How Greatly Am I Loved?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Happy Wednesday, everyone.

00:00:05.800 | For a few weeks, we have been looking

00:00:06.960 | at a two-part sermon series Pastor John delivered

00:00:09.320 | in the spring of 2010.

00:00:11.360 | And today's episode is the final installment

00:00:13.480 | of clips from those two messages.

00:00:15.360 | Historically, this pair of sermons is really interesting

00:00:17.560 | because they come in the days leading up

00:00:19.400 | to his eight-month leave of absence,

00:00:21.800 | which was time away from the pulpit

00:00:23.440 | to work some things out in his own heart

00:00:25.180 | and in his own family as well.

00:00:27.320 | We've talked about this leave,

00:00:28.360 | the lessons he took from it,

00:00:30.040 | particularly in three episodes in this podcast

00:00:32.320 | back in episodes, I think it was APJ 138, 220, and 1227.

00:00:37.320 | And as you know from those episodes,

00:00:40.140 | if you heard them, it was a defining season for him.

00:00:43.600 | The precursor to that leave is these two sermons.

00:00:46.500 | And they're interesting because in them,

00:00:48.240 | Pastor John explains what makes him tick.

00:00:50.200 | Why does he do ministry the way he does it?

00:00:53.480 | He actually explains this point in these sermons

00:00:55.360 | as we saw in APJ 1769.

00:00:58.320 | And then we looked at a related theme.

00:01:00.440 | God makes much of us, he does.

00:01:02.240 | He really does make much of us.

00:01:04.540 | So why does God make so much of us?

00:01:08.020 | That was APJ 1772.

00:01:10.920 | And then we looked at how God makes much of us.

00:01:13.160 | There's six or seven profound ways

00:01:15.040 | in which God makes much of his children.

00:01:17.440 | And Pastor John explained that in APJ 1775.

00:01:21.500 | And that led to last week's conundrum.

00:01:24.800 | There we looked at whether or not God ruins his love for us,

00:01:28.280 | by loving us for himself and for his own glory.

00:01:32.240 | A really key question to answer.

00:01:33.760 | And it was answered last time, last Wednesday,

00:01:37.400 | in APJ 1778.

00:01:39.880 | And today, we finish this little mini series

00:01:43.000 | of sermon clips by looking at how profoundly

00:01:45.280 | we are loved by God.

00:01:48.240 | Oh, how Pastor John wanted his church to feel

00:01:50.560 | the gravity of God's great love to us in Christ,

00:01:54.040 | as Paul called it in Ephesians 2, 4.

00:01:56.440 | That great love.

00:01:58.360 | Here's how Pastor John did it in the following clip

00:02:00.200 | from his April 25th, 2010 sermon,

00:02:03.200 | as he leaves for eight months.

00:02:05.840 | Here he is expounding 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 to 31.

00:02:10.740 | - In these six verses of 26 to 31 of 1 Corinthians 1,

00:02:16.560 | in these six verses, Paul describes at least,

00:02:20.160 | depends on how you divide it up,

00:02:22.040 | four ways that God loves us.

00:02:26.180 | Loves you personally.

00:02:28.320 | Four ways that he loves you.

00:02:31.400 | And by you, let's get this clear now.

00:02:34.600 | By you, I don't mean everybody.

00:02:37.360 | God doesn't love everybody in the same way.

00:02:40.440 | The kinds of love that are described here

00:02:45.520 | are for those who have been awakened in their heart

00:02:50.520 | to see themselves as desperate sinners

00:02:54.080 | in need of a savior and Christ, crucified,

00:02:57.720 | has shown for them as their wisdom and their power.

00:03:02.720 | And he has become compellingly true and beautiful

00:03:07.660 | and attractive and valuable and you have received him

00:03:12.660 | and he is yours and you are his.

00:03:15.200 | That's who I'm talking about.

00:03:16.640 | I hope the rest of you who aren't in that category

00:03:20.340 | will be drawn in by this message.

00:03:23.780 | Okay, that's the way I see things.

00:03:25.620 | I'm sure not everybody in this room is in that category.

00:03:28.580 | There's just too many of you and there's lots of people

00:03:31.480 | of all different kinds and so my prayer is that

00:03:34.140 | those of you inside will feel massively loved

00:03:37.340 | in fresh new ways and those on the outside

00:03:39.720 | would become so jealous and envious

00:03:42.220 | that you would be drawn in.

00:03:43.660 | What we have in these six verses

00:03:47.700 | is four ways that he loves us

00:03:51.420 | and then a double purpose for why he loves us

00:03:56.420 | this particular way.

00:03:59.140 | So two things, four ways that he loves us

00:04:02.300 | and a double purpose for why he would love us that way.

00:04:07.300 | So it's a how question and a why question, got it?

00:04:12.740 | How does he love me?

00:04:13.980 | Why does he love me this way?

00:04:15.620 | And the answers to those two questions

00:04:17.860 | are here in this text.

00:04:19.420 | So let's take it in reverse order.

00:04:21.420 | Let's go to the purposes first.

00:04:22.820 | A double purpose for why he loves us in these four ways.

00:04:26.060 | The first half of the double purpose is verse 29.

00:04:29.620 | So that, you see a so that, you know,

00:04:32.780 | some kind of result of purpose is coming.

00:04:34.540 | So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

00:04:39.540 | So the purpose of God in loving us in these ways

00:04:44.980 | is so that we will be loved in a way

00:04:48.220 | that does not incline us to boast in ourselves,

00:04:51.500 | in the presence of God.

00:04:53.620 | That's the purpose of loving us this way.

00:04:56.060 | So that no human being will put their arms

00:04:59.260 | in their suspenders and say,

00:05:00.860 | "What a good boy am I in the presence of God."

00:05:04.100 | He loves us so much,

00:05:08.220 | he will not let us ruin the glorious experience

00:05:14.880 | of being loved by turning God's love

00:05:17.740 | into a reason to boast in ourselves.

00:05:19.840 | He loves you too much, he will not let you ruin

00:05:24.260 | the experience of being loved by God.

00:05:27.380 | He won't let you ruin it by converting it in our fallen way

00:05:31.780 | into an experience of boasting

00:05:34.180 | in the presence of God in ourselves.

00:05:36.380 | He loves you too much.

00:05:38.260 | He will not let that happen to you.

00:05:42.060 | He will come at you from every side.

00:05:44.380 | It's unimaginable to kill that in you.

00:05:46.740 | So that, what?

00:05:49.660 | Second half of the double purpose is found in verse 31.

00:05:54.460 | "So that, as it is written,

00:05:59.380 | "let everyone who boasts, boast in the Lord."

00:06:03.780 | So you see the contrast.

00:06:05.000 | Verse 29, his purpose in loving us this way

00:06:09.260 | is so that nobody will boast in the presence of the Lord

00:06:12.220 | and the positive way of saying it in verse 31

00:06:15.900 | is so that the one who boasts, boasts only in the Lord.

00:06:18.700 | Oh, we're gonna boast in the presence of the Lord all right.

00:06:21.300 | We're gonna brag on God forever and not ourselves.

00:06:25.400 | We will not boast in our own doing.

00:06:31.820 | If we stand in front of a mirror in heaven

00:06:37.100 | and like what we see, which I suppose we would

00:06:39.720 | if there'd be mirrors, I don't think there'd be

00:06:41.140 | any mirrors in heaven, just an opinion.

00:06:44.220 | If we stood there, we would say, "Praise God!"

00:06:50.780 | That's what we would say.

00:06:52.020 | So there is the double purpose in the text

00:06:59.380 | for the four ways that I'm now gonna show you

00:07:02.260 | that he loves you.

00:07:03.580 | First way, so that you won't boast in yourself

00:07:06.380 | in his presence or putting it positively,

00:07:09.460 | positively, verse 31, so that you will boast in the Lord.

00:07:13.580 | Oh, that this church would be resounding

00:07:17.580 | in hallways and small groups and families

00:07:22.300 | with boasting in the Lord.

00:07:24.780 | Speak well of the Lord.

00:07:27.980 | Say much about the Lord.

00:07:30.180 | Talk about his deeds.

00:07:31.420 | I just read this morning in my devotions,

00:07:33.620 | you have made me glad by your works.

00:07:37.620 | And I spent about two minutes, I suppose,

00:07:40.180 | just naming them and being glad, sitting on the couch,

00:07:43.460 | just being glad in the works of God.

00:07:46.700 | Name them, exult, boast in God.

00:07:51.500 | Forget about your painful self for a moment.

00:07:56.320 | It just might get well.

00:07:57.980 | What are the four ways that you are loved in this text?

00:08:02.460 | I'll name them, then we'll look at them.

00:08:03.860 | Number one, God chose you.

00:08:05.540 | He loved you by choosing you.

00:08:06.660 | Number two, he called you.

00:08:08.560 | Number three, he put you in Christ.

00:08:11.120 | Number four, he made Christ your wisdom,

00:08:13.380 | righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

00:08:15.400 | That's it.

00:08:16.240 | Those are the four ways in this text that God loves you.

00:08:18.580 | Let's take them one at a time.

00:08:20.380 | Number one, God loved you by choosing you.

00:08:23.400 | Verse 27 and 28, God chose what is foolish in the world

00:08:28.400 | to shame the wise.

00:08:32.380 | God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

00:08:36.460 | God chose what is low and despised in the world,

00:08:40.780 | even things that are not,

00:08:42.100 | to bring to nothing things that are.

00:08:44.540 | Very clear, God chose.

00:08:47.220 | If you are Christ, he chose you.

00:08:50.180 | He leaves some unchosen, he chooses others.

00:08:53.540 | If you are in, he chose you.

00:08:55.540 | In fact, if you ask him, when did that happen?

00:09:00.120 | This word in the Greek for chose

00:09:04.120 | is only used one other place outside this text.

00:09:06.960 | Ephesians 1.4, which was the text we looked at last week.

00:09:13.400 | God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world

00:09:17.920 | that we should be holy and blameless before him.

00:09:22.340 | Only that place in Paul does it occur,

00:09:26.080 | and therefore I take it to mean,

00:09:27.680 | he chose you, he chose you, he chose you,

00:09:29.700 | in verses 27 and 28, meaning from eternity.

00:09:33.880 | That's why in Romans 11.5,

00:09:41.760 | when he uses the noun, not the verb,

00:09:45.120 | he calls it the election of grace.

00:09:49.180 | Meaning that when God stood in eternity

00:09:54.160 | and contemplated you, he contemplated you

00:09:57.560 | as needing saving in Christ.

00:09:59.900 | I get that from verses four through seven of Ephesians,

00:10:02.660 | where we are chosen in Christ.

00:10:04.420 | We don't need to be chosen in Christ if we aren't sinners.

00:10:08.320 | We need to be chosen in Christ if we need righteousness,

00:10:11.300 | if we need forgiveness and redemption.

00:10:13.680 | He contemplated, he saw all of us

00:10:17.580 | as unworthy of being chosen.

00:10:19.460 | Nobody is wronged if they're unchosen.

00:10:26.300 | You are just spectacularly blessed

00:10:30.140 | for nothing in yourself.

00:10:32.960 | This love is absolutely unconditional

00:10:37.960 | without any exception.

00:10:42.780 | So know, oh Holy Spirit,

00:10:49.560 | if it doesn't happen right now,

00:10:51.080 | let it happen later tonight or later this week,

00:10:55.040 | sooner or later, come and pour this being loved

00:11:00.040 | from eternity.

00:11:02.500 | I don't know about you,

00:11:05.000 | but I was really helped by my sermon last week.

00:11:08.040 | [audience laughing]

00:11:11.040 | I've been just sitting around saying,

00:11:17.700 | he chose me in love, he created me in love,

00:11:21.440 | he sent Jesus in love, he died for me in love,

00:11:24.400 | he keeps me in love, he made much of me

00:11:26.960 | by sitting me on his throne, he made much of me.

00:11:29.760 | I've just been going all through that,

00:11:32.280 | just preaching to myself.

00:11:33.960 | I need as much help as anybody.

00:11:36.480 | So I'm preaching the same sermon.

00:11:39.280 | Number two, God loved you by calling you.

00:11:44.280 | So first he chose you and now secondly,

00:11:48.280 | God loved you by calling you.

00:11:51.200 | Verse 26, consider your calling, brothers.

00:11:56.200 | That's what I'm asking you to do right now.

00:12:00.800 | Just do some considering right now.

00:12:02.760 | And the first thing I suppose you'd ask is,

00:12:04.440 | what's he talking about?

00:12:05.720 | My job, carpenter, nurse, teacher, homemaker?

00:12:11.640 | No, that's not what he's talking about.

00:12:14.560 | How do you know that's not what he's talking about?

00:12:17.920 | Well, mainly I know because of verses 22 to 24.

00:12:22.840 | Read this, consider, consider your calling,

00:12:26.920 | brothers and sisters, consider your calling

00:12:29.120 | as I read verses 22 to 24.

00:12:32.000 | Jews demand signs.

00:12:36.080 | Greeks seek wisdom.

00:12:40.200 | But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews.

00:12:47.720 | And folly to Gentiles or Greeks,

00:12:50.520 | same, he's using them interchangeably.

00:12:52.560 | But to those who are called,

00:12:55.680 | both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God

00:13:02.280 | and the wisdom of God.

00:13:03.240 | So when the called look at Christ crucified,

00:13:06.560 | they don't see stumbling block,

00:13:08.160 | they don't see folly, they see power.

00:13:11.320 | So there are three groups, right?

00:13:13.280 | Three groups in those verses.

00:13:14.960 | Number one, Jews.

00:13:15.840 | Number two, Gentiles.

00:13:16.960 | Number three, called.

00:13:18.360 | That's not quite accurate, is it?

00:13:21.160 | Let me say it a little more carefully.

00:13:22.840 | There are Jews who are not called,

00:13:26.600 | Gentiles who are not called,

00:13:28.840 | and Jews and Gentiles who are called.

00:13:31.960 | Those are the three groups.

00:13:33.360 | Are you with me?

00:13:34.680 | This is, we're considering our calling.

00:13:36.600 | We're obeying verse 26.

00:13:38.400 | There are Jews not called, Gentiles not called,

00:13:46.040 | Jews and Gentiles, some of whom are called.

00:13:48.760 | And then he describes the response of each to the cross.

00:13:53.440 | Jews, yeah, stumbling block,

00:13:55.400 | crucified Messiah, never heard of such a thing.

00:13:58.360 | Gentiles, foolishness, a dying God,

00:14:00.640 | silly, mythological, called power, my God.

00:14:04.240 | What kind of call is that?

00:14:08.440 | I'll tell you what kind of call that is.

00:14:14.720 | It's the kind of call that creates what it commands.

00:14:17.640 | The call gives light.

00:14:25.160 | The call creates sight.

00:14:28.120 | The call raises the dead.

00:14:31.160 | Lazarus, come forth.

00:14:36.280 | He didn't decide to.

00:14:38.480 | The call raised him from the dead.

00:14:41.200 | Let me give you an analogy that could be misleading.

00:14:44.440 | It helps me.

00:14:45.960 | Just to get your handle on it,

00:14:47.040 | because lots of you have never been taught

00:14:49.200 | about the call of God.

00:14:50.280 | The mighty, effectual, irresistible, powerful,

00:14:54.560 | saving, wakening, life-giving call of God that saved you.

00:14:58.560 | You've never been taught about this.

00:15:00.200 | So you need a little analogy to help you.

00:15:02.400 | What is he talking about?

00:15:04.040 | I've never heard anything like this.

00:15:05.600 | I thought I just believed in Jesus.

00:15:07.920 | Suppose somebody is asleep.

00:15:14.000 | And you want to wake them up.

00:15:17.200 | What do you do?

00:15:18.960 | Well, you bend over.

00:15:19.800 | They're sound asleep.

00:15:20.840 | You bend over them and you say, "Wake up!"

00:15:23.400 | And they bolt right upright.

00:15:29.520 | Now, what are the dynamics of that moment?

00:15:34.200 | They were sound asleep and bang, they were awake.

00:15:38.120 | Did they hear the call and say,

00:15:41.960 | "I'll think about that before I wake up.

00:15:45.520 | "And then I'll decide if I want to wake up."

00:15:48.520 | That is a good analogy.

00:15:52.360 | When God issues a call to your dead heart and says,

00:15:57.840 | "Wake up!"

00:15:59.120 | You wake up.

00:15:59.960 | You did not make yourself a Christian.

00:16:02.960 | Just face it, you didn't make yourself a Christian,

00:16:05.920 | which is why you should feel so incredibly loved.

00:16:09.640 | In fact, if you need a text to say that,

00:16:12.120 | just go to Ephesians 2, verse four,

00:16:15.160 | where Paul says just as clearly as can be,

00:16:17.560 | "Because of his great love."

00:16:20.000 | It's the only place he uses that phrase

00:16:21.680 | in all the New Testament.

00:16:22.800 | "Because of his great love,

00:16:24.760 | "he made you alive when you were dead."

00:16:29.000 | So if you have any spiritual life in you at all,

00:16:31.960 | you have been greatly loved.

00:16:34.400 | It's called regeneration.

00:16:38.040 | It's called calling.

00:16:39.720 | You have been called and you are greatly loved

00:16:45.000 | in this calling.

00:16:46.560 | - His great love.

00:16:48.720 | That's amazing, so good.

00:16:50.160 | I love this clip.

00:16:51.320 | This is from John Piper's sermon on April 25th, 2010,

00:16:54.000 | titled "Consider Your Calling."

00:16:56.200 | And that sermon is available in its entirety online

00:16:58.560 | at desiringgod.org.

00:17:00.120 | I found this clip.

00:17:02.200 | If you find one, email it to me.

00:17:03.560 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title,

00:17:05.480 | the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio,

00:17:07.680 | and then make a note of what stands out to you.

00:17:09.960 | Put the word clip in the subject line of an email

00:17:11.880 | and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:17:15.360 | That's an email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:17:19.000 | Well, next time we have a hypothetical question on the table.

00:17:23.920 | If Pastor John was an influential pastor theologian

00:17:27.440 | back in 1913 America,

00:17:30.120 | would he have supported Christian temperance organizations

00:17:33.680 | and lent his voice to prohibition?

00:17:36.320 | That's an interesting question on the role of the church

00:17:39.840 | in helping outlaws sin.

00:17:41.880 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke,

00:17:43.040 | and we are rejoined in studio with Pastor John

00:17:45.480 | to address that question on Friday.

00:17:48.360 | Should be interesting.

00:17:49.640 | We'll see you then.

00:17:50.560 | (upbeat music)

00:17:53.160 | (upbeat music)

00:17:55.760 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Greatly Am I Loved?

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