We'll turn again with me in God's word to Jeremiah chapter 31. And noticing particularly verse three and halfway through the verse where it says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. I want us to take this text as the theme for the whole communion season. Although we will look at other texts, God willing, on Sabbath, at both our morning and our evening service. But all of them can be summarized with what it says here. I have loved you with an everlasting love. It's a theme of God's everlasting love. And as we think of love, as we think of the love of God, we are well aware that there are many churches that teach a distorted view of God, where they make God a caricature of only love and nothing else. And we're aware of that. We are aware that there are people whose doctrine of God is so badly wrong that there's no space for God's holiness or justice or righteousness and so on. But just because that is the case, it doesn't mean we should shy away from the love of God. And particularly coming to the Lord's table, this is a love feast. And therefore it's appropriate for us to think of the expressions of God's love towards us. Love is part of God's essential nature. It's part of who he is. It's part of his being, and that cannot change. We know that there is the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons. Each person is fully God. Each person is distinct. They are equal in power and glory. One God, three persons. But within this Trinity, what is there but love? Love between the Father and the Son, and between the Father and the Spirit. Love between the Son and the Father, and the Son and the Spirit. And love between the Holy Spirit and the Father, and between the Holy Spirit and the Son. Perfect love. That is what the Trinity is, a bond of love, and that from all eternity. If God was not love, God would cease to be God. And the idea of a God who does not love is an idol, a false God, and not worthy of our worship. But as 1 John 4 tells us, God is love. It is part of his essential being. It is who he is. God is love. And as with all his attributes, God is infinite in his love. Every part of his being, he is infinite to the full, beyond measure, with no limits. And so it is with God's love, as Ephesians 3 teaches us, the prayer of Paul was that we may have the strength. We need strength for this. We need the strength. to comprehend with all the sense what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. As we're thinking of this theme of the love of God, we don't have the strength in ourselves to comprehend fully the bounds of God's love, because it's boundless. He is infinite in his being. And so all we're going to get through this communion season is a glimpse, a drop of water, when there's a whole ocean out there, of love in God. It cannot be fully comprehended. But yet, friends, whilst that is true, it cannot be fully comprehended because God is infinite in love, yet God's love can be truly known. We can know truly something of the love of God and we can feel that love in our lives and we can know it and by faith believe it. And so whilst God dwells in unapproachable light and we cannot come to fully see him as he really is, yet we hope to catch a glimpse of his glorious love. But as we're thinking of love, we're not focusing this evening or at all in our communion season on the love between the members of the Trinity, what we call intra-Trinitarian love. We're not focusing on that at all. But rather, God's love finds an outward expression. God's love is shown to other objects outside of himself. And in our text, verse three, it says here, I have loved you with an everlasting love. You, it's you singular, you're maybe aware that In both Greek and Hebrew, the word you can sometimes be singular and sometimes plural. In English, we don't have a good way of translating. We just use you for both. I could say you, and I could point to, I'm pointing at George, I could just point to him, you, or I can say you, and I'm meaning the whole congregation. There's no different word for it. In the original languages, Hebrew and Greek, there is a way of distinguishing. We can know, are we talking to one person or are we talking to many people? And here it's actually talking to one person, but I think it's not thinking of just one person. It's thinking of a group of people, but the fact that God loves them on an individual level. God loves them themselves as individual people, as a whole person, body and soul. He doesn't just love these people as they're part of something bigger. So he doesn't just love them because they're part of the church. He has a love for the church, and because they're part of the church, therefore they're loved. No, rather, as an individual, God loves them. That's why it's the you here is singular. I have loved you. If God's love had just remained within the Trinity, would we have known anything of this glory? Would we have known, would we have been able to praise God? for him being loving. It's the very fact that he has found an expression outward of himself, that he has shown his love to creatures. And indeed, as we can see here in the context, to unworthy creatures. That is what stirs up our hearts to worship. God has directed his infinite love towards fallen, rebellious sinners. That's what this passage is showing us because the wider context of Jeremiah is of God's people who have really backslidden. God's people who have turned away, have broken the covenant, who've erred, who for generations have been tolerating idolatry and false worship and have been despising God's Sabbaths and have not been showing love to their fellow men. It's been a long time of sliding into sin. And therefore, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet as he is, is announcing chastisement upon God's people. But despite the fact that it's a time of chastisement for God's people, yet God still says, I have loved you. I have loved you. We could even look back to the first part of verse three, The Lord appeared to him from far away. And it seems that it gives a sense of where God's people are. They are far away from their God and he is comparatively far from them. And yet, I have loved you. Yet God loves his people. And as we think about that, just the very fact that God could love those who are sinful, full of iniquity, transgressors. God could love people who are fallen. It's astounding, isn't it? It's not surprising that the Father loves the Son, and that the Son loves the Spirit, and so on, within the Trinity. But that he says, I have loved you, when we think of ourselves, I have loved you, that is indeed a surprising thing. John 3, verse 16, that famous Bible verse says, God so loved the world. But when we think of that verse, what is John's concept of the world? The world is a place of sin. It's that quality that comes out. It's a darkness of the world. That's how John uses that word. And that's why that verse is so surprising that God should love darkness so much to send his son to die, that they, any who believe in him would not perish Or Romans 5 verse 8, God shows his love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You see, God didn't wait for his people to tidy up. He didn't wait for them to repent. He didn't wait for them to become good. But whilst they were still sinners, and whilst we were still sinners, believing friends, God has already shown love towards us. You see, the love of God towards his people is not at all contingent upon our good works. It's not at all that we deserve it. In fact, we have done nothing to deserve it and everything to repel it from us. Think about that for a moment. Your best works are not good enough to attract God's love. But even your best works are sinful enough to repel God's love from you if that's the way God gave out his love on the basis of works. But praise God he doesn't deal with us in this way, according as our sins deserve. No, rather God in his sovereign grace has bestowed love upon people who were still in their sin and still undeserving. And it's that here that we see in our text, because this love that he expresses upon these objects, I have loved you, it's with an everlasting love. That's the quality of love that is given, an everlasting love. Think, friends, of the love that you have for other people, human love. What is human love? There are various types of human love, but human love has to begin, doesn't it? If you're a husband and a wife, there was a time before you loved one another, wasn't there? You had to meet. You had to fall in love. One loved the other first. It wasn't just immediate love at first sight, at least for most people, it was not that way. There's a growing to love. And love fluctuates, doesn't it? Through the course of that relationship, ups and downs. But that is not the way God's love is towards his people. I have loved you with an everlasting love. It's speaking here of the covenant of redemption, that eternal counsel of God's will where God elected some in Christ to everlasting life. And in this sense, there is eternal, everlasting love set upon his people. People, of course, don't like the word election, but it's a perfectly Biblical word. The word elect is used in various places in the scripture. The word chosen has been used in the scripture. Predestined. These words all speak for knowledge. These words all speak of the same themes. And so there's no sidestepping these things. They're there in the scripture. Friends, if we think about it, those of us, we've encountered these terms before. I hope you don't shy away from them. For God to say, I have chosen you in Christ, I've elected you, that's exactly the same thing as him saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love. You see, we shouldn't think that election is a bad word, a cold, clinical, sterile word that we don't like the sound of it. It doesn't stir anything up in us, it scares us. No, election is the same thing as God saying, I have loved you. with an everlasting love. We should have joy when we think of election. Perhaps as confusing a topic as it may be, it must be handled with particular care. Our confession of faith tells us, but yet the fact is it's a topic that highlights God's everlasting love. If you've got someone who's been your friend for a long time, they have loved you for a long time. And it's very special to have a friend who has loved you for a long time. There's a different relationship that you have with them because of the many years of love, friendship between you and them. Friends, God's love is ancient love. It is everlasting love. So much so that it never once began. And that's the glory of this love, isn't it? That it never began. As God is eternal, so his love towards his people is eternal. It is everlasting. And because of this, it is unchangeable. If God is eternal, he cannot be changed. If God's love towards us is everlasting, then also it cannot be changed. He will not remove it from us. If it never began, it shall never end. It's a constant, always love for his people. I have loved you with an everlasting love, he says. And so far from election being some arbitrary cold doctrine, it speaks of the great love with which he loved us. Love is the finding head. And as one Puritan said, the only grind of God's love is his love. The only basis, the only reason to justify why God loves one person is God's own love. It is free, sovereign love. The only grind of God's love is his love. As John 15 tells us, Jesus said, you did not choose me, but I chose you. Same in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, Chapter seven, verses seven and eight, God says of Israel, it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath he swore to his fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery. Do you see? That perfectly encapsulates the doctrine of salvation. It's not because of anything in you. There's no strength in you that God would choose you. He does not gain anything from you. That's not the reason why he has chosen you, for you're the fewest of all, you're weak, you're ungodly. But yet God has set his love on you and chosen you and therefore he has redeemed you. That's the way scripture teaches. God, in his sovereignty, for his own good pleasure, out of his love, chooses some to everlasting life. Friends, before we ever had the thought of loving God, he loved us, his people. He loved his elect people. And surely that, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ this evening, to trust you are, surely that gets you asking this question, why me? Why me? Of all people, why me? And of course, the answer's already been given, not because of anything in you, not because of any good in you, nor because of any evil in you, simply God in his sovereignty has chosen some to everlasting life. or in the words of Artax, in his sovereignty, I have loved you with an everlasting love. This love is spoken of in Malachi chapter one and verse two, where God says to his people, I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? And God says, is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob. but Esau I have hated." It's not just that God comparatively prefers Jacob to Esau. He really loves everyone, but there's a wee bit more favoritism towards Jacob. That's not what that text is saying. But it's true that there are some who are loved, who are chosen, who are elected unto everlasting life, predestined for adoption in love. And all we can say is, why me? Why me? See, really, as we think of this text, I have loved you with an everlasting love. We here in Christ Jesus ought to be humbled. We ought to be incredibly humble and grateful, full of thanksgiving and praise to God. As we come to the Lord's table on the Lord's day, it is a love feast that we come to. It is a visible, tangible expression of God's love for us, isn't it? you actually get to taste and see that the Lord is good or that the Lord is loving and gracious. Or in the words of Song of Solomon, it wasn't that long ago that we heard preaching through that series. Song of Solomon two verse four, he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love. That is what the Lord's table is, a banqueting house where the banner over is love. It's a table that is laid, spread before us in love. It is his grace that has provided it for us. Because as we'll see, the greatest demonstration of love, and that's why on Sabbath we'll get there, the greatest demonstration of love is at the cross. That's love. He gave himself for us. And so as we seek to come to the Lord's table, it's appropriate for us to examine ourselves. We've been thinking about election this evening. God loving with an everlasting love. 2 Peter 1 tells us that with all diligence we are to make our calling and election sure. And that's appropriate as we come to the Lord's table, that we seek diligently to make sure that our calling, that we have been called and elected. And as we think about that, you may have questions. How do I make my election sure? How can I be sure that I have been elected to everlasting life? Or to put it this way, in terms of the text, how can I be sure that God has loved me with an everlasting love? Well, I want you to notice in 2 Peter 1, the order of the words. You make your calling and election sure. It's not that you make your election sure and then your calling, but rather you make your calling and then your election sure. And I think that's important. God, in terms of what he does, he elects first and then calls us in time. But for us, for us to be able to make our calling and election sure, we have to start with the calling. Have we been called and what have we done with the call? Well, you've been outwardly called, haven't you? To faith in Christ. Because you've heard the gospel. You've heard the gospel preached. You've read it for yourselves. And so you know that you have been called. Many are called, but few are chosen. You've been called, but what have you done with that calling? Because if God has elected you, then he has called you irresistibly to himself. Have you been called internally to come to Christ? Have you been, as we thought on Sabbath evening, have you been convicted of sin and of righteousness, of judgment? Have you believed in the gospel as it's been preached to you? Have you come to understand who the Lord Jesus Christ is and why he is the only one who can save you from your sin? Have you seen that there's no hope elsewhere and certainly no hope in yourself for your righteousness is as filthy rags Have you obeyed the call to repent of your sin, to turn from it, and to walk in ways of new obedience? See, that is what it means to make your calling sure. It's to see that when you've been called in the gospel, that you've responded with faith and with repentance and with obedience. And if you have been called in this way, and you can make that calling sure, then all you have to do is connect the dots backwards. Therefore, you've been elected. Because him God did predestinate, him also he called. And him he called, he also justified. And him he justified, he also glorified. There's a golden chain, isn't there? We can't pry into the eternal counsels of God, because God has not given us access to those things. God has given you this book, He's not given you the Lamb's Book of Life. He's not said that you can go to this special library and you can go and look through all the columns of names and you can find if your name is found in the Lamb's Book of Life. That is not for us to do. We may not pry into the secret things of God. The secret things belong to the Lord. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and to our children forever. And what has been revealed? this book, this book. And it makes it clear that if we've been called and justified, we can trace backwards, therefore we've been predestinated. And we can trace it forwards equally, therefore we shall also be glorified. You see, if God loves us in the present, he has loved us with an everlasting love. In the past, and as we'll see, God willing, on Sabbath evening, in the future, Have you therefore made your calling sure? Well, then you can make your election sure. See Romans 1 verse 7 tells us, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. Who are the ones who are loved by God? It is those who are called to be saints. That is, who have been justified. They've been called irresistibly and effectually, and they've been justified. Such have been loved by God. Friends, what love there is that God has called us. Think of that for a moment. Yes, many have been called, few have been chosen, but the fact that God has called us and we have been able to respond. Because what way does God call us to himself? He pours out invitations. How many invitations he gives. The most gracious of invitations. To come to a wedding feast where everything has been made ready. Who everyone that thirsts come to the waters and he who has no money come buy and eat. Weren't we reading that recently in Isaiah? Come and buy without money and without price. There's an example of an invitation that God makes to his people. And we who believe say we'll come. This is a good bargain for us because we have no money and we have nothing worthy of God giving us food. We have nothing to bring but sin and unrighteousness. But the promise is that we who have no money can come and buy and eat. It's provided for us. See, there are invitations, aren't there? There are entreaties where God pleads with us. I think, for example, in 2 Corinthians 5, We are ambassadors for Christ, as if we're standing in Christ's place. We implore you, be reconciled to Christ. And you've maybe heard words like that before. And you hear the voice of Christ speaking to you, imploring you to be reconciled. And the way of reconciliation has been made known to you through the broken body and shed blood of Christ. And so you've gone in faith. You see, God calls us with these invitations or these entreaties. He gives us promises. The one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. And you've believed that. You know that you didn't seek him, but he came to seek and to save you, the lost. You've realized that Christ is the great physician, that he has come to those who are sick, and you know the sickness of your soul. Friends, that's what it means to have been called. And that is God's love towards us, isn't it? Because Hosea 11 verse four speaks of this calling. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bonds of love. That's what it is. When God saved you, when God effectually called you to himself, when he took the outward call from a minister or from a passage of scripture or from a friend or whoever it was, that outward call God inwardly drew you to himself with cords of kindness and bonds of love. He just took, as it were, cords around you and pulled you lovingly to himself. That's what he does. Because those whom he has predestined, he also calls. It's an expression, isn't it, of the everlasting love that our verse speaks of. Where we have been called, there is evidence of electing everlasting love. Friends, as we come to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as we come to sit at the Lord's table, my hope and prayer is that you who sit there will be able by faith to hear the voice of Christ himself saying to you, I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is what the Lord's table is there for. It's for Christ to speak to us. It's for him to confirm his word and his promise to us in a way that is so special, in a way that he draws nearer to us than at other times. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Your duty before now and then is to seek to make your calling and your election sure, to be sure that these words do indeed apply to you. where God says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. And friends, I've sought to show you that today, and my prayer is that you will hear the voice of Christ and hear of his great love towards you, and that you'll be led in humility and gratitude to praise him. And on Sabbath also, as we'll reflect more upon the greatest display of God's love in Christ reconciling us to himself.