Turning back in the word of the Lord this evening to the book of 1 John, and the chapter four. 1 John, the chapter four, and the verse 19. We love him because he first loved us. With the word of God before us, we'll bow together in a further word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we plead with Thee tonight that I will come into this gathering, that I will be pleased to manifest the Lord Jesus. We thank Thee that by faith God's Son is mine indeed. He has supplied my every need by blood at Calvary. And it's to that cross that we wish to come by faith. And again, we want for those who know him to claim him mine, that now risen Son of God. And to those who do not as yet know him, may it be that this will be the time when they will embrace him and find him. to be the Savior, Redeemer, Friend, Guide, Counselor, and much, much more, everything the Bible promises He is. Come and answer prayer. Do our hearts good tonight, and encourage us through the Word of God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. For a period of 18 years in the 19th century, Locke in Ellon, on the edge of the Firth of Clyde, was privileged to have George Matheson as its parish minister. George Matheson, who was he? Matheson was born in Glasgow on the 27th of March, 1842. I share something in common with him. Despite the fact that his eyesight was severely impaired from his childhood, he went on to study in Glasgow Academy, then Glasgow University, and he forged there a reputation for being one of the most brilliant students of his day. Within the Presbyterian ministry, he took up various pastorates, became known for effective preaching, widely acclaimed on account of his devotional writings. But by far the most famous piece of work that Matheson was responsible for was his authorship of the hymn that begins with these words. We have just sung it. O thou that wilt not, let me go. I rest my weary soul in thee. Apparently the reason why the hymn was written was this. While at university, George Matheson had met and fallen in love with a young woman who was also a student. They made plans for marriage. But then George had to tell her the heart-rending news that one day he would be totally blind. How would she react to that? Would she still be as keen to marry him? Her answer came back. To his surprise and sorrow as well, the words pierced his heart like the sudden thrust of a knife. He read, I do not want to be the wife of a blind man. With that departed, human love had fielded George Matheson. Years later, one summer evening in 1882, on the eve of the wedding of a sister, memories of that disappointment in his own life came flooding back, and in less than five minutes, sitting by the study table in the manse there, in, in Ellen Matheson, penned the lines that have since found their way into many an evangelical hymn book, and we have discovered they're at 498 in our own hymn book. George Matheson insisted that these words were the fruit of suffering, written when I was alone and suffering a mental anguish over something that no one else saw. George Matheson was extremely thankful. that in his hour of despondency and dejection, when one person who had shown affection for him, who had been adored by him, revaluated her love of him, and then withdrew that love, and effectively spurned him, and in that difficult time, the Lord of heaven stood by him, comforted him, and assured him of the ever-present reality of the unfeeling, unchanging, and eternal love. And so we muses, O love that wilt not let me go. I rest my weary soul on thee. I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be. The Apostle John, that disciple whom Jesus loved, was fully aware of the fact that the love that Christ reserves for every one of his people deserves some kind of a response from us. In fact, it demands a very specific type of response, and so he writes in 1 John 4, verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. Those in the building tonight who were sinners saved by grace, who were redeemed by the blood of Christ, who were creedled in His compassion and in His care, have we not real reason to love Him? Should Jesus Christ not be the supreme object of our affection? Should the freezes of our lips the pattern followed by our lives, not correspond to this language that is used in 1 John 4, the verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. They definitely should. Let me explain why. The child of God can say, I love him because he first loved me because, first of all, His purpose to love is the source of my salvation. His purpose to love is the source of my salvation. I was a poor, polluted, perverse, and guilty sinner, illy kneeled from God and holiness, from happiness and from heaven, exposed to the sentence of condemnation and deserving to die, quite frankly. I had dishonored the Lord. I had broken His laws. rebelled against His Majesty. I had offended Him in a most deliberate and a most resolute fashion. Foul and filthy I was, unlovely and unlovable I was, someone who was unprepared to love God and someone who was utterly unfit to be loved by God. When I was rushing toward hell at an alarming pace, when I was embracing every opportunity the world threw me, for me to sin my way all the way there, when there was no eye to pity me, no hand to help me, the merciful eye of God, it pitied me. The passionate heart of the Lord, throbbed with love for me. The gracious will of God reached out for my salvation. when we were living carelessly and corruptly, when we were neglecting His Word, when our neck was stiff in pride and rebellion, when our fists were clenched in opposition, when our knees were unbended in prayer, Christ loved us and more. On Calvary, before we had any actual existence, Christ loved us. And this grand old book, the Bible, points us back even further than that. back before that time when Adam and Eve were first parents, ruined the race of mankind, back before the mountains and the seas, the valleys, the rivers, the stars, the planets were in their places, back to eternity past, when time had not begun, when the sovereign eternal triune Jehovah dwelt alone, back then Christ loved his people. As Spurgeon puts it, His prescient or foreknowing eye had seen them. His sovereign choice had separated them. His distinguishing grace had discriminated them and his eternal purpose had decreed them to be his forever and ever. It was then, in eternity past, that he first loved us. His heart was filled with unlimited love for us, and that love led him not only just to think about saving us, but to actually purpose to save us, and exactly plan how he would save us. A young man was engaged to be married to a young lady in New England, United States of America, when war, the American Civil War, broke out. That marriage had to be postponed. The young man came through battle after battle, skirmish after skirmish, unscathed, until the Battle of the Wilderness took place just before the close of that war, 5th to the 7th of May, 1864. The young lady was back home counting the days until her fiancé would return. She waited patiently for letters, none came. At last she received one that was addressed to her, but it was in strange handwriting, and it read something like this. There's been another terrible battle. I've been unfortunate this time. I've lost both my arms. I can't write myself, but a colleague is writing this letter for me. I write to tell you that you're as dear to me as ever, but I'll not be dependent on other people for the rest of my days, and I've written this letter to release you from your engagement. That letter was never answered. The girl got onto the next train, travelled straight down to the scene of the conflict, sent word to the captain about her message, got the number of the soldier's bed, she went along the line, and the moment her eyes fell on the number that she'd been given, she went to that bed, threw her arms around that young man's neck, kissed him and said, I'll never give you up. These hands will never give you up. I'm here to support you. I'm able to do it. I'll take care of you." Quite a contrast to what happened to George Matheson and a tremendous picture, and yet it is only a picture of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. I have loved thee. With an everlasting love, he assures us in Jeremiah 31 and three, and that was despite the fact that he already knew just how filthy, how vile, and how hideously loathsome we would become. Because of his knowledge of the wonderful love of Jesus, Reverend R.T. Jeffrey, once pastor of the Caledonian Road Church in Glasgow said, in infinite love for my soul. He purposed my redemption. How wonderful! Can I ever forget that God from all eternity has been thinking of me and loving me, thinking of me as a poor, guilty, hell-deserving sinner, loving me though an enemy and a rebel. that his thoughts have ever been thoughts of good and not of evil, thoughts of mercy and of love. I cannot think how undeserving I am, how unworthy of all God's love and think of all God's love to me, of his purpose of love to save me without saying, I love him because he first loved me. Can you say the same? I trust you can. I love him because he first loved me and I can trace through scripture that love away back far beyond my existence and the world's existence back into eternity past and I see in God's growing room, his planning chamber, my name. as one of the objects of God's love through Jesus. His purpose to love is the source of my salvation. But then again, and secondly, I love him because he first loved me since his provision through love is the settlement of my salvation. His provision through love is the settlement my salvation from the heart, hand, and heaven of the Father, Jesus came. To the humiliation, the sorrow, and the suffering of this life, Jesus came. To the corruption, condemnation, crucifixion of evil men, Jesus came. And on that cross, what agony, what terrible affliction, hands of obnoxious men pounded him, the hordes of barbaric demons attacked him, the face of God the Father was hidden from him, and by the voluntary and vicarious death of the Son of God, divine justice was satisfied. The divine law was magnified, the divine love was exemplified, and my salvation, praise his name, it was purchased. The poet said, yes, he measured all the deep. Distance, too, without relief. Buoyed in agony and grief, surpassing love. For the guilty and the lost, Dying there upon the cross, O, how infinite the cost! What peerless love! It is finished, loudly cried, Every claim is satisfied, God the Father glorified, Triumphant love! The room was full of people. They were having a good time, All was bright and cheery, when suddenly A ferocious beast of a dog peered in the doorway of that room, and from its behavior, and particularly from the large amount of foam that was dripping out of its open jaws, it quickly became obvious the dog was rabid. Terror spread through the crowd. Young children began to sob against the bodies of their screaming, hysterical mothers. Strong men were paralyzed by fear. Together, the people moved to the furthest wall of the building, as far away as possible from this mad dog, but there was no use. There was no way out of the place, except through the doorway that dog was standing in. The beast advanced, full of menace and mad intent. It was then the local blacksmith acted, a brave and a brawny man he was, and he ran forward, pounced on the dog, and as he held it with all of the strength that he could muster, as that animal was turning and tearing lumps out of his flesh, he cried to the others, meet for the door, I'll hold him until you get out. Turned out to be a noble sacrifice for the lives of his friends. Since God the Holy Ghost has taken a dealing with our soul, since he has wakened us up to the evil and danger of our sins, since he has alerted us to the super facts that we were in a state of spiritual death, as shown as we were dying in the pit and in the miry clay, can we not say in this, God showed love towards us? Since again the Holy Ghost has opened our eyes, allowed us to see Christ in the fullness of His grace and the freeness of His pardon, allowed us again and assured us that Christ's work on that cross, on Calvary, is the only possible ground of salvation for us to build on. He has counseled us to turn from our sins and trust Him as the Savior of our souls. Again, are we not compelled to acknowledge this is another display of divine love towards us? Since the Holy Spirit once more has given us words by which we can call upon Christ for mercy, has broken the chains that bound us to the devil and the world and the flesh, has applied the cleansing blood of the Lamb to our hearts and consciousness, has assured us of the reality of our salvation. Are we not obliged again to say all of this is due to the love of God towards us? up all of these displays of amazing love, and should we not speak of it and sing of it and shout about it until our dying day? One of the old Puritans, Thomas Watson, said, behold what manner of love is this, that Christ should be arranged or accused, formally charged, that he should be arranged we adorned, that the curse should be put on his head and the crown set on ours." An old Indian chief constantly spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he meant to him. A friend said, why do you talk so much about Jesus? The old chief didn't reply, but slowly and deliberately he gathered some sticks and bits of grass and made a circle out of them into the middle of the circle. He placed a caterpillar, still silent, he struck a match, lit the sticks and the pieces of grass. They watched the caterpillar, and as the fire caught around the circle began to work its way around, that trapped caterpillar began to crawl around as quickly as it could, looking for a way to escape. As the fire advanced, that helpless caterpillar raised its head as high as it could, and if the creature could have spoken, it would have said, I can't see any way out. Then the old chief stooped down, stretched out his finger to the caterpillar. That caterpillar crawled up his finger to safety. That, said the old chief with a glow on his face, was what the Lord Jesus Christ did for me. I was lost in sin. My condition was hopeless. I was trapped. Then the Lord Jesus stooped down and in love and mercy drew me out of that horrible pit of sin and shame. How can I help but love him and talk about him?" We know what he means, don't we? We can identify with him. We feel as he did. the same about the wonderful love of Jesus that has been shown to our sinful souls. Well then, let's talk about Him. As the hymn writer said, let us sing of His love once again, of the love that can never decay, of the blood of the Lamb who was slain, till we praise Him again. In that day, I love Him because he first loved me. His provision to love is the source of my salvation. His purpose to love is the source of my salvation. His provision through love is the settlement of my salvation. And thirdly, his promise of bright love is the security of my salvation. His promise about love is the security of my salvation. I know that I will be brought through Just as Isaiah 43 puts it, through the waters, through the flood, through the fire, I will be brought through all the trials, all the temptations, the troubles, the tribulations of this life. I know that I will enter into the joyful possession of my home in heaven at the end of the journey of life. I know this. That's what I said, I know this. It's an issue of certainty. definiteness, of absolute surety. That's not because of anything I am or anything that I will have done or anything that I have done, nothing to do with me at all. It's rather because of the fact that the love of Jesus Christ towards me is unchanging, unbreakable, irreversible, incorruptible, that just as He has commenced to love me, so He will continue to love me, and He will never cease to love me, so I possibly cannot go down to hell. I cannot possibly endure tortures forever, since the infinite love of Almighty Savior has been set on me. A lot of people rise up and they say, well, that's outrageous, that's inaccurate, that's boastful, that's a false claim, and they'll even stamp their feet in indignation. But outrageous, inaccurate, boastful, false, it most certainly isn't. For my Bible tells me in John 13 and 1, for example, about Christ, that having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. right through, start to finish. In Romans 8, 35, 38, 39, these thrilling words appear. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword? For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And we can say amen to that because we believe it. William Gadsby certainly believed this truth because he wrote a hymn in which these words appear. Jesus loved. Loves forever. Zion on his heart does dwell. He will never, never, never leave his church a prey to hell. All is settled and my soul approves it well. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ will bring me through and will carry me safely home. It cannot do anything else. for work this one out. If that love suffered a breakdown in its infinite, its eternal love, then my salvation would be frustrated. My every expectation would be blasted. Christ would lose his promised reward of bringing sons and daughters, and many of them, home to glory. Heaven would be empty of its inhabitants. The devil would have won. The Word of God would be broken, and this can never be. Child of God today, in heaven, you will rejoice in this love, a love that still will be as fresh and pure, as warm and strong, as full and changeless as when it first sprang up in the heart of God in eternity past, before the creation of angels or the birth of time. You will delight yourself in it, sing triumphantly about it, even in the words of that tremendous anthem recorded in Revelation 1, 5, and 6, unto him that loved us, washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God, and his father, to him be glory for ever and ever. When in heaven you've spent 10,000 times, 10,000 years, you will not feel that you have thanked him enough for it. Or Samuel Rutherford said, and this is how I will feel, when I have worn my tongue to the stump in praising Christ, I have done nothing to him. For my withered arms will not go about His high, wide, long, and broad love. What love this is! What boundless love! What indescribable love! Christ's purpose to love is the source of my salvation. His provision through love on Calvary is the settlement of my salvation. His promise about love, I will love them unto the end, is the security of my salvation. And I ask the question tonight, in fact I press it home upon your hearts, what is your reaction to such a mighty marvelous, matchless love. Can you say with John in sincerity, I love him because he first loved me, gone from my heart, the world in all its charm, And I, through the blood, I'm saved from sin's alarm. Down at the cross, my heart is bending loam. The precious blood of Jesus washes white as snow. I love him. I love him because he first loved me and purchased my salvation on Mount Calvary. I pray if you're not already saved before you leave this meeting, you will come to Christ. You will embrace this love. As we heard sung this morning, no one ever cared for me like Jesus. You'll not find love like this anywhere else, only in Christ. And if you can say, yes, I do love him, I know what John is saying here, I identify with his words in 1 John 4, the verse 19, I love him because he first loved me, I do. Then I challenge you, prove it. Prove it by your life. Prove it by your lips. May the love of Christ be broadcast by you to others. And may others be totally unable to miss the fact that the love of Christ is burning in you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before Thee tonight. We pray that this wondrous, boundless love existing way back in eternity past, going right through to eternity future. We can't fully explain it. We never will be able to. Paul talked about to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. We try to understand it. We try to get a handle on it. We try to analyze it. We try to see what it has done for us. but we can never fully describe it. But may it reach out to our loved ones and bring them in to the embrace of salvation. And may it kindle fresh fire within our heart to get us up and running in thy service. For out of that love, we love him because he first loved us will come genuine labor. will come self-sacrificing love for others. May we see the kingdom of God expanded by a flowing forth of the love that Jesus had for me. In thy name, to thy praise, we ask these things. Amen.