Latest / Providence Baptist Church - Sermons / Our Love: The Love of God for the Lowly

Transcript

Our Love: The Love of God for the Lowly · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

0:00
Hey, my name is Daniel, and I am one of the community group leaders here at Christ Family,
0:05
! And I'm honored to be given the pleasure to preach to you this morning on the subject of Advent love.
0:13
Our goal in celebrating Advent is to adore Jesus and to think on the themes of Advent together.
0:21
And those themes are hope, joy, and peace. And today we're going over love.
0:26
This morning we are looking at the theme of love and how it is expressed in Advent.
0:32
And particularly what I mean by that is that we are going to examine the love of God for the lowly.
0:39
Because the truth is that we're all lowly, whether or not we're willing to admit to that or we've come to grips with that,
0:47
whether we believe that to be true of ourselves.
0:50
Yet we all have nothing to offer God for Him to find lovely or acceptable in us.
0:59
Yet God has said, as He says to us this morning, as He once said to Mary,
1:03
greetings, O favored ones.
1:06
So, I'm excited to preach on this subject this morning.
1:10
My hope is that we would ask the question together,
1:12
why does God find favor in me, a sinner?
1:17
And then my hope is that we would marvel together at God
1:20
and His great love for us.
1:24
But first, I need to pray for our morning.
1:26
I need to ask you to pray for me.
1:28
And as we're going through this, I pray that you pray for your hearts.
1:32
I pray that the words that would come out of my mouth
1:34
would be edifying and they would be clear.
1:37
So, just join me in a moment of prayer for this morning.
1:39
God, I am a sinner and in need of your grace
1:48
and to be reminded of your love for us.
1:53
God, thank you that you give us the privilege of knowing you.
1:58
God, thank you that you invite us into your love.
2:02
And God, it's my prayer that our hearts would be more captivated by your love
2:06
after this morning, that you would use me, such a great sinner,
2:09
to deliver such a great message.
2:12
God, I pray that you would pierce our hearts,
2:15
that you would maybe shake off some of the staleness and the coldness
2:20
that we have acquired through the years.
2:22
And God, I pray that this message would pierce the hearts of some here.
2:29
God, we love you.
2:30
And I just pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart
2:35
would be acceptable and pleasing in your sight.
2:39
We love you and we ask this in Christ's name.
2:41
Amen.
2:42
Okay.
2:43
So, many of you are aware that we're in this series of Advent.
2:46
It's a topical series and not a text.
2:48
I mean that we don't just go through one book of the Bible
2:51
or one chapter of the Bible.
2:52
And so, for some of you, that can be a little anxious
2:55
because you're wondering, where do I turn my Bible?
2:58
You're talking.
2:58
Just tell me where to go.
2:59
Give me a home.
3:00
And so, our main text that we're going to be going through
3:03
is Luke 1 through 2.
3:05
And the main part that I'm going to concentrate on
3:08
is the prayer of Mary.
3:09
So, if you want to turn your Bibles,
3:11
that's where you can turn this morning.
3:13
It is in the prayer of Mary that we will get a closer glimpse of God
3:20
who is the lover of the lowly.
3:25
But I think that it would be helpful to define the word love
3:28
when we say it in the context of God.
3:30
How is love any different than all these other emotions
3:35
that we've, or these themes that we've talked about so far?
3:37
How is it different than hope or peace or joy?
3:41
Aren't they all emotions?
3:41
Don't they evoke, or don't they all evoke similar emotions?
3:46
Don't they seem to be all connected?
3:48
And if you had to, my question is,
3:49
if you had to define love to someone,
3:52
someone asked you, okay, you say that word love, God loves you,
3:54
how would you define it?
3:57
You had to describe it to someone.
3:59
How would you say, this is what love is?
4:03
Okay, then how would you define divine love?
4:06
Or as the Greeks called that, agape love.
4:08
They had a separate word for the divine love.
4:12
They had love for so many different categories,
4:14
but then they had a separate category for divine love.
4:17
And there are so many Christians out there who have differing opinions of what love is.
4:21
If you asked probably ten different Christians how to define love,
4:25
they would probably give you ten different definitions, right?
4:28
So, we say those words, God loves you, to all sorts of people.
4:33
And we know the verse in John 3.16, that for God so loved the world.
4:37
So we're very familiar with these verses,
4:39
but isn't it important to have a very similar definition of love?
4:43
And the answer is yes.
4:44
Because having a proper and right understanding of the love of God
4:50
affects so much of our lives.
4:54
It affects the way that we view ourselves.
4:56
It affects the way that we view others.
4:57
It affects the way that we go throughout our daily lives.
5:00
J.I. Packer, the author of the book Knowing God,
5:03
said this about trying, about this understanding the love of God.
5:07
And it's, I'm going to read you a quote, and it's kind of lengthy and wordy,
5:10
and I'm just asking you to just concentrate and hear what he's trying to say.
5:14
And then I'll paraphrase it in a second.
5:19
Okay, so he says,
5:21
Revival means the work of God restoring to a more abundant church
5:26
in a manner out of the ordinary,
5:28
those standards of Christian life and experience
5:30
which the New Testament sets forth as being entirely ordinary.
5:35
And a right-minded concern for revival will express itself
5:38
not in hankering after tongues.
5:40
Ultimately, it is of no importance whether we speak in tongues or not,
5:43
but rather in a longing the Spirit may shed God's love abroad in our hearts
5:48
with greater power.
5:50
For it is with this to which the deep exercise of soul about sin
5:54
is often preliminary,
5:57
that personal revival begins.
5:59
And by this, that revival in the church, once begun, is sustained.
6:03
So let me just paraphrase that if you missed some of those words
6:06
that he was saying there.
6:07
So what J.I. Packer is saying is he's saying
6:09
extraordinary revival that God brings to a dead or dying church
6:14
in a similar fashion to what he did in the early church in Acts
6:17
will not look like an obsession with metaphysical workings,
6:22
tongues, healings, raising the dead, etc.
6:25
No, that will not be our aim and goal.
6:28
But instead, it will be a longing for the Spirit
6:31
to make our hearts obsessed with the love of God with greater power.
6:37
Now, of course, this comes with a greater understanding of our sin
6:40
and our need for God.
6:41
Yes, but Packer is saying that this is where personal,
6:44
you, us, or church-wide revival, it begins.
6:49
He's saying that we need to have our hearts obsessed with the love of God.
6:54
That's where personal and church-wide revival begins.
6:57
So for the sake of our time together this morning,
7:02
I want us to come together on one definition of what love is.
7:06
And where I'm getting that is from 1 John 4.10,
7:11
which Wes kind of quoted this morning a little bit.
7:15
1 John 4.10, it reads,
7:16
So, from that verse, here's how I'm defining love for our time together.
7:31
Don't write this down, because it's wordy,
7:33
but just listen, just concentrate on what I'm saying
7:36
for how we're going to define love,
7:37
because I want you to hear it.
7:40
Okay, so what we're saying for the definition for love is
7:44
God's love is an exercise of His goodness
7:47
towards individual sinners,
7:49
whom He has given His Son to be their Savior,
7:52
and now brings them to know and enjoy Him in covenant relation.
7:56
Did you catch that?
7:57
I'll say it one more time.
8:01
God's love is an exercise of His goodness
8:03
towards individual sinners,
8:06
whom He has given His Son to be their Savior,
8:09
and now brings them to know and enjoy Him in covenant relation.
8:14
That's a lot to work with,
8:15
and we could spend so much time unpacking that truth this morning,
8:18
but for the sake of brevity,
8:20
let's move on towards our text,
8:22
and let's talk about how God loves the lowly
8:24
and how that's manifested in the text.
8:28
And we're super close at the text that we're going to be going through.
8:31
So, we're really close to Mary's prayer,
8:33
but first I want to move on to the main characters
8:37
of our setup this morning, of our text.
8:39
So, turn, if you're already there, Luke 1.
8:44
I believe that God wants us to look at His Word
8:47
and see how in the birth story of Jesus,
8:50
God loves the lowly.
8:52
Namely, the main characters,
8:54
Zechariah and Mary,
8:55
and later on,
8:56
the shepherds, the magi,
8:57
Simeon and Anna.
8:58
And as much as I'd like to read through all of Luke 1 and 2,
9:09
we won't have time to read all of it,
9:11
but we will read some of it.
9:12
We'll read a couple of verses from it.
9:14
So, I'm going to assume that you know the story.
9:16
If you don't, go back and look at it later on,
9:19
but that's kind of where I'm going to be working from.
9:22
So, looking at Luke chapter 1 with the story of Zechariah,
9:26
and we're going to be kind of starting in verse 13.
9:30
Background, the angel,
9:31
he comes to visit Zechariah
9:35
when Zechariah is offering sacrifices in the temple.
9:40
And picking up in verse 13,
9:42
But the angel said to him,
9:44
Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
9:46
for your prayer has been heard,
9:49
and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son.
9:51
And you shall call his name John,
9:53
and you will have joy and gladness,
9:55
and many will rejoice at his birth.
9:58
For he will be great before the Lord,
10:00
and he must not drink wine or strong drink,
10:03
and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,
10:05
even from his mother's womb.
10:07
And he will turn many of the children of Israel
10:10
to the Lord their God.
10:12
And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
10:15
to turn the hearts of their fathers
10:17
to the children and the disobedient,
10:20
to the wisdom of the just,
10:23
to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
10:26
And Zechariah said to the angel,
10:27
How shall I know this?
10:28
For I am an old man,
10:30
and my wife is advanced in years.
10:32
And the angel answered him,
10:35
I am Gabriel.
10:36
I stand in the presence of God.
10:37
I was sent to speak to you
10:39
and to bring you this good news.
10:40
For behold, you will be silent and unable to speak
10:43
until the day that these things take place,
10:45
because you did not believe my words,
10:47
which were fulfilled in their time,
10:49
which will be fulfilled in their time.
10:51
And so, okay, so what happens there is,
10:55
you know, he gets this vision.
10:57
Zechariah tells him this news.
10:59
It's this really big news.
11:00
I mean, think about the context of this.
11:02
They have not heard a word from God,
11:04
from a prophet or an angel in over 400 years.
11:06
So there's been this silence in Israel,
11:09
and they're kind of wondering what is going on.
11:12
And so the angel appears to him.
11:14
And Gabriel says, he basically says,
11:16
hey, you're going to have a son.
11:17
He will go before the long-awaited Messiah,
11:20
and he will prepare the way for him.
11:22
He will turn the hearts of Israel back to God.
11:25
Now, if you're a parent in this room,
11:28
you know probably what it's like
11:30
to pray for the salvation of your children daily,
11:33
because you know that really you don't have any control
11:36
of whether or not their hearts turn to God.
11:38
So can you imagine being told this news
11:40
before you even have a child
11:42
that your son is going,
11:44
not only are you going to have a son,
11:45
but he's going to be righteous.
11:48
This is huge news.
11:50
This is like, this is Gabriel saying,
11:52
hey, you're going to have a son.
11:53
He's going to go before the Messiah.
11:56
And I can just imagine the elation on Gabriel's face,
12:00
like him appearing before Zechariah
12:01
and him telling this news,
12:02
hey, not only are your prayers answered
12:05
and you're going to have a son,
12:06
but he's going to be significant.
12:07
He's going to be important.
12:08
He's going to prepare the way for the Messiah
12:10
who you've all been fasting and praying for.
12:13
And it's like, I imagine just him being so excited
12:16
and delivering this message
12:17
and just being like, this is what's going on.
12:19
And then like Zechariah's response is like,
12:21
hmm, prove it.
12:24
And like, I can just imagine like at that point,
12:26
like the cosmic universe joins as one
12:28
as like face slap.
12:30
Like, no, you missed it.
12:32
Like you're so close, but you missed it.
12:34
Um, how could that be?
12:38
And so he, he misses it.
12:42
He asked for a sign and Gabriel responds.
12:44
I mean, look at his response.
12:45
What he says is, how will I know this?
12:47
And it seems, if you know the story,
12:49
it seems very similar to Mary's response,
12:50
which is how is this going to be?
12:52
But what Zechariah is doing is he's asking
12:54
for a sign in this moment.
12:57
Um, and is that, is he, is he punished?
13:00
Is he silenced for asking a question?
13:02
He's not.
13:04
Gabriel reveals to him why he's silenced.
13:07
Look at verse 20.
13:10
For behold, you will be silent and unable to speak
13:12
until the day that these things take place.
13:15
Because you did not believe my words,
13:17
which will be fulfilled in their time.
13:20
So what Gabriel is saying to Zechariah
13:22
is that his issue is not questioning,
13:25
but his issue is a heart issue,
13:26
that he does not believe.
13:30
God loves Zechariah.
13:31
And so he gives him this great news,
13:33
but Zechariah does not believe in his heart.
13:38
And God disciplines in that way by silencing him.
13:42
So, but we see a very similar story happen with Mary, right?
13:47
Um, in a similar way, Gabriel visits Mary
13:50
and announces this great news to her.
13:53
Just pick it up in verse 28.
13:55
And he came to her and said,
13:59
Greetings, O favored one.
14:02
The Lord is with you.
14:03
But she was greatly troubled at the saying
14:05
and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
14:08
And the angel said to her,
14:09
Do not be afraid, Mary,
14:11
for you have found favor with God.
14:12
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
14:17
and you shall call his name Jesus.
14:19
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
14:23
The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David.
14:27
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
14:30
and his kingdom there will be no end.
14:32
And Mary said to the angel,
14:35
How will this be since I am a virgin?
14:37
And the angel answered her,
14:39
The Lord, the Holy Spirit will come upon you,
14:41
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
14:45
Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy,
14:47
the Son of God.
14:49
And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age
14:52
has also conceived a son,
14:54
and in this the sixth month with her who is called barren.
14:59
For nothing will be impossible with God.
15:01
And Mary said,
15:02
Behold, I am the servant of the Lord.
15:04
Let it be according to your word.
15:06
And the angel departed from her.
15:09
So Gabriel comes to her and he says,
15:10
Hey, you found favor with God.
15:12
You will give birth to a son,
15:13
and he will be great,
15:14
and he will be called the Son of God.
15:17
And he will inherit the throne of David
15:19
and will reign forever.
15:20
And Mary gives a very similar response to Zechariah
15:23
and says,
15:23
How will this be?
15:25
But Gabriel's response is much, much different.
15:28
Instead of judgment,
15:29
Gabriel answers graciously.
15:32
What is the difference between Mary's response
15:34
and Zechariah's response?
15:36
There's a couple things that you could hone in on
15:38
and say,
15:38
Okay, well, maybe this is what's different in that.
15:40
And those things are true.
15:42
But the main things that I want you to see
15:44
is that Mary's response
15:46
is one of lowliness and belief,
15:48
where Zechariah's response
15:50
is one of pride and unbelief.
15:52
We know that Mary believes
15:55
from the exchange that we read
15:57
from Mary and Elizabeth
15:58
in verses 42 through 45.
16:04
I'm going to pick it up in verse 39.
16:05
In those days,
16:06
Mary arose and went with haste
16:08
into the hill country
16:09
to a town in Judah,
16:10
and she entered the house of Zechariah
16:13
and greeted Elizabeth.
16:14
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary,
16:17
the baby leapt in her womb.
16:20
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
16:22
and she exclaimed with a loud cry,
16:25
Blessed are you among women,
16:27
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
16:30
And why is this granted to me,
16:31
that the mother of my Lord
16:33
should come to me?
16:34
For behold,
16:35
when the sound of your greeting
16:37
came into my ears,
16:38
the baby in my womb leapt for joy.
16:40
And the baby in the womb,
16:42
and blessed is she who believed
16:45
that there would be a fulfillment
16:46
of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
16:48
So Elizabeth points out,
16:49
hey, Mary believes.
16:51
We kind of get that insight from that part,
16:54
but isn't it funny to think
16:57
that as Mary entered the home of Elizabeth,
17:00
it's likely that Zechariah is also there.
17:02
And after Elizabeth calls Mary blessed,
17:05
she points out that
17:05
when the angel of the Lord visited Mary,
17:08
she believed his message.
17:10
Unlike her husband,
17:11
who is likely in the same room,
17:12
but is mute,
17:13
so he can't say anything to defend himself.
17:18
But then we get this clear picture
17:20
of how Mary expresses her humility.
17:24
Let's look at verse 46.
17:25
This is our main text
17:26
that we're going from.
17:29
And Mary said,
17:30
My soul magnifies the Lord,
17:32
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
17:36
For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
17:39
For behold,
17:40
from now on,
17:41
all generations will call me blessed.
17:44
For he who is mighty
17:46
has done great things for me,
17:48
and holy is his name,
17:50
and his mercy is for those who fear him
17:52
from generation to generation.
17:54
He has shown strength with his arm.
17:56
He has scattered the proud
17:57
in the thoughts of their hearts.
17:59
He has brought down the mighty
18:01
from their thrones
18:02
and exalted those of humble estate.
18:04
He has filled the hungry with good things,
18:07
and the rich he has sent away empty.
18:13
He has filled his servant Israel
18:15
in remembrance of his mercy,
18:17
as he spoke to our fathers,
18:19
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
18:21
What is the content of Mary's prayer?
18:24
She says that she magnifies the Lord,
18:27
and what she means by that is,
18:28
Lord, I see you for who you really are.
18:30
I see you for how powerful you are.
18:33
She says that God has looked upon her.
18:35
She calls herself a servant.
18:37
She says that God shows mercy
18:38
to those who are in awe of him,
18:40
to those who fear him.
18:43
She says that God rejects the proud
18:45
and the mighty
18:45
and those who trust in their own strength
18:47
and their power
18:49
and their ability to get things done.
18:51
She says that God sends away those empty,
18:54
those who think they can sustain themselves.
18:56
And she declares how God has remembered
19:01
his covenant to his people.
19:04
Wow.
19:04
What an incredible prayer for Mary.
19:07
I just really want to marvel at the faith
19:09
and the response of Mary's prayer.
19:11
Just for a minute.
19:12
We can often see the problem
19:13
in other people's theology
19:15
that is so far to the left or to the right
19:17
that makes an idol out of Mary.
19:20
And in response,
19:21
we can kind of swing too far to the left
19:23
or to the right on the other side.
19:24
And we miss this great truth
19:26
that God is saying
19:27
and trying to teach us.
19:29
God uses Mary,
19:30
who's this seemingly insignificant woman,
19:32
but she believes and trusts God,
19:36
even though she doesn't understand
19:37
and probably was misunderstood
19:39
by other people
19:39
and was even slandered
19:41
for being pregnant
19:42
before she was married to Joseph.
19:46
But wow,
19:47
like her response
19:48
is really, really incredible.
19:50
Now, I do want to say
19:51
that Zechariah,
19:52
he later on does repent.
19:53
And you can see that
19:54
as evidence by his response
19:56
to when John is actually born.
19:59
And he names him John.
20:01
And then after that,
20:02
he declares the Lord's glory.
20:04
So we see Zechariah repent later on
20:07
and believe,
20:07
and he does show humility.
20:10
And God shows love to Mary and Zechariah,
20:13
but then he goes to show his love
20:14
to these minor characters,
20:16
the shepherds,
20:17
the magi,
20:17
Simeon,
20:18
and Anna.
20:18
And they're seemingly, again,
20:21
insignificant characters,
20:22
but God loves them
20:24
by revealing to them his son.
20:27
He knows that when Jesus grows up,
20:28
or we know that when Jesus grows up
20:30
to be a man
20:30
and he begins his ministry,
20:32
who are the people
20:32
that Jesus associates with?
20:34
He associates with the lowly,
20:35
the lowly in heart.
20:37
We see that Jesus' disciples
20:39
are composed of mostly humble fishermen.
20:41
And those who are drawn to him
20:44
are sinners who are aware
20:46
of their lowly state
20:47
and are aware that they have nothing
20:48
to bring to the table of Jesus,
20:50
but their need for his healing,
20:53
for his touch.
20:56
You see,
20:56
God shows his love
20:57
to all types of people
20:59
in the story,
21:00
regardless of what they bring to the table.
21:02
Their age doesn't matter.
21:04
Their sex doesn't matter.
21:05
What stage of life they're in.
21:07
It doesn't seem to matter.
21:09
Their financial status,
21:10
whether it's rich or poor,
21:11
it doesn't matter.
21:12
The shepherds are poor,
21:13
the magi are rich,
21:14
but they're both lowly
21:16
and humble in heart,
21:17
and they believe in God.
21:21
You see,
21:22
God shows his love
21:23
to all those types of people,
21:25
and God loves them
21:26
and shows their grace to them,
21:27
regardless of what their response
21:29
is going to be.
21:30
And case in point,
21:30
it's Zechariah, right?
21:32
He doesn't have the right response,
21:34
but God still shows love to him.
21:36
He still showers them with grace.
21:38
He still blesses them with a son
21:40
who is going to be great and righteous.
21:46
And I want to hone in on this,
21:48
that it's not that these characters
21:49
were lowly
21:50
and they had great faith,
21:51
and that's why God chooses to love them.
21:54
This is a huge thing to get.
21:55
It has nothing to do with,
21:57
that's the response
21:58
to when God does show his love
22:01
and his grace to them.
22:02
They respond out of humility
22:03
and lowliness and belief,
22:05
but that's not why God chooses
22:07
to love them.
22:10
It's not that they
22:11
had something to offer God.
22:14
God loves them first,
22:15
and then they rightly respond
22:16
with lowliness and belief.
22:18
God loves them
22:20
regardless of their actions,
22:22
whether it's good or bad.
22:25
And so it is with you and me
22:26
according to God's word.
22:28
Lord,
22:29
you and I are loved right now
22:31
and right here in this moment
22:33
with no conditions.
22:35
I've struggled with the ability
22:37
to kick habitual sins,
22:39
and I've had days
22:39
where I know the truth,
22:40
but I still decide
22:41
to rebel against my Savior
22:43
and my friend.
22:45
And I know that he has
22:45
given himself for me,
22:47
but time and time again,
22:49
I turn my back on him.
22:51
I know that I'm no longer
22:52
a slave to sin,
22:54
but I still rebel
22:55
against my Savior.
22:56
And I look at myself
22:58
in the mirror sometimes,
22:59
disgusted,
22:59
and I wonder
23:00
how anyone could love me
23:01
or call me a friend.
23:05
And especially after I have
23:08
chosen to slap Christ
23:10
in his face with my sin
23:12
time and time again,
23:13
and while my sin
23:14
is still a very serious thing
23:15
and it's not to be downplayed
23:17
or ignored,
23:19
I am loved by God.
23:23
You are loved by God.
23:26
We can see from this text
23:28
that God loves these people
23:31
regardless of what they have
23:32
to offer or bring to the table.
23:35
He has sent his Son for us
23:37
in full knowledge
23:38
of who we are
23:39
and what we did yesterday
23:40
and what we will do tomorrow
23:41
and how we will turn our back on him.
23:44
He's fully aware of that.
23:46
So if you are in Christ,
23:47
if you believe in Christ,
23:49
if you are accepted in Christ,
23:51
it has nothing to do
23:53
with our actions.
23:54
It has nothing to do
23:55
with what we bring to the table.
23:59
You see, our joy,
24:01
our peace,
24:01
our hope,
24:02
our righteousness
24:02
does not come from our performance
24:04
or what we can do for God today,
24:07
but instead it comes
24:08
from the finished work of Christ.
24:12
If you are accepted in Christ,
24:13
you are dearly loved.
24:16
Yes, regardless of your performance
24:17
of your sin yesterday
24:18
or this morning
24:20
or later on today,
24:20
you are loved by God,
24:21
and this is not a cheap emotional love.
24:25
No, this is a deep love
24:26
from God
24:27
who remembers his covenant.
24:30
Look at the prayer of Mary.
24:37
He says,
24:38
or Mary says that
24:40
after all these things
24:42
that she praises God for,
24:43
what is the one thing
24:44
that she says
24:44
at the very, very end there?
24:46
Or at the very beginning,
24:50
I'm sorry.
24:53
That God
24:54
has helped Israel
24:56
in remembrance
24:57
of his mercy
24:57
as he spoke
24:58
to our fathers,
24:59
to Abraham
25:00
and to his offspring
25:01
forever.
25:03
So God has remembered
25:04
his covenant,
25:06
and that is the thing
25:07
that Mary is
25:08
praising God for.
25:10
Again,
25:13
this is not
25:14
a cheap emotional love
25:15
that God
25:16
is loving Mary with
25:17
that instead
25:19
is a deep love
25:20
that flows
25:21
from his covenant
25:22
to us.
25:24
So,
25:25
and I'm thinking
25:26
more about
25:27
the idea
25:27
of covenants lately,
25:29
especially as
25:30
I'm engaged
25:31
to be married soon.
25:33
And I'm learning
25:35
about how marriage
25:35
is a covenant,
25:36
or at least
25:36
it's supposed to be.
25:37
But we live
25:39
in a society
25:40
that can
25:42
kind of take marriage
25:43
to be a consumer
25:45
contract
25:46
instead of a covenant.
25:48
And so what I mean
25:49
by that is that
25:50
each member,
25:53
that the contract
25:55
is based off
25:55
of each member
25:56
upholding their end
25:57
of the contract.
25:59
And
26:00
knowing what
26:02
they get out of it.
26:03
So,
26:03
you know what I mean by,
26:04
okay,
26:05
so this is my end
26:06
of the contract.
26:06
I will love you.
26:07
I will listen to you.
26:08
I will fulfill
26:09
your needs
26:10
as best as I can.
26:11
But
26:11
if you don't
26:13
uphold your end
26:14
of the contract,
26:14
if you don't
26:16
love me,
26:16
if you don't
26:17
accept me,
26:17
if you don't
26:18
listen to me,
26:18
if you don't
26:18
fulfill my needs
26:20
for friendship,
26:21
if you don't
26:21
fulfill my need
26:23
for financial
26:23
stability,
26:24
my sexual needs,
26:26
then
26:26
I'm done
26:27
with this.
26:28
And I don't mean
26:29
to say that lightly
26:30
because
26:31
I know that
26:32
divorce is not
26:33
an easy thing
26:34
for anyone
26:34
to walk through.
26:35
I don't mean
26:36
to downplay that.
26:37
By no means
26:38
am I saying
26:38
this is an easy
26:39
thing or that
26:40
it's to be taken
26:40
lightly.
26:40
I know that
26:41
there's heartbreak
26:42
there.
26:42
I know
26:43
I can only
26:45
imagine how
26:45
difficult that
26:47
is.
26:47
And it's very
26:48
understandable,
26:49
especially as I
26:49
go into marriage.
26:50
I can see that.
26:51
I can see,
26:52
oh my gosh,
26:52
this is a
26:53
difficult thing
26:54
to self-sacrificially
26:57
love someone
26:58
and to put
27:00
my needs aside
27:01
for the needs
27:01
of someone
27:02
else.
27:03
But that's
27:04
exactly what
27:05
a covenant
27:06
is.
27:07
And that's
27:07
what I'm
27:07
learning
27:07
that a
27:09
covenant
27:09
is.
27:09
And God's
27:10
idea of a
27:11
covenant
27:11
is based off
27:12
of the covenant
27:12
that he's made
27:13
with us,
27:14
his people.
27:16
And so we find
27:17
this covenant
27:17
that God has
27:18
made with us
27:19
in Jeremiah 31.
27:20
So turn there
27:21
real quickly.
27:43
Okay.
27:44
So looking at
27:45
verse 31,
27:46
this is the new
27:46
covenant that God
27:47
has made with his
27:48
people,
27:49
that he has made
27:49
with us.
27:56
Jeremiah 31,
27:57
starting in verse 31.
27:58
Behold,
27:59
the days are coming,
28:00
declares the Lord,
28:02
when I will make
28:02
a new covenant
28:03
with the house
28:04
of Israel,
28:05
the house of Judah,
28:06
not like the covenant
28:07
that I made
28:07
with their fathers
28:08
on the day
28:09
when I took them
28:09
by the hand
28:10
to bring them
28:11
out of the land
28:12
of Egypt.
28:13
My covenant
28:13
that they broke,
28:14
though I was
28:15
their husband,
28:16
declares the Lord.
28:17
For this is the covenant
28:19
that will make
28:19
with the house
28:20
of Israel
28:20
after those days,
28:21
declares the Lord.
28:22
I will put my law
28:23
within them
28:24
and I will write
28:25
it on their hearts
28:26
and I will be
28:27
their God
28:28
and they shall
28:28
be my people.
28:30
And no longer
28:30
shall each one
28:31
teach his neighbor
28:32
and each his brother
28:33
saying,
28:34
know the Lord.
28:35
For they shall
28:36
all know me
28:36
from the least
28:37
of them
28:38
to the greatest,
28:39
declares the Lord.
28:39
for I will forgive
28:43
their iniquity
28:44
and I will remember
28:45
their sin
28:45
no more.
28:48
So,
28:48
this is the
28:49
sacrificial commitment
28:50
that he has made
28:51
to us
28:51
regardless
28:52
of our fluctuating
28:53
feelings,
28:54
regardless of
28:54
our circumstances,
28:55
regardless of
28:56
how we're feeling
28:56
in the moment.
28:58
And whether we're
28:58
feeling like loving
28:59
God this morning
29:00
or this week
29:01
or whether we are
29:03
beaten down by sin,
29:04
this is his
29:05
sacrificial commitment
29:06
to us.
29:08
This is God
29:08
saying to us,
29:09
regardless of
29:10
how you uphold
29:11
your side of this,
29:13
I'm still committed
29:15
to you.
29:16
I am still
29:18
going to be
29:18
sacrificial towards
29:19
you.
29:20
Regardless of
29:21
your apathy
29:22
to read my word
29:22
or to bend
29:24
your knee to pray,
29:25
I love you.
29:29
And you and I
29:30
are loved
29:31
because he
29:33
loved us first.
29:34
That's what
29:36
1 John 4 says.
29:37
I'm turning there
29:37
real quickly.
29:38
Okay.
30:04
Okay.
30:15
Okay.
30:15
Starting in verse 10.
30:17
In this is love,
30:19
not that we have
30:19
loved God,
30:20
but that he
30:21
has loved us
30:22
and has sent
30:23
his son to be
30:23
the propitiation
30:24
for our sins.
30:26
Beloved,
30:26
if God so loved us,
30:27
we also ought
30:28
to love one another.
30:30
No one has ever
30:30
seen God.
30:31
If we love one another,
30:32
God abides in us
30:33
and his love
30:34
is perfected in us.
30:36
By this,
30:37
we know that we
30:38
abide in him
30:39
and he in us
30:40
because he has
30:41
given us
30:41
of his spirit.
30:43
We have seen
30:43
and testified
30:44
that the father
30:45
has sent his son
30:46
to be the savior
30:47
of the world.
30:48
Whoever confesses
30:49
that Jesus
30:50
is the son of God,
30:51
God abides in him
30:52
and he in God.
30:54
So we have come
30:55
to know
30:55
and to believe
30:56
the love
30:57
that God has
30:57
for us.
30:59
God is love
30:59
and whoever
31:00
abides in love
31:01
abides in God
31:02
and God abides
31:03
in him.
31:04
By this,
31:05
love perfected
31:06
with us
31:06
so that we
31:07
may have confidence
31:08
for the day
31:09
of judgment
31:09
because as he is,
31:11
so also are we
31:12
in this world.
31:14
There is no fear
31:15
in love,
31:16
but perfect love
31:16
casts out fear.
31:19
For fear
31:19
has to do
31:20
with punishment
31:21
and whoever fears
31:22
has not been
31:22
perfected in love.
31:25
So,
31:26
this has nothing
31:27
to do with the ability
31:28
that we love
31:29
God first.
31:30
He loved us
31:31
first before we
31:32
could do anything
31:33
to prove our love
31:34
even back to him.
31:39
He loved us
31:39
before we had
31:40
the chance
31:40
to tell him
31:41
how hard we were
31:42
going to work
31:42
and how much
31:43
we were going
31:44
to get done
31:44
for the kingdom.
31:47
And so,
31:49
I want our response
31:51
to this message.
31:51
I want our response
31:52
to seeing
31:53
and beholding
31:54
the love of God
31:55
for us
31:56
regardless of what
31:57
our response
31:58
is to him
31:58
to be one
31:59
of awe.
32:01
I want your response,
32:02
I want my response
32:02
to be one
32:03
of lowliness
32:04
and belief
32:04
much like Mary's
32:05
prayer.
32:09
I want to have
32:10
a response
32:11
that's like
32:11
the prayer of Mary.
32:13
I pray that you
32:13
would marvel
32:14
at the love
32:15
that God
32:16
has for you
32:16
this morning.
32:18
Not as an individual,
32:19
not as a concept,
32:20
not just as a verse
32:20
in the Bible,
32:21
but know that
32:22
where you are
32:23
this morning,
32:23
where you are
32:24
seeding.
32:26
God loves you.
32:28
That you are
32:29
dearly loved
32:29
by God.
32:31
He has sent
32:31
his son
32:32
to be our savior
32:33
and he invites
32:33
us to know him
32:34
and enjoy him.
32:37
Remind yourself
32:37
of that truth.
32:39
Meditate on that truth.
32:41
Store it up
32:41
in your mind.
32:43
Go forth,
32:44
love,
32:45
and be loved.
32:47
Let's pray.