The Love of God, Part 6 B

The origin of love is in the nature of God. The manifestation of love is in the coming of Christ. We are to love one another because we see the essence of that love manifest in Jesus Christ. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Thanks for joining us here on Grace to You. In just a moment, John MacArthur will open the Scriptures to help you see how a God who allows trials and tragedies is nevertheless, at the same time, a God of love. The Love of God. That's the title of John's current study. First, a quick reminder that we want to hear how studies like The Love of God are helping you grow in your grasp of God's Word. Long or short, your letters mean a lot to us.

You can email us at letters at gty.org and I'll give all of our contact information after the lesson. But right now, here's John with a look at God's amazing love for his Son and his love for you. Let's turn to 1 John chapter 4 and this is the text the Lord really laid on my heart.

1 John chapter 4. And here we are given a tremendous call to perfect love. If we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, then we have to manifest love for love is that perfection of God. You will see here six reasons why the believer manifests self-sacrificing love that is like his Father's love to him. Reason number one, because love is the essence of God. Because love is the essence of God. In other words, if we are going to say we are the children of God, as Ephesians 5 puts it, then we better walk in love because that's the character of God. Secondly, we are to have perfect love for one another because love was manifest by Christ. Not only is it the essence of God's nature, it was manifest by Christ.

Look at verse 9. By this the love of God was manifest to us, or in us, literally in our case, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us enough to send His Son, we also ought to love one another.

Hey, we're supposed to manifest God-like love. God's love was manifest in sending His Son. John's second argument here, as it's Paul's thought in Romans 5-8, while we were yet sinners, God commended His love toward us in sending Christ. John is saying, look, you need to love like God loves the world and the believers. First, because it's God's nature to love and you're His children, and secondly, not only based on God's eternal nature, but on God's historical gift.

God gave Christ. The God who is love expressed His love by sending His Son for us. The origin of love is in the nature of God. The manifestation of love is in the coming of Christ. We are to love one another because we see the essence of that love manifest in Jesus Christ. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus gives us the classic, the all-time, the perfect, the glorious illustration of what loving one another means when He gave His life.

That's how we're to love. We're to love by sacrifice. John says, if you see somebody in need and you close up your compassion, how in the world can we say the love of God dwells in you? Where's the sacrifice? Where's the sacrifice? God's free, spontaneous love is revealed in the sacrifice of Christ whom He gave. It says in verse 10 to be the propitiation, hilazmas.

That's a wonderful word. You find it in pagan literature, pagan religious literature, and it is used to speak of appeasing an angry God. Pagan religions are always trying to appease God. They're always trying to get God off whatever deity they worship off their back.

They're trying to remove the fear factor, the judgment aspect. And so they try to appease or assuage God or to satisfy God. That's what the word means. Jesus Christ came and appeased an angry God. Jesus Christ came and assuaged a hostile God, a holy God sitting in heaven who was angry with the sinners every day. And Jesus appeased His anger with His sacrifice. And God wanted it that way because He sent Him. God bears a just and holy wrath against sin. God has a holy antagonism against evil and iniquity. And so He had to send His own Son to die on a cross to satisfy His own anger, to satisfy His own vengeance. A related word to hilazmas from the similar root is used in Hebrews 9, 5 and translated there, mercy seat. The mercy seat was the place where the blood was sprinkled to satisfy God.

The blood was sprinkled to make the atonement and God was satisfied, Exodus 25, 22 says. Christ was that mercy seat. He's the satisfier of an angry God. Remember, beloved, it is not the incarnation that is the preeminent manifestation of God's love. It is not Bethlehem that is the preeminent manifestation of God's love. It is Calvary. It is the atonement that is the preeminent manifestation of God's love.

And that's what He says here. He sent Him to be the propitiation for our sins. God loved us so much that He wanted His own wrath assuaged and appeased.

So He sent His own Son to satisfy His own wrath. No one who has ever been to the cross and seen God's love displayed can go back to a life of selfishness. God was so unselfish that He sent His own Son and He showed us how to love, not just by washing feet, that's humble, but by giving our lives. So we are to love one another because God is the source of love and we're His children. We're to love one another because Christ is the manifestation of love and we're to follow His example. Thirdly, we are to love because it is our testimony.

Love is our testimony. Look at verse 12. No one has beheld God at any time.

Let me stop you right there. Now the point that John is making here isn't very subtle. You have to think about it a moment, but it's pretty clear. What he is saying is, nobody's seen God.

And we understand that. Exodus 33 says nobody could see God and live. Nobody has seen God. Now the point that John wants to make here is, how is anybody going to know about Him if they can't see Him, right? God is going to reveal Himself to the world. He wants to put Himself on display. He wants people to come to know Him. He wants them to bow.

Why? You say, because John 4 says the Father seeks true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. So God is seeking true worshipers. He wants men to see Him, know Him, fall down before Him and honor Him and glorify Him and praise Him. But John says, nobody's seen Him.

How are they going to know Him? Verse 12, if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. You know what the key is? If we love one another, they'll see God.

See that? It's our testimony. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you have what? Love one for another, John 13, 35. God puts Himself on display through the love of His people.

And you know what? All of those philosophical questions, all of those grandiose theological questions that grapple in our minds with our feeble brains, that try to sort out why God lets happen what He does let happen and all those queries about is God really a God of love? They all just wash away in the flood of Christian love. You can have people who are philosophical and analytical and they say, well, I just can't accept God because I can't figure out.

They can literally be drowned in the power of Christian love. And what they see is a dimension of love, the likes of which they know nothing about. And it is apparent to them that it is not an earthly love. No man sees God at any time, he says.

That hasn't happened. We can't see Him and live. But if we love one another, then God is in us making Himself visible through this perfect love, this love to the max, this limitless love, loving believers the way God loves them, lavishly, generously, graciously, forgivingly, cleansingly. God wants us to love like He loved so the world can see Him. Oh, I see what your God is like. He's a God of immense, forgiving, sacrificial love. So we are to love because God is love, because God sent Jesus Christ to love us and to show us the example of how to love, and because love is our testimony. Number four, we are to love one another because love is our assurance. Love is our assurance. Lots of people wonder whether they're saved. Oh, that's pretty common. They worry about whether they'll go to heaven if they die.

And they struggle perhaps with confidence and assurance. Let me help you. Look at verse 13.

Here's a wonderful little flow here. I wish we had time to deal with it in detail. Verse 13, by this we know we abide in Him and He in us. How do you know God is in you? How do you know you're a believer?

How do you know you're in Him, He's in you? That's the question. By this we know.

By what? Because, verse 13, He has given us what? His Spirit. The indwelling Spirit, Paul says, is the down payment, the arabon, the guarantee, the engagement ring, the promise of an eternal glorious future. So we know we're believers because He gave us the Spirit.

So that's great. Follow this one, verse 14. And, here's another way we know we're Christians. We have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. You know how we know we're Christians? Because we understand the gospel.

That's right. We have come to see and to understand that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. And then he adds to that, verse 15, and we know that whosoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God.

God abides in him and He in God. How do you know you're a Christian? You know you're a Christian because you have the Holy Spirit within you.

You understand the gospel and you've confessed Jesus as Lord, right? You say, I know I'm a Christian. I know I'm a Christian.

Why, God gave me His Holy Spirit. I know I'm a Christian. I understand the gospel. I heard it. I saw it.

I comprehended it. He came into the world to be the Savior and I confessed with my mouth Jesus as Lord and Son of God. I'm a Christian. And that's all true. But all of that is preliminary to the real issue in verse 16.

Here's the real kicker. And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. When you become a Christian, you above all things are grasping the infinity of God's love for you while you're a sinner. He loved you. He loved you so much He sent His Son to die for you.

He loved you so much He planted His Spirit within you. You have come to grasp God's love. And listen, God is love, He says again. And the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him.

And there's the ultimate. You know how you know you're a Christian? You say, I know I'm a Christian because I have the Holy Spirit.

That's right. But how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Well, by His work in me. Oh, what is it? The fruit of the Spirit is? What's the first one?

Love. It's one thing to confess Jesus as Lord. It's necessary. It's crucial that you see and bear witness to the truth that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world which indicates you understand your sin, you understand your need for a Savior. You've confessed Jesus as deity.

You've affirmed Him as Lord. You understand God's immense and infinite love for you. And all of that in a sense is...all of that in a sense is fact, theological truth. But where you really come to grips with the reality of the fact that you are a believer is when you see the flow of God's love in your life.

That's it. The Holy Spirit, Romans 5, 5, has shed abroad the love of God in us. It's a tremendous truth. His love is poured into us and manifests through us. Do you love believers? Do you love to be with Christians? Does your heart rejoice when somebody becomes a believer? Do you care when believers suffer? Do you feel their pain? Do you have any inclination to pray and to intercede on behalf of any other believers? Those are evidences of love.

Do you want to help somebody who's confused about truth? Do you have some kind of desire in your heart to show somebody a straighter path in their Christian walk so they can walk away from debilitating temptation? That's love. We're to love one another because God is love. It's His nature because Christ manifests the standard of love which is our example because love is our testimony and it's the way the world is going to see God. And love is our assurance of salvation, number five, because love is our confidence in judgment. Love is our confidence in judgment.

This is really an extension of the last one. It has to do with assurance or confidence, but let's take it separately. Look at verse 17. By this love is perfected with us that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. Boy, what He is saying is when your life is characterized by love and you're manifesting love everywhere, you're going to have confidence in the day of judgment. And verse 18 says, there's no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. The fear of what? The fear of judgment because fear involves punishment. And listen to me, if you're living in fear that Jesus might come or fear that you might face the Lord, hey, there's something wrong in your life. And what's wrong is you're not manifesting love because if you're manifesting perfect love, you wouldn't have any fear. I've had Christians say to me, I don't want the Lord to come right now. I don't want Him to find me like I am. I'm afraid of what might happen. I might not even get through. I might get cast out into outer darkness.

I have anxiety. And it's because there's not the manifestation of love. When I look at my life and I say, is John MacArthur Christian?

And there are times when I rehearse that in my own mind. I don't say, well, he must be. He's preached thousands of sermons. Well, he must be. He's a pastor of a church. Well, he must be. He has all this theology in his head.

No, he must be because he has a heart for God's people and he wants to love the flock like Jesus loved his flock. I fall short, but the desire is there. And when I think about judgment, I don't fear.

I'm not concerned that I'm going to stand ashamed and get cast out because the Spirit of God has produced the fruit of love in my life. It's not love as it should be. And it's certainly not perfected yet. And that's why we have those little breaches in our confidence because the love isn't perfect as it should be.

But it can be perfect in the sense of mature. Love is our confidence in judgment. It casts out all the fear.

And we know as back in 2 28, it says we're not going to be ashamed when He appears. The last point. We are to love one another with a perfect love because love is of God, because love is manifest by Christ, because love is our testimony, because love is the assurance of our salvation. Love is confidence in judgment. And finally, because love is reasonable. It's the only thing that makes any kind of sense. This is really kind of a review. Verse 19, we love because He first loved us.

Does that sound reasonable? It's just the most obvious thing to do. We love. It doesn't say we love Him.

That's not in the manuscripts. We love others because He loved us. And if someone says, verse 20, I love God and hates His brother, He's a liar. The one who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen can't love God whom he's not seen.

And this commandment we have from Him that the one who loves God should love his brother also. It's just reasonable. It's just normal.

It's just logical. How are you going to love a visible man when you can't love an invisible God? It's easy to love a visible man. It's difficult to love an invisible God, but if you've learned to love the invisible God, the visible man is easy. Every claim to love God is a delusion if it isn't accompanied by unselfish, perfect love for others.

Now listen, what is our response then? One, we're to love the world the way God loves them. How does He love them? With common grace, with compassion, and with warnings, and with a call to the gospel. We're to love the brotherhood the way He loves, and that is we're to love them to perfection, perfect love.

I just want to say one other thing. There's one other aspect of God's love we have to copy, and it is this. Most supremely, beyond God's love for sinners, which is limited, beyond God's love for saints, which is unlimited, is God's love for His Son, which is from all eternity. This is My what, Son? Beloved Son.

This is My beloved Son. He said it over and over in the gospels. In John chapter 15, Jesus knew He was loved. John 15, 9, just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Would you please abide in that love?

Would you do the same? John 17, verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am in order that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. Verse 26, the love wherewith Thou didst love Me, Jesus knew He was loved by the Father.

That's why on the cross it was so horrendous when He said, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Because He knew He was loved. He knew He was the Beloved. The Father loves the Son eternally and supremely, and so must we. We must love the ungodly with the same kind of love God loves them.

We must love the godly, the saints, with the same kind of love God loves them. And we must love the Son as God loves the Son, supremely. Loving the Lord Jesus Christ is crucial in our lives.

It's everything. Peter said, whom having not seen you love, 1 Peter 1.8. We are to love the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to be the object of our affection. It is He for whom we make the constant sacrifice joyfully. Ephesians ends with these words, grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible.

We are to love Jesus with an unwavering and undying love. You say, what does that mean, John? Is that an emotion?

Do we sort of sing songs until we feel it? No? No? Here's how it works. Listen to this. John 14.50, if you love Me, you will obey My...what?...commandments. Verse 21, He who has My commandments and obeys them, he it is who loves Me.

Verse 23, if anyone loves Me, he will obey My Word. Peter or Jonas, do you love Me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you, then feed My sheep.

Do what I tell you. Jonas, Simon son of Jonas, I mean, Simon son of Jonas, do you love Me? Yes, I love you. Feed My lambs. Simon, do you really love Me? Lord, you know everything you know I love you, then feed My sheep.

Do what I tell you. And there you are, right, in 1 John 4 at the end of the fourth chapter, but not at the end of the discussion. Look at chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the one born of Him. So if you're going to love God, you're going to love Christ, and by this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and observe His...what?...His commandments.

The whole thing ends up there. Verse 3, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not a burden. So we love the world with goodness, compassion, warning, and gospel calls. We love believers with lavish, generous, sanctifying, purifying, forgiving love. And we love Christ with obedient love. And when we do that, we are responding in the only appropriate manner to the love of God for us. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Today John reminded you that if you're a Christian, God has called you to the greatest standard of love, to be a visible reflection of God's invisible love. That's the subject and the title of the study John concluded today, The Love of God. Well, John, after two and a half weeks of looking intently at the doctrine of God's love, for that listener who's wondering, how do I take these truths and apply them to my everyday life?

How would you answer that? Certainly one thing we can say is this. What a person thinks about the love of God has a tremendous effect on how he or she worships God.

Yeah, and that's the first and primary reality. Virtually everything that comes to you from the Word of God, everything you learn from the Word of God, takes you back to God's character, God's plan, God's purpose, God's glory, because everything is for and in his glory. So everything is a means to worship, and I would say that that is exactly the first and initial and overwhelming response, and it is simply to worship. Everything we teach, everything we learn is to cause you to be a better worshiper, a more faithful worshiper, a more informed worshiper. And look, John 4, Jesus said, the Father seeks true worshipers who worship him in spirit and truth. So we're endeavoring in all that we teach to elevate you as a worshiper, and I like to think that a way to understand that is your worship can only go as high as your knowledge of God goes deep. They're correspondent.

They're related to each other. So how do you respond from learning the truths about the love of God? Yes, you are a more informed worshiper. Your view of God's love affects your level of gratitude, your level of praise, your joy, your ability to love others, your ability to proclaim the gospel, and even your ability to suffer the difficulties of life in the world. So in the study on the love of God, we've come to grips with monumental truth about God that changes your life and turns you into a full, true worshiper.

The study is available now on six CDs, or you can download it at GTY.org. If you want the CDs, they're available only from Grace To You, the companion book also available, The God Who Loves. And friend, as John said, the better you understand God's love, the greater your worship.

It's just one of the many blessings of studying this aspect of God's character. To enrich your study, pick up the audio series called The Love of God or John's book titled The God Who Loves when you get in touch today. Call toll-free 800-55-GRACE or shop online at GTY.org. The Love of God CD album or The God Who Loves, the book, are affordably priced and shipping is free. Again, to place your order, call 800-55-GRACE or go to GTY.org. And remember, you can download every lesson in The Love of God audio study for free at our website.

In fact, all of John's sermons, 3,500 messages total, are free of charge at GTY.org. Also, as I mentioned before the broadcast, if John's teaching has helped you grow spiritually, we would love to hear that story. When you have time, jot a note and send it our way. You can email us at letters at GTY.org or send your note by regular mail to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. And thanks for remembering we are supported by listeners like you. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff. I'm Phil Johnson reminding you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday on DirecTV channel 378 or check your local listings for channel and times. Also, join us tomorrow for another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.