Detroit Conference: 1968, Unchanging Love of God (31:3)


Address—G.H. Hayhoe

Jeremiah, chapter 31, third verse. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying. I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Now if you'll also turn over with me to Malachi. Last book in the Old Testament. 1St chapter in the first verse. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. And also in Deuteronomy. I'm not sure of the chapter. The 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy. And the third verse. Yeah, he loved the people. All his Saints are in thy hand. They sat down at thy feet. Everyone shall receive of thy words. Also in John Chapter 11. John, Chapter 11. And the fifth verse. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. In Romans chapter 8. Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. Shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 2nd Corinthians 5, 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us. Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. And in First Epistle of John. And the fourth chapter. Verse 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. The 18th verse There is No Fear in love, because perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect. In love we love Him. I might say the new translation doesn't have the word Him we love because He first loved us. Well, the reason I have read these verses, I believe the Spirit of God in these meetings has been bringing before us in the meeting this morning and in the address by our brother. Something about that wondrous love that was in the heart of God, and it's in the heart of Christ. But I was thinking in reading these different verses, how about love was spoken of at a time when perhaps we would least have expected it, at a time in Israel's history when they had failed grievously. Had that love that God had toward his people changed and altered by their failure? Well, isn't it beautiful in that passage in Deuteronomy to hear the Lord's? Speaking and saying. Yeah, he loved the people. When was that spoken? Was that at the beginning of their wilderness journey, when they had come out in triumph out of Egypt and had been singing on the banks of the Red Sea? We might have expected it then because the Lord did value the love that was in their hearts at that time. He speaks of it in the early part of Jeremiah. He says, I remember these.

The kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a lamb not sawn. But 40 years of wilderness life had brought out what the flesh is. The flesh in them was displayed during that wilderness, and brethren, we're tested in our passage through this wilderness world, and we are conscious of how often the flesh displays itself in US. And we might get cast down and grieved as we see how much of the flesh there is, and well, we might too. But oh, isn't it lovely that alone we change, He changes not. And so I say, not at the beginning of their wilderness journey, but at the very end, after all their failure, after their hearts had displayed themselves at their very worst, in all their murmurings and complainings and failure. If then. Yeah, he loved the people. Oh how blessed this is all that. It might grip our souls. Because so often when failure comes into our lives, why we become discouraged and we don't enjoy that love. And God himself delights to assure us that He has not changed. He loved the people, all his Saints, yes, not just. Joshua and Caleb, they were faithful. All his Saints are in thy hand. Isn't that lovely to think that he looks over this company and sees each one, That everyone is in his hand? Secure could not be more secure. Not because of ourselves, but because of what he has done. And so it says, all his Saints are in my hand. And they sat down at his feet. To hear of His words, I trust, brethren, that that will be our experience when we realize that nothing that we have ever done has altered His love toward us, that we're still in His hands, that we will sit down at His feet, We'll take our place, recognizing our failure but enjoying the fact that He is the same. Yesterday and today and forever and that we'll hear his words. And that those precious words will come home in such a way to our hearts, and that we'll realize is love more, and that our hearts will be warmed by it. Well, we turn over to Jeremiah. In the 31St chapter, what kind of a state was the nation in at this time? Well, I'm sure most of us are acquainted with the prophet Jeremiah. He was the one that was sent to tell the people that because of their failure, God was going to have to allow them to be carried captive into Babylon. Surely if he is going to have to announce his government upon them, surely if his heart is so green because of their failure. His love isn't the same, is it? Well, Jeremiah breaks out with this message from the Lord in the 31St chapter and says, yeah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Isn't that precious? Yes, He may have to deal with us in government, and he does what's on his He whom the Father chasteneth. Not every one of us in some measure have had to feel His hand upon us. Because of failure in our lives. But it's love that brings it. Whom the Lord loveth. He chase nothing. It's because He loves us that He brings us upon us. And He would have us, even in the midst of His ways with us, to realize that the hand that is brought down is brought down in love. Why, as our brother read to us, why did he sanctify and cleanse the church? Because he wanted to present it to himself. Suited to his own mind. That's why he wanted the company of the one whom he had died to redeem. And so he wanted it in such a way suited to himself, so that he could enjoy her company. But it wasn't because his love was altered. So it says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. And so.

Would say again, if there are any of us at this time and we feel the Lord's hand upon us. We know that there are things that perhaps have taken place in our lives that we have to recognize are because of his governmental ways with us all. Let us never allow a question to come in our minds that he doesn't love us and just the same as he ever did. The very hand that brings it down is because he loves us. It's wielded in love and so how assuring that message to that people at that very time. Well, then we turn over to Malachi. Here was a little remnant that had come back. God's government had fallen, They had been carried captive into Babylon, but God in his faithfulness had brought a few back from Babylon to his center at Jerusalem. And they had come back, and with holy zeal they had rebuilt the temple, they had built the wall, but all was there, everything that might be desired in that little company. Oh no. And I believe if one might speak humbly, brethren. That God has gathered a company to His precious name in these last days? Is there everything that might be desired among us? Well, read the book of Malachi and you'll see the condition that existed among the people. They questioned His love. They said, Wherein hast thou loved us? They said it was vain to serve the Lord. They offered the lame and the blind to the Lord. Surely he must have been grieved when he saw that little remnant in which he had found such joy when they returned back to his center and now beset with failure not only from without, but with him within. And he had to write through Malachi to tell them how grieved he was with all that had taken place in that little remnant back in his center but not corresponding. As he desired to his heart toward them, so he sends his servant Malachi. And Malachi is a heavy burden upon his heart for the people. But how does he start that burden? What is the first part of the burden that was so heavy upon his heart? I have loved you, saith the Lord. That was why the Lord cared about them. You don't care about people that you don't love. You see somebody in a condition that's deplorable. Well, why do you care about them? Whether you care? Because there's some feeling of affection that goes out to them. And the deeper the affection, the more you feel the state that they're in. And so when Malachi. Tells the people how the Lord felt. He begins, I say, with that word, and I have loved you, saith the Lord. I have loved you before. He says a word to correct the state of things that existed which so grieved the heart of the Lord. He begins by saying, I have loved you. And so they say, we're in this. Thou loved us. While the Lord said I love Jacob and I hated Esau. Well, you know, if I compared the 2 Characters, I think I saw a little more that I liked and he saw than I did in Jacob. I don't think there was very much that was too commendable in the way Jacob acted in getting the birthright from his brother and in some of the other things he did too. And the Lord said, I love Jacob. In other words, it was a causeless love, a causeless love. It wasn't because Jacob was a nicer boy than he saw, but it was because the Lord set his love upon him. And blessed brethren, you say, well, I don't deserve love like that, Neither do I. But why did he love Jacob? He set his love upon them. He he loved them, and nothing would alter that love toward them, no matter how. Law, their state, and all. May these words sink down into your heart and mind. If we begin to question the Lord's love, we must think it's because He loved us for something nice He saw in us. And when that something nice isn't seen, then we say, well, he can't still love us. But all divine love doesn't act that way. Divine love acts because of what it is in its source. And the source is unlimited. And so that love flowed out to that people. People returned from the captivity in all their failure. Yeah, he loved the people. Oh, may that burden be on our hearts for our brethren when we seek to help them. When we see a state of things perhaps that casts us down and bows our hearts. May we begin the message by saying the burden of the word of the Lord. I have loved you, saith the Lord. If we felt that way, brethren, perhaps.

We'd be able to help some of the things. Things that exist in our local assemblies. If we only have that feeling that Malachi had when he could begin the message by saying I have loved you, saith the Lord. Then we turn over to that passage in John, and here we find a family. We know how the Lord spoke, so command the play about Mary. He even rebuked Martha on one occasion because Martha was careful and troubled about many things. But Mary seemed to know what was pleasing to the Lord, and she sat at His feet and heard His words. And so we would have expected, when the Lord spoke about those of that family, that He would have put the name of Mary first. That he would have said, Now Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We would have expected the name of Mary would have come first. But the Lord says now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Isn't that beautiful? Or you say some other brother or sister has been a lot more faithful than me and I am sure the Lord has more love for them than he does for me. Oh, isn't it lovely to hear the Lord talking about that family? Perhaps he's talking about your family too. Perhaps he's talking about us. And isn't it blessed to think that he would mention the name of the one who at one time grieved his heart and said Jesus loved Martha and her sister? What an encouragement. Martha must have loved to think of that fact, how it must have come home to her soul when she found that the Lord had put her name before Mary when He spoke about the family. All the Lord loves His people. We don't all enjoy His love alike, but His love goes out to His people. So we see that in each one of these four cases that we have spoken above about, it was at a time when we would perhaps. Least expected such a display of affection, but at such a time the Lord mentions it more than at times when things seem to be in a happier state. Because we're always prone to doubt His love, or to fail to display His love when things aren't the way they should be. But that's the time when it's needed the most, and that's the way the Lord. Acted toward his people, but then when we turn to the. Beautiful 8th of Romans, those verses so well known to us. It talks here about circumstances. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? In the 37th verse. Nay, and all these things we are. More than conquerors. Through Him that loved us well, here we're assured that nothing can separate us from His love. That love. There's not a thing that could happen in the circumstances of life. We've noticed that failure and coldness hasn't changed His love. I believe in this passage we have circumstances, circumstances, tribulation. You say, well, it's not just the state of things, but. I have so much tribulation, so many trials. One thing after another seems to come upon me. It just seems one thing's over and another thing comes along. Well, here's a little word about circumstances. It says that none of these things can separate us from the love of Christ. And more than that, it says in all these things we are more than conquerors. What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? Well, I believe it's this. We sometimes go through a trial and we say, well, the Lord gave me grace to bear it. He gave me grace to go through it. Well, that's to be a conqueror. But what is it to be more than a conqueror? Well, I believe to be more than a conqueror is to profit by it, Not only to have the grace that conquers the situation, so to speak, but that looks back upon it as a positive gain.

As one has sometimes said, when she drank, Meshach and Abednego were cast into the fiery furnace, and we know that they were conquerors. They didn't allow this to. Come between their souls and the Lord. But I would say they were more than conquerors because the Lord walked with them in the fire. And I believe when they look back on that experience in a coming day above, they're going to say that that was one of the brightest experiences of their whole pathway. It wasn't just something that they had to go through. You go through a bad spot on the road, you say, well, he just have to go through that bad spot. To get where you want and you're glad when it's over, you never think of it being an actual gain to go through it, but something you have to go through. But brethren, the circumstances of your life and mine are not like a bad spot on the road. We can be more than conquerors, their positive gain, because those experiences of the Lord's grace and love and patience with us are things that we can only have down here. Have those experiences in heaven, As we remarked yesterday, in heaven everything will be eternal rest. There will be nothing to ruffle a pathway there. But it's down here that we learn things that we can't learn in heaven. And that is how the Lord undertakes for us in tribulation, in trial, and all that we go through and draws near and assures us of His love. And now perhaps you've noticed in the 38th and 39th verses something very beautiful that one has enjoyed, and that is the transition from the singular to the plural. In the first part of the 38th verse it says, I am persuaded. In the 39th verse it says shall be able to separate us. Notice that. Because. Actually, nothing can separate us from His love. But can you say I am persuaded this is a personal matter? Nothing that happens in your life or mine separates us from his love. Paul knew that. And Paul could say I am persuaded. And so the Lord would have us individually to be persuaded. It's a fact whether we're persuaded of it or not. It's a fact no matter how low we get or discouraged we get. It hasn't changed his love, but it's a triumph to be able to say I'm persuaded that it hasn't changed Islam. I am persuaded. That this circumstance has not altered his love. And so he says. I am persuaded that none of these things can separate us. From the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I just paused to say a little word to anyone who is not clear about the security of the believer. I think this is so precious to my own heart. It says nothing shall separate us. Shall I say like this? Whether you're persuaded of it or not, thank God it's true. You can't be separated from His love because it says nothing can separate us from His love. But it's happy when the soul comes to the knowledge that can say I am persuaded, I am persuaded. But it's blessed to know that whether you're persuaded of it or not, it's true because it's all founded upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus, which doesn't change. So now let us turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. In the 14th verse. For the love of Christ come strain of us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all. That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Here we find the effect of this love upon the heart. We've spoken about that love. That doesn't change. But now the apostle, in enjoying this, he says, It does something in me, it produces something in me. And this love that we have been talking about, brethren, it ought to produce something in US. And what is it? That is it what it ought to constrain us. That is, draw us along. Draw us along just like a magnet, and you get it near a piece of steel and it draws the piece of steel along. It's constrained. It doesn't say the love of Christ ought to constrain us. It says it does. It does. A little boy where I was visiting, he got a new magnet.

And we brought the magnet down to a little piece of steel. The steel didn't move until the magnet got close. But when the magnet got close, the steel couldn't help but move. And why are you and I not constrained by his love? Perhaps the magnets too far away. Perhaps we're not mere enough to him. Perhaps there's something come between us and him. Did the magnet not have a drawing power even before that little piece of steel started to move? Of course it did. But it wasn't near enough. And if you and I. Do like poor Peter? We follow afar off. We allow circumstances. To come between US and the Lord. But then we don't feel the pull of that love, but it's there. It's still there. And so as we allow that precious word and the sense of His love to come near to our hearts, what is the result? Why we desire to live not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again. That little piece of steel began to be controlled. Were affected by the power that was so close to it, drawing it along, and I trusted each one of us as we returned from these meetings. Brethren, that we will have been near the magnet, and people will notice that we've been moved. And that we're drawn along, that there's something that's affected us. I hope in the school, in the office and in the families where we go when we return, that people will see that there's been a magnetic force that has affected us and we're being drawn along and instead of selfishness and instead of self importance, controlling our lives. That there is that desire to live not unto ourselves. But unto him who died for us, and rose again. And so I say in this portion, I believe we have the effect of that love produced upon us and the result in our lives. It doesn't. It doesn't outline certain things of worldliness. It doesn't outline certain evil things. It just simply says to live unto Him. And I'm sure that each one of us will have many questions in our lives settled if we just ask this question. Am I doing that for self? Am I living unto Self or unto Him in this matter? Yes, how precious, how we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again. Only that love constrain us. Now we turn over to 1St Epistle of John and the fourth chapter. 16th verse. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Yes, this shows us that it isn't something that would just be a thing that stirs us for a little time, but this lovely expression dwelleth in love. It's something of the same thought as in the epistle of Jude, where it says keep yourselves in the love of God. We feel something of this when we're together in these meetings and the love of Christ is ministered to our hearts. But as I say, we we leave again. We go out into a cold world. We meet difficult circumstances. Is it possible in the midst of all this that we can actually dwell in love? Yes. The children of Israel were in a land that was full of darkness. A darkness that might be felt. That's how bad it was. And surely the world is getting like that. It's a darkness that might be felt, it says in Isaiah chapter 60. Darkness shall cover the earth and growth, darkness the people. But the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. They had light in their dwellings. What an amazing thing. It wasn't the light of the sun, but they had light. They had the presence of the Lord bringing light into their dwellings. And brethren, this world is getting darker. Conditions are becoming more difficult, but we can dwell. In love not just get stirred up occasionally, but it is time. For the believer, according to God's provision. I don't mean by this that we don't fail betimes, but it is the normal thing, perhaps I should say, for a Christian to dwell in law, dwell in the enjoyment of that love that we have been talking about, which removes fear, which gives the holy confidence in the pathway that amid all the darkness which is ever increasing.

Amid all those things that perplex us, the state of things in Christendom, the state of things even amongst us, the state of the world, the state of our own hearts. Isn't it lovely that when this love shines in and warms your heart and mind, and that it brings us to a place that amid this gross darkness that we can have light in our dwellings? And so it tells us, he or he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him, God himself. Does not change and would walk and dwell in the sense of this in our souls. Produces a quietness. A sameness, shall I say, that characterizes the Christian's walk as going on with the Lord. And instead of being apprehensive, this perfect love casts out fear, it removes torment, because the sense of that love fills the heart, satisfies the longings of the soul. And then still more it says. We love because he first loved us. We love. It's true that we love him, but it's simply that we love that is. Divine love, as we said, acts without anything to draw it out. It acts because of what it is in itself. And we love, yes, we love the most unlovely. You know that neighbor who's so troublesome, can you love him? Yes. The Lord Jesus looked down upon those around the cross as it was brought before us last night. And he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. And perhaps that brother in the meeting. That you find hard to love. Why do you love them? All you say is not very nice, but that isn't a reason for our love. Now we love Why? Because He first loved us. Did He see something in us that made Him love us? No, and He loved us not because of anything there was in us. But we love for that same reason. And so we love that neighbor, We love that brother. We go through the world as those who have entered into and enjoyed that love. But more we have partaken of His very nature. We possess the very life of Christ. We have the Spirit of God. We have the capability. Of loving in the same way that God has loved us. We love because He first loved us. And if there's anyone that we find a little hard to love, just stop and say, well He first loved me and what did he see in me to make him love me? What is he seen in me since He saved me to make Him love me? Well, I'll never mind what we see in others. To make us love them. Love acts. Divine love, I mean, acts because of what it is in itself, in its source. And the heart of God is the source. And you and I have that life so that we can enjoy that love. We can walk in the sunshine of it and we can show it out. As the Lord said, he that dwelleth in me, he that drinketh of me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. There's an outflow. It's impossible to receive it without having more than the cup can contain. And so it flows out. But it flows out in the same way it was received. And so may the Lord grant, brethren, that as we meditate on His love and it's unchanging character. Now that we may love. Because he first loved us.