the following message is by pastor john piper more information from desiring god ministries is available at www.desiringgod.org take a bible if you'd like to follow along in the text and turn to romans one we're on our way through this greatest of all letters that has ever been written the most influential letter a letter that has turned the world on its head more than once and may god be pleased to [Music] turn our church upside down through it i'm going to read the first paragraph again for the fifth time and look with you at one phrase in verse 7 as the second part of last week's message romans 1 1 paul a bond servant of christ jesus called as an apostle set apart for the gospel of god which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures [Music] concerning his son [Music] who was born of a descendant of david according to the flesh who was declared the son of god with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness jesus christ our lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for his name's sake among whom you also are the called of jesus christ to all who are beloved of god in rome called as saints grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ father i ask for your help now to unfold the little phrase beloved of god that we will focus on this morning lord unless you come and do what romans 5 5 says namely pour out the love of god into our hearts by the holy spirit we will not see it we will not feel it we will not be changed by it and you will not get the glory that you should from our worship and our obedience of faith so would you come holy spirit and through the truth pour out the love of god into our hearts this morning in jesus name i ask it amen last week we focused on the phrase in verse six the called of jesus christ and i said a few things let me sum it up try to bring us into the flow here i said it's god's call to people bringing them into fellowship with jesus christ and i said and argued from texts that it is not merely an invitation to come but it is a powerful divine supernatural word by which god creates what he commands and i ended the message with second corinthians 4 4-6 and i think it would be good for us to go there in our bibles if you would like to would you turn that's just two books over romans first corinthians second corinthians so if you've got romans you can find second corinthians chapter four verses four through six these verses are for me some of the most important verses for understanding the nature of conversion and who i am and how i became a christian of all the verses in the bible these are very near the top of helping me understand who i am and how i got to be here as a christian and i want you to know who you are and how you got to be where you are and i want god to get the glory for it therefore i want you to see how god did it in these verses these verses are a description i believe of the call of god upon his people [Music] in verse four of second corinthians four you see the reason why so few people do not or so many people do not see the truth of god in christ let's read it the god of this world namely satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god so you have a conspiracy here native human corrupt unbelief on the one side conspires with the devil on the other side to blind fully the human heart from seeing the glory of christ in the gospel and if you don't see the glory of christ in the gospel you won't believe christ we put our faith in what we believe to be true and beautiful and trustworthy and glorious we don't put our faith in what we believe to be foolishness and stupid and weird and irrelevant and a stumbling block so as long as people are blind to the glory they'll never believe which leaves us at the end of verse 4 very desperate who then will be saved and these next two verses i argued describe two things two kinds of ministry that has to happen in order for anybody to be converted to christ and saved verse 5 says we preach christ jesus as lord and ourselves as your servants your bond servants for jesus sake that's the first thing that has to happen there has to be a word spoken and a life lived unbelievers need to hear the gospel articulated by a preacher or on a piece of paper over radio and they have to see some living out of the reality of servant life that christ creates in the heart so we preached and we gave ourselves as servants for your sake however [Music] the apostle paul is painfully aware and you are painfully aware three of you came up to me at the end of the service last week and said that that day or that week you would be going to talk to a brother or an uncle or i forget the other relation who are hard as nails as far as you can tell and have been witness to and loved and shown christ for years and they don't believe so verse 6 is the word of hope in this desperate and helpless situation that we've all known we've known it about ourselves some of us and we've known it about others verse 6 in second corinthians 4 says for god who said let light shine out of darkness now that's a reference back to genesis 1 where god spoke to the absence of light absence of light let there be light [Music] and out of absence of light came light that's the god he's talking about that's the image he wants us to have in our mind a creator god who speaks into nothing something by the power of his word the word creates what it commands he says for the god who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ you see the parallel with verse four in verse four he says the god of this world is blinding us so that we can't see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god and now he says but god can overcome that blindness he can overcome that resistance he can overcome that unbelief he can soften that hardness he can raise the dead if he just says let there be light the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ let it be and suddenly the gospel and the christ of the gospel is no longer stupid it's no longer irrelevant it's no longer a stumbling block it's no longer foolish it's no longer weird spiritual mumbo jumbo it is now life beauty power wisdom hope treasure glory joy all i've ever looked for and all i've ever needed i see it that's how you got saved if you're saved it's good to know how we got to be where we are verse seven these christians he says whom he called in verse six the called of jesus christ he has spoken into their hearts with his sovereign word he has wakened them from the sleep of unbelief he has blinded or overcome the blindness of satan he has removed the hardness of heart he has raised the spiritually dead just like he did for lazarus how many words did it take to get lazarus out of the grave three lazarus come forth and the dead man for four days lived and the only thing that made him live was lazarus come forth that's the word of god that's not john piper that's the word of god i can issue a call for conversion only god can issue a converting call and he did it for these roman christians and for every christian in this room in this room he did it for you that's how you got to be where you are whether you know it or not that's how you got there lazarus come forth we are the called of jesus christ we live it says here among the gentiles but we belong now through this sovereign call to jesus we don't belong to jesus the way we belong to the democratic party or the republican party or a labor union or the minneapolis club we belong to jesus by virtue of a sovereign omnipotent creative word of god that brought into being what it called for and so our belonging to jesus is unlike our belong to anything else it is rooted in the call of god almighty now what i want to do this morning in the rest of this text and the rest of this sermon is to deepen and god willing sweeten your experience of the call of god by showing you that it came from the love of god for you in particular and that that call of god ushers you into a realm of the love of god that is unlike any other experience that those have who have not received the love of god that's what i want you to taste so let's read verse seven here to all who are beloved of god we're in romans one now not second corinthians four romans 1 7 [Music] to all who are beloved of god in rome call us saints grace to you in peace from god our father in the lord jesus christ to all who are called and to all who are loved of god oh christian know yourself this way this morning know yourself this way that you are called of jesus christ [Music] and loved of god do you know yourself do you do you say i am the beloved of god i am my beloveds and he is mine that's god singing over you my beloved do you know that you are the beloved of god do you feel that is that the wonder of your life do you go to bed and feed on that and do you wake up and drink from that fountain i am the beloved of god almighty and if not listen listen and receive what does it mean i want to enlarge your understanding i don't want to shrink your understanding of the love of god this morning but it seems to me that for many people the only way that they have ever conceived of the love of god for them is the same way that they conceive of the love of god for everybody in the world which means they've never tasted the covenant love of god if you only know yourself loved the way everybody is loved you do not know the covenant love of god and that's the love that we're to feed on that's the love that we're to drink that's the love that is our strength that is our hope that is the rock-solid assurance that will make it to glory and not go to hell it seems to me that in america both in broad christian circles catholic protestant as well as evangelical circles the love of god is a light thing it rests lightly upon the church because we have learned only to think of it in terms of the same way it is offered to everybody in the world so we compute let's see am i loved by god well the bible says he loves everybody i'm among everybody so i guess he must love me and if that's all you know of the love of god you're going to starve and may not even be a christian now it is true that god loves the world we give you a couple of texts to drive this home before i add to it the most precious thing in all the world for christians matthew 5 44 love your enemies christians love your enemies so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous love your enemies because god loves his enemies evidence the sun came up on minneapolis this morning doesn't matter that this cloud cover the sun came up on minneapolis this morning on tens of thousands yeah hundreds of thousands of god ignoring people that's love i tell you that's love tornado should have come and ripped through this city earthquakes could and should have come and opened up and swallowed house after house after house after house in judgment that's what should have happened in minneapolis this morning disease should have run rampant through minneapolis this morning taking thousands of people into a christless eternity for their godless rebellion against the gospel and against jesus and their utter indifference to the sweetness of god's tender mercies offered them every day in sun and rain and they could care less god loves this city it's breathing another text to prove that god loves the world is john 3 16. for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life which means very powerfully very clearly that you can approach anybody at work or on the street or in your neighborhood and say god loves you so much that he sent his son to die for sinners so that whoever including you believes would have eternal life if you would believe the son of god would impart life to you by virtue of his death on behalf of everyone who believes so this the god of love is a god who loves the world in at least these two ways perhaps more than these two but at least these two ways but you know what if you only know in your experience with god a being loved with that kind of love you are not a christian now i'm sure that to many of you that sounds absolutely confusing you do not know what i'm talking about which is a documentation on how light and how shallow is most contemporary christian teaching on the love of god and why i'm lingering on this one phrase for a whole message in romans 1 7 look at it it says i'm writing to all who are beloved of god in rome doesn't this sound like among all the people who are in rome i'm writing to the ones god loves is that what it sounds like [Music] of all the people who live in rome i'm writing to the beloved of god it doesn't sound to me like he's saying what i really want you all to think when i write to you is i love everybody in rome and you now are you a citizen of rome yes i'm a citizen of rome well then i too must be included in this love for everybody in rome that's not what verse 7 is saying if i write a letter to my wife and i say my beloved noel [Music] i love you and may grace be multiplied to you and may god make you strong nobody nobody reading that love letter would say well let me think john loves all people because he's a christian and christians are commanded to love all people noel is a person therefore that's why he calls her beloved nobody would read that letter like that my beloved noel meaning you're among humanity and i love humanity therefore you're loved nobody would read it like that so why would we read verse seven i'm writing to the beloved of god it's not what he means he does not mean god loves the world you're in the world therefore he loves you don't miss this paul does not want you to miss this i'm lingering over this because i've read the rest of the book i know romans 8 and i know what romans 8 says about this phrase and we'll get to romans 8 before we're done to shed more light on it but paul does not want you christian to miss this he doesn't want unbelievers in this room to miss this namely that he is writing notice the phrase to all who are beloved of god in rome and he doesn't mean everybody in rome he means the beloved of god to all the beloved of god in rome and that doesn't include everybody in rome he's writing to the called of god the call of jesus christ who are beloved of god not everybody in rome is called of jesus christ he's writing to the church he's writing to his bride his wife god is god is this love is different from the love of john 3 16 and this love is different from the love of matthew 5 44. this is covenant love i chose noel to be my wife and i made a covenant with her on december 21 1968 and i sealed that covenant with a vow sacred and holy before god almighty and by grace i will never break that covenant and god sealed that covenant in heaven what god has joined together what god has joined together let no man put asunder and she is mine and i am hers and the love that i have for her henceforth is absolutely unique even though there are many other people i would die for this is covenant love this is married love this is vowed love this is i am yours and you are mine love and this is not the general love that made the sun come up this morning on a wicked city it's more i said i want to enlarge your love that is your grasp of the love of god i want to make it smaller this morning i want to make it bigger i want to make it deeper i want to make it sweeter i don't want you to miss out on what god has for you as his beloved and so many evangelicals they don't have a clue about these things i want to argue from scripture this morning that god does hold out a love to the whole world and you can leave this place and do and you must do risk-taking evangelism everywhere you go and i want to add to that that god chooses a wife god chooses a wife and he makes vows to her and he binds himself to her with a covenant love that is unlike any other love in the universe and he keeps her and i believe this is implied in the wording of verse 7 to all who are beloved of god in rome now that may be putting a lot on a little phrase so what i want to do in the minutes that remain is step back from this phrase go to the old testament walk you through the pattern of redemptive history up to romans 8 and stop with this magnificent word from romans 8. let's start it's just a brief survey here of how god is working with the world he said he's going to make a new covenant he's going to make a new covenant someday there was the sinaitic covenant that he made through moses in which he offers the law to the people extends himself as a forgiving god but does not give the full influences of the holy spirit to conform them to the law and bring them to himself and hold them irretrievably as his beloved and the difference between that old covenant and the new is it in the new he promises to move with irresistible power upon his beloved and keeper let me read you the key i think you can read ezekiel 11 ezekiel 36 jeremiah 31 but my favorite is jeremiah 32 40. it was a fighter verse several weeks ago and it goes like this i will make an everlasting covenant with them that i will not turn away from them to do them good i will put the fear of me in their hearts you see the difference here now he's not standing back waiting watching looking to see what people will do with the offerings of his love he says there's coming a day and a new covenant in which i will put the fear of me in their hearts and watch the effect of this so that they will not turn away from me that's marriage between god and his people that's the new covenant that's vow that's love unlike any other love now here comes jesus christ into the world the son of god why why is he coming well there are many ways to say this with truth let me mention one he is coming to purchase the benefits of the new covenant for his people because i don't deserve jeremiah 32 40 to have any an everlasting covenant made with me to have the fear of god put in my heart to be so united to christ that he will never let me go where did that love and mercy come from for a wicked person like me [Music] and the answer is it came by purchase and the blood of jesus christ i'll read you the key text here luke 22 20 at the last supper jesus says this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood the new covenant is in the blood of jesus it is purchased by the blood of jesus it is secured and obtained and made firm by the blood of jesus and the only warrant i have to believe that jeremiah 32 40 is mine is that i bank on the blood of jesus that's my only hope it was bought for me by the blood of jesus to know that you are loved like this is your food and your drink and your honey in life to know that god has made a promise that one day he would move in power by his spirit to put the love of god and the fear of god and trust in god into the hearts of his people and that he would so do that as to keep them from leaving him that's precious indeed i don't think there's anything more precious in my life than to be loved like that and i don't know what christians feed on if they don't know themselves loved like that if you only know yourself loved with a general love that applies to everybody in the world and not a distinguishing love by which you were coveted into a love relation to god by which he vowed to give you himself and to keep you for himself through all the exigencies of life what do you feed on where do you get any assurance you're going to make it to glory [Music] there are millions who go to hell loved by god in the broad general way [Music] where do you get any comfort if you don't know the covenant love of god distinguishingly setting his favor upon you making you his own putting his spirit within you and sealing you for the day of redemption unbreakable because of the blood of jesus i covet for you to know this love i want you to be strong i want you to enjoy what god has for you in christ a young man came up to me after the first service and he said appreciated your reference to the old and new covenant and to the keeping power of the new covenant i'm jewish and i'm a convert and i wonder if you know he said the jew who led me to christ he's pretty famous he said and he's 58 years old today bob dylan and he said i'm i'm concerned about him and don't know if he's a believer will he be kept that interesting i love that heart i don't know either i just read an article about him and he was interviewed recently and asked about his once very prominent christian faith and less prominent now who is it bob dylan and the answer was it ain't me babe it ain't me babe which opens the door crack doesn't it it opens the door a crack let's pray for him he and i just we prayed for bob dylan come on home bob jesus if he's yours bring him home bring him home don't let him go there can be backslidings in the christian life i'm not saying the covenant of love of god the covenant love of god does not permit backslidings i'm saying it's like luke 22 32 where jesus looks peter right in the face and says peter satan has demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat but i have prayed for you that your faith may not fail [Music] and when you have turned strengthen your brethren for before the crows three times or before the crows you will deny me three times the covenant love of god lets that sort of thing happen but when you turn i prayed for you i prayed for you jesus is in heaven praying for his saints pleading the blood that he shed on the cross for his own and if they backslide he will have them back and that's the way we pray for those who we believe were once believers and seem to be straying god bring them home oh mighty god bring him home in response to my prayers and the prayers of your son and the promises of jeremiah 32 40. i will not let them depart from me let me close in romans 8. would you turn there with me very briefly you've got to see this because everything in romans tends to roman 8 romans 8 it's it's the pinnacle of the book if you want to understand romans memorize romans 8 everything goes there everything flows from there if you want to understand chapter one you gotta read chapter eight now what we're trying to get across is that besides the broad and wonderful love of god for the world there is a most precious distinguishing covenant love for his bride his people his called ones which will keep them forever verse 35 in romans 8 who will separate us from the love of christ [Music] now do you see what that is asking that is asking can the new covenant be broken that's what that's saying the new covenant says i will put the fear of you in your heart so that you will not leave me i will take responsibility for keeping you and now paul raises the question will something separate us [Music] can the new covenant be broken and if not why not and then he gives some specific examples of things that might tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril sword he asked could those separate us from the love of christ would that jeopardize the new covenant would that make jeremiah 32 40 not come true and he answers now in verse 37 his answer is so exuberant that he leaves out the word no but it's really there no no they will not separate us he jumps over the no into the super abundant conquering that the saint has and he says in all these things that is in all the tribulation of distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword every problem in your life that is threatening to draw you away from the love of god and make you an unbeliever and cause you to doubt god will overwhelmingly conquer how what's the next phrase through him who loved us now listen christian you've got to know this love you've got to know this love this is precious beyond words what is it that will keep you from being separated from the love of christ answer the love of god who will separate us from the love of christ all these things no we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us we will not be separated from the love of christ because of the covenant-keeping love of god do you know that love do you cherish that love do you go to bed at night saying i cannot believe oh god that you've chosen me that you've put faith in my heart that you've caused me year in and year out to come back to you and to confess my sins and to believe over and over again i don't i don't know how you have any assurance at all if this covenant keeping love is not precious to you just look at the people in this church that are leaving their spouses and leaving the faith do you look at them and say oh i'd never do that i have a will i always use my will to stay my will is invincible oh where do you have any assurance that you're not going to do that just say i've had it in this marriage or i've had in this job and i've had at this church and i've had it with hypocrites and i've had it with jesus and i'm out of here and i'm gonna eat drink and be married till i die and i don't care if there's a hell you could wake up tomorrow morning feeling that way apart from the love of god keeping you that's the only reason i don't wake up that way my only hope is jeremiah 32 40 bought by the blood of jesus for me it's my only hope i will put the fear of you in their hearts and i will put the fear of me in your heart and i will not let you turn away and of course the last verses here of the chapter speak it i am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels no principalities nor things present or things to come nor powers no height nor depth or anything and all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord [Music] the word spoken to you christian this morning is from god through my mouth right now i chose you i called you i justified you through the faith that i gave to you i inhabit you by my holy spirit i sanctify you i work in you that which is pleasing in my sight i will bring you to glory i love you i love you that's the way i love you if you're not a believer in this room right now as we close one or two questions for you just to be sure you're connecting why are you here how did you get here is it a marvel isn't it a marvel that you're here and that you've heard this strange message about the love of god that you wouldn't have heard doing whatever you might have been doing this morning and you've now heard it that's a marvel that's god and my second question is is not god right now opening your heart to see the glory of christ in the gospel isn't he so that you see a son of god leaving heaven and glory taking on human flesh suffering and dying for ungodly rebellious sinners like us ready to be accepted by all who believe and if so yield i beseech you on behalf of christ and in the name of god yield to that glimmer of light in your heart and now unto him who is able to keep you from falling is that not precious now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the throne of his glory with rejoicing to the only god our savior through jesus christ our lord be glory and majesty and authority and dominion before all time now and forevermore and all the loved of god said amen you're dismissed thank you for listening to this message by john piper pastor for preaching at bethlehem baptist church in minneapolis minnesota feel free to make copies of this message to give to others but please do not charge for those 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