Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. This will be
the fourth study that we're going through in this wonderful, wonderful
chapter. And we will see such great comfort
as we've seen already through these verses. But there is a
verse in this section that we're going to look at that just makes
my heart sing. And I hope it does for you, too.
And we'll get to that verse, and it'll tell us that God loves
us as Christ. We can't fathom that, can we?
But it's truth. Remember, what we're reading
today is fact. What we've studied is fact. Anytime a gospel preacher stands
up and preaches the gospel, it's fact. The scriptures are facts. Truth. in a world where truth doesn't
matter much. But this word is the truth, just
as our Savior was called, the way, the truth, and the life. Now we're going to enter a portion
here of this prayer of our great Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, which is very, very comforting because
we're going to see that He's praying for us. He's praying
for all those who would believe on the Word of the Apostles,
and He's praying for all the elect of all the ages. Now let
that just sink in. Before we ever were, Christ is
praying for us. And He's praying to the Father,
who has given Him all power, that He should give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given Him. And we're that number. We who
are the elect of God, we're part of that number. And again, back
home, the folks always say, well, why me, Wayne? Well, because
it pleased God to do so. Isn't that wonderful? I just
keep giving the same answer. It pleased God to do so. But
here we're going to see the love of Christ for us. The love for
the bride manifests. Now, imagine the love that we
have for our spouses and the love we have for our children
and our grandchildren. It doesn't even come close to
this love. This great love is an everlasting, eternal love. It's unchanging. It's unchanging. And again, what the scriptures
proclaim are facts. They're facts. The scripture's
not up for debate. Folks often want to debate the
scripture. I say, the scripture's not up for debate. We read it, and that's what it
says. You know what? It's not even up to personal
opinion either. It says what it says, and that's
it. And by God's grace and mercy,
we believe it. We believe it. It's absolutely
amazing. The Holy Spirit has regenerated
us, we're born again, gives us faith to look to Christ, and
then believe all the words of the Bible. It's amazing. And the scriptures state facts
by the grace and mercy of God, by His regenerating power. Now
we see the truth. When we didn't before, we were
dead in trespasses and sins. We had no idea what the scriptures
said, did we? We had a God of our imagination.
But now, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, He's revealed
who God really is. And more so too, He's revealed
who we really are. In our desperate need for Christ,
who is the God-man. Oh my. And we are let the truth of the
scriptures guide our thoughts about Christ
and about God the Father. Because again, the Scriptures
proclaim facts. They're not up for debate. They're
not up for personal opinion. My dear bride, before the Lord
saved her, was in several Bible studies where they would read
a verse of Scripture and they'd say, well, what do you think
about that? And they went around the circle and each person told them, that's
so wrong, it's not funny. The Scriptures aren't up for
debate. Do you know what the first definition of heresy is
in the Greek? Opinion. Isn't that amazing? Somebody
said, well, that's your opinion, not mine on what that says. Well,
the scripture is not up for private interpretation, is it? No, no. And we see our Lord now. He's
going to transition in this high, preacherly prayer. He's prayed
for himself in the first six verses, from verse, uh, the first
five verses, from verses 6 to 19, he's prayed for the apostles,
and now we're going to see him pray for his church. All the
elect, of all the ages. And we were woven all through
those first two sections, too. But look at this, now he's going
to specifically pray for his people. Starting at verse 20. Neither pray for these alone,
that's being the apostles, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word. Now the same gospel we preach
is the same gospel that the apostles preached. There's only one gospel. There's only one truth. There's
not multiple ways to God. There's not multiple gospels.
There's only one gospel and it concerns the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him dying as a substitute of His people. by the free and
sovereign grace according to God's will and providence, and
by the shedding of His precious blood, we are redeemed, beloved.
It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It says, neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word, that they all may be one. Thou father art in me and I am
thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe
that thou has sent me Have you ever noticed that when you meet
other believers from other places? There's an instant connection
There's an instant well, we have the same father We have the same
Redeemer and we have the same spirit beloved and it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful There's
an instant connection In Christ Jesus our Lord, he doesn't just
pray for his disciples, but now he's praying for all who would
believe on their preaching. And we know that the only way
we believe the preaching of the gospel is by God-given faith. First, you're born again. People
always used to tell me, well, faith comes before regeneration.
No, you got the cart before the horse there. Regeneration comes
first. You must be born again. And then
even faith, we can't muster it up. It's given to us. And as
I said a couple nights ago, that faith, it has one object, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who's the object of our
faith, of God-given faith. It's wonderful. And marvel that
this prayer is still being answered today. Let's read verse 21. That
they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also will be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. Each time a lost sheep is saved,
this prayer is answered. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Let
us marvel at that. And note, they will believe on
Christ. It's not they might if they exercise
their so-called free will or make a decision. No, our will
is bound to our nature. And if we have a dead nature,
which we have when we're born into this world, we will never
choose God. We will never want anything to
do with God. But when you're born again, and you have a new
nature, and you've been given faith to believe, oh, Christ
is everything, isn't he? He's my shepherd. He's the fairest
of 10,000 to my soul now. It's amazing what God does for
us and in us. Oh my so he's praying he prays
for all all those who will believe and he's They will believe let's
read that again neither pray I for those alone, but for them
also which what? Shall believe on me. There's
no doubt There's no doubt they will They will. Everyone for whom Christ died
for shall be saved. There will not be one missing
from that number, which is a number that no man can number. There
won't be one missing from that number. Not one. My oh my. And they hear the gospel through
the preaching of God's free and sovereign grace. They hear the
gospel of salvation in and through Christ alone plus nothing No
works of ours All by the precious precious work of the Lord Jesus
Christ in him alone Paul said this before the Galatians before
he did it. Let's turn their Galatians chapter 1 before before Paul
does any correction with the Galatians. Now the Galatians
started believing the Judaizers came in and they started saying
you must be circumcised or follow the law of Moses to be saved,
along with believing on Christ. So before Paul does, this is
marvelous, he does it in Corinthians too, the whole first chapter.
Before he does any correction at all amongst the people of
God, look what he sets forth before them. Galatians chapter
1 verses 1 to 5. Look at this, this is wonderful.
Grace be to you, verse 3. Be to you and peace from God
the father and from our Lord Jesus Christ look at this who
gave himself for our sins The gospel set forth right there
Christ gave himself for the sins of all his people and Paul sets
it forth right before them That he might deliver us from
this present evil world look at this are you saved today look
at this according to the will of God and our father Hallelujah. And it says this, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. So before he does
any correction, He sets forth Christ in exactly what He's done.
He's redeemed us. He's delivered us from all our
sins by the shedding of His precious, precious blood. And then verse
21, let's go back to John chapter 17. Verse 21 brings forth the
oneness that the bride has with Christ. Remember when Paul was
arrested on the road to Damascus? What did the Lord say to him?
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who was Saul persecuting? The
church. See, just like my head is attached
to my body, right? Christ is the head and we're
the body. Somebody hits you with a hammer on your finger, you're
gonna know it. Your head's gonna tell you, oh,
that hurt, right? Do you see the oneness that Christ
has with us? It's absolutely amazing. It's
absolutely incredible. He says here, and he brings forth
here the oneness that the bride has with Christ and the oneness
that Christ has with the Father. He says this, that they all may
be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. Look at that. This is a union and a oneness
between the Father and Son in nature. Power, essence, affection,
purpose, and it infinitely transcends any union among men. It's so
far above any union among men. God's people also have a common
faith, don't we? Which we all agree in the main
point of the gospel that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is
by Christ alone. It's not by anything we can do.
Nothing. We went from believing we could
save ourselves by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, to believing
that Christ is the only one. Isn't it wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. And
we have a common affection. We're knit together in love now.
We're knit together in love with people we never would have maybe
even wanted to be around before the Lord saved us. And we have a common Common goal
the glory of God We seek to glorify God No, here we are. We gather together and the gospel
message goes out and it's for the glory of God It's for his
glory and also we're all one in Christ We're one in Christ
beloved It's amazing. Now. Let's read verses 22 and
23. I the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they
may be one even as we are one so he's praying for our unity
here and think of the unity that the father has with the son and
he says here that they may be one even as we are one and then
he goes in verse 23 I and them and thou and me that they may
be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou
has sent me and has loved them and Thou has loved me My You
know, we see through a glass darkly now But then we're gonna
see face to face when we're going we're gonna see face there. We're
gonna see our Savior face to face Now we look by faith and
we hope in Christ, you know, if you see something you don't
hope in it Do you already seen it? We never seen Christ But
we hope in Him, don't we? We've been given a hope. When
we go through this world, again, the great tribulation of this
world, we have a hope that's steadfast and sure in His name
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. And what wonderful words
are uttered here by the God-men, by the Word of God incarnate. the flesh the Lord Jesus Christ
he who is our Redeemer and King He was the head of all the body
All the believers of all the ages all the blood-washed saints
he is the head and we're the body My we'll come back and look at
verse 23 But this takes us right into
verse 24. Father I will that they also whom thou has given
me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which
thou has given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. Oh look at this wonderful verse.
Our high priestly prayer. Our Lord's high priestly prayer
praying for us. before we ever are. See, we always
remember that God knows the end from the beginning. Right? We know our beginning, and we
don't know what our end is, but we have an end appointed by God. But He knows the end from the
beginning. It's already done in His eyes.
See, that which God purposed and planned, this is wonderful,
that which God purposed and planned in His love by choosing us in
Christ by His love, His great love for us. Even though we were
dead in trespasses and sins, when He looked down, He saw us
all dead. We're just dead as doornails. And He chose us in Christ. Peter says we're a chosen generation.
You ever think of that? We're chosen in our generation.
Out of all the sea of humanity in our generation, God said,
you're mine. That's amazing. That's absolutely
incredible, isn't it? But it's true. But it's true.
And in the everlasting covenant of grace, again, the Father gave
Christ to people. Christ said, I'll die for them,
I'll redeem them. I'll redeem them. And the Holy
Spirit said, I'll regenerate. for the glory of God all for
the glory of God look at this what we see here father I will
that they also whom now has given me be with me where I am every
time a saint of God dies to be absent from the bodies be present
with the Lord every time a saint of God dies this prayer is answered
because where do we go we go right home to heaven don't we
it's wonderful it's absolutely wonderful When the Son of God
breathes their last breath, they're immediately beholding the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, now the faith has become
sight. Oh, it's glorious. It's glorious. Let's read the middle part of
this verse and the latter part of this verse and marvel at the
words set right here before us, which magnify the deity of Christ. He says, that they may behold
my glory. Well, he's talking about the glory he had with the
Father before he came down to this world. Which thou has given
me, for thou lovest me from before the foundation of the world.
Look at that. Before there ever was a world,
before there ever was angels, do you know God was perfectly
content just being God? He didn't need nothing. He didn't
need nobody. But he had planned to manifest
his love to manifest His grace and to manifest His mercy on
the people, didn't He? And that's what we call the elect
of God. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And again, we do not see Christ
now. We read of Him. We hear of Him
in the preaching of the Gospel. And by God-given faith, we believe
on Him. We believe on Him. But He's finished
the work. And now we rest our souls upon
another. We look outside of ourselves,
don't we? See, before I was saved, I always
looked inside, me. Look out for number one. I remember
hearing that all the time. Look out for number one. And
of course, number one was self then. But now, we as believers,
we look outside of ourselves. And we look up to Christ. And
we praise His name for saving us. for not leaving us dead in
trespasses and sins. And Christ's prayer here shows
that His will is the same as the Father's. Let's read that
again. That they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given
Me, for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world.
Well, if God's loved Christ from before the foundation of the
world, then He loves everybody in Christ from before the foundation
of the world, doesn't He? Isn't that wonderful? What comfort.
What comfort. You hear people say now, well,
I've fallen out of love with you. That's a common phrase there. I've fallen out of love with
you now. I'm not in love with you anymore. Wow. We'll never hear those words
from the Father or the Son. This love transcends all earthly
love. It's so far above, as high as
the heavens, is this love of God for His people. Infinite. You can't plumb the depths of
it. You can't find the width of it.
It's infinite. It's infinite. And like we say
back home, we go, this is, because it just fizzes our brains, doesn't
it? It just fizzes our brains. We
just, we believe it, but it's so overwhelming, isn't it? It's
so overwhelming. And sometimes we're really weak
in faith, right? Sometimes we're, oftentimes we're, you know, I
don't, I can't really tell a time when I was strong in faith. I'm
always weak. I need the Lord all the time.
But in our weakness, he's strong, isn't he? He's strong all the
time. He's faithful. He's faithful.
And by God-given faith, we believe in him. We rest our souls in
the finished work of Christ. And we walk by faith. We don't
walk by sight. We walk by faith, don't we? God-given
faith. And one day, there'll be an end
to this world. There'll be an end to this world one day, to
this time state. And then we'll see Christ face
to face forever, all because of his great love that he's had
for us. And we'll be in his presence,
oh, we'll be in his presence forever. Let's read verses 25
and 26 now. Oh, righteous father, what a
title, what a title. Oh, righteous father, he is righteous,
he's holy. That's a title of our king, righteous
father. And you know, in order to be
in the presence of the righteous father, we must be clothed in
the perfect righteousness of Christ. And who puts it on us? The Father puts it on us. It's
wonderful. You remember the prodigal son? Remember the prodigal son comes
home. What does the father say? He
says, bring out the best robe. That pictures the righteousness
of Christ. And clothe him in it. We're clothed in the best
robe, beloved. the perfect, spotless righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins were imputed to Him,
and His righteousness is imputed to us. My, the great exchange,
the sinless one dying for sinners. Oh, it's amazing. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known
that Thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
Thy name, and will declare it, The love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them. Notice who's the giver
of the knowledge of the Father. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the head of the church. What does he communicate to God's
people? Well, he gives us the knowledge
of the Father, who is called here by one of his titles, Righteous
Father. Oh, he's so righteous. He's perfect
righteousness. And take note of the division
in verse 25. Take note of this. There's a
division in verse 25. It says, O righteous father,
the world, there's the world, hath not known thee. But I've
known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. Take
note. Who divides the world? of unbelievers
from the church. It's the one in the middle. Look
at that, O righteous father of the world, I've not known thee,
but I've known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me. Christ is manifested to us, isn't he? Oh my. That ties right into that scripture
I was talking about last night, who made you to differ from another,
and what do you have that you didn't receive? See, God's grace
is discriminating grace. And as I said the other night,
people say, well, that's not fair. Well, I don't want fair.
I'll tell you that. Fair would be everyone goes to
hell. My, oh, my. By the grace of God, I'm saved.
I am what I am, right? A saved man. But only by the
grace of God, only by the mercy of God. Look at these words, but I have
known thee Christ is speaking of himself that he knows the
father and he knows the father intimately He came down from
heaven He came down from heaven And then the words spoken of
the church and these have no one that thou has sent me. He's
talking about you and I You know that because he's praying for
all the elect. He's talking about you and I
Isn't that wonderful Christ is speaking of all the
elect of all the ages all the ransom blood-bought bride The
church of God who he's soon going to go and purchase with his precious
blood See you remember he knows the end from the beginning See God purposed in plan this
he made time and space so that Christ could come into this world
according to the the covenant of grace and redeem his people
from their sins and He ascended back up to heaven and God knows
everything that's going to happen all the way to the end But he
knows it backwards Isn't that amazing? He's speaking like it's
already done. Have you noticed that? Have you
noticed that? These have no one that thou has
sent me. I wasn't even born when he preached this or when he prayed
this will you Isn't that amazing? I have known thee and these have
known that thou has sent me. It's wonderful. Oh God's grace
is amazing He's speaking here of all the elect of all the ages
all the ransom blood bought bride purchased with the precious blood
of Christ and Again, what stands between the world and the church
Christ? Christ Jesus our Lord he's the
only one who made us to differ and Wonder of wonders to have
Christ between us in the world. This is the best form of separation
in there That's the best form of separation. I Have known thee
and these have known that thou has sent me Again it so ties
into first Corinthians 4 7 for who maketh you to differ So we see in our verse the distinction
being made between And the only one who makes that distinction
is God. Not man. Not man. Only God. He's the only
one who's made us to differ. My, oh my. Let's read verse 26
again. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me be in them, and I in them. Notice the word declared
there in verse 26. In the Greek, it means to make
known. Isn't that amazing? He's declared. He's made known.
He's made known to us God. We didn't know him. He made him
known. And again, this is wonderful. He's speaking in the past tense.
I've declared unto them thy name and will declare that the love
there wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.
Absolutely amazing. We see hear that Christ is the
great revealer of God. If you've seen the Father, or
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. They're one in essence,
in power, aren't they? In will, it's amazing. And we know that we cannot know
God, we cannot love God, except through Christ. except
through Christ. The only way we know is by Him
revealing Himself to us. Only when the eyes are open to
behold the loveliness of God. And do we not see Christ in His
loveliness? Oh, we see Him as our Redeemer,
our Savior. Oh, that He would have mercy
on a worm such as I. Why? Because He's loved us with
an everlasting love. An unchanging love. And this reminds me of no man
can come unto the Father but by me. No man can come unto the
Father but by Christ and Christ alone. In the Holy Spirit of
God, He reveals Jesus Christ to us. He reveals the Father. And you know, He will continue
to do that. And again, like I said the other night, when the last
sheep of God is saved, it's all over. It's all wrapped up. It's
finished. It's absolutely finished. Now
let's go back to verse 23. Spend a few minutes on this verse
here. Verse 23. We will see here that God the
Father has loved His elect. Has loved His elect. with an
unchanging eternal love. And again, listen to these words
of fact. It's almost too much for our
mind, but we believe it by God-given grace, don't we? Look at this. Christ, when praying to the Father,
says this about His soon-to-be blood-bought bride. He hasn't
bought them yet with His blood, but He's the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, right? According to God's will
and purpose, it's already done. Again, that which was purposed
had to take place in time, so He comes into time. We had to
be regenerated at the appointed time of God, the Holy Spirit
comes and regenerates us. It's wonderful. That the latter
part of this says, has loved them as thou has loved me. Let's
read the whole verse. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. We're only perfect in Christ.
We're sinners saved by the grace of God, but we're only perfect
in Christ. In Christ. And that the world
may know that thou has sent me and has loved them. Here, this
is fact. And has loved them as thou has
loved me. How much does God love Christ?
You can't plumb it. We can't even imagine it in our
minds. Again, we think of how much we
love our spouses, how much we love our children, our grandchildren,
other people in our lives. It doesn't even come close. Not
even a scratch to this great love. And again, it's the goodness
of God that leads men to repentance, to know that I'm loved by God
as He loves Christ. My, I've never heard of anything
like that, right? In our natural state, we never
heard anything like that. But the scriptures say it, and
we believe it. We believe it. This can bring
us so much comfort. See, our salvation is not dependent
upon anything we do. God keeps us. He saves us, and
He keeps us. And the reason He does this is
because God the Father has loved us as He's loved Christ. You
know what? That means there's never been
a time when He hasn't loved us. Because He's loved us in Christ
from before the foundation of the world. How long has He loved
Christ? Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
comforting? And he says, I'll never cast
you out. Why? Because of his great love
for us. That's palm to our souls, beloved.
We're black sinners and yet now we're white as snow. And God the Father says, I'll
never leave you. And the Son says, I'll never
leave you. And the Holy Spirit says, I'll never leave you. Hebrews,
chapter 13, I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And in
the Greek, that's never, not ever, never, in the triple. Well, now we can see why. Isn't
this wonderful? Because of this great love. Oh,
I hope this fact will just bless our hearts this week. Bless our
hearts this week. And it leaves us absolutely speechless. It really does. It really does. This love is immeasurable. Again, how do you plumb the depths
of this love? How do you plumb the depths that
God the Father has loved us as He's loved Christ? How do we
plumb those depths? You can't. It's a depthless ocean. It's
a depthless ocean of God's love and mercy. And what wonderful words to think
that the Father has loved us. As he loved his only begotten
son. My, the heights and depths of
this wonderous love. This is matchless love. I have
a brother back home. And when we looked at this verse,
he said to me, he said, you know, I know, I know his story with
him and his dad. And he had a really, really tough
time. His, his dad would get drunk
and then try to kill his mom. And he'd take the brunt of most
of it when he, when she couldn't, when he couldn't get her, he'd
take the brunt of it. And he said, Wayne, he said,
I had that thought about the father in my mind. Until that
verse was preached and he goes, he goes, my heavenly father is
nowhere like my earthly father. Nowhere even near him. Nowhere. Depths of love. Mercy. We swim in an ocean of God's
love, beloved. And he keeps us up. He don't
let us sink. He keeps us up, doesn't he? Oh, it's wonderful.
It's absolutely wonderful. It's wonderful to think that
the Father has loved us as He's loved Christ. And again, let
us remember this is a fact. It's not up for debate. It's
not up to our opinion. It's a fact. It's a fact. My. And He's loved Christ with
an unchanging love. He's loved Christ with an unchanging
love. So that means that He loves us
with an unchanging love. That's wonderful, isn't it? Let's
read that little part again. It says, has loved them as thou
has loved me. Words of fact. Christ is praying
to the Father. And remember, this was preserved
for our comfort, beloved. We go through the toils of this
life. My, how this can comfort us when those trials and tribulations
come to know that the Father loves me as he loves Christ. May the fact of this love in
Christ by the Father be brought forth before us each day. May
we bring it to our memory. And by faith, we believe this
blessed truth, don't we? We believe this blessed truth
by faith. Despite our failings, which are
many, despite our sinfulness, which is many, despite our unbelief,
despite our unfaithfulness, God the Father loves us as He's loved
Christ. My. And it's a fact. It's a fact. So let us simply believe what
the Word of God says. Let us rest in this truth and
repose in this truth. And all the wonderful blessings
from our great God comes to us in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Again, we look outside ourselves and up to Christ who
is all our salvation. And note again the wondrous words
here at the latter part of this verse. What an amazing statement. This is the most amazing statement
God's people will ever hear, that God loves us as He loves
Christ. My. And we have to keep reminding
ourselves that, don't we? We have to keep reminding ourselves.
You know, this truth is also brought forth in the book of
Ephesians, where Paul penned that all the believers in Christ
are accepted in the beloved. The only way we're accepted is
in Christ. God the Father chose us in Christ,
Christ redeemed us, and we are now accepted by God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the only reason, the engine
behind it is the love of God in Christ. We're made accepted in our natural
state We're unfit to be in the presence of God. But in regeneration,
in redemption, in justification, in sanctification, clothed in
the righteousness of Christ, we are now made fit to be in
the presence of God. All because of the work of another,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So marvel at this unfathomable
love that Christ has for his people, that the Father has for
his people. And again, the ground of all the love of God towards
us is in Christ. In Christ. Outside of Christ,
there's no God's love. Right? Now, He's benevolent to
the world, isn't He? He has the sunshine and the rain
shine, but His love is set upon His people. That everlasting,
eternal love is set upon His people and them alone. We're chosen in Him. He's the
head. He's the elect. We're pardoned. We're sanctified.
We're glorified in Him, too. And you know where He is. We're
going to be. Scripture says we're already seated in the heavenly
places. Well, again, He knows the end from the beginning. Isn't
it amazing? Absolutely incredible. And think
of the freeness of God's grace that's manifested and magnified
by the fact of His eternal, everlasting, unchanging love for His people
that's set forth here before us. What grace! What mercy! God didn't have to have mercy
upon us, did He? But He chose to. He chose to. And He's glorified. He was glorified by the perfect
work of Christ. And He's now glorified in us,
too, isn't He? We praise Him and thank Him for
the great things He's done. We're here to glorify God and
to enjoy Him forever. We can enjoy God when we know
that He loves us, as He's loved Christ, can't we? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Our salvation
is incredible. It came at a cost, a great cost,
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And also think how much this
glorifies God. God cannot love us with honor
to himself if in his wisdom he had not found a way of loving
us in Christ. Again, he loves us in Christ
because of Christ. There was a double prejudice
against us. We were corrupt by our nature, which loathed God's
holiness. And then our transgressions provoked
a quarrel against His law. Double strike against us. But
in Christ Jesus, our great God is both a just God and a Savior. In Christ Jesus our Lord. Isn't
that wonderful? And we are simply receivers of
the mercy and grace of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. What comfort is found in this
fact that God loves us as He loves Christ? How does God love Christ? Perfectly.
Perfectly. He loves Christ perfectly. How
else does He love Christ? Eternally. He loves us eternally. How does
He love Christ? Unchangeably. He loves us with
a love that's unchanging. Our love's so imperfect, isn't
it? Our love is like this. And His is just constant. Never
changes. Never changes. Oh my, so marvel,
marvel at this. God's love for us is an unchanging
eternal love. It's not based on anything we
do. We are loved in Christ by the Father. And the Father loves Christ and
He loves us with the same love. It's just amazing. It's just
incredible. God also loves Christ tenderly,
doesn't He? With great affection. So He loves
us tenderly and with great affection. He loves Christ eternally, so
He loves all who are in Christ. The scriptures proclaim this
in Jeremiah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Isn't
that wonderful? We see that love manifest here
in the prayer, the high priestly prayer of Christ, praying for
us and then telling us that the Father's loved us as he's loved
Christ. In Jeremiah, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Isn't that wonderful? It just
fills our heart with such joy. Marvel again at that verse. Let's
read it again. I and them and thou and me that
they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. What comfort, what comfort is
found in here? Thou has loved them as thou has
loved me. What a glorious theme for meditation
for us, right? Just to think upon these things.
just to think upon these things. And it will soon turn our soul
into joy when we think about this. Oh, that we can just rest
in this precious truth set forth before us. The Father has loved
them, His chosen, blood-bought, born-again bride, as Thou has
loved me. Let we who are the redeemed of
the Lord just rest in this precious truth set here before us. Precious
facts set here before us. That we are a child of our Heavenly
Father. We're a child of our Heavenly
Father. And He will make all things work for His glory and
for our good. Because He loves us as He's loved
Christ.