Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John chapter 17. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful book, in this wonderful chapter that we've been going
through, which contains our Lord Jesus Christ's high priestly
prayer as he prays for all the elect, all those whom the Father
gave him in eternity, called in the scripture, the elect of
God. And they are a people of his
choosing, his choosing. The name of the message is loved
as Christ, loved as Christ. And tonight's verse is one of
those verses which I believe will leave us absolutely speechless. as born-again, blood-washed saints
of God, when we consider what this verse brings forth, my prayer
is that it would leave us speechless, that it would leave us with only
one thing to say, is glory be to God. Or hallelujah, whatever
one you please. Amen. My oh my. And what wonderful words we're
going to see tonight are set before us by the Holy Spirit of God, he
had these words preserved which were spoken by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he had these words preserved
for us. The words of the wonderful, gracious
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I, before we look at this
verse, I'm, how do you plumb, how do you plumb the depths of
God's love? for his people. How do you plumb
that? How do you measure it? There's no measure. There's no
way to measure it. There's no way to plumb it. That's just
measuring. I used to use a plumb stick when
I was a sign painter, or a plumb string. And you measure out where
you're going to go, and you pull it out, and it's got blue chalk,
and it leaves it on the white truck that we used to paint.
And it's plumbing the line. You can't plumb the love of God.
You can't measure it. It's impossible. You can't know
the width of it. We can't even imagine the width
of it, let alone the depth of it. There's no way that it'd
be measured. Look at verse 23 of John chapter
17. Now this will be our verse. We're
going to read it separately here and then we're going to read
it in context. Look at this verse. These are the words of the Master
praying to God the Father. And he says, continuing from
what he said in verses 21 and 22, he says, speaking about the
unity that he has with the Father, and also speaking of the unity
in the church, unity he has with them, with the born-again, blood-washed
Church of God, and the unity that they have with God the Father
as well. Excuse me, sorry. He says, I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one. and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me. This verse brings forth that Wayne Boyd and Dave Mann and Brian Edwards and Linda Edwards,
all we who profess Christ, are loved by God. as God loves Christ. Now, I'm
going to say something here. That's a fact. That's a fact. It's not just
a statement. It's a fact. It's a fact. And what wonderful words for
us to ponder, to think that the Father has loved us, loved all
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son
of God, that he loves us as he loves the Son. And again, oh, the heights and
depths of this wondrous love, this matchless truth. And that's
what this is. This is a truth set forth before
us from the words of he who is God incarnate in the flesh. What
weight that carries, right? Not just that it's scripture,
there's weight right there with scripture too, isn't there? Because
the scripture's the foundation of our faith, right? Because
it speaks of the one who is the foundation of our faith, which
is Christ. But this word is the foundation too, because we come
to this word and we, this word's all about Christ. This book's
all about, it's a hymn book, H-I-M. It's all about Christ. And it's truth. And this is a
statement of fact. that God the Father loves those
who are in Christ as he loves Christ. It's a statement of fact. That's
wonderful. So let's read the context of
this verse. We're starting verse 17, and
we'll read all the way to 26. I was thinking after this, we
only have three messages left in this chapter, but oh my, it's
been so rich, hasn't it? It's been so wonderful. Verse 17 says, Sanctify them
through thy truth, thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into
the world, this is Christ speaking to the Father, even so have I
also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself. So he goes to the cross to make them holy, right? Because
he's holy. He alone is holy. That they also
might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word." That's us. That's we who have believed the word of God
that's been preached through the ages. Same truth that I'm
preaching tonight is the same truth that the apostles set forth. but for them also which shall
believe on my name. Now here we start about the unity of the
church here. That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in
me. So not the same in nature, right, because the Father and
the Spirit and the Son are one in nature and divinity, but that
we might be a reflection of them in the unity that they have. That they all may be one as thou,
Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, and that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. Now there's
that statement again. There's that statement again.
The world may believe that thou hast sent me. You know when the
world's going to believe that Christ was sent? At the great white
judgment throne. They're going to know then. Because
they're going to see the saints over here. On the right side. All because of the grace and
mercy of God. And they're going to know that those who trusted
in the Savior, who was sent by God, will have eternal life. Oh my. My oh my. In the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one.
And we looked at that last week, the inheritance that we have,
the oneness that we have in Christ. Now here's tonight's verse. I
in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and
that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved
them as thou has loved me. Father, I will, that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. Now that's next week's
verse, look at that. That's just full of amazing truth
too, isn't it? Oh, righteous Father, what a
title. The world hath not known thee, but I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Now consider what the scriptures
bring forth in this verse. And it's a fact. This is a proclaimed
fact. It's a fact. We don't have to
doubt it. God proclaims it in his word.
What do we do? Simply by truth? By God-given
faith? We just believe, right? That's
what we're called to do. Just believe it. And by God-given
faith, we believe. Now, do we have doubt sometimes?
Yeah, we go like this. But this fact never changes.
That's what I want us to consider. This fact, this love that God
has for his people in Christ, never ever changes. It is a constant
fact. Isn't that amazing? Even before
we were saved and regenerated, this love was set upon us and
we didn't even know it. We had no clue. We had no clue
at all. So this scripture and these scriptures
proclaim facts. The scripture proclaims facts,
right? All who come to Christ will be
saved, right? He's able to save to the uttermost
those who come to Him. That's a fact. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
That's a fact. It is finished. Salvation's accomplished.
That's a fact. Oh, Lord, give me the grace just
to believe it. Peter said, Lord, help my unbelief. That's what
we all cry to, isn't it? So let this truth that we're
going to look at tonight influence our thoughts about Him. about
who he is. As we look to Jesus in all circumstances,
let this truth that we're looking at tonight just permanate your
soul. I am loved by God the Father,
and I've always been loved by God the Father with an unchanging, unequal, Love. An eternal, everlasting love. And God the Father loves me like
He loves Christ. My. This is a fact, beloved. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. My. So let the fact of this love,
let the fact of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ be bought
before us each day. May we wake up each day bringing
this to remembrance. If we get down, remember that
God loves me as he loves Christ. My, my, it's absolutely incredible. Absolutely. And again, this is
the fact. This is Christ, the God-man, praying these words
to the Father about His soon-to-be blood-bought bride, right? He's
going to go soon and He's going to purchase them on Calvary's
cross with His precious blood. He's going to redeem them by
the giving of His life, right? And by having all God's wrath
poured out upon Him that was due us. He's just about to do
this and He says, that the Father has loved them as thou has loved
me. My, do you see what I mean? I was studying for this, and
my mind was absolutely blown away. And I knew the verse that was
coming, and it still just knocked my socks off, beloved, as I was
putting this message together. the fact of the love and presence
of Christ, the fact of the love of the Father to me in Christ. My, what a blessed truth. And
we have it right here before us, don't we? This truth is set
right here before us today. I have never had anyone love
me like this. And I know the love my wife has
for me, and I know the love my mom had for me, and I know the
love my kids have for me, but it doesn't even come close to
this. This is an everlasting, eternal
love. And it's true. It's a fact, beloved. It's a fact that thou has loved them, what a comfort
for God's people. In the midst of my sinfulness,
in the midst of my rebelliousness, and even now in the midst of
my sinfulness, to my shame, He loves me. And He's always loved
me, and He's never gonna stop loving me. And it's true for
everyone who believes. That's absolutely incredible.
What a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. And
what love, now we can see the love behind the mission of Christ
coming to this world, right? Not only does Christ love us
with an everlasting love, the Holy Spirit loves us with an
everlasting love. And here we see the Father loves
us with an everlasting love, so much so that he loves us just
like he loves Christ. That's an immeasurable love.
That's an incredible love. You can't, again, you can't,
we can't reach the depths. It's endless. It's absolutely
endless. What a Savior, what a Redeemer,
but what a great God, the Father, who sent Him. And He was sent to save His people
from their sins, and He did it, beloved. All because of this
great love bought forth in this verse. Now a husband
loves his bride, right? We're the bride of Christ. But
here's the father who sent the bridegroom. And he says, I've
loved you. All you who I've chosen in Christ
from the foundational world, I've loved you just like my son. Isn't that, this is amazing love,
isn't it? This is amazing love. It's absolutely
amazing. Despite our failings, despite
our sinfulness, despite our unfaithfulness, despite our unbelief, God the
Father has loved us and always will love us just as he loves
Christ. Despite my wanderings, despite
all the stuff that I've done in my life, despite all that,
God the Father has loved me as he's loved Christ. Amazing love, how could it be? How can it be? How can it be? Because God's word says it, and
it's a fact, and I just have to rest and believe it. And what joy, what peace, what
comfort. This little verse here in John
17. Now the whole chapter's been
amazing, but what joy and peace. I can glean from this. You know,
I think I've mentioned before, my dad and I didn't have a great
relationship. And my pastor and Candice said, well, you will
never understand the love of God because you didn't have a
good relationship with your father. My dad's not like God. This love,
this love is greater than any love I've ever seen in this world,
any love that I've ever experienced in this world. And this love
is a fact because the scripture says it's a fact. Oh my, it's amazing. And so let the fact of the love
and presence of Christ for his people be brought before us each
day. And by faith, may we believe
this blessed truth that's set before us tonight in the scriptures. It's a fact. We have it right
here in God's word. Beloved, we have God's word right
here, right before us. And again, despite our failings,
despite our sinfulness, despite our unbelief, despite our unfaithfulness,
despite our walking away and weariness, despite all that,
the Father has loved them as thou has loved me. That puts a joy in my heart,
just believing that, just resting in that. There's nothing I have
to do. I just look at that and go, it's true. By faith, I believe
that. Now, I wouldn't believe that
if I was an unbeliever. And when I was an unbeliever,
I didn't believe the Bible. But now, this is precious. You take all the gold and silver
in the world, just give me this verse! That God the Father has
loved me in Christ, as He's loved Christ, who's my Redeemer, who's
my Savior, who's my King. Hallelujah. What a great God. What a king,
let's read this verse again. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. What
joy and peace can be ours by simply believing the facts of
what God puts before us? This is a fact. What joy can
be ours if we simply disbelieve it? And this is by simple faith,
isn't it? I believe it. I believe this. By God's grace and by God's mercy,
of course, I believe this. What rest I can find right here? Oh my. What joy, what peace can
be ours simply by believing God's words, the foundation of our
faith, right? Christ, what this word says about
Christ, what this word says about the Father. Oh, it's wonderful. Now you see
why I was so excited about preaching this message. It's absolutely
incredible. It's one of the most incredible
topics in the Bible, the love of God. And it is through the
word of God, right, the Bible, the scriptures, as the Holy Spirit
illuminates the scriptures for us, right? and gives us faith
to believe what it says, that we can find rest. Not by anything
we do, simply by believing it. I was doing a study last night,
and the guy in the study, he said, he said, these truths are
set before us in the scriptures, they're facts. You can find rest
just believing them. So many people try to find rest
in our doings, right? or joy in our doings. Just read
the word and believe it. This is a fact. My heart is filled
with joy right now because I saw this verse today and I got to
study this verse and I believe this verse by God's grace. And
I am absolutely amazed. And I mean I am absolutely amazed
that God the Father has loved me as He loved Christ. That's
amazing. Knowing who I was, knowing who
I am, That's amazing grace right there. And the only reason He
loves us is for Christ's sake, right? That's why He loves us as He
loves Christ, because we're in Christ. You see? Again, it's all about Him. It's
all about Christ. Anyone who starts getting up
and talking about something without Christ, that's just useless information
when they're supposed to be preaching. That's just useless information.
Tell me about Christ. Tell me about how God the Father
loves me in Christ. Tell me how this love is an everlasting
love, unchangeable love, eternal love, and my heart will just
sing. Because God saved a sinner like
me. My, is it so for you? It's so
for us, isn't it? All of us. Oh my, oh my, oh my. It's absolutely wonderful. And it's through the word of
God, the Bible, the scriptures, as the Holy Spirit again illuminates
the scriptures and gives us faith to believe that we learn more
about who? About Christ. about Christ, the word of God,
God in the flesh, and why he came here. What did he come here
to do? To save sinners. And who did he come to save?
His people. Did he do it? Yeah, he cried,
it's finished. I believe it, do you? By God's
grace, we believe those words when he said, it is finished,
my salvation is absolutely complete in Christ. My salvation is absolutely
outside of myself and in Christ and Him alone. As Scott Richardson
said, we look outside ourselves and we look up to Christ, the
one Redeemer, the true Redeemer of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. So simply, let us simply believe
what God says. He says He's in control of all
things. Let's believe it. Let's rest in that, right? That
he's in absolute control. The scripture says that he does
whatever he pleases and the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. Let's believe that. That's what
the scripture says, right? But then think of this. Bring it
home. All of us are reputed as nothing
and yet he loves his people. He loves us as he loves Christ. So there's some, there's some
he has his eye on and he won't take his eye off of. And you
know, His eye was on us even when we were dead in trespasses
and sins. He was protecting us and preserving us even then.
Keeping us from destroying ourselves. Till that time come. The time
of what? It's called in the scriptures,
it's called the time of love. What are we looking at here tonight?
The love that God the Father has for His people in Christ.
It's absolutely amazing. And the restful joy of the born-again,
blood-washed saying of God results from resting faith, not from
anything we do, but from resting faith. Just believing what, our
joy and our rest can come by simply believing what the scriptures
say. We can be filled with such joy. And there's nothing we can do
to get that rest except look to Christ, except rest in what
the scriptures say. And we can rest in this scripture,
can't we? This here is a portion of God's amazing love. What amazing
truth we have set before us here. The everlasting, eternal love
of God for his people in Christ. It's all about Christ Jesus our
Lord. It's all about him. Let's read again the verse. We're
going to read this many times. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. May we by God's grace. Christ
ever changed? Has his love for us then ever
changed? Never. Never. Not even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins. That's the part that amazes me.
I'll tell you, that's the part that makes me just You just have
to sit back and take it in. Because I know how I was, and
I even know how I can be now. Right? But this, I'll tell you
what. You talk about putting a spring
in my step. To know that God the Father has loved me as he's
loved Christ. I'll tell you what. What a foundation
we have. We have the surest foundation.
We have Christ and the scriptures. What more do we need? We don't
need anything else, do we? Really, we don't. No. And yet he gives
us all kinds of things, right? Gives us a place to live. He
gives us clothes to wear. He gives us cars to drive. He
gives us everything we have. My oh my. Because he knows we
need these things. Right? But he always gives us what we
need. Never, I've noticed this, never ever, not always what we
want. Yeah, praise God. Praise God. I remember hearing Spurgeon say
that. Thankfully, God doesn't give us what we want because
we're liable to destroy ourselves. Yeah. But he doesn't do that.
He restrains us. He keeps us. He's such a loving
God. So let us rest in this fact tonight.
Let us leave here in this week. One of my prayers is this week
that we would contemplate this love, this everlasting, eternal
love through the week. That we, again, if we're having
a bad day, just remember this verse. Just remember this little
part of this verse. And has loved them as thou has
loved me. Father, you've loved me as you've loved Christ. Now that, I'll tell you what,
that's God's love. That's not human love. This is God's love. And this
is a fact. I know I keep hitting that nail,
but this is a fact. This is an unchanging truth. Do you see how wonderful this
is? It's amazing. I love my kids, I love my bride. I love my bride like no other
woman. Oh yeah, I know, I bet her too,
I know. No, but it's true though, right? It's true. We pick them
to be our brides. Really, yeah, God actually picked
them, yeah. But look at that. And think of
the love we have for them, right? It doesn't even come close. It
doesn't even come close to this love. I know how much my wife
loves our kids. A mother's love is incredible. I messed up a lot in my life,
but my mom's love for me never changed. It never did. But this love here, that's just
a shadow. That's just like a fleeting cloud. This love here, when I think
of how I was, before the Lord saved me, when I think of how
I was when the Lord saved me, when I think of how I am now,
still a sinner, but saved by grace, and that this love here,
this love, that God the Father has loved me as He's loved Christ,
doesn't even come close to any other love. Now, see, we can't really fathom
that, because we have finite minds, right? But you're talking
about one who's infinite. Now hang on to your seats here.
If he's infinite, then his love is what? Infinite. Infinite. This is infinite, eternal
love. And how do we know it's truth?
Number one, because the God-man is speaking this. Number two,
because it's in the scriptures. And the scriptures are authored
by God, the Holy Spirit. And these words are preserved
for us. My, oh my. God the Father's love,
his love for us has never changed. It's been set upon us from eternity.
It's been set upon us from eternity. It's been unchanged. And what
rest and peace we who are the people of God can find, just
believe in what God says. Let's read verses 21 to 23, because
really verse 23 is tied into verse 21 and 22, speaking about
the unity of the body of believers, too, of all God's elect. That they all may be one as thou,
Father, art in me, in I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. In the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be
one even as we are one, I in them, Christ in us, right? The hope of glory. Is that not
true? Christ in us, the hope of glory, right? I in them, and
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me. Well, we see then in these three
verses that the Lord Jesus Christ is praying to the Father about
the unity that believers have in Christ. And then he brings
forth, like setting a cherry on top, the everlasting love
of God for his people. It's like a cherry placed on
top. They're gonna have unity, because they're one in me, and
I'm in you, Father, he says. And they're gonna have unity
in us, and here's the cherry on top. You've loved them just
as you love me. Oh my! It makes your heart leap, doesn't
it? It makes our heart leap for joy when we consider this truth
that's set right before us. And it's set forth in plain words,
isn't it? It's not hard to understand.
But yet we would never believe it except for the grace of God.
We would never know this truth except for the grace of God.
We would never know this truth except we be in Christ. Oh my,
God is a distinguishing God and he's amazing. I'm, oh my. So we see the truth also in this
verse, right, when he says I in them and thou in me. We see here
the truth of Christ in us, the hope of glory, as I mentioned
earlier. In the first part of verse 23, he brings forth the
unity of himself with God the Father. He says thou in me. And
one cannot read about the life of Christ without seeing God
in him, he's the God man. You can't read about Christ without
seeing God, because he's the God man. And we can't read about
Christ without seeing God working in him, right? Especially when
God the Father says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well
pleased, right? He's pleased in Christ, my oh
my. My oh my. So he's bringing forth
here the union that believers have with the Father being one
in Christ, and Christ being one with the Father. The point is
reached for which our Lord prayed that they also may be one in
us. Unity. Unity in Christ. He's the head, right? He's God
incarnated in the flesh. We're the body of believers.
We're the body of Christ that's been saved by his precious, precious
blood. Gathered out from all the ages,
too. Think of that. Think of that. You're gathered out from your
generation. I'm gathered out from my generation. A people
of God's choosing from every single generation. It's absolutely
amazing. Amazing. And couple this with
believers being one with each other too, right? and you get
being made perfect in one. Who are we made perfect in? Christ. When will we be made perfect?
When we get the glory, right? Right now we're still sinners,
but we're gonna be perfect one day. We're gonna have no sin. Sin will no longer ever bother
us again. Yeah, Dave's doing a little jig. It'll never bother
us again. Never, never. It'll be gone. Oh, we'll be just
rejoicing. We'll just be rejoicing in Christ.
That's what we'll be doing. And think of this, we are right
now moved by the same love of holiness, right? We all desire
to not sin. We hate sin, don't we? I've never
met a Christian who loves sin. I've not met one. I've met Christians
who hate sin, just like, but who do we hate it more in? Right
here, in ourselves, right? I got enough sin in me to not
worry about everybody else in the world. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. I'll tell you what. So we're moved by the same love
of holiness. We're inspired by the same spirit
of life, the Holy Spirit, right? We're born again by the same
spirit. And the eternal will of the Father is the will of
the Son and the will of the Spirit that works in us. You know, He's working in us,
His will. We see ourselves, Lord, I'm struggling
so much. And He's just working His will
in us. He's conforming us to the image of Christ. We don't,
of course, we don't see it. We just see our sinfulness, don't
we? And we see the world in sin. And like my bride said today,
Lord, come quickly. Come quickly, and I said, honey,
we're a day closer. Right? We are. We're a day closer,
beloved. Oh, my. Let's read that verse
again. This wonderful truth set before
us here. Oh, my. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou has sent me, and has loved them as thou has loved me. Well,
here's further evidence that the unity for which our Lord
prayed for us in John 17, 21, is one day Jesus Christ, our
Lord, will present us. Now, one day we'll be made perfect,
right? But you know that one day He is going to present us
faultless before the throne of God. You and me, brother, faultless. We're sinners, saved by the grace
of God. He can present us faultless. Sister, he can present us faultless,
faultless before the Father's throne. And it's all by the grace and
mercy of God that we'll be there. And it's all because God's loved
us with an everlasting love that Christ was sent to this earth
to redeem our eternal souls, because God the Father has loved
us as he's loved Christ. Oh my, my. And in glory, in heaven it would
be perfect in oneness. There'd be no disagreements.
There'd be no one not fellowshipping with another person. There'd
be absolutely no disagreements. Oh my, there'd be perfect oneness
in faith, knowledge, love, holiness, and glory. Now these are the
words of the God-man. And this is one of the most amazing
statements set before us here. That God's people will ever hear
that God the Father loves us as He loves Christ. What a statement. And it's a
fact. It's truth. It's spoken by He
who is truth incarnate. It's spoken by He who is the
Word of God. The second person of the Trinity.
God incarnate in the flesh and He says that the Father loves
us like He loves Him. As thou hast loved them, and
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. One commentator of
old rightly said, this expression is stupendous. That's what he
said, stupendous. God loveth the saints as he loveth
Christ. God loves saved sinners as he
loves Christ. and has loved them as thou hast
loved me." One commentator of old again said, this comment
is absolutely amazing. And let us remember that God
the Father loves us. Now here's the kicker. God the
Father loves us only because of Christ. For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. And this truth
is brought forth in the book of Ephesians when Paul was writing
and he says, we are accepted in the beloved. That means we're
accepted in Christ. He's the Beloved. He's the Beloved. We are made by God. Now, and
God makes us accepted. We don't make ourselves. He makes
us accepted in the Beloved. It's nothing of our doing. He
makes us accepted in the Beloved, and that being the Lord Jesus
Christ. So marvel then at God's unfathomable love. That's what
we're seeing here. We're seeing the love that we
can't even fathom. that we can't even understand.
But I believe it, do you? Because God's word says it. The
master said it. And oh my, how it makes my heart
rejoice. Marvel then at the unfathomable
love that God has for his people and the fact that the ground
of all the love that God has towards us is in Christ. It's all in him. And beloved of God, God has saved
us for Christ's sake. And he saved us by Christ and
Christ alone, by the shedding of his precious blood. He is
the one who obtained eternal salvation for us. He is the one
who's done that. By the shedding of this precious,
precious blood. Think of this too. We're chosen
in him. So God loves us as he's loved
Christ because we're chosen in him. We're chosen in Christ.
He's the head of the elect. He's the head of the elect. We
are pardoned, we are sanctified, we are forgiven of all our trespasses
only because of Christ. Only because of him and through
him. All the benefits of God, all
the mercies of God are in one basket. I was told a long time ago when
I was doing work on my own, I had a big, big, huge contract and
somebody said, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Well,
that's not true for the Christian, is it? God's put all his eggs
in one basket, hasn't he? That's Christ. Well, that's the
only place I'm going to go, by God's grace. Oh my, oh my, all
the benefits of God, all the blessings of God are found in
Christ, in Christ alone. He is the one, He is the one
who has purchased them with His precious, precious blood. He's
purchased our eternal souls. All those blessings of God, He
procured by His, by His sinatonic death for us, by His merit, right? It was by His merit that we have
all these blessings. Now, that's why Tim James says,
no merit, no merit, no merit here. No merit here. No merit in this sinner. All
my merit's in Christ. Is he all your merit before God?
Is he all your salvation? Well, praise be to God. And if
he isn't, I pray God make it so. Oh, I pray God make it so
if he isn't. You know, there was a double
prejudice against us. Our old corrupt nature was loathed
by God. He's holy, he's righteous, right?
We can't even be in his presence because of our sin. There are
double presidents against us. And our transgressions, our sinfulness,
it provoked a quarrel with God's justice, didn't it? But you know
what? Do you know what, beloved? In
Christ, God is both just and a justifier. Oh my, he's both
the lawgiver and he's a law fulfiller. He's the redeemer, he's my savior,
he's my God. That's who Christ is for the
believer. He's everything. He's everything. And this, the freeness of God's
grace is manifested in the sacrifice of Christ. It's manifest, magnified
by the fact that the reason he loves us is to be found outside
of ourselves. The reason God loves us isn't
because of Christ. And if we're in Christ, then
He loves us. He loves us as He loves Christ. Who put us in Christ? The Father did. Oh my, I'll tell
you why. It gets better and better, doesn't
it? The Father put us in Christ. Think about His wisdom, His design. He planned and purposed it all.
And we as God's people were included in that plan. That's absolutely
amazing. So what comfort this verse can
bring us. The fact that God loves us in Christ. Our love is so imperfect. It's
so imperfect. It's up and down with seasons
of life. It can be up and down. Up and
down. But this love. This love spoken
of here in verse 23 when he says, and has loved them as thou has
loved me. Speaking of the father loving
those in Christ. This love is unchanging. This love is eternal. This love is everlasting. It'll never ever stop. There'll
never be a time when he doesn't love us as he loves Christ. My oh my. So marvel at the Father's
love. The Father loves Christ as His
Son, so He loves us in Christ as His Son, 1 John 3, 1. Also
the Father loves Christ as His image, right? He being the brightness
of His glory and express image of His person, Hebrews 1, 3.
So He loves the saints who are by God's grace renewed after
His image, Colossians 3, 10. Also God loves Christ tenderly. So also does he love all those
who are in Christ as dear children, Ephesians 5.1. He loves Christ
eternally, so he loves all who are in Christ. As the scripture
proclaim of God's people, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, Jeremiah 31.3. He loves Christ unchangeably,
so he loves all who are in Christ unchangeably. Marvel then, beloved of God,
at these words brought forth in this verse. Let's read it
again. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. What comfort's found
here? What grace is manifested here to God's people, a people
of his choosing? What comfort we who are hated
by the world can find right here? to know that God the Father loves
us as he loves the Son, as he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious theme, as one
commentator said for our daily meditation. The love that God
has for his people is the same love that he has for Christ. Lord, remind me of that, please.
When I'm down, when I'm looking at the world and the things in
the world, let me remember that your love for me is unchanging,
and you're in control of everything. Oh, my. Let me rest my soul in
this precious truth set here before us, that God the Father
has loved them, his chosen, blood-bought, born-again people. As thou hast
loved me, and that being the Lord Jesus Christ, John 17, 23,
our verse tonight. And let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord rest in this fact that we see tonight. This is
a fact. This is a fact. Now the enemy may come and plant
things in our minds saying, oh no, God doesn't truly love you
that much. Oh yes, he does. Oh yes, he does. The old flesh
might start saying, no, he don't love you. Look how sinful you
are. Oh, He loves me! He loves me as He's loved Christ. My, oh my, this is an unchanging
fact. It cannot be denied. It's truth. It's a fact. God's Word says
it, and more so, the Word of God incarnates says it. The Lord
Jesus Christ. These are His words, beloved.
And He's God. He knows how much the Father
loves us. Because he knows how much the
Father loves him. Even though we can't understand it. So let
us contemplate this wonderful fact of God's eternal love to
his people in Christ. And let us increasingly remind
ourselves of this wonderful truth and this unquestioned fact, this
undeniable fact that we see here before us in God's word. That
God the Father loves his people as he loves Christ. And I'll tell you what, what
resulting peace and joy will follow us if we just rest in
this and just simply believe what God's word says. I'll tell
you, it made me leap for joy today. And it's making me leap
for joy even preaching it. It's wonderful. It's true. Many times we look for, we look
for the experiences of peace and joy by something we do. But you know how to really experience
peace and joy in Christ? Just believe what the Word says. Just believe what it says. When
He says, I've loved you with an everlasting love, just believe
it. And by God's grace, we do, right?
Although we're like this sometimes, aren't we? Let's be honest, we're
all, right? But this is a fact. And by simple
faith, believe it. No wonder the Lord says, may
your faith be like a child's faith. I remember my kid, I'd
tell him something, boom, he'd believe it. He didn't even doubt
it. Let our faith be like that. Even
with this truth set before us. It's true. It's a fact. I'm going
to rest my soul in this. That God loves me in Christ as
much as he loves Christ. And peace and joy comes through
this word, beloved. This is where peace and joy comes
from. Just resting in this word. What
did so many people are out trying to earn rewards, what did Christ
tell Abraham? I'm your exceeding reward. I
believe that. He's my reward. He's our crown
of glory. He's our crown of life. It's
Him. He's our righteousness, right? It's Him. Oh my, it's so liberating and
so freeing. And to know this, that God's
love will never change towards me. Oh, my soul. This is wonderful. And you know, scripture declares
this, the just shall live by faith. Simple faith. Just believe in what God says.
Christ says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. I believe
it. By God's grace, by the gift of faith, I believe it. He's
my life. He's my redemption. He's my resurrection. He's my savior. He's my king,
right? Don't we believe that? Yes, we
do, by God-given faith. And trusting Christ and His word. The more this is true, the more
peace and joy we'll have. The more we just believe what
God says, the more we just rest in his truth, I guarantee, the
more peace. You don't have to buy a book
where some guy tells you how to lead a better Christian life
and have joy. It's right here. It's right here. Just believe
what the word says. It'll bring you peace and joy. This verse brought me peace and
joy today. Has it for you tonight? It's wonderful, isn't it? My
oh my. My comfort, my peace, my joy,
my rest is found in he who is the lover of my soul, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And beloved, let our hearts and
minds be fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In that
relationship that we've seen tonight, that is ours, That is
ours through Christ. In this wonderful fact that's
been set before us. That God loves me as he loves
Christ. Let's read this verse one last
time and we're finished. And marvel at these words. Marvel
at the wonderful facts set forth here. I in them and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one. That's when we get the
glory, beloved. And that the world may know that thou has
sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Praise God! Isn't he wonderful?