Sermon #1509 Miscellaneous
Sermons
Title: God’s Everlasting Love for His Elect
Text: John 17:24
Subject: God’s Everlasting Love for His Elect
Date: Tuesday Evening—
Tape # X-9b
Introduction:
I want to talk to you
tonight about the love of God. Specifically, I want to talk to you about God’s Everlasting Love for His Elect.
Proposition: God’s everlasting love for
his elect is the fountain of all grace and salvation and the reason for all
that he does.
I want you to turn with me
to John 17:24. In verse 23 our Savior declares—“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou
hast loved me.”
Hear the Son of God, my
brothers and sisters in this world, and rejoice! “Thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me!” What a pillow upon
which to rest our heads! What a comfort for our poor, aching hearts! What a
glorious theme for daily meditation! What a cause for adoration, praise, and
worship! We may be despised, misunderstood, abused, and hated of men, but we
are loved of God! God our Father loves us even as he loves his darling Son.
Now, read verse 24, and hear
the Son of God declare that God the Father has loved us as he loves his Son
from eternity!
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world.”
I
want us to meditate upon this one blessed, glorious, soul-cheering sentence
that fell from the lips of our Savior—“Thou
hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” Here he declares, “for thou lovedst me before the foundation
of the world.” With those words he declares that God’s love for his elect is an everlasting
love.
“God’s everlasting,
unchangeable, and invariable love to his elect, through every state and
condition into which they come, is written as with a sun-beam in the sacred
writings.” John Gill
I am again in water that is
way over my head; but I never did like to wade around in puddles. I like to
swim in deep water. When we dive into the
I.
The
Eternality of It
God’s love for us did not
begin yesterday. It is not something born in time. His love for us does not
begin with our love for him. “We love him
because he first loved us”(1
John
·
Jeremiah 31:3
·
Ephesians 1:4-6
·
Ezekiel 16:8
(Jeremiah 31:3) "The LORD
hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
(Ephesians 1:3-6) "Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (4) According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love: (5) Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the
good pleasure of his will, (6) To the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
(Ezekiel 16:8) "Now when I
passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of
love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware
unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou
becamest mine."
The Father loved us ere we
fell, And will forever love;
Nor shall
the powers of earth or hell His love from
‘Twas
love that moved Him to ordain A Surety just and good;
And on His heart inscribe
the name Of all for whom He stood.
Nor is the Surety short of
love; He loves beyond degree;
No less than love divine
could move The Lord to die for me.
And
O what love the Spirit shows! When Jesus He reveals
To men oppressed with sin
and woes, And all their sorrows heals.
The Three-in-One, the
One-in-Three, In love for ever rest;
The chosen shall in glory be
In His love ever blessed.
God’s acts and works of
grace performed for us before the world began arise from and are demonstrations
of his everlasting love for us.
A. Election was an act of God’s eternal
love (Eph. 1:4).
(Ephesians 1:3-4) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ: (4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love:"
B. The covenant of grace was established by the
triune God in eternity because of his great, everlasting love for us (2 Sam.
23:5; Rom.
(2 Samuel 23:5) "Although
my house be not so with God; yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure:
for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make
it not to grow."
(Romans 8:28-29) "And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
(2 Timothy 1:9) "Who hath
saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began,"
(Hebrews 13:20) "Now the
God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,"
C. Giving us into the hands of Christ as our Surety was a work of
God’s eternal love (John
(John 6:39) "And this is
the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
II. The Immutability of It
There is no possibility of
change in our God (Mal. 3:6, James
The famous Arminian
preacher, founder of the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination, A.W. Tozer, made these
statements about the love of God. -- “God must love and will love man until
hell has erased the last trace of the remaining image (of God in him). Men are
lost now. But they are still loved of God...I believe that God now loves all
lost men...(But) the day will come when lost man will no longer be loved by God
Almighty...I believe the time will come when God will no longer love lost human
beings.”[1]
Such fickle, useless love
may be worthy of fickle, useless man, but not of the great and glorious Lord
God. Our God does not love today and
hate tomorrow! His love is unchangeable!
God’s love, like all his
gifts bestowed upon men, is without repentance. He will never cease his own to
cherish. Those who are loved of God have been loved of God from everlasting and
shall be loved of God to everlasting. His love is eternal both ways. He will
not depart from the objects of his love or cease to do them good,
for he cannot change (Jer. 32:40; Mal. 3:6; James
(Jeremiah 32:38-40) "And
they shall be my people, and I will be their God: (39) And I will give
them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of
them, and of their children after them: (40) And I will make an
everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them
good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from
me."
The salvation of God’s elect does not stand upon a
precarious foundation of time, but upon the immutable foundation of God’s everlasting
love.
A. We change often, but there
are no changes in his love.
B. Our love is sometimes hot
and sometimes cold; but his love is invariably the same.
C. God graciously and wisely
changes the dispensation of his providence toward his people, hiding his face
and chastening us because of our sin; but his love never changes (Isa. 54:10;
Heb. 12:5-11). His chastisements are evidences of his love.
D. Even when we sin against
him, as we often do, God’s love does not change! (Illus: David -- Peter)
E. This is the thing I want us
to get hold of - God’s love toward
his elect is from everlasting, and never changes to any degree or for any
reason (Psalm 89:19-37;
John 13:1).
(Psalms 89:19-37) "Then
thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one
that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. (20)
I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
(21) With whom my hand shall be established: mine
arm also shall strengthen him. (22) The enemy shall not exact upon him;
nor the son of wickedness afflict him. (23) And
I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
(24) But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my
name shall his horn be exalted. (25) I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the rivers. (26) He shall cry unto me, Thou art
my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. (27) Also I will
make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. (28) My mercy will I keep for him
for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
(29) His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as
the days of heaven. (30) If his children forsake my law, and walk not in
my judgments; (31) If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
(32) Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity
with stripes. (33) Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly
take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. (34) My covenant will
I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. (35) Once
have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
(36) His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
(37) It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful
witness in heaven. Selah."
(John 13:1) "Now before the
feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should
depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in
the world, he loved them unto the end."
III. The
Gifts of It
Love gives. The gifts of
God’s free and everlasting love are too many for us to calculate. Let me just
show you three things that are clearly revealed as the gifts of God’s
everlasting love to his elect. In comparison with these three all others, great
as they are, must be considered to be far, far less.
A. The Lord God has given us himself because of his great,
everlasting love for us (Ezek. 37:27). – “I will be their God, and they shall be my
people.”
B. The gift of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to suffer and die as our Substitute was and is the great commendation of his
love to us (John
C. The gift of his Spirit to regenerate, call,
and seal us in his grace in “the time of
love” is the gift of God’s everlasting love to us (Ezek. 16:8; Tit. 3:3-6).
“Indeed, all
that God does in time, or will do to all eternity, is only telling his
people how much he loved them from everlasting.” John
Gill
‘Twas
not to make Jehovah’s love Towards the sinner flame,
That Jesus, from His throne
above A suffering man became.
‘Twas 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.
John
Kent
IV. The
Distinctiveness of It
Let me spend a little time
here. It is utter nonsense to talk about God loving all men. I sometimes hear
preachers try to soft peddle God’s sovereignty by assuring people that there is
a sense in which God loves all men with a love of benevolence though not with a
love of complacency and delight. They say God loves all men as his creatures, just
as he loves trees and toads. If you can get any comfort from comparing God’s
love for you to his love for a frog, I guess I should not take that away from
you, but it simply is not the teaching of Scripture.
A.
God loves his elect
distinctively.
God does not love all men. I
would not emphasize that fact, were it not for the fact that those who teach
that God’s love is universal are guilty of three horrible crimes.
1. They make the love of God
changeable.
2. They make the love of God
meaningless.
3. They destroy the greatest
motive there is for godliness and devotion. Try telling you wife that you love
all women alike. See if that inspires her devotion to you!
The Word of God tells us in
the plainest terms possible that God’s love for his elect is a special, sovereign,
distinctive, and distinguishing love.
·
Isaiah 43:1-5
·
Romans 8:29
·
Romans 9:11-24
(Isaiah 43:1-5) "But now
thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O
Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name;
thou art mine. (2) When thou passest through the waters, I will
be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the
flame kindle upon thee. (3) For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave
(Romans 8:28-30) "And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover
whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
(Romans 9:11-24) "(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;) (12) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. (13) As it is
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (14) What shall we
say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. (15) For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. (16) So then it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
(17) For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. (18) Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will
he hardeneth. (19) Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? (20) Nay but, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him
that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
(21) Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (22) What if God,
willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: (23) And
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which
he had afore prepared unto glory, (24) Even us, whom he hath called, not
of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"
B.
God loves his people delightfully.
I mean by that that God
delights, takes pleasure in, and is complacent with his elect because of his
love for them. God so loves us that he smiles on us perpetually, even when he
appears to be frowning upon us!
It is high time that all attempts to divide the love
of God into categories, stages, and degrees be laid aside.
They do nothing to help men and only obscure the glory and grandeur of our God.
If God loves me, he delights in me. If he does not delight in me, he does not
love me. Again I say, try telling
your wife, “Honey, I really do love you. I wish you well. I want
nothing but the very best for you, and am willing to do anything I can for you.
But you do not please me. You are offensive to me. I do not enjoy your company.
In fact, I really do not want to look at you.” If you still have a wife
tomorrow, let me know.
Our God loves us as he loves his darling Son.
That means he is well-pleased with us (Matt. 17:5). The Father and the Son are
one; and the Son of God tells us that his “delights” were with us from
eternity (Pro.
V. The
Efficacy of It
God’s love is more than a
wish or desire in his heart to save sinners. God’s love for us is an effectual
love. That simply means that those
who are the objects of God’s love shall be saved precisely because they are the
objects of his love. Otherwise the love of God is an utterly useless
thing.
A. God’s love is sovereign (Rom.
(Romans 9:16-18) "So then it
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. (17) For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this
same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and
that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. (18) Therefore
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth."
B. God’s love is sacrificial (1 John
(1 John 3:16) "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."
C. God’s love is saving (Ezek. 37:27).
(Ezekiel 37:27) "My
tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be
my people."
D. God’s love is steadfast (John 13:1).
(John 13:1) "Now before the
feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should
depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in
the world, he loved them unto the end."
E. God’s love is for sinners (John
(John 3:14-18) "And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up: (15) That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might
be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God."
Application: I will finish my message
as I began it, by reading John 17:23-24 together. “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou
hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.”
What an amazing, stupendous
revelation of God’s love for us! Men tell me that such teaching as this
promotes licentiousness and antinomianism, that it
discourages godliness and good works; but that is absurd.
When I think of the things we have been meditating
upon in this message, that God loved me when I
hated him, that he loved me before the world began, that he loves me as he
loves my Savior, that his love for me will never cease, never change, and never
vary, these thoughts compel me to love him, and lay me under the greatest
obligations possible to reverence him, worship him, devote myself to his glory
and his will, and serve his interests while I live in this world.
·
1 John 4:19
·
2 Corinthians 5:14
·
Titus 3:5-8
(1 John 4:19) "We love him,
because he first loved us."
(2 Corinthians 5:14) "For
the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for
all, then were all dead:"
(Titus 3:5-8) "Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (6) Which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; (7) That
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. (8) This is a faithful saying, and these things I will
that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be
careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto
men."