Herein is Love

Now let's go to this three-word
text in 1 John 4, verse 10. Our text is our topic. Herein
is love. Here is love. Where is love? What is love? If you were called
upon to give a definition of the word love, what would you
say? If someone asked you to give an example of real love,
what would you say? Well, some would say real love
is the love of a mother. And I must admit that I think
it's marvelous and impressive. It's a story of devotion, of
dedication. A mother's love is a story of
sacrifice. of faithfulness, loyalty, of
mother's love. But actually, what's so remarkable
about the love of a woman for the fruit of her womb? What is
so marvelous and remarkable about that? Why shouldn't she love
her own? In loving her child, she loves
herself. The question comes, does she
love other people's children as much as she loves her own
children? And the answer is, certainly
not. Then is this real love? Or is it self-love? It is marvelous
compared with human love, no question about it. It's impressive,
but it's still born of self. And it's not really so touching,
and it's not really so marvelous. when it's examined in the light
of perfect love, when it's examined in the light of God's holy love. What is love? Where is love?
Well, some would say the love of a missionary. I love to read
the story of William Carey. I love to read the story of Judson.
and these other pioneer missionaries, and I marvel, I actually, and
I know you do, marvel at their love for Christ and their love
for the loss of other countries, of other nations. One of the
most impressive stories I've ever read is about the old Moravian
missionaries who wanted to preach to the lepers. And so they actually
went into the leper colonies, admitted themselves as And of
course they got the disease, but they spent their lives as
lepers in leper colonies in order that they might preach to the
lepers. That's, you say, that's love. And first hand we have
from Walter Groover, David Pledger, Bill Clark, other men whom we
know personally who have suffered so many things. They've done
without, they've sacrificed. They've lived on nothing in order
to preach the gospel to people whom they say that they love,
and I'm sure they do. But really, what is so remarkable
about the love of a man for the Redeemer, Jesus Christ? What's so remarkable about the
love and gratitude which a man has for the grace of God? He
loved us that way. The wonder really ought to be
that we don't love him more. Isn't that right? The songwriter
put it this way, Dear Lord, shall it ever be, at this poor dying
rate, Our love so faint, so cold to Thee, and Thy love to us so
great, Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, with all Thy quickening
power, Shed abroad the Savior's love in these cold hearts of
ours. Yes, a mother's love is marvelous,
impressive, compared with human love, compared with divine love. Well, it's not so impressive.
The love of a missionary, the sacrifices, the selflessness
of a missionary, it's impressive. But when compared
with the holy love of a holy God, it's not so impressive and
then someone else might say well I'll tell you I'll tell you an
example of real unquestionable love and that's the love of a
martyr it is said that they lighted the streets of Rome with their
burning bodies turn to Hebrews chapter 11 let's look at a few
of these verses Hebrews 11 verse 35 women received their dead raised to
life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover
bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, they were tempted. They were slain with a sword.
They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth.
Yes, these people suffered. I stood over in London, across
from the Tower of London, in a place called Smithfield, where
they burned over 140 Protestants. back in the days of Bloody Mary.
The skies were lit up with their burning bodies there. There's
a marker there where these men and women, because of their love
for Christ and their love for the gospel of God's redeeming
grace, were tied to the stake and the flames destroyed their
bodies and they died singing praises to God. That's love.
But really, what's so remarkable about a man giving his life for
what he believes? or giving his life for whom he
believes. And why should we not give our
lives to obtain a better life? They knew when they stopped singing
God's praises here, they'd sing them forever in glory. They knew
when this life was over, having trusted Christ and kept the faith,
that they would forever rejoice in his presence. What's so remarkable,
amazing about a man giving his life for something he believes
in? Men have given their lives for much less causes. Men have
given their lives for their countries. They've given their lives for
political beliefs. They've given their lives for
other beliefs. Well, this love is great. The love of a mother
is impressive. It's marvelous. And the love
of a missionary is impressive, and it's amazing. And the love
of a martyr, I would not discount it in the least. I wish I had
that kind of love. But someone said, their love
is like the stars which fade before the sun, the sun of his
love. Their love is like a sweet flower,
but it must blush before the rose of Sharon and the lily of
the valley. John says, here is love, here
is love, here is love, here is everlasting love. Here is infinite
love. Here is infallible love. Here
is divine love. Here is love that cannot be questioned.
Here is love. And in comparison with this infallible,
infinite, eternal, divine love, all other love, no matter how
high, no matter how noble, no matter how self-sacrificing,
no matter how amazing it may be, All other love, in comparison
with this love, dwindles into insignificance. Here is love. Here it is. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
the sacrifice for our sins. Here is love. Now, four points
I want to bring out in this message. First of all, here is love, not
that we love God, but He loved us. That is, here is love, God's
love for those who do not love Him. Now, we'll get a lot of
argument on this point. Men say they do not hate God.
Preachers who are honest and who are true to the Word of God
tell this world that men by nature hate God. They do, they hate
God. They do not love God. And men
reply back, we do love God, we don't hate God. But let me ask
some questions. If men love God, why don't they
worship God? Huh? If men love God, they say
out there they do love God, well why don't they worship Him? You
can find them giving all kind of excuses for not worshiping
God. There's so many denominations, I can't find the right one. There's
so many hypocrites in the church, I'm just as good as they are.
Maybe so, but why don't you worship God? If you love God, why don't
you praise God? If you love God, why don't you
believe God? Scripture says if we believe
not the record that God has given concerning His Son, we make God
a liar. You don't call one you love a
liar if you believe God. If you love God, you believe
Him. If men love God, why don't they love His Word? If men love God, why did they
crucify Him? This world says, we don't hate
God, we love God. If men love God, why did they
crucify Him? Let's see what Scripture says.
Turn to John chapter 3. In verse 19, the scripture says,
in John 3, 19, this is condemnation, this is condemnation. Light is
coming to this world, that's Christ. And men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Turn to John
15. Here's the master speaking here,
John 15, verse 18. Listen to him. If the world hate
you, he's talking to his disciples. You know it hated me. It hated
me before it hated you. Our Lord was said to be one who
was despised and rejected of men. If they loved him, why did
they reject him? They rejected him because they
despised him. And Paul wrote in Romans 8 verse
7, the natural mind is what? Is not in love with God. The
natural mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the
law of God. They hated me, Christ said, without
a cause. The only love, now you listen
to this, this is so. The only love that a natural
man has for God is a love for the God of his imagination. He hates the God of the Bible.
The only love that a man has for God is the God of his own
imagination. The God of sovereignty, the God
of creation, the God of holiness, the God of the scripture, the
God of the universe, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ is as hated today as he was when he came down here in
the flesh. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. Men do not love God. And when
you go out to preach or to witness, and you assume that men love
God, you're assuming a lie. They hate God. But God loved us, though we didn't
love Him. Turn to Ephesians 2. This is
love. Love for your enemy. Love for
one who despises you and hates you. In Ephesians chapter 2,
listen to this. And you, and you, Ephesians 2. you hath he quickened, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, 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 are you
saved. But God, who is rich in mercy.
I don't know the truth of this, All of you know that song, The
Love of God, is greater far than tongue or pen can ever describe. It goes beyond the highest star,
it reaches to the lowest hell. I don't know the truth of this,
but someone said, and I read it years ago, that the last verse
of that great song, The Love of God, the last verse, and I
think the greatest verse, was found written on the walls of
an institution of confinement. And this is what the words say. Could we with ink the ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment
made? Were every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of God above
would drain that ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the
whole, though stretched from sky to sky." God's love, God's
love is this, that He loved us when we didn't love Him. Now secondly, turn back to the
text. 1 John 4, herein is love, not
that we love God, but that he loved us. Can you think of any
reason why God should love you? Can you think of any reason?
I think Mike caught the wonder of this in the song he sang this
morning. Can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his
pain? for me who him to death pursued
amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God,
should die for me?" Can you think of any reason why God should
love you except for the fact that God is love? That's the only answer I can
give. I sat down and thought about this a little while Friday
afternoon, Friday evening. Why should God love us? And I couldn't think of one reason.
Except this, God is love. You know, when Mephibosheth came
before David and the glory of David's palace and David's reign
and David's victories, this poor, crippled, ragged, forgotten grandson
of Saul, David told him how he was going to restore everything
that he had lost in his father Saul and he was going to restore
his servants and his land and and all of these things, and
he was going to be able to sit at the king's table as one of
the king's own sons, and Mephibosheth said, Who am I, King David, that
you should show such mercy to such a dead dog? Well, that's
marvelous, but I can really understand how David could have compassion
on Mephibosheth. I can understand how David could
love him, because he was the son of his best friend. And David
remembered his own poverty. David remembered the times when
he was fleeing from Saul and being persecuted. He was a kinsman. He was a likeness. I can understand that. And when
Joseph's brothers fell on their faces before him, how they had
hated him, and how they had been jealous of him, and mistreated
him, and sold him into slavery, and deceived his father into
thinking that Joseph was dead, and caused that old man so many
years of anguish and heartache. These hateful brothers! Oh, how
wicked they were! And here, years later, Joseph
reveals himself to them, and he says, Now don't be afraid.
Everything you did, you meant for evil. But God meant it for
good. And I'm not angry with you. It's
not your fault. Man proposes and God disposes. And it's all in the hands of
the Lord. My father planned it all. So don't you be worried. Everything's going to be alright.
I can really understand why he loved his brothers. I can understand
that. I can understand his love for
them. And when the prodigal son who had taken his father's wealth
and gone out yonder into the boondocks and thrown it all away
and wasted it and lived it up and came to the point when he
was hungry and broke and homesick and tired and weary and he came
home and asked forgiveness and his father met him and accepted
him, I can understand that. But I don't understand God's
love for us. I do not. Our ways are not his
ways. Our thoughts are not his thoughts.
Our wills are not his will. There is nothing that we can
add to his glory. There is nothing we can add to
his happiness. We have followed the ways of
sin and Satan and evil and selfishness. Why should he love us? Somebody said, I don't understand
that scripture. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated." What part don't you understand? Well, I don't
understand how God could hate Esau. Well, I do. Well, I understand
why God should hate Esau. Esau was an offspring of Adam.
Esau despised righteousness and holiness and beauty and truth,
and Esau was the enemy of God. Esau's natural flesh and natural
mind hated God. I can understand why God should
hate Esau. That's no problem. I don't understand
how God could love Jacob. Do you? You understand how God
could love you? This has to be the only reason
in 1 John 4.8. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. That's the only reason I can
think of. God will put his sin because God's holy. God will
save sinners because God is love. Almighty God will condemn the
wicked because God is righteous. Almighty God will save a people
for his namesake because God is love. We're just like all the other
sons of Adam, fallen creatures. And I think when we begin to
examine our lives and come up with the things we have done
and the things we have not done, and the so-called morality or
righteousness of our lives and of our deeds and of our acts,
I think sometimes we mistake God's restraining grace for personal
piety, and that's a mistake. If you're not the worst man on
this earth, It's not because you don't have the potential,
it's because God's restraining grace. If you're not the worst
woman from the gutter of sin, it's not because you are better
than other women, it's because God has restrained you, and God
in His sovereignty has kept you from the places and the potential
and the opportunity and the need where you would have succumbed
to those things. Now that's so. God in his grace has arrested
you and God in his grace has restrained you. Old David was
out there when Saul was chasing him. He had that little army.
He was scraping around to get something to eat and something
to drink. He was out there running from Saul. He was God's man. He was God's anointed. He was
God's future king. He was God's child, man after
God's own heart, but nevertheless a man. And he was out there with
this band of men and some bandits attacked at a fellow's sheepfold. And David saw him and he came
down and cleaned them out and ran them off and saved the man's
whole herd. He saved his shepherds and saved
his herd, saved everything. And so, being hungry and not
having enough to eat and enough to wear and different things
like that, David told one of his men, said, Now I've saved
this fellow's whole herd. I've saved his fortune. I've
saved him a great loss. You go down and tell him about
this, and tell him old David's hungry, and David's men are hungry,
and I need some help, and I expect him to send me some food. So
this fellow went down to that man's house and told him, I said,
David saved your whole herd. David saved your shepherds, and
David saved everything you've got. David's hungry. He's up
there on the mountain, and he wants you to send him some food.
This fellow said, I'm not going to send him anything. I don't
need David. And I'm not going to help him.
And this fellow came back and told David that. And David buckled
on his sword. And he told his men, said, get
your weapons. We're going down to that fellow's
house. And we're going to kill every male. I don't want you
to leave one of them alive. I want you to kill him and his
sons and his father. kill his children, kill his grandchildren,
kill every male in that whole house. You say, that's David? That was David. And he started
down there. And this man's wife was a very thoughtful woman,
a beautiful woman, and very understanding. And she knew her husband had
said this, so she began to get some things together, and she
went out and met David. He was on his way down there to wipe
the whole family out. And she met him out on the road.
She said, David, don't do this great sin. My husband's a stupid man. But
don't bring upon yourself the wrath of God and do this great
evil. And David backed off and thanked
God for his restraining grace. And let me tell you, the potential
to any sin inhabits every heart. And if don't you be lifted up
with the slightest bit of pride, or self-righteousness, that you're
not in the gutter. It's only by the grace of God
you're not there. Don't you be lifted up with pride
that you're not dancing naked around some marble idol. It's
only by the grace of God you're not there. And don't you be lifted
up with pride that you and your family have not been wiped out
by utter poverty. It's only by the grace of God
that you're not there. Let me tell you a startling story.
Along with Cary and Judson, there's another great missionary named
John Williams. Did you ever hear of John? Most
people hadn't, but he was a great missionary. You know how God
saved him? John Williams was a young man,
and he was a, we used to say down south, a stemwinder. I don't
have a faintest idea what a stemwinder is, but that's what John Williams
was. That gets the point across. That's
what he was. But he was a corker. And what
is a corker? I don't know what that is either.
But anyway, John Williams and a crowd of his friends, they
were something else. They sat down one night and laid
plans to go out and tear up the neighborhood. They were going
to tear up the neighborhood. And so they passed by Whitefield's
Tabernacle. George Whitefield had a tabernacle
where he was preaching. And somebody said to John Williams,
go in there and see what time it is. Nobody had a watch back
there 200 and some odd years ago, 300. They didn't have watches.
And nobody knew what time it was. And so they said, go in
that tabernacle where that fellow is preaching and see what time
it is. Well, the clock was on the back wall. Whitfield was
up there in the pulpit preaching. The clock was on the back wall.
And John Williams sneaked in the tabernacle and he couldn't
see the clock. So he had to come down the aisle.
in order to see the clock. And when he came down the aisle,
all the time he was walking down the aisle through that group
of people, turning to see the clock, Mr. Whitfield's message
was in the air and hitting him on the ear. And he said something. John Williams turned around and
listened to that man preach, stood there, and then he sat
down on the floor. And God's Holy Spirit took the
message and stripped him and broke him and whittled him down
and brought him to Christ. And it was a genuine conversion
because John Williams became one of God's greatest missionaries.
How great God is! How good he is! Here in his love,
we didn't love him, he loved us. He loved us. Why me? Why you? I don't know, but I just know
he did. That's what he said. He loved us. And then the third. Look at this third line here.
Herein is love. This is love. Not that we love
God. We love the God of our imagination,
the God of our denomination, the God of our religious tradition.
We don't love the God of the Bible. Man give you his attributes
and you gnash your teeth, but he loved you. And look at this,
he sent his son, he sent his son to be the propitiation for
our sins. How do you measure love? How
do you measure love? You don't measure it by words.
You measure it by deeds. For God so loved the world that
He what? He gave. He gave. He gave His
Son. He loved so much, He gave His
Son. He loved so much, He gave the
jewel of glory. He loved so much that He gave
His most priceless possession. He loved so much, He gave the
unspeakable gift, inexpressible gift. He gave His Son. His well-beloved,
only begotten Son. He loved so much, He gave. Turn
to John 15. Here in his love, how do you
measure love? You measure love by its willingness
to give. In John 15, 12, watch this. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Christ loved so much, he gave
his life. in Romans 5 verse 7. Turn over
there and let's look at this scripture. Romans 5 verse 7. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, for adventure for a good man some would even dare
to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Love is measured by deeds.
One other scripture, 1 John 3, back to the chapter before the
text. 1 John 3, verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's goods,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion for him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? You can't
measure love that way. Love is not revealed in word,
it's revealed in deed. My little children, that's not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. The
greatest love is revealed by the greatest gift. In the fullness
of time, God sent his Son into the world. And he came to suffer,
and he came to bleed, and he came to die, and he came to give
his life a ransom. He came to give himself as a
propitiation, an atonement, a sacrifice. Old Dr. John Gill said this,
in order that sinful men whom God loved may possess eternal
life and eternal happiness, it was necessary that their sins
be paid for and a suitable atonement be made. So Jesus Christ, God's
Son, became our atonement, became our sacrifice, that the justice
of God might be satisfied, that love and justice might be reconciled,
that the wrath of God, which our sins so justly deserve, might
be averted and appeased here in his love. Now what's the last
point in closing? Verse 11. Beloved, if God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another. Am I going to read
about such love? Am I going to claim such love?
Am I going to participate in such love and not be affected
by it? To love God and pray that that
love might grow, and to love others as he loved me. Our Lord
said one day to a group of Pharisees, you love them that love you.
What thank hath you? You give to those from whom you
hope to receive something in return. What thank hath you?
You lend with usury or interest knowing that you'll get something
in return. What thank have you? The ungodly
do that, but I say unto you, love your enemies. Pray for them
that despitefully use you. And you shall be children of
your Father which is in heaven. For God so loved the world that
he gave his Son. Here's love. Here's love. Our Father in Heaven, weakly, falteringly, and limited by the flesh, we
have tried to talk about thy love beyond measurable height or depth
or length or breadth. We have talked about that which
we understand so little, but we know it's there. Thou hast
loved us when we didn't love thee, and do not love thee now
as we ought, or as we want to love thee. But how we praise
thy matchless name, O love of God, how rich How unexplainably
rich, how marvelous, how beyond our understanding or comprehension
the love of God for the chief of sinners. Thou hast loved us,
and O Lord we pray, let not this message be just accepted as another
sermon and soon forgotten. Let not this message be heard
by our ears only and rejected by our hearts, but, O Lord, let
it break us and crush us and bring us down in praise and humility
at our feet. O Lord, Thou hast loved us. How
can we fail to love others? Thou hast lifted us from the
dunghill. How can we look down upon those
who are still there? Thou hast loved us when we were
the most unlovely, wretched, ragged, sinful creatures. How
can we fail to love those who are as we were and as we are? We pray, O Lord, that this message
shall be used to Thy Holy Spirit to accomplish that whereunto
Thou hast sent it, in a very peculiar, special way, that which
pleases Thee and according to Thy purpose. And, O Lord, let
us love Thee more, shed abroad Thy love in our hearts. that
we might love thee with all our hearts, minds, soul, and strength,
and that we might love others, yea, those who love us, but those
who do not love us. And let us not see the hate,
but let us, O Lord, see ourselves. Remember the pit from which we
were rescued and delivered, and learn to love thee more. We ask
this in the name of our Lord and Savior, the gift of Thy love,
and for His glory. Amen.

Herein is Love

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Herein is Love

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