John chapter 3, 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. The love of God, how rich and
pure. How measureless and strong it
shall forevermore endure, the saints and angels soaring. Oh,
the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought
it down to man. Oh, the gulf that God did span
at Calvary. Now let me tell you something
that's true, and I always do, Most people think that it's a
catastrophe, something severe that happens in a person's life
that makes them come to Christ. But it's not. It's a sight of
God's blessed love. It's a sight of God's mercy. It's a sight of God's goodness. It's the goodness of God that
brings men to repent. When you see that God gave His
Son, bore your sin, took your place, and that will overwhelm your
heart like nothing else will. And it's what overwhelms our
heart today. It's the love. How can it be?
How can it be? that thou, my God, should die
for me? For me, a worm, who him to death
pursued? Depth of mercy, can there be
mercy still reserved for me? When I survey the wonder's cross
on which the Prince of Glory died, that's what wins a sinner's heart.
That's what wins a sinner's heart and soul. That's what conquers
his weevil. It's the love of God. It's the
goodness of God. The mercy of God. That's what
does it. Whenever a person gets a glimpse
of the love of God manifested, manifested in Christ crucified
for them in particular, crucified for you, bearing your sins, your
sins, That's what'll win your heart. That's what'll crush the
heart. That's what'll crush mine. That's
what makes it willing. That's what makes the heart willing
to have Christ on his purpose. Nicodemus came to our Lord Jesus
at night, called him a teacher, and our
Lord began to tell him that something had to happen to you. That's
beyond your power. Beyond your ability. You must
be born again. You must be regenerated. How
in the world can this be? And then our Lord used an illustration
from the Old Testament that would make him understand just exactly
what He meant. By there's life in a look. A
look at what? A brazen serpent. And the lightness
of that serpent. If you was bitten by that serpent,
you could live. And he says, and here's what's
happened. Christ is going to be lifted up. The Son of Man
is going to be lifted up. The Son of God is going to be
lifted up. Why? Because God so loved the world
that He gave on that cross, lifted up His Son, that whosoever looks
to Him, believes Him, trusts Him, casts their life with Him,
life, God'll save you. God'll save you. And oh, let
me tell you something, beloved, God's blessed love is only known
by those who have experienced it. You've got to experience
the love of God. The Scripture says the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And they're
the only ones who can appreciate it, though their appreciation
for the love of God toward them It's imperfect. I was somewhere
the other day, I forget where I was, and they had a little
emblem up by their desk. I forget where I was even. But
there was a little emblem, you know, a little thing they had
stuck up by their desk that said, Smile, God Loves You. That's not what this is talking
about here. That's not what this is talking about. Our Lord's
talking to a man about a great need he has, and then tells him
how that need's met by Christ being lifted up. And the reason
Christ was lifted up, the reason Christ came, was because God
so loved the world that He gave, gave that only begotten Son. What to do? To hang on that cross.
To bear sin. To bear sin. And here in John
3.16, I want to give you seven things, seven things that's told
us about the love of God in John 3.16. Right here in this one
verse, seven things. First of all, let's look at the
tense of His love. It said here, God, first, God
so loved. Loved. You see that? Loved. He
didn't say He loves. He said He loved. The love has
always been there, and it's always in the past tense. And this love,
those that He loved, He loved them so that He gave them. God, it's not God loves, though
He does, but it is He loved. He loved. To love us before To
love us while we were dead in trespasses and sin. To love us
when we were lost. To love us when we had no hope. To love us in our wickedness.
To love us in our blackness. To love us in our rebellion. To love us before we were ever
born. To love us with an everlasting
love. And then call us with the cords
of a man. To love us when the Scriptures
tell us that He loved us how? Freely. And because of this free
love that God has towards us, He gave His only begotten Son. Now, you keep John 3.16, and
look with me over here in Romans chapter 5. This is what Paul
says about the love of God, and how it's manifested, and how
the degree it is, the tense of it. God so loved. God so loved. And this passes
understanding, this love passes understanding. And look what he said here in
Romans chapter five. And look in verse six. For when we were yet without
strength, strength to do what? To save ourselves, to commend
ourselves without any ability whatsoever. In due time, at the
appointed time, At God's appointed time, Christ died for who? The
ungodly. That's the problem that men have. Being ungodly. You can find good
men all over the place. You can find people with professions
all over the place. You can find folks who swapped
isles and got on every altar. And made professions and signed
cards. Then baptized in somebody's pool, but to find somebody whom
Christ died for when they were yet without strength because
of their ungodliness, that's another force of another color,
ain't it? Huh? And then look what else it says.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. If a man is
righteous, that's what our Lord said. He didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repent. You know, if somebody's
righteous, somebody just might. Somebody might. But why would
you die for a righteous man if he's righteous and he's going
to go to glory anyway? Why would you die for him? And
then there's maybe, just maybe, somebody out there to die for
a good man. Somebody might. Somebody might
take your place if you're a good man. But listen to what it says, Commendeth His love toward us."
Commends it. Sets it out here for us to see,
for us to grasp, for us to rejoice in. Commendeth His love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, yet sinners, Christ
died for us. And let me tell you something
about this love. Though it says it's in the past
that God still loved. He loved me before I was. He
loved me in my mother's womb. He loved me when I was a year
old. Loved me when I was ten years
old. Loved me when I was twenty years old. Love me when I'm 30
years old, love me when I'm 50, and when I live to be 80, you'll
love me then, and He'll love me throughout eternity. If my
love does not live, He loved me. And because He loved me,
He gave. And that's what crushes my heart,
though it overwhelms me yet today. It's safe for the present, and
it's sure for the future. Huh? Oh my, now look down at
the next thing here in John 3.16. The tenth of His love. God so
loved the world. Now look at the magnitude of
it. Look at the greatness of His love. Look at that word,
God so loved. So loved. I could not tell you. That was one of the things that
Brother Floyd mentioned so many times. The greatest word in John
3.16 is so. When you plumb the depth of how
much He loved, so loved, the magnitude of it, the greatness
of it, it's in that word so. So, how do you define, how do
you measure that little word so? How big is it? How wide is it? How great is
it? God so loved, had such a love, such a magnitude of love, such
a greatness of love, such a depth of love, that He gave. Now you keep this and look with
me in Ephesians 3.14, I think we can see something. This is
something that you'll say, boy, this is just, you know, we can't
even measure the love we feel for our own families, for our
children. How do you measure the love you
have for your children? And it waxes and wanes. We weep
over them. We pray over them. They have
blessings to us. They have burdens to us. They
bring us grief. They bring us joy. They bring
us happiness. They bring us sorrow. Oh, our
children. Oh, my. But how much do we love
them? How far do we go for them? What do we do for them? How do we express that love?
If you've got love for somebody, it's expressed. You go and do
for them. You provide for them. You give
to them. You go to great lengths to manifest
your love to Him. And if we do that for one another
and for our loved ones, just imagine how God, how great and
magnificent and wise and how deep the love of God is that
He would come here and so loved that He gave. Look here at what
Paul said in Ephesians 3.14. Paul says, For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I get down
and pray. And he says, And I tell you of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. God's family is named in the
name of Jesus Christ, and God's our Father. And here's what he
asked for, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man. And he prays this, and he bows
his knees, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that
you, being rooted and grounded in love, now listen to this,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what the breadth,
oh my, how wide it is, the length, how long it is, Depth, how deep
it is. Height, how high it is. What? The love of Christ. And then
when you think you know it, he said it passes knowledge. But if you do this, you'll be
filled with all the fullness of God. I want you to know how
high, how broad, how deep, how long. And then when you know
that, it'll pass your knowledge. It'll overwhelm you. God's love is a bottomless, bottomless
well, and all you've got to do is look at your life since you've
been a believer. Has the love of God run dry on
you yet? When your love has been so cold,
and your love is so imperfect, and it waxes and wanes, has His
love as well ever run dry? Have you ever went to it, and
He's not manifested it to you? Now, look back over here again,
John 3, 16. Oh, we see the tense of God so loved. We see the magnitude,
the greatness of it. He so loved. Now, look at the
scope of it. God so loved. Here it is, the
world. The world. Now, let me tell you
something. There is solace more in the world,
within the world. I'm going to show you something
over here in John chapter 1 verse 10. I'm going to show you three
definitions of the world in one place. Because when people talk
about the world, they say it means everybody in the world.
If it meant that, then everybody would be in trouble in the world.
There's a multitude of people that don't ever hear of Christ. And if God loved every soul in
this world, the way He loved His elect. There could never
be nobody like Him. He'd have to express that love.
But here in John, Chapter 1, in Verse 10, look what it says,
talking about Christ. He was in the world. That means
He came to this earth, came into this world that we know, this
earth here. And the world was made by Him.
The world here means the earth, the heavens, everything, the
cup, everything that is, was made by Him. And then He came
here in the world. That's people. That's mankind. That's people in the world. They
didn't know Him. So what is this world, you know?
And when He talks about God so loved the world, the world was
lost. This is the world he came into,
a lost world, a sinful world, a guilty world. And he came into
a world, look back over here in John chapter 3, he came into
a world that was condemned. He said in verse 17, For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, And I'll tell you what Earth
said on down there, and he that believeth not on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already. He didn't
have to come to condemn the world, because the world was already
condemned. And this is the condemnation,
that life has come into the world, and they'd rather stay in their
darkness. So the world was lost. He came into a lost world. He
came into a guilty world. He came into a condemned world.
I was trying to find a hymn this morning that says, for a world
of lost sinners was slain. And oh, beloved, and oh, you
know what's in this world? You know what's in this world? The lust of the flesh. The lust
of the flesh. The desires of the flesh to satisfy
their old fallen nature. That's what's in this world.
This flesh that wants to be desired, this flesh that wants what it
wants, this all-falling nature that desires everything but God,
but Christ. The lusts of the flesh. What
else is in there? The lusts of the eyes. And you know what the
lusts of the eyes is? That means, look at me. Look
at what I've accomplished. It's not your eyes set on something
up there that you want, though that has something to do with
it. But what it is, is I want people's eyes to look at me.
I want folks to see what I've done. I want folks to see what
I've accomplished. I want folks to see how great
a person I am. I want them to see how good I
am. I want them to see what I've accomplished. That's the look
in their eyes. Look at me. When you look at a picture, and
you're in the picture, who's the first person you look at? You know why you do that? Do
I look good? Oh, that's a bad picture of me. Let's go the other way. That's
what this Paul, that's what he's talking about, the lesson. And
then the pride of life. Oh boy, ain't I something? I
have a right. If you folks just knew me, you'd
think I was the greatest thing since electric lights. That's what this is talking about.
Pride of place, oh boy, I don't know where I come from. Pride
of race, I'm free white and 21, that's what everybody used to
say. Pride of face, who you are, who
your kinfolks are, who you descended from, who your genealogy is. Oh, pride of face. Oh, I'm somebody. God, you just wouldn't know.
My folks come over on the Mayflower. That's what people think. But,
oh, beloved, bless His glorious name. This was the world that
he came into because he loved it. Lost, guilty, condemned. And what this world means is
that God's love wasn't limited to the Jews or to the Jewish
nation. You remember they told our Lord
that this man, Edith, was a sinner? And you remember when our Lord
Jesus, over in John 4, went to the Samaritan woman and she said,
Why, thou art a Jew. And you know the Jews don't have
anything to do with us Samaritans. And all my them Jews just could
not stand the thoughts of being around a Gentile. But this is
what the love of God was manifested for. This is why Christ came
into Europe and was crucified for. Not just the Jews, but to
Gentiles alike. Whether he was a slave or whether
he was a free man. To sinners out of every nation.
Out of every nation, there has been somebody saved out of every
nation. You know how many nations are
represented in the United States of America, and how many people
is converted in this nation? And then you go to other nations.
You go to Spanish-speaking worlds, you go to Chinese-speaking worlds,
there's somebody preaching the gospel somewhere, telling men
about Christ and the love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Out of every tribe, And to every tribe under heaven, to every
class, high class, low class. Upper class? Oh, people talk
about upper class. But I tell you what, as far as
God's concerned, there is no class. There's only one class.
And all of them are sinners. But it's only God that can make
a man understand his sin. And all beloved, to every kind
of people without distinction, God does not make distinction
in the human race and in people. I know doctors that's converted,
and I know people that can't read their name on the boxcar. People that's got great educations,
and people that just don't have any education at all. People
that got lots of money and people that ain't got no money. God
does not make... He's not no respect of persons. And bless His holy name. This
truly shows us that God is no respect of... He don't care who
you are, what you've done. He loves sinners! Oh, there's a river. Oh! The
psalmist says, there's a river that flows from the city of God. There's a river that flows from
the very heart of God, flows from the very nature of God,
flows from the very soul of God. And it went through Calvary,
and it was rinsed in blood, and it comes from Calvary all the
way down through now, and still washes sinners white in His blessed
blood. Huh? Oh, bless His name. Ain't you grateful that you didn't
have to be a Jew to be saved? And you go down through the genealogy
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you know what you find? You find
Rehab the harlot from Jericho, Percy. Then you
find Ruth. Amoebites. You know where her
daddy was? Lodge? And they come down and go on
down through. And you find time and time again
Gentiles in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners like themselves. And
we were in his loins before the world ever began. And then look
at the nature of God's love, the nature of it. Not only is
it the scope of it, the world, not only is it the tense of it,
love, not only is the magnitude of it in soul, but the nature
of God's love, so loved the world that he gave, gave. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us, and sent His own Son, this verse
says, sent His own Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And now when we talk about love,
real love, real love always seeks the highest and the best of others.
Always does. Love is unselfish. Love is unselfish. It's not always, what can you
do for me? But it's, what can I do for you?
We just see the need and it just rises to us. And it gives. It gives. It does for others
without any thought or premeditation. And God's love by its very nature
must be expressed. People say, God didn't have to
express His love. Yes, He did. Love must be expressed. Wherever it's at, it's got to
be expressed. And so if God is love, and John
said God is love, and if God is love, then He must express
that love. And what can be the highest expression
of love that someone can make in this world other than to give? And not only give, but to give
themselves. And not only give themselves,
but to give themselves even unto death. This was, you know, when
you're talking about love. Love caused God to give Himself in the person of His
Son. And we can see how glorious God's
nature is, by whom He loves. He says, Jacob have I loved.
O thou worm, Jacob. O thou worm, Jacob. O you deceiver,
Jacob. O you suppleter, Jacob. O you
liar, Jacob. O you conniver, Jacob. And how
in the world did God express that love to him? He went to
him and got a hold of him. He went and laid hold of him. Went in the middle of the night. Got a hold of him. Laid hold
of him. Marlon didn't lay a hold of him.
But he whipped him. Defeated him. Conquered him. changed his wall, and even changed
his name, took him from the dunghill, and saved him from the princes
of Israel. Prince of God. Oh, beloved. And not only by how much of who
he loved, but by whom he gave to manifest that love. And this love of God. Listen
to me. Pile of manure. Big pile of manure. This is not animal. They take
all the waste outside the city and pile it up. And beggars be out there. And they're on that dunghill.
They think they're on a mountain. Think they really accomplished,
but they're sitting on a dunghill. And God in love goes. and lifts
him off that downhill. And what does he do? He takes
him over here and sets him among the preachers. And then look what else about
the love of God. Not only that He gave. He gave. He gave. He
gave. And remember, all the preachers
tell what you need to do, what you need to give. All you need
to give. That's all you need to do. It
tells you what all... Here's the thing that James gave me this morning. It
says, practice makes perfect. Be careful what you practice.
It talks about, folks, what they do. It's talking about what God
gave. It's talking about what God gave.
You talk about winning your heart. You know, here's the thing about
it. If God gets your heart, you know what He's got? He's got
you. That's the way it is in marriage.
You know, when a man falls in love with a woman, or a woman
with a man, you know what, they start expressing that love by
going after them. Saying things to them, buying
things for them, going after them, until they win that love
back. And it's love that wins love.
And then, beloved, when you get married, if the person you marry
has got your heart, They've got you. They've got you. They've got
you for the rest of their life. Through sickness and health,
through poverty or wealth, till death do us part. Because you've
got your heart. And if Christ gets your heart, He's got you lock, stock and
barrel. And that's what the love of God does. It comes and gets
you by the heart. And then look what he says here.
Not only did he give God, for God so loved the world that He
gave, look what He gave. His love was sacrificial. He
gave His only, only begotten Son. Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten Thee. God spared not his own son, but
delivered him up first of all. And you know what God called
him? He called him the son of his love. He told me twice that
this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. This is my son. I want you to listen to him.
No man, our Lord Jesus says, no man has seen the Father, but
the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. The
father had his son in his bosom, held him in his heart, held him
close to him, dear to him, held him there. And then he says,
but he came, his only begotten son, he was the bosom of the
father, he came and told him out, expressed him, made himself
known. And look what it says there in
verse 13, here in John 3. And look what our Lord Jesus
said about himself, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, No
man's ever went up there, but he that came down from heaven,
even so the Son of Man which is in heaven. And oh, he came down here, and
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, this Son of
Man which came down from heaven, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Must be lifted up. This is the
Son in whom He was well pleased. Our sons are sons of the flesh,
sons of sin, sons of depravity, sons and daughters just like
us. But He was the Son of God. Unto
us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And instead, he gave him. How
did he give him? First and foremost, he gave him
to a virgin's womb, unheard of. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. Thou shalt call his name what?
Immanuel, God with us. He gave him a start in this world as a little
baby, as a little infant. Here's the ancient of David born. as an infant, maybe 18, 19, 20
inches long, maybe 6 or 7 or 8 pounds. But he was saved. God gave him to be an infant.
God gave him to where he'd be laid in a manger. God gave him. And when He gave him, He gave
him to a life of labor. He was a carpenter. They said,
Is this my Joseph, son? Who is the carpenter? Is it not
Him? He gave Him to live among men who hated Him, despised Him,
and rejected everything about Him. Mocked Him and ridiculed
Him about the company that He came, the places that He went,
the sayings that He said. They mocked everything about
Him. And then God gave him up to poverty. He was poor, born a poor man,
lived a poor man, and died a poor man. They gambled for his garments. Gave him up to hunger. Well, he actually hungered. They
said he came to a tree one day and said he was hungry. Gave
him to thirst. When He cried out on the cross,
I thirst. What did they give Him to drink?
You think they handed Him a drink of water? You think they said,
here, take this cold water, and oh, we'll be merciful to you,
we'll be kind to you, we'll be tender to you, because you're
in such a strength hanging on that cross. Here, let's have
some of this good cold water. Instead, they stuck a sponge
in some vinegar, stuck it up to His mouth. Oh, he said to them, he said
he gave, he gave his back to the spiders. Until great bleeding broke his
body till it was bloody and broken. Then he gave his cheeks to those
who plucked out his beard. He gave him to be betrayed by
one sitting at the table with him. Gave him up to be denied
by those that were closest to him. Gave him one night in the
garden of Gethsemane, till he prayed with his drop, sweat was
great drops of blood, till his enemies came and took him, and
arrested him, and led him away. Gave him into the hands of his
enemies to scourge him, to mock him, And men finally gave Him
unto death, even the death of the cross, the criminal's death
on the cross outside of Jerusalem. And men mocking Him, saying He
saved others, Himself He cannot save. God gave? God gave? Oh my, and let me tell you something,
that God giving His Son was a complete giving of He held back nothing. When Christ gave, God gave His
Son, He gave everything about His Son. Gave His body, gave
His soul. Made His soul an offering for
sin. Made Him a body that was able
to suffer and die. Oh, what love God must have. for sinners to give up the son
of his love, gave him the just for the unjust, the innocent
for the guilty, the sinless for the sinful, and made him to be sin so the
sinful could be made righteous. Gave him the obedient for the
disobedient so that the disobedient could have the obedience of the
one who was obedient unto death. Oh, it was an absolute exchange,
perfect exchange. He got to be who we are, that
we might become who He is. He became what we are, that we
might be made the very righteousness of God in Him. And let me tell
you something, there's no conditions on this giving. I'll give you this if you do
that. I'll give you this if you do that other. We put conditions
on things. But God didn't do it. He said,
I'll give my son on these conditions. I'll give my son if people do
this and the other. No. God gave His Son. His only begotten Son. And you know what He did? It
was payment for a people. That was in such bondage that
they could not pay their own ransom to get set free. Nobody
could pay it. Christ gave his life a ransom.
Now everybody who he paid that ransom for gets set free. Then look at the design of his
love. It says here, for God so loved the world that he gave
his son. Here's the design of His love,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. Not perish? Well, He talked about
that serpent lifted up in the wilderness. You know how many
people died in the wilderness? How multitudes. The Scriptures
told us a multitude, a multitude of sinners died in the wilderness
when Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness. Multitudes
died. But it wasn't Moses' fault that
those Moses two died. He did what God told him to do.
He made a pole and he lifted up and made a brazen serpent
lift him up on that pole. That whosoever looked to it would
have a life, would be, that death sting from that fiery serpent
pulsing through their blood would be saved by looking at that.
But it wasn't Moses' fault that the people didn't look. It wasn't
the pole's fault that people didn't, that they perished. It
wasn't the serpent's fault that they perished. God provided the
remedy. If a man perished, it was because
he didn't look. And if you perish, if you perish,
it won't be God's fault. God gave His only begotten Son
because He loved this world. And He done it that men might
believe on Him, and in believing on Him, should not perish. And
look here, it's not the Son's fault. He said, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. He said, I'm willing now if I
come. And He said, I'm willing to be lifted. I've come to accomplish
this. It's just my will to do the will
of Him that sent me. And to finish the work that He
gave. And it won't be the preacher's fault. If a man perishes, it
won't be the preacher's fault. And all the preacher is, he's
the foe. That's all he is. He's the foe. It won't be the
foe's fault. You know what it'll be? It'll
be because you won't believe on Christ. Huh? Our Lord Jesus said this, so
you will not, you will not come to me that you might have life. And oh beloved, and whatever
reason you give, God will, now listen, I want you to understand
this, God will take the reason and cause it to be the Word that'll
eat on you. You say, well, I don't believe
that God's sovereign. I believe that He can't do anything
unless I let Him. Well, then, that's sovereignty.
I'll eat on you all the day. You'll find out He is. You say,
well, I don't believe in election. I don't think God elects people.
I think that's unfair. Well, then, election. I'll eat
on you throughout. Well, you didn't believe in election.
Why should I choose you? That worm will eat on you all
the days of your life. I don't believe I need to be
born again. I'm a good teller. I've done
the best I can. I've attended church. Loved my
wife, loved my kids, doing the best I can. Except a man be born
again. He came into the kingdom of God. And all beloved, I'm just not
interested. So why should God take an interest?
But God did take an interest. He did. How do you know He did? God so loved the world. Jew and Gentile, bond and free,
male and female, young and old, rich and poor, educated, uneducated,
out of every class and character on the face of this earth, God
so loved that He gave, sacrificially, His only begotten Son. Why did He do that? Whosoever
believes on Him, is lifted up, is thrown across. Should not perish. Should not
perish. And then look at the benefit
of it, and I'm through. Not only should not perish, but
have everlasting life. That's the benefit of it. Oh, believe it or not, have everlasting
life. What's everlasting life? That
means when you leave this world, you're going to really start
living. And that means that you really live really happily, joyfully,
and thankfully in this world. You see, the cause is in verse
14. The cause. of everlasting life is as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life. You see, the effect, the cause
is Christ being lifted up. The effect is everlasting life. And you know everlasting life
is really what he's talking about here. It's not how long it lasts,
but the quality of it. of it. It's Christ in you, the
hope and glory. Look over in John 10.10. Let
me show you what I'm saying. I'm through. It's the quality of life. Oh,
you be around believers and look at the quality of life they enjoy.
Oh, my. And I've said this before. If
something was to happen, that none of this was true. And you
get to the end of the way and it's not true. I'll tell you
one thing. It's made my life much, much
better here, believe me. You know, it's made my life here
so good, and so full, and so free, and so enjoyable, with
such joy and peace and comfort. If I'm a fool, let me stay a
fool. But look what he said in John 10.10. Talk about the quality
of life, everlasting life. The thief cometh not but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Abundant life. What is this abundant life? It's
God in you. The nature of God in you. The
takers of the divine nature. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
It's the Holy Ghost in you. It's your heart answering to
the truth of what God said. That life caught in you. How
can it not be abundant? God is life and God is in you.
Christ is life and Christ is in you. How can it not be abundant? How
can it not be full? How can it not be overflowing?
And this is what God gives to everyone who believes on Him,
comes to Him, trusts in His Son. And that's why John said over,
Behold, behold, what manner, what manner of love hath the
Father bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons
of God? God so loved the world that He
gave. Can you believe that? Can you
trust Him? Can you look to Him? God help
you to do that.