I'm reading from 1 John 4, verses
7 and 8. John says, Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. Now he's not talking about the
love that a man has to his wife or a mother has to her children.
I'm thankful for those kinds of loves, but he is talking about
the love a believer has for another believer. Beloved, let us love
one another. For love is of God and everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. An unbeliever is
incapable of this kind of love. They've not been born of God.
Verse eight, he that loveth not knoweth not God. For God is love. That's what I've entitled this
message. God is love. And I know at the outset that
I will fail to say what I ought to say because there's no way
we can exalt the love of God enough. But God is love. To me, personally, there's nothing
more difficult to get a hold of than to think that God actually
loves me. In Romans 9, verse 13, we read
where God said, and it's quoted from Malachi 1, this is found
in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, where God
said, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. Now that's
God speaking. Somebody says, doesn't God love
everybody? No, he doesn't. I know he didn't love Esau. He
said, Esau have I hated. Now I personally don't, have
any problem with God hating Esau in this sense. God's hatred is
a just hatred. It's a righteous hatred. It's
not vindicative like mine and yours would be. It is a part
of his holiness. And I can see why he would hate
Esau and I can see why he would hate me. I think of that song
we sing, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
and wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean. And I am amazed. I have such a difficult time
getting a hold of this thing of God loving me. I'm amazed that he loved Jacob.
Jacob was a sinful, deceitful man, and I'm amazed that he would
love me. Now, when the Bible says God
is love, men are not astounded by that. They think, well, isn't
that his job? He's a loving God. Shouldn't
he be loving me? Ought not he be loving all men? That's what God does. That's
what a loving God does. Phrase a loving God is not found
in the Bible. God is love, but to say he's
a loving God means here's love and God fits that description.
No, God is love. God's not a loving God. God is
love. Now there are three things the
Bible says God is. God is spirit. That means he
does not have a material body. That means he is omnipresent. He's everywhere at once. You can't go anywhere where he
is not. He's invisible, he's omnipresent,
and he's indivisible. He can't be part here and part
there. All that he is is everywhere. God is spirit. And the scripture
also says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now this refers to his holiness,
his otherness, his separateness. You know, it's difficult to even
give a word that describes God's utter holiness. God is holy. All of his attributes are holy. And thirdly, the Bible says that
God is love. This is his character. This is
his nature. God is love. Not here's love
and God fits that description. No, God is love. And when the Apostle Paul talked
about the love of God, he said it, passeth knowledge. There's no way that we can adequately
describe the love of God, but I'm going to do my best to show
what the scripture teaches concerning this thing of God is love. Now, here's my first point. The
first thing that I would say about the love of God is that
it is in Christ Jesus. Paul said, nothing shall separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The father loveth the son and
put all things in his hands. God loves Christ. Oh, he loves
him infinitely. And all of God's love is in Christ. Now, if you're in Christ, God
loves you. If you're outside of Christ,
God can't love you. But if you're in Christ, that's
where God's love is. The Father loveth the Son, and
he loves everyone that is in the Son. Now we have this phrase,
in him, throughout the scriptures, according as he has chosen us
in him. We're accepted in the beloved. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. This thing of being
in Christ has something to do with being eternally united to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is mysterious. It's
what the scripture teaches. It's mysterious. I wish I could
explain it adequately. But all that God loves have always
been in the Lord Jesus Christ, according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. And every believer
is united to Christ. Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for
the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. If I'm
a believer, I am one with Christ, united to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, when Paul gave that passage of scripture with regard to marriage
in Ephesians chapter 5, He lets us know in verse 32, this is
a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
But he had been talking about marriage, and he'd been talking
about a man and a woman, and it was given to illustrate the
relationship between Christ and a church. Now, in verse 25 of
Ephesians chapter 5, it says, Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of the water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church. not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish,
so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself." Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
loved his wife, husbands love your wives as Christ also loved
the church. The church is his bride. When
Christ loved his wife, the scripture says he was loving himself. Now that's how close this union
is. When Christ loves his wife, he
loves himself, one with Christ. And the way God can love a man
or woman is because that man or woman is in Christ, therefore
worthy and deserving of God's love, just as Christ is. My hope
of being loved is because I am in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
cannot be separated from being in him. And to think of the Father's
love separately from the Son is debasing to the love of God.
All of God's love. I make no apology for saying
this. All of God's love. All of God's affection. All of
God's salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ and nowhere else. So when I think, how could God
love me? I know how he could love me because
I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ. And just as Christ is lovely,
if I'm in him, I'm lovely in him and lovable in him. Now, the second thing I'd like
to say about God's love. is God's love, its reason is
found only in himself. His love is not influenced by
me or you. His reason for love is found only in himself. We read in Deuteronomy chapter
7 verse 8, the Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose
you because you were more in number than any people, for you
were the fewest of people, but because the Lord loved He loved
you because He loved you. That's why. The reason is found
in Him. It's not because of something
in me or you. Romans 9 11 says for the children.
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the
purpose of God according to election might stand." Now, did you hear
what that said? The children being not yet born,
neither having done any good. They didn't have any good that
would draw out God's love, neither having done evil. They didn't
have any evil that would repel God's love. God's love, his reason
for loving, is found in himself, and that's why he can say, behold,
I will love them freely." Now if God loves you, He loves you
freely. If I'm looking for a reason in
myself apart from Christ to think that God could love me, I'm not
going to find one. But thank God, the reason for
his love is found in himself. Preachers like to use the term
unconditional love. God's love is unconditional.
There is no such thing as unconditional love. If God loves me, the reason
is found in himself, and the reason is found in that I am
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not unconditional. The
third thing, God's love is eternal. God's love is eternal. If he loves me now, he's always
loved me. There has never been a time when
he hadn't loved me. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3,
this is God speaking, and he says to Israel, all of his people,
behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love. A love that had no beginning.
You see, God is eternal. He has no new thoughts. If he
loves you, he loved you in eternity. And there was never a time when
he didn't love you. Before the creation of the universe,
God loved his people because his love is an eternal love. Before time began, even then
he loved me. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. The love of God to his people
is eternal. And the fourth thing I'd like
to say with regard to God's love is God's love is sovereign. That means he loves who he will. I've already quoted this Romans
chapter 9 verse 13. This is God speaking. God said,
Jacob have I loved. And Esau, have I hated? God selects who he will love. We don't apologize for that.
It's what the scripture teaches regarding God's love. His love
is a sovereign love. He loves whom he will. Now I've heard preachers say,
well, when it says God hated Esau, that means he loved him
less. God loved less. God can't love less. God loved
Jacob and he hated Esau. And remember God's hatred is
not like human hatred. It's because he's righteous.
It's because he's holy. It's because he's the judge of
the earth. To Esau God wasn't worth a bowl of soup. He sold
his birthright for a bowl of soup. But God's love is sovereign
love and that is a necessity because God himself is sovereign. Now I realize the natural man
bristles against this like there's some kind of unfairness on God's
part. How could it be fair for God to love one and not love
the other? How could that be fair? And when
we have that kind of reaction to this, what we're doing is
we're sitting in judgment on God. And we're saying, well,
my love's better than his. But the fact of the matter is,
whether you and I realize this or not, the fact of the matter
is, if God loved the way we loved, no one would be saved but me.
Because you cross me once, twice, 10 times, I'll forgive you. But
keep on going after the millionth time. And that's the way we are
with God. At one point, we'd say, that's
enough. I'm not going to have any. Send him to hell. But not
God. Not God. You see, his love has
secured the salvation of a great multitude of people who would
not have been saved had he not loved them. God's love is what
the scripture teaches. I know people teach God loves
all men the same. Everybody's got a chance at salvation.
Salvation is not by chance. Salvation is by the purpose of
God. And God's love is a sovereign love. Now, the next point is
somewhat drawn out of that. God's love is predestinating
love. In love, Ephesians 1, 4, and
5 says, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto himself. In love, he predestinated us. Romans 8, verse 29 says, for
whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn. among
many brethren." You see, God predestinated that all that he
loves be just like the Lord Jesus Christ, perfectly conformed to
his image. How we love predestination and
what it says about God, it says God is God and everybody he loves
is going to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. God created
the universe. So the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world could come in time and be slain to
put away the sins of those he loves and guarantee that they
will be perfectly conformed to the image of his son. Now, God's
love is not in word only. Listen to these scriptures. This
speaks of the giving of God's love. God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son, the son of his love, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Greater love hath no man than
this. that a man lay down his life
for his friends. That's what the Lord Jesus did
for his friends, all who believe. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us. In this, 1 John
4, 9 and 10, and this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because
that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
of our sins. Now what does that word propitiation
mean? It means a sin-removing sacrifice. God made a way to
love me by becoming a propitiation, a sin removing sacrifice for
my sins. So when God loves me and embraces
me, he's embracing someone without sin. Here in his love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us. Romans chapter five, verse
eight says, God commended his love towards us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 8.32, 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? Oh, God so loved that he gave. You know, I love the way John
referred to himself in his writings as that disciple that Jesus loved. Here's where all of his hope
was, his love to me. Not my love to him, his love
to me. When with the ransomed in glory,
his face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages to sing of his love for me. Now, if you're a child of
God, you can say with Paul, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Now understand this with regard
to God's love. It never goes unreciprocated.
If He loves you, He laid down His life for you. And 1 John
chapter 4 verse 19 says we love Him because He first loved us. And if you really do love Him,
it's because He first loved you. Now God's love knows no bounds. It's infinite. He cannot love
you more. He cannot love you less because
his love knows no bounds. First John chapter 13 verse one,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, having loved his own,
which were in the world. He loved them to the end. And that same word is translated
utter most. He loved them to the utter most. God is love. And God's love, and this is so
important, God's love is always saving love. God doesn't offer
salvation. God doesn't present salvation
to you and say, here, take it or reject it. No, God's love
is saving love. Listen to this scripture, Ephesians
chapter two, verses four and five. But God, who is rich in
mercy, For his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together. with Christ. By grace you are saved." That's
what his great love did. But God with the great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead, quickened us together with
Christ. By grace you are saved. His love
is always saving love. Now I heard a preacher say recently
that Christ sincerely offers his love to all men. And his
reason for saying that was the rich young ruler, where the Lord
beholding the rich young ruler, the scripture says he loved him.
And he did. It says that. He loved him. And
that alone tells me that that rich young ruler ended up being
saved because there's not going to be anybody in hell that he
loved. I don't have any doubt that the rich young ruler who
went away sorrowful ended up coming back by the grace of God
and bowing the knee to Christ because Christ loved him and
his love is never going to go unreciprocated. But this man
said God has offered his love to all men and one of the terrible
things about being in hell is you'll know you rejected his
offer of love. Now, my dear friend, there will
be nobody in hell that he loves because his love is a saving
love. And if you tell me that somebody
can be in hell that he loves, well, that love won't do me any
good. I need him to save me. I need him to do it all. And
if he loves somebody and could have prevented them from being
in hell and doesn't do it, well, what kind of love is that? That's
worthless love. That presentation of the love
of God makes the love of God utterly meaningless. His love
is saving love. Everybody he loves, he saves,
having loved his own. which were in the world. He loved
them to the end, to the uttermost. Every one of them are saved. I repeat, God is love, and His
love is a saving love. If He loves you, you must be
saved. Somebody says, well, how can
I know whether or not God loves me? If you look to Christ only,
if you call upon His name, If you believe he's the only way
you could be brought into heaven, you're somebody he loves. He
caused you to be that way in the first place. And God's love
is the chastening love of a father. And the scripture says in Hebrews
12, and it's also in Proverbs, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. and scourges every son that he
receiveth." God's love is a chasing love. Now, if you have children,
you chase them, you correct them. Why? Because you love them. You
don't chase other people's children. You don't have the right to do
that. You won't do that. You chase in your own children. It's the other parents of the
other children. That's their responsibility to correct them. The Lord always corrects his
children. He always chastens his children
because he loves them. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourges every son he receives. And then in 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 14, the apostle Paul said, the love of Christ constraineth
us. His love is constraining love. And that word means it holds
us together lest we fall into pieces. It compresses us. It presses us on every side. It impels us. It restrains us. It constrains us. It causes us
to do things that we wouldn't do. And it keeps us from doing
things that we would have done. The love of Christ constraineth
us. And if the love of Christ doesn't
constrain me, I don't know anything about His love. His love is a
constraining love. Now here's what I've tried to
say. God is love. Not here's love and God fits
the bill. God is love. God's love is in Christ. All of God's love is in Christ. Outside of Christ, there's nothing
but judgment. There's nothing but condemnation.
But all of God's love is in Christ. God's love is uninfluenced. There's nothing I can do to gain
God's love. His reason is found in himself.
There's nothing I can do to lose God's love because his reason
is found in himself. God's love is eternal. It never
had a beginning. God's love is sovereign. He loves
whom he will. God's love gives. God's so love
that he gave. God's love knows no bounds. He can't love more. He can't
love less. God's love is always saving. Always. God's love is chastening
and God's love is constraining. God is love. And that love was demonstrated
in giving his only begotten and well-beloved son to die on Calvary's
tree as a sin-bearing substitute. And anyone who comes to him for
mercy, anyone who says, save me for Christ's sake, That's
someone who God loves. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.