I John 4:9,10
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Now let’s look for a moment at the depth of His love. And I am tempted to say that this is most wonderful thing of all.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Greatness is never so glorious as when it takes the place of lowliness…And, may we not say it reverently, Deity had never appeared so glorious as when it hung upon a maiden’s breast! Yes, we behold His glory—the glory of an infinite condescension, the glory of a matchless grace, the glory of a fathomless love.”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: It is God revealing His glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Think what that love must have been which brought the Lord of glory from the highest heaven to become the Man of sorrows for our sakes!
EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): When He came, instead of being received by mankind as their friend and benefactor, He was hated, slandered, ridiculed, and persecuted with the utmost virulence and malignity.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Think of men laying cruel hands upon Him, and arresting Him and trying Him, mocking and jeering at Him, spitting in His most holy face. Think of them condemning Him to death, and scourging Him, Look at Him of staggering under the weight of that heavy cross, as He goes up to Golgotha. Look at Him nailed upon the tree. Listen to His expressions of agony. Listen to Him telling of the thirst He endured, the pain that He suffered. Think of that terrible moment when the sins of men being laid upon Him, He even lost sight of the face of God, for the one and only time in eternity, and gave up the ghost and died, and was buried in a grave.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): He, by not sparing His own life, testified how much He loved us.
EDWARD PAYSON: If the Jews exclaimed, “Behold how He loved Lazarus!” merely because they saw Him weeping at his tomb, with how much reason may we exclaim, “Behold how He loved us!” when we behold Him in Bethlehem, in Gethsemane, and on Calvary!
C. H. SPURGEON: The death of the cross is to us the highest proof of our Saviour’s infinite love to us. He must die the death of a felon, between two thieves, utterly friendless, the object of general ridicule; and this he must do as bearing our sins in his own body. All this makes us say, “Behold how he loved us!” O beloved! can we doubt Christ’s love, since he laid down his life, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God?
J. A. ALEXANDER (1809-1860): Can you doubt God’s love? God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5:8.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Yea, we were not only sinners, but enemies to God, which further commendeth the love of Christ in dying for us. There is no greater love amongst men, than when one layeth down his life for his friends; but herein Christ’s love excelled, that He gave His life for His enemies.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He loved us, when we had no love for Him, when we lay in our guilt, misery, and blood, when we were undeserving, ill-deserving, polluted, and unclean, and wanted to be washed from our sins in sacred blood.
MATTHEW POOLE: For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, Romans 5:6―the love of Christ in dying for the ungodly shows that is it unparalleled and without example.
COLONEL JAMES GARDINER (1688-1745): And indeed, next to the greatness of His love to us, methinks there is nothing so astonishing as the coldness of our love to Him.
EDWARD PAYSON: Love may be measured by the provocations it overlooks, and by the degree of patience with which it bears unkindliness and ingratitude. Of all the trials to which love can be exposed, this is the most severe. To love whose who are kind, affectionate, and grateful for our love, to adhere to them in adversity, to suffer for them, and load them with favours, is comparatively easy; nor does it require a very high degree of affection to do this. But to persevere in doing good to the ungrateful and perverse, who are jealous and suspicious, and who render us evil for good; to bear with the most unreasonable and cruel provocations, continually repeated; to forgive again, and again, and still find new acts of forgiveness called for; to see our very kindness turned against us, and yet to continue to be kind—this is indeed the victory, the triumph of love—strong, unconquerable love.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: That is the picture of the love of Christ towards His own―patient, longsuffering, bearing with us, never giving us up. It is, I say, one of the most wonderful things to realize, that even when we in our folly sin against Him, or turn our backs upon Him, His love still remains, it still goes on.
EDWARD PAYSON: All this He foresaw, when He consented to die for us; but the current of His love was too deep and strong to be checked or diverted from its course. And notwithstanding the innumerable slights and provocations which He has received, and is daily receiving, it still flows as deep and strong as ever.
JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): See here a great evidence of the love of God, and of the Mediator…This is the love of a Friend, and beyond it.
HUGH LATIMER (1483-1555): The love of God towards mankind passeth all natural love.
EDWARD PAYSON: Remember how He pitied us, awakened us, convinced us of sin, and drew us to Himself by the cords of love. Remember how often He has since healed our backslidings, pardoned our sins, borne with our unbelief, ingratitude, and slowness to learn; supplied our wants, listened to our complaints, alleviated our sorrows, and revived our drooping spirits when we were ready to faint. In short, we must remember all the way by which He has led us, these many years, through a wilderness of sins, sorrows, trials and temptations.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: And why did He do it all? The astounding answer is, Because of His love for you. Because He loved you…That’s the depth of His love!
A. W. PINK: Let us revel in its unparalleled degree―Matchless, amazing love!
CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788): Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Never think of the atonement of Christ without thinking, ‘That costly sacrifice was necessary for me.’
