1 John 4:19

DISCOURSE: 2461
GOD’S LOVE THE SOURCE OF OURS

1 John 4:19. We lore Him, because He first loved us.

THERE is, as there ought to be, a great and visible difference between the Lord’s people and others. But no one of them has any ground for glorying in himself: for, to every one of them may that question be applied, “Who made thee to differ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received?” Verily, whatever attainments any man may have made, he must say, with the Apostle Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” To this effect St. John speaks in the words before us; in which we are taught to trace the love which the saints bear to their God, not to any superior qualities in their own nature, but to God’s free and sovereign grace: “We love Him, because He first loved us.”
Now, this being a truth indispensably necessary to be known and felt, I will endeavour to point out—

I. Its doctrinal use—

Our love to God springing from, and being founded on, God’s love to us, it is,

1. An indispensable evidence of his love to us—

[Supposing a person to affirm that God loves him as one of his peculiar people, I ask, What evidence have you of that fact? Your mere assertion is not sufficient to satisfy my mind: nor should a mere persuasion of it be sufficient to satisfy your mind. If God has really loved you, wherein has he manifested that love? What has he done for you? Has he revealed himself to you as reconciled in the Son of his love? Has he poured out his Spirit upon you, as “a Spirit of adoption, enabling you to call him Abba, Father?” And has he enabled you to surrender up yourself to him in all holy obedience to his will? In a word, Has he brought you to “love him,” and to serve him in truth? If, in “his loving-kindness, he has drawn you” to himself, then you may be satisfied that “he has loved you with an everlasting love [Note: Jeremiah 31:3.]:” but without this evidence, your persuasion, how confident soever it may be, is a fatal delusion. The Jews of old affirmed that God was their Father: but our blessed Lord said to them, “If God were your Father, ye would love me.” So I say to you, “It God have loved you, you must of necessity have been brought to love him.”]

2. A decisive proof of his love to us—

[Suppose now a different character to be manifesting from day to day his love to God, and yet to be doubting and questioning God’s love to him; I would ask, Whence did you obtain those dispositions which you manifest? Were they natural to you? or did you form them in your own heart? or did any fellow-creature implant them there? By nature, you are as much a child of wrath as any other person in the universe. So corrupt are you by nature, that “every imagination of the thoughts of your heart is evil, only evil, continually.” If there be only a good desire towards him, it has been imparted to you by God himself; who, of his own good pleasure, has wrought in you both to will and to do. If you behold the heavens and the earth, you conclude that they have been formed by an Almighty power: and the same conclusion must you form from every thing which you see in the new creation. If you can say from your heart, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee,” you may without hesitation add, “He that hath wrought me to the self-same thing, is God.”]
To appreciate this truth aright, we must consider,

II.

Its practical importance—

Verily, it is of the utmost importance,

1. For the forming of our judgment—

[It is well known, that confidence in God is our bounden duty: nor is it less clear that we are called to cherish in our bosoms a diffidence respecting ourselves. But professors of religion are very apt to separate these habits, instead of combining them; and to carry both the one and the other to an undue extreme. One indulges confidence, and carries it to presumption: another affects diffidence, and extends it to despondency. But from both these extremes we should flee; maintaining no confidence which is not warranted by God’s word; and never carrying our diffidence so far as to invalidate his truth. We must have a scriptural foundation for our hopes: and with God’s promises before us, we must moderate our fears. Hope and fear have each its appropriate place in the believer’s bosom, and should both be called into action in his experience. They should be like the scales of a balance, rising or falling according to our secret walk before God. If we are really living nigh to God, in the enjoyment of his presence and in the performance of his will, our hope may grow to assurance, yea, and to “a full assurance.” On the other hand, if we are far from God in secret, and harbouring any lust in our bosom, our fear ought to preponderate, and to be within us a friendly and faithful monitor. Yet, again I say, that whether we “rejoice or tremble,” extremes must be avoided: for we never can have such ground for joy, but that we have reason for trembling; or such ground for trembling, but that we have reason to rejoice. The person most confident of God’s love should search and try his ways, to see whether he be requiting God aright, and walking worthy of his profession: and the person who is most doubtful of God’s love should be careful not to write bitter things against himself, as though he were an outcast from God: for, if his attainments may justify a fear, his desires most assuredly justify a hope. And, after all, the doubting Christian has the advantage of his presumptuous brother: for, though he has less of present comfort, he has, through God’s abounding mercy, a greater measure of security.]

2. For the directing of our ways—

[Here it is taken for granted, that every Christian loves his God. In that, we cannot err. Whether we have a greater or less persuasion of God’s love to us, our duty is plain in reference to him. His love to mankind at large is clear enough: for “he has so loved us, as to give his own Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” Here then is ground enough for our love to him, and our affiance in him. Let all, then, stand upon this broad basis. I deny not but that personal favours call for love and gratitude: but I say, that the mercies we all enjoy in common with each other, are grounds of love; and I call every one of you to devote yourselves to God with all possible fidelity and affection. Esteem him above all — — — Desire him above all — — — Delight in him above all — — — And, if our Lord put the question to you which he put to Peter, “Lovest thou me?” let your whole life and conversation testify in your behalf, so that you may appeal to him and say, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.”]