The clearest and most precise definition of love given anywhere in Scripture is this. Love is ultimately self-sacrificing. It is not primarily defined as an emotion. It is not primarily defined as a feeling. It is an act of self-giving.
Welcome to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm Phil Johnson, your host. It's one of the most enduring themes in our culture, especially in the entertainment realm. I'm talking about love. But really, what exactly is love?
What does love do? How do you distinguish genuine love from counterfeit love? The world would call it a feeling, a strong emotion. And one that you have a right to experience. But how does that perspective mesh with God's Word?
Today on Grace to You, John MacArthur digs into some of the definitive Bible passages that explain God's perspective on love. It's a message that can invigorate all your relationships, and it's the next stop in John's survey of Christian attitudes that form the foundation for your spiritual growth and usefulness. John's current series is called The Pillars of Christian Character. And now here's John. Borrowing from the biblical metaphor of the church as the body of Christ.
It's a rich and wonderful identity that incorporates great treasures of truth. For our edification and our Application. We have compared the church. to a body, Christ to the head. As the Apostle Paul Teaches us in Ephesians and in Colossians.
And as we have been doing that, we've been looking a little more deeply, kind of extending the metaphor. and talking about the anatomy of the church. I might just point you to one scripture, if I may, to begin with. Ephesians chapter 4, if you'll turn to it. Verse 11 and following, Paul writes: He gave some as apostles and some as prophets.
and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service. to the building up of the body of Christ. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. And of the knowledge of the Son of God.
to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. And this is profound and rich. Material. And we could spend a lot of time going through all of the nuances of the words of Paul here, but just to point you to one thing as a starting point, and it is this. That the building up of the body of Christ, which is obviously what we are engaged in doing.
has as its end or its goal the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. In other words, we want the body of Christ to be as much like Christ as is possible. That's why Paul in Galatians 4.19 said that he was in pain and agony until Christ was fully formed in you. We are to be Christ-like, not just as individuals, but corporately. We are to come to the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.
That involves the unity of the faith. That involves a deep knowledge of the Son of God. We have to know what He's like before we can. Be like him? We are to bear his characteristics.
We are to manifest his virtues.
So that the church is not a religious organization. It is not a group of somewhat loosely connected people, but a living organism that possesses the very life of God. people in organic unity, spiritually organic unity. moving toward Christ's likeness. It was, you remember, at Antioch that the pagans First, identified believers as Christians, which means little.
Christ's So the idea of the growth of the church, the idea of the spiritual body of Christ, is that it grows and matures and takes on the character of Christ, that it becomes virtuous so that it manifests the very things that mark the character of its Lord and its head.
Now, we're focusing then on this process. The church identified as the body of Christ, not static, but growing and developing into Christ-likeness.
So we've been looking at what are the internal systems that make the church. The body of Christ, that make it what God wants it to be. We started with faith, and we said the starting place, of course, is to believe God, to trust God, to know Him well enough to trust Him in every issue of life. We were reminded of Habakkuk 2.4, the just shall live by faith. In 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith and not by sight.
We reminded ourselves, of course, as well to take on the shield of faith and be able to quench all the fiery darts. of the wicked one. And then the second internal system is obedience, running right as a parallel with faith. The companion to it is a submission to all that the Lord asks of us. to do all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
We who were once slaves to sin have now become Slaves to righteousness, it says in Romans 6:17, in obedience to the word of God. And the will of God characterizes us. Thirdly, we talked about humility, that most noble of Christian virtues, a true recognition of one's sin and unworthiness. Humility, we noted, is not a matter of weakness. It's certainly not.
Equal to Sinfulness, it's not equal to ignorance, it's not equal to fear.
Sometimes sinful, weak, fearful people are assumed to be humble. But rather, humility is a true understanding of one's own sin and a true understanding of God's grace in Christ. A true understanding of what God can use us to do when we submit to Him.
Now that brings us to a fourth internal System, a fourth component, a fourth spiritual attitude, we've called them, a fourth spiritual motive. And it's one that you hear very much about. but a very, very essential one, none other than love. Love. And it's that that I want to talk to you about.
There are so many ways to approach this, but maybe I can approach it somewhat from the world in which we live, somewhat from the context of the culture around us, which has redefined that term in a very tragic way. In order to do that, at least to find a starting point, look at Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. And this is a good starting point for us. Obviously, the subject of love is a huge subject.
And it is covered in numerous places in the Word of God. But I'm going to try to summarize things and just find a point of entry here in Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 1. Therefore, Be imitators of God. as beloved children.
And what does it mean to be imitators of God? Here it comes, verse 2. and walk in love. If you want to imitate God, walk in love because, as John tells us, God is love. If you wanna Be a true child of God if you want to manifest his character, if you want to imitate God, then walk in love because that is characteristic of God.
God so loved the world. As John 3:16 reminds us, as 1 John says, God is love. And he defines the extent of God's love in verse 2. As Christ loving us and giving himself up for us. There is the clearest and most precise definition of love given anywhere in Scripture, and it is this, love is ultimately self-sacrificing.
It is not primarily defined as an emotion. It is not primarily defined as a feeling. It is an act of self-giving. It is an act of self-sacrifice. When you look at God and you recognize that God loves you, you recognize it by virtue of the sacrifice which He made.
So the simple flow of the text is imitate God. How do you do that? Walk in love. How is love defined? It is defined by Christ who loved us and gave himself up for us.
In other words, the simple characteristic of love is that it gives and gives and gives magnanimously. It gives in extreme measures. It gives unselfishly with no concern for itself. It is self-sacrificing. And may I also add for you that Love is the product of humility.
That's why I put these together. Nobody can love like this who is self-centered. Nobody is going to give up his life or her life. Nobody is going to make the ultimate sacrifice. To put it in Jesus' words, greater love hath no man than this, than that a man would lay down his what?
His life for his friends. You want to define love? It is sacrificial. It is selfless. It is self-giving.
It is unselfish. And that's to exist or to be only in the life of one who is humble. One who is committed, as Philippians 2 says, Not to his own things, but the things of others. One who considers others better than himself can make that sacrifice. That's biblical love.
And only humble people Can't exercise it. Because only humble people will give themselves away for someone else. Humility is not a personality trait. It is not to be equated with being poor or quiet. It is not to be equated with speaking softly and gently.
It is to be equated with selfless sacrifice. Where someone abandons themselves for others, that is the love that flows from humility. And where there is no humility, there will be no love.
Now humility, you remember. Is the result of a true understanding of who you are and who God is. That is humbling. That's why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12: I don't compare myself with others. We're not like those who compare ourselves with ourselves, he said.
Because that yields the wrong result. When you compare yourself with other people, you can always find reason for self-aggrandizement and elevation. When you compare yourself with God, you are abased and humiliated. And out of that self-emptying, which Jesus demonstrated in his incarnation, as Philippians 2 tells us, can come love. God so loved that he became incarnate and gave his life.
He humbled himself. to that love.
Now, our world, frankly, knows absolutely nothing about this in the main. I want you to follow this text and I'll point out what it says and then show you in the culture how it is being manifest. Notice verse 3, very interesting. In this conversation about love, he immediately says: Do not let immorality. or any impurity.
Immorality, by the way, is porneia, sexual sin. Fornication is usually how it's translated. Or any impurity, and that word simply means every other form of sexual sin. Or greed, which is what's behind sexual sin. And he's not talking about monetary greed here.
He's talking about that lusting after this kind of evil. Let none of that even be named among you. as is proper among saints.
Now, why does he bring this up? Why is he in verses one and two, in this lofty discussion about love, this wonderful demonstration of love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma, from the lofty glory of the self-emptying humility of Christ and the expression of love in submission to God's purpose on the cross to redeem sinners, he descends to the muck of Pornea. And every other form of sexual sin and the lust that drives it. Why? Because typically that is the world's view of love.
That is the world's view. Perversion. That is the world's Definition. Verse 4 and 5 even goes further. There must be no filthiness.
That's actually a word that means obscenity. Silly talk. Which has to do with coarse talk of sexual things. Coarse jesting, both are very similar in meaning. which are not fitting.
But rather giving of thanks. In other words, we're talking about love, and all of a sudden we descend to this terrible counterfeit that the world exercises in the category of its sexual preoccupation. That is the world's substitute. For love. When you say Love in the world today.
What are you really talking about? When a guy says he loves a girl, what is that love asking for? If you're married and you fall in love, That justifies sexual sin. If you're single and you fall in love, that justifies sexual sin. If you're a man and you fall in love or you have a love relationship with another man, that justifies homosexuality.
If you're a woman and you say you have a love for this other woman, that justifies lesbianism. It is the world's perversion. And all these love songs endlessly, and all these television programs and films, and all the stuff that keeps defining love purely in sexual terms, demonstrates that this is the world's corruption of the real thing. Let me take it a step further and just kind of pique your thinking about where our culture is. The abortion battle, for example.
To show you how steeped we are in this false love, how steeped we are in a sexual definition of relationships. Let me talk about abortion for a moment. The abortion battle is not over babies. The abortion battle is not a battle about whether we ought to kill babies. Just for the sake of killing babies.
Nobody is going to vote to legalize killing babies. just for the sake of killing babies. The only reason people want to kill these babies is because the issue is not babies, it is sex. That's the issue. If abortion had nothing to do with sex.
It would never be legalized.
Now, when I was a little kid, I first heard that storks brought babies. I'll tell you this: if storks brought babies, nobody would legalize abortion. Nobody would legalize the murder of those babies. If storks brought babies. But you see Sex is the issue.
People demand to have sex. And a conceived child may be an unfortunate consequence to that sex.
So the issue is not stop the sex, the issue is what? Kill the child. What are they trying to save? It's not that they hate babies, it's not even that they hate fetuses, it's not that they love murder, it's that they want their sex. to that degree.
We are willing in our society to murder The most innocent among us Willing to murder the most defenseless, Willing to do that, follow this one, willing to do that in the face. of the strongest instinct to protect. which is motherhood. When a society can convince the mother to execute her child, that society. has a powerful influence.
Because motherhood is instinctively protective. It is a stunning success. This abortion. It is not a success. For those who hate babies, that's not the issue.
It is a success for those who want sex without any implications. Free sex. means we have to accept fornication. Nothing wrong with that. Free sex means we have to accept adultery, means we have to accept homosexuality.
All of those things have to be redefined as honorable and loving expressions. As long as there's love, we hear, it's okay. And I just want you to understand, folks, everything is for sex. Everything. and it has corrupted our culture to the core.
The family? The home? The place where unselfish love is learned. is a disaster. of sexual promiscuity on every front.
We have a whole society Geared To take. Whatever they want. With no heart to give. Take your sexual fulfillment. If you don't like the consequences, kill it.
Take. And if you get AIDS. Elevate your punishment to a symbol of courage. Become a hero. Take your sexual activity.
And when you're tired of the one you're taking from, discard that one and go take from another one. Our society is absolutely obsessed with sex. And with it, is the death of any normal, reasonable understanding of love. I'm not sure. We really always recognize these things.
I think you can go back to, as Augustine put it, the war between the city of God and the city of man. There's a massive culture war, a massive cultural conflict. And the war is raging today. And let me tell you something, folks. The war that rages between the city of God, that would be biblical Christianity, and the city of man, that's the satanic world system.
Let me tell you this, it surrounds basically one single area. And that is sex. Within the moral realm in our society, The conflict is almost exclusively about sex. That one thing sums up all the most violent areas of battle between Christians and the world. Abortion?
Fornication. Adultery, divorce, homosexuality, even feminism, those are all sexual issues. And they are all an outright assault on love. Satan has kind of a Seven step plan. Maybe it goes a little like this.
Step one. The ultimate end for Satan is to win souls to his cause. Step two. A powerful means to this end is the corruption of society. This works especially well in a society of conformists.
Of other directed people. After all, a good society is simply one that makes it easy to be good. The satanic corollary is also true. A bad society makes it easy to be bad. In other words, what this means is that where you have a society of conformists who all tend to follow each other, where you have some singular controlling influences such as the media and all of that, you can control the whole culture.
So, all Satan has to do. His make a bad society A place where doing bad is easy. And that's how it is in America. It's easy to be bad. Because we have a bad society.
And what do I mean by that? We tolerate wickedness. We not only tolerate it, we elevate it. to a freedom status. Third step, the most powerful means to destroy society.
is to destroy one fundamental building block. And that is the family. where sacrificial love is learned. The only institution where we can learn unselfishness. on an everyday basis.
Just shatter it to ribbons. Step four. The family is destroyed by destroying marriage. Five, marriage is destroyed by loosening its glue, sexual fidelity. Six.
Fidelity is destroyed by the sexual revolution. That's just the way it all works out. The sexual revolution Will quite possibly prove to be the most destructive revolution in history. Far worse than any revolution I know of. Far more than any political revolution, far more than any military revolution, the sexual revolution has destroyed this nation.
We were worried all the time about Russia. We were worried all the time about the Iron Curtain world. We were worried all the time about Arming ourselves. Star Wars. Military might, armament, nuclear weapons, the H-bomb.
We were worried all about that. And we were having a revolution here that has destroyed our society. in a way that no bombs could. Because it has destroyed the wellsprings of life. We have been brought to moral relativism.
And sex has carried the day. The sexual revolution is a demand that we be free to do whatever we want sexually. That is the compelling issue in the city of man in our culture. The extent To which that satanic The system will go for freedom to commit sexual sin is nowhere better seen than in abortions. We read about murders and we read about killings all the time, but just remember this, 99% of all murders in the U.S.
are abortions. That's how much we want our sexual freedom. People are willing to murder. to maintain it.
So here we are. In this Society Redefining love in connection with its sexual demands and sexual freedoms. And nothing. could be further from a proper understanding. In fact, it's exactly what Ephesians 5 expects.
But instead of the real thing The world is going to come along. and substitute immorality, impurity, driving lust. Filthiness Silly talk, coarse jesting, all the dirty talk that goes with a sexually oriented, promiscuous culture. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current study is titled The Pillars of Christian Character.
Well, John talked briefly about abortion in today's lesson and how it connects with the world's false version of love. And on that topic, John responded to a question from our QA line. From a listener named Elizabeth, we'll play her question and then you'll hear John's response. My name is Elizabeth. My question is if abortion is murder on Are those who have had abortion forgiven?
What is the answer? On this. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you, Elizabeth. It's a really good question. All sin is forgiven, but only on one condition. And that is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By Christ alone, comes forgiveness of sins.
So if um Someone had an abortion and subsequently came to Christ. Of course, that sin, along with all sin, is forgiven. If someone who is a believer has come to Christ, And had an abortion, that's a sinful thing, but that sin. is forgiven as well. even in the life of a believer, because Christ already paid the penalty in full.
So, forgiveness is available only in Jesus Christ. And I think it's so important. I'm glad you asked that, Elizabeth, because on the bigger picture, it's so important to understand that no one's sin. No one's sin, doesn't matter what the sin or sins are, no one's sin. is forgiven.
apart from Christ. With Christ there is forgiveness of all sin. Without Christ There is no forgiveness for any sin. That is The Truth that sets Christianity against so many people, It's exclusivity. Salvation comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by grace through faith in Him.
and salvation is not available. in any other way. by any other means, only Christ.
So all forgiveness comes in Christ, and apart from him there is no forgiveness at all. And that's why people without Christ spend eternity in hell suffering the consequence of their sin. A sobering reminder there from John MacArthur. And friend, when you need guidance from God's Word, it's critical to get the meaning of Scripture right. With that in mind, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the MacArthur Study Bible with hundreds of charts and maps, and especially with 25,000 footnotes that make the meaning of Scripture clear.
This all-in-one study tool can help you find answers to your Bible questions for yourself. Order a copy today. Just call us at 80055 GRACE or visit our online store at gty.org. Our phone number again, 800-55 Grace. and our website, gty.org.
Now, if you'd like a more immediate answer to your question, I'd encourage you to visit our website, gty.org. Where you can search John MacArthur's sermons by topic, scripture, or date. and find one that helps address your spiritual needs. All of John's sermons are free to download in MP3 and transcript format. And the Sermon Archive is just the beginning of what's available for free at gty.org.
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Now, for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for listening today. Be back tomorrow as John continues his look at the pillars of Christian character. With another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time. Oh.
Grace to you.
