1 John 4. We read this chapter, or the
most of it, and as you might have figured
out, my message this morning will
be about the love of God. It's oftentimes a charge that
is laid against those who preach the gospel of God's sovereign
grace that they don't have much to say about the love of God. But since the love of God The
Bible says, is in Christ Jesus. We don't preach the love of God
unless we preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And in reality, why men fail
to hear the love of God, why they fail to hear about it, is
because The love of God, as it's found in Scripture, is so foreign
to us. It's not like this love, this
generic love that we hear spoken of in our day, and especially
not like the love of men and women, which has been reduced
to nothing more than lust. No, this is the love of God. And I've taken my title this
morning from an old hymn. And I call this message, Hail
Sovereign Love. And that hymn begins with this
verse. The old hymn writer says, Hail
sovereign love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. You know, it is a sad thing. It is really a tragic thing that
the one thing that is spoken of most about God is, it seems,
the thing that is known really the least about. That is, they
know the least truth about the love of God. And the message
that people hear almost every day in some way, and especially
from religious people, is this, God loves you. Or, God loves every body. But it might surprise some to
find out that expressions like that, especially those two most
widely accepted spoken and believed expressions, they are not found
anywhere in all the preaching that is recorded in the book
of Acts in the early church. Paul's not heard saying it. Peter's
not. James is not. John's not. You cannot find that expression
anywhere in that book. And more than that, you cannot
find them anywhere in all of the Bible. Nowhere. But when you come to this book
of I John, in the chapter that we read in I John, you find twice,
once in verse 8 and once also in verse 16, that it says, God
is love. Now, my friends, that does not
mean, first of all, that His love is like your love. And not only that, it does not
necessarily mean that he loves me, or that he loves you, or
that he loves anybody else, or especially all people. That says God is, in himself,
in his essence, love. And how can we know anything
about the love of God if we don't know who or how God is? And furthermore, how can you
know anything about the love of God if you don't know how
He loves? Now, I know where people run
to as quickly as they can. And that is that one verse in
John chapter 3, verse 16, they run there as if that is the only
verse in the Bible that has anything to say about the love of God. I would say this to you. Go back
and read that verse. read it in the context of the
verse, go back and read it in the chapter, and you will find
that he says first, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And in that, he gives us a picture
of how God loves and where his love is at before he even says
that God loves somebody. But rather than saying there
that God loves everybody in the whole world, every person, The
world that is spoken there has to be reduced to these he describes
as being brought to believe on the Son of God. And somebody
always says this, well, if it says world, it must mean world. Well, turn over to John chapter
17. John chapter 17, where we have
in that same book, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as He
speaks to the Father concerning those, He says, who have been
given to Him by the Father out of the world. And listen to what
He says in the ninth verse. I pray for them. And then notice this, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. Look down also in verse 14. Christ continues speaking to
the Father, I have given them thy word, and the world hath
hated them." Here they are distinguished from the world. And he says,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of
the world. even as I am not of the world."
And then if you notice the next statement he makes, he says,
sanctify them. What does that mean? That word
means to set apart or distinguish And it is God setting apart in
various ways and distinguishing from Adam's race a people who
are the objects of his saving, redeeming, gracious love. And he says, sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. Now, my friends, that is a distinction
that is made by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that, by that
one thing alone, we ought to know that in to find out something
about the love of God and those that He loves, we are going to
have to make some kind of study of the Word of God. You see, God's love and how he
loves must be consistent with who and how he is. He cannot love in a way that
is inconsistent with himself. And God is, first of all, an
absolute sovereign, which means that he does what he will, to
whom he will, when he will, and the way that he will, and it
means that he loves whom he will, and he loves with this sovereign,
particular, distinguishing love. Now, I think if there is anybody
who ought to believe this based on what we find in the Bible,
it ought to be you women. Because if you turn over to the
book of Ephesians, the apostle is led by the Spirit of God to
give this instruction to these he describes as husbands. You can read it in Ephesians
5 and verse 25. He says, husbands, love your
wives, and then he says, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it." Now, based on how men naturally view
the love of God, and how most of false religion presents the
love of God, what he must be teaching here, since he's talking
about husbands loving wives as Christ loved the church, he must
be talking about and teaching some kind of free love. Love every woman. Love every
woman freely. Either that, if it is the universal
love that he's talking about, or he is talking about a distinguishing,
a centered and particular love that this husband is to have
for his own wife and for her alone. And that is exactly what
the Bible is teaching. that the love that a husband
is to have for his wife is a love that reflects and demonstrates
the love of God which is in Christ who loved the church and gave
himself for it. As a matter of fact, in Romans
chapter 8, Paul closes out that chapter. by showing us exactly
where and in whom and how the love of God is. He says, the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus. And that means outside
of Christ Jesus, He is not a God of love to an individual, but
he is rather a God of wrath and is described as a consuming fire. He says the love of God is in
Christ Jesus. You see, God is eternal. And therefore, he says, of all
that he loves, as he did to Jeremiah, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. What does that mean? That means
if God ever loved me, or if God ever loved you, He has always
loved us. Because he says, not only, I
have loved you with an everlasting love, he says also in this text,
God is light, that is, he is truth and holiness, and cannot
love anything that is unholy. And he loves as this one who
never changes. You go back over and look in
the Old Testament, and God says the same thing there He does
in the New Testament. He said, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob, you are not consumed. In other words, those he loves,
he's loved with this everlasting love, and he has loved them in
Christ, and he has always loved them in Christ. There was never
ever anything lovable about them, nor could they ever do anything
to make him love them. He has loved them with an everlasting
and unchanging love. He's the same yesterday and today
and forever. But this holy God, He is as such
this one who has also a holy hatred. You say, hold on a minute,
preacher. You've gone too far. No, as equally
as God loves a people in Christ, he also hates with this holy
and perfect and just hatred. If you look back in Psalm 5 and
verse 5, he says this, that he hates all workers of iniquity. Not just the iniquity, Not just
what they do, but he says that he hates all workers of iniquity. You look a little bit farther
in Proverbs chapter 6, it says that he hates all, or he that
sows discord among brethren. You look a little bit farther
and you'll find two times, once in the Old Testament and once
in the New Testament, Malachi and Romans, that he says that
he hated Esau. You say, I don't understand how
God can hate anybody. Well, the reason for that is
because you are likening God to your own self, and the reason
He commands us not to hate anybody is because we are the same thing
and the same way that they are. But God's not like that. He's
high and holy. He's of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. He's the God who hates sin, not
just simply hates sin as it is somehow separated from the sinner,
but as we read there, He hates those who work iniquity. And as a just God, he cannot
love any who are under the condemnation of his justice. He is the immutable,
unchanging God. And as such, we will find always
in the Bible that those he loves, he saves. Now, you would just never imagine
a love that you might have for your child as being somehow different
than the love of God, would you? Would you think that the love
that you have for your child would be greater than the love
that God has for His children? And yet you have situations in
which your children are in danger, and you know that they don't
know anything about that danger, or don't feel the magnitude of
it, and you would never say, as men say about the love of
God, well, God loves you, or I love you, but I don't want
to interfere with you. You wouldn't do that. My little niece, my little granddaughter
rather, had just started to crawl. And so she starts crawling across
the floor and she crawls towards something that would do her harm
or hurt her. And I would say to her, Honey,
I love you, but Grandpa doesn't want to interfere with your free
will. And so I'm just going to have
to let you go. Here is salvation if you want it. But no, you wouldn't
do that. and to imagine that the God of
all glory would in some way have a love for somebody and by that
love allow them to suffer and to die in their sins when He's
able to stop it. That's the most ridiculous thing. You see, the Bible gives this
word love as it is associated with God most every time in the
past tense. It says He loved us. Would we be so foolish, as somebody
has said, to maybe have put on the back of the ark There in
the midst of that flood, a bumper sticker that said, smile, God
loves you. But if he does, he's got a funny
way of showing it. Could it ever be said of those
descendants there in Sodom and Gomorrah that he rained down
fire and brimstone on? Would it be said of them, as
the fire and brimstone fell out of heaven, God loves you? Or everyone in hell, will that
be the banner? Somebody said, really said, that
hell would be an eternal monument to the failure of God. Can that
be? No. Those He loves, He saves. He saves And he is, as John says,
first light. I don't ever hear anybody saying
that, do you? They say, well, God is love. That's the truth.
But not your kind of love. Not my kind of love. His kind
of love. But he is also light. That has to do with truth and
right and justice. An old preacher said, Light and
love are balancing perfections in the divine nature. Because
God is light, His love is not amiable weakness or good-natured
indulgence. Because God is light, His love
is a holy love and not a mere sickly sentiment. God's love
never conflicts with His holiness Because God is light, he never
overlooks sin, even in his own people. Now, God just doesn't say, smile,
God loves you. The gospel is not, God loves
you, has a wonderful plan for your life. That's not the gospel.
That's not good news to dead rebel sinners. But rather than that, the Bible
says, and you can read it in Psalm 11, I believe it is, it
says, the righteous Lord loves righteousness. Do you know that? The righteous
Lord loves righteousness. If you want something wherein
it says that God loves something or somebody, there it is right
there. The righteous Lord loves righteousness. And this same righteous Lord
who loves righteousness commanded both the prophet and the apostle
to say to men of themselves, there are none of you who are
righteous. None of you. Not me. Not you. You see, only from God Himself
and only through His Word can we find out who and how He loves. And don't you dare trust your
love, don't you trust your soul to a false love, to a fickle
love. There are some who say, Well,
if God loves you, don't worry about it. There are some who say, God loves
you today, but if you don't do right, He may not love you tomorrow. But the Bible tells about a love
that is in Christ. And from His Word, it is obvious
that He does not love everyone, that he does not in the particular
manifest his saving love to all as he says here in these verses. As he says in John 5 when he
said to them, but I know you that you have not the love of
God in you. But when you come to a place
like II Thessalonians chapter 2 and that thirteenth verse,
he speaks of some that the apostle describes as brethren beloved
of the Lord. Let me get there as quick as
I can and find out who he's talking about. He can love whom he will. And
since every blessing and all of salvation and eternity flows
out of the love of God, it would behoove us all to find out who
it is He loves and how He loves them. He does love a people. He says, brethren, be loved of
the Lord. And since this is the love of
God, it has to do with God as He is in the triunity of His
persons. God the Father. God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, and the Apostle says, and these three
are one. Just one God. But He's manifested Himself in
what some call the Trinity. And He has done so in this declaration
and manifestation of His love. So, if we find out anything about
the love of God, we're going to have to find out about the
love of the Father. I would describe the love of
the Father as love initiating. love initiating. You see, God
the Father is shown in Scripture as this sovereign God demonstrating
a sovereign love. and acting as such in choosing
a people and appointing the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of
this people. Now, look back at our text here
in 1 John chapter 4 and that ninth verse. In this was manifested the love
of God. Now, you can talk about feeling
the love all you want to. There are a lot of people who
thought they felt the love of God, but they didn't. He says,
in this was manifested the love of God toward us. And my friend,
any love that's not manifested, it isn't worth anything. Don't
you men or don't you women say, well, I love you, but I'm leaving
you. I love you, but I ain't going
to live with you. I love you, but I'm not going to feed you.
I love you, but I'm not going to give you any money. I love
you, but I'm not going to do any of these things. I love you,
but I'm going to beat the tar out of you. No, that won't work. In this was the love of God manifesting. We like manifestations of love,
don't we? I like it when my wife leans
over and kisses me or when she tells me I love you. We like manifestations of love.
In this was the love of God manifested toward us because that God sent
His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through
Him." Now, you go back, as you remember, this is a letter. That's
what it is, an epistle or a letter. And John writes this to those
people who've heard the gospel, the truth, and God has brought
them to believe on Christ, and they are His children in the
faith, and he describes them as these little children born
of God. He said this is the love of God.
It was manifested in this, the Father sending His Son into the
world. that we might live through Him. Look down at verse 14. And we
have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be
the Savior of the world. In the King James they added
those words, to be. So that it actually says, and
we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son the Savior
of the world. He's the only Savior there is.
It doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Gentile, male or female,
young or old, from one country or another country. It doesn't
matter. If you are saved by the grace of God and the love of
God, it's going to be in this Savior, the one the Father sent. All right, look down at verse
19. He says, we love Him because He first loved us. Any love that God the Spirit
brings about in us toward God Himself, it is because He first
loved us. Turn over to Ephesians and the
first chapter. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
3, Paul writing to the church at Ephesus, he says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us, past tense, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him." And that's actually where
that statement ends there in the original. And the next two
words begin the next sentence. In love. In other words, in an
act of love. Isn't it amazing how people make
the very things that are the real acts of God's love to be
the kind of boogeyman you're not supposed to talk about? Just
don't talk about predestination. Why? Because that gives a little
too much power to God. No, it says, in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. That literally means because
He has graced us. He has loved us and graced us
by making us accepted by Him in His infinite holiness in the
Beloved. You see, election, predestination,
they are the love, the love of God in action, the love of God
in Christ Jesus. What Paul says there, writing
to the church at Thessalonians, is this. He describes them as
these brethren beloved of God. He said, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's an act of love. Verse John 3, Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. You see, that's the love of the
Father. Loving, choosing, predetermining everything concerning them to
assure their salvation and deliverance from their sin and assure their
being brought to Him and presented to Him faultless before the throne
of glory that they might spend eternal life and eternity in
heaven praising Him for His love and salvation. here in His love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son, the propitiation
for our sins. God's love is everlasting, unchangeable,
and demonstrated in acts of grace, acts of His will, He's the one
who chose the bride for His Son. The Son who says also in John
17, He says, Father, Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them as
Thou hast loved Me. That blows my mind. I'm telling you.
Because He goes on to say this, 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." Well, he just got through
saying, you love them as you love me. But you love me before
the foundation of the world. That means you must love them
before the foundation of the world. All writing, describing the condition
that we're in by nature, dead in trespasses and sin, by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. And he says, but God, who is rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved." And then this love of God is
demonstrated in Acts of the Son. I'd say that would be described
as love sacrifice. I know you know what John 3,
16 says. Do you know what 1 John 3, 16
says? Look over at 1 John 3 and verse
16. As a matter of fact, the same
apostle, the same Christ, the same Spirit, He says in I John
3, verse 16, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He
laid down His life for us. Where is the love of God the
Son demonstrated? In the act of His laying down
His life for us. I laid down my life for the sheep. I give my life for the sheep. And men can talk about the love
of God until they're blue in the face, and most of it just
really makes me want to throw up when I hear it. But when I
hear about this love, He loved us and laid down His
life for us. Not an ordinary life, but a sinless,
perfect life. God manifests in the flesh. He laid down that life for us. I always appreciate the sacrifices
of valor when men in combat or something like that, they lay
down their life in the protection of somebody. We marvel at that. But this is not just another
sinner like ourselves. This is the sinless Son of God. And He laid down His life He
gave His life, if you turn back in Ephesians 1 once again, what
you find is He is describing that love, not only of the Father,
but also of the Son. And He says in Ephesians 1, 7,
"...in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of His grace." wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in whom
also we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel
of his own will. We don't know anything about
the love of God until we find out something about that electing,
predestinating, choosing, purposing, decreeing love that He demonstrated
in Christ before the world began. And we don't know anything about
His love until we behold it in Christ crucified. You see, that's righteous love.
That's just love. And the Son, who is called the
Son of God's love, He willingly and freely and voluntarily engaged
Himself and demonstrated in His life and death the most amazing
act of love that's ever taken place on this earth. There's no doubt that the work
of Christ is a work of justice, but it's also a work of love. Verse 10, herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son, the
propitiation for our sins. What is propitiation? That sacrifice
which turns away the wrath or the disfavor of God and puts
in the place of it favor. And He has always been the propitiation
for the sins of His people, and that love that was in Christ,
the propitiation, was demonstrated by the Son when He actually died
the death and shed the perpetuatory blood. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and given himself for us an offering and sacrifice
to God. Revelation 1, Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, the
prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. You see, the love of God became
flesh. Love became our Lamb. Love lived without sin. Loving God with all his heart. Love laid down his life for those
that he loved. Love is the Lord, our righteousness. Love flowed down in the blood
of his cross. And that's why When Paul says
in Romans 8, it is God that justifies, it is Christ that died. If it is God, the sovereign,
unchangeable God, who in this love justified all His people
or made them righteous in Jesus Christ through His life and death,
he said, therefore, there is not height nor depth nor anything
that can separate us. from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus. Now, I don't know about you,
but I don't always find myself very loving toward God. I'm ashamed to say that. Not only can I be a most unlovable
creature, but a most unloving creature. I ought to be every moment talking
to Him, praying to Him, thanking Him, praising Him, loving Him. But even when I'm not, it's not
my love for Him that's my hope and salvation. It's His love
for me. He loved me and He gave everything
for me. He loved me and God made him
to be sin for me that I might be made the righteousness of
God in him. That's where love's at. God loves those in Christ. An old preacher said, This, my
beloved, is our everlasting righteousness before the eyes of infinite holiness
and justice, It was eternally designed for us, and it is freely
and forever imputed unto us by love divine, and this is our
present, our past, our future, our eternal justification. This
we may boldly plead at all times against an upbraiding conscience,
against an accusing devil, at the throne of grace, and at the
throne of justice. The God to whom we are indebted
for this invaluable boon will never disown it. He'll never
say, well, I used to love her, but I don't love her anymore. No. The love of God has always
been this love He has for His people in Christ. And Christ
in that love, you see, God loves those in Christ redeemed by His
blood, these for whom He was made sin, these who are made
the very righteousness of God in Him, these who are brought
in their hearts to believe on Him. And then the love of God is also
the love of God the Spirit. which I guess I described as
love revealing and manifesting itself. Back in Ephesians 1, in that
13th verse, he says of Christ, in whom you also trusted, after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. You see, that's what the gospel
is. The gospel is not how to be saved. No, no. It's the gospel of your
salvation. It's the good news that God loved
you and saved you in His Son, Jesus Christ, with an everlasting
love and an everlasting salvation. But we don't believe that. I was reading in Psalm 110. I thought about it. I'm such
a pitiful preacher. If it was in any way left up
to me, there'd be no need for me preaching. But I was reading
what the Father was saying to His King. The Lord, David said, said to
my Lord. Sit thou on my right hand till
I make your enemies your footstool. And then he says to this too,
he says, thy people, thy people shall be willing in the day of
your power. I thought today. Lord, would
to you that today would be for someone the day of your power,
that they'd be made willing, that they would see you as the
God of this love and grace and mercy in Christ, this God who
didn't have to love anybody, but he set his affection on a
people in Christ before the world began. And as we sung in that
hymn, why not me? If He came to die for sinners,
if He loved and gave Himself for the ungodly, that's me. If I don't have any hope of myself,
if I'm just at an end of trying to do something that God will
accept, do something to go to heaven, I don't have any peace
in my heart, do I cry and I strive and I quit this and I quit that,
the other? Salvation's all of grace, it's
all of God's work, it's all a gift. That's for me. My friend, if you're brought
to that point, and brought to cast off every other hope but
Christ, that's the Spirit's love. Because He's embraced your heart.
giving you what the Bible calls a new heart, which is simply
a heart of faith, which is to believe the truth. A heart to look outside of your
current self and cast off your old doing and your old religion,
your old experiences, and to just trust Christ crucified. John here in I John 4 says in
verse 13, "...hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he
in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." How do you
know if God has given you His Spirit? Is it just a feeling? Somebody said feelings come and
feelings go and feelings are deceiving. But trust in Christ. That's where our hopes have. The Lord said, I'll send the
Comforter to you. What will He do? He said, He
will take the things of mine. and show Him to you. He won't
make you run up and down an aisle crazy or speak in another tongue
or stand on your head or get a funny, weird feeling over you
and all that kind of stuff. He said He'll take these things
of mine and show them to you. Can you see Christ? Can you see
Him as this sovereign, successful Savior? and no other hope but
Him. If you can trust Christ, you will. If you don't have anything else
to trust. Somebody asked a preacher friend of mine one time, they
said, is Christ really enough? He said, if He's all you have,
He is. Do you have anything else, or
Christ plus anything else? No. But if He's all you have,
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. The Spirit does not come merely
to influence us or to offer us something or to impress our hearts
or to woo us. He comes with love joined with
omnipotent power. He comes with love reached out
in the hand of effectual grace. He comes in that love like you
would demonstrate running after that child to snatch them out
of the way of an oncoming car because you love them. Paul says, knowing, brethren
beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. This is the gospel. Christ is
the one, only successful Savior. And the Spirit of God embraces
the Lord's people that He chose and that He died for. And He
never lets them go. He never lets them go. Sometimes I'll pick up that little
baby and I'll hold her in my arms. I just love her so much,
I just don't want to let her go. Those that God loves, He will
in time. Strong arms of the Almighty.
It doesn't matter where you're at, what you've professed, what
you've done. He's going to reach out in this
truth and lay hold of you. And you know what will happen? He'll give you arms, arms of
faith to reach out and embrace Him. I like what the Song of
Solomon records about the bridegroom and what the bride says of the
bridegroom. She says, I am my beloved's and
he is mine. He is mine. These that he loves, you see,
you can't stop divine love. It's irresistible. You can't
deserve it. You can't explain it. You may
only be the object of it, and experience it, and delight in
it, and learn it through the gospel as the Spirit of God teaches
us and gives us faith. And it is the love of God the
Father, the love of God the Son, it is the love of God the Spirit,
one love, almighty, eternal, irresistible, and unspeakable. Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail free, matchless, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
And God, even our Father, who hath loved us, and given us everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace. My prayer is that He will reveal
that love of God which is in Christ Jesus in your heart. And I promise you, as is always
the case, he never takes away anything from his people but
that he gives them something much better. He takes away all their old hopes
and old religions and old professions and all that stuff that they
thought was so wonderful, only to give them life, peace, joy,
righteousness, and every blessing. Our Father, this day we give
praise to Your Name. We bless our God in that triunity
of your sacred person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We thank you for these demonstrations
of your love. We know your love, as it is in
Christ, is our salvation. Help us, we pray this day. Embrace
us. in the experience of that love
in our hearts, that we might thank you and praise
you and give you glory, worlds without end. For we ask everything
in Christ's name. Amen.