Romans: Election, Israel, and Covenant Mercy

The Great Blessing

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2018-08-28

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver expounds 1 John 4:19, 'We love Him because He first loved us,' emphasizing that the ability to love God is a great blessing rooted entirely in God's prior, sovereign, and selective love. He contrasts the world's causeless hatred of God with the believer's love, which is a reflection of God's eternal, electing love in Christ. The sermon explores the nature of God's love as uninfluenced and distinguishing, and concludes with applications to love God more deeply in response to His initiating grace.

[John Weaver] 1st John 4 verse 19 The title of the message today is the great blessing Being able to love the Lord Jesus Christ the great blessing notice in 1st John 4 and verse 19 one very simple verse, probably one that practically everyone can quote. And it goes like this, we love Him because He first loved us. So I could begin by asking, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love the Heavenly Father? Do you love His Word? Do you love His servants? His ministry? His people? And then the second thing is this, have you ever really considered the great blessing that is involved in God allowing us to love Him. For the past several months it's really been on my mind this passage, we love Him because He first love us. You need to just simply stop and think world hates the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 15 verse 18 our Lord said, if the world hate you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. Moreover He said in John 15 and verse 25, but this cometh to pass that it might be fulfilled which is written in their law, they hated Me without a cause.

[John Weaver] So there is absolutely nothing in Jesus Christ that merits or draws forth the world's hatred. They just simply hate Him freely and willingly and deliberately and without cause or without reason. And let me emphasize one other thing. Whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ also hates the Father as well. It is impossible to maintain one attitude toward Jesus Christ and a different attitude toward the Father. Our Lord Himself said it like this in John 15 in verse 24, If I had not done among them the works which none of the men did, they had not sinned. But now, now, He says, they have seen and hated both Me and the Father. So whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ hates the Father.

[John Weaver] Now the Greek word for hate in this passage is the word meseo. And it literally means not just to hate but to pursue with hatred, to detest and despise. So they hate Him, detest Him, and despise Him, and pursue Him with that hatred. Those who hate God love His enemies. They love all who are opposed to Him. They refuse to seek God. They don't desire to know Him.

[John Weaver] He's not in all of their thoughts. They sin wickedly, lawlessly. They speak evil against Him. They plan and scheme to destroy the righteous and anyone they choose. They deny God's omniscience, His judgment, His justice. They deny him to be judge, and lawgiver, and king. And they especially condemn his law, his truth, and his people.

[John Weaver] Now let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 10. Psalm 10. And let's begin reading there with verse 2. And I will show you everything that I just said as it is revealed in Scripture. Psalm 10 and verse 2. Note if you would. The Bible says the wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. Let them be taken into the vices that they have imagined. Now watch what the wicked do. For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blessed the covetous whom the Lord hateth. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts.

[John Weaver] His ways are always grievous. Thy judgments are far above out of his sight. As for all of his enemies, he puffeth at them. He, that is the wicked man, hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud. Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages. In the secret places doth he murder the innocent.

[John Weaver] His eyes are privileged set against the poor. He lieth and waits secretly as a lion in his den. He laugh and wait to catch the poor he doth catch the poor and when he draw them to his net He crouches and humbled himself that the poor may fall by his strong ones watch. He has said in his heart God hath forgotten he hideth his face. He will never see it And then the Psalmist says, Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up thine hand, for getting up the humble, wherefore doth the wicked contemn or condemn God? For he said in his heart, Thou will not require it. So the wicked then not only hate God, they deny all of his attributes as well.

[John Weaver] Now Asap in Psalm 73 verses 8 and 9 states this concerning the wicked. He says, are corrupt, and speak wickedly. Concerning oppression they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth." So ASAP is saying that they are not afraid to curse God or curse man. Their tongue is a tongue of wickedness and deceit as well. So the Scripture is teaching us that there are a multitude of people who who openly walk contrary to God, who hate God, and are free to say so. But what you and I probably do not grasp There are multitudes more who will never say outright that they hate God and hate God's law and yet their attitude is Exactly the same they despise him They disobey him and although they would not speak it openly The truth of the matter is they

[John Weaver] hate him just as much so a good question to ask at this point Since we know about the hatred I For those who are watching, an alarm has been set off by an innocent individual unknowingly. So hopefully it's about to be taken off. All right. So I just quoted from Asaph in Psalm 73, verses 8 and 9 where he said that the wicked use their tongue, and they are not afraid to curse God, and they are not afraid to curse man as well. And I pointed out how the multitudes of people not only hate God, many do so Many who hate God do so and never say anything about it. In other words their attitudes are quiet and yet their lives are in rebellion and their lives are in wickedness as well. So a good question to ask at this point is why are you not among the multitude that hate God? Why are you different?

[John Weaver] Why do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? I could also ask who made the difference in your life? And why do you wish to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve and honor and worship Him when the multitudes hate and despise Him? Well, Paul asks the same question in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7. Here's what he asks, For whom maketh thee to differ from another?

[John Weaver] And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? And if thou didst receive it, what dost thou boast as thou didst not receive it? So the question is, who made you to differ? Why are you not one of those who hate the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer, the only answer that we can give is found in 1 John 4 and verse 19. We love Him because He first loved us.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look, if you would please, at that verse just momentarily. We love Him because He first loved us. The word first is the Greek word protos and it literally means first, or first in time, or first and first in any succession of things or persons. So the Bible says we love Him because He loved us first. Moreover when it says we love Him, in the Greek it is a present active indicative which means that we love Him now, and we are continuing to love Him. And so the question has to be, well why do we love Him now? And why are we continuing to love Him? And the verse gives us the answer, because He first loved us. And if you'll notice the word loved is past tense. It's an aorist in the Greek which literally means it happened once and for all. It's an aorist active which means God was active in choosing to love us. truth is that God loved us before we could ever love Him. And let me go ahead and point it out like this, it would be absolutely impossible to have loved God first.

[John Weaver] And the reason being is He loved us in eternity past when we had no being except in our covenantal relationship in Jesus Christ. He loved us in time past when He gave us grace in Jesus Christ in time past, and His love was an everlasting love. So in Jeremiah chapter 31 in verse 3 the Bible says this, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I with loving kindness drawn thee unto me. So notice what God said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Now since God is eternal His love necessarily is eternal as well. The word everlasting literally tells us that God is immutable. He is unchangeable. He loved us in eternity past, He loves us in the present, and He will love us in the future as well. And notice if you would, the Bible said, with loving kindness have I drawn thee." In other words the reason we have been drawn savingly to God the Father is simply because God loved us in time past.

[John Weaver] It was indeed an eternal love. Now, let me just give you some verses and some of them I want you to see. But in Hosea 11 in verse 4 he said,"'I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. I was them as they that take off the yoke of their jaws, and I laid meat unto them." But note he said, I drew them with bands of love.

[John Weaver] And then when you get to 1 Peter 2 verses 9-10 he said it like this, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. were not a people, but are now a people, which had not obtained mercy, but have now obtained mercy." But notice he said that we should give Him praise. Why? Because He called us out of darkness into His light.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. So just turn back a few pages Hebrews chapter 13 and look if you would please at verses 20 and 21. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. Look what the scripture says,"'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 of you perfect in every good work to do His will, working you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,

[John Weaver] to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

[John Weaver] Now, I want to call your attention to verse 20. Now, the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, note this phrase, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The Greek word for everlasting is Aionios and it literally means that which is eternal, that which is without beginning and end, that which is always has been and always will be, hence eternal. But note if you would please this covenant that God the Father entered into with God the Son, this covenant of grace called the everlasting covenant. It was an eternal covenant.

[John Weaver] So, let me show you some scriptures. I want you to turn now to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 and let's begin reading with verse 3. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3. We are talking about now the blood of the everlasting covenant. I want you to look at what God has done for us. Jesus Christ. He says in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, 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. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, when He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Now, look in verse 4, according as He hath chosen us in Him, that is in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world. should be holding without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."

[John Weaver] So the question is this, when did God choose us? And the answer is He chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. hope you are beginning to grasp this statement, we love Him because He first loved us. Had He not loved us He would not have chosen us in Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, look if you would please at verses 8 and 9. This will take us even further into our understanding of the covenant of grace. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8, Paul tells Timothy,"'Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.'" Now look at verse 9,"'Who hath saved us, and called us with a 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." Now, if you look in verse 9, the Bible says that God has saved us. He's called us with a holy calling. Here's a negative, not according to our works.

[John Weaver] We had nothing to do with it because it was an eternity past. We did not even have an existence except in the covenant of grace. But he says it is according to his own purpose and grace. Notice when that purpose was extended and when that grace was given which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began So the truth of the matter exists we were loved by God the Father in eternity past we were chosen in Jesus Christ in eternity past and We were given grace in Jesus Christ in eternity past and Consequently in time and in history. He drew us to himself so We love him Because He first loved us One of the greatest grandest and most majestic acts a Demonstration of the love of God as He gave us His only begotten Son. And He gave us the Lord Jesus Christ to be our surety, to be our substitute, and to be our sacrifice. It was Jesus Christ then who appeased and placated the holiness, the wrath, the justice, and the righteousness of God.

[John Weaver] The Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10, listen carefully, here in His love, Not that we loved him But he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins Now the word propitiation is from the Greek word. Hellas moss. I And the word propitiation means to placate. It means to satisfy. It means to appease. So here is an angry, just, and holy God who is righteously angry at us because of our sins and the violation of His law.

[John Weaver] And Jesus Christ is our substitute. sacrifice and our surety intervened and interposed Himself and sacrificed Himself and then He placated and appeased and satisfied the holiness, the righteousness, the justice, and the wrath of God. So, I'm trying to emphasize this, we love Him because He first loved us. John Gill, the great Baptist expositor said this, less love to God and so one to another should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much to be ascribed to it, the apostle observes that God's love to us is prior to our love to Him. His love is from everlasting as well as to everlasting, for He loves His people as He does His Son, and He loved Him before the foundation of the world.

[John Weaver] His choosing them in Christ this early, and blessing them with all those spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in Him before the world began, and the promises of eternal life to them as soon, show the antiquity and the priority of His love. His love shown in the mission and gift of his son was before theirs and when they had none to him and his love in Regeneration and conversion is previous to theirs and the cause of it his grace and regeneration brings faith in love with it and Produces them in the heart and his love shed abroad. There is the moving cause of it or What draws it first?

[John Weaver] act and to exercise, now listen carefully, and the larger the discoveries and applications of the love of God be, the more does love to Him increase and abound. And nothing more animates and inflames our love to God than the consideration of the earliness of His love to us, of it being before ours, which shows it is free, sovereign, distinguishing, and unmerited.

[John Weaver] Now let me try to break this down for you. John Gill made an amazing statement. He said, the larger our discoveries of the grace of God to us should inflame us to love Him more. In other words what he is saying is the more we realize we love Him because He first loved us should make us love Him more.

[John Weaver] Now I was just talking a little bit ago about the eternal covenant or the everlasting covenant. And let me just explain this very briefly. The everlasting covenant goes something like this. God the Father gave to God the Son a people. God the Son agreed in that covenant to undertake for them and be their surety, their substitute, and their sacrifice. And God the Holy Spirit agreed to regenerate and convert them and bring them savingly to Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of John chapter 17. John chapter 17. John 17. And let me just show you how Jesus Christ acknowledges this gift from God the Father. In John 17 you have the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is acknowledging in this prayer the gift of the Father. So let's just look at verse 1 and 2 just so that you can see our Lord is praying. He said, these words spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father the hour has come glorify Thy Son that thy son also may glorify thee.

[John Weaver] As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Now to whom is our Lord going to give eternal life? To as many as the Father has given to him.

[John Weaver] Now look, if you would, in verse six. He says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. So he's again saying that God the Father's given him a people. Look, if you would please, in verses eight through 10. He says, for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee And they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. Now if you'll skip down to verse 12. He said, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me have I kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.

[John Weaver] verse 24, Father I will also whom Thou has given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which Thou has given me for Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world." So notice if you would please Jesus Christ is confessing and acknowledging that God the Father had given Him a people before the foundation of the world and He is praying for these people. God the Father is gave God the Son to be our surety, our sacrifice, and our substitute. You remember the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 15 made this statement, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. The unspeakable gift was His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he means by unspeakable is that words cannot describe the greatness and the majesty of this gift.

[John Weaver] It's impossible for human lips to explain the grandness and most glorious episode in history. where God the Father actually gave His only begotten Son. You know the Bible says it like this in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16, listen carefully. Hereby perceive we the love of God.

[John Weaver] Now let me just stop right there. The word perceive means to comprehend, to grasp, to understand, to lay hold of. So it says hereby perceive we the love of God.

[John Weaver] Now listen to it because it's not because He told us that He loved us. what the Scripture says,"'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us.' Therefore we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." He said, the way we perceive the love of God is that He laid down His life for us.

[John Weaver] Now I want to point something out, there is only one God, But that one God has revealed himself in three persons father son and Holy Ghost So when God the father gave God the son he was actually giving himself That's why the Bible in first sympathy chapter 3 in verse 16 says this and without controversy There is no controversy about this. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.

[John Weaver] God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. So Jesus Christ is God incarnate. You remember it was Thomas in John 14. who said to Jesus, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. What did our Lord say?

[John Weaver] It was Philip who said that. He said, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. He said, have I been so long with you that you have not known me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Because Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Now we're talking about the love of God. We love Him because He first loved us. I want to just point out two things today concerning the love of God. Okay? The very first thing is, it is sovereign. And when I say that the love of God is sovereign, by that I mean it is uninfluenced. There was absolutely nothing in the objects of His love that drew forth that love.

[John Weaver] In fact the truth of the matter is there is everything in us that would repel His love because of our sin and our wickedness. But the truth of the matter is when I say the love of God is sovereign it is uninfluenced. There is nothing in the creature to attract or to prompt the love of God. We love each other because of something we see in each other.

[John Weaver] I like to use this illustration. When our grandchildren were small, young, I bought all of the videos of the Little Rascals. And our grandkids loved them. And there was one episode in there where Darla, the pretty little girl, it was Valentine's Day, and Alfalfa, you know, with the sticking up, she told Alfalfa, she said, I want you to be my Valentine. He said, you do? She said, yes. Well, he said, why?

[John Weaver] She said, because you've got personality. He said, I do? So I tell Alice what I saw in her was she had personality. Well, that's true. I mean, we love each other because we like people, because, you know, we see things in them that we like. But that was not true with God. There was nothing in the creature that called forth or drew forth the love of God.

[John Weaver] Let me ask you a question just so I can answer it. Why does God love you? Want you to look in Deuteronomy chapter 7 I want you to look what he told his people in the Old Testament Deuteronomy chapter 7 And let's read verses 7 and 8 Deuteronomy 7 verses 7 and 8 Look what he said Deuteronomy 7 verse 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more number than any people the word you weren't great and For you were the fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you." Why did the Lord love you? Because He loved you. The only reason God loved us is because He chose to love us. There was nothing in us that drew forth and merited His love. Which means that God's love is sovereign.

[John Weaver] He loves whom He wills. Arthur W. Pink made this comment, listen carefully, he says, the sovereignty of God's love necessarily follows from the fact that it is uninfluenced by anything in the creature. Thus to affirm that the cause of His love lies in God Himself is only another way of saying He loves whom He pleases. For a moment assume the opposite. Suppose God's love were regulated by anything else than His will, in such a case He would love by rule, and loving by rule, He would be under a law of love, and then so far from being free, God Himself would be ruled by law. And then he quotes Ephesians 1, 4, and 5, in love having predestinated us unto Himself, to what?

[John Weaver] Some excellency which He foresaw in them, no, what? According to the good pleasure of His will. And so we have to understand that the love of God is sovereign. God chooses to love whom He will. As one preacher said, and I heard him say it years ago, you chose your wife, let God choose His. And that's a fact, God chooses whom He pleases. So the very first thing about God's love, it is sovereign. The second thing about God's love, it is selective.

[John Weaver] Now this is a truth that is hated despised by the world and by the humanist. When you understand that God does not love everyone in the same way, it will make you bow in humility before God. It is true that the Bible says in 1 John 4 and verse 8, God is love. The Bible also says God is Spirit. The Bible also says that God is light. But when you talk about the love of God you have to distinguish between what I would call a love of benevolence and then a special saving distinguishing love When we talk about a love of benevolence That is a general love. For instance, the Bible says in Matthew 5 and verse 45, For he maketh the sun to rise upon the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust alike. That's a love of benevolence. God takes care of the wicked.

[John Weaver] They may not acknowledge it but He does. In Acts chapter 14 and verse 17 the Bible says, nevertheless He left not Himself without witness in that He did good. He gave us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness. Well how many people have their hearts filled with gladness and their stomachs filled with food? Practically everybody. true everybody has gone hungry at one time or the other, but we've had more full days than we had empty days that is for sure.

[John Weaver] That is just simply a love of benevolence. In Psalm 145 verse 9, the Lord is good and His tender mercies are over all of His works. The Bible tells us that God feeds the ravens. I hate, I love animals and I hate especially to see a young animal I saw a little fawn dead on the road, probably didn't weigh 15 pounds. And I think, oh, the poor thing never had a chance to get drawn and find out anything about life. But, you know, buzzards have to eat like everybody else, and everything else I guess, and God feeds them. And that is just simply benevolence. This benevolence does not wish wickedness or harm or hurt upon anyone. For instance in the book of Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse 11 here is what God said, saying to them as I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways for why will you die O house of Israel?

[John Weaver] Now that is a love of benevolence. God's special Saving distinguishing love is reserved for and revealed to his people Do you know what he said in Amos 3 in verse 2 to his people? The only have I known among all the families of the earth Now wait a minute Is not God omniscient? Yes. Did not God know about the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Philistines, and the Hivites, and the Archivites? Yes. He knew about them. He judged them. He destroyed them. But you have to understand what the word known means when He said, the only have I known of all the families of the earth. The word known there means to love, to choose, to acknowledge, and to have in an intimate way. God is saying, you are the ones that I know. Now God knows the heathen but God does not know them in the same way that He knows His people. When you read in Amos 3 and verse 2, the only have I known of all the families of the earth, to show you how that word is used.

[John Weaver] When you go to Genesis 4 and verse 1 the Bible said, and Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. It is the same Hebrew word. So when God said, the only have I known of all the families of the earth, you are the special ones is what He is saying. I have chosen you, you are mine.

[John Weaver] So there is a difference. There is a difference in the way that the righteous are loved and that the wicked are loved. And we understand that difference in our lives. I can tell you I am willing to help anyone. I really am. I want everyone to prosper and succeed. I don't wish harm to anyone. I mean Obviously, that's the love of benevolence However, I can say I love my wife Obviously, I do not love Effie and Lorraine the same way I love Alice If I did I'm in trouble I can assure you on a multitude of counts but the point I'm saying is I would protect them as quickly as I would protect Alice. You understand that? I love your children, but I love my children. You understand that? I don't want to see your children harmed and hurt, but then I have a special love for my children as well. This is a love of benevolence. Now, there is a special love I know that exists between believers. That is more of a familial love, a family love so to speak.

[John Weaver] But there is this general love of benevolence. But let me just point something else out, something that you may not have considered. And here's a truth that's been greatly neglected. We hear much today about the love of God, but we very seldom hear anything about the hatred of God. And have you ever noticed, and have you ever thought about this, that it's really impossible to have one without the other? If I love my wife, I hate anything that's going to destroy her or harm her. And if I love the Lord, I'm going to hate anything that is opposed to Him and seeks to overthrow Him. Did you know the Bible says this in Psalm 97 verse 10, it's a command, ye that love the Lord hate evil. command. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139, Psalm 139 and I want you to look at what David prayed to show you, to show you the prayer of David and what he says and then ask God to examine him.

[John Weaver] Notice if you would Psalm 139 and Let's begin reading there with verse 19. He says surely that will slay the wicked Oh God Depart from me therefore you bloody men For they speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies take thy name in vain He's talking about God's enemies now look at verse 21 Do not I hate them? Oh Lord that hate thee and I'm not I am not I grieve with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Now he is not just talking about unsaved people in general, but he is talking about these individuals who hate God so intensely. They work against Him. They try to overthrow Him. They destroy His people. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. He said, I count them mine enemies.

[John Weaver] And to show you purity of his heart. He then had searched me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." So let me ask you a question or two. Do you think that our Lord loved Judas in the same way that He loved the Apostle John? Do you think that God loved Pharaoh in the same way that He loved the Apostle Paul? answer is no. He does not love the wicked in the same way that He loves the righteous. In fact in the Bible there are some that are said to be hated by God.

[John Weaver] For instance if you would turn in your Bibles to two spots, number one Malachi chapter 1 and then Romans chapter 9. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 1 and then go to Romans chapter 9. Look if you would in Malachi chapter 1 notice if you would please verses 2 & 3 Malachi 1 Verse 2 then we're going to Romans chapter 9. Okay So here we are Malachi chapter 1 verse 2 look what God says I have loved you saith the Lord yet you say wherein hast thou loved us and God answers, was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Now, wait a minute. The Lord said, I've loved you, yet you say, where have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Now go to Romans chapter 9 and let's begin reading there with verse 10.

[John Weaver] Romans 9 verse 10, And not only this, but when Rebekah had also conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, 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, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now, there was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of divine love than there was in Esau.

[John Weaver] They both had the same parents. They were twins. They were born at the same time. Yet God has said to love Jacob and hate Esau. I read years ago an illustration Charles Haddon Spurgeon had mentioned that he was going to preach the following Sunday on Romans 9 verse 13, Jacob have I loved thee so have I hated. And after service a lady came to him and she said, I'm so glad that you're going to preach on that text. She said, I've had trouble with that text for years. It has bothered me. Said Spurgeon it has bothered me too, and I've had trouble with it. Oh the woman said I'm so relieved She said I just don't understand how God could hate Esau Oh said Spurgeon.

[John Weaver] That's not the part that troubles me. I understand how God could a Esau I just don't understand how he could love that line conniving despicable worm Jacob. That's what bothers me Yeah Well, we understand that Now, some people have tried to say, well, Jacob have a love, but he so ever hated. So what we're going to do is we're going to interpret the word hated as loved less. He just loved Jacob a little bit more. Really? Well, let me tell you something, folks.

[John Weaver] If loving means destroying a person, his heritage and his property and leaving it for the dragons in the wilderness. Thank you. I'd rather not be loved in that particular manner. Jacob have a love, Esau have a hated. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. Notice if you would beginning there with verse 4. Psalm 5 and verse 4. Watch carefully. Psalm 5 verse 4. The scripture says concerning God, for thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. Now we're talking about God. Verse 5, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing or lying.

[John Weaver] The Lord will abhor, and the word abhor is a strong word for hatred. The Lord will hate, abhor the bloody and the deceitful man. Wow. So the love of God stands in strong contrast to the hatred of God. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19 at what our Lord tells His people. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19. Revelation 3 verse 19.

[John Weaver] He's talking now to the church. And he says this as many as I love. I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Now, I want you to note that phrase as many as I love. I rebuke and chasten as many as does not mean everyone. limited number the same as you found in John 17 verse 2. So he says, as many as I love I rebuke and chasten.

[John Weaver] So that means this, if you can get away with your sin and your wickedness and your rebellion and you can never be rebuked and never be chastened by God, God does not love you in a special, saving, distinguishing way. What does the Bible say in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 7 and 8? If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chastened not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. So, those who are not loved in this special saving way are not rebuked and chastened, they are judged. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." So when a person can sin against God constantly and continually, it is just a demonstration of the fact that he is not a real, genuine child of God. For God would not allow that in His children.

[John Weaver] Again, let me give you a quote from Arthur W. Pink. He said it like this, Holy writ knows nothing of the love of God outside of Jesus Christ The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are all of his works So that he provides the ravens with food He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil and his providence ministers unto the just and the unjust But his but his love is reserved for his elect that is unequivocally established by its characteristics, for the attributes of love are identical with Himself. Necessarily so, for God is love. In making that postulate, it is but another way to say God's love is like Himself, from everlasting to everlasting, immutable. Nothing is more absurd than to imagine that anyone beloved of God can eternally perish or shall ever experience His everlasting vengeance. Since the love of God is in Jesus Christ, it was attracted by nothing in its objects, nor can it be repelled by anything in them, of, or even by them.

[John Weaver] Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto death. Let that thought sink in. Since there was nothing in you that drew forth the love of God, There is nothing in you that can repel the love of God God loved us for Christ's sake Not for our sakes Not for our goodness for we had none not for our righteousness for we had not for our works where we had none God loved us Because he loved us now.

[John Weaver] Let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to think with me first of all He said in 1 John 4 and verse 19, we love him. Why? Because he first loved us. Our love to him is nothing more than a reflection of his love to us. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so our love is nothing more than a reflection of God's love to us. His love is the root and the ground and the foundation of our love to Him. Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him. Let that sink in. Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him. When I think of the multitudes of people that hate Jesus Christ, that despise him, that dishonor him, that disobey him, that refuse to bow to him. When I think of the multitudes who live their lives totally disregarding his lordship, his kingship, and his claims, all of a sudden it hits me. Who am I that I love him and that I want to honor him?

[John Weaver] Serve him and obey him and bring my life into conformity to his word The reality of that thought is absolutely overwhelming The reality is mind-boggling. I Want you to look in Ephesians chapter 3 one last passage I'll quote one more but look in Ephesians chapter 3 This again to me is mind-boggling look what he says Ephesians chapter 3 beginning there with verse 16 watch carefully that he would grant you this is one of the prayers of Paul that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God the love of God to us for us and in us is deeper than we can imagine, wider than we can conceive, higher than it is

[John Weaver] possible to attain, and it passes our knowledge. It is impossible to grasp the depth and the length and the breadth and the height of the love of God. And when you stop and think that God chose us in eternity past, God loved us in eternity past, and since God is omniscient, He knew our sins. He knew our rebellion. He knew our wickedness. He knew our depravity. He knew everything about us. And yet. He loved us regardless.

[John Weaver] He gave us to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us grace in Jesus Christ. He not only regenerated us. He converted us. He gave us repentance. He gave us faith. He enlightened our minds. He illuminated our understanding He preserves us in Jesus Christ. He enables us to persevere in grace and in repentance and in faith and Ultimately by his grace. He will glorify us And to think That all this was in his mind before we ever had a being.

[John Weaver] Just the thought that He first loved us should make us love Him more, desire Him more, serve Him better, worship Him more frequently, and adore Him in every way of our lives. The next time you think about the love of God or your love to Him, I want you to think of 1 John 4 and verse 19. He loved us because, or we love Him because He first loved us. Had He not loved us, we would never have loved Him.

[John Weaver] Tell the Lord that you love Him, but you need to thank Him for enabling you to love Him. Enabling you to want to serve Him. For had He not first loved us, we would never have loved Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee and we confess, Lord, with John in 1 John 3 and verse 1, What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. What great love you had for us in Jesus Christ that you enable us to be your sons. Father, we do pray that you would help us to love thee in the way that you have commanded us to love thee with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and being. Help us to love Thee, Father, the way Thou dost deserve to be loved. And help us to thank You for first loving us. We give Thee praise and honor and glory in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

[John Weaver] you you you

The Great Blessing

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	JtOmiUMQ6Q4
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Election, Israel, and Covenant Mercy
Genre	Sermon
Date	2018-08-28
Dictation Name
Book	Book 138: Romans-Related Topical Applications — Chapter 18
Source Timed Segments	70

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Great Blessing of Loving Christ

Weaver introduces 1 John 4:19 and poses the question of whether we love the Lord, highlighting the blessing of being enabled to love Him while the world hates Him without cause.

1 John 4:19. The title of the message today is "The Great Blessing"—being able to love the Lord Jesus Christ, the great blessing. Notice in 1 John 4 and verse 19, one very simple verse, probably one that practically everyone can quote. And it goes like this:

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:19

"We love Him because He first loved us."

So I could begin by asking, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love the Heavenly Father? Do you love His Word? Do you love His servants? His ministry? His people? And then the second thing is this: have you ever really considered the great blessing that is involved in God allowing us to love Him? For the past several months it's really been on my mind this passage, "We love Him because He first loved us." You need to just simply stop and think: the world hates the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 15 verse 18 our Lord said, "If the world hate you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." Moreover He said in John 15 and verse 25, "But this cometh to pass that it might be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause."

The World's Hatred of God

The world hates Christ and the Father without cause, pursuing them with detestation. This hatred is described from Psalm 10 and Psalm 73, showing the wicked deny God's attributes and speak against Him.

Scripture Reading — John 15:18

So there is absolutely nothing in Jesus Christ that merits or draws forth the world's hatred. They just simply hate Him freely and willingly and deliberately and without cause or without reason. And let me emphasize one other thing. Whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ also hates the Father as well. It is impossible to maintain one attitude toward Jesus Christ and a different attitude toward the Father. Our Lord Himself said it like this in John 15 in verse 24, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father." So whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ hates the Father.

Now the Greek word for hate in this passage is the word miseo. And it literally means not just to hate but to pursue with hatred, to detest and despise. So they hate Him, detest Him, and despise Him, and pursue Him with that hatred. Those who hate God love His enemies. They love all who are opposed to Him. They refuse to seek God. They don't desire to know Him.

He's not in all of their thoughts. They sin wickedly, lawlessly. They speak evil against Him. They plan and scheme to destroy the righteous and anyone they choose. They deny God's omniscience, His judgment, His justice. They deny Him to be judge, and lawgiver, and king. And they especially condemn His law, His truth, and His people.

Now let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 10. Psalm 10. And let's begin reading there with verse 2. And I will show you everything that I just said as it is revealed in Scripture. Psalm 10 and verse 2. Note if you would. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 10:2-11

"The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined."

Now watch what the wicked do.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 10:2-11

"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

"His ways are always grievous; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent." "His eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth His face; He will never see it." And then the Psalmist says, "Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Thine hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." So the wicked then not only hate God, they deny all of His attributes as well.

Now Asaph in Psalm 73 verses 8 and 9 states this concerning the wicked. He says, "They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth." So Asaph is saying that they are not afraid to curse God or curse man. Their tongue is a tongue of wickedness and deceit as well. So the Scripture is teaching us that there are a multitude of people who openly walk contrary to God, who hate God, and are free to say so. But what you and I probably do not grasp is there are multitudes more who will never say outright that they hate God and hate God's law, and yet their attitude is exactly the same. They despise Him. They disobey Him. And although they would not speak it openly, the truth of the matter is they hate Him just as much.

So a good question to ask at this point, since we know about the hatred—for those who are watching, an alarm has been set off by an innocent individual unknowingly. So hopefully it's about to be taken off. All right. So I just quoted from Asaph in Psalm 73, verses 8 and 9 where he said that the wicked use their tongue, and they are not afraid to curse God, and they are not afraid to curse man as well. And I pointed out how the multitudes of people not only hate God, many who hate God do so and never say anything about it. In other words their attitudes are quiet and yet their lives are in rebellion and their lives are in wickedness as well. So a good question to ask at this point is why are you not among the multitude that hate God? Why are you different?

Why Do We Love God?

Weaver asks why believers differ from the world, answering with 1 John 4:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7: we love because God first loved us, and any difference is due to God's grace.

Why do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? I could also ask who made the difference in your life? And why do you wish to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve and honor and worship Him when the multitudes hate and despise Him? Well, Paul asks the same question in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7. Here's what he asks,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 4:7

"For who maketh thee to differ from another?" "And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?"

So the question is, who made you to differ? Why are you not one of those who hate the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer, the only answer that we can give is found in 1 John 4 and verse 19. "We love Him because He first loved us."

God's Eternal, Prior Love

God's love is eternal and prior, demonstrated in His everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), His drawing with bands of love (Hosea 11:4), and His calling us out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Now, I want you to look, if you would please, at that verse just momentarily. "We love Him because He first loved us." The word "first" is the Greek word protos and it literally means first, or first in time, or first in any succession of things or persons. So the Bible says we love Him because He loved us first. Moreover when it says "we love Him," in the Greek it is a present active indicative which means that we love Him now, and we are continuing to love Him. And so the question has to be, well why do we love Him now? And why are we continuing to love Him? And the verse gives us the answer, "because He first loved us." And if you'll notice the word "loved" is past tense. It's an aorist in the Greek which literally means it happened once and for all. It's an aorist active which means God was active in choosing to love us. The truth is that God loved us before we could ever love Him. And let me go ahead and point it out like this: it would be absolutely impossible to have loved God first.

And the reason being is He loved us in eternity past when we had no being except in our covenantal relationship in Jesus Christ. He loved us in time past when He gave us grace in Jesus Christ in time past, and His love was an everlasting love. So in Jeremiah chapter 31 in verse 3 the Bible says this,

Scripture Reading — 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."

So notice what God said,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 31:3

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love."

Now since God is eternal His love necessarily is eternal as well. The word "everlasting" literally tells us that God is immutable. He is unchangeable. He loved us in eternity past, He loves us in the present, and He will love us in the future as well. And notice if you would, the Bible said, "with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." In other words the reason we have been drawn savingly to God the Father is simply because God loved us in time past.

It was indeed an eternal love. Now, let me just give you some verses and some of them I want you to see. But in Hosea 11 in verse 4 he said, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them." But note he said, "I drew them with bands of love." And then when you get to 1 Peter 2 verses 9-10 he said it like this,

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 2:9-10

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

But notice he said that we should give Him praise. Why? Because He called us out of darkness into His light.

The Everlasting Covenant and Election

God's love is rooted in the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20), where He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and gave us grace before time began (2 Timothy 1:9).

Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. So just turn back a few pages, Hebrews chapter 13, and look if you would please at verses 20 and 21. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. Look what the scripture says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 13:20-21

"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, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ;" "to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Now, I want to call your attention to verse 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." The Greek word for "everlasting" is Aionios and it literally means that which is eternal, that which is without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be, hence eternal. But note if you would please this covenant that God the Father entered into with God the Son, this covenant of grace called the everlasting covenant. It was an eternal covenant.

So, let me show you some scriptures. I want you to turn now to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 and let's begin reading with verse 3. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3. We are talking about now the blood of the everlasting covenant. I want you to look at what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. He says in verse 3,

Scripture Reading — 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: 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: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."

Now, look in verse 4,

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:3-6

"according as He hath chosen us in Him,"

that is in Jesus Christ,

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:3-6

"before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."

So the question is this, when did God choose us? And the answer is He chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. I hope you are beginning to grasp this statement, "We love Him because He first loved us." Had He not loved us He would not have chosen us in Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, look if you would please at verses 8 and 9. This will take us even further into our understanding of the covenant of grace. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8, Paul tells Timothy,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."

Now look at verse 9,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

"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."

Now, if you look in verse 9, the Bible says that God has saved us. He's called us with a holy calling. Here's a negative,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

"not according to our works."

We had nothing to do with it because it was in eternity past. We did not even have an existence except in the covenant of grace. But he says it is "according to His own purpose and grace." Notice when that purpose was extended and when that grace was given: "which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." So the truth of the matter is we were loved by God the Father in eternity past. We were chosen in Jesus Christ in eternity past. And we were given grace in Jesus Christ in eternity past. And consequently, in time and in history, He drew us to Himself. So we love Him because He first loved us. One of the greatest, grandest, and most majestic acts, a demonstration of the love of God, is He gave us His only begotten Son. And He gave us the Lord Jesus Christ to be our surety, to be our substitute, and to be our sacrifice. It was Jesus Christ then who appeased and placated the holiness, the wrath, the justice, and the righteousness of God.

Christ as the Propitiation for Our Sins

God's love is supremely shown in sending His Son as the propitiation (1 John 4:10), satisfying God's wrath and justice. John Gill is quoted on the priority and freeness of God's love.

The Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10, listen carefully,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:10

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Now the word "propitiation" is from the Greek word hilasmos. And the word propitiation means to placate. It means to satisfy. It means to appease. So here is an angry, just, and holy God who is righteously angry at us because of our sins and the violation of His law. And Jesus Christ, our substitute, sacrifice, and surety, intervened and interposed Himself and sacrificed Himself, and then He placated and appeased and satisfied the holiness, the righteousness, the justice, and the wrath of God. So, I'm trying to emphasize this: we love Him because He first loved us. John Gill, the great Baptist expositor, said this: "Lest love to God and so one to another should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much to be ascribed to it, the apostle observes that God's love to us is prior to our love to Him. His love is from everlasting as well as to everlasting, for He loves His people as He does His Son, and He loved Him before the foundation of the world."

"His choosing them in Christ this early, and blessing them with all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in Him before the world began, and the promises of eternal life to them as soon, show the antiquity and the priority of His love. His love shown in the mission and gift of His Son was before theirs, and when they had none to Him. And His love in regeneration and conversion is previous to theirs, and the cause of it. His grace in regeneration brings faith and love with it, and produces them in the heart. And His love shed abroad there is the moving cause of it, or what draws it first into act and to exercise." Now listen carefully, "and the larger the discoveries and applications of the love of God be, the more does love to Him increase and abound. And nothing more animates and inflames our love to God than the consideration of the earliness of His love to us, of it being before ours, which shows it is free, sovereign, distinguishing, and unmerited."

Now let me try to break this down for you. John Gill made an amazing statement. He said, "the larger our discoveries of the grace of God to us should inflame us to love Him more." In other words what he is saying is the more we realize we love Him because He first loved us should make us love Him more.

The Covenant of Grace and Christ's Acknowledgment

The everlasting covenant involves the Father giving a people to the Son, who acknowledges this gift in John 17. Christ is the unspeakable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15), and God's love is perceived in His laying down His life (1 John 3:16).

Now I was just talking a little bit ago about the eternal covenant or the everlasting covenant. And let me just explain this very briefly. The everlasting covenant goes something like this. God the Father gave to God the Son a people. God the Son agreed in that covenant to undertake for them and be their surety, their substitute, and their sacrifice. And God the Holy Spirit agreed to regenerate and convert them and bring them savingly to Jesus Christ.

Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of John chapter 17. John chapter 17. John 17. And let me just show you how Jesus Christ acknowledges this gift from God the Father. In John 17 you have the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is acknowledging in this prayer the gift of the Father. So let's just look at verse 1 and 2 just so that you can see our Lord is praying. He said,

Scripture Reading — John 17:1-2, 6, 8-10, 12, 24

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee."

"As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." Now to whom is our Lord going to give eternal life? To as many as the Father has given to Him. Now look, if you would, in verse six. He says, "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word." So He's again saying that God the Father's given Him a people. Look, if you would please, in verses eight through 10. He says, "For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them." Now if you'll skip down to verse 12. He said, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."

Verse 24, "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 lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." So notice if you would please, Jesus Christ is confessing and acknowledging that God the Father had given Him a people before the foundation of the world, and He is praying for these people. God the Father gave God the Son to be our surety, our sacrifice, and our substitute. You remember the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 15 made this statement, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." The unspeakable gift was His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he means by unspeakable is that words cannot describe the greatness and the majesty of this gift.

It's impossible for human lips to explain the grandness and most glorious episode in history, where God the Father actually gave His only begotten Son. You know the Bible says it like this in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16, listen carefully.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:16

"Hereby perceive we the love of God."

Now let me just stop right there. The word "perceive" means to comprehend, to grasp, to understand, to lay hold of. So it says, "Hereby perceive we the love of God." Now listen to it because it's not because He told us that He loved us. What the Scripture says, "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.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:16

" He said, the way we perceive the love of God is that He laid down His life for us. Now I want to point something out, there is only one God, but that one God has revealed Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So when God the Father gave God the Son, He was actually giving Himself. That's why the Bible in 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse 16 says this, "

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness."

The Sovereignty and Selectivity of God's Love

God's love is sovereign (uninfluenced by anything in us, Deuteronomy 7:7-8) and selective (distinguishing between a general benevolence and a special saving love, Amos 3:2). The hatred of God is also a biblical reality (Psalm 5:5, Malachi 1:2-3, Romans 9:13).

In fact the truth of the matter is there is everything in us that would repel His love because of our sin and our wickedness. But the truth of the matter is when I say the love of God is sovereign it is uninfluenced. There is nothing in the creature to attract or to prompt the love of God. We love each other because of something we see in each other. I like to use this illustration. When our grandchildren were small, young, I bought all of the videos of the Little Rascals. And our grandkids loved them. And there was one episode in there where Darla, the pretty little girl, it was Valentine's Day, and Alfalfa, you know, with the sticking up hair, she told Alfalfa, she said, "I want you to be my Valentine." He said, "You do?" She said, "Yes." Well, he said, "Why?"

She said, "Because you've got personality." He said, "I do?" So I tell Alice what I saw in her was she had personality. Well, that's true. I mean, we love each other because we like people, because, you know, we see things in them that we like. But that was not true with God. There was nothing in the creature that called forth or drew forth the love of God. Let me ask you a question just so I can answer it. Why does God love you? I want you to look in Deuteronomy chapter 7. I want you to look what He told His people in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 7, and let's read verses 7 and 8. Deuteronomy 7 verses 7 and 8. Look what He said. Deuteronomy 7 verse 7,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:7-8

"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you."

Why did the Lord love you? Because He loved you. The only reason God loved us is because He chose to love us. There was nothing in us that drew forth and merited His love. Which means that God's love is sovereign.

He loves whom He wills. Arthur W. Pink made this comment, listen carefully, he says, "The sovereignty of God's love necessarily follows from the fact that it is uninfluenced by anything in the creature. Thus to affirm that the cause of His love lies in God Himself is only another way of saying He loves whom He pleases. For a moment assume the opposite. Suppose God's love were regulated by anything else than His will, in such a case He would love by rule, and loving by rule, He would be under a law of love, and then so far from being free, God Himself would be ruled by law." And then he quotes Ephesians 1:4-5, "In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." To what? Some excellency which He foresaw in them? No, what? "According to the good pleasure of His will." And so we have to understand that the love of God is sovereign. God chooses to love whom He will. As one preacher said, and I heard him say it years ago, "You chose your wife, let God choose His." And that's a fact, God chooses whom He pleases. So the very first thing about God's love, it is sovereign. The second thing about God's love, it is selective.

Now this is a truth that is hated and despised by the world and by the humanist. When you understand that God does not love everyone in the same way, it will make you bow in humility before God. It is true that the Bible says in 1 John 4 and verse 8, "God is love." The Bible also says God is Spirit. The Bible also says that God is light. But when you talk about the love of God you have to distinguish between what I would call a love of benevolence and then a special saving distinguishing love. When we talk about a love of benevolence, that is a general love. For instance, the Bible says in Matthew 5 and verse 45, "For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." That's a love of benevolence. God takes care of the wicked.

They may not acknowledge it but He does. In Acts chapter 14 and verse 17 the Bible says, "Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Well how many people have their hearts filled with gladness and their stomachs filled with food? Practically everybody. It's true everybody has gone hungry at one time or the other, but we've had more full days than we had empty days, that is for sure. That is just simply a love of benevolence. In Psalm 145 verse 9, "The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works." The Bible tells us that God feeds the ravens. I love animals and I hate especially to see a young animal—I saw a little fawn dead on the road, probably didn't weigh 15 pounds. And I think, oh, the poor thing never had a chance to get grown and find out anything about life. But, you know, buzzards have to eat like everybody else, and everything else I guess, and God feeds them. And that is just simply benevolence. This benevolence does not wish wickedness or harm or hurt upon anyone. For instance in the book of Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse 11 here is what God said, "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

Now that is a love of benevolence. God's special saving distinguishing love is reserved for and revealed to His people. Do you know what He said in Amos 3 in verse 2 to His people? "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." Now wait a minute. Is not God omniscient? Yes. Did not God know about the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Philistines, and the Hivites, and the Arkites? Yes. He knew about them. He judged them. He destroyed them. But you have to understand what the word "known" means when He said, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." The word "known" there means to love, to choose, to acknowledge, and to have in an intimate way. God is saying, "You are the ones that I know." Now God knows the heathen but God does not know them in the same way that He knows His people. When you read in Amos 3 and verse 2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth," to show you how that word is used.

When you go to Genesis 4 and verse 1 the Bible said, "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord." It is the same Hebrew word. So when God said, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth," you are the special ones is what He is saying. I have chosen you, you are Mine. So there is a difference. There is a difference in the way that the righteous are loved and that the wicked are loved. And we understand that difference in our lives. I can tell you I am willing to help anyone. I really am. I want everyone to prosper and succeed. I don't wish harm to anyone. I mean, obviously, that's the love of benevolence. However, I can say I love my wife. Obviously, I do not love Effie and Lorraine the same way I love Alice. If I did I'm in trouble, I can assure you on a multitude of counts. But the point I'm saying is I would protect them as quickly as I would protect Alice. You understand that? I love your children, but I love my children. You understand that? I don't want to see your children harmed and hurt, but then I have a special love for my children as well. This is a love of benevolence. Now, there is a special love I know that exists between believers. That is more of a familial love, a family love so to speak.

But there is this general love of benevolence. But let me just point something else out, something that you may not have considered. And here's a truth that's been greatly neglected. We hear much today about the love of God, but we very seldom hear anything about the hatred of God. And have you ever noticed, and have you ever thought about this, that it's really impossible to have one without the other? If I love my wife, I hate anything that's going to destroy her or harm her. And if I love the Lord, I'm going to hate anything that is opposed to Him and seeks to overthrow Him. Did you know the Bible says this in Psalm 97 verse 10, it's a command, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Command. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139, Psalm 139 and I want you to look at what David prayed to show you, to show you the prayer of David and what he says and then ask God to examine him.

Notice if you would Psalm 139 and let's begin reading there with verse 19. He says, "Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy name in vain." He's talking about God's enemies. Now look at verse 21. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Now he is not just talking about unsaved people in general, but he is talking about these individuals who hate God so intensely. They work against Him. They try to overthrow Him. They destroy His people. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred." He said, "I count them mine enemies."

And to show you the purity of his heart, he then said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." So let me ask you a question or two. Do you think that our Lord loved Judas in the same way that He loved the Apostle John? Do you think that God loved Pharaoh in the same way that He loved the Apostle Paul? The answer is no. He does not love the wicked in the same way that He loves the righteous. In fact in the Bible there are some that are said to be hated by God. For instance if you would turn in your Bibles to two spots, number one Malachi chapter 1 and then Romans chapter 9. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 1 and then go to Romans chapter 9. Look if you would in Malachi chapter 1, notice if you would please verses 2 and 3. Malachi 1 verse 2, then we're going to Romans chapter 9. Okay. So here we are Malachi chapter 1 verse 2, look what God says,

Scripture Reading — Malachi 1:2-3

"I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?"

And God answers,

Scripture Reading — Malachi 1:2-3

"Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."

Now, wait a minute. The Lord said,

Scripture Reading — Malachi 1:2-3

"I've loved you, yet you say, Where have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."

Now go to Romans chapter 9 and let's begin reading there with verse 10.

Romans 9 verse 10,

Scripture Reading — Romans 9:10-13

"And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (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;) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

Now, there was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of divine love than there was in Esau. They both had the same parents. They were twins. They were born at the same time. Yet God has said to love Jacob and hate Esau. I read years ago an illustration Charles Haddon Spurgeon had mentioned that he was going to preach the following Sunday on Romans 9 verse 13,

Scripture Reading — Romans 9:10-13

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

And after service a lady came to him and she said, "I'm so glad that you're going to preach on that text." She said, "I've had trouble with that text for years. It has bothered me." Said Spurgeon, "It has bothered me too, and I've had trouble with it." "Oh," the woman said, "I'm so relieved." She said, "I just don't understand how God could hate Esau." "Oh," said Spurgeon. "That's not the part that troubles me. I understand how God could hate Esau. I just don't understand how He could love that lying, conniving, despicable worm Jacob. That's what bothers me." Yeah. Well, we understand that. Now, some people have tried to say, well,

Scripture Reading — Romans 9:10-13

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

So what we're going to do is we're going to interpret the word "hated" as "loved less." He just loved Jacob a little bit more. Really? Well, let me tell you something, folks.

If loving means destroying a person, his heritage and his property and leaving it for the dragons in the wilderness, thank you. I'd rather not be loved in that particular manner. "Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated." Look in your Bibles to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. Notice if you would beginning there with verse 4. Psalm 5 and verse 4. Watch carefully. Psalm 5 verse 4. The scripture says concerning God, "For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with Thee." Now we're talking about God. Verse 5, "The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." And the word "abhor" is a strong word for hatred. The Lord will hate, abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Wow. So the love of God stands in strong contrast to the hatred of God. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19 at what our Lord tells His people. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19. Revelation 3 verse 19.

He's talking now to the church. And He says this, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Now, I want you to note that phrase "as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." "As many as" does not mean everyone. It's a limited number, the same as you found in John 17 verse 2. So He says, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten."

Applications: Loving God in Response

Our love is a reflection of His; had He not first loved us, we would never love Him. This should lead us to love, serve, and worship Him more, thanking Him for enabling us to love Him.

Now, let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to think with me first of all. He said in 1 John 4 and verse 19, "We love Him." Why? "Because He first loved us." Our love to Him is nothing more than a reflection of His love to us. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so our love is nothing more than a reflection of God's love to us. His love is the root and the ground and the foundation of our love to Him. Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him. Let that sink in. Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him. When I think of the multitudes of people that hate Jesus Christ, that despise Him, that dishonor Him, that disobey Him, that refuse to bow to Him. When I think of the multitudes who live their lives totally disregarding His lordship, His kingship, and His claims, all of a sudden it hits me. Who am I that I love Him and that I want to honor Him?

Serve Him and obey Him and bring my life into conformity to His Word. The reality of that thought is absolutely overwhelming. The reality is mind-boggling. I want you to look in Ephesians chapter 3, one last passage. I'll quote one more but look in Ephesians chapter 3. This again to me is mind-boggling. Look what he says. Ephesians chapter 3 beginning there with verse 16. Watch carefully. "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." The love of God to us, for us, and in us is deeper than we can imagine, wider than we can conceive, higher than it is possible to attain, and it passes our knowledge. It is impossible to grasp the depth and the length and the breadth and the height of the love of God. And when you stop and think that God chose us in eternity past, God loved us in eternity past, and since God is omniscient, He knew our sins. He knew our rebellion. He knew our wickedness. He knew our depravity. He knew everything about us. And yet, He loved us regardless.

He gave us to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us grace in Jesus Christ. He not only regenerated us, He converted us. He gave us repentance. He gave us faith. He enlightened our minds. He illuminated our understanding. He preserves us in Jesus Christ. He enables us to persevere in grace and in repentance and in faith. And ultimately, by His grace, He will glorify us. And to think that all this was in His mind before we ever had a being.

Just the thought that He first loved us should make us love Him more, desire Him more, serve Him better, worship Him more frequently, and adore Him in every way of our lives. The next time you think about the love of God or your love to Him, I want you to think of 1 John 4 and verse 19. "We love Him because He first loved us." Had He not loved us, we would never have loved Him.

Tell the Lord that you love Him, but you need to thank Him for enabling you to love Him. Enabling you to want to serve Him. For had He not first loved us, we would never have loved Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee and we confess, Lord, with John in 1 John 3 and verse 1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." What great love You had for us in Jesus Christ that You enable us to be Your sons. Father, we do pray that You would help us to love Thee in the way that You have commanded us to love Thee, with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and being. Help us to love Thee, Father, the way Thou dost deserve to be loved. And help us to thank You for first loving us. We give Thee praise and honor and glory in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Priority of God's Love

Summary: God's love for us precedes and causes our love for Him; it is the foundation of the believer's affection.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We love Him because He first loved us' (1 John 4:19) and explains that God loved us in eternity past before we could love Him.

The World's Hatred of God

Summary: The world hates Christ and the Father without cause, as described in John 15 and Psalm 10, contrasting with the believer's love.

Evidence: Weaver reads Psalm 10:2-11 and John 15:18, 24-25, emphasizing that the wicked 'hate Him, detest Him, and despise Him.'

Eternal Election and the Covenant of Grace

Summary: God's love is expressed in His eternal choice of believers in Christ and the everlasting covenant, securing salvation.

Evidence: Weaver cites Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, and Hebrews 13:20 to show God chose and gave grace in Christ before the world began.

The Sovereignty of God's Love

Summary: God's love is uninfluenced by anything in the creature; He loves whom He wills according to His good pleasure.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 7:7-8 and Arthur Pink: 'The sovereignty of God's love necessarily follows from the fact that it is uninfluenced by anything in the creature.'

The Distinguishing Nature of God's Love

Summary: God's special saving love is reserved for His elect, distinct from general benevolence; He loves Jacob and hates Esau.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts general benevolence (Matthew 5:45) with special love (Amos 3:2) and cites Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13.

Christ as the Propitiation

Summary: God's love is demonstrated in sending Christ to satisfy His wrath, making Him the propitiation for our sins.

Evidence: Weaver explains 1 John 4:10: 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.'

The Hatred of God as a Biblical Reality

Summary: Scripture teaches that God hates the wicked and commands believers to hate evil, balancing the emphasis on love.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 5:5, Psalm 97:10, and Psalm 139:21-22, noting 'Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.'

Our Love as a Reflection of His

Summary: Believers' love for God is merely a reflection of His prior love, like the moon reflecting the sun, leading to humility and gratitude.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Our love to Him is nothing more than a reflection of His love to us... Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him.'

Key Arguments

The world's hatred of God is causeless and pervasive.

Summary: The world hates Christ and the Father without reason, as evidenced by their denial of God's attributes and their wicked speech and actions.

Evidence: Weaver reads John 15:18, 24-25 and Psalm 10:2-11, stating, 'They hate Him, detest Him, and despise Him, and pursue Him with that hatred.'

Believers' love for God is entirely due to God's prior love.

Summary: The only reason anyone loves God is because He first loved them, as stated in 1 John 4:19, and this is a work of grace, not human effort.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Why are you not among the multitude that hate God?' and answers with 1 John 4:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7.

God's love is eternal and covenantal, rooted in election before time.

Summary: God loved His people in eternity past, chose them in Christ, and gave them grace in the everlasting covenant, ensuring their salvation.

Evidence: Weaver cites Jeremiah 31:3, Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, and Hebrews 13:20 to show the eternal nature of God's love.

God's love is sovereign and uninfluenced by human merit.

Summary: There is nothing in the creature that attracts God's love; He loves according to His own will and good pleasure.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 7:7-8 and Arthur Pink, emphasizing that God's love is 'uninfluenced by anything in the creature.'

God's love is selective, distinguishing between general benevolence and special saving love.

Summary: While God shows kindness to all, His saving love is reserved for His elect, as seen in His statement 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.'

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Matthew 5:45 with Amos 3:2 and Malachi 1:2-3, arguing that God does not love all in the same way.

The love of God necessarily implies His hatred of evil.

Summary: Scripture commands believers to hate evil and records God's hatred of the wicked, showing that love and hatred are complementary.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 97:10, Psalm 5:5, and Psalm 139:21-22, stating, 'If I love the Lord, I'm going to hate anything that is opposed to Him.'

Christ's propitiatory sacrifice is the supreme demonstration of God's love.

Summary: God's love is perceived in that Christ laid down His life to satisfy divine justice, appeasing God's wrath on behalf of sinners.

Evidence: Weaver explains 1 John 4:10 and 1 John 3:16, noting that propitiation means 'to placate, to satisfy, to appease.'

Our love for God is a dependent reflection that should increase with understanding.

Summary: Since our love originates from God's love, the more we comprehend His love, the more our love for Him should grow, leading to greater devotion.

Evidence: Weaver quotes John Gill and states, 'the larger our discoveries of the grace of God to us should inflame us to love Him more.'

Scripture References

1 John 4:19

Context: The central text of the sermon: 'We love Him because He first loved us.'

John 15:18

Context: Jesus says the world hated Him before it hated His disciples.

John 15:25

Context: The world's hatred fulfills the law's statement, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

John 15:24

Context: Those who hate Christ also hate the Father, having seen His works.

Psalm 10:2-11

Context: Description of the wicked who persecute the poor, do not seek God, and deny His judgment.

Psalm 73:8-9

Context: The wicked speak loftily and set their mouth against the heavens.

1 Corinthians 4:7

Context: Paul asks, 'Who maketh thee to differ from another?' emphasizing grace.

Jeremiah 31:3

Context: God loves with an everlasting love and draws with lovingkindness.

Hosea 11:4

Context: God drew Israel with bands of love.

1 Peter 2:9-10

Context: Believers are a chosen generation called out of darkness into marvelous light.

Hebrews 13:20-21

Context: The God of peace brought again Jesus through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

Ephesians 1:3-6

Context: God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and predestinated us to adoption.

2 Timothy 1:8-9

Context: God saved us and called us according to His purpose and grace given in Christ before the world began.

1 John 4:10

Context: Herein is love: God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

John 17:1-2, 6, 8-10, 12, 24

Context: Jesus prays for those the Father gave Him, acknowledging the gift of a people before the foundation of the world.

2 Corinthians 9:15

Context: Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.

1 John 3:16

Context: We perceive the love of God because He laid down His life for us.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8

Context: God did not love Israel because of their number but because He loved them.

Malachi 1:2-3

Context: God says, 'I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.'

Romans 9:10-13

Context: Paul cites Malachi to illustrate God's sovereign election: 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.'

Historical References

John Gill

Context: Weaver quotes the 18th-century Baptist expositor on the priority and freeness of God's love, stating that God's love is from everlasting and the cause of our love.

Arthur W. Pink

Context: Weaver quotes Pink on the sovereignty of God's love, that it is uninfluenced by the creature, and that God's love is reserved for His elect.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Context: Weaver recounts an illustration where Spurgeon remarked that the marvel is not that God hated Esau but that He loved Jacob, a 'lying, conniving, despicable worm.'

Important Quotes

We love Him because He first loved us.

Significance: The central verse of the sermon, establishing the priority of God's love as the foundation for all human love toward God.

The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you.

Significance: Demonstrates the sovereignty of God's love, that it is not based on anything in the creature but solely on His own will.

Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Significance: Highlights the selective, distinguishing nature of God's love, a key point in the argument for election.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Significance: Shows that God's special love includes discipline, and those without chastisement are not true children.

Our love to Him is nothing more than a reflection of His love to us.

Significance: Summarizes the dependent nature of human love, emphasizing humility and gratitude.

Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him.

Significance: A concise statement of the sermon's main thesis, underscoring the necessity of God's initiating grace.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Significance: Defines the essence of God's love as the sending of Christ to satisfy divine wrath.

Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.

Significance: Commands believers to align their affections with God's, hating what He hates.

Discussion Questions

How does understanding that 'we love Him because He first loved us' change the way you view your own love for God?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that our love is a reflection of God's prior love, not something we generated.

In what ways does the world's causeless hatred of God manifest today, and how should believers respond?

Context: Weaver describes the world's hatred from Psalm 10 and John 15, noting it is without reason.

Why is it important to distinguish between God's general benevolence and His special saving love?

Context: Weaver argues that God's love is selective, using Amos 3:2 and Malachi 1:2-3.

How does the doctrine of election (God choosing us before the foundation of the world) affect your assurance and gratitude?

Context: Weaver cites Ephesians 1:4 and 2 Timothy 1:9 to show God's eternal, unconditional choice.

What does it mean that Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and how does that demonstrate God's love?

Context: Weaver explains propitiation as satisfying God's wrath, based on 1 John 4:10.

How can we reconcile the biblical commands to love our enemies with the psalmist's declaration of hating those who hate God?

Context: Weaver discusses Psalm 139:21-22 and the command to hate evil, raising the tension between love and hatred.

What practical steps can you take to increase your love for God in light of His prior love for you?

Context: Weaver concludes that the more we comprehend God's love, the more our love should grow, leading to greater service and worship.

How does the truth that God's love is uninfluenced by anything in us humble us and prevent pride?

Context: Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 7:7-8 and Arthur Pink to show that God's love is sovereign and not based on our merit.

Applications

Cultivate gratitude for God's initiating love.

Summary: Recognize that your love for God is entirely a gift flowing from His prior love, and thank Him for enabling you to love Him.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Tell the Lord that you love Him, but you need to thank Him for enabling you to love Him.'

Increase your love for God through deeper understanding.

Summary: The more you comprehend the breadth, length, depth, and height of Christ's love, the more your love for Him should be inflamed.

Evidence: Weaver quotes John Gill: 'the larger the discoveries and applications of the love of God be, the more does love to Him increase and abound.'

Hate evil as an expression of love for God.

Summary: Obey the command to hate evil, aligning your affections with God's hatred of sin and those who oppose Him.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 97:10: 'Ye that love the Lord, hate evil,' and explains that love for God implies hatred of what opposes Him.

Rest in the security of God's unchanging love.

Summary: Since God's love is not based on your performance, nothing you do can repel it; this should give you assurance and peace.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Pink: 'Since there was nothing in you that drew forth the love of God, there is nothing in you that can repel the love of God.'

Worship God for His sovereign, electing love.

Summary: Praise God that He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world, not because of any foreseen merit but according to His good pleasure.

Evidence: Weaver emphasizes Ephesians 1:4-6 and concludes with a prayer of praise for God's manner of love.

Examine yourself for evidence of God's chastening love.

Summary: If you can sin without rebuke or chastening, it may indicate you are not a true child of God; genuine love includes discipline.

Evidence: Weaver explains Revelation 3:19 and Hebrews 12:7-8, stating that those without chastisement are 'bastards, and not sons.'

Serve and obey God out of love, not duty.

Summary: Let the realization of God's prior love motivate you to serve Him better, worship more frequently, and adore Him in every way.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the thought that He first loved us should make us love Him more, desire Him more, serve Him better, worship Him more frequently.'

Reflect God's love to others.

Summary: Since our love is a reflection of His, we should demonstrate that love to the brethren, as 1 John 3:16 calls us to lay down our lives.

Evidence: Weaver briefly mentions 1 John 3:16: 'we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren,' connecting God's love to our love for others.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T18:06:01Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T10:13:54Z

Clean Transcript

The Great Blessing

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

1 John 4:19. The title of the message today is "The Great Blessing"—being able to love the Lord Jesus Christ, the great blessing. Notice in 1 John 4 and verse 19, one very simple verse, probably one that practically everyone can quote. And it goes like this: "We love Him because He first loved us." So I could begin by asking, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love the Heavenly Father? Do you love His Word? Do you love His servants? His ministry? His people? And then the second thing is this: have you ever really considered the great blessing that is involved in God allowing us to love Him? For the past several months it's really been on my mind this passage, "We love Him because He first loved us." You need to just simply stop and think: the world hates the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 15 verse 18 our Lord said, "If the world hate you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." Moreover He said in John 15 and verse 25, "But this cometh to pass that it might be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause."
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So there is absolutely nothing in Jesus Christ that merits or draws forth the world's hatred. They just simply hate Him freely and willingly and deliberately and without cause or without reason. And let me emphasize one other thing. Whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ also hates the Father as well. It is impossible to maintain one attitude toward Jesus Christ and a different attitude toward the Father. Our Lord Himself said it like this in John 15 in verse 24, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father." So whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ hates the Father.
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Now the Greek word for hate in this passage is the word miseo. And it literally means not just to hate but to pursue with hatred, to detest and despise. So they hate Him, detest Him, and despise Him, and pursue Him with that hatred. Those who hate God love His enemies. They love all who are opposed to Him. They refuse to seek God. They don't desire to know Him.
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He's not in all of their thoughts. They sin wickedly, lawlessly. They speak evil against Him. They plan and scheme to destroy the righteous and anyone they choose. They deny God's omniscience, His judgment, His justice. They deny Him to be judge, and lawgiver, and king. And they especially condemn His law, His truth, and His people.
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Now let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 10. Psalm 10. And let's begin reading there with verse 2. And I will show you everything that I just said as it is revealed in Scripture. Psalm 10 and verse 2. Note if you would. The Bible says, "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined." Now watch what the wicked do. "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."
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"His ways are always grievous; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent."
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"His eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth His face; He will never see it." And then the Psalmist says, "Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Thine hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." So the wicked then not only hate God, they deny all of His attributes as well.
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Now Asaph in Psalm 73 verses 8 and 9 states this concerning the wicked. He says, "They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth." So Asaph is saying that they are not afraid to curse God or curse man. Their tongue is a tongue of wickedness and deceit as well. So the Scripture is teaching us that there are a multitude of people who openly walk contrary to God, who hate God, and are free to say so. But what you and I probably do not grasp is there are multitudes more who will never say outright that they hate God and hate God's law, and yet their attitude is exactly the same. They despise Him. They disobey Him. And although they would not speak it openly, the truth of the matter is they hate Him just as much.
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So a good question to ask at this point, since we know about the hatred—for those who are watching, an alarm has been set off by an innocent individual unknowingly. So hopefully it's about to be taken off. All right. So I just quoted from Asaph in Psalm 73, verses 8 and 9 where he said that the wicked use their tongue, and they are not afraid to curse God, and they are not afraid to curse man as well. And I pointed out how the multitudes of people not only hate God, many who hate God do so and never say anything about it. In other words their attitudes are quiet and yet their lives are in rebellion and their lives are in wickedness as well. So a good question to ask at this point is why are you not among the multitude that hate God? Why are you different?
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Why do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? I could also ask who made the difference in your life? And why do you wish to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve and honor and worship Him when the multitudes hate and despise Him? Well, Paul asks the same question in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7. Here's what he asks, "For who maketh thee to differ from another?"
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"And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" So the question is, who made you to differ? Why are you not one of those who hate the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer, the only answer that we can give is found in 1 John 4 and verse 19. "We love Him because He first loved us."
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Now, I want you to look, if you would please, at that verse just momentarily. "We love Him because He first loved us." The word "first" is the Greek word protos and it literally means first, or first in time, or first in any succession of things or persons. So the Bible says we love Him because He loved us first. Moreover when it says "we love Him," in the Greek it is a present active indicative which means that we love Him now, and we are continuing to love Him. And so the question has to be, well why do we love Him now? And why are we continuing to love Him? And the verse gives us the answer, "because He first loved us." And if you'll notice the word "loved" is past tense. It's an aorist in the Greek which literally means it happened once and for all. It's an aorist active which means God was active in choosing to love us. The truth is that God loved us before we could ever love Him. And let me go ahead and point it out like this: it would be absolutely impossible to have loved God first.
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And the reason being is He loved us in eternity past when we had no being except in our covenantal relationship in Jesus Christ. He loved us in time past when He gave us grace in Jesus Christ in time past, and His love was an everlasting love. So in Jeremiah chapter 31 in verse 3 the Bible says this, "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." So notice what God said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Now since God is eternal His love necessarily is eternal as well. The word "everlasting" literally tells us that God is immutable. He is unchangeable. He loved us in eternity past, He loves us in the present, and He will love us in the future as well. And notice if you would, the Bible said, "with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." In other words the reason we have been drawn savingly to God the Father is simply because God loved us in time past.
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It was indeed an eternal love. Now, let me just give you some verses and some of them I want you to see. But in Hosea 11 in verse 4 he said, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them." But note he said, "I drew them with bands of love."
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And then when you get to 1 Peter 2 verses 9-10 he said it like this, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." But notice he said that we should give Him praise. Why? Because He called us out of darkness into His light.
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Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. So just turn back a few pages, Hebrews chapter 13, and look if you would please at verses 20 and 21. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. Look what the scripture says, "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, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ;"
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"to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
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Now, I want to call your attention to verse 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." The Greek word for "everlasting" is Aionios and it literally means that which is eternal, that which is without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be, hence eternal. But note if you would please this covenant that God the Father entered into with God the Son, this covenant of grace called the everlasting covenant. It was an eternal covenant.
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So, let me show you some scriptures. I want you to turn now to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 and let's begin reading with verse 3. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3. We are talking about now the blood of the everlasting covenant. I want you to look at what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. He says in verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 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: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Now, look in verse 4, "according as He hath chosen us in Him," that is in Jesus Christ, "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."
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So the question is this, when did God choose us? And the answer is He chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. I hope you are beginning to grasp this statement, "We love Him because He first loved us." Had He not loved us He would not have chosen us in Jesus Christ.
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Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, look if you would please at verses 8 and 9. This will take us even further into our understanding of the covenant of grace. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8, Paul tells Timothy, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." Now look at verse 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." Now, if you look in verse 9, the Bible says that God has saved us. He's called us with a holy calling. Here's a negative, "not according to our works."
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We had nothing to do with it because it was in eternity past. We did not even have an existence except in the covenant of grace. But he says it is "according to His own purpose and grace." Notice when that purpose was extended and when that grace was given: "which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." So the truth of the matter is we were loved by God the Father in eternity past. We were chosen in Jesus Christ in eternity past. And we were given grace in Jesus Christ in eternity past. And consequently, in time and in history, He drew us to Himself. So we love Him because He first loved us. One of the greatest, grandest, and most majestic acts, a demonstration of the love of God, is He gave us His only begotten Son. And He gave us the Lord Jesus Christ to be our surety, to be our substitute, and to be our sacrifice. It was Jesus Christ then who appeased and placated the holiness, the wrath, the justice, and the righteousness of God.
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The Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10, listen carefully, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now the word "propitiation" is from the Greek word hilasmos. And the word propitiation means to placate. It means to satisfy. It means to appease. So here is an angry, just, and holy God who is righteously angry at us because of our sins and the violation of His law.
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And Jesus Christ, our substitute, sacrifice, and surety, intervened and interposed Himself and sacrificed Himself, and then He placated and appeased and satisfied the holiness, the righteousness, the justice, and the wrath of God. So, I'm trying to emphasize this: we love Him because He first loved us. John Gill, the great Baptist expositor, said this: "Lest love to God and so one to another should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much to be ascribed to it, the apostle observes that God's love to us is prior to our love to Him. His love is from everlasting as well as to everlasting, for He loves His people as He does His Son, and He loved Him before the foundation of the world."
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"His choosing them in Christ this early, and blessing them with all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in Him before the world began, and the promises of eternal life to them as soon, show the antiquity and the priority of His love. His love shown in the mission and gift of His Son was before theirs, and when they had none to Him. And His love in regeneration and conversion is previous to theirs, and the cause of it. His grace in regeneration brings faith and love with it, and produces them in the heart. And His love shed abroad there is the moving cause of it, or what draws it first into act and to exercise." Now listen carefully, "and the larger the discoveries and applications of the love of God be, the more does love to Him increase and abound. And nothing more animates and inflames our love to God than the consideration of the earliness of His love to us, of it being before ours, which shows it is free, sovereign, distinguishing, and unmerited."
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Now let me try to break this down for you. John Gill made an amazing statement. He said, "the larger our discoveries of the grace of God to us should inflame us to love Him more." In other words what he is saying is the more we realize we love Him because He first loved us should make us love Him more.
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Now I was just talking a little bit ago about the eternal covenant or the everlasting covenant. And let me just explain this very briefly. The everlasting covenant goes something like this. God the Father gave to God the Son a people. God the Son agreed in that covenant to undertake for them and be their surety, their substitute, and their sacrifice. And God the Holy Spirit agreed to regenerate and convert them and bring them savingly to Jesus Christ.
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Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of John chapter 17. John chapter 17. John 17. And let me just show you how Jesus Christ acknowledges this gift from God the Father. In John 17 you have the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is acknowledging in this prayer the gift of the Father. So let's just look at verse 1 and 2 just so that you can see our Lord is praying. He said, "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee."
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"As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." Now to whom is our Lord going to give eternal life? To as many as the Father has given to Him.
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Now look, if you would, in verse six. He says, "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word." So He's again saying that God the Father's given Him a people.
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Look, if you would please, in verses eight through 10. He says, "For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them." Now if you'll skip down to verse 12. He said, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."
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Verse 24, "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 lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." So notice if you would please, Jesus Christ is confessing and acknowledging that God the Father had given Him a people before the foundation of the world, and He is praying for these people. God the Father gave God the Son to be our surety, our sacrifice, and our substitute. You remember the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 15 made this statement, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." The unspeakable gift was His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he means by unspeakable is that words cannot describe the greatness and the majesty of this gift.
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It's impossible for human lips to explain the grandness and most glorious episode in history, where God the Father actually gave His only begotten Son. You know the Bible says it like this in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16, listen carefully. "Hereby perceive we the love of God."
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Now let me just stop right there. The word "perceive" means to comprehend, to grasp, to understand, to lay hold of. So it says, "Hereby perceive we the love of God."
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Now listen to it because it's not because He told us that He loved us. What the Scripture says, "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." He said, the way we perceive the love of God is that He laid down His life for us.
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Now I want to point something out, there is only one God, but that one God has revealed Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So when God the Father gave God the Son, He was actually giving Himself. That's why the Bible in 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse 16 says this, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness."
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"God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. So Jesus Christ is God incarnate. You remember it was Philip in John 14 who said to Jesus, "Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." What did our Lord say?
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It was Philip who said that. He said, "Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." He said, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Because Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Now we're talking about the love of God. "We love Him because He first loved us." I want to just point out two things today concerning the love of God. Okay? The very first thing is, it is sovereign. And when I say that the love of God is sovereign, by that I mean it is uninfluenced. There was absolutely nothing in the objects of His love that drew forth that love.
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In fact the truth of the matter is there is everything in us that would repel His love because of our sin and our wickedness. But the truth of the matter is when I say the love of God is sovereign it is uninfluenced. There is nothing in the creature to attract or to prompt the love of God. We love each other because of something we see in each other.
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I like to use this illustration. When our grandchildren were small, young, I bought all of the videos of the Little Rascals. And our grandkids loved them. And there was one episode in there where Darla, the pretty little girl, it was Valentine's Day, and Alfalfa, you know, with the sticking up hair, she told Alfalfa, she said, "I want you to be my Valentine." He said, "You do?" She said, "Yes." Well, he said, "Why?"
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She said, "Because you've got personality." He said, "I do?" So I tell Alice what I saw in her was she had personality. Well, that's true. I mean, we love each other because we like people, because, you know, we see things in them that we like. But that was not true with God. There was nothing in the creature that called forth or drew forth the love of God.
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Let me ask you a question just so I can answer it. Why does God love you? I want you to look in Deuteronomy chapter 7. I want you to look what He told His people in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 7, and let's read verses 7 and 8. Deuteronomy 7 verses 7 and 8. Look what He said. Deuteronomy 7 verse 7, "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you." Why did the Lord love you? Because He loved you. The only reason God loved us is because He chose to love us. There was nothing in us that drew forth and merited His love. Which means that God's love is sovereign.
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He loves whom He wills. Arthur W. Pink made this comment, listen carefully, he says, "The sovereignty of God's love necessarily follows from the fact that it is uninfluenced by anything in the creature. Thus to affirm that the cause of His love lies in God Himself is only another way of saying He loves whom He pleases. For a moment assume the opposite. Suppose God's love were regulated by anything else than His will, in such a case He would love by rule, and loving by rule, He would be under a law of love, and then so far from being free, God Himself would be ruled by law." And then he quotes Ephesians 1:4-5, "In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." To what? Some excellency which He foresaw in them? No, what? "According to the good pleasure of His will." And so we have to understand that the love of God is sovereign. God chooses to love whom He will. As one preacher said, and I heard him say it years ago, "You chose your wife, let God choose His." And that's a fact, God chooses whom He pleases. So the very first thing about God's love, it is sovereign. The second thing about God's love, it is selective.
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Now this is a truth that is hated and despised by the world and by the humanist. When you understand that God does not love everyone in the same way, it will make you bow in humility before God. It is true that the Bible says in 1 John 4 and verse 8, "God is love." The Bible also says God is Spirit. The Bible also says that God is light. But when you talk about the love of God you have to distinguish between what I would call a love of benevolence and then a special saving distinguishing love. When we talk about a love of benevolence, that is a general love. For instance, the Bible says in Matthew 5 and verse 45, "For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." That's a love of benevolence. God takes care of the wicked.
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They may not acknowledge it but He does. In Acts chapter 14 and verse 17 the Bible says, "Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Well how many people have their hearts filled with gladness and their stomachs filled with food? Practically everybody. It's true everybody has gone hungry at one time or the other, but we've had more full days than we had empty days, that is for sure.
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That is just simply a love of benevolence. In Psalm 145 verse 9, "The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works." The Bible tells us that God feeds the ravens. I love animals and I hate especially to see a young animal—I saw a little fawn dead on the road, probably didn't weigh 15 pounds. And I think, oh, the poor thing never had a chance to get grown and find out anything about life. But, you know, buzzards have to eat like everybody else, and everything else I guess, and God feeds them. And that is just simply benevolence. This benevolence does not wish wickedness or harm or hurt upon anyone. For instance in the book of Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse 11 here is what God said, "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"
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Now that is a love of benevolence. God's special saving distinguishing love is reserved for and revealed to His people. Do you know what He said in Amos 3 in verse 2 to His people? "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." Now wait a minute. Is not God omniscient? Yes. Did not God know about the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Philistines, and the Hivites, and the Arkites? Yes. He knew about them. He judged them. He destroyed them. But you have to understand what the word "known" means when He said, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." The word "known" there means to love, to choose, to acknowledge, and to have in an intimate way. God is saying, "You are the ones that I know." Now God knows the heathen but God does not know them in the same way that He knows His people. When you read in Amos 3 and verse 2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth," to show you how that word is used.
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When you go to Genesis 4 and verse 1 the Bible said, "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord." It is the same Hebrew word. So when God said, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth," you are the special ones is what He is saying. I have chosen you, you are Mine.
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So there is a difference. There is a difference in the way that the righteous are loved and that the wicked are loved. And we understand that difference in our lives. I can tell you I am willing to help anyone. I really am. I want everyone to prosper and succeed. I don't wish harm to anyone. I mean, obviously, that's the love of benevolence. However, I can say I love my wife. Obviously, I do not love Effie and Lorraine the same way I love Alice. If I did I'm in trouble, I can assure you on a multitude of counts. But the point I'm saying is I would protect them as quickly as I would protect Alice. You understand that? I love your children, but I love my children. You understand that? I don't want to see your children harmed and hurt, but then I have a special love for my children as well. This is a love of benevolence. Now, there is a special love I know that exists between believers. That is more of a familial love, a family love so to speak.
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But there is this general love of benevolence. But let me just point something else out, something that you may not have considered. And here's a truth that's been greatly neglected. We hear much today about the love of God, but we very seldom hear anything about the hatred of God. And have you ever noticed, and have you ever thought about this, that it's really impossible to have one without the other? If I love my wife, I hate anything that's going to destroy her or harm her. And if I love the Lord, I'm going to hate anything that is opposed to Him and seeks to overthrow Him. Did you know the Bible says this in Psalm 97 verse 10, it's a command, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Command. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139, Psalm 139 and I want you to look at what David prayed to show you, to show you the prayer of David and what he says and then ask God to examine him.
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Notice if you would Psalm 139 and let's begin reading there with verse 19. He says, "Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy name in vain." He's talking about God's enemies. Now look at verse 21. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Now he is not just talking about unsaved people in general, but he is talking about these individuals who hate God so intensely. They work against Him. They try to overthrow Him. They destroy His people. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred." He said, "I count them mine enemies."
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And to show you the purity of his heart, he then said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." So let me ask you a question or two. Do you think that our Lord loved Judas in the same way that He loved the Apostle John? Do you think that God loved Pharaoh in the same way that He loved the Apostle Paul? The answer is no. He does not love the wicked in the same way that He loves the righteous. In fact in the Bible there are some that are said to be hated by God.
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For instance if you would turn in your Bibles to two spots, number one Malachi chapter 1 and then Romans chapter 9. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 1 and then go to Romans chapter 9. Look if you would in Malachi chapter 1, notice if you would please verses 2 and 3. Malachi 1 verse 2, then we're going to Romans chapter 9. Okay. So here we are Malachi chapter 1 verse 2, look what God says, "I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?" And God answers, "Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness." Now, wait a minute. The Lord said, "I've loved you, yet you say, Where have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness." Now go to Romans chapter 9 and let's begin reading there with verse 10.
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Romans 9 verse 10, "And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (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;) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now, there was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of divine love than there was in Esau.
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They both had the same parents. They were twins. They were born at the same time. Yet God has said to love Jacob and hate Esau. I read years ago an illustration Charles Haddon Spurgeon had mentioned that he was going to preach the following Sunday on Romans 9 verse 13, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." And after service a lady came to him and she said, "I'm so glad that you're going to preach on that text." She said, "I've had trouble with that text for years. It has bothered me." Said Spurgeon, "It has bothered me too, and I've had trouble with it." "Oh," the woman said, "I'm so relieved." She said, "I just don't understand how God could hate Esau." "Oh," said Spurgeon.
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"That's not the part that troubles me. I understand how God could hate Esau. I just don't understand how He could love that lying, conniving, despicable worm Jacob. That's what bothers me." Yeah. Well, we understand that. Now, some people have tried to say, well, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." So what we're going to do is we're going to interpret the word "hated" as "loved less." He just loved Jacob a little bit more. Really? Well, let me tell you something, folks.
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If loving means destroying a person, his heritage and his property and leaving it for the dragons in the wilderness, thank you. I'd rather not be loved in that particular manner. "Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated." Look in your Bibles to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. Notice if you would beginning there with verse 4. Psalm 5 and verse 4. Watch carefully. Psalm 5 verse 4. The scripture says concerning God, "For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with Thee." Now we're talking about God. Verse 5, "The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." And the word "abhor" is a strong word for hatred. The Lord will hate, abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Wow. So the love of God stands in strong contrast to the hatred of God. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19 at what our Lord tells His people. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19. Revelation 3 verse 19.
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He's talking now to the church. And He says this, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Now, I want you to note that phrase "as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." "As many as" does not mean everyone. It's a limited number, the same as you found in John 17 verse 2. So He says, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten."
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So that means this, if you can get away with your sin and your wickedness and your rebellion and you can never be rebuked and never be chastened by God, God does not love you in a special, saving, distinguishing way. What does the Bible say in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 7 and 8? "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." So, those who are not loved in this special saving way are not rebuked and chastened, they are judged. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." So when a person can sin against God constantly and continually, it is just a demonstration of the fact that he is not a real, genuine child of God. For God would not allow that in His children.
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Again, let me give you a quote from Arthur W. Pink. He said it like this, "Holy Writ knows nothing of the love of God outside of Jesus Christ. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works, so that He provides the ravens with food. He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil, and His providence ministers unto the just and the unjust. But His love is reserved for His elect. That is unequivocally established by its characteristics, for the attributes of love are identical with Himself. Necessarily so, for God is love. In making that postulate, it is but another way to say God's love is like Himself, from everlasting to everlasting, immutable. Nothing is more absurd than to imagine that anyone beloved of God can eternally perish or shall ever experience His everlasting vengeance. Since the love of God is in Jesus Christ, it was attracted by nothing in its objects, nor can it be repelled by anything in them, or even by them."
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"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." Let that thought sink in. Since there was nothing in you that drew forth the love of God, there is nothing in you that can repel the love of God. God loved us for Christ's sake. Not for our sakes. Not for our goodness, for we had none. Not for our righteousness, for we had none. Not for our works, for we had none. God loved us because He loved us.
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Now, let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to think with me first of all. He said in 1 John 4 and verse 19, "We love Him." Why? "Because He first loved us." Our love to Him is nothing more than a reflection of His love to us. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so our love is nothing more than a reflection of God's love to us. His love is the root and the ground and the foundation of our love to Him. Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him. Let that sink in. Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him. When I think of the multitudes of people that hate Jesus Christ, that despise Him, that dishonor Him, that disobey Him, that refuse to bow to Him. When I think of the multitudes who live their lives totally disregarding His lordship, His kingship, and His claims, all of a sudden it hits me. Who am I that I love Him and that I want to honor Him?
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Serve Him and obey Him and bring my life into conformity to His Word. The reality of that thought is absolutely overwhelming. The reality is mind-boggling. I want you to look in Ephesians chapter 3, one last passage. I'll quote one more but look in Ephesians chapter 3. This again to me is mind-boggling. Look what he says. Ephesians chapter 3 beginning there with verse 16. Watch carefully. "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." The love of God to us, for us, and in us is deeper than we can imagine, wider than we can conceive, higher than it is possible to attain, and it passes our knowledge. It is impossible to grasp the depth and the length and the breadth and the height of the love of God. And when you stop and think that God chose us in eternity past, God loved us in eternity past, and since God is omniscient, He knew our sins. He knew our rebellion. He knew our wickedness. He knew our depravity. He knew everything about us. And yet, He loved us regardless.
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He gave us to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us grace in Jesus Christ. He not only regenerated us, He converted us. He gave us repentance. He gave us faith. He enlightened our minds. He illuminated our understanding. He preserves us in Jesus Christ. He enables us to persevere in grace and in repentance and in faith. And ultimately, by His grace, He will glorify us. And to think that all this was in His mind before we ever had a being.
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Just the thought that He first loved us should make us love Him more, desire Him more, serve Him better, worship Him more frequently, and adore Him in every way of our lives. The next time you think about the love of God or your love to Him, I want you to think of 1 John 4 and verse 19. "We love Him because He first loved us." Had He not loved us, we would never have loved Him.
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Tell the Lord that you love Him, but you need to thank Him for enabling you to love Him. Enabling you to want to serve Him. For had He not first loved us, we would never have loved Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee and we confess, Lord, with John in 1 John 3 and verse 1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." What great love You had for us in Jesus Christ that You enable us to be Your sons. Father, we do pray that You would help us to love Thee in the way that You have commanded us to love Thee, with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and being. Help us to love Thee, Father, the way Thou dost deserve to be loved. And help us to thank You for first loving us. We give Thee praise and honor and glory in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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He gave us to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us grace in Jesus Christ. He not only regenerated us, He converted us. He gave us repentance. He gave us faith. He enlightened our minds. He illuminated our understanding. He preserves us in Jesus Christ. He enables us to persevere in grace and in repentance and in faith. And ultimately, by His grace, He will glorify us. And to think that all this was in His mind before we ever had a being.
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Just the thought that He first loved us should make us love Him more, desire Him more, serve Him better, worship Him more frequently, and adore Him in every way of our lives. The next time you think about the love of God or your love to Him, I want you to think of 1 John 4 and verse 19. "We love Him because He first loved us." Had He not loved us, we would never have loved Him.
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Tell the Lord that you love Him, but you need to thank Him for enabling you to love Him. Enabling you to want to serve Him. For had He not first loved us, we would never have loved Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee and we confess, Lord, with John in 1 John 3 and verse 1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." What great love You had for us in Jesus Christ that You enable us to be Your sons. Father, we do pray that You would help us to love Thee in the way that You have commanded us to love Thee, with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and being. Help us to love Thee, Father, the way Thou dost deserve to be loved. And help us to thank You for first loving us. We give Thee praise and honor and glory in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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you you you
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T18:06:01Z

The Great Blessing

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver expounds 1 John 4:19, 'We love Him because He first loved us,' emphasizing that the ability to love God is a great blessing rooted entirely in God's prior, sovereign, and selective love. He contrasts the world's causeless hatred of God with the believer's love, which is a reflection of God's eternal, electing love in Christ. The sermon explores the nature of God's love as uninfluenced and distinguishing, and concludes with applications to love God more deeply in response to His initiating grace.

Introduction: The Great Blessing of Loving Christ

Weaver introduces 1 John 4:19 and poses the question of whether we love the Lord, highlighting the blessing of being enabled to love Him while the world hates Him without cause.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:19

"We love Him because He first loved us."

The World's Hatred of God

Scripture Reading — John 15:18

So there is absolutely nothing in Jesus Christ that merits or draws forth the world's hatred. They just simply hate Him freely and willingly and deliberately and without cause or without reason. And let me emphasize one other thing. Whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ also hates the Father as well. It is impossible to maintain one attitude toward Jesus Christ and a different attitude toward the Father. Our Lord Himself said it like this in John 15 in verse 24, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father." So whoever hates the Lord Jesus Christ hates the Father.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 10:2-11

"The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined."

Now watch what the wicked do.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 10:2-11

"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

Why Do We Love God?

Weaver asks why believers differ from the world, answering with 1 John 4:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7: we love because God first loved us, and any difference is due to God's grace.

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 4:7

"For who maketh thee to differ from another?" "And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?"

God's Eternal, Prior Love

God's love is eternal and prior, demonstrated in His everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), His drawing with bands of love (Hosea 11:4), and His calling us out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Scripture Reading — 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."

So notice what God said,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 31:3

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love."

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 2:9-10

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

But notice he said that we should give Him praise. Why? Because He called us out of darkness into His light.

The Everlasting Covenant and Election

God's love is rooted in the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20), where He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and gave us grace before time began (2 Timothy 1:9).

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 13:20-21

"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, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ;" "to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Scripture Reading — 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: 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: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."

Now, look in verse 4,

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:3-6

"according as He hath chosen us in Him,"

that is in Jesus Christ,

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 1:3-6

"before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."

Now look at verse 9,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

"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."

Now, if you look in verse 9, the Bible says that God has saved us. He's called us with a holy calling. Here's a negative,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

"not according to our works."

Christ as the Propitiation for Our Sins

God's love is supremely shown in sending His Son as the propitiation (1 John 4:10), satisfying God's wrath and justice. John Gill is quoted on the priority and freeness of God's love.

The Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10, listen carefully,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:10

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

The Covenant of Grace and Christ's Acknowledgment

Scripture Reading — John 17:1-2, 6, 8-10, 12, 24

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee."

Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:16

"Hereby perceive we the love of God."

Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:16

" He said, the way we perceive the love of God is that He laid down His life for us. Now I want to point something out, there is only one God, but that one God has revealed Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So when God the Father gave God the Son, He was actually giving Himself. That's why the Bible in 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse 16 says this, "

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness."

The Sovereignty and Selectivity of God's Love

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:7-8

"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you."

Scripture Reading — Malachi 1:2-3

"I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?"

And God answers,

Scripture Reading — Malachi 1:2-3

"Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."

Now, wait a minute. The Lord said,

Scripture Reading — Malachi 1:2-3

"I've loved you, yet you say, Where have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."

Now go to Romans chapter 9 and let's begin reading there with verse 10.

Romans 9 verse 10,

Scripture Reading — Romans 9:10-13

"And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (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;) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

Scripture Reading — Romans 9:10-13

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

Scripture Reading — Romans 9:10-13

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

So what we're going to do is we're going to interpret the word "hated" as "loved less." He just loved Jacob a little bit more. Really? Well, let me tell you something, folks.

Applications: Loving God in Response

Our love is a reflection of His; had He not first loved us, we would never love Him. This should lead us to love, serve, and worship Him more, thanking Him for enabling us to love Him.

The Great Blessing

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	JtOmiUMQ6Q4
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Election, Israel, and Covenant Mercy
Genre	Sermon
Date	2018-08-28
Dictation Name
Book	Book 138: Romans-Related Topical Applications — Chapter 18
Source Timed Segments	70

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Great Blessing of Loving Christ: Weaver introduces 1 John 4:19 and poses the question of whether we love the Lord, highlighting the blessing of being enabled to love Him while the world hates Him without cause.
The World's Hatred of God: The world hates Christ and the Father without cause, pursuing them with detestation. This hatred is described from Psalm 10 and Psalm 73, showing the wicked deny God's attributes and speak against Him.
Why Do We Love God?: Weaver asks why believers differ from the world, answering with 1 John 4:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7: we love because God first loved us, and any difference is due to God's grace.
God's Eternal, Prior Love: God's love is eternal and prior, demonstrated in His everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), His drawing with bands of love (Hosea 11:4), and His calling us out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9-10).
The Everlasting Covenant and Election: God's love is rooted in the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20), where He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and gave us grace before time began (2 Timothy 1:9).
Christ as the Propitiation for Our Sins: God's love is supremely shown in sending His Son as the propitiation (1 John 4:10), satisfying God's wrath and justice. John Gill is quoted on the priority and freeness of God's love.
The Covenant of Grace and Christ's Acknowledgment: The everlasting covenant involves the Father giving a people to the Son, who acknowledges this gift in John 17. Christ is the unspeakable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15), and God's love is perceived in His laying down His life (1 John 3:16).
The Sovereignty and Selectivity of God's Love: God's love is sovereign (uninfluenced by anything in us, Deuteronomy 7:7-8) and selective (distinguishing between a general benevolence and a special saving love, Amos 3:2). The hatred of God is also a biblical reality (Psalm 5:5, Malachi 1:2-3, Romans 9:13).
Applications: Loving God in Response: Our love is a reflection of His; had He not first loved us, we would never love Him. This should lead us to love, serve, and worship Him more, thanking Him for enabling us to love Him.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The world's hatred of God is causeless and pervasive.

The world hates Christ and the Father without reason, as evidenced by their denial of God's attributes and their wicked speech and actions.

Weaver reads John 15:18, 24-25 and Psalm 10:2-11, stating, 'They hate Him, detest Him, and despise Him, and pursue Him with that hatred.'

Believers' love for God is entirely due to God's prior love.

The only reason anyone loves God is because He first loved them, as stated in 1 John 4:19, and this is a work of grace, not human effort.

Weaver asks, 'Why are you not among the multitude that hate God?' and answers with 1 John 4:19 and 1 Corinthians 4:7.

God's love is eternal and covenantal, rooted in election before time.

God loved His people in eternity past, chose them in Christ, and gave them grace in the everlasting covenant, ensuring their salvation.

Weaver cites Jeremiah 31:3, Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, and Hebrews 13:20 to show the eternal nature of God's love.

God's love is sovereign and uninfluenced by human merit.

There is nothing in the creature that attracts God's love; He loves according to His own will and good pleasure.

Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 7:7-8 and Arthur Pink, emphasizing that God's love is 'uninfluenced by anything in the creature.'

God's love is selective, distinguishing between general benevolence and special saving love.

While God shows kindness to all, His saving love is reserved for His elect, as seen in His statement 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.'

Weaver contrasts Matthew 5:45 with Amos 3:2 and Malachi 1:2-3, arguing that God does not love all in the same way.

The love of God necessarily implies His hatred of evil.

Scripture commands believers to hate evil and records God's hatred of the wicked, showing that love and hatred are complementary.

Weaver cites Psalm 97:10, Psalm 5:5, and Psalm 139:21-22, stating, 'If I love the Lord, I'm going to hate anything that is opposed to Him.'

Christ's propitiatory sacrifice is the supreme demonstration of God's love.

God's love is perceived in that Christ laid down His life to satisfy divine justice, appeasing God's wrath on behalf of sinners.

Weaver explains 1 John 4:10 and 1 John 3:16, noting that propitiation means 'to placate, to satisfy, to appease.'

Our love for God is a dependent reflection that should increase with understanding.

Since our love originates from God's love, the more we comprehend His love, the more our love for Him should grow, leading to greater devotion.

Weaver quotes John Gill and states, 'the larger our discoveries of the grace of God to us should inflame us to love Him more.'

Scripture References

1 John 4:19: The central text of the sermon: 'We love Him because He first loved us.'
John 15:18: Jesus says the world hated Him before it hated His disciples.
John 15:25: The world's hatred fulfills the law's statement, 'They hated Me without a cause.'
John 15:24: Those who hate Christ also hate the Father, having seen His works.
Psalm 10:2-11: Description of the wicked who persecute the poor, do not seek God, and deny His judgment.
Psalm 73:8-9: The wicked speak loftily and set their mouth against the heavens.
1 Corinthians 4:7: Paul asks, 'Who maketh thee to differ from another?' emphasizing grace.
Jeremiah 31:3: God loves with an everlasting love and draws with lovingkindness.
Hosea 11:4: God drew Israel with bands of love.
1 Peter 2:9-10: Believers are a chosen generation called out of darkness into marvelous light.
Hebrews 13:20-21: The God of peace brought again Jesus through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Ephesians 1:3-6: God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and predestinated us to adoption.
2 Timothy 1:8-9: God saved us and called us according to His purpose and grace given in Christ before the world began.
1 John 4:10: Herein is love: God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John 17:1-2, 6, 8-10, 12, 24: Jesus prays for those the Father gave Him, acknowledging the gift of a people before the foundation of the world.
2 Corinthians 9:15: Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
1 John 3:16: We perceive the love of God because He laid down His life for us.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8: God did not love Israel because of their number but because He loved them.
Malachi 1:2-3: God says, 'I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.'
Romans 9:10-13: Paul cites Malachi to illustrate God's sovereign election: 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.'

Historical References

John Gill: Weaver quotes the 18th-century Baptist expositor on the priority and freeness of God's love, stating that God's love is from everlasting and the cause of our love.
Arthur W. Pink: Weaver quotes Pink on the sovereignty of God's love, that it is uninfluenced by the creature, and that God's love is reserved for His elect.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Weaver recounts an illustration where Spurgeon remarked that the marvel is not that God hated Esau but that He loved Jacob, a 'lying, conniving, despicable worm.'

Important Quotes

We love Him because He first loved us.

The central verse of the sermon, establishing the priority of God's love as the foundation for all human love toward God.

The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you.

Demonstrates the sovereignty of God's love, that it is not based on anything in the creature but solely on His own will.

Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Highlights the selective, distinguishing nature of God's love, a key point in the argument for election.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Shows that God's special love includes discipline, and those without chastisement are not true children.

Our love to Him is nothing more than a reflection of His love to us.

Summarizes the dependent nature of human love, emphasizing humility and gratitude.

Had He not first loved us, we would have never loved Him.

A concise statement of the sermon's main thesis, underscoring the necessity of God's initiating grace.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Defines the essence of God's love as the sending of Christ to satisfy divine wrath.

Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.

Commands believers to align their affections with God's, hating what He hates.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does understanding that 'we love Him because He first loved us' change the way you view your own love for God?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that our love is a reflection of God's prior love, not something we generated.

[Question]

In what ways does the world's causeless hatred of God manifest today, and how should believers respond?

[Context]

Weaver describes the world's hatred from Psalm 10 and John 15, noting it is without reason.

[Question]

Why is it important to distinguish between God's general benevolence and His special saving love?

[Context]

Weaver argues that God's love is selective, using Amos 3:2 and Malachi 1:2-3.

[Question]

How does the doctrine of election (God choosing us before the foundation of the world) affect your assurance and gratitude?

[Context]

Weaver cites Ephesians 1:4 and 2 Timothy 1:9 to show God's eternal, unconditional choice.

[Question]

What does it mean that Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and how does that demonstrate God's love?

[Context]

Weaver explains propitiation as satisfying God's wrath, based on 1 John 4:10.

[Question]

How can we reconcile the biblical commands to love our enemies with the psalmist's declaration of hating those who hate God?

[Context]

Weaver discusses Psalm 139:21-22 and the command to hate evil, raising the tension between love and hatred.

[Question]

What practical steps can you take to increase your love for God in light of His prior love for you?

[Context]

Weaver concludes that the more we comprehend God's love, the more our love should grow, leading to greater service and worship.

[Question]

How does the truth that God's love is uninfluenced by anything in us humble us and prevent pride?

[Context]

Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 7:7-8 and Arthur Pink to show that God's love is sovereign and not based on our merit.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T10:13:54Z