I want to talk about the love
of God. The love of God. Look there at
verse 16. For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, we sing that
song, the love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and
strong, it shall forever be the saints' and angels' song. And I, you know, when we talk
about the love of God, I know it, to most people, it don't
mean anything. You know, it's just an accepted
thing that God loves everybody. But let me make a few comments
before I get into my message. It's not the severity of God
that God uses to save a man. It's not God's severity. It's
not some catastrophic thing that happens to you. It's not what happens. You know,
people say all the time, you know, that Maybe God will cause
their house to fall down on them. That will make them start seeking
the Lord. I heard a fellow say one time
that, you know, he hoped that God would save his son at a funeral.
And he said, you know, if they won't believe on God's Son, and
God gave His Son, they ain't going to be saved even though
they lose their son. It's God that lost His Son to
save sinners. That's the truth. There have
been a lot of people lost children and never come to God. I know
a woman that lost a husband and a son at one time. Murdered. Two or three other
sons died. You mention God to her and she'd
just grit her teeth and say, He ain't never done nothing for
me. So it's not the severity of God.
It's not what God does to you. It's what God does for you. It's
what God does for you. And it's the love of God, it's
the goodness of God that wins a sinner's heart and soul to
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the love of God, the goodness
of God that wins a sinner's heart brings a soul to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ and conquers His will. And I know even by
our own experience, by what God's done for us, it's a glimpse,
it's just a glimpse of the love of God that God manifested in
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself crucified for you. Look there
in verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
It's a glimpse of Christ crucified and the love of God manifested
in Christ crucified. It's seeing Christ bearing our
sins that wins our hearts. that crushes our hearts, makes
it willing to have Christ on his terms, not on the church's
terms, not on the preacher's terms, not on a soul winner's
terms, but on Christ's terms. You'll have him on Christ's terms.
And God's blessed love, and I'll say this too, God's blessed love
is only known, only known, I don't care how much preachers belittle
it, and say it's for everybody, the only people that know anything
about the love of God who have experienced it in their hearts,
that have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the
Holy Ghost, they're the only ones who know anything about
it. And they're the only ones who can appreciate it and thank
God for it and enjoy it. And even though their appreciation
is imperfect, but they still, still love that God loves them. And they love God the way He
is. And I tell you, you know, and when you hear about people
God loving everybody, and this is one of the most sickening
things I've ever heard, is that God loves you and I do too. Our love is imperfect in every
aspect of our lives. But thank God that God's love
is not. His love is perfect. His love
is sure. It's measureless and it's strong. Oh my, it reaches to Adam's fallen
race. and save some of his blessed
saints. Now there's seven things I want
to deal with today about the love of God. Seven things I want
to deal with about God's love. Now look here in John 3.16. I
want to just deal with several things here. And first of all,
I want you to see it says, For God so loved the world. Now look what it says, the tense
of this is loved, not loves, loved. That's in the past tense. Loved. God so loved. Huh? It's not God loves the world. God loved. And you know, you
know, we, we think, well, he loved us because we're his children.
No, no, we're his children because he loved us. Ain't that right? And oh my,
to love us now overwhelmed us. To love us even now. But to know
that there was never a time that He did not love us. That He loved
us from eternity. You know, He loved us before
we became His children. And this is what passes understanding. Now you keep John and look over
here with me in Romans chapter 5. This is what I'm trying to
say. Romans chapter 5. You know, Jeremiah
said this, I've loved thee. I've loved thee. Not that I'm
going to love you, but I've loved thee. How long you love thee? How long have you loved us, Lord?
With an everlasting love. He said, it's what he said, he
that believeth on him have everlasting life. God's everlasting, so everything
he does has to be everlasting. And he said, I've loved thee
with an everlasting love, and with cords of loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Hosea said this, I will love
them freely. Well don't I have to do something
to get God's love? I will love them freely. Well
how are they going to pay me back? I will love them freely.
What am I going to do to keep God loving me? I will love them
freely. Look what he said here in Romans
chapter 5 and verse 6. For when we yet were without
strength. Oh, we all know what that's like,
don't we? To have no strength. No strength to save ourselves.
No strength to put away our sin. No strength to win God. No strength
to earn salvation. No strength to do anything for
ourselves or anybody else. But in the time appointed, listen
to this now. In the time appointed, in due
time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. Alright, that's
me. Christ died for the ungodly.
Now listen to this. Just scarcely, if a man is a
righteous man, I don't know hardly anybody that would die for a
righteous man. If he's righteous, why die for
him? But now there's maybe, there's a good man. As a good man, he's
a good man. And I tell you what, it would
be better for me to die than for him to die. But that's not
what God does. There was none righteous, no
not one. There's none good, no not one.
But God but God commendeth his love toward us not while we were
righteous not while we were good but God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us sinners
sinners and you know I'll tell you this I'm no better now than
I was when I first started. I'm just not. You know, and this
love is sure. If He loved us, it will always
be He loves us. He loved us. He loved us. Then
look at the greatness of it. Oh, look how great God's love
was. Then verse 16 again in John 3. The greatness of His love. God
so loved. That little word so. I got three
little underlines under here. Three little marks under it.
God so loved. How in the world do you define
and measure the love of God when He said He so loved. So loved. Now I want you to look with me
in Ephesians. In Ephesians 3. You know How in the world do you measure
the love of God? How do you measure the greatness
of God's love? David said, you know, God's blessings
cannot be measured up in order. You can't reckon them. You can't
reckon them. You can't count them. You don't
know where to start. But here he tells, how do you
define that little word measure? We can't measure the love of
God. And look what he said here in verse 14 For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named God's family that he would grant
unto you give to you according to the riches of his glory to
be strengthened with might by his spirit inside you in your
inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith That
you being rooted and grounded in love now listen to this grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints What is the breath? the length the depth and the
height and To know the love of Christ now listen to this he
said I want you to know the love of Christ then he turns around
said it passes knowledge and He said, I want you to know it. I want you to know the breadth,
length, depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which
passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness
of God. Oh my, now unto Him that's able
to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us, unto Christ be glory forever
and ever. Now let me tell you, we can't
even measure the love we feel for our families. Can you measure
the love you feel for your family? When your children are first
born, you think, oh my goodness, your heart just busts, just busts,
or bursts. You know, if you're not from
the South, it bursts. But if you're from the South,
it busts. We can't measure the love we
feel for our families, for our children. There you got your
grandbabies with you. You got your boys with you. And
I tell you what, you can't measure. But I do know this about it.
It waxes, goes way up there and then it wanes. It runs hot and
it runs cold. But God's love doesn't do that.
It never waxes, it never wanes, it never runs hot, it never runs
cold. God's love is so, it's like a
bottomless well. It's like a bottomless well. It's like a mountain you can't
climb. That's how great God's love is. I mean, God's love is
immutable. It'll never change. It cannot
change. Nothing changes about God. And
His love can never change towards us. You know, God don't have
emotions like us. God don't get aggravated with
His children like we do with ours. God's love for us don't
wax and wane. He loves us the way He always
loved us. He loved us before we were. He
loves us the way we are. And He'll love us throughout
eternity exactly the way He does right now. How do you measure that? You know it's awful. It's awful
that there is parents that do not love their children. That's
an awful thing. That's an awful thing. But to have a God that loves
you when you don't love Him. I heard Scott Richardson say
one time, if you love God it was because He put love in you. He has to make you love Him. He has to make you love Him.
It's not natural to you to love Him. It's natural for us to love
ourselves. It's natural for us to love pleasure.
But it's not natural to love God. But God, He said, when I
saw thee, polluted in thy blood, I spread my skirt over you, and
I said unto thee, I said unto thee, I say live, live. What was it? He said it was a
time of love. Time of love. And then look here. Look how, who God loved now. Look what it says here now. And
now down here again in John 3.16. For God so loved the world. He
so loved. And His soul. And then look who
He loved. God so loved the world. The world. Now what world is He talking
about here? The Scriptures tells us in John 5.19, 1 John 5.19
that the whole world lies in wickedness. So God can't love
that world. The whole world lies in wickedness.
God didn't love the world in the days of Noah when he just
twirled, destroyed the world with the water and destroyed
everybody. He didn't love them then. You
remember, oh, maybe back in mid-80s or around 85 or 90 or somewhere,
that, you know, the whole Southern Baptist Convention got together,
and they all do things at the same time. They have revivals
at the same time, and they put out across every place where
they was, put out big banners, God, smile, God loves you. Henry told about 1954 the Metro
then was a thousand more in 54. Well about a thousand more people
in every church in 54. And I tell you what, so what
world is he talking about here? He can't keep talking about a
world that's lying in wickedness. He can't be talking about a world
that don't want him and don't desire him and is not interested
in him. He can't be talking about that.
Because the world was lost, guilty, and condemned. Look down there
in verse 17. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world. Why not? Because He's already
condemned. He's already condemned. He didn't have to condemn anybody.
We were born that way. We live that way. But notice,
you didn't have to condemn the world. Down there in verse 19
it said, and this is the condemnation. This is how the world is condemned
now. That light has come into the
world. Christ came into this world. He brought light. And
what did men do? They loved darkness. loved darkness
rather than light. Why did they love darkness? Because
everything they did was evil and wicked. And I tell you that's
why when Noah was a preacher of righteousness, nobody paid
any attention to him. They didn't hear anything he
had to say. He said, God said it's going to rain. Judgment
is coming. Judgment is coming. Judgment
is coming. And he was on that ark, working on that ark for
a hundred and twenty years preaching righteousness. Ever more that
was cut sinning. Preaching righteousness. When
those animals started gathering into that ark, preaching righteousness. And everybody said, boy, what
a fool, what a fool, that old man's a fool. He's got a boat
here, he's got a great big boat, this huge boat, and there ain't
no water nowhere. There ain't an ocean, there's
not a sea, there's not a lake for him to put that boat on.
What's the matter with that old man? And then he got inside the
thing and him and his wife and his three sons and three daughters,
eight of them was in there. What in the world they got in
there? How are they going to get back out? And then all of a sudden it started
raining. Never had rain. A little while that boat started
raising up. And that's where God does His elect. They're not
condemned. You know why? Because they love
that light. They want to sell everybody that everything that's
been done for me. All everything, everything God
does, He did it for me. They're wrought in God. And that
heart was lifted up. And I tell you what, I'd like
to see them put a smile, God loves you on the back of that
thing. While those folks were drowning. And that's exactly the way the
scripture says it's going to be in the last days. As it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son
of Man. Oh my! And the world was lost. All that
was in the world is just the lust of this flesh. The lust
of the eyes and the pride of life. But bless His glorious,
glorious name. God's love wasn't limited. It wasn't limited. It wasn't
just limited to the Jews and the Jewish nation, but it was
to Gentile dogs like you and I. To people like Ruth. And I tell you to those who were
servants and those who were bond and those who were free. He loved
sinners from every nation, every tribe under heaven. I don't care
what class they're in. If they're poor, rich, educated,
uneducated, it made no difference to God who you are and what you've
done and what you've accomplished. That don't have anything to do
with it. He loved everybody and every kind of people without
distinction. I mean He didn't care who you
was. The only thing that I tell you why He saved anybody at all
was because God loved them in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And I tell you what, this truly
shows us that God is no respective person. It's all you gotta do
to figure out God's no respective person. Just look at me. And
look at you. If God respected people, He would
have went to God and somebody besides you, wouldn't He? You know whether this world talks
about how wise it is, and how accomplished it is, and how people
do so many great and wonderful things. God said, you know what
I count the world and all of its accomplishments as? Foolishness. Foolishness. A lot of folks want to be in them
books called Who's Who. I want to be in God's book that
says, The Lamb Book of Life. That's the only book I'm interested
in being in. Ain't you? Ain't you? Oh yes,
just put me in that book. Oh my. God has no respect of
persons. They say, well, because of the
election. God respects people because He chooses who would
listen. God does not look at anything
about you and ever, never has looked at anything about us.
And He never will. He's never looked for us to anything. I remember there was a fella
come here one time and he was a PhD. And he wrote a book. And it's a good book. Very good
book. On the fear of God. Very, very
good book. And he'd come for a few services. And I happened to get up and
say one time that God indeed don't care about what your education
level is. Or your uneducation. He don't
care about your wealth or your non-wealth. He don't care about
where you live. He don't care about anything.
And that offended that fella. Because he trusted in being a
PhD. I met a fellow one time, he had
two or three degrees. And I said, if he gets 358 more, he'll be able to go in
a full circle for 60 degrees. He'd get enough of them. Boy, I tell you what. But
there's a river. There's a river. that flows,
flows from the very heart of God himself. Word, how far does
it go? It goes right down into the heart.
Down in the deepest recesses of a sinner, black hearted, black
hearted, hard hearted sinners. And gets down in there. and brings
them to where they come to Christ his blessed son and are so thankful
that God worked in their hearts well let me give you another
thing here look at the nature of God's love the nature of God's
love there in verse 16 again God so loved the world and then
so loved the world that he gave that he gave oh my you know he says this that God
is love God is love and he that dwelleth
in love dwells in God and I tell you something about
love if you really love somebody really love somebody Love always,
always seeks the highest and the best for those that they
love. They always do. If you love somebody,
you want the best. You'll do it without yourself
to see that they get what? You'd rather them to have something
than you. You'll see something and say,
boy, they would really love that. Well, I can't hardly afford it,
but well, they're going to love it, so I'm going to get it for
them anyway. That's the way we love. That's the way. You know, love is unselfish. You find somebody that's selfish,
they don't love. They don't love. But love gives. Always gives. It's happy to give. It delights to give. You know, I've heard of men in
that, you know, Tell their wives that they, you
know, put them under the law and say, you can only do this,
you can only do that. Well, listen, turn them loose. If you got the money and you
got the ability to let them have what they want, let them have
it. Shirley, I couldn't tell you
the time. She said, you need a bunch of new ties. I said,
I need some ties. So she got a book out yesterday and went
looking for ties. I said, they're too high. She said, but you need
them. She goes and buys me suits, buys me ties, buys me shoes. And if she wants to go buy anything,
because if we can afford it, go get it. And for us to give,
we just give of what God gave us. We had nothing of our own. We absolutely had nothing of
our own. What do we own? If I've got five dollars in my pocket,
you know who put it there? God did. And He took care of me when I
was a rebel. You imagine what He'll take care
of me since He brought me to Himself. Oh my! And I tell you what, He gives.
Love is unselfish. He gives. And God's love, listen
to me now, God's love by very nature must be expressed. They
say, God don't have to love anybody. Yes, He does. Oh yes, He does. Now he can love
who he wants to, but he, since God is love and you have love,
love must be expressed. Now he can express it to who
he wants to, but for God not to be able to love and God not
to express his love? When the scripture says God is
love? And I tell you what he, and so he has to express his
love. Well how did he express his love?
How did he show his love? How did he express his love?
He gave. Who did he give? He gave his
blessed son. We can see how glorious it is
It's nature, first and foremost, because of who He gave. He gave
His blessed Son. We can tell it the second way
is because of who He saves. And whom He loves. He said, Jacob
have I loved. And I'll tell you what, the scripture
said He raises beggars. Beggars. Where does he raise them from?
A dunghill. You know what a dunghill is?
He said he raises beggars from the dunghill. What does he do? He sets them among a bunch of
princesses and princesses like you. And guess what? When he gets them off that dunghill,
they don't smell anymore. Christ is their fragrance before
God. God looks at them and hears them
and hears what they got to say. And when He smells them, He don't
smell their sin and their nastiness and their dirtiness and their
rottenness and their corruption. He said, I smell the sweet savor
of my Son. That's what He smells. Oh my! God's love has to be expressed.
And then His love was sacrificial. Sacrificial. It says that He
gave, gave His only begotten Son. Oh my! Gave His only begotten Son. God who spared not His Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. Delivered Him up. Delivered Him
up! Delivered Him up. And when God
gave His Son, you know what He calls Him? The Son of His love.
The Son of His bosom. The Son of His bosom. Our Lord
said here in verse 13, He said, No man has ever ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. This is how God done it. He gave
His only begotten Son. To what? The one who came down
from heaven. The one who came way down. And
the one that was lifted up, like Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness. This is the son in whom God said,
I'm well pleased. This is the one who says, this
is my beloved son. This is the one who said, this
is my son. Hear what he has to say. And he was the son of God. We're
sons of flesh and our sons are sons of flesh. Isaiah said under
us a child is born Christ was born in Bethlehem under us now
listen to this the difference it under us a son is given You
don't want to know how God gave him gave him to a virgin's womb
To unite with perfect sinless manhood Started life in this
world the one who had had its eternity came down here and had
it at the womb of a virgin Starting life in this world as a little
tiny, baby Dependent entirely upon his mother for everything
he had and then when he grew up he gave him to labor and Gave
him to be among men who hated him, despised him, and rejected
him, and everything about him. Gave him to where he's hungry.
Gave him here to a man of poverty. Gave him to thirst. Even in his
dying hour, he said, I thirst. And what did they give him? Did
they give him a glass of cold water? Did they say, here, I'll have
mercy on you, here's some water. No, they gave him some vinegar. Gave him some vinegar. They wanted
to even make him suffer more than he's already suffering.
Hated him so bad, said, I tell you, we don't want you to be
comfortable. We don't want you. We don't want you to be comfortable.
We just hate you so much we want your life to be miserable while
you're dying. No, they didn't hand him no water. Handed him vinegar. Then he turned
around. God gave his back to the smiters. Gave his cheeks to those who
plucked out his beard. gave him a bunch of men to be
around him that he loved and yet they would betray him and
deny him and say they didn't know who he was and then turned
around and gave him into the hands of his enemies now scourge him mock him Take his clothes and get down
on the cross and gamble for him. And gave him finally to death. What kind of death? The death
as like a criminal on a cross. And I tell you what, even the
death of the cross. And this just gives us just a
little of what God gave when he gave his son. He gave him
the just for the unjust. Gave him the innocent for the
guilty. And he could not give any more,
give any better, give something of any more worth or merit than
when he gave his son. And when He gave His Son, He
completely gave Him. Even our Lord Him says, My God,
My God, why? After everybody else has forsaken
Me, why have you? And He gave His Son without any
conditions, without any bars, it was free. And He gave Him. to pay a debt that we could not
pay. And He paid a debt that He did
not owe for sinners like ourselves. And now look what else. Here's
a sixth thing. Look at this now. Look at this. There in verse 16. Oh, listen. You know what He talked about
His love? That whosoever believeth in Him, Then I'm never going
to perish. Oh, you believe in Him, you're
not going to perish. You believe in Him, you're not going to perish.
You're not going to perish. Multitudes and multitudes and
multitudes died in the wilderness when Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness. He put that brass serpent up
on that pole. Multitudes and multitudes died. died. Not everybody looked at that
serpent. Not everybody did. But it wasn't Moses fault that
they died. Moses did just what God said,
put that pole, get you a big tall pole and put you a brass
serpent on that pole and put it up high enough that no I don't
care if somebody's a half a mile away they can see it. And if
they just look at it. Be healed like that. He made whole. And I tell you
what, it wasn't Moses' fault that anybody perished. It wasn't
the pole's fault. There wasn't nothing wrong with
the pole. It wasn't the serpent's fault. God provided the remedy. And some just absolutely refused. A serpent on a pole, what in
the world is that going to do us any good? It's only made of
brass. And who's Moses? Who does he
think he is? Oh my. And I'm going to tell
you something this morning. If anybody in this building perishes,
it won't be God's fault. God sent you the gospel. It won't be his son's fault.
His son. gave Himself and God gave His
Son. It won't be the preacher's fault.
I'm just the pole. I'm just the pole. You know what's
fault it'll be? It'll be yours. You know why? Because you won't believe on
the Son of God. You won't believe on Him. Our
Lord said this. He looked at a bunch one day
and said, You will not come to Me. That you might have everlasting
life. He just won't do it. In another
group one time, he said, you know why? He said, a bunch got
together and said, we're just not going to have this man to
reign over us. Well, how are we going to do about it? We'll
kill him. Be done with him. And I tell you what, whatever
reason you give, whatever reason you give to keep from coming
to Christ, God will take that reason and it will cause it to
be a worm that will burn in your heart and soul throughout eternity.
You say, well, I don't like election. Well, when God will cause, well,
I didn't like election. He'll just cause that to keep
coming back to you. Oh God, He'll keep coming that
back to you. Well, I'm a good person. Well,
God will keep saying, you just work on your heart all through
eternity. I'm good, I'm good. I don't know
why I'm doing down here. I don't know why he put me here.
I don't know why he wouldn't let... Listen, if he'd let me
out of here, I'd come to him now. No, no, no. Listen, when
a person goes without Christ and dies without him, they're
going to go into eternity just like they did. Huh? Oh my! You say, well I tell you
what, I don't believe in the new birth. I believe I'm good
enough. I believe I'm strong enough. I believe I'm wise enough.
I don't have to be born again. Nicodemus didn't think he had
to be born again either. And here's the one that's just,
here's the long and short of it. I'm just not interested. I just don't care I just don't care just don't care well look down
here in verse 18 he that believeth on him is not
condemned There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. But
now that person, that soul who does not believe, but he that
believeth not, who don't believe on the Son of God, he's under
God's condemnation. He's condemned already. What
condemns him? Because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Look what else it
says, and this is the condemnation. This word condemnation means
judgment. That's what it means, judgment.
And this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world. Oh, what light it was. And men said, oh my, they loved
darkness. Can you imagine anybody that
loves being in the dark? Loves being in the dark. I can't
imagine anybody wanting to live in the dark all the time. Bats
live in the dark. I heard a lot of things live in
the dark. But oh, they not only live in the dark, but love it.
The darkness of their heart, the darkness of sin. Because
their deeds, their sins, their deeds are wicked, they're evil. What they do and what they think
and what they say and how they act, it's evil. Now listen to
this, for everyone that doeth evil, and anything but coming
to Christ, they hate that light. And they're not going to come
to that light. Why? Because if they do, then their
deeds will have to be reproved. They'll be convinced, they'll
say, oh everything you've ever done in your life is awful. Everything
you ever thought, everything you ever did, everything you
ever accomplished, everything is just, your deeds will be discovered. But now listen to this now. But
he that doeth truth comes to the light. Oh Lord, we come unto
Christ. And the reason he comes is because
that his deeds may be made manifest. What? That God done this to me. God worked these in me. God took
care of my awful sins and my awful deeds and God worked in
me to believe His blessed Son. And here's the benefit, the blessings
of it. That who should believe in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. You know what the cause of God's
love is? Moses lifted up the serpent.
That's the gospel right there. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the serpent of man be lifted
up. The effect of that Christ being
lifted up and believing on him is everlasting life. And when
we talk about the life, we're talking about the quality of
it. Look with me at John 10.10. I'll be done here in a moment. In
John 10.10. Everlasting life, it's the quality
of it. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. It's God. You're the temple of
the living God. God dwells in us. And here at John 10.10 it says,
The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy. I am come that they might have
life. I've come that they might have
life. And not only have it, but have it more abundantly. Now
let me ask you something. How abundant is the life of Christ
Himself? How abundant is the life that's
in Him? How much life is in Christ? How
much life is in God? Whatever how much is in Him,
that's how much we have. That's what abundant life means.
And this is what God gives, everlasting life, abundant life on everyone
who believes on, who comes to and trusts in His blessed Son. Oh my! What a blessed thing! Oh, the love of God! How rich
and pure! How measureless and strong! It
shall forevermore endure, the saints and angels so. Oh, Father, Father, Father, our
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, You are our great God and You are
our Savior. And we look for your appearing. We look for your appearing. We look for you to come. And
I pray you've come today into this service and done for your
people what only you can do. We thank you for your word that
blesses us. Oh, how it blesses us. How it
feeds us. How it instructs us. How it edifies
us. How it builds us up in the most
holy faith. Thank you. Bless your holy name. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that song, The
Love of God.