We will not take up another offering
tonight. Sherry's going to play for us
and me anyway. Ephesians chapter 4. This is just a wonderful passage of Scripture,
a portion. There is so much there, there
is no place to stop. I'm going to read all the way
down through verse 2 of chapter 5. Paul wrote this from prison, and he says, I therefore the
prisoner of the Lord in the beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you're called, with all lowliness and meekness,
with a long-suffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There's
one body and one spirit, even or in whom you're called, in
one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God, and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore
he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive
and gave gifts unto men. And now that he ascended, what
is it but that he also descended first in the lower parts of the
earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens, that he might fulfill all things. And he gave,
these were the gifts he gave unto men, he gave some apostles,
he gave some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. for
the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come unto
the unity of faith. And of the knowledge of the Son
of God unto a mature man and woman under the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ that is full age as believers
mature believers that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men, the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But being sincere, speaking the truth in love, that we may grow
up into him, in Christ in all things, which is the head, even
Christ. And from him the whole body is
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply,
according to the effectual working and the measure of every part.
He makes the increase of the body, the edifying of itself
in love. And this I say, therefore, and
testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of blindness of their heart, hardness, and
who being past the feeling of giving themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness, You have a soul in
Christ. If so, be that you have heard
him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. And
if you put off concerning the former conversation or life,
the old man, which is so corrupt, according to deceitful love and
be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And put on the new man,
which is after God, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness, the holiness of truth, wherefore Putting away
lying, speaking every man truth with his neighbor. And we're
members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let
not the sun go down on your wrath. Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more. Rather let him labor, working
with his hands, the thing which is good that he may have to give
to him that need it. And let no corrupt communication
or speech proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good. to the edifying, the use of edifying,
profitable speech, that it may minister grace unto those that
hear you. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby you're sealed, or in whom you're sealed under
the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice or evil thinking. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Because God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you, and be therefore followers of God as
dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and
given himself for us, and offering sacrifice to God for sweet-smelling
savor. Let's bow for prayer. Yeah. A. The. I know I say it over and over
again. It might appear to lose some of its sincerity, but I'm
thankful for you, Sherry. I'm thankful for our penis. Amen? I hope you'll be praying silently
for me as I bring this message tonight. I say that over and
over again. I request your prayers. I sincerely
do. It's hard enough to stand up
here at all, much less twice, much less three times in one
day, so I covet your prayers. John 17 is where we are, and
this will be the next to last message out of this series. Now, last Sunday night, I did
what I said I wasn't going to do at the beginning. That is,
I brought a little something, a little bit of a discourse,
and I hope we got something out of it. But I want to get back
in the spirit of this prayer. That's what I was seeking after
when we began this. I want to feel the heart of it.
I want to feel the warmth of this prayer. I want to feel the
spirit of this prayer. I want to feel the comfort of
this prayer, the glory of this prayer. and believe the truth
of this prayer, and not just be indoctrinated about progressive
sanctification. OK. Now, the Lord had been talking
about these things, and once again, I'll rehash them for you.
He'd been talking about his eternal power. He said, These things
I speak, verse 13, that they might have my joy, that they
might truly rejoice, have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Seeing me as having all power over all flesh, understanding
and knowing my name, who I am, seeing something of my glory,
that is the gospel, understanding that gospel, understanding his
word and having appreciation for it, esteeming it highly,
his oneness with the Father, seeing how that because he lives,
we live also, and how that he has a close rapport with the
Father, and therefore we do also. And seeing our eternal security,
how that we'll never be lost ever again, ever. And verse 12,
and seeing our sanctification in him, how that it's not left
up to us to sanctify ourselves, that he did it for us. He said
they ought to get some joy from that if they were listening. And his spirit, his spirit coming
to lead us and guide us and so forth. And now in verse 20, he
says, I'll try to make this brief. He said, Now I'm praying for
these. I'm not praying for these alone. That is, not just for
the great apostles, Peter, James, John, Andrew, all these apostles. I'm not just praying for them,
but I'm praying for others. I'm praying for others. Which
shall believe. I'm praying not for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe. Now, when he prayed
this, he was talking about you, talking about me. That's who
he had in mind. He made up the names. I'm sure
they did. This is the eternal, omnipotent
God, omniscient God who knows all things. I'm sure those myriad
of names went through his mind. Think about it. Your name crossed
his mind. Lord, Father. I'm not praying just for James
and Peter and John. I'm praying for old Joe. I always
say old Joe, don't I, Joe? Sorry about that, buddy. You
are. You're getting there. I'm praying for Joe, Henry, Roberta. I'm praying for these people.
And even though, he's saying, even
though the apostles walked and talked
with Christ and beheld his glory, says here, and they believed
on him through Christ's word, It says that we'll believe on
him through their word. And you and I were talking about
this afternoon, Barbara. We do believe, don't we? We really
do. I mean, that's the mystery Paul
talked about to young Timothy. It's a great mystery. We actually
believe. We actually believe something
that happened so long ago and something that's written in such
an old book, we actually rest our internal souls on. I really
do. That was brought home to my heart
one day. I was out working when we were
building the house, and I was reading the Bible, and I was
eating a bite, and the Lord just blessed me by the thought that
I actually believe this. And it's because there's so many
people that don't. So many people that don't. And He's praying
for those that shall believe still. Who knows? There may be some people, there
may be some people coming in here. There's not one of them
in here right now that was in here this morning that's been
coming. Who knows? They just might believe. If they're
His, it's whose Christ they're praying for. But if He's got
her or his, whosoever name that He's praying for, they're going
to believe. They're going to believe He did
it to you, didn't He? It was the day when you didn't believe,
and now you do. because of this prayer right here, because of
this prayer. Father, I'm praying that they'll believe also, that
they'll believe through the Word. You know, Peter said, Peter said,
we saw visions of glory and grandeur. When we were on that mountain,
we saw, oh, just, Paul said, I went up and saw things unlawful
that I can't even talk about. But he said, you've got a more
sure word of prophecy, a more sure word. You've got the finished
story right here. You can believe it. You can believe
it. And I do. And the more I read
it, the more I study it, the more I hear it, the more I'm
convinced. This is the Word of God. It's too, like that parable
we saw this morning, it's too plain in it. It's too revealing.
It's too clear. It's too truthful. It meets me.
It hits me right on the money. Everything about it hits me.
It's got to be the Word of God. No man could have written that
thousands of years ago and have it meet my case. No, but it does,
doesn't it? It transcends time, it transcends
culture, people, old, young, rich, poor, it meets all needs.
The same word will meet the same needs of different people. That's
how I know. And we believe. And he said,
we've seen him in the flesh. Peter said, we've seen him. But
he said, but you love him, but you haven't seen him. That's
a miracle. That's a miracle. You love him,
somebody you've never seen before. Somebody really never heard their
voice before. You love Him. And you believe. And you rejoice
with joy unspeakable at times. Not all the time. But you do
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And Paul said,
we're so thankful. Paul said, I'm so thankful that
you've received this Word as it is in truth, the Word of God.
Not everybody does. Everybody, even the so-called
theologians and religious folks, People who profess to be Christians,
many of them deny that this is the Word of God. The inerrancy
of it, the infallibility of it, the inspiration of it, many of
them deny it. But you don't, do you? Like little children,
you all believe this, don't you? That this is God's Word. Now,
that's a real blessing. And Christ is praying to the
Father that we will believe on Him through their Word, through
the Word of the Apostle. He's praying, and he said, Father,
that they all may be one, that they may be one as thou, Father,
art in me. Christ said, Father, Father,
I pray that Violet and Ellen and Virgie, the golden girls,
I pray that they might be one. And they are. You see them everywhere
together. They're one. They look alike. One in faith,
y'all believe the same thing. Three musketeers. One in faith,
you look to the same Savior, don't you? Believe in the same
Christ, same gospel. One in purpose, you come here
to worship God, not to be saved. One in love, love to God, love
to his gospel, love to one another. You love one another dearly,
don't you? His prayer has been answered. It's come to pass. I pray that they might be one,
that they might be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and one in
spirit, though many members, and not many by today's standard,
but many members, but one body, one church in earth and heaven.
And someday, finally, we're going to be one in presence, never
to leave one another again. And you know what? I'm going
to sit beside some of the oldest and greatest saints that ever
lived. I'm going to talk to those boys. I won't be too taken up, and
you won't be too taken up with them when we get there. We'll
be, for about 100,000, 458 zillion, trillion years, we'll be taken
up with Christ, you know. Then we might get around to seeing
who's sitting beside us. At any rate, we're going to be
sitting there, and I'm going to say, oh, he's something in
there. And some old boy's going to be
beside me, and he's going to say, yeah, he is. I've been beholding
him a long time now. Have you? Yeah, he gets more
wonderful all the time to me. Yeah, I can see why. By the way, what's your name?
Oh, it's not really important, but they used to call me Moses.
Is that right? Yeah, he's wonderful. He's wonderful. That they might be one as thou,
Father, art in me. One in Christ. Christ prays for
the eternal familyhood of believers, that they all may be one. I know
this world talks about all religions, all faiths being joined together,
but it can't be, because there is one faith, one Lord, one faith,
one body, one family. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that they also
may be one in us. As close as we are to one another,
I want them to be that close to one another, and I want them
to be that close to me and to you. And it's going to be so. It's going to be so. It doesn't
seem like it now, does it? Sometimes we feel like we're
so far away. Sometimes we don't feel like we're in the family
at all. But I'm not what I used to be. I'm not what I'm going
to be. But thank God I'm not what I
used to be. I'm not what I want to be. Not
what I'm going to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be."
That's what old John Newton said. And Christ is praying here, Father,
let them in on this glorious oneness that we have, this glorious
oneness. And we will. That's what that
song said, Ellen. We're going to see Him face to
face as He is. And we're going to know even
as we've been known. And we're going to be changed
in a moment. The twinkling of an eye will
be changed into His likeness. Oh, I forget which two characters
it was in Pilgrim's Progress. They said when they crossed over
that river of death and went into that celestial land, and
their arraignment was changed, and they were changed in the
image of Christ, they said they both stood there looking at one
another. And one said to the other, boy, you're beautiful.
And he'd say, well, you are too, admiring one another. Because
we look like Christ. Look like Him. See Him. And we're
going to actually speak to Him. And be spoken to by Him. That
voice, one of these days, you've heard it. Not with these ears. You've heard it. You've heard
it in your heart. You've heard it through the preaching
of the Gospel. One day you're actually going to hear it. One
of these days. One of these days, he's gonna
call your name. Actually. Hello, John. You think about that. Just think about it a minute. Welcome, Nancy. Boy, when by his grace I shall
look on his face. That'll be glory. That will be
glory to me. Father, I pray. that the world,"
look at this, verse 21, "...that the world may believe that you
sent me." That the world, not just a handful of Jews, but a
people which no man can number. There's that word again. We're
not tripped up by that, the word world. Not just a handful of
Jews. That's what he was saying in
old Nicodemus over there in chapter 3, wasn't it? Not just a handful
of Jews. No. A people that no man can number
is the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore, that the
world, a world of people from the far corners, from the four
corners there, Mexicans, Africans, Virginians, Kentuckians, from
all over, that they may believe that you sent me. You know that
thirty-three times in the Gospel of John alone it talks about
Christ, where it talks about the Father sending him as he
has sent me. sent me, as he's thirty-three
times. Significant number, isn't it? Thirty-three times. Somebody
was sent here for thirty-three years. But look over with me
at John chapter six, quickly. John chapter six. It says that
four times in John seventeen. Talks about the Father sending
Christ. And here's the heart of the Gospel right here. That
he was sent. Isn't that what John was saying
over his epistle? Chapter four? He that believeth
that Christ cometh. that Jesus is the Christ that
comes from the Father, sent from the Father. He's born of God.
John 6, look at verse 38. He says this three times in these
three verses. He says, All the Father giveth me shall come to
me. Oh, 38. I've come down from heaven. I've come down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. He
said, I've got something to do. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I will
lose nothing." I like that. It will raise it up again at
the last day. And this is the will of him also
that sent me, that everyone would see it the Son. You seen it?
I see it. And believeth on it. You believe
it? I believe it. It may have everlasting life.
And I'll raise him up at the last day. The world really doesn't
believe this. I know they say they do, but
they really don't believe that this man named Jesus of Nazareth
long ago really came from and was sent by God Almighty, supernaturally,
powerfully, successfully. They don't believe
that, really. Really, now, they do not believe
that. They believe he was a baby born a long time ago, and some
say this and that and the other, but just a good man, mostly,
a martyr. That most don't believe he's
the only begotten Son of God, he's the only Christ, he's the
only Messiah, the only Savior. Most don't believe that. You
believe that. Blessed are you if you believe
that. That he's the only mediator between God and men. Some believe
in Mary. Don't. That he's the only prophet. Some believe there's still prophets.
That he's the only priest, that he is that apostle, the apostle
of our profession, that he is the king, the only way, the truth,
and the life. Some people don't believe that.
Blessed are your hearts if they do believe that. And consequently,
people have made up all sorts of religious philosophies with
their priests and their sacrifices and their ordinances and their
little ceremonies they go through and so forth. We don't have that
here. We worship God. We're the true circumcision,
the true concision. We worship God in spirit. We
don't have crosses, candles, robes and all this. We worship
God in spirit. We rejoice in Christ and Christ
alone, and put no confidence in the flesh. Anything you have
to do with the flesh? You're blessed. Blessed. But a few chosen
people throughout the world believe that the holy, sovereign, omnipotent
God sent Christ down here to do something. What did he send
him to do? Now listen to me. Let's dwell here a moment. This
is the gospel. I talked to Brother Todd on the
phone the other day. He's doing well, by the way,
very well. He's preaching, says he feels good, he sounds like
his old self. We were talking, and I just, I esteem him so highly,
his discernment, his insight in the scriptures. Young man,
31 years old, but he's just, he's been a diligent student,
and he's really made some sacrifices to preach the gospel and all.
The Lord's blessed him. We were talking about this thing
of preaching, and I have a tendency to become emotional and to try
to work people up. And I've heard preachers try
to sway people and try to move people, scare them, and this
and that and the other. But when it comes right down
to it, real preaching must contain meaty
truth. Real preaching must contain doctrinal
truth. Meat, solid gospel food, every
gospel message should contain these doctrines, which culminate
in the doctrine of Christ. Which one can you leave out?
You can't do it. You can't do it. You can't leave
it in. Sovereignty of God? No. It's all wrapped up in that,
that he's successful. Our depravity? Well, that's the
reason we come to worship, because we're depraved. Unable? That's the reason God had to
send Christ, because we're unable. Right? Unwilling and unable. Election? That's unto salvation,
isn't it? He hasn't chosen us, hasn't elected
us, and nobody will be saved. Particular redemption? Oh, man,
that's the heart. You're going to not believe that?
That's the heart and the soul. That's the blood, the lifeblood
of the gospel. that his blood actually saved.
Irresistible grace, the Holy Spirit actually must draw, and
when he calls, they come. I'm thankful. I'm not going to
refuse to believe that. That's the way it was. That's
the way it is. And perseverance? Oh, I'm glad
about that. I don't want to leave that out,
or I'd be lost every day, right? So it's got to contain these
truths. And the reason God sent Christ down here, and here's
these basic truths again. He came down here to do something
that had to be done. Got a job to do. What is it?
Fulfill righteousness. It behooves us, Christ said,
it becometh us to fulfill our righteousness. Why? God's got
to be honored. The law's got to be satisfied,
right? It's got to. Man needs to understand a little
bit of something about that. Not be a theologian concerning
it, but needs to understand a little bit why Christ came. He came
to establish a righteousness. And he came down here to do for
us the impossible. Justify us. It's impossible with
man. With God, all things are possible.
And who'd have thought it? Who'd have thunk it? Such a thing. The just for the unjust. Switching
places. Him actually living a perfect
life in God's acceptance and transferring, and Him actually
going to the cross, transferring our guilt on Him and killing
us in Him. Who'd have thought it? Who'd
have thought it? He had to come down and do that.
He had to work out our salvation. He had to fulfill the Scripture.
God's Word has to be fulfilled. Every jot and tittle of it, line
upon line, precept upon precept, was written in 33 and a third
years. Every line. Every line. He had to pay for
our sins. He has to save us and keep us
from falling. Christ had to come for us. Or else we'd have never
got to God. Right? And it shall be said in
that day, and I like this verse. You might want to jot this down.
1 Samuel 25, 9. 1 Samuel 25, 9. It'll be said in that day, Lord,
this is our God. We've waited for him. And he'll
save us. This is my Christ, Rick. I've waited on him. And he'll
save me. He's the only one who can. Only
when it does, he'll save us. This is the Lord we've waited
on for him. We'll be glad and rejoice in
his salvation. Don't tell me about this Jesus
now that tries and can't. I want to hear it spit on him.
I mean it. I mean it. He's not worthy of worship,
is he? That's a fake. That's another
Jesus. I hate him. I hate him. This Jesus, this
is, we'll be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Why? Because
he saves. He saves. And you see, that was
1 Samuel 25, 9. You see, the essence of true
saving faith is this. Listen, Paul said this in Romans
10, 7. He said, don't say in your heart,
who going to send to heaven? He said, that's to bring Christ
down. Don't say that. How are we going to get to heaven?
Well, we've got to work toward it. You've got to live a good
life. You've got to get right with God. You've got to make
your peace with God. You've got to get up there somehow. No, don't
say that, Paul said. That's bringing Christ down.
You see, he's high and lifted up. He's already there. He's
there. The only way you're going to
get to heaven is because he's there, if you're in him. Don't say that.
Say this. Lord, you saved me. That's what Christ is praying
there. That the world may believe that you sent me. That I had
to come. Father had to send me. Else nobody
be saved. All right? The sent one. The
sent one. Call his name Jesus because he'll
save. And that's his glory. Verse 22. He says, Father, the glory which
you gave me, I've given them. That glory that you've given
me, I've given them. Well, the gospel is called the
gospel of his glory. And that's the great treasure
that he's given us. First of all, he's given us the
gospel. All men don't price it. We really don't. And sometimes
we take it for granted. That's the reason we're so cold
and dull and lifeless sometimes. We take it for granted. But this
is the greatest gift a man could ever receive. The gospel of His
glory. An understanding of it. A love
of it. An understanding of it. Father,
the glory You've given me, this good news, give it to them. Give
it to them. And the glory of His sonship,
But oh, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that
we should be called sons. Take a maggot and call him a
son. That's glorious. Isn't that glorious? Someday
we'll know. The glory of approval. The Father
approves of me. Oh, now, not me. You. You. Me. You. Me. You. Well, please. Well done, thou good and faithful
son. Talking to you, old boy. Old scoundrel. God approves of
you. How? In Christ. That's glory. And God, Christ gave that to
you. He worked it all out and gave it to you, Terry. Be thankful. The glory of being there with
God, everything He's got, everything Christ's got, everything He's
got coming to Him, I give. Man, you're talking about a story
of rags to riches. The glory of the Father's love.
The Father loves me. We want to get into this in a
moment. The Father loves me like he loves Christ. That holy, spotless,
well-beloved, altogether lovely, holy, righteous,
sinless, pure, perfect Son of the living God. He thinks about
me in the same way. That's glory. Glory, as Martin
would say. That's glory. The Father loves
me like He loves Christ. That's what He said. The glory of communion and revelation,
like we were talking about a while ago. We're going to be with Him.
We're going to see Him. We're going to walk with Him, talk with the
King. The glory of life, eternal life. Contentment, bliss, happiness,
holiness. I can't even speak of it, and
you can't listen to it. that they may be one. He says
it again, the glory which I've given them, the glory which you
gave me, I've given them. Christ gave it, it's his to give,
his only. We can't get it, he has to give
it. That they may be one, even as we're one. Never, oh, to never be separated
from God and Christ again. So often, so often I feel So
far away, don't you? So often. So far from God. David said it over and over again
in the psalm. He said, Are your mercies clean,
God? Lord, if you'd given me up finally,
I'd deserve it if you did. I'd sure appreciate it if you
wouldn't. Are you gone for good? Is this it? Is this the last
straw? Is this the straw that's broken the mercy of God's back? No. His mercy endures forever. And oh, to never see one of you
people ever leave again. It seems people go with me. And it breaks your heart. It's
sad. And I can't, I can't even, I can't even think about losing
some of you. It's sad, isn't it, when people
leave? You can't help but wonder why and all, but someday, someday—the
reason I wish he'd end it now—well, that they might be one, never
to leave again, never to go out from us, but always to stay with
us. But though earthly relationships
will fail, none of Christ's people, none of his sheep, will ever
perish, ever. Because he says, look at verse
23, because I'm in them. I'm in them. I'm in them. When
Christ truly reveals Himself to somebody, He comes and takes
up residence. Like that little girl said to her daddy, Daddy,
how big is Christ? You've heard this. Tell it again.
How big is Christ? I guess He's about average, about
my height. And she said, well, she said,
if Christ was in me, He'd stick out, wouldn't He? Yeah, he will. And I see him in some of you,
and that's the reason I have a good hope concerning some of
you. And Christ, when he comes in,
he takes up residence. By his Spirit, he becomes the
head of the house. Doesn't he? He comes the head of the house,
he becomes the master, the teacher. He becomes the leader, he becomes
the guide, he becomes your husband. Your husband. Old Nabal, you
remember the story of Nabal and Abigail? David came through and
said, send up there and get us provisions. There's a rich landowner
up there. Get us some food. And all the
servants went up there. And Labar, what's his name? Foogle. Labar said, who is David? I said,
serve him. I'm going to serve him. He was a foogle, wasn't he? He
was a foogle. But there was a little lady in
that house. She was the wife of Foogle. Abigail. She heard
about David by God's grace and mercy, she heard. But she believed
she knew who David was. She went running out there to
meet David and said, oh, don't hold this. Lay this not to his
account. Charge me with it. She was a
type of Christ. But anyway, you know what happened
to Abigail, don't you? Yeah, he married her. God killed
that old fool. He married Abigail. I tell you what, and Lord Christ,
he marries his people. He marries you. He marries you. And you know how much you love
your children? He says, I in them, and thou
in me. I in them. You know how much
you love your children? You can't even express it, can
you? What would it be like to go over
to Ethiopia and get one of those dying babies? terrible-looking little emaciated
baby, and take it home, and feed it, and nurse it, and clothe
it, and love it, and adopt it into your family, and love it
as much as you love your own daughter? What would that be
like? That'd be glorious, wouldn't
it? Take the grace of God, wouldn't it? That's exactly what it takes
for God to love us like He did Christ. The grace of God. That's what Christ did for us. And thou and me, I in them and
thou in me, one big happy family with a happy ending, happily
ever after. And they lived happily ever after.
It's the only time it's ever going to be said that, really
and truly. It's not Hollywood, it's not a fairytale. This is
truth. And they lived happily ever after. Father, children, Holy Spirit,
happily ever after. One big happy family. I love
a good movie like that, don't you? With a happy ending. I like
the old Disney movies and all that. They all go through trials
and troubles and hardships and pain and sorrow and all that,
but you know it's going to turn out alright. Except for old Heller.
But many of them, happily ever after. Squeaky clean dad and
mom, you know, and little kid and dog. Everything's great. That's us. That's the way it's
going to be. That is the way it's going to
be. Happily ever after. That they may be in me, thou
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Perfect in one. Who's the one in Christ? Perfect
in him. And that the world may know,
here it is again, that thou hast sent me, that the world may know
that you've sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved
me." There it is again. That they might know, that little
scraggly, ragtag bunch of believers there in that little hilltop
church called Central Baptist, that they might know that Christ
actually came down just to save them, just to save them, and
He actually loves them as you love me, Father. Let them know
that. If they may know that. How could
He love me? Such a unlovely... I feel unlovely
by... I feel like I'm not worthy to
be loved by you people. Don't you? If you knew yourself,
you would. I feel unworthy of your love.
I think to myself, I think about some of you dear, sweet people,
and I just esteem you so highly, Talking to Todd about this, some
people came in the office one day, there were three of our
source people in the study down there one day, and I was actually
literally sitting there thinking, now here I am in this position
of pastor and preacher and all that, but I thought these people
are head and shoulders above me in every respect. I thought
these people are so far superior to me in every way. Although the world doesn't esteem
you very highly, you don't esteem yourself very highly. And I just
wonder, I just wonder how you could love me but wonder of wonders
how God could love me. How could He? No other way but
in Christ, is it? That's the reason we talk about
the love of God being only in Christ. It's the only way. But you think about it. Think
about these terms of God's love. Listen carefully. It's a special
love. Special. The world exists. You remember that scripture?
He says, I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia. And the world
exists for God's people. For God's elect. It's still revolving,
waiting on that last sheet. God's still providing for us.
He'd have burned it up a long time ago. That's Solomon Gamara. But he's long-suffering to usward. Usward. It's special. It's special. Special objects. Special. It's
unchangeable. Now, you consider this with me. He loves me the same when he's
whipping on me as when he pat me on the head. It's the same. It is the same. You know. You're
a mother. You're a father. You know, when
you're beating those little tiny legs, it's killing you, isn't
it? You're not saying, oh, you dirty little bum, I'll beat the
life out of you. You're not saying that at all.
You're loving them, y'all. Aren't you? You love them, the
same, even when they're rotten to the core. You love them. You still love them. And it hurts
you, somehow. Somehow. No matter what you're
going through. He's loving his son, but he's
putting you through it. And you think, why? How? Just like a
little child. How could she love me? How could
Mommy do this to me? She does. Don't you, Mom? She does. You don't understand
it, though, you little child. You little child. Believe it,
though. Believe it. That's your consolation. That's your comfort. That's your peace. That Father
loves me. It's only your peace when you
know the truth of his love. You know I don't love and it's
eternal. His love is eternal. I don't
love that little girl anymore than I did when I first laid
eyes on her. I can honestly say that. When she first popped out
of that womb. I had. She had me. Immediately. I was hers. She was mine. I don't love her anymore now
than I've grown more attached to her. But I don't love her
anymore now. Really. Can you say that? Parents,
can you honestly say that? You don't love them anymore.
You're more attached to them. But you don't love them anymore.
This is the love of the Father for us. Eternal love. Eternal
love. And it never stops, no matter
what. No matter what. No matter what. No matter what. No matter what. No matter what. Now, that's good news. But I've
been so dead, so cold, so I've ignored God. I've gone so long
without Him. Y'all ought to come. Yeah, y'all
ought to. Y'all ought to be done with it. Never stop. But I'm so sinful. So sinful. I'm such a hypocrite. Oh, I sing, I act like I mean
it, I come to church, I say these things, I talk a good ball game,
the next minute I'm asleep or whatever. No matter what. But I, but God, but I, but God,
who's rich in mercy, for His, what? Great love, wherewith He
hath loved us. Even when we were dead, and even
since we're still old sinners, have quickened us together. How?
Where? Where is it all? With Christ. In Christ. By grace,
you say. By grace, you say. Quickened
us together with Christ. All right. Let's sing number
441 in closing. 441. 441. Stand with me and we'll sing
it. I was sinking deep in sin, far
from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained with him,
sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard
my despairing cry. From the waters lifted me, now
saved am I. Christ lifted me. Christ lifted me. When no one else could have Christ
lifted me. Christ lifted me. Christ lifted me. When no one else could have Christ
lifted me. You're dismissed.