I want to talk about God's love
within us. God's love within us, that's
the title of the message, God's love within us. And I've got
that title, I got that title from verse five of Romans chapter
five, when he talks about hope maketh not ashamed. Romans five
and verse five, we'll go back and look at the context here.
So hope maketh not ashamed because. The reason hope makes us not
ashamed is because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Now, you know, in the
New Testament there are different words for love, and most of the
time it's not an issue as far as understanding a particular
passage, but sometimes it can be. You probably heard the term
agape. That's the Greek term for love,
that this word here, the love of God, that's shed abroad in
our hearts is. That's agape love. You've all
probably heard of the term phileo. That's another term for love. We get our, like the name of
the city of Philadelphia, that came from phileo. And philosophy,
philanthropy, love of wisdom, love of charity, all of that,
that's another word for love. And then there's eros, which
is the erotic love. That's the sexual love between
a man and a woman that's to be shown in a marriage union as
they become one flesh. And what I want to talk to you
about is this agape love. This is a divine love. This is
the love of God, the love of God that he has for his people.
It's a covenant love. It's a love that has an intent
or a purpose. And that's really what sets this
apart. Love with intent and purpose. And here's the thing about this
kind of love. It is an unconditional love.
It's a love, and this is where we see it's a divine love. This
is a love that is not based on feeling or outward appearance. This love here has no consideration
for the worthiness of its object. In fact, this is the kind of
love that is shown towards the least deserving in the objects
of that love. And so, we see that in this passage. Now, this is a love that, as
I said, it's not a feeling. It's a love that we have no understanding
or knowledge of before we're born again. It really is. This is the kind of love that
human beings, especially sinful, fallen human beings, have no
idea about. No idea. It has to be revealed
by the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel, and it has to
be shed abroad in our hearts. It has to be put there. Now,
the heart here, as you know, is the mind. It's the affections. It's the will. It's the inner
man. It's the very inner part of our being, our soul. It's
what we really are that men and women outwardly cannot see. And
so, that's the kind of love that this is talking about. Now, phileo,
that's more of a brotherly love. It would be like the love of
brothers as a human kind, in a sense. And it has more to do
with affections and emotions. It's a response. You see, agape
love, this love here, that's not a response. In fact, here's
how best to put it. The love of God, this agape love,
is the cause of our salvation. The phileo love, by which we
love God, is the response to the cause. And I'll show you
a good example of that in just a moment. But this is divine
love. And again, this is love that
we have to exercise by choice. In other words, even when we
don't feel like it, even when we don't want to, Somebody does
us wrong. Christ said, love your enemies.
You don't ever feel like loving an enemy. It's not a feeling. You see what I'm saying? And
then this love comes, as I said, by knowledge and faith as we
see our utter sinfulness and our deservedness of God's wrath
in ourselves, and even based on our best works, And we see
the mercy and the grace and the love of God towards his people
in Christ. We'll see that in just a moment.
But that's the kind of love. And this love, now listen to
me, this is love, and whatever love it is, whether it's agape
love or phileo love or whatever, this is love that we do not yet
have in perfection. Our best efforts to love God,
to love our neighbor, Our best efforts to love our brethren
are yet imperfect because they're still contaminated with remaining
sin and self-love. So, therefore, when we talk about
love, and many people talk about it, you know, I hear people all
the time talking about the God of the Old Testament not being
a loving God and the God of the New Testament. That's crazy.
You don't know the Old Testament and New Testament if that's what
you believe. The God of the Old Testament
is the God of mercy and grace and love, but he's a God of wrath.
and justice to. And here's the issue outside
of Christ and him crucified outside of being washed in his blood
and clothed in his righteousness imputed. God is nothing but a
just judge who will administer justice in the way of wrath to
a sinner. There is no mercy. There is no
grace. There is no love from God outside
of Christ. Now you mark it down. No saving
love, no love with intent or purpose. Because this love always,
always benefits the object. It's not a love you can turn
down. You know, people talk about, well, it's up to you. No, it's
up to God. And I know people don't like
to hear that, but that's what the Bible says. It's not like
you can't turn this down. Let me tell you something. I
guess the closest we can get to it is think about your children.
There may be a time in their lives, especially as they grow
up, that they may spurn your love. But are you going to quit
loving them? No. You'll still love them. Now, the problem with you and
me is we're limited. But God is not. You see, His
love ensures the blessedness and the salvation of all its
objects. Now, my children may spurn me,
and I don't stop loving them, but I'm limited in what I can
do for them. You know that. I don't have all wisdom, and
I don't have all power. You see, God is all-wise and
omnipotent. Could you imagine loving someone
and being omnipotent and all-wise? What would stop you from doing
anything? Well, somebody says, well, I don't want to step on
their their dignity or their free will. Let me tell you something,
God better step on our free will or we're not going to be saved.
I know we make choices. People confuse that issue of
free willism and choices. We make choices every day and
we accept the consequences of our choices. But we know as the
scripture says, God's in control. And he's going to save his people.
So this love that we have, that is shed abroad in our hearts,
is not love. We have imperfection. God has an imperfection because
he's a perfect being. But we don't have an imperfection.
And here's what that means. That means this, that our salvation
cannot and is not based on our love to God. Our salvation is
based on his love to us. And that's the key. Now, look
back at Romans chapter 5. It says in verse 1, look at verse
1. Now, I want you to understand
that in the original inspired verse, writings of the scripture,
there were no punctuation marks. And so the commas and the periods
and all of that, sometimes they're just there because it makes sense
for them to be there, but sometimes it's a matter of interpretation.
And here's what I want to show you. It says, therefore, now
he'd been talking about the gospel of God's grace, which is an expression
of the love of God for his people, Christ's love for his sheep.
John 13 says that Christ finished the work for his people. He loved
his own until the end. His own, his own people. The
people that God gave him. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And this is the Father's will
which is sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And so
it says, therefore, that's based on the gospel of God's grace,
saving sinners who don't deserve to be saved. If you ever get
a hold of that, you'll be on your way to understanding God's
grace. Saving sinners who are unable to do anything to earn
or merit or deserve salvation. Saving sinners who are unable
to meet any qualifications or any conditions. You see, if you
believe that God saved you, Because you met some condition or that
you met some qualification, you have just renounced salvation
by grace. And actually, what you're saying
is, well, you're better than other people, others who do not
meet the condition or the qualification. You'd be like those who would
say in Romans, when it says in Romans chapter three there that
there's none good, no, not one. You'd have to say, oh, except
me. Except me. Or if there's none righteous,
no, not one, you'd have to say, oh, well, I'm not in that group.
Or if you'd say there's none that seeketh after God, you'd
have to say, oh, except me. Now, if you want the except me
religion, go ahead and take it. But I'm telling you, it's deadly.
It's a false gospel. There's no exceptions in the
Scripture. We're all sinners. And if God saves any of us, the
best of us or the worst of us, if by total free sovereign grace,
not based upon anything that we do or don't do or try to do
or want to do or resolve to do, but totally based upon the work,
the obedience unto death, the blood, the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's it. Now, that's it. Now, that's what the Bible teaches.
Now, men teach other things. And you have the choice to believe
men or to believe the Bible. I know this. If God leaves us
to ourselves, what will we do? We'll believe men. So this, therefore,
in verse 1 there, reaches back to this gospel of God's grace,
which is an expression of His love. You want to be a recipient
of God's love, an object of God's love, I'll tell you, look to
Christ, and you'll find this. You've always been a recipient
and an object of His love. Jeremiah said that. He said,
He loved me with an everlasting love, never quit. Didn't have
a beginning, doesn't have an end. So he says, therefore, being
justified, that literally is having been justified. What is
it to be justified? It means to be made right before
God. How is a sinner who deserves
damnation and wrath and hell, how is such a sinner made right
before a holy God? Well, how is, how is a sinner
made righteous? That word justified, as you know,
it's the same literal word that sometimes is translated righteous,
righteousness. And here's a, now in Romans chapter
three and verse 10, it says, there's none righteous. No, not
one. And yet here, here, Paul says, having been made righteous,
I was made righteous. How's that? So in Christ, I'm
made righteous. That's how, not in myself, not
by my works, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that faith not of yourselves, it says, it's the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. You can start out your whole
life trying to make yourself righteous by your works, and
you will fail. And my friend, even as a saved
sinner, you who have been born again by the Spirit of God, You
know the score, don't you? David said it this way in Psalm
130, verse 3. He said, Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, who among us would stand? Now, David
was writing a psalm when he wrote that. He even knew this. He knew that his being an instrument
to write the psalms was not his righteousness before God, would
not save him. My friend, Debbie, we talked
about how long I've been preaching the gospel. And we've been married
30 years, so right around that time. And of all the time that
I've been preaching the gospel, you put all the gospel sermons
together that I've preached here and there and other places, they
still do not make me righteous before holy God. And if you listen to what I preach,
you'd understand that. Because what have I been saying
for all these years? That Christ is our righteousness before God. Not my preaching, not my works,
not walking in an aisle, not being baptized. Up home they
say you can be baptized so many times in the creek that the tadpoles
know you by your first name. It will not wash away your sins. Some say, well, baptism will
wash away original sin. Oh, no. I'll tell you, the only
thing that's going to wash away any sin, all sin, the blood of
Christ. And that's how sinners justify.
Now, turn over to 1 John chapter 4. You say, well, how does that
connect with the love of God? Well, look at this. And don't
let this pass you by. Listen to what the Word of God
says. Now, tradition They'll tell you
all kinds of things, and you'll walk out just more confused than
we already are by nature. But the Word of God is never
confusing. It's people talking about it
and interpreting it, but it's always, listen, any interpretation
of the Word of God that doesn't lead you to Christ for all of
salvation, for all righteousness, for all forgiveness, it's wrong. Look at 1 John 4 and look at
verse 10. Listen to what he said. Well,
let's look back up at verse 7. He says, Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God. Now, that's that agape love.
That's that divine love. That's not feeling. It's not
responsive. It is simply the love that God
sheds abroad in our heart. He says, and everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God. Now, what that tells you is that
if you truly love this kind of love, that's a product of the
new birth and the knowledge that the Spirit has given you of God.
Now, what knowledge? He said, he that loveth not knoweth
not God, for God is love. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
Son into the world. that we might live through him."
Now, who's the we there? Everybody that lives through
him. Everyone that lives through him. And he says in verse 10,
now listen to this, herein is love, not that we love God. In other words, God's love towards
us, his people, his sheep, is not a response of God to our
love for him. Somebody says, well, God will
do this if you'll do that. That's not what the Bible teaches. God's
the first cause. And he says, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. And what is his love? And sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now that word propitiation,
what does it mean? Well, it's used three times.
Literally in the New Testament and then other forms of it. But
the word propitiation means a satisfaction. It means a reconciliation. It
means. It means a satisfaction based
on justice satisfied. You see. What does God owe me? Now we talk about what God owes
us. Well, the Bible says the wages
of sin, and if you get a wage, that's what your employer owes
you, right? The wages of sin is what? Death. That's what God
owes us. Now, it goes on to say the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation,
eternal life, is not something God owes you or you earn. The
wage is what you earn and what your employer owes you. Well,
what does God owe me? He owes me death. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. Scripture says, because God is
not because God is mean or is throwing a tantrum. It's because
he's just and he's holy. He must do right. God never does
anything that's unjust or not right. But the gift of God is
eternal. I don't earn eternal life. It's
not a wage. And that's what he's talking
about. I go back to Romans 5. You see, being justified by faith. That's not, listen, having been
justified by the grace of God through Christ. Listen to this.
Take that comma away. That's after faith. Here's the
way it should read. Therefore, having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other
words, there's no peace. within conscience and mind and
heart, except by looking to Christ as the only way of justification.
So he says in verse two, by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace where we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. By Christ we have access into
this grace. It's not by decision I make.
It's not by being baptized. It's not by works. It's by By
whom, he says, we have access into the glory of God by Christ.
Now let me show you that. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. How do we have access to God?
In prayer, in fellowship, in communion. Hebrews chapter 10,
look at it in verse 19. Hebrews 10. Now, he'd just been
speaking of the work of Christ on the cross. Back up in verse
10, by the which will we are sanctified, set apart through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. It says for all
there. It's in italics. It was added
by the translators. Some people say, well, that's
everybody without exception. No, it's not. No, it's not. That's not what that scripture
teaches now. If he set everybody apart through the offering of
his body, then everybody's going to be saved. And we know the
scripture doesn't teach that. But going down to verse 14, for
by one offering he hath perfected, that is, completed and finished
forever them that are sanctified. They're perfected in him. Now,
look, how do we have access to God? Verse 19. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness. Now, that word boldness means
confidence or liberty, freedom. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter the holiest, that is, the very holy presence of God. How? How do you do that? Because
you've been a good boy or a good girl today? Or because you've
been baptized? Or because you've worn out the
carpet with your knees on praying? No. by the blood of Jesus. What does Jesus mean? What does
the name Jesus mean? It means Jehovah saves. God our Savior. We enter into
the presence of a holy God freely, unhinderedly, boldly, and confidently
through the blood of Christ. That's His death. That's not
his literal, physical blood. Now, when he was on the cross,
he shed literal, physical blood. That was his death. But the blood
there, when you hear the terms in Scripture, the blood, when
you hear the cross, it's talking about the propitiation that he
made. It's talking about the satisfaction
that he made. It's talking about the sin bearing
that he did. He was made sin. Our sins, the
sins of his people, were imputed, charged, accounted to him. He
became legally responsible for our sins, and he put them away
and finished the transgression and made an end of sin by the
shedding of blood. He had to die. It's talking about
the establishment of righteousness for his people. How could God
be both a just God, a righteous judge, and judge according to
truth, and a loving, merciful Father? How could he do that?
A Savior. There's only one way. The blood of Christ. He took
my wrath. Christ took my wrath. He took
the wrath of all his people. And he drank damnation dry. So
he says, verse 20 of Hebrews 10, by a new and living way,
that is not a dead way like back there in the tabernacle of old,
you see, the blood of animals. The blood of animals could never
put away sin, Hebrews chapter 9 or 10. And he says, which he
hath consecrated, which Christ hath consecrated, literally newly
made, For us, as our substitute and representative, through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart." That's
a sincere, honest heart. Honest about myself. I have no
worthiness before God by my works. I have no right to appear before
God based upon my best. And an honest heart will say,
in full assurance of faith. What is that? Full assurance
that Christ has done it all. Full assurance that Christ has
put away all my sins. Full assurance that Christ is
my righteousness before God. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. An evil conscience is a guilty
conscience. Do you ever notice how the religions
of man always try to make people feel guilty? Guilty. Why? Because that's the
only way they can get them to do what they want. That's the
only way they can get you to give. Money. It's the only way they can get
you to come to church. It's the only way they can get you baptized.
It's the only way they can get you to do this, get you to do
that. Make you feel guilty. Do you know what the Bible calls
that? That's a legal conscience. That's an evil conscience. Shouldn't
people give? Shouldn't people come to church?
Yes, but not out of an evil conscience. Why should they do it? Because
they're grateful and thankful to God for saving them. I always use, I probably use
this illustration so much, you may be sick of hearing it. But
it's a good one. But it's just like this. You
know, we talk about the doctrine of imputation. And most people
today in religion and churches have never even heard of it.
And yet it's the heart of the gospel. I mean, it's the heart
of the gospel. So what are you talking about,
Preacher? Well, listen to me. Let's say right now that you're
in debt a million dollars. Down at one of the local banks,
you owe a million dollars. And you don't have one penny
to your name. You can't even contribute to
the payment of that debt. I mean, you're just in debt.
You're destitute. And so you're going to go down
to the banker, and you're going to fall at his feet and beg for
mercy. Now, I'm not going to offend
if there's any bankers here this morning, but you know bankers
aren't known for showing mercy. So, well, let's just forget about
it. No, they don't do that. They'd get fired, wouldn't they?
So you go down there to the bank and you say, I need to talk to
the president. And he says, well, come on in. And he said, you
say, I owe a million dollars. I don't have a penny to pay it.
And that banker says, well, let's see here. He opens up the books,
the register there, and he sees your name. And he says, well,
here, here it says you don't owe a dime. Somebody came in and paid it
for you. Pay that million dollars. And
the banker says, not only that, but you're a million dollars
to the good. He put a million dollars in your account. Somebody
came in and said, put it on my account. I'll pay for it. You know what that is? That's
imputation. Impute means to charge it to somebody else's account.
Now, I couldn't go down to the bank and say, now, I owe a million
dollars. Would you charge it to Jim Casey? No, wouldn't do it. But now Jim
of his own will went in there without me knowing it and said,
I'll pay Bill Parker's account. Here's the million. And here's
another million to put to his account. And my friend, that's
a good illustration of gospel. That's what Christ did on the
cross for his people. He paid our debt in full. And not only that, he gave us
his righteousness. whereby we stand before God complete. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Our sins were
imputed to Him. His righteousness is charged
to us. And for years I didn't even know
it. You didn't either until you heard the gospel and the Holy
Spirit. You were born again, and He let you in on it. Now
go back to Romans 5 here. Now listen to this. Here's what
happens. He says in verse 3, and not only
so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh pace. That's the troubles we go through here in this life,
and it's a lot of them. And young people, I don't mean
to discourage you, but it doesn't get any easier. But how do we
glory? But glorying there doesn't mean
that we're a bunch of nuts who walk around during times of trial
and hurting saying, oh, how happy we are. That's a fool. That's just sham religion. Glory
here means that we have confidence in God who saved us by his grace
that we will ultimately be delivered. That's what it's talking about.
So he says it works patience. That's endurance. That's the
grace of the Spirit that keeps us going. That's perseverance.
And he says, impatience, experience and experience hope. That's maturity.
That's confidence. And hope made that not a shame
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us. All right. Now, let's go back
to that illustration. All right. Let's say you walk into that
bank and you find out somebody came in there and paid that million
bucks for you and gave you a million to the good. What's the first
thing you're going to know? Who did that? Why? Why? Because you're afraid He'll
kill you? No, because you want to thank
Him. You want to express your gratitude. And when you come to that point
in the Gospel, when you see that Christ paid your debt in full
and gave you His righteousness, the first thing you're going
to want to know Him. Paul said that in Philippians. Oh, that
I may know him. I want to know more about him.
I want to know who he is. I want to know what he did, why
he did it, where he is now. And I want to thank him. Now,
let me tell you something. Thanking the Lord is more than just looking
up in the air and saying, thank you, Lord. We thank God by our
service to him. But it's not the service of an
unwilling legal slave trying to pay a debt. It's the service
of a willing, loving bond slave, bond servant, seeking to serve
his Lord because he loves him. And whenever we find out in the
gospel, whenever a sinner saved by grace comes to a saving knowledge
of Christ and what he did in his death, burial, and resurrection
to save such a wretch like me, That's when that love is shed
abroad in our hearts. That's when we have a saving
knowledge of Christ in him. That's when the Holy Spirit brings
us to know Christ and to love him. And here's what he's talking
about. How do you know when he says
the love of God is shed abroad? That's our love to everybody
else or love to each other. Now, we do love Christ. Paul said that in 1 Corinthians
16 and verse 22. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. That means cursed.
And the word for love there is phileo. Not agape. And what he's saying there is
this. If you claim to know the love of God in Christ through
the gospel, and you don't respond to him in gratitude and grace
and love, then that proves you don't believe it. You don't love
him. You can say, you can go out and
talk about how much you love somebody, but if you don't, if
there's not actions that prove that love, it means nothing.
It means nothing. And so this issue of love here
is God's love to us, and look in verse 6, this proves it. For
when we were yet without strength, that's impotence, to save ourselves. In due time, according to an
appointed time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's the love
of God that Shadrach brought on. A knowledge of Christ and
what he did for me in taking my sins and giving me his righteousness. And he says in verse 7, for scarcely
for a righteous man will one die. If you could find a person
here on earth who's worthy of you to die for him, we can understand
that. Yet perdenture for a good man
some would even dare to die. Good in man's sight now, not
in God's sight. And then he says, but God commendeth
his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. We were undeserving. That's the
agape love. We didn't deserve it and we hadn't
earned it. And so he says in verse 9, much more than being
now justified, how? Justified how? Look at it, by
his blood. We shall be saved from wrath.
That is the wrath to come through him. Now, let me close with John
Chapter 21. I want you to turn over to John
21. I want to show you something here. It's interesting. And what I'm trying to say is
you're not going to know or experience the love of God outside of Christ
and him crucified and risen again. It's impossible. You may experience
some sort of filet o love. Men's charities, you see somebody
who's in need, you have compassion towards them and you respond.
And that's good. That's not, I mean, we should.
We ought to be as compassionate. We ought to be as charitable
as we can be. But if you want to experience
the love of God in Christ, what do you do? You look to Christ.
You rest in him for all salvation. Now, let me show you this. You
know, in verse 15 here of John 21, this is where the Lord restores
Peter. Peter was in shambles by this
time. He had some joy and hope because
of the resurrected Savior, but you remember he denied him three
times. And our Lord asked Peter this
question three times. And it says, verse 15, So when
they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Joseph,
lovest thou me more than these? Now that word love us there is
agape. And Peter saith unto him, Yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. That word love there is
phileo. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. What's he doing there? The Lord's talking about that
divine love that has no consideration for the worthiness of the objects.
And Peter, being in his distress, knowing that he denied the Lord
three times, he just didn't feel worthy of that. He just didn't.
He just didn't. He knew he didn't come up to
snuff. And he said, Lord, you know,
I love you. You know, I have feelings toward
you. You know, I have an affection to you, what you've done for
me. And Christ said, feed my lambs. Verse 16, he saith him
again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
That's agape. He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. That's phileo there. That's what
the original language is. He saith unto him, feed my sheep.
And then in verse 17, he saith unto him the third time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? That's Phileo. Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And
he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest
that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, feed my
sheep. What's going on there? Well, Peter recognizes his sin.
Peter recognizes that his love is not what it should be. He
recognizes that if it weren't for the divine love of God in
Christ, he'd be doomed forever. And that's the way we are. If
you know the Lord, if you know yourself, you'll know that if
it weren't for his love for us in sending Christ to be the propitiation
for our sins, to be the Lord our righteousness, to be our
sin-bearer, our love for him could never, could never save
us. Before the new birth, we had
no love for him. But even after the new birth,
even as sinners saved by the grace of God, we can say we love
Christ. We can honestly say that. That's
shown in our worship, in our service, shown in our love to
our brethren. It's even shown in our love to
our enemies, in love to the world, in evangelism. We preach the
gospel to the lost. It's shown in other ways, even
in giving a thirsty person a drink of water, a hungry person a morsel
of food, helping out whenever we can. But we know this. that
none of those things that proceed from us will save us or keep
us saved or bring us to glory. None of those things make up
our righteousness before God. None of those things make up
our worthiness to enter into his presence. None of those things
earn us our rewards in heaven, which is not even a biblical
concept. Bible doesn't say anything about
rewards, plural, as far as earning. Christ is our reward. He earned
them all for us. None of those things, it's only
his love for us that can save us and keep us and bring us to
glory. And that's the love of God that is shed abroad in our
hearts. Let's say a prayer. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for that great love wherewith you loved
your people, loved your sheep, laid down your life for the sheep.
And we pray that you would continue through the preaching of the
gospel to make it effectual to the hearts of thy people. We
thank you for all that you've accomplished on Calvary and the
shedding of your blood for our sins and the establishment of
righteousness upon which we stand before you complete and whole.
Guide us and direct us, for it's in His name we pray. Amen.