Look back in 1 John 4, verse
16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. I know and believe that God loves
me. Now somehow that just doesn't
feel right. It just doesn't feel right. Kind
of like Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me
so. I think, show me the book, chapter, and verse. I came in
to where my mom stays, and they were singing that. And I thought,
my poor mom, she was sitting there listening to that in the nursing home. What does this mean? What does
this mean? Now notice the order. We have
known and believe the love that God hath to us. You can't believe what you don't
know. Isn't that obvious? You can't believe what you don't
know any more than you can come back from a place where you've
never been. It's impossible. We have known and we have believed
the love that God has to us. Now, who is the we? Who is the us? That is very important
and this verse cannot be understood apart from understanding who
the we and who the us is. Somebody says, why even bring
this up? Can't everyone just assume it
means them? Isn't that a fair assumption? Well, let's say that Ryan said,
don't want this to happen obviously, but Ryan said, well, my mom and
dad, they're going to give everything to us. They're going to give
everything to us, and you will, I guess. Okay, but could Aubrey
say, well, that means me too? No, didn't mean her. And you
can't just automatically assume that the us means you. We have
known and believed the love that God has to us. Well, it's the
same us as 1 John 3, verse 16, Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. Now whoever he laid
down his life for that's the us being spoken of. Whoever Christ
died for. Now could those in hell say we
have known and believed the love that God has to us? It'd be meaningless
wouldn't it? They couldn't say something like
that. You know, I heard a man say recently
who says he believes in election and Christ's effectual redemption
for the elect. He said those in hell will know
that they rejected God's offer of love. For one thing, love is not an
offer. Love that's offered is not love at all. Love is not
an offer. And somebody, this same man,
seemed to imply that it would be unfair for God to not least
offer his love to all men. Now, that's just not so. And
he used the rich young ruler to illustrate what he's saying.
And the Bible does say with regard to the rich young ruler, Mark
chapter 10, and Jesus beholding him loved him. Without question,
it says that. And then he went on to say, there's
somebody in hell that Jesus loved. Because you don't have any proof
that this man was ever saved. Yeah, I do. The Lord loved him.
I don't need anything else. I need nothing else to know that
the Lord saved that man." Now, there have been different thoughts
on him. You know, the guy even said some,
he used the word Calvinist, he said some Calvinists even think
he was the Apostle Paul. I do. I do. That's what I think. But to think of God's love as
being anything less than saving is derogatory toward the love
of God. The we and the us, we have believed,
we have known and believe the love that God has to us, the
we and the us are the elect. Simple enough, isn't it? The
people that Christ died for, the people that he shed his precious
blood for. Romans 8, 31, if God be for us,
who can be against us? 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? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? That's who he's talking about.
It's God that justified them. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God. Now this is so important to understand
who the us and who the we is because if it means all men without
exception it makes it meaningless. If he can die for somebody if
he can love somebody and he can die for somebody and they wind
up in hell anyway that's taking away the believers only hope.
Now the preaching of universal love and universal atonement
is a denial of the gospel message. To say somebody could be damned
that God loves and Christ died for is to teach salvation by
works. Let me show you why I say that. If the we and the us is all men
without an exception that means the burden of salvation is on
something I do rather than what God does for me. It makes me
ultimately responsible for my own salvation. It means salvation
is some way by works. It also means that God is not
just. He can punish my sins in the Savior and then punish me
again for the same sins. That would mean God is not just. It would mean God is not immutable.
It means he could change in his attitude toward me. He could
love me one moment and then pour his wrath on me the next. It
would mean God's love is meaningless. He can love you and it can do
absolutely nothing for you. It makes the Lord a failure if
he intended to save everybody and loves everybody and they're
not all saved. It makes him a failure in his
intentions. It limits the power of his blood.
It says it's not sufficient to save. Even if he died for you,
his blood alone is not sufficient to save you. It makes man's will
the Savior instead of God's will. It's a denial of the satisfaction
of Christ that says the blood is not enough. Something else
is needed. It robs Christ of giving all
the glory in salvation and it takes away the only hope I have.
The only hope I have is that Christ died for me. I don't have
anything else and I don't want anything else. And if you or
anybody tries to present the gospel in some other light it's
another gospel. It's another message. It's salvation
by works. Now we This is the heritage of
every one of God's people. We have known and believed the
love that God has to us. Now what does he mean by that?
Does that mean that I just know and I believe that God loves
me? Like I said, that doesn't even feel right. Somehow that's
divorced from the gospel saying that apart from an understanding
of the gospel. Now when he says we have known
this is much more than a cognitive knowledge. The same word is used
with regard to Joseph and Mary where Joseph knew or not. It's talking about an intimate
knowledge. It's talking about a love. We have known we have
love. the love that God has for us. We rejoice in the love that God
has for us. You know there'll be many to
whom the Lord will say on judgment day, depart from me ye that work
iniquity I never knew you. I never knew you. Oh, I can't
even bear the thought of hearing that. But many will hear that.
So this thing of knowing, we have known and believe the love
that God has for us. It's kind of like the difference
between having somebody describe to you what something tastes
like. And you try to listen and enter in. But it's a whole lot
different tasting it yourself, isn't it? You can hear a good
description of what something tastes like, but it always falls
short, doesn't it? The only way you can really understand
what something tastes like is to taste it for yourself and
enter into what it tastes like. And we have some understanding
of the love of God and that knowledge that Love is precisely what we're
relying on. Now here's the other way to understand
this next word. We have known, we've had some
understanding, some perception, and a love for the love that
God has for us. And we're going to be talking
about that in a minute. We have known and believed. That word
believed is relied on. We have known the love of God. And we have relied upon that
love. That's what he means. It's not
just Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me to. So
it's we have had some understanding of the greatness and the completeness
of his love. and we have believed, we have
relied upon His love to save us. And then he makes this statement
again that he made in verse 8, God is love. God is love. Not here's love and God fits
that description. God is love. Not God's reaching some kind
of standard to think, no, God is love. Now there are three
things in the scripture. I can't find any more. I know
it says God is holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, but I think
that's included in the Lord is light. But number one, God is
spirit. Now that's just beyond us, isn't
it? God is spirit. That means he's not physical.
That means he's not bound by space or time. The Spirit is
not bound by space or time. That means he's omnipresent.
That means he's everywhere at once. He's invisible and he's
indivisible. You know what that means? That
means all that he is, he's everywhere at once. He's not in parts. All
that he is, he's everywhere at once. God is Spirit. God is light. Now that has to do with his holiness. God is light and Christ is the
light as to how a holy God can embrace us. You know one of the
things I think I love to think about light? Light can come into
contact with with the dumb heap, and not contract any of its filth,
and yet come in contact with it." That's how God can come
in contact with us through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is light, and he can embrace me and come in contact with me. And I have all of his saving
benefits without him contracting any of me. However, on the cross,
Christ did bear my sin. He was made sin, and who understands
what all that means? But God is light, and he's the
light as to how a holy God can have something to do with somebody
like me. God is spirit, God is light, and God is love. And this is the love that we
are relying on. We've known it. We've loved it.
We've had some understanding of it, just a little, but we
have some understanding of it. And this is the love that we
are relying on. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us. Now, the natural man, when he
hears God is love, they think, well, isn't that his job? Isn't
that what he ought to do? Good grief, we're his creatures.
Of course God loves his creatures. He ought to, as if men are entitled
to that. I mean, he made us, he ought
to love us. And all men betray in that kind of attitude is a
complete ignorance of the character of God and their own character. That's the only reason someone
would have that kind of response. God is love. Hearing is love. I love the way
John says this, hearing is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation, the sin
removing sacrifice for us. Now that is love. Now, I'm going
to briefly say these things because I gave them a couple of months
ago when I dealt with verse eight, but God's love love is in Christ. This is the first point about
God's love and really it's the most important point. God's love
is in Christ. It's not independent of Christ.
God's love is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, this is my beloved
Son. In whom? I love the way it says
in whom, not with whom, although that's true, but in whom. I am
well Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see his love is
not unconditional love. I hate the term unconditional
love because I don't have any confidence in it. If God could
love me unconditionally he could stop loving me unconditionally.
But God's love is in Christ. And Christ is lovely to God. Christ merits the love of God. Christ is worthy of the love
of God. Christ is altogether lovely to
His Father. Oh, the love the Father has to
the Son. In Christ, I have that love. Thou hast loved them as thou
hast loved me. We wouldn't dare say that if
the Bible didn't say it in John chapter 17. I am loved by God. because Christ is loved by God,
and Christ is altogether lovely to God, and I cannot be separated
from the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm one with Him as the vine
and the branches, the same stem that goes through the vine goes
through the branches. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it? Yes. God's love is in Christ
Jesus the Lord. Therefore God loves me not unconditionally,
but he loves me as he loves his son. That the world may know,
John chapter 17 verse 23, that thou has loved them as thou has
loved me. Now get a hold of this. However
God loves his son, that is how he loves you. The reason for God's love is
found in Himself. His love is not influenced by
anything in me or you. I love that passage of Scripture,
Romans 9, 11-13, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil. No good can draw God's love,
no evil can repel it. Isn't that glorious? For the
children, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand not of works, but of him that calleth that was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger as it's written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, since God's love to me doesn't
have anything to do with any goodness in me. It's not repelled
by any badness in me. He can say behold I love them
freely. That's the love I'm counting
on. That's the love I'm relying on. That's the love I love. And
that is the love I'm relying on for my salvation. You see
God's love is the very foundation of salvation. God didn't send
his son into the world to make a way for him to love. God sent
His Son into the world because He did love. That is the foundation
of our salvation. God is love. God's love is eternal. Jeremiah
31, 3, Behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love, a love
that never had a beginning. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. I've always been a person to
God. I know I was born September 9th,
1959, and I was conceived, I reckon, around the 1st of 1959, and there
wasn't anything to do with me in 58 on through. But you know,
I've always been a person to God, whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate. And
if he loves me now, he's always loved me, and he'll never stop
loving me. That is the everlasting love
of God. And that's the love that I'm
relying on. I'm relying on God's love being
just like that. God's love is sovereign love. I've already quoted this. Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Somebody says, well, that's a Isolated scripture, well, it's
in Malachi too, but scripture also says, thou hatest all workers
of iniquity. That's a pretty big demographic, isn't it? That's
a very large demographic. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. And God's hatred, you know that
it's not like human hatred, it's with regard to his holiness and
his righteousness. Now, his love is a sovereign
love. He loves whom he will. And you
know, the natural man bristles at that. They just bristle at
it. It doesn't seem fair. And the
only thing that'll make a man think like that is he doesn't
really believe he is a sinner and he's entitled to God's love
and God's favor. Now, if you believe you're entitled
to God's love and God's favor, you will get upset with that.
But if you have no hope of God loving you because of something
in you, this is good news. This is the love you're relying
on. This is the love you rejoice in. This is the love you love.
We've known, we've understood, and we've relied upon the love
that God has, just this sovereign love. Because it's sovereign
love, He can love me. He can just decide to love me. Well, really, he doesn't decide
to love me, he always has loved me. That's what sovereign love
is. It gives me hope. You know, I have no problem whatsoever
with Esau, have I hated. I don't have any problem with
that because I don't have any problem with seeing how holy
God could hate me. I've got no problem with that. I don't think
it's unjust. I don't think it's wrong. I can
see it. I can understand it. What I'm
amazed by is God's love for Jacob. His love is a sovereign love. And that's the love that I love. That's the love that I'm relying
on to save me. His sovereign saving love. And God's love, I love this. God's love is predestinating
love. In love, Ephesians 1, 4, and 5, in love having predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, whom
he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son. Now, the folks God loves, He
has the power to bring them to just the end He wants. Perfect conformity to the image
of Christ. And that's the love I'm rejoicing
in. That's the love I'm relying on.
The only reason that I'm ever gonna be just like the Lord Jesus
Christ is because God willed it. And He sent His Son to make
sure it happens. And happen it must. God's love
is predestinating love. I love predestination because
I love the God of predestination. And a God that's not a God of
predestination is a false God. It's a non-existent God. God's
people rejoice in the predestinating love of God. Love is defined by what it does. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. God commended His love towards
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. By this we
perceive the love of God that He laid down His life for us.
He gave everything. He gave everything. There's three or four things
that that simple truth knocks me out with. For me to be saved,
my sin is so evil that Christ had to die. My sin, my personal sin, could
not be put away without this. Christ Jesus had to die. Now the next thing I think is
how much God must really love me, that He would give His Son
to be my Savior, to be my righteousness. And I think, how secure I must
be. If Christ died for me, how secure
I am. Nothing shall be able to separate
me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And I see so clearly the only ground of my salvation. He laid
down his life for me. That's the only ground of my
salvation. And you know when you talk about
God's love, God's love is always saving love. Ephesians 2 and
4 and 5. 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
ye are saved. God's love is always saving love. There will be nobody in hell
that he loved. Amen? There will be nobody in
hell. that he loved. All he loved,
he saved. And to think of God loving someone
and having the power to save them and not doing it casts such
a horrible light on his love. Human love is better than that.
That he could love somebody and have the ability to save them,
but not save them. What kind of love is that? The
love of a human being is far superior to that kind of love.
But that is not God's love. The love that we have known and
are relying on is saving love. Now look what he says back in
our text, 1 John 4, verse 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love. We have had some
understanding of the greatness, the freeness, the power, the
saving efficacy of it. And this is what we're relying
on. I'm relying on this, that God's
love is as the Bible describes it to be. That is my only hope
and my reliance. We have known and relied upon. That's actually the way it's
translated in some translations. We have known and relied upon
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and look what he
says next. He that dwelleth in love. You
know, if you dwell in love, that means you're dwelling in Christ.
That's exactly what that means. It means you're dwelling in God.
He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Now, dwelling in God and abiding
in Christ are the exact same thing. What's this mean, abiding in
Christ? Well, and this is a very important
word. It's a conscious desire. This is not something you're
unconscious of. It's not something that you're unaware of. It's
a conscious desire to only be found in Christ. You don't want
God to look at you in any way independent of a vital living
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't want to be seen in
your own skin. You don't want to be seen in
what you are in yourself. You want to be seen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's what it means to abide
in Christ. That means I want to be right
here and I don't want to be anywhere else. I don't want to go out
the door. I don't want to go outside of Christ. I don't want
to be viewed independently of Christ. Listen, being in Christ
isn't narrow, is it? It's a great, big, huge, wide,
infinitely large place with all kinds of liberty and freedom
and everything you want. Why would you want to be anywhere
else? Abiding in Christ. I don't want to be anywhere else. Now I'd like to close this message
by looking at some things that John says about abiding in Christ
and abiding in God. Look in verse 24 of chapter 2. Verse John 2, 24. Let that therefore
abide in you, remain in you, which you've heard from the beginning. If that which you've heard from
the beginning shall remain or abide in you, you also shall
abide in the Son. That's the same word, continue,
remain. You also shall abide or dwell
in the Son and in the Father. Now, the beginning. Let's talk
about the beginning for just a moment. If that which you've
heard from the beginning remains in you and dwells in you, that
means you're going to abide in the Son and you're going to abide
in the Father. What about the beginning? Now I know something
about my beginning. I know that I did not really
look to Christ until he was all I had. I didn't have anything else to
plead. I didn't have anything else to hope in. He was all I
had. Stay there. Don't move an inch
past that. Because when you do, you're no
longer abiding in the Son. You see, you abide in Christ
when He's all you have. He's all you look to. You don't
want anything else. You stay there. Don't graduate
past that. We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. As you receive Christ, as you
receive Him, as an empty-handed sinner with nothing to bring
to the table, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, now that's
how you received Him, so walk ye in Him. Now this doesn't make
sense to the natural man, I realize that, but I'm not worried about
making sense to the natural man. God's people understand this.
All I have is Christ. Look in verse 28 of the same
chapter. And now little children abide in him. There that word
is again. And now little children abide
in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not
be ashamed before Him at His coming. Now what is the only
way that I can really have confidence and not be ashamed before Him
at His coming? By abiding in Him. When He shall come with
trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, dressed in His
righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. The only thing I have confidence
in when He returns is simply abiding in Him so that He is
all God sees, and I'm united to Him, and when God sees Him,
He sees me. That's our hope. Now look in
1 John 3, verse 6. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth
not. Well, that means he doesn't practice
sin. You know that is, somebody that
tries to make it say that, that's hypocritical. It's just real
hypocritical. And it's not what the scripture
says either. You can't look at the original and say this is
talking about the practice of sin or the habitual practice
and it's almost like, well, he might sin sometimes but he doesn't
make the practice of it. No. If you abide in Christ that
means you do not sin. How? Look at the previous verse,
verse five. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. Did he do it? Did he do it? In him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, If
you don't have any sin, you're not sinning, are you? Look in 1 John 3, 24. And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. Now notice, it doesn't say he
that admires his commandments or he who tries to keep his commandments,
but he that keeps them. He keeps them. Look back at verse
23. Here's the commandment we actually
literally keep. Now, with regard to the Ten Commandments,
if he kept them, I kept them. But that's really not what he's
talking about. Here's the commandments he's talking about that the believer,
by the Spirit of God, actually keeps. Verse 23, and this is
his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son,
Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. Now,
I do believe on the name of his son as my entrance into heaven.
I'm going to be saved for his name's sake. I believe that. And I do love everybody that
loves him. God knows whether that's true,
but I do love all who love him. Those are two commandments every
believer keeps. 1 John 4, verse 12. No man has seen God at any time
if we love one another. God dwelleth in us. You know, if I love you for Christ's
sake, you know what that means? God dwells in me. If you love me for Christ's sake,
He's one of those people that look to Christ as his only way
into heaven. You know, there's a fellowship
and a bond there, isn't there? If we love one another, God himself
dwells in us. He's the cause of it. You see,
God is love. And love is of God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. And if we do love one
another, it's because God dwells in us. Look in verse 15 of chapter
four, we looked at this last Wednesday. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. The reason anybody makes that
confession, and that's a public confession, is because God dwells
in him, and he in God. And then in verse 16, our text,
we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God
is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and
God in him. Now this is our dwelling place.
I love this word, abide. dwells where you live, isn't
it? It's really where you feel at home. It's where you have
liberty. Now my house is my house. You're welcome when you come
in. You really are. I'm thankful you're there, but
you're not going to feel at home. You may open up a drawer somewhere
in some room, see what's in there, but you'll know it's wrong, don't
you? You shouldn't be doing that. You might open up the the bathroom
cabinets, see what's in there? You shouldn't do that. It's not
your home. But it's my home. I have complete liberty to do
whatever I want in that sense. And every believer has the liberty
of dwelling in Christ. He's home. He's home. We endure. We don't stop. We continue. If
you continue in my word, we abide. We remain. All these words are
used to describe this thing of abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we have known. That means
more than we just have some kind of cognitive knowledge. We love
this. This is what we're hoping in. We've known and we've relied
upon. This is what we're relying on.
The love that God has to us. His free, saving, sovereign love. God is love. And he that dwells
in love dwells in God and God in him. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you and praise
you for thy love, which is in thy Son, your eternal, sovereign, saving, unchanging love. Lord, we really believe because
you've told us in your Word We really believe that you love
us as you've loved your son. We don't understand that, but
because you said it in your word, we believe it. What a glorious
gospel. Lord, enable each one in here
to enter into this. We have known and believed the
love that God has for us. Lord, that's the privilege of
all your children. I bless this message for the
Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Match got a closing.