2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Message Six The Lord’s New Commandment Given to Us— That We Love One Another

II. The love of God is God Himself; love is the inward essence of God and the heart of God—vv. 8, 16:

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

A. The love of God is the source of salvation—John 3:16; Eph. 2:4-5; Titus 3:4-5.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

Eph. 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

Eph. 2:5 Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared,

Titus 3:5 Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

B. God's predestination of us unto the divine sonship was motivated by the divine love—Eph. 1:4-5.

Eph. 1:4 Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,

Eph. 1:5 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

C. The love of God accomplished salvation for us; God's giving of His only begotten Son to us that we may be saved from perdition judicially through His death and have the eternal life organically in His resurrection was motivated by the divine love—John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

1. In the love of God, the Son of God saves us not only from our sins by His blood but also from our death by His life—Eph. 1:7; Rev. 1:5; Rom. 5:10.

Eph. 1:7 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace,

Rev. 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood

Rom. 5:10 For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled,

2. God loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins in His judicial redemption with the intention that we might have life and live through Him in His organic salvation—1 John 2:1; 4:9-10; John 6:57; 14:19; Gal. 2:20.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous;

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

John 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

John 14:19 Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.

Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

3. God's excelling love is seen in His becoming a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins and the propitiation place for us to meet and be infused with God; God as love meets with us and speaks to us in the propitiating, redeeming, and shining Christ so that we can be infused with Him as love, mercy, and grace for His effulgent and radiant glory—Rom. 3:24-25; Heb. 4:16; Exo. 25:17, 22.

Rom. 3:24 Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Rom. 3:25 Whom God set forth as a propitiation place through faith in His blood, for the demonstrating of His righteousness, in that in His forbearance God passed over the sins that had previously occurred,

Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

Exo. 25:17 And you shall make an expiation cover of pure gold: two and a half cubits shall be its length, and one and a half cubits, its width.

Exo. 25:22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the expiation cover, from between the two cherubim which are upon the Ark of the Testimony, of everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

D. The love of God causes us to obtain salvation (2 Cor. 5:18-20; Matt. 22:3; Acts 5:32; 2 Tim. 3:15) and become His children (1 John 3:1).

2 Cor. 5:18 But all things are out from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2 Cor. 5:19 Namely, that God in Christ was reconciling the world to Himself, not accounting their offenses to them, and has put in us the word of reconciliation.

2 Cor. 5:20 On behalf of Christ then we are ambassadors, as God entreats you through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.

Matt. 22:3 And he sent his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast, yet they would not come.

Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.

2 Tim. 3:15 And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and we are. Because of this the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Morning Nourishment

John 3:16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him...would have eternal life.

1 John 4:9-10 In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him. Herein is love,...that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

Man’s condition speaks of his need for salvation. The source of salvation is the love of God. God’s love is the source of His salvation. If God had no love, man would have no salvation. Although God is righteous and holy in His nature, His heart is love. God must do things according to His righteous procedure and in agreement with His holy nature. According to God’s righteousness, sinners deserve only to be judged. According to God’s holiness, such filthy ones are fit only to fall dead before Him. Although His righteousness condemns us and His holiness rejects us, God’s heart loves us. He not only loves us; He “so loved” us. Because He loves us, He gave His only begotten Son to prepare salvation for us. (CWWL, 1932-1949, vol. 3, “Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Volume 1,” p. 94)

Ephesians 2:4 says that the love with which God loved us is a great love. Because of His great love, God came to save us. His great love caused Him to love not only sinners but also those who were dead in offenses and sin.

The love of God originated in God’s heart, but when it appeared, it became our salvation [Titus 3:4-5]. When God’s love is manifested to us, it saves us. God’s salvation comes out of God’s love. God’s saving hand issues out of His loving heart... His loving heart appeared through His mighty hand to become our salvation.

God’s love caused Him to give us His Son [John 3:16]. God did not love us without taking action on our behalf...To accomplish salvation for us, God specially gave us His only begotten Son. This shows the greatness of God’s love toward us as well as the preciousness of the salvation that God accomplished on our behalf. God’s great love accomplished this precious salvation for us.

Because of His love for us, God sent His Son that we might have life [1 John 4:9]. The salvation that God prepared for us is not only for us to be saved but also for us to have His life... He was willing to do this for the simple reason that He loved us. Since God loved us, He was willing to suffer the sending of His only begotten Son for the accomplishment of our salvation so that we might have His life.

We had a problem in our relationship with God. Therefore, God sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins [v. 10] in order to restore our relationship with Him. God did this because of His love. Although sin caused a problem in our relationship with God, we had no thought of dealing with our sin in order to restore our relationship with God. Even if we desired to restore this relationship, we would have had no ability or way. However, God’s love caused Him to send His Son to accomplish this matter for us before we even had such a thought.

God’s love not only accomplished our salvation but also gave us a way to obtain salvation. How condescending God’s love is toward us! It accomplished our salvation and devised a way for us to obtain salvation. If God had done less than this, we would not have been saved. Having accomplished our salvation, God entreated us to be reconciled to Himself. We were far off from God, we had rejected and opposed Him, and we were His enemies. Nevertheless, He entreated us to be reconciled to Him...This entreaty is a proof that God loves the unbelievers and desires that they obtain His salvation through those who believe. (CWWL, 1932-1949, vol. 3, “Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Volume 1,” pp. 94-96)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” ch. 47