to Abraham's
seed. We belong to Jesus Christ who
is the seed of Abraham, the seed of woman in whom all the blessings
of grace are given. Now this is why I stress this.
Judaism, legal religion of every form, is apostate religion. works religion, no matter what
name it wears, is apostate religion. There are many today who, like
the Jews, claim to be God's people, who are not. They say they are
Jews, they are Christians, they are the children of God, but
our text speaks of them and says they lie. They claim to be God's
children, but they're not speaking the truth. Are you listening
to this preacher? I'm telling you as plainly as
I know how, all who hope for acceptance with God because of
the decision they made for Jesus, because they have been baptized,
because they have joined the church, because they have performed
good works, all who claim to be God's people, all who claim
to be the children of God, because they have partaken of the ordinances,
they call it sacraments, because of their experiences, or because
of their personal holiness. are hypocrites who are deceitful. They may be called a church,
they may be called the people of God, they may think themselves
to be the people of God, but our Lord identifies such as the
synagogue of Satan. The place where Satan rules,
the place where Satan leads, the place where Satan teaches,
not the place where Christ rules, and Christ is worshipped, and
Christ teaches. God's elect, the true people
of God, are circumcised in their hearts by God the Holy Spirit,
not in their flesh. That is, our religion is inward
and spiritual, not outward and carnal. Our worship is a spiritual
thing, not a carnal thing. Our devotion to God arises from
the heart and is seen in the heart, not just in outward activity. Turn to Colossians chapter 2.
I want you to see this in the book. Colossians chapter 2. If Bob Pontzer and Don Porter
believe on the Son of God, if we trust Jesus Christ, this is
what he says, you are complete in him. You see that in verse
10, Bob? You're complete in him. Now you can look that up in any
dictionary you want to. That means you got everything
you can get. That means there's nothing lacking. Complete, complete. This glass is not quite completely
full. means absolutely, full, complete
means absolutely, perfect, complete means nothing lacking. You are
complete in Jesus Christ. What on earth does Paul mean?
Which is the head of all principality and power. He in whom we are
complete. He who is our savior. He is God
over everything and everybody. In whom you are circumcised. Circumcised. Don't let the pedo-baptists,
that's a big word for baby baptizers, don't let them get in a corner
on you or talk to you about this thing of circumcision and baptism
having a correlation. Old Testament circumcision had
nothing to do with New Testament baptism. Doesn't have any correlation
whatsoever. He says we're circumcised not
by getting in water. That's got nothing to do with
it. Circumcised in the heart, man. A person is born again when
God does an operation on his heart. Not what a preacher does
for him, not what he does for himself, but when God does something
that only God can do in your heart. That's what circumcision
is. Look at it. Circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now then, here's how
it's identified and pictured. Buried with him in baptism. wherein
also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins and uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together, having forgiven you all trespasses. All right, now
then, listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3.3. You can quote
it, I'm sure, from memory. We are the circumcision, the
circumcision. When Abraham's seed, David, was
called out by God and separated from the rest of the nations,
God gave them a sign by which all men were to know these are
God's people. It was circumcision, an outward
sign in the flesh. Now then, you are the circumcision. You are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice or have confidence or
trust in Christ Jesus. and have no confidence. No confidence. Where is your
hope? When you start to think about
your hope, when you start to ask yourself, am I indeed God's
child? When you start to examine yourself
to see if you're in the faith, what do you look to? Where do
you look for hope? Where do you look for consolation?
What is it that solidifies your soul and gives peace to your
heart? Well, I believed on Jesus and
I believe on Jesus. But I believe on Jesus and did
this. I believed on Jesus. Oh no. Oh
no. No confidence in anything. No confidence in anything I felt,
seen, tasted, experienced. What about our past experiences?
Forgetting those things which are bad. I've had some remarkable
experiences, but experiences are deceiving. I've had some
good feelings, high feelings and low feelings. I've had some
rapturous feelings and some heartbreaking feelings. But feelings deceive.
Where is your confidence? What is it? What is it that gives
peace to your soul? No confidence in the flesh. All
right. Now look at verse 9 again. Here
is a great honor. Behold, I will make them come
and worship before thy feet. Turn to Revelation 19. I won't
preach on this. I'll just read it to you. Revelation
19. Here's the purpose of God in
his grace. Here it is. that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. I just looked back there at Sammy
Wall and imagined that God Almighty chose him and redeemed him, called
that take us in focus of his grace and show the wonder of
his grace. All right, now look at verse
one of Revelation 19. After these things, this whole thing wrapped
up, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying,
hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the
Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judges. They always are. They always are. Someone was
asking me the other day, I forgot who it was, about these passages
in the Old Testament, where God would send in Israel and he'd
tell them to kill everything in the land. Every man, every
woman, every child, every beast walking in the land. And folks
look at themselves, how could God do that? If there's a God
in heaven, people ask in their blasphemous imagination, If there's
a God in heaven, how could someone like that fellow over in Czechoslovakia
do all the horrid things he's done? If there's a God in heaven,
how could all these evil things come to pass? The fact that God's
in heaven is the reason it comes to pass. He judges sin, and He
shows it every day. He shows it every day. Every
day. Every day we pick up our papers
and we see God declaring, I will punish iniquity! And this is
just a warning. It's nothing compared to what's
coming in. And the believer looks at God
Almighty, and all the affairs of providence, and all the afflictions
and judgments of men in this world, and the judgments of God.
Because true and righteous are thy judgments. And then when
he gets done, everybody says, All right, read on. For he hath
judged the great whore. He's talking now about this great
whore of religion, Babylon, which did corrupt the earth with her
fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at
her hands. The religious world persecutes and despises the people
of God, always have, due to this day and shall till time is no
more. But the Lord God is not done
yet. He will avenge his servants.
and their blood at the hands of Babylon. Verse 3, and again
they said, Alleluia. And her smoke, the smoke of the
dam, the smoke of hell arose up forever and ever. And the
four and twenty elders, all God's servants, and all of God's people,
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out from the
throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that
fear him, both small and great. And I have heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice. and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto
me, Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper
of the Lamb. Now, this is a Blessings like
it has to do with you. Those who are called, called
by God, called by grace, called by God the Holy Spirit to the
marriage supper of the Lamb are blessed because they've all come.
Those who are called of God are blessed There is absolute certainty
then that the call of God's grace is an effectual call to those
whom he has loved. These are the true sayings of
God. All right, look at verse 9 again.
Here is a great love. Let every believing sinner receive,
believe, and rejoice in this word from God our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, says
to you and me, to you my brother and to you my sister, says to
us right here in this world, in this time, in this day, at
this hour, at this moment, in these circumstances, I have loved
thee. I have loved thee. Now then, Everything that God
has done from the beginning of time. Everything that God is
doing now. And everything that he shall
do tomorrow unto the end of time. He does, Paul went through all
these things. Everything. No exception. Those who foolishly talk about
the universal love of God, talk ignorance and nonsense. The love
of God is love for his elect. It's special. It's sovereign.
It's saving. It's the love of God for his
people of whom he says, I have loved thee. It would be meaningless
for him to say to us in the midst of trouble and difficulty, I've
loved you and everybody else too. That would be meaningless. But here is the consolation.
I have loved thee. You see, contrary to popular
opinion, Contrary to the foolish notions of religious men, the
love of God is not mutable. It does not change. It just does
not change. People talk about God loving
folks, and then because they won't receive his love, then
he'll quit loving them and send them to hell. That's about as
stable as water poured out on the ground. God almighty says,
I change not. He does not change, not in his
love, nor in the obvious of his love. I have loved thee. The
love of God is not a temporary thing. The Lord God says, I have
loved thee with everlasting love. The love of God is not something
common, it's special. Ask Noah and his generation.
The Lord God loved Noah, and Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now, if Noah were one of these religious idiots
of our day, He'd have him a bumper stick on the back of the ark
and say, smile, God loves you. Kind of a foolish way of showing
it, wouldn't you say? If God loves everybody, he's
got a strange way of showing it. If God loves everybody, why is
somebody going to hell? If God loves everybody, why doesn't
he save everybody? Oh well, God loves men too much
to interfere with their will. Does that make any sense to anybody?
Anybody? I just had one child. She was a girl, so I realized
I don't hardly qualify for parenthood. But when Faith was growing up,
if she were about to get into something that I knew was dangerous
for her, I'd say, Faith, don't do that. And she learned early
on, if I do it, not only is Dad going to stop me, he's going
to bust me. Now suppose, just suppose you're out here on Highway
150, out there just walking around with her and she starts to walk
out toward the road. Then my trailer coming this way, then
my trailer coming that way, and I was in the face of a black
road. And she just starts walking right the road. And I said, honey,
please don't go that road, you'll get hurt. You might get killed
if you go that road. And you come along and says,
mother dog, why don't you just get hold of her and bring her
back in the yard? Well, I love her so much, I wish she was really
so good. You set me into the sunshine.
And yet folks talk about God's love that way? How in the...
God says, I have loved thee! And that very Christus, I'll
ever love thee to death. We don't. I have loved thee. Thus our Lord assures us that
he does for you and for me everything that comes He chose us because
He loves us. Christ redeemed us because He
loves us. He sent His Spirit to call us from death to life
because He loves us. Indeed, He rules the universe
from forever to forever because He loves us. All the acts of His providence,
good and bad, prosperous and adverse, painful and pleasant,
all the acts of His providence are because, especially because, I have loved you. Take away the
special distinguishing love of God for his elect, and you take
away every gracious motive for faith, faithfulness, devotion,
and godliness, and you make all religious activity just a mercenary
activity. The believer is not motivated
by threat of punishment or promise of reward. The believer is motivated
by this, the love of God. Now then, in verse 10, our Lord
gives a great, great promise. Because thou hast kept the word
of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell
upon the earth. As long as you and I live in
this world of sin, we live in a world of woe. As long as we live in this world
of sin, we live in a world of sorrow. And we shall drink the
bitter cup of sorrow as long as we live in this world. There's
just no question about that. And by the trials of life, By
the temptation of life, the Lord God proves His people. He says,
I'll keep you. In the hour of temptation, it's
going to come on every night. He will keep you from apostasy,
while all the world is being led down the road of free will,
legalistic works, religion. While all the world chases after
the wine of Babylon's fornication, the Lord God says these heresies
that come must be so that those who are perfect will be made
manifest. And so he makes manifest his people, keeping them from
the apostasy of the age. The Lord Jesus will graciously
preserve his elect in the midst of their trials. He says, I am
thy God, I will I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness." He's telling us that he will
keep his own, every one of them, in the way of faith, grace, and
obedience, and the life of the Lamb. The psalmist put it this way,
the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. That means our steps, yours and
mine, every one of them, are ordered by God's purpose and
ordered by God's power. Amen. Amen. Blessed be the Lord. Ordered of the Lord. And though
he falls, I saw him howl a thousand times
a day. So he falls. But we're just sick
of him. And he left me to myself to fall
utterly to him. So he falls. We shall not be
utterly cast down. How come? How come? How come the The things that
trip us up every day. The things that cause us to fall
every day. The things that get a hold of
our hearts and bring us down every day. How come it is that
we fall and rise up again? And another man falls by the
same trial and the same temptation and never rises again. I'll tell
you why. Because the Lord of over God's elect cannot and shall
not perish, not even one. We are kept by the power of His
grace in the hands of our omnipotent Savior. As the hymn writer put
it, He will keep me till the river rolls its waters at my
feet, then He'll bear me safely over where my Savior I shall
meet. All right, look at verse 11.
Behold, I come quickly. What a word. Look up, children of God, in
the midst of temptation, trial, and trouble. Look up, the Savior
is coming. Hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy cross. Now there, we have a great promise. The promise of verse 10 is sure. The warning here is real. And
the responsibility expressed here is ours. It is upon the
basis of Christ's promise that we shall never perish that he
here gives us this responsibility to hold fast. You see, contrary
to religious opinions, it is not grace that causes life's
interests to change, but rather works that cause life's interests
to change. Grace is the motive of godliness
in all things. God's elect shall be preserved,
therefore God's elect are here bidden to cling to Christ. They
are bidden to persevere to the end, and they shall. And then
he gives this great promise, or this great privilege right
there in verse 12. He promises us a great everlasting
privilege as we persevere in the faith of the gospel. Him
that overcometh I will make a pillar in the temple of God. I will
make him permanent fixture in the house of God. And he shall
go out no more. I will affix him. I will affix
him so that he stands before God. And then he gives us this name. I will write upon him the name
of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is the
new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. I'll write upon him my new Lord. more than these people. I have. Let's sing Exhibit 74, no 78
in the Songs of Grace book, My Soul Consists.

I Have Loved Thee

What does the Bible say about God's love for the elect?

How do we know God's love is for the elect?

Why is the doctrine of election important for Christians?

What does it mean to be the true Israel of God?

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I Have Loved Thee

What does the Bible say about God's love for the elect?

How do we know God's love is for the elect?

Why is the doctrine of election important for Christians?

What does it mean to be the true Israel of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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