Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the portion we read, Ephesians
chapter 2, the apostles' epistle to them, and reading for our
text, verses 4 and 5. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4
and 5, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5. And what is upon my spirit this
morning? is the personal love that is
shown to a sinner, an individual sinner. We read in Ephesians
5 that the Lord loved the church and gave himself for it. And we have a picture of the
whole church of God, an innumerable company which shall at last be
in heaven and yet throughout time are in the individual little
gatherings in every nation and kindred and tongue. But we have
a picture of a church as a whole and of course it does consist
of individual believers. A church is not a building. A
building is just that. It is bricks and mortar, timber,
It's why we call our buildings chapels, the church, the gathering
of the people that are within it. The church of the living
God are saved, redeemed sinners, those that are washed in the
precious blood of Christ, those that are a prepared people for
a prepared place, and they are the body of Christ. He is the
head of the church, and they are the body. These are things
that are all taught us here. in the epistle to the Ephesians
and throughout the Word of God. But what is upon my spirit is
the expression of love that is felt and known by an individual
of that church. It makes such a difference in
our lives, in our believing, in our worship, in our serving,
where we understand that God has a personal, particular love
to us personally. Some people, they will say, well,
it says in the Word of God that God so loved the world, so he
has this general love of the world, and that is true. That
is set forth in the Word of God, that this world God has made
and that love that he sets upon it is a love that in this world
are his people, it is his creation and it is from this world that
he redeems his dear people. But that does not mean that he
loves every individual in this world. This world is spoken of
in the Word of God as a world that lieth in sin and wickedness,
and there is much wickedness in it. And the Lord has said
in the epistle to James, or from James, that whosoever will be
a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Knowest thou not that
the friendship of the world is enmity with God? The world passeth
away, the form thereof, but the word of the Lord abideth forever."
And so we must make that distinction. But then we would say, well,
some would say, well, Christ loved everybody, and the only
thing that makes the difference as to whether we are his or not
is whether we, of our own free will, choose to serve him here
below, and those are the people then that he'll take to be with
heaven, which means that there is not a particular and a personal
and a special love to those individuals before they believe and before
they are saved, which is what the Word teaches us, that the
love that God has to his people is an eternal love and what he
does for them in bringing them to believe springs forth from
that love. So it is very important that
we believe and embrace and really are comforted by the fact that
he has a personal, particular love unto us, unto a believer. But first, before we come to
a few points on this subject, I want to consider a few thoughts
on the rich mercy of God. Our text begins, but God who
is rich in mercy, and then goes on for his great love wherewith
he loved us. And that's where I want to look
at that particular love wherewith he loved us, a great love. But
the first part is but God who is rich in mercy. And our attention
is drawn to God himself. And we are reminded that God
is the eternal God and never had a beginning and never will
have an end. And he is all-powerful. He has made the heavens, the
sun, moon and stars, everything in the universe. And he has made
the earth and man upon it. And he himself is the source
of love, the source of light, the source of all power. He is
good. He is holy. And as we have set
before us here, He is merciful and that He is rich in mercy. We should never have small thoughts
of God. We can never have thoughts that
are too great of God. He is so great as to know and
see all things. He knows even the thoughts of
man. I know sometimes when I've been
in an aeroplane, we've taken off, and I've seen the houses,
they get smaller and smaller below us, and I thought that
God not only sees those houses, but He sees the people that are
in them, and He knows, and He hears what they are saying, and
He knows what they are thinking, And he even knows what their
intentions are. We cannot comprehend the greatness
and might of God. The same as an illustration I've
used recently. An ant could not possibly comprehend
what we do as humans. It would be impossible for it
to grasp the extent of where our lives could be throughout
the world and what we actually do and are able to do. We cannot
possibly know the greatness and might of God. But here we are
told that he is rich in mercy. But let us suppose, suppose that God had remained
with himself and that there was no evil at all. There was no
transgression of his holy law. There is no one at all or nothing at all
that needed to be shown mercy. Now mercy is the free undeserved
favour of God and mercy can never ever be deserved at all. There
is one example that was given of a mother that had her son
brought before a tribunal in the army, and she begged of them
that they would show him mercy. And it was told by his superior's
woman, he does not deserve mercy. And her answer was, if he deserved
it, it would not be mercy. Well, if God is rich in mercy,
the only way that that mercy and the richness of that mercy
could be shown is that there were individuals that had done
things wrong that didn't deserve mercy, those that had gone against
God committed evil, those that God could show how rich he was
in mercy by showing them mercy. Now we know that Satan fell,
the fallen angels, the devils from heaven. And we know also
that there is no mercy for them. God is a sovereign God. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy, and whom he will not, he does not show mercy. He is sovereign in that mercy. He passed by fallen angels. But then he made man, and man
fell. And man is to be the one that
God shows how rich he is, in mercy and the specific mercy
that God shows is mercy that is paid for. It is at the expense
of the blood of Jesus Christ. If we do something wrong, if
we break something of someone else's, that person might show
mercy to us They might say, you don't have to pay for the broken
window or the damage that you've done. They let us off. But someone must pay for it.
Can't just remain broken. Must be repaired and someone
bears the cost. And so with our Lord, with God's
mercy, it is a mercy that the payment is made, the cost is
paid. So maybe think of that. When
we feel and we know our sin, our guilt, when we feel how far
off from God we are, how rebellious we are, how forgetful of Him,
that as God is rich in mercy, then He delights in mercy, to
show that mercy, And the only way that he can do that is by
pardoning sinners, by not giving them what they deserve. And the
only way he can do that, consistent with his holiness and justness,
is to pay the debt himself. And it's just a thought as we
begin this morning, this first part of our text, but God who
is rich in mercy. How can that mercy be shown? We've used the illustration before
as well. What if we had a great source
of power, a generator perhaps? And you said to someone, look,
this generator is able to power so many different appliances. But there it was running and
nothing connected to it. And you might read on the voltmeters
you'd got the 240 volts, you might got the amps there. But
you've just got to take that person's word for it that this
thing is a powerful generator, a powerful power source. But it's not until it's connected
to a light or to a machine And the greater the machine, the
greater the realization of the power that was there, that was
hidden otherwise. So with God, to have said that
he is rich in mercy, unless there is those examples of that mercy
being shown, we cannot see that, we cannot understand it. But
when we show and are seen mercy being shown, then we can understand
it. And when we have the love of
God shown, then we can understand that love that is in God too. And so there is in our text mercy. There is in our text great love,
and that flows from mercy. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
ye are saved. Now, the apostle is writing to
Ephesians, the Gentiles, he's telling them that they were strangers,
to the covenants of promise, that is, with the children of
Israel, God gave them the ceremonial law. He gave Abraham the covenant
of circumcision and Israel the same as a nation. The Gentiles
were uncircumcised. They were without hope. They
were separated from the whole arrangement of the worship of
the true God that Israel had. but in the Lord Jesus Christ
that is done away with. And so Jew and Gentile, circumcised
and uncircumcised, those under the Old Testament ceremonial
law and those under the new, not under that, are both saved
by the grace of God and by his mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what is being taught
in this chapter. that there's a bringing together
of Jew and Gentile, and bringing them together in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he might reconcile, in verse 16, that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off,
that's the Gentiles, and to them that were nigh, which were the
Jews, For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto
the Father. And what is said of Jew and Gentile
here is also true of believers and unbelievers. All of God's
people, all that are saved at last at one time, have been unsaved. They've been brought into this
world and appeared just the same as others. under condemnation,
born in sin and shapen in iniquity. And it's what God shows in this
world of his love to them that makes the difference and that
saves them and will bring them to heaven at last. So I want
to then come back to my main thought and what is upon my spirit
this morning, that individual love, that love that God has
to individuals. So I want to look at three points.
Firstly, the individuals whom the Lord expresses a love to. And I want to just look at a
few examples from the word of God that shows us that God does
set his love on individual persons. And then secondly, the great
acts of God's love to individuals, how that love is actually shown
to them, what he does for them. And then thirdly, the effect
of God's love to us, though many of the points there are covered
in the second point, yet there are a few extra ones I want to
consider. Firstly then, Individuals. Individuals whom the Lord expresses
love to. Not in a general way, as he may
love all his creatures, he is good to all, his tender mercies
are over all his works. We would remember that. That
he gives us our food, he causes it to rain on those that serve
him and those that don't, causes his son to shine upon both, he
is good to all. He opens his hand, satisfies
the desire of every living thing. We all owe our food, our raiment,
everything that we have out of hell to the Lord. But, although the Lord loves
all his creation in that way, and all his own people in a special
redeeming, saving way, yet what I want to look at under this
point is just a selected few from the Word of God where the
Lord has so specifically said that he's set his love on that
individual. And this is to show that God
doesn't just have this general love, unmeaning love upon mankind
that is only just brought into play, if you like, if they respond
to the gospel and if they believe. So I want to look first at Jacob,
Abraham's grandson, Abraham for Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob,
but I'm not going to turn to the Old Testament, but rather
to look at the New and what the Apostle Paul says of Jacob in
Romans chapter nine. Now remember that Jacob was a
twin. Rebekah, his mother, had twins,
and in those days you couldn't have a scan to find out what
was going on. So when the twins were wrestling
within her, they struggling within her, she prayed to God, if it
be so, why am I thus? Why is all this commotion in
my body? And when they were born, then
there was twins. And Esau was the elder, but Jacob
was the younger. And when Rebekah was asking,
and she asked the Lord, why was this commotion within? And the
Lord said to her, there are twins in thy womb, and the elder shall
serve the younger. With the apostle, he tells us
in Romans 9 and verse 12, he reaffirms what I've just said. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger. And this is when the children
were not born. In verse 11, we have, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And there we have a expression
of the love of God to Jacob. Now Jacob in his life, his very
name means supplanter. He deceived his father and he
was by no means a perfect man. And by the way, Received his
father once, he was deceived by Laban ten times, and then
by his sons regarding Joseph. The way of transgressors is hard. God chastened him for his sin. But what we have here is God
so clearly saying that Jacob he loved, and it was before he
was born. Before Jacob was born, God said,
I love that one. And that applies to all of God's
children. And we'll look at that a bit
later under our second point. So here we have a clear setting
forth, Jacob have I loved. One individual, one individual
sinner, and he was a sinner, and yet God loved him. In contrast
to his brother who was in the same womb, that God said he did
not love. And the apostle is setting forth
here the sovereignty of God, to love one, but not to love
another. The second one I bring before
you is that of David, King David. We have in 2 Samuel chapter 7,
And verse 18, God was pleased to forbid David to build a temple
because he'd been a man of God. We know that David was a man
after God's own heart, but David was a man of blood and he shed
much blood. And so he said that his son that
would be born of him, he would build a temple. But God told
him, many, blessed things that he would do for David and how
he would bless him. And of course there was the promises
of the Messiah coming through his line as well. And so we read
in 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 17 or verse 16, Thine house and
thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne
shall be established forever. He's pointing really to Christ
here. According to all these words
and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. Then we read this, Then went
King David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am
I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou hast brought
me hither to? And David is so struck by what
God has said through Nathan, he's so humbled that God should
set his love on him, that he should speak in this way towards
him. And God has shown great mercy,
great love to David. An individual, again, not a perfect
individual, we have his sins recorded in the word of God.
What we have here is love that is shown in mercy, undeserved
love to those that are sinners. The third case is that of David's
son Solomon. Again in 2 Samuel, but this time
verse in chapter 12, we have when Solomon was to be born. And the first child that Bathsheba,
David's wife, had, the woman that he'd had adultery with,
and whose husband he'd had killed by the enemy of Rabbah. And we read that when God chastened
David for his sin, the first child that Bathsheba had, that
child of adultery, that child died. And God said it would die. We read, David comforted Bathsheba,
his wife. And he went in unto her, and
lay with her, and she bare a son. And he called his name Solomon,
and the Lord loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan
the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the
Lord. And the meaning of Jedidiah is
that is beloved of the Lord. And so we read again of an individual
and before really he was born it was said that the blessing
would be in his line and to this son and that the Lord loved him
and that love was before they'd done good or evil or before even
come into the world. And we know, of course, with Solomon,
though a wise, a godly king, yet his life was not perfect. He needed mercy. He was shown
mercy. Then we have a case in turning
to the New Testament in the Gospel according to John and chapter
11. where we have the clear expression
of love of God, love of the Lord Jesus Christ to Mary and Martha
and Lazarus. We read, now Jesus loved Martha
and her sister and Lazarus. And when was this time said?
This is when Lazarus was sick. And they sent to the Lord and
said, he whom thou lovest is sick. But the Lord stayed where
he was, and Lazarus died. And the Lord then raised him
from the dead. But it was a great trial to those
sisters. The Lord loved them, they loved
the Lord. And yet this illness, which resulted
in the death of their brother, had come upon them. And the Lord
hadn't come when they'd called him. It may be with you this
morning. that you have felt that the Lord
has loved you, but you cannot understand the things that have
come in your life, the troubles, the trials, the sicknesses, the
same trials as what Mary and Martha had, thinking it inconsistent
with what was happening to them, to the love of God that God had
to them. And yet we clearly have in the
inspired Word of God that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and
Lazarus, a love to individuals. May this be a help, a balancing. There may be clouds that you're
going through and very much trouble at this time, that here we have
three three dear people whom Jesus loved in great trial as
well. The Lord used it for good, and
the Lord knows how He used it in your case, and in mine as
well. The last one I'll mention is
that in the 19th chapter of John, And this is at the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ when he laid down his life. And on the cross,
he looked at his mother, Mary, and he had this to say in verse
26, in John 19, verse 26, when Jesus therefore saw his mother
and the disciples standing by whom he loved. That is John. He saith unto his mother, Woman,
behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own home. And several times in the Gospel
according to John, we have that description given of him whom
he loved, the disciple whom he loved, and he leaned on his breast
at supper, and not that the Lord didn't love all of the disciples,
he did. But this is how John is described,
and it is the point I want to make that God loves each of his
people individually. Now, many of the Lord's dear
people whose names are in the Word of God, there is not written
specifically against their name, God loves you, the Lord loves
you. And there may be those of you
thinking, well, what I want is the Lord to say to me, I love
you. Sometimes he does, in beautiful
Text word in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3, yea I have loved
thee with an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness
I have drawn thee. And sometimes the Lord is pleased
to apply that word and bless that word to us to believe he
has spoken that to us. But there's many many of the
Lord's dear people in the word of God and many in these Gospel
days that the Lord will not specifically tell them that he loves them. And the same as we've just had
a scattering of names throughout the Word of God, and there's
very few that you'll actually find recorded in the inspired
Word of God that were clearly God's people that he has expressly
said that he loves them. But we are told that he loves
the church and gave himself for it. And that embraces all of
the people of God. But as my burden is this morning,
the Lord loves each of his people, personally, particularly. So
then how is it so? We mentioned a few of those that
he loved. Well, how is then that love shown,
the great act of God's love to an individual, how is that actually
shown? First it is, as we had with Jacob,
that it was before that we were born, an eternal love. The verse
that I've quoted in Jeremiah, I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. or with Jacob, it was before
he was born, the Lord loved him. All of God's people are chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. With anything,
we always think of a beginning and an ending. If we put that to love, when
did love first begin? And for us, if we have a child,
When that mother first feels the baby moving in her womb,
she may feel a love to that baby. She hasn't seen it, but it is
part of her, it is growing, it is with her, and she may feel
love to it. Later on, as it is born, then
that love is deepened. But before the child is even
thought of or conceived, we cannot have a love to a child that we
don't know at all or do not even existing. But in the mind of
God, all his people are his people. Remember, with the name of Jesus,
he shall save his people from their sins. He has a people. He has a people eternally. We
read, thine they were and thou gavest them me. Our Lord is saying
that people were the fathers and he gave them to the Son to
redeem and they have been loved eternally. So the first expression
of that love is before ever we could know it, it's in eternity
past, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
The second expression of that love is that when we were dead
in sins, Christ died for us. We have this in our text, that
even when we were dead in sins, what does that mean? It means
that we were born as the fallen sons of Adam, spiritually dead,
incapable of receiving anything of the things of God, and completely
alienated from God. hating God, coming forth from
the womb, speaking lies. While we were in that state,
and perhaps to put it in the way, those that crucified the
Lord Jesus Christ were saying, away with him, away with him,
crucify him. And the Lord on the cross, he
says, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. On the
day of Pentecost, under the preaching of Peter and the power of the
Holy Spirit, Many thousands of them that actually crucified
the Lord believed, they were convinced of their sin, and they
were saved. And so what he said here, even
while we were in that state, Christ died for us. It's 2,000 years ago since Christ
died upon the cross, but if you and I are saved, if this morning
we are enemies to him, unsaved, unbelieved. Even then, Christ
had died for us 2,000 years ago. He lovingly bore our sins in
his body on the tree. He suffered for what, not what
he had done, but what we had done then. And that is the expression
of his love personally to us. He bore our sins in his body. They shall look upon him whom
they have pierced. That is very important, especially
when we think of the individual and the love of God to an individual,
that that love meant suffering for that individual's sin, your
and my sin on Calvary. So the expression of that love
was known there at Calvary for us 2,000 years ago. The third
way, an act of that expression, is when we are first aware of
that, and that is to call this by grace, or as in the words
of our text, to be quickened together. It is through the death
of Christ, or rather the rising again of Christ, that we were
raised in newness of life, and that is known in time where the
Lord passes by us, he bids us live. It is a sovereign gift. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish. And that gift of life, it gives
spiritual life. It means that we have eyes to
see what we did not see before, a heart to perceive what we didn't
perceive before, a willingness to be taught, a desire for the
things of God. a desire to be saved, to embrace
the gospel. The blessing of life shows what
our true state and condition is. It shows us that we are sinners. So really the expression of that
love in giving life is followed by we might say a second clear
expression of love is to teach us our sin and need of a saviour. In Psalm 107 we read of many
things that the psalmist speaks of going through and men going
through. And at the end he says, Whoso
is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. Now it's not loving kindness
to say to men, there is no danger, you can live what you will, how
you will, and you'll get to heaven at last. That is not the truth,
it is not kind, it is not the love of God. It is the love of
God to tell men that they have sinned against God, and that
unless those sins are pardoned and forgiven, and blotted out,
then we will perish eternally and be punished eternally. Death
is on the road. There's nothing more serious
and more deadly condition than to be ignorant of the way of
salvation through Christ and to be thinking that we can get
to heaven by our own works. It is the love of God to really
tell us how sinners we are and to show us what sinners we are. If we had someone of our loved
ones that had a fatal disease, a cancer or something within
them, and all we did, we thought, well, it'd be so unkind to tell
them what they've got wrong with them, we'll just shower them
with gifts, we'll give them a lovely life, we'll let them enjoy what
they like, And then by and by, suddenly this illness came out,
and that person found out that you'd known all along what they'd
got, but didn't want to tell them. Would they thank you for
it? Would men at the judgment day
thank a minister who told them that they had nothing to fear
by the judgment day? And yet when they got to it,
found out that God held them to account. Who so offended him
one point was guilty of all and that the only way of being saved
is through faith and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is the greatest expression of love to show us and to convince
us of our sin. One of our hymns says, nor are
men willing to have the truth told, the sight is too killing
for pride to behold. And I say, if you are not willing
to be told that you're a sinner, not willing to be told that in
ourselves that we are guilty of eternal death, it is a solemn
indication that we do not have the love of God, that God has
not given us eternal life, and has not made us willing to actually
receive the truth, painful as it is, But if you and I feel
our sinnership, feel the hell within, feel how far off from
God we are, feel how deserving of hell we are, it is the love
of God that has actually told us the truth and made us willing
to receive that truth. It is not love to cover sin or
to cover what the real danger is. But then it is the love of
God to reveal Christ, the Saviour, to a sinner and to bring him
to believe. It is God's love that does that,
to open up not only that he is a sinner, but how he can be saved. And this is the Gospel, the wonderful
blessing that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
and that he has put away sin on Calvary. Where that love is
shown to an individual, then he will show what love has been
shown when he suffered, when Christ suffered on the tree. Another expression of the love
of God is that he will keep his people. There's a beautiful chapter,
John chapter 17. I recommend we often read that
chapter. It is the prayer of our Lord
for his people. And he prays in the 11th verse
and 12th verse. He says, now I'm no more in the
world, but these are in the world. And I come to these praying principally
for the 12 apostles, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one.
Later on, he says, I pray not for these only, but those that
should believe on me through their name, through their word. But then he says that he prays
that they might be kept. I kept them in thy name. Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. And
it is the blessing of the love of God to keep his people. And that is through chastening,
correcting in love, in instructing them in the word of God, in guiding
them in life's journey, keeping them to the truth as is in Jesus
Christ and not leaving them to error or to turn away from the
truth or to believe a lie. It is the greatest love of God
to keep his people and may we value that and pray that he will
keep us. And then, at last, the love of
God is again what is prayed for in this John 17. Father, in verse
24, Father I will, that they also whom thou hast given me,
that is given before thee, foundation of the world and given in time
by God's grace, be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. He's loved his dear people, before
the foundation of the world too. So the last then expression of
that love is to present them faultless before the throne of
God. The love of God doesn't leave
that individual. It does everything that is needful
to bring them safely to heaven at last. we need to really ask
ourselves, regarding our own selves, how has the love of God
been shown to us? Has it been shown to us in a
scriptural way, in the way we've tried to set before you? Well, in the third place then,
what is the effect of that love to us? There's just three things
I would add to what we've already covered in point two. The first,
it will have the effect of a love from us to God and the brethren. In John's epistles we read, we
know that we have passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren. That will be the effect of God's
love to us. We love him because he first
loved us. When God, when the Lord Jesus
Christ would assure Peter, who he denied him three times, that
he did not know him, assure him that he still loved him, he asked
Peter, lovest thou me? And Peter confessed his love
to the Lord. The way that we know the love
of God to us, the way it truly is proved, is that the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We will love
God, and if we love God, then that leads to my second point. It will lead to obedience to
His commands. It will result in us desiring
to do what is pleasing in His sign, and to obey him in his
ordinances of the Lord's house, baptism, and the Lord's supper,
but in all of his commands, to do that which is well-pleasing
in his sight. If we are a worldly, careless
Christian, just with the name of Christian, but not having
any concern to obey the Lord or to do what is well-pleasing
in his sight, then we haven't the effect of that love that
is actually upon us. And the last point I would make
of the effect is a separation. The separation from worthiness
and a desire for holiness. This people have I formed for
myself, they shall show forth my praise, is what God says of
this people. They are formed for heaven. He
says, come ye out from among them, touch not the unclean thing
and I will receive you and you shall be my sons and my daughters. This is not your rest, it is
polluted. Heaven is the rest of God's people
and they desire a heavenly country. It's a pilgrimage here, it's
a wilderness journey and their home, their haven is in heaven. and the effect of God's love
to them will want to be where he is, will want to be separate
from a world that lieth in ungodliness and hatred to the Lord. The apostle
says that he was crucified to the world and the world to him. The world did not want him and
the world does not want true Christians. But he did not want
the wealth, he wanted the Lord. So may we have that effect upon
us. May we know the personal, individual
love that the Lord has to us. May that love be shed abroad
in our hearts and be evidenced in the scriptural way we've tried
to set before you. Amen.