God's Love-Letter — E.A. Johnston

There was an Englishman who traveled frequently to India for business purposes. His main business took place in the city of Calcutta. It was there while shopping in an Indian bazaar that he purchased a necklace for his little girl.

He would often bring his eight-year-old daughter, Trinkets, back from his travels. On this recent trip to India, he bought his daughter a pretty little jade necklace at an inexpensive market bazaar.

After she wore it a few days, the metal clasp broke, and this Englishman took it to a London jeweler to be repaired. A few days later, the man returned to the jeweler to pick up the necklace for his little girl.

The jeweler emerged from a back room with the necklace, and with an excited look on his face, the jeweler asked, May I ask you, sir, how much you paid for this jade necklace? The man replied, I believe I paid twenty pounds for it, nothing more.

The jeweler smiled and said, Look into this magnifying glass. See the letters carved on each piece of jade? It is French lettering. When you lay these seventy-eight pieces of jade side by side, they form a love letter written from Napoleon to Juliet.

The Bible as God's Love Letter

This jade necklace is worth well over a half a million pounds. Listen, friends, the Bible is comprised of sixty-six books, and they form a love letter. It is God's love letter to us, for the Bible is a story about God's love toward sinful man in reconciling the world back to him through the death and resurrection of his dear son, Jesus Christ, and the love of Christ was demonstrated for us by the pouring out of his blood on an ignoble cross so we could escape the wrath of God through a sin substitute who died on our behalf.

God gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life, and Jesus is seated on a heavenly throne right now, right now where he reigns in glory. He sits at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross.

I repeat, the Bible is God's love letter to sinful man. It speaks of the broken heart of God over sin. It is a book of letters which tell of the love of God, and it is a book which declares the good news concerning the gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel itself is truly a love letter from Jesus to sinful man.

It is a love letter signed with his very own blood. Listen, the blood of Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. The gospel of Christ, the death of Christ, the blood of Christ all speak of such a love letter poured out from the very heart of God.

Never was there such a love letter as this. Ephesians 2 .4 declares, for his great love wherewith he loved us. How great is this love? There is a story which always moves me when I hear it. It's about a farmer's dog who'd been very useful to him, but it was getting old.

God's Love Demonstrated Through Sacrifice

His master decided one day to get rid of him by drowning him, taking the dog with him to a large river near his farm. He got into a boat and rowed out to the deepest part of the river. Around the dog's neck, he tied a cord attached to a heavy stone, then he threw both of them into the water.

The poor dog sank, but the cord broke and rose to the surface with a whine. The dog frantically tried to get into the boat again. Unmoved, his master pushed him off a number of times with an oar, but every time the dog faithfully swam back.

Finally, in desperation, the farmer stood up in the boat, intending to strike the dog such a blow with the oar that it would send the dog to the bottom of the river. As the farmer swung the oar at the dog's head, he lost his balance and fell into the water himself.

Well, the farmer could not swim and would have drowned, but when the dog saw his master struggling in the water, in spite of the cruel treatment he had just received from him, the dog swam up to him, caught hold of his clothes, and paddling with all its might, the faithful friend brought his master safely to the shore.

Did the farmer end up killing that dog? Of course not. He was so overwhelmed by the loyalty and love of his dog that he cared for it for the rest of its days. When you, friends, are confronted with the message of the gospel of the Son of God, it should so overwhelm you with God's love towards you that you should be brought savingly to Christ.

How could you not read that love letter and have your own heart broken over your sins? But what happened when Jesus came into this world, doing good, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and giving rest to the weary?

A wicked man said, Away with him, crucify him. They took the Lamb of God and nailed him to a tree. Look at that blessed man on that bloody cross. Even when they railed at him while he hung on that cross, his love flowed out in a prayer to the Father, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The Cross, Propitiation, and Reconciliation

The cross was the place where men sought to get rid of him. But through his death, that same cross becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance and own him as their Savior and Lord.

And 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 here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Some time ago, I read the story about how our Bibles came to have red lettering for the words of Christ. There was a man who was good friends with D .L. Moody, and this man was also the editor of the Christian Herald magazine.

This man's name was Louis Klopps, and he conceived the idea of printing some of the biblical text with red ink. When reading Jesus' words one day, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

He thought of printing all of Jesus' words in the red, the color of his blood, to remind people of that sacrifice. So that is how we came to have our red-lettered Bibles. But listen to this. The gospel is a love letter written in red.

When Jesus was scourged, every stripe is a letter. When they hammered those nails into his hands, every nail is a capital letter. Every bleeding wound in his flesh is a sentence. The blood-stained cross is an exclamation point.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly a love letter written in red, red with his precious blood. Even your sins are crimson red. Is that not what God declares in this love letter of His? Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord.

Though your sins be as scarlet, they should be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they should be as wool, red like crimson. Your own bloody sins nailed Christ to that tree, and you need a substitute for sin.

Sin, Judgment, and the Need for a Substitute

If you can stand on your own merit against the severity and strictness of God's holy law, you will be condemned for breaking that law. And the punishment is a burning hell, a burning hell where once you're shut up in there, you cannot get out.

I know I've broken God's law because I'm a sinner, and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Jesus Christ, and so do you. I repeat, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a love letter from God written and signed with his very blood.

How can you not surrender to God after hearing about such love? You are a rebellious soul with a hard and filthy heart. Your sins nailed unto that bloody tree. Be thankful for the blood of Christ, that fountain of blood which washes sin away.

Can you not love him, he who first loved you? Or will you love your sins more? Will you spurn the love of Christ? Will you reject him? How can you not part with your sins after knowing that God parted with his son, allowing him to be sent to a cross to die for you, that Christ was willing to endure all that suffering and shame for you, that Christ was content to be forsaken, that you might not be forsaken, that Christ would be content to be condemned and sentenced, that you might be acquitted?

How can you not be swallowed up in this divine love? How can you spend your thoughts and live your life in rebellion against this Christ who gave his all for you? Look on Jesus who died that you might live, who because of his tender love for you became a sacrifice for sin so that you would not suffer and burn in hell for eternity.

Loving Christ More Than Sin

Will you not come to Jesus Christ and love him? It is recorded that the martyr Ignatius, that he so continually meditated on the great things Christ suffered for him that he was brought entirely to love Christ to such a degree that when he was persecuted and it was demanded of him to reject Christ or to be torn and devoured of wild beasts, he answered that he could not forget him because of his sufferings for him.

He declared, oh, his sufferings are not transient words or removable objects, but they are indelible characters so engraven in my heart that all the torments of earth can never raise them out. The love of Christ so overwhelmed the early Christians that they rather die than deny him.

Do you love Jesus like that or do you love your sins more than Jesus? There must be a satisfaction to divine justice that this was accomplished through the death of the Son of God. If those damned souls in hell could reach you with their cries, they would warn you not to come there.

They died in their sins. They died apart from Christ. Those suffering in hell right now would love to hear a gospel invitation, but it is too late for them. But you have an opportunity to hear of this love letter from God which declares, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The Gospel Invitation to the Thirsty

Listen friend to this call of love from this love letter. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price, and the Spirit and the bride say come, and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water alive freely.

Listen friend to Jesus as he calls you to partake of this love letter. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

This love letter from God calls the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty to come to him. Will you come to him friend? This love letter declares that Christ came to save lost sinners, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The Gospel Both Invites and Warns

This love letter from God both woos and warns, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Now listen to the warning, if you spurn the love of God and reject his dear Son Jesus Christ, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

Today I have read you portions of a love letter from God dipped in the ink of the blood of his Son, but you must repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ to receive this great love. Let me ask you a question, would you gladly receive this love letter from God in the person of his Son Jesus Christ by placing your faith in him, or will you carelessly tear up this love letter and trample the offered sacrifice for sin?

Repentance, Faith, and the Call to Look and Live

Look to Christ friend, look to Christ, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I beg you to turn from your sins and go to God now and ask him for the grace of repentance and faith and accept the offered Christ today, repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ and receive this great love friend.

Look and live.