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In our Sunday morning worship at the present

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time, we are meditating on the first epistle

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written by Saint John, and we came last

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Lord's Day morning to the passage that begins

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with verse seven in chapter four.

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We dwelt only upon the first two verses

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in that paragraph, namely verses seven and eight,

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which refers to love and its relation to

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the divine paternity.

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May I read those verses to remind us

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of the context of our message today.

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Beloved, says John, let us love one another,

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because love is of God, and every one

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that loveth is born of God, and knoweth

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God.

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He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for

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God is love.

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Now there are two matters that remain in

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this particular paragraph, we're going to come to

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at least one of them today.

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Love and its perfect expression in history, verses

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nine and ten, and then love and the

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ministry that it prescribes for us as people

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continually in the last two verses, namely eleven

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and twelve.

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Now I want to turn to the next

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one then, love and its expression in history.

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What is love?

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How do we know what love is?

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So many people talk about love and sing

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about love today, what do they mean?

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Well, says John, herein is love, that's how

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he starts it in verse ten, herein is

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love.

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Not that we love God, but rather that

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he loved us and gave his son to

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be the propitiation for our sins.

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Or in terms of the previous verse, it

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is in this that love was manifested, the

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love of God toward us, because that God

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sent his only begotten son into the world

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that we might live or have life through

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him.

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Now we saw last Lord's Day morning that

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this love of which the apostle speaks is

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a very special kind of phenomenon, and it

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has to be distinguished from so much that

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goes by that name.

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It's distinguished from erotic love, eros.

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It has nothing really to do with it.

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It is distinguished from that kind of love

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that we sometimes see in those who are

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desirous of showing a kind of nationalism.

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They love their country to a very large

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extent, perhaps more than much else.

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It's not that kind of love.

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Neither, indeed, is it the kind of love

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that commonly obtains between parents and children, nor

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between husbands and wives.

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That very often is limited in its scope,

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even if it is deep and warm.

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This love is a very special kind of

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love.

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This agape love, as the apostle speaks of

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it, it is something which is absolutely unique.

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And in the verses before us today, John

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wants us to see exactly the kind of

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thing that this agape love really is.

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In this, the love of God was manifested

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among us, says John, that God sent his

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only Son into the world so that we

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might have life through him.

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In this is love.

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Not that we loved God, but that he

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loved us and gave his Son to be

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the atoning sacrifice or the propitiation for our

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sins.

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Now, there are three features of this kind

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of love that John says we see in

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the love of God.

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Let's look at them very briefly.

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The first thing is, this kind of a

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love is love that is directed even unworthiest.

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In other words, it is not love that

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is attracted by the object, but it is

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love that is propelled by the compulsion of

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love within our own hearts.

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If we have this kind of love, it

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is in us, and irrespective of the deserts

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of the object, we love.

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Father or mother loves child because the child

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belongs to him.

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Husband loves his wife because he has chosen

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her and the wife her husband.

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But here it is different.

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This love looks into the face of unworthiness,

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and yet it loves.

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Now, this is brought out in this passage

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in two ways.

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First of all, in this word in verse

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nine, God sent his only Son into the

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world so that we might have life through

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him.

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Do you notice the implications of those words?

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The objects of God's love and concern are

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without life.

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Why are they without life?

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Why were they without life?

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Not with a natural life, this earth, providence,

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and the mercy of God, but without the

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hope of everlasting life and without a spiritual

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life that is capable of fellowship with God.

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Why were we in this condition?

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Because we had come under divine condemnation.

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Because sin had robbed us of life and

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slain us.

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The objects of God's love here, then, are

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those who are condemned to death.

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Men and women under sentence, as all of

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us were by nature.

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Now, that is the message.

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God loved us when we were in our

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condemned selves spiritually, dead in trespasses and sins,

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and await the last, final doom of the

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judge.

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We needed life, we had it not.

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We were dead.

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God loved the dead.

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If you go on to verse ten, we

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have it in clear terms.

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He sent his Son to be an atoning

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sacrifice or a propitiation for our sins.

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The word used in translating a Greek term

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in the Revised Standard Version is very inadequate

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here.

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It says to be an expiation for our

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sins, which means cleansing our sins away.

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But we needed more than cleansing.

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The term that John used means that God's

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wrath was kindled against us, that he was

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angry with us, that he was justly angry

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with us, that there could be no peace

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between us and God in our sinful condition,

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and had sentenced us lawfully to be lost.

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We were under his curse.

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But he sent the Son of his love

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to do all that was necessary.

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He should just and the justifier of them

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that believed in Jesus.

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It reflects our condition as men who were

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not simply dead, but who were cursed and

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thus utterly and completely lost.

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You remember the Apostle Paul's way of expounding

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this same theme in Romans chapter five.

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God, he says, commends his love toward us.

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But while we were yet sinners, Christ died

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for us.

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So the first thing this love is this.

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It is a love that seeks to do

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something for the unworthiest, the dead in trespasses

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and sins, to condemn God.

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God is doing something for his enemies.

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For those who would crucify his Son, for

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those who did not want him himself.

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The second feature about this love is this.

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It is not only a love that is

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directed towards the unworthiest, but it also seeks

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the highest good for the unworthiest.

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It comes down to the lowliest, to the

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meanest, to the outcast, and it desires to

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elevate the outcast and the lost to bring

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him to the highest loftiest place of all.

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In this, the love of God was made

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manifest among us.

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God sent his only Son into the world

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that we might have life through him.

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Now what does that mean?

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We can only elucidate it briefly by saying,

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but let's add that it means more than

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some life.

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Life we have already, as we've indicated.

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Natural life we have.

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But the reason why the Son of God

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was that we might have that kind and

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quality of life that would enable us to

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have fellowship with God in this life and

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to enjoy him and serve him in the

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next.

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This is eternal life, and it is not

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just a life adding up.

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It is a new quality of life.

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It's the quality of life that's seen in

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Jesus of Nazareth.

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It is the very life of God himself.

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And insofar as that can be communicated to

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his creatures, God sent his Son into the

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world that you and I might have that

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life.

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You see, to have fellowship with God, we

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must have his life.

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We must have his spirit.

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We must love what he loves, and we

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must hate what he hates, and we must

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will as he wills.

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And that depends upon the quality of life.

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So that you see, there is nothing greater

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than this.

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God could give, God could desire nothing greater

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for his creatures than this.

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That we should share his very life, that

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we should have fellowship with him, that we

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should be capable of enjoying his home and

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his heaven and his love and his service

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eternally, and serve him here and now with

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joy.

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There is nothing greater than this.

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This prepares a man for glory.

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This makes a man fit to live as

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the representative of heaven upon earth.

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This is eternal life.

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Two elements, two features of this life then

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that love comes to give is this.

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It is a life that is different from

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the life of man by nature.

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It's a life of kinship with God, and

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enables us to fellowship with him.

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God's his love upon the unworthiest, and he

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seeks for the unworthiest, the highest that he

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almighty God can give his creatures.

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The third feature that we must notice is

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this.

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It is not only desire that God desired

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the highest for the unworthiest, but he procured

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it at the greatest conceivable cost to him.

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God sent his only son into the world

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to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

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My good people, we need the spirit of

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God to help us to taste things in.

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We become so accustomed to scripture and to

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divine truth that it doesn't move us at

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all.

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God sent his son into the world.

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Have you pondered the significance of that?

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Out of the ivory palaces into this world

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of woe.

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Have you ever pondered the mystery of the

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incarnation, what it meant for the Son of

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God to take to his deity of our

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humanity, to be contracted to a stand in

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the virgin's womb, to be born of a

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woman, to live under the law, to become

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a mere man among men?

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That's reflected in these words.

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He sent him into the world.

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God so loved us that he sent him,

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and he cared.

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My will, said he, is to do the

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will of him that sent me.

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It isn't only that I've been commissioned, but

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I've come, I was consecrated to it, and

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I've accepted the task of my own free

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will.

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For God so loved the world, he sent,

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he gave his son.

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Who is this, cries William Walsham, how so

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weak and helpless, child of lonely Hebrew May,

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rudely in a stable sheltered, coldly in a

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manger laid?

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And he answers, it is the Lord of

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all creation, who this wondrous path hath trod.

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He is Lord from everlasting and to everlasting.

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God, great is the mystery of godliness.

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God manifest in flesh, veiled in flesh, the

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godhead see.

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But my text goes even further than that.

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God not only sent his son into the

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world, God sent his only son into the

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world to be the propitiation for our sin.

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To send him to Bethlehem was a mark

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of imponderable grace, but Bethlehem at best was

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only a stepping stone to Calvary.

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And the lamb was slain from before the

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foundations of the world.

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Calvary was in God's purpose before the incarnation.

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He sent his son into the world that

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his son in the world should bear our

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sins in his own body to the tree.

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These are the passages that come to mind

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and illuminate the significance of John's words.

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He was made sin for us who knew

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no sin, that we might be made the

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righteousness of God in him.

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He bore our sins in his own body

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to the tree.

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He died the just for the unjust to

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bring us to God.

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He took the curse in our place.

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He bore away our sins.

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That's love.

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Now listen, my friend.

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God could give nothing that would cost him

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more than that.

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For he gave his son.

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He gave his only son.

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And he was so intimately related to his

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son that in the giving of his son

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he came himself.

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For God was in Christ, reconciling the world

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unto himself.

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That's love.

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Now what then is the quality of this

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love that is revealed once for all in

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human history?

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That John says of it, here it is,

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he says, not in anything else, not in

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anything that we have or we show or

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we do, but here it is.

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Not that we love God, but that God

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loved us.

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There it is.

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It was a love that settled upon the

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most undeserving people in their most miserable and

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lost estate.

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It was a love that sought to bring

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men from the lowest dungeon of despair and

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of lostness to the highest experience of life

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everlasting.

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And it was prepared to pay the costliest

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price to do that for the unworthy and

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the undeserving.

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Herein is love.

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Men and women, brothers and sisters in Christ,

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I hope there is something in your heart

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this morning that rejoices that God so loved

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you and loved me.

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There is some dancing in our spirits that

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acknowledges the wonder of this love.

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Here it is.

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And it is this that beckons us this

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morning to the table.

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Oh, wondrous love to bleed and die.

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And bear the cross and shame that guilty

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sinners such as I might plead thy precious

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name.

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To all who own Jesus Christ as Savior

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and Lord, we extend a welcome to the

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table today.

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Join us.

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This is his table.

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If you have come to him whose love

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is so great and unqualified and have tasted

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and seen of his grace and salvation, come

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and partake of the cup and of the

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bread we thanksgive you.

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Let our hearts together worship the Father who

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gave the Son and the Son who gave

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himself and the Spirit who made over the

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things of Christ to us so that Christ

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of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,

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sanctification, redemption.

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Let us pray.

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Holy Heavenly Father, there is an awesomeness that

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creeps into our souls as we realize the

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depth of our misery outside of Jesus Christ.

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Rarely do we dare to look into the

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mirror of thy word and read the glaring

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truth.

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But here it is.

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In our own blood we wallowed.

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In the miseries of rebellion we wandered.

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Far away from thee we enjoyed our sin

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and were unlovely.

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But while we were yet sinners, Christ, thine

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only Son, well-beloved of thyself, died for

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thee unlovely.

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We thank thee, Father, for the measure in

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which in our acceptance of him we have

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begun to enjoy life in our souls that

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we never had before.

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And this morning as we come to the

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table we see again the elements that remind

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us of that stark reality that our life

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could only be purchased at the price of

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his blood.

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His body was broken and his blood was

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shed.

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We ask now that thou wilt give to

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each one of us the grace of gratitude

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so that as we partake it is with

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faith in him that will enable us to

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live by his life even as we are

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redeemed by his death.

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Oh, to draw by faith the sustenance of

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his everlasting life by the Spirit even at

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this time.

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Grant us now, therefore, the grace we need

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and lead us in thy way for Jesus'

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sake.

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Amen.