AT THE TABERNACLE MOORFIELDS
Modernized by Cliff Collins
The
term ‘world’ that is used here does not mean the globe of earth on which we
live, but the human race. This word is often used in this sense. The world; the whole world; are terms often
used to signify all the people who live on this world. The word ‘perish’ in this passage does not
mean annihilation; it is used in contrast to everlasting life. It is the opposite of everlasting life! I don’t think that the word ‘perish’ is ever
used in this sense in any other part of the Bible. Whether everlasting life will be a blessing or not will depend on
the state individuals are in, whether they are in a state of happiness or
misery. Under some circumstances,
everlasting life might be anything but a blessing.
The
everlasting life that is mentioned here certainly implies living with God
forever in heaven; an everlasting existence combined with everlasting
happiness. This is the eternal life so
often spoken about in the Scriptures and, no doubt, this is what is meant in
this passage. Now to perish is the
opposite of this; it is not total annihilation or simply no longer existing,
because annihilation would often not be an evil to the individual that is annihilated. In fact, to a wretched being, it would not
be an evil at all, but a great favor.
In short, it is very clear that ‘to perish’ is the very opposite of
‘everlasting life’, and perhaps the best phrase to describe it would be
‘everlasting death’, which is a state of endless punishment.
In
speaking from this passage I propose to discuss:
I.
THE OBJECT OF THIS LOVE.
II.
ITS NATURE.
III.
THE REASONS WHY THIS LOVE RESORTED TO SUCH A MEASURE AS IT GAVE THE ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD FOR MEN.
IV.
THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE FAITH THAT CAN SECURE THIS GREAT END, THE SALVATION
OF THE SOUL.
I.
The object of this love.
The
object of this love is the world; not a part of it, but the whole world. There is no reason in the nature of things
why one part of mankind should be loved more than another part because this
love is not exercised to saints exclusively, and it has no respect for the
character of the men of this world; but this love is for a world of
sinners. God loves men as a race, as sinners,
as the enemies of God. Now there is no
reason why some sinners should be loved and not all of them; and the same kind
of love that can love some of them must, from its very nature, love all of
them. This is the only kind of love, a
universal love, which could have been exercised towards man by a good
being. But this leads me to inquire
into:
II.
The nature of this love.
And
the first thing I notice is that this love could not have sympathized with or
delighted in the character of men, for there is nothing in the character of the
human race that allows God to love them, or take any delight in their
character. That is most certain. It is impossible that God could have loved
mankind with a sympathetic love; for that would have made Him infinitely more
wicked than mankind. Why? Well, what is
implied in loving a wicked being? The
reason why sympathy with man’s character is not implied is that God could not
have loved them with a sympathetic love without being infinitely more wicked
than they, because, for an infinite being to sympathize with wicked human
natures, He must sympathize with sin.
And in order to sympathize with sin, He would have to be infinitely
wicked. It is certain that this love
could not have had any respect for the character of men. We were not loved because of our
character. It is impossible that it
could have been true.
This
love can’t be an emotional love, for emotions do not influence behavior without
the involvement of the will. An emotion
is not a cause; it will not produce action, even intense emotion won’t. Emotion is merely an involuntary state of
mind. It is something that belongs to
the soul. Emotion will often be a
reason to act, and may stimulate our will, but emotion alone never causes
anything. A causing agent resides in
the will of every moral agent, and this is a very different thing than emotion.
This
love was not a fondness for certain people.
There was no reason in God’s nature, and there was no reason in man why
God should be fond of certain people.
The love that was manifested in what He did was a voluntary love. This love must have been a voluntary love;
because we have here before us the evidence of its efficiency; and it was an
efficient love because it was a voluntary love.
This
love was a reasonable state of mind. Nothing in man’s character deserved a reasonable love. Yet, this love was reasonable. We sometimes see affections from
unreasonable people. We sometimes see
deep affection in the form of what we call love coming from men in a way that
is completely opposite to reason. But
this love of God was very reasonable, something which His own understanding and
conscience approved of. Something about men made it reasonable for God to love
them with a certain kind of love.
The
love that God actually did manifest to men was the only kind of love that could
have been important to man. If the love
of God were only an emotional love or simply pity, it wouldn’t have benefited
man. This love then must have been a
reasonable love. When we look at the nature
of this love, if we look at it simply and reasonably, we can see what the real
nature of this love is: it was good will or benevolence. This is clear from the fact that this love
exerted itself for the good of men in the most striking and wonderful manner. It is clear that it was good will because it
produced good action.
This
was an unselfish kind of love. The
reason why God loved men was not because men deserved God’s goodness, for they
really deserved judgment from Him. Yes,
there was a good reason why He should love them, but they had no right to
demand His love as a matter of justice, for they had forfeited all claims to
His affection or protection by rebelling against Him; and therefore, of course,
justice can’t demand that God must bless them rather than punish them.
Our
souls are so valuable, our happiness is so infinitely important, and our misery
so great an evil, that God, looking at the infinite value of our souls, saw
good reason for loving us and doing good for us. That is, God did us good for the sake of the good itself. He willed good to us for the sake of the
infinite value of this good to us, and not because we deserved it. We not only had no claim on God for this
love, but God had good reasons for destroying us. Nevertheless, our souls are so valuable, our disobedience and
justifiable damnation so affected Him, and our love and happiness were so desirable;
that, overcoming all obstacles in the way, God rose above any disposition to punish
us for our wickedness, and sought only to do us good. There was good reason for this, as I have said, not because of
what we have done, but because of the value of our souls.
This
love had no selfish interests. I mean
that the reason why God did what He did was unselfish. It was His unselfish love of the world; it
was a disposition to do us good; it was the love of our good that led Him to do
it. He did not plan to help us so He
could secure anything for Himself selfishly.
His love was completely unselfish.
Yes. God did take pleasure in
it, yet it was an unselfish love, and because of this, it will glorify Him even
more. Just in proportion as He aimed to
secure our interest with a single eye, in just that proportion did He secure
His own approval and the admiration and glory of all holy beings. I don’t mean that He had no interest in what
He did, because He had an infinite interest in what He did; but I mean that His
love was totally unselfish; He sought to do good because of the value of the
good itself.
This
must have been a love of amazing strength.
It could not have come from a feeble mind. It must have been infinitely intense! Just think of it! “For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son!” How wonderful! On one hand here is a world of enemies who are at war with God;
and on the other hand stands God’s beloved Son, His only begotten, His well
beloved Son. Now just look at this, and
think about that state of mind that would prefer to give that Son, that only begotten,
that well beloved Son, to die for rebels who stood with the weapons of
rebellion in their hand. Mankind had
revolted against His government and they all deserved His frown and wrath. God’s own conscience testifies that they
deserve to be banished from His presence.
Yet, He values their souls so much and so dreads the suffering that they
would have to endure if the penalty of the law was inflicted on them; that He
would rather give His Son than banish mankind from the glory of His power to
die forever in their guilty state. No
person, unless he seriously meditates on these things, will understand how unbelievably
strong this love must have been to produce that kind of determination.
Take
a parent who has an only child, a child who has never offended him, the very
darling of his soul, one whom he loves as much as he loves himself and has
every reason to love. What if he could
sacrifice that child for the benefit of his enemies? Let people abuse that child, do everything to hurt him that they
could possibly do, thus making themselves as wicked and detestable as possible
so that they deserve his indignation and condemnation, and deserve his utter
rejection and abhorrence of them forever.
Now think about a state of mind that could deliberately make the same
choice that God made. This choice was
not the sacrificing of an innocent person instead of the guilty. This choice was not the punishment of
Christ. This choice was not consenting
that Christ should suffer instead of sinners being punished. No; there was no such idea in God’s
mind. In a little while, I will share
the reasons why God gave his Son to die for the good of the world. Right now, I am talking about the intense nature
of this love.
Now
think, if you can, with your son on one side and your enemies on the other,
what struggles would be produced in your mind by reflecting on the fact that
these enemies must perish forever or you must give up your son! You see that your son has a willing heart;
that he is ready to undertake their deliverance from death; that he is willing
to take all that is implied in being their savior, but it demands that you
consent to it, that you enter into it with all your heart, and that you allow
him to go. Now when we realize what God
must have felt under such circumstances, it is easy enough for us to understand
the intense nature of the love that could have overcome that state of mind that
would naturally cleave to his Son, and give Him up for the good of the
world. Just think about how many
reasons there must have been against this.
God knew what it would cost His Son; that his Son must pass through
trial, through affliction, through persecution, through poverty, and through
agony. His Father saw every trial and
every suffering that Jesus would have to undergo. God saw Him heavy, sorrowing, and despised. He also saw Him in the garden, when He
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood because His agony was so great. God knew all of this when He gave up his Son
to be the Savior of the world. The Father
saw his Son struggling in painful exhaustion as He carried his cross up
Calvary’s hill. As He struggled and
fell repeatedly, His barbarous persecutors were compelled to lay the burden on
another. God saw His Son mocked and
pierced when on the cross, and saw Him in the agony of death, and heard His
lamentable cry: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46) What tremendous scenes must have passed through God’s mind to
allow the gift of his Son for the salvation of a guilty world! Yet so great was His love that He overcame
all these obstacles and freely gave His Son up for us all, so we might not
perish but have everlasting life. Let
this idea, beloved, sink deep into your hearts.
I
must not dwell on this. However, never
forget that it was the love of enemies, not of friends; for, notice, the whole
world was considered, and God gave Christ to die for a race of sinners. Listen!
It was not for one single Christian that God gave His Son, it was for
sinners as sinners, for rebels as rebels.
It was in view of the fact that they were sinners that God gave his Son. Now it is very important that you always
remember this fact that it was not for good people, but for bad people, not for
the righteous but for the wicked, that God gave his Son.
It
was a forbearing love. Some people seem
to think that when we talk about the self-denial of God, we imply that God
sometimes is selfish. Now let me say,
self-denial always implies the very opposite of selfishness in any being; it is
consenting to give up some good or endure some evil for the benefit of
others. No individual can exercise
self-denial who is living in selfishness.
Now it was self-denial in God to consent to deny Himself by giving up
his Son; this must have been greatly trying to His feelings for Him to consent
to give up his Son to die for the world.
It
was a universal love. It was not love
for men alone; it extended to other worlds.
And, no doubt, it was in reference, in a great measure, to other worlds
that led Him to take the course He took in forgiving sin in this world. It was for the good of His universal kingdom
that led Him to give His only begotten Son.
God’s
love was a holy love; it hated sin. It
was very important, since this love was exercised towards sinners, that
something should be done to make the whole universe understand that, although it
was His love of sinners as sinners, He was not winking at their sin. Indeed this was God’s most important point,
as we can see, that since His love was manifested to sinners, He must
sufficiently guard against the impression that He tolerated their sins; for He
was going to express great love for sinners by sacrificing Himself to do them
good. Now, listen! How shall we know that God is just as opposed
to our sin as He says He is, and as everybody’s conscience demands that He
should be? It is often difficult for
human governors to show love and benevolence to those who rebel against the
government. This is a very sensitive
issue. Governments of great and
extended empires must delicately show deep and anxious love for those who are
defiant enemies of the law. There is
also a good chance that the justice of the law will be thrown into the shade,
that respect for the law will be lost sight of, if the sin involved in
rebellion is forgotten. Now there was
an infinite danger of this happening to the government of God. Therefore, it was necessary that while
pardoning the sinner, God must, as much as possible, show His opposition to
sin, and thus clearly show to the world that He never tolerates sin.
God’s
love was as just as it was merciful; that is, it was just to the universe. There are other interests besides the
interests of sinners in His government.
There are reasons why He should not endanger His authority and diminish
respect for His law. Now it is easy to
see that universal justice demands that He should be careful how He expresses
the great and infinite love that He has in his heart toward sinners. This leads me to share with you --
III.
The reasons for this wonderful demonstration of Divine government.
Notice
that His love sought to save the world.
He sought to save those who deserved to die, and we are informed that He
did this by giving His only begotten Son for sinners, a wonderful sacrifice indeed! Now, it is clear that the reason for this
must have been anything but ill will on God’s part.
It
was not anger at sinners that led God to do it. Yes, from one point of view, we can see that God had a holy anger
towards their sins; but it was not this anger that led Him to give His Son. God gave His Son in spite of His just and
holy indignation towards their sins.
And so, it was not God's anger, but a merciful disposition that led God
to require Christ to die for sinners.
God was disposed to be merciful; this was the secret behind this whole
matter, this was the great foundation behind His glorious plan. The very reason that God undertakes our
salvation is because, while we are still sinners, He loves us and desires to
show us favor. And so, it is not the
lack of a merciful disposition, it is not hatred of, but love of sinners, that
was the one great reason that led God to show mercy to men. There was one great reason in God’s mind,
one fundamental reason: His love for sinners.
People
have said that God resorted to giving His Son to secure the good of the world
for several reasons that I will mention.
God did not retaliate on them for all their opposition to Him. There must have been some very weighty
reasons, and some reasons that needed to be overcome, but which could not be
overcome by any other plan than the plan that God actually used. We should understand that God always acts
rationally. God acts for wise and good
reasons. Let no man, therefore, think
that God resorted to any unnecessarily severe measures. No one can rationally believe that God
resorted to any means that could have been avoided under the
circumstances.
Now
God had set His heart on the means, on wise means, and means that were demanded
by the circumstances and the occasion.
Who can believe that any other means could have been used? But let us look at the reasons why God did
what He did. It is very important to
understand them. We have seen that God
had a good reason for the plan that He adopted; a sufficient reason, and a reason
that could not have been set aside or overcome; but let us now determine, if we
can, what these reasons were. Whatever
they were, the law of benevolence must have sanctioned them, or they could not
have been virtue. If God’s plan had not
been one that was sanctioned by the eternal laws of God’s own reason, He would
never have resorted to it. But the fact
is, the plan is simple enough, and it does not require a lot of knowledge to understand:
it only needs to be looked at, and everybody can see at once that such
circumstances called for such a plan.
Look
at the subject. Mankind had resisted
God’s government, had denied the justice of His law that even the angels
conform to, and which is absolutely necessary to secure the well-being and the
salvation of the universe. Now if it
looked like God was ignoring man’s disobedience of His law, which was the law
of the entire universe, all other beings might have denied the justice of the
law, and disobeyed it also. Notice,
therefore, that the whole universe and all the inhabitants of heaven has a
strong interest in maintaining this law.
Now listen! This law has been
disobeyed; a public lie has been told, and persisted in: the justice of the law
has been deliberately denied. Now what
must be done? It is clear that
something must be done which can’t be misunderstood as ignoring this rebellion. Now notice the relationship between man and
God. God’s law has been trampled down,
and the universe has their eye on God to see what He will do. The well-being of the whole universe depends
on it. His relationship to the universe
demands that He either execute the law or demonstrate, on His own part, from
His own heart, His estimate of the law, for it is His estimate of the law that
the universe needs. God must act, and
everything depends on the course that He takes. It is easy to see that the
honor of the law might be fully sustained by God himself, if He could demonstrate
before the whole universe His approval of the law, and the public good. Such a demonstration like this would achieve
the same end as executing the law on the offenders.
If
God would take on Himself human nature, and in both His human and Divine
nature, would stand before the whole universe, and yield obedience to its
precepts, this would be as high an evidence of His regard for the law as He
could possibly give in any way whatever.
By taking on Himself the nature of those who violate the law, and in
that nature obey the law and suffer the penalty, that demonstration would be
sufficient and the law perfectly honored.
Now suppose that Christ, His eternal Son, should, in
this way, stand as the representative of the race of rebels, having no sin in
Himself, and yet standing in such a position as if the sin of the whole race
was summed up in Him, and all of man’s rebellion centered in Him. It is easy to see that God could pardon sinners
and still honor the law. Listen! Christ stands as the representative of this
world, as the representative of sin, and it is easy to see that this
arrangement was a lot more impressive than simply executing the law on the rebels
would have been. The Lawgiver Himself
stands out as an illustration of the beauty of His own law, and in vindication
of His honor. But I must move on. All I can say is that it is very easy to see
the influence that this great act has had on the universe itself and how perfectly
it met God’s governmental crises, and made it quite safe for God to pardon the
guilty.
IV.
The nature of faith.
Let
is look at the reason why God did this thing.
I have sometimes heard people talk about the atonement of Christ, and of
God’s reasons in such a way that it shows that, if they believe God had the
reasons they claim He does, it is quite impossible for them to have any respect
for Him. They don’t say a word about
the atonement springing from a merciful disposition in God, but the atonement
is simply the payment of a debt. They
say that God required a certain amount of payment for every sinner before He
would forgive them; and so the atonement was not the result of a merciful
disposition. Now I say, that if anybody
believes that, he can’t have respect for God’s character. The truth is that God gave His Son to die
for men as sinners because of His love for them, and that sinners receive the
blessing as the result of exercising faith in Christ. It is that message which gives the Gospel all its power. Let a sinner understand that God loves him
as a sinner, and if there is anything that can break his heart, that will. I’m not saying that a knowledge of this fact
will invariably do it; but I am saying, that if this does not, nothing will do
it. In short, the profession of love
towards sinners must be realized and believed by them for their salvation.
A
few remarks must close what I have to say.
First,
many people overlook the nature of this love because they can’t imagine how God
can love sinners. I know that I
stumbled over this point for a long time.
I hadn’t experienced a benevolent love at all. I had exercised love: I knew many of the different meanings of
love. I knew what it meant to have satisfaction
in those whose characters I admired; and I knew what a fond love meant as it
exists among selfish beings. But
notice, this was the only kind of love that I had exercised, and therefore, I
could not understand how God could love a wicked man: it appeared to me that it
was impossible for God to love a sinner.
I said to myself, if God can love a sinner, He must be a sinner Himself;
and do you think that God can be a sinner?
Now, you see, I judged God by my selfish love. The love that I exercised had to include some fellowship and sympathy
with the one who was loved. Finally, I
was able to understand that God could love men without exercising a selfish
love.
So
many people speak very loosely when they speak on this subject; they do not
understand the nature of God’s love towards sinners. The selfish mind cannot understand this kind of love. When a sinner first becomes convicted of
sin, he thinks that it is impossible for God to love him; and he is ready to
cry out, “God can’t love me any more than He can love the devil”. And, to some degree, that is true. He can’t love the sinner with a satisfactory
and sympathetic love any more than He can love the devil; not one bit
more. But there is another view of this
subject which is very important for you to receive, sinner. There is a kind of love that you have never
experienced: the love of your enemies.
“Oh”, you say, “what reason do I have to love my enemies”? Why, you have exactly the same reason to
love your enemies that God has! God
does not love with that kind of sympathetic love that implies sympathy with
their characters. But don’t get me
wrong, sinner, He can love you with a love that is beyond your wildest
imagination. Now the kind of love that
God will exercise towards you is the same kind of love which you ought to exercise
towards your enemies; and in order to receive this love, you must rise
completely above your selfishness, and give yourselves up to unselfishly love
God and your neighbor. Now the fact is,
because you have never exercised this love, you can’t understand its nature. But, God can rise above! Ah, He never was in that selfish pit of
despair that your soul is in. He is not
filled with the spirit of retaliation that you feel; and therefore, although He
sees and knows all the guilt of the sinner, yet God can look on him with compassion
and lay Himself out with all His heart to save him.
The
fact is that sinners mistake the nature of God’s love, and so they try to make
themselves happy. They always think
that they must do something to deserve His love; you ask them to come to Christ
and they say, I must do more; I must become better; I must pray, I must do this
thing or that thing to deserve His love.
They have, you see, this idea about God’s sympathetic love. They must deserve it before they can have
it. They want to feel that they deserve
it. The sinner never will believe that
God loves him as a sinner. But let me
tell you sinner that this is all wrong.
You can never deserve God's love in the sense in which you hope to
possess it; and if you seek to deserve it, you will never be saved. But remember, it was as a sinner that Christ
died for you! It was as a rebel that
God gave His Son to die for you! Just
as you are in your sins, God loves you, and for you just in that state, He gave
His Son to die for you. This is what you must believe. You will find it difficult to believe, but
it is absolutely necessary that you should do so. I beg you to let the idea take full possession of your minds, and
say to yourself, “than what need do I have to seek to make myself deserving, if
God loves me now just as I am? It was
as I am that Christ died for me; it was as a sinner that God loved me, and
loves me still; then, as a sinner, I will now go to Jesus, as I am, as an
humble penitent, seeking, but undeserving sinner. Will you come? Will you
come now? Will you believe now? Or will you make God a liar?