Let's look in the Word of God
to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Now listen to this. God is love. God is love. That's what he is. That's what
he is. It's not just something that
comes from God. It's not just something that
reflects God. But God is love. I do not read in the word of
God that God is holiness or that
God is justice or that God is righteousness or that God is
sovereignty. It is true. All these things
are attributes of God. but somehow John, who knew God
so well, when he comes to describe the
Lord God, he says, this is what he is, love. God is love. Now, the love of God to his people
is revealed in many many ways. His love is a love that passes
knowledge, and the acts of his love surpass our ability to calculate
them. Who can find out the love of
God? God's love for us is seen in
the revelation of those holy and wise designs and plans which
he has made for our eternal happiness. His eternal election of our souls
unto salvation is an act of his great special love for us. I see God's love in electing
grace and rejoice in it. His everlasting adoption of us
into his family and his everlasting love for his people in Christ
Jesus is a marvelous display of his love. When John considered
it, he said across the page there in chapter three, behold, what
manner of love What manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, you and me, the likes of you and me, Joy. What manner
of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we, of all people
in this earth, should be called the sons of God. The Lord's gracious, eternal
determination to sanctify us unto himself. reveals his everlasting
love for us. He determined from old eternity
that he would sanctify us by the regenerating grace and power
of his Holy Spirit, conforming us to the very image of his dear
son, the Lord Jesus. And surely the love of God is
to be seen in the revelation of his will and in the declaration
of his promises to his elect. The Lord God comes in time. and makes himself known. He makes
known to us by the revelation of Jesus Christ in the gospel. His everlasting purpose of free
and sovereign grace in the covenant made with Christ before the world
began. In time, that love is made manifest
in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was God's
love which sent the Spirit to regenerate us and to call us
to Christ by His irresistible grace. When we were yet dead
in trespasses and in sins, He said, Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Today, our hearts are bound to
Christ and bound to God by Christ Jesus. with strong cords of love,
the strong cords of his love to us. As believers, you and
I who are born of God know the love of God to us because he
supports us in life. He blesses us in death and he
promises to bring us into eternal glory. But all of these things,
precious and delightful as they are to our souls, to be considered,
to be thought of, to be meditated upon, to be preached, all of
these things do not really set forth the love
of God for us. They do not really show us the
Father's love. They fade in comparison with
the revelation, the manifestation of God's great love. When compared
with this, everything else is insignificant. God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Christ died for us. This is love at its utmost height. Christ loved the church. He loved
his church. He loved his church. What's the
result? And gave himself for it. And
gave himself for it. Husbands, love your wives just
like this. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. David loved Teresa that way.
Don loved Shelby that way. Love your wives like this. Give yourselves for them. Give
yourselves for them. God loved me and gave himself
for me. Amazing love, how can it be that
Christ, my God, should die for me? Herein is love. Look at verse 10 of 1 John 4. Herein is love. Here it is. Would
you see it? Would you know what it is? Would
you know how it is revealed? Would you know how to define
it? Herein is love. Not that we loved God. We didn't. We couldn't. We wouldn't. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son. to be the propitiation
for our sins. The greatest possible evidence,
display, and manifestation of God's love to us is the sacrifice
of his own beloved son in our stead, the sacrifice of Christ
in the place of sinners. that He might redeem us, that
He might justify us, that He might save us by His matchless
grace, the Lord God gave His Son in great love for us. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that He loved us. And loving us, He sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, this morning, I want
to give you with simplicity, but oh, I hope with clarity,
four facts about the love of God. They're clearly set forth
in this text. The first thing taught in our
text is this. God loves sovereignly. God loves sovereignly. Here's the wonder of God's love.
herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Now, in order for us to somewhat
clearly see the love of God and this sovereignty of his love,
let me describe some of its characteristics for you. The love of God is much
like God himself. Those things which characterize
God, those things which are attributes of God, most certainly are characteristics
and attributes of his love. The love of God is like God in
this. It is independent. It's independent. When I say that God's love is
independent, I simply mean that God's love needs no other object
upon which to express itself than his own glorious being. I've heard preachers say God
is love, and because God is love, He had to love man in order that
there might not be a vacuum in God. I've heard fellows say there
was a great vacuum in God's being because there was no one for
God to love. So God created angels and men,
and He determined to save certain angels and save certain men. Now, listen to me. God is independent
of all his creatures. He does not need man to contribute
anything to his happiness, his glory, or his satisfaction. God is totally independent of
all his creation. When God does show his love toward
any of his creatures, the cause of love is always in God himself. It is never in the creature.
God's love is perfectly happy and satisfied in himself. Love is an attribute of God.
It is therefore necessary for God to love. Do you see it? Love's an attribute of God. God
is love. He must love. It's absolutely
necessary for God to love. He could not be God did he not
love. Yet independence is also an attribute
of God. Therefore, it cannot be necessary
for God to have an object of love outside himself. Indeed,
the principle great object of God's love is God. God loves himself. God loves
himself. Every reason why he should. He's
perfect. Every reason why he should. All
intelligent beings love themselves, you and I do, and there is nothing
wrong with loving yourself. As a matter of fact, it is necessary
for the preservation of one's life. No man is ever required,
notice the scriptures, no man is ever required to love anyone
above himself, beyond himself, or more than himself, but rather
the requirement is that we love our neighbor as ourselves. as ourselves. Love your wives
as your own bodies, the Apostle Paul says. Loving one another
as we love ourselves. You see, God made his glory the
ultimate end of all things because God loves himself. The three
persons of the sacred trinity have a mutually satisfying love
one for another. God the Father loves the Son
and the Spirit. God the Son loves the Father
and the Spirit. God the Spirit loves the Father
and the Son. What I'm saying is that there
was no necessity for God to love anything but himself. And the principal object of God's
love is himself. The cause of God's love then
for any of his creatures must be found altogether in God's
own sovereign will." Now, this is plainly set forth in John's
words. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us. If any man did love God, God
still wouldn't be obliged to love that man. For a man to talk of his love
being worthy of God's love is kind of like a worm talking of
his love for an angel being worthy of the angel's love for him.
Man's love in no way could merit the love of God. Even if we did
love God, it would not be possible for our love to win, to influence,
or to affect God's love. And the fact is, no man by nature
loves God. I know man by nature loves his
opinion of God. Man by nature loves his estimation
of God. Man by nature loves what he thinks
God ought to be. But all men by nature are enmity
in their very hearts against the God of Holy Scripture as
he makes himself known in the Word of God. No man by nature
delights in, rejoices in, or loves God in his true character. The Apostle Paul says in Romans
8 and verse 7, the carnal mind, the carnal mind of man, the carnal
heart of man is enmity against God. It is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. Man by nature hates and despises
two things about God. Man by nature hates the sovereign
character of God. Now he's delighted to have a
little God he can put in his pocket and carry around with
him. He's delighted to have a little God he can carve out and put
in a cubicle and set it in a church house and go worship it on Sunday
mornings. He's delighted to have a little God that he can use
and call upon whenever he needs him. But man by nature despises
God who is absolutely, totally, universally sovereign and holds
man in his hand. This is the God of Holy Scripture.
This God has you in his hand. If he will, he can save you.
If he will, he can damn you. But it is entirely a matter of
his will. If he will, you'll live a little
while longer. If he wills not, you'll die before
you get out of these doors. God Almighty is totally sovereign. He rules everything according
to his own sovereign will. And it is that sovereignty that
man despises. All men do. And we reflect it. We reflect it. Little boy comes and sasses mama. You know why? Because mama represents
authority and authority represents God and little boy hates God.
Go to school and kids speak evil of their teachers because that
teacher represents authority and authority represents God.
The kid can't get at God so he takes that on the teacher. You
and I go down the street We despised to see that law man sitting there
with his patrol car and we said to ourselves, why don't he go
out and catch some real criminals? Because that law man represents
authority and authority represents God and man hates God. Man hates God. He despises dominion. He likes to rule himself and
he doesn't have the ability to do it. Second thing the man hates
about God is his justice, his justice. The God of Holy Scripture
is a God of justice, inflexible justice. You read of the starving thousands
in Ethiopia. And man says, there is no God. If there was a God, he couldn't
allow things like that to happen. Religious man says, yes, there
is a God, but he doesn't have any control over those things. The believing man says, yes,
it is the hand of God bringing judgment upon men. And that's
all there is to it. That's all there is to it. Men see this disease, AIDS, and
these religious fellows have started backpedaling now, and
they don't want to... I heard one of them the other
day, Jerry Falwell on television, and he smiles real pretty, you
know. If Phil Donahue likes you, you've
got to be bad. So Phil Donahue was in agreement
with him. He said, now you say that God loves the homosexual,
but hates his sin. That's right. That's right. God
loves all sinners, but he hates all sin. That's not what God
says, is it? God says he hates the workers
of iniquity. He hates all workers of iniquity. And it's not a matter of passion
in God. It's not a matter of vindictiveness
in God, it's a matter of justice in God. His law demands that
he punish the wicked, and he will. Yes, AIDS is but an act
of judgment from the hand of God upon a perverse society. No, that's just fact. That's
just fact. Doesn't matter who's affected,
God's judgment falls upon men. And these temporary acts of divine
judgment are but foreshadowments of divine eternal judgment declaring
that God in his holiness will slay every worker of iniquity
in eternal damnation. Now, he'll do it. Here's the
proof. When God found sin on his son,
God in his justice turned upon his son and killed him. That's
the justice of God. In order to save us, he had to
slay the substitute. Justice demanded it. And now
that the substitute has been slain, justice demands that all
for whom the substitute was slain must go free. God's love, like
himself, is sovereign. And God's love, like himself,
is just. And man by nature hates God's
sovereignty and his justice. When any man does come to love
God, it's no great wonder. Over in chapter 4, verse 19,
John says, we love him. We do. That's the testimony of
every believer. We love God. We love God. If we're born of God, we love
him. We don't love him as we ought to. We don't love him as
we want to. We don't love him as we're going
to, but we love him. Lord, you know all things. You
know I love you. I delight for you to be who you
are. I'm committed to you as you are. We love him. Why? Because he
first loved us. You see, God's love for us is
the cause of our love for Him. And our love for Him is but a
very small return for His love for us. Why, Merle Hart, it's
just reasonable for us to love Him. Just reasonable for us to
love Him. It's only right that we should
love Him. He loved us. He loved us. Were the whole realm
of nature mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing,
so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Do you see what
I'm saying? God's love is independent, sovereign,
and free. We have no claims upon His love. He says, I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, and I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. Not only is God's love independent,
the love of God is also infinite. As love is an attribute of the
infinite God, His love must be infinite. both in its existence
and in its quantity. His love is a love that passeth
knowledge. Passeth knowledge. When I announce
that I'm going to preach on the love of God, I've announced that
I'm going to talk to you a little bit about something of which
I have no full knowledge. I'm going to talk to you about
a subject which no man can comprehend. I'm going to talk to you about
a subject which no man can study out exhaustively. I'm talking
to you about God's infinite knowledge surpassing love for his people. God's love is infinite. That is, it is without any cause
except himself. It is without beginning. There
was never a time, never a time when God began to love. There was never a time when God
said, I'm going to love. But from all eternity, even that
word, from all eternity, does not describe it. For there wasn't
a time when eternity began. But always God loves. Always God loves us. Always. He always has. And He always will. As His love
is without beginning, it's without end. And His love is without
limitation. There are no bounds to God's
love. Oh, there are limits to our love.
And it don't take long to find them. Our love is limited. Our love is limited. Not God's
love. No limits to His love. No boundary
to His love. And God's love is without change. He never loves us more or loves
us less. He never loves and then hates,
and He never hates and then loves. His love is without change. God
loves us, you see, in His Son. Turn over to Ephesians 1. Let
me show you. Let me show you. Ephesians chapter
1. God does not love man for man's
sake. God does not love any man in
and of and for himself. No, sir. No, sir. It's impossible. God deals with men through the
Mediator, the God-man whom he appointed, whom he set up from
everlasting. God loves us in his Son. Ephesians 1 and verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Notice the word, in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in Christ. God's blessings are according
to God's election in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. Now look at it. in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise
of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved one in Christ. God loves us in Christ and God
loves us as he loves his son. I want that to sink in a little
bit. How does God love Christ? Measure that and you measure
how God loves you, Bob Ponce. He loves us as he loves his son. Look at it, John chapter 17.
John chapter 17, verse 23. This is our Lord Jesus speaking
to the Father as our High Priest just before he was sacrificed
in our stead. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, now look at it, and hast loved them as thou
hast loved me. That ought to give you something
to meditate on the rest of the week. Thou hast loved them as
thou hast loved me. You see that, Darwin? God loves you just like he loves
Christ. And for the same reason. For
the same reason. It's his pleasure to do so. God's
love for his own elect is the cause of everything he does for
us. Divine love is the fountain from
which all the blessings of grace flow out to us. The sacrifice
and death of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the cause of God's love
for us. Christ didn't die in order to
get God in the notion of loving us. Christ died because God from
eternity loved us. T'was not to make Jehovah's love
towards the center flame that Jesus from the throne above a
suffering man became. T'was not the death which He
endured, nor all the pangs He bore, that God's eternal love
procured, for God was love before. He loved the world of His elect
with love surpassing thought, nor will His mercy e'er neglect
the souls so dearly bought. Like Himself, God's love for
us is immutable. It's the same yesterday, today
and forever. It's without variableness or
shadow of turning. God's love never changes. Oh,
I thank God that he's who he is and that he loves as he loves. You see, the love of God is perfect.
It has no distinction and it has no degree. God loves all
his people alike, for he loves us in his son. God doesn't love
Buddy a little more and Lindsay a little less and Darwin a little
less than that and Don a little less than that. God loves us
in Christ. He loves us in Christ. And he
loves us all alike. I hear mamas and daddies say,
well, I treat all my children just like. Oh, no, you don't.
You try, but you don't do it. Love them all just alike. No,
you don't. You try, but you don't do it. You don't have the ability
to treat everybody just alike. Not even your own sons and daughters.
You don't have the ability. There are differing characteristics
in the child, and those differing characteristics in the child
cause you to love in a different manner. I'm not talking about
degree. I'm not talking about the quality
of love or the quantity of love. I'm talking about the manner
of love. And I'm telling you that God our Father loves all
His elect exactly the same for He loves us in Christ Jesus. He loves us in Christ. The love
of God never increases and it never diminishes. There's nothing
we can do to gain God's love. And there's nothing we can do
that will cause God's love to decline. Nothing. Nothing. God loved David when David was
a shepherd boy tending his father's flocks. And God loved David when
David took the sling and went out to meet the giant Goliath
in the name of the Lord and killed that giant. And God loved David
when he led Israel into battle. And God loved David when he sat
on the throne of Israel and demanded that men worship God as God.
God loved David when he went to his closet and wrote out the
book of the Psalms for us to sing the praises of God. And
God loved David exactly the same when he was plotting the murder
of Uriah, because God's love for David was not dependent upon
David. It was all together according
to God's eternal purpose of grace in Christ Jesus. Do you see that?
His love never varies. The wrath of God can never be
changed to love. And the love of God can never
be changed to wrath. I like to give an Armenian something
to break his teeth on. Here's a rock I'd like for him
to chew on. The Armenian says, God loves everybody. Now, anybody
who hears that, if God loves me, everything's all right. Everything's all right. Smile,
God loves you. God loves you, you got a reason
to smile. I'm telling you, if God loves you, you've got reason
to smile. For if God loves you, he will not allow anything evil
to happen to you. It's a delusion, a deception,
contrary to the character of God and the gospel of God, these
slogans that mean, say, God loves the world and God loves all people
and God loves you and we do too. That's contrary to the book of
God. No man has any reason to even slightly suspect that God
loves him unless that man's associated with and brought to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God loves Christ. God loves Christ. Only Christ. And God loves you
if you're in Christ. If you're out of Christ, there's
nothing but wrath from God for you. But the Arminian says God
loves everybody. And then he stands up and says
God never changes. God never changes. Wait a minute. What
about when he takes those people whom you said he loves and cast
them into hell? Well, he still loves them. Huh?
That's a mighty strange way of showing love. You mean he loves
folks he cast into hell? No, he's angry with folks he
cast into hell. And he hates folks he cast into
hell. The scripture says, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated. And God will never hate a Jacob,
and he'll never love an Esau. Never. What I'm saying is this. God's love can never be altered
by anything outside of himself. And as there is no alteration
in him, there's no alteration in his love. He says, I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, You, sons of Jacob,
sons of God's election, are not condemned. My friends, the love of God for
us is indestructible. Turn over to Romans chapter 8. It's indestructible. Here the
Apostle Paul describes the love of God in Christ Jesus toward
all of his elect. And he says in verse 35, Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. But no, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us, for I'm persuaded. I stand convinced. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. The love of God toward his people
endures forever. Love is a bond union between
God the Father and God the Son and all his chosen people. And
love is the bond of the covenant, and nothing can ever break that
bond. God loved us, not only when we didn't love him, but
even when we were positively opposed to him. I've told you
the story a number of times. Turn over to Hosea chapter 2.
Hosea chapter 2. You remember the story of Hosea
and Gomer. God told Hosea, he said, go love a woman. I want
to teach you something about my love. And Hosea said, well, where do
I find her, Lord? Go down into the red light district and
into the house of ill repute. and take a prostitute, just a
common prostitute and love her. That's the kind of folks God
chooses to love, folks like you and me. And so Hosea married
Gomer. He brought her into his house
and he gave her his name, gave her his possessions and gave
her his children. But Gomer was still a prostitute.
She was still a prostitute. One day Hosea came home and Gomer
was gone. And you know Hosea, he knew where
Gomer was at. He found her. He found her. And
he could have brought her home at any time. Because back in
those days things were different than they are now. Gomer belonged
to Hosea. A wife was the property of her
husband. She belonged to him. He had a
legal right to go down if he wanted to and take her by the
hair of the head and drag her home. He had the right. She was
his property. But he didn't want her that way.
Who wants a wife like that? He wouldn't have her that way.
But rather he waited until he won her heart in love for him.
And he wanted her only when she had been brought to the place
where she wanted him, where she loved him. And her love would
be a reflection of his love for her. But all the while, in the
meantime, Hosea found out where Gomer was and he provided for
her. Every night, Gomer would go to
bed with a different man, sometimes two or three men. She'd get up in the morning,
go outside, and there's a bag of groceries, wool jacket, a few clothes. And she says, look here what
my lover left me. Look here what he left me. Oh, my lovers, they're
good to me. I'll go make a sacrifice to Baal.
Look in Hosea 2 in verse 8. For she did not know that I gave
her her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and
gold, which they prepared for Baal. She didn't know. That's the way with God's love.
He loved me. so as to provide for me and care
for me and protect me all the days of my rebellion when I never
knew him. His love precedes our love. He loved him not only when we
did not love him, but when we were positively opposed to him. And we must confess that we are
his not because of our choice of love, but because of his. "'Tis not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. This heart," this one here, "'would
still refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me.'" Though we are redeemed
by the blood of Christ, justified by the grace of God, and saved
by the power of God's Spirit, our hearts are often cold and
indifferent. I wrote this morning, sitting
over there, Lord God, my mind is weary and
my heart's cold. I'm tired and my heart's empty. But I ask your spirit to fill
me and cause your grace to overflow in great abundance to the heart
of your loved one. These hearts are often cold and
empty. But his love never changes. Never changes. His heart's never
cold. Aren't you glad? His love never
diminishes. His love never never fades a
little, never does. There's no love to compare with
the love of God in Christ Jesus for us. Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us. But there's another thing
that John shows us here. He tells us that God loves sinners. I'm going to have to be brief. Let me tell you this. We are sinners before a holy
God, and our guilt is great. Only God knows the magnitude
and the hideousness of sin. And yet the God against whom
we sin, John says, loved us. And well might he say herein
is love. Herein is love. He's assuring
us that the love, grace, and compassion of the eternal God
is greater than all our sin. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Great is my sin, but far greater
is his love. Great is my sin, but far greater
is his grace. Great is my depravity, but far
greater is the love of God for my soul. It could never have been possible
for God to have shown his love for us as he has. It could never have been revealed
as it is now revealed. Had we not fallen and become
sinners by our father Adam. Martin Luther, when he talked
about the fall of Adam, said, Oh, happy thought, because that
fall set the stage upon which divine love would be revealed.
The fall of our race was not an accident. It was not something
that God would not have planned and purposed. It was not something
beyond God's control. It wasn't something God could
not prevent, but rather the fall of Adam. The temptation of Adam
and the fall of Adam and the fall of the race in Adam was
ordained of God for the good of God's elect that God might
make known his redeeming love to a fallen people in Christ
Jesus. The angels of heaven cannot know
the love of God as we now know it. They can't know it. They
cannot experience it. They cannot enter into it. They
attend these worship services and they listen to be instructed
concerning it. But they cannot know the love
of God as we know it in a redeemer because they have never fallen. But we, fallen, guilty, depraved,
helpless sinners, God loved us. And here's the proof. He gave
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. God loves fallen,
guilty, depraved sinners. I've been looking for some sinners. Oh, I'd like to find a sinner.
I'd like to find a man or a woman whose heart is corrupt, vile, and you know
it. I'd like to find a man or a woman
who loathes himself and condemns himself. I'd like to find a man
or a woman who deserves the infinite wrath of God in hell. I'd like
to find a man or a woman who's slipping fast into hell and he
sees the jaws of hell gaping before him and he's falling fast
into the pit of the dam. I'd like to find such a man.
I'd like to find such a woman. I've got good news for sinners. God loves you. He does. I tell every sinner, every sinner
I meet, God loves you. God loves you. There's no such
thing as a sinner God doesn't love. Say, Preacher, I thought
you believed in election. I do, about as strong as anybody
you'll ever hear preach. Well, how can you say God loves
every sinner? Aren't all men sinners? Yeah and no. All men are sinners. Few men know themselves to be
such. All men are sinners. Few men acknowledge themselves
to be such. All men are sinners. Few men
know something of their own sin. But you find me a sinner? You
find me a man or a woman who takes his place before a holy
God? and comes to God with the rope
around his neck and confesses, Lord God, be merciful to me. I'm the sinner. I'm telling you,
God loves that sinner and God will save that sinner. God will
save that sinner. Christ died for that sinner.
Thirdly, John teaches us that God loves savingly. Here in his
love, not only that he loved us, but that he sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins. That is, he sent his son
to make atonement for our sins. Propitiation simply means appeasement
of justice, an appeasement of wrath, a satisfaction to God's
offended justice. It's the word from which we get
the word mercy seat. There's the Ark of the Covenant
in the holy place. Kind of like this table here,
not quite that big, made of shit of wood. Inside the ark is the
broken law of God, the commandments of God we've broken. Over top
of the ark is the mercy seat, overlaid with gold. And that
law, that law which we have broken spells condemnation. That law
which we have broken declares wrath and judgment. And the Lord
God constantly looks on that broken law. Aaron comes in with
the blood of a lamb once a year and he puts the blood on the
mercy seat and the glory of God is revealed. And God looks on
the blood and he sees not the broken law. That's propitiation
and that's Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ has blotted
out by his blood our transgressions and now God looking on the blood
is propitious toward us. Every sinner God loves is saved. They're saved. God loves saving
them. One last thing. God loves sacrificially. Turn over to Genesis 22. Maybe
I can give you a picture better than I can preach it. Genesis
chapter 22. You're familiar with the story. It's Abraham offering up his
son Isaac. And here we have a picture. of
the love of God toward us in Christ Jesus, which caused him
to sacrifice his son. In verse two, we see how that
Abraham and Isaac got up early in the morning and went to the
land, a mountain, which God had told him of. Verse three, rather,
Abraham rose early in the morning Saddled his ass, took two of
his young men with him and Isaac, his son. And God Almighty got
up early in the morning in the covenant of grace to give his
son to be slain as a lamb, a propitiatory sacrifice for us. Abraham took
his own son, Isaac, his only son, whom he loved and made a
sacrifice of him. And God Almighty took his own
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he loved, made him to be sin
for us and killed him in our stead. We read in this passage
how that Abraham and Isaac, verse 6, they went up, both of them
together, to the place of sacrifice. Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son, and he took the
fire in his hand and a knife, and they went, both of them together.
Abraham resolved to slay his son. He made the place for the
sacrifice. And Isaac willingly obeyed his
father's command. And they both went together.
Our Lord Jesus Christ says, this commandment have I received of
my father. And willingly he went with the
father up to the place of sacrifice. Then Abraham lifted up the sacrificial
knife in verse 10. He stretched forth his hand,
took the knife to slay his son. And God Almighty lifted up the
sword of justice, and not only purposed to slay his son, but
he buried the sword of his justice into the heart of his son, so
that justice was swallowed up in the heart blood of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. And now, verses 17 and 18, By virtue of his voluntary sacrifice,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, portrayed and represented
in Isaac, possesses the gates of his enemies. In thy seed,
verse 18, shall all nations of the earth be blessed because
thou hast obeyed my voice. Children of God, Rejoice in your
father's love. Imitate your father's love. Look
here in 1 John 4. Let me just read it to you. Verse 11. Beloved, if God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another. God teach me to love like you
do. God teach me to love my neighbors my wife, my child, my brothers,
my sisters. God teach me to love like you
do. We ought also to love one another, to love one another. God loved us. He loves us. Let us then love one another.
We ought to trust his love. Oh, God forgive me for doubting
and questioning your love. 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? If God gave his son, what's he
going to withhold? If God gave his son, what good
thing will he withhold from you? Soon he will bring us into the
world of his love. Oh, I bid you whose hearts thirst
for love, Come to Christ Jesus. Come to the living God by faith
in Christ. For God loves. God is love. And He loves sovereignly. He
loves sinners. He loves savingly. He loves sacrificially. Let me tell you a story. I don't
know whether it's true or not, but it will illustrate what I
want you to know. Some years ago, The story goes,
a young girl, six, seven years old, came home from school one
day, and her mother spotted something
was wrong. And she said to her, said, sweetheart,
what's wrong? And she said, oh, nothing, mama.
Well, you know how mamas are. She knew something was wrong,
so mama sat down at the table and told her, Glass of milk gave
her some cookies and she said now, honey Let's talk something's
wrong. What's wrong? And finally a little
girl said well mama They're having Mother's Day at
school next week all the little girls gonna bring their mamas
to school with them and Mother said well, honey, I'll go to
school with you. I'll drop what I'm doing go with
you. I The little girl began to weep
a little. She said, Mom, that's not it.
All the other little girls, their mamas are pretty. And Mama, you've got so many
scars. And the kids at school make fun
of you. And the mother said, well, Honey,
let me tell you a story about these scars. Long, long time ago, we lived
in a farmhouse when you were just a little girl, just a baby. And one night in the middle of
the night, the stove got too hot and the house caught on fire.
And I ran upstairs into your room and wrapped you up in a
blanket. And as I came down the stairs,
carrying you in my arms, wrapped in that blanket, save your life.
My dress, my hair caught on fire. And that's where all these scars
came from. But not one flame touched you.
And that's what my Savior did for me. He was made to be seen. His visage more marred than that
of any man. because he was made to be sin
and suffered the wrath of God for me. But the fires of God's
wrath will never touch me. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Amen.