I recall asking my grandfather
one time what it was like preaching to a small number. And he said,
well, you preach to two just like you preach to two hundred.
Same message. Let's go back here to John 15.
I want to read this again, maybe make a few comments. Verse 12,
this is my commandment, the Lord said. that you love one another
as I have loved you, as I have loved you. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
And we know that speaks of the great love of our Redeemer laying
down His life for His people. Now, this word friends is going
to become important. The man laid down his life for
his friends, and he says, and you are my friends. If ye do
whatsoever, I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. A servant doesn't
know what his Lord, the Lord doesn't tell his servant what
he's doing. He said, but I've called you
friends because all things that I've heard of my Father I've
made known unto you. You have not chosen Me, but I
have chosen you. And ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
That whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He
may give it you. These things I command you."
Everything that he's been preaching, including him saying, you've
not chosen me, I've chosen you. This is all our Lord's command. His gospel is His command. And
He said, in these things I command you, that, or so that, you love
one another. Now, the Lord, this love is of
God, and He puts it in the heart in the new birth, being born
of Him, but this love of our Lord, He's going to grow us in
love to Christ, and grow us in love to one another, the more
that He shows us, each one personally, that there is nothing in us that
made Christ love us. In fact, everything in us for
which not to love us. This is what He's going to make
us know. He's going to show us this. And yet, with that being
the case, He loved us. And He continues to love us. This is what our Lord is going
to make us see, to grow us in love toward Him so that we love
one another as He loved us. At the time our Lord spoke this,
the apostles, though they love Christ and they love one another,
they've been born of God. This love is of God, John said. It's not natural. This is of
God. So they loved Him, and they loved
one another, but they did not love the Lord as they would as
the Lord grew them in love. They didn't know how true these
words of our Lord were, that He was speaking, and really didn't
understand what our Lord was saying. They had each boasted
of their love for Christ. Peter said, I will not deny You,
Lord, The Lord told them they would, and he said, I will not. I will not deny you, Lord. He
said, although all shall be offended, yet will not I. He said, I am
ready to lay down my life for you. Now, knowing they said this in
their hearts, and they all did, they all did, I expect that as
our Lord spoke these things, telling them to abide in me,
I in you." He's telling them to love one another. He's telling
them to believe on Me and continue trusting Me, persevere in faith,
and love one another as I've loved you. And I expect as they
heard these things, each of them was thinking in his heart, this
is how I love the Lord. This is how I love my brethren.
I will abide in you. They heard him say, abide in
me. And they're thinking, I will abide in you. Lord, I know without
you I can do nothing. So I will abide in you. I will
not deny you. I will do whatsoever you command. Remember that's what the children
of Israel said when the Lord gave the law at Sinai. Peter said, although all shall
be offended, yet will not I. And so it's likely they were
thinking. These may not do whatsoever you
command, yet will not I. I will do whatsoever you command.
But the Lord, you know the story, the Lord permitted the devil
to sift Peter. That was by the Lord's permission.
In doing so, the Lord taught Peter. After he denied the Lord,
and he left the Lord, he left the Lord, and he went back, he
went back, he went to his former occupation and that's where he
has stayed. And after the Lord came and restored him, this is
what the Lord taught Peter through that. And not just that, but
many times over, He taught him. When Peter got up from the Jews'
table and went to the Gentiles' table, the Lord taught him this
again. But what the Lord taught Peter in that was, there was
nothing in Peter for the Lord to love. There was no cause in Peter for
which the Lord loved him. And the Lord showed Peter how
He loves His people freely without a cause in us, because He came
and restored Peter in love. And you remember, Peter was saying,
I won't deny you, Lord. The Lord said, You will, Peter.
And when he came to Peter and he asked Peter, do you love me?
Peter said, Lord, you know all things. He knew that. He knew that now because the
Lord knew he was going to die. He knew Christ was his wisdom.
Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. But he didn't
say I love you more than these at that time. Peter was taught
a little more clearly that there was nothing in Peter that made
Christ love him. Christ loved him because He would.
The cause was in God. It was not in the apostle Peter. Remember what he told the children
of Israel? The Lord didn't set His love
on you because you were more in number, you were the fewest
of all people, but because the Lord loved you. That's what Peter
learned through this first trial he went through. And so he was
learning that's true of all those God loves. That's true of all
those God saves. The cause is not in them. Cause
is in God. And so Peter's being taught a
little more to love his brethren as Christ loves us. Peter's being taught to love
his brethren as Christ loved him. When there's not a cause
in them. Love because the cause is in
Christ. He's the cause. Peter experienced
that he didn't choose Christ. The Lord said here, you didn't
choose me. And men will hear that and they'll say, yeah, I
didn't choose him, but then once he chose me, I chose him. But
Peter's learning. He didn't choose Christ. He didn't
make the choice to not deny Christ and to abide in Christ and to
keep himself in Christ. No, he denied Him and went out.
And the Lord's making him to know, Peter, I chose you and
I ordained you And by this, Peter's learning, that's true of all
those God elected to save. It's true. We didn't choose Him. He first chose us. We didn't
love Him. He first loved us. And He has
to keep His love, keep us by His love. And he let Peter see
that, that Peter didn't make the choice. He went out. And
if the Lord would have left him, that's where he'd have stayed.
And so Peter's taught a little more to love his brethren as
Christ loved him. Peter experienced that he continued
abiding in Christ, not how he might have thought when he heard
this. Our Lord said, Abide in me and I in you. If you abide
in me and my words abide in you, you abide in my love. That doesn't mean you're going
to ever stop. abiding in Christ's love if He's ever loved you.
If that was the case, we would never continue abiding in His
love. But our Lord taught Peter by
this that the reason that he continued to abide in Christ
is because Christ abode in him and kept him and preserved him.
And so he's learning, this is so of all my brethren. This is
how Christ loved me. This is how He loves all His
people. So Peter's learning by this, to love his brethren as
Christ loved him. You get what I'm saying? To love
his brethren as Christ loved him. He experienced he was the
sinner. That's what he experienced. He
experienced it was not Peter loving Christ. It was not Peter
laying down his life for Christ. that saved him. It was the Lord
Jesus that went to the cross and laid down His life for Peter.
That's why He could come to him and be merciful to him and forgive
him for denying Him and going out and leaving and going back
to his fishing boats. And Peter's learning, this is
how the Lord loved me. This is how the Lord has loved
all His people. He loved us and He laid down
His life for His people. Christ saw Peter in Christ's
own righteousness and loved him for His own righteousness rather
than anything in Peter. And Peter's learning to love
my brethren because of Christ's righteousness and not because
of any righteousness in them. Peter experienced it wasn't Peter
producing fruit. It was Christ who produces faith
and love. And He said, and I've ordained
you to go forth and I'm going to produce fruit and your fruit's
going to remain. And He's learning the only reason
that that faith and that love remained in His heart was because
Christ said, I've prayed for you, Peter, that your faith failed
not. And He sustained him in faith
and He sustained him in love. And so he's learning this about
all his brethren, so that he can love his brethren as Christ
loved him. Christ commanded his apostles
these things, so that you love one another. You're going to
see a little later, Christ said, when I'm gone, and I've gone
to the Father, the Spirit's coming, and the Spirit's going to bring
these things to your remembrance. And all the things they're going
to suffer, just like Peter, the Lord was overruling everything
he went through, And the Lord is saying, when you go through
these things, I've commanded you all these things, because
when you go through these things, the Spirit of God is going to
come and He's going to remind you of these things I've spoken,
and you're going to understand these things like you don't understand
them now. You're going to learn them more
like you don't understand them right now. That's how Christ
teaches us to love one another as Christ loved us. It's by Christ
loving us Even when He makes us see in
ourselves there is no reason for Christ to love us. He has
to bring us to see that about ourselves. When we're just so
down in our sin and see there is no reason for Christ to love
me. And yet Christ loves you. And that's when you'll know this
is how He loves all His people. Now all the churches, think about
this, all the churches knew about Peter's denial. They all knew
about it. They had all heard. They all
knew this. And every time Peter preached about loving brethren
as Christ loved us, or any time he wrote about loving brethren
as Christ loved us, do you know how the Word the Lord gave him
to write or preach, do you know how that must have humbled his
heart? to remember I didn't love Him. I denied Him. And yet He loved
me. And you can hear it in His writings.
You can hear Peter when he writes 1 Peter 3.8, Finally, be you
all of one mind. Have compassion one of another.
Where did he learn that? By the Lord having compassion
on him. when he utterly failed. Love as brethren. How did he
learn what it is to love as brethren? Christ loved him. That's how
he learned it. Be pitiful. Be full of pity. Be courteous. not rendering evil
for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing. Peter
had to have thought when he was at that fire and that maid said,
yes you are he is. And somebody said, yeah we've
seen you with him. And he railed back up. No, I don't know him. And he writes this word and thinks,
ah. And yet the Lord loved me. Knowing They are unto your call
that you should inherit a blessing. And you know it most when you
go read 1 Peter 5 when He said, all of you be subject to one
to another. Be clothed with humility. God
resisted the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God that He
may exalt you in due time. That's what was going on with
all the apostles that night. They weren't humbling themselves.
They weren't submitting to Christ. They weren't submitting to His
hand. They were saying, Oh Lord, we will lay down our lives for
you. We will abide in you. We will
do whatsoever you've commanded." And the Lord taught him. I resist
that pride. And he humbled him. But in due
time, he exalted him. This is where Peter got the understanding
to be on guard constantly. Be vigilant because the devil
is walking about seeking whom he may devour. But he also learned
this. Resist him steadfast in the faith.
In other words, believe the Lord. Abide in Him. Believe Him. And
Peter could say, I didn't. I didn't. And he's saying to them, and
don't forget all these afflictions that the Lord is accomplishing
in you, and if you've experienced it in power, to where He made
you see there's nothing in you to love whatsoever, and yet He
loved you and kept you in spite of you. You know that if He's
worked that in you, He's working that in all your brethren. Every one of them. And so Peter
said, know this too, after you've suffered a while, after you've
suffered a little while, the God of all grace who called us
to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you've suffered
a while, He'll make you perfect, He'll establish you, He'll strengthen
you, He'll settle you, and He'll get all the glory because His
dominion is His forever and ever. Peter learned that by experience. Paul wasn't with him that night.
He's one born out of due time, but he's an apostle. The Lord
taught him too. Taught him the same thing. You
think about how the Lord's love must have humbled Paul. Think
about this now. Paul wrote a lot about loving
our brethren as Christ loved us. What do you think he felt in
his heart every time he wrote that, knowing that he and his
brother Barnabas had separated, and were still separated? And his brethren knew about it,
and you can be sure there were probably some that used it against
him. but having experienced Christ's love for him when there was no
reason in Paul, when he separated and went out and was all puffed
up, and yet in time the Lord humbled him and showed him, I
love you, Paul. There's nothing in you for me
to love, and I love you. Paul saw it. He knew it. He got it. And every time he
wrote it, every time he preached it, it pricked him in his heart. This is how Christ loved me. And this is how he loves his
people. He had to go through that to learn it. And that wasn't
the only time he went through it. Got up from the Gentiles table
and went to the Jews table and Paul rebuked him sharply. And then he went to Jerusalem
and Paul did the same exact thing. Trying to convince the Jews by
going and taking a vow. that he wasn't against the law.
There's just too much flesh in that. That's not trusting the
Spirit of the Lord and just preaching the gospel that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. Now Paul didn't break the law
when he did that. He didn't break civil law when
he did that. But he sinned when he did that, just like Peter
did. But the Lord kept him. The Lord had him arrested and
put him in a chain, but he did it so he could carry him forth
to preach the gospel of what he had learned. Remember what
the Lord told Peter? Peter, after you're converted,
when you've combed through this and I've taught you what I'm
teaching you, then you strengthen your brethren. You feed my people
with what I'm teaching you right now. And I'm sure when Paul stood
up and he preached and said, be kindly affection one another,
in honor preferring one another, when he said, put on as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, Forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as
Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these, put
on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace
of God rule in your hearts, to which you also call in one body,
and be ye thankful." And somebody said, why didn't you do that
with Barnabas? What did Paul do? He learned something about loving
as Christ loved us. And you just keep declaring what
Christ has taught you and what you've learned. That's what humbles and breaks
the heart and makes you love as Christ loved you. It's this,
when you're reading the Scripture and you're studying the Scripture,
And I've been trying to find out how I could say this. It's when you're studying the
Scriptures, and whatever you're going to
preach, everything that you're going to preach, when you're
preaching it or reading it, or just speaking to one another, when you read it and you know
in your heart of hearts I'm the guilty one. That condemns
me. Peter knew that. Paul knew that.
John knew that. All the apostles went with Peter. But you see in that, I don't
deserve one thing from God. I don't deserve God to love me. I've done everything contrary
to make Him not love me. And yet the Lord's made you know
in your heart, I love you. I didn't choose you because of
anything in you. I did not set my love on you
because of anything in you. I love you because I love you.
I laid down my life for you to save you from what you see in
you. And I'm going to keep you and
I'm going to continue loving you and I've restored you because
I love you. And that's the only way we can
learn to love as Christ loved us, and that's the only way we
can speak this Word in love. Until we're the guilty one, seeing
how we have been saved and loved by Christ when there's nothing
in us to love, we can't speak it in love. It's got to be the love Christ
has put in a broken heart. and a contrite heart because
He showed you there's nothing about me to love. And when Paul committed that
same sin as Peter and the Lord put him in those chains and He
took him to prison. You just think about Paul now
in prison and And everybody is saying he's a false prophet,
a false apostle. They'd already been saying that.
Paul said, they charge me as an evildoer, and all of these
things. Now he had sinned against the
Lord at Jerusalem, but he had not broken the law, civil law,
and was not guilty as they were saying he was. But he knew what
he was in himself. And when he heard that at Ephesus
they were leaving their first love, He sat down. Knowing what people
were going to say about Him, knowing how they were going to
throw it back on Him, He sat down and He wrote to them, I
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Walk in love as Christ also has
loved us and has given himself for us and offering a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. Why did Christ have to do that
for us? Because there was nothing in
us that would make God receive us. It is simply because He loved
us and He sent His Son to do everything to make us accepted
of God, righteous and holy before God, so that God can have communion
with us. We really can do nothing without
Christ. But experiencing His love, when
we are on our face in our sin, That's when we know that Christ
is accomplishing the same afflictions in our brethren that He's accomplishing
in us because He never stops loving. Now let me say a few
words about that briefly. Behold His love. He calls His
own His friends. Look at verse 12. This is my
commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than
this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. And he
is calling you, and all his elect, and the apostles whom he chose,
his friends. Proverbs 17, 17 says, A friend
loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. It says,
and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. That's
Proverbs 18.24. Christ is that friend. Christ
is that brother. He's that brother that was born
for the adversity of His people to deliver us from our sins. No greater love He laid down
His life for His friends. You think about it. He's equal
with the Father. He knew no sin and yet He laid
down His rights. He laid down everything He had.
He willingly gave Himself to bear our sin and our curse until
the death of the cross. He is not a friend that loves
you because He can get gain from you. Because He got no gain from
you. We had nothing we could give
Him. He came, and you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be
made rich. And hereby perceive we the love
of God, because He laid down His life for us. We ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. So here's what He's saying to
you, His child, personally. He's saying this to you personally.
He's saying, you are my friend. You that are born of God, He's
saying, you are my friend. He said, I laid down my life
for you. And he's saying now, you trust
me to save you. And you believe me and trust
me to save your brethren. And you laid down your life for
these, my friends, just like I laid down my life for you,
my friend. That's what he's saying to each
one of us. He calls us friends because He makes us know all
things. Verse 15, He says, Henceforth
I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends
for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known
unto you. God the Father chose His people
because He loved us, no other reason. And from the eternity,
we were the heirs of all things in Christ. But we come into this
world sinners and servants And as servants, we didn't know what
He was doing. Even though we were joint heirs
with Christ. But we were just servants. And
we didn't know. We were going about trying to
observe the law and keep the commandments of God and all our
religion in servitude and bondage. And trying to put others in the
same servitude and bondage. But what a preeminent friend. Christ made us know Him. and
the good news that He accomplished our redemption and the redemption
of all His people. John is most likely writing what
our Lord is saying right here. The Spirit moved him in 1 John
5.20 and he said, We know that the Son of God has come and has
given us an understanding that we may know Him that's true and
we're in Him that is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. Do you see what a friend
He is? It's one thing if you know somebody
that's popular or they're rich or they're renowned and you've
met them a few times and talked to them maybe a few times and
you say, yeah, they're my friend. You may run into them when you're
out with your friends and speak to them and they don't even know
who you are. But if that person says, you're my friend, that
means something. Christ is saying to his people,
you're my friend. God is saying to his people,
you're my friend. You're my friend. He's given us some understanding.
He said, I'm not calling you servants anymore. We're servants.
We're serving Him. But He's saying, but you're My
friends. I've told you everything the
Father's taught Me. I've made you know the Gospel.
And that's a privilege because He doesn't teach everybody this.
He prayed and He said, Father, I thank Thee Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the prudent. And He revealed them
to babes. Who are babes? They're those
that He's made to see. There's nothing in me to make
Christ set His love on me. Nothing. He loved me and laid
down His life for me because He would. The preeminent friend is the
brother made for adversity that sticks by us, come what may. He says in verse 16, You've not
chosen Me, but I've chosen you and ordained you. That's the
same word in another place translated for knowledge. I've ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in
My name, He may give it you. Our Lord had been the target
of the Pharisees' enmity and He knows when He departs, and
goes to the Father, His disciples will be. And all His brethren
from then on are going to be the target of the world and the
Pharisees. He knows that. He's going to
talk about it in the next passage. We'll get to that another time.
He knew offenses would arise between true brethren. He knew
unbelief and doubting would arise. He knew some would sin and some
would be puffed up. He knew some would prefer one
preacher over another. And we see it in the early church
right away. All the things the apostles wrote
in the epistles, they wrote them by the Spirit of God because
God's saints were doing things they ought not and not doing
things they should. Same as me and you. The same troubles have been in
the church from the beginning. God's saints are believing sinners
who Christ has saved, is saving, and shall yet save. But Christ
was ruling everything then. And He's ruling everything now.
And He's assuring us with this Word right here that He's not
a fair-weather friend. He's teaching us He's the friend
that sticks closer than a brother. You've not chosen Me. If that
was the case, then when these troubles come, you might have
reason to worry. You've not chosen Me. I've chosen
you. And I ordained you. This is my
eternal purpose. I ordained this from the foundation
of the world for you to go and bring forth fruit and that your
fruit should remain. And He is assuring them, it shall,
because I am the one that is going to make sure it does. He
chose us, not we. He ordained us. He shall bring
His purpose to pass. Christ loves an all-knowing,
wise love, brethren. There is nothing in us that Christ
has not already known. We sin, our brethren sin, and
it takes us by surprise and it hurts a lot of it because how
surprising it is. It's not a surprise to our Lord. He entered covenant to save us
before the world was made because He knew we would fall and become
ruined in sin. That's why He did it before He
made anything. And He's ordained us to go forth
and bring forth fruit. And He knows all shall come to
pass because He's going to bring it to pass and He's going to
do it even though we're in a body of sin and death and even though
we're dwelling amongst brethren who are sinned. And He's going
to keep teaching us and He's using the sin to teach us that
it's all His work and not us. He rides upon the tribes. to
produce fruit in us by the experience of His unchanging love as He
makes us see over and over, we don't have anything in us to
love. And because it's by Him the fruits
He produces are going to remain. And that doesn't just include
personal fruit in you, though it does, it also means He's going
to, through the preaching, He's going to produce first fruits,
converts, through the gospel, and they're going to remain by
His grace. So He loves us no less when we
become poor and in need and run to His throne of grace. He doesn't
love you any less. He says there, He promises, Whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.
He loves us all no less when the dark clouds are all about
us. He's not a fair-weather friend. He's a friend that sticks closer
than a brother. He's the brother born for adversity. In fact, His friendship shines
brighter in the darkest clouds. In every need, has He not helped
you? Every time you had a real need, has He not helped you?
You've been in doubt, you didn't know what to do, you didn't know
where to go. Have you ever gone wrong to take it to Him and cast
it all upon Him and leave it with Him? Have you ever gone
wrong doing that? And someone came to Him brokenhearted and
weeping because their child was sick and now unto death. He didn't
rail on the parent while they're weeping and they're brokenhearted
and say, well, it's all your fault, you shouldn't have done
this. That means you hadn't been a faithful father or mother and
you hadn't ruled your house well. You know what He did? He healed
the sick child and by that He showed us how He loves His people.
He brings you to have your heart broke. He brings you to see yourself
as nothing. He brings you to see that you
need Him and He heals you. Here's what we're prone to do. Here's a needy, poor, blind person,
another human being. And here's the apostles with
all their theology. Who sinned? Lord, this man or
his parents said he was born blind. This is a theological
study we're going to study. That's a sinner in need of mercy. And the Lord said, neither, but
that the works of God should be made manifest in him. And
he not only healed that man and gave him sight, you know what
he did for those apostles? He gave them sight. He showed
them the works of God. That's what he's doing. And he's
teaching you and me, in every trouble you're having, I've ordained
it, your fruit's going to remain, and I've done it so that you
can see the mighty works of God and know I'm the one doing the
saving and I'm going to save you. That's good news. That's good news. A friend, somebody
you can go to and tell him, you can tell him things you can't
tell anybody else. And you know he's going to receive you and
you know he's going to help you. And that's who Christ is. When
your heart is heavy and there's nobody that understands, haven't
you always been able to go to him and pour out your heart to
him? His ear's never heavy, his arm's never short and that it
can't save, go to him. Nobody else. Our Lord is born for adversity,
so He sympathizes with His people in all our adversity. And nobody
else, nobody that ever walked the top side of this earth can
say that they have remained in the exact same unity with His
friends through all adversity as the Lord Jesus Christ can. If you know anything about adversity,
and you've ever been the cause of your own adversity, and you
know what a sinner you are, that's the best news you've ever heard
in your life. No other can claim that he's
remained the same in unity with his friends through all adversity
as the Lord Jesus Christ. He never will change in his love. Now here's what he says to us.
This is my commandment. that you love one another as
I have loved you. How do we do that, Lord? Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. You are my friends. If you do
whatsoever I command you. That doesn't mean you're going
to stop being his friends when you don't do it. But that means
his friends are going to do it. These things I command you, I'm
showing you that you didn't choose me, it was nothing in you, I
loved you and chose you and I'll keep you and my love will never
change for you. These things I've commanded you,
I've taught you these things, I'm preaching this gospel, this
gospel command to you so that when you're offended and when
you offend, you remember how I love you and how I don't stop
loving you. And you love one another the
same way. Father, we ask You, give us hearts to think on this
and to hear it and hear it again. And hear it again. hear it for our own selves, hear
You speaking to us. Make us to hear You speak into
our heart and call each one of Your people Your friend. And Lord, make us remember there's
no cause in us There's no reason for you to love us. Not before we knew you, not after.
Plenty of reason not to. And Lord, help us to be thankful
that your love never changes. That you draw us to you in loving
kindness. Lord, help us to truly love as
you've loved us. Even when we don't receive love, help
us to love even as you love us when we don't love you. Help us to remember how cold
we are and how taken up with things of this world and our
so-called prosperity. how cold we get calm in our love
toward You, yet You love us and keep us. Lord, just show us Your love
more. Melt our heart by Your love for us. Thank You, Lord, for loving us
without end, immutably, no variableness, everlasting. and make us to love, make us
to believe You, trust You, and love. And help us to not be worried
about how our brethren love us. Just teach us how to love our
brethren. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace
and mercy. In Christ's name, Amen.