Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert.

In John chapter 15, 24 hours before he's going to die, Thursday night, he dies the next day. And this is his last speech with his disciples. If you would read John chapter 13 through 17, that's his last discourse with his disciples. And during this discourse, he made this statement to his disciples, and it's made to every believer.

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. I've entitled this message, So Have I Loved You. Now, I love to think of the Father's love to the Son. As the Father hath loved me. Oh, I have no problem believing in the Father's love to the Son. But he says in the same manner that the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

Now, when the Lord says this, this is not said to every son of Adam. There is a place called hell, and there will be nobody in hell that he loved. Now, I realize this religious world we live in speaks of God loving all men the same, but it's just not so. The scripture doesn't teach it. He said, Esau, have I hated. He said that twice in the scripture. And the psalmist said, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. To speak of God's love as being universal to all men makes it meaningless. You mean He can love you and you can wind up in hell anyway? Well, what good did the love of God do you? It didn't do you any good at all. God's love is for His people. God's love is for His elect. God's love is for His bride. God's love is for those who believe. He gave them the faith to believe in the first place. God's love is for His people.

Now, am I one of His people? Are you one of His people? Matthew 121 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Am I one of His people? Now, the only evidence of being one of His people is that you believe the gospel. As many, Paul said, or Luke said in Acts 13, 48, as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. That's the evidence of being one of his people, if you believe the gospel.

Not if you're religious, but if you believe the message of the Scripture. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, equal to God, God the Son, the only Savior of sinners, and you are relying on who He is and what He did is all that's needed to make you perfect before God. You believe the gospel, you trust Jesus Christ as all in salvation. You believe who he is, you believe what he did, and you're relying on him. Now, if you believe the gospel, this is said to you, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved him. the love of Christ. As the Father loved me, oh, think of the Father's great love for the Son. So have I loved you.

This is what Paul was talking about when he said, oh, that we might know the breadth, the length, the depth, the height, the four dimensions of the love of Christ, the breadth, the wideness, the length from eternity to eternity, The height, how high he brings us. The depth, how far he came down to save us. Paul said that passes knowledge.

It's beyond comprehension that Christ would love a sinner like that. I love the hymn. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean. Oh, the love of Christ, he says to every believer, so have I loved you. Now, what I'd like to do in the first part of this message is attempt to dwell on the father's love for the son. God is love. That's what the scripture says. God is love. Not here's what love is and God fits that definition. No, God is love. We love him because he first loved us. And how the father loves the son.

The father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand. He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now His love for His Son is eternal. Now remember, the Lord said, as the Father has loved me, that's how I've loved you. So the first thing I would want us to consider about the Father's love to the Son is it's eternal. When did the Father begin to love the Son? He didn't. He's always loved the Son. There's no beginning point because His love is eternal. As God is eternal, He has eternally loved His Son.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the word God, Elohim, is the plural of El, God. The one God, plural, the one God in three distinct persons. The very first verse of the Bible teaches the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, before time began, Oh, how the Father loved His Son.

Before creation, before time, when all there was was God, oh, the fellowship between the persons of the Godhead. He didn't create the universe because He was lonely. He had perfect communion with Himself. And how the Father loved the Son. I want to read you a passage from Proverbs 8. Wisdom, Christ is personified by wisdom, and listen to this, Proverbs 8, 22.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not yet made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there.

When he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Now this speaks of the relationship between the father and the son before time began. He loved him eternally. And the second thing I'd like to say about the father's love to the son, this is the love of union. Christ said, I and my father are one. Now, right after he said that, the Jews picked up stones to stone him. He said, many good works have I done. For which of these do you stone me? He said, we don't stone you for good work because thou, being a man, make us thyself equal with God. The only one who's equal with God is the one who is God. And this is the love of union.

Listen to this scripture, John chapter one, verses one and two, in the beginning was the word. And the Word was with God as a distinct person, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. He's God, one with the Father, so much that he said to Philip, Philip, he that has seen me, hath seen the Father. All you and I will ever see of God is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Now, because he's one with the Father, when the Father loved the Son, he loved himself. Because the two, the three are one. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And when God the Father loved God the Son, He was loving Himself. You see, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. When God loved the Lord Jesus Christ, He was loving the beauty of all of His attributes. He was loving His own holiness. He was loving His holy sovereignty. Now, everything that God is, Jesus Christ is. Don't miss that. He is God. He's one with the Father. He's the second person of the Trinity. He's uncreated. Somebody says, explain that to me. I can't explain that. I just believe it.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, when the Father beheld his Son, he saw all of his glorious attributes in his person. He saw his holy justice, his holy integrity. independence. He has no needs. He saw his holy omnipotence. He has the power to do whatever he's pleased to do. He saw his holy omniscience. He never learned anything. He was never informed. He knows all. He saw His holy omnipresence. He's not bound by space or time. He saw His holy immutability. He can't change. He saw His holy love, mercy, and grace.

The Son is the same substance as the Father. Now what His substance is, no man knows. but the whatever the substance of the father is is the substance of the son and when the lord was loving him he was loving himself because the son was united to himself now next thing i'd like to say about the father's love to the son is it's conditional you've heard of god's unconditional love There is no such thing. There's no such thing as unconditional love. Now, hear me out because many people talk about God's unconditional love. Did God love His Son unconditionally? No. He loved His Son because He's altogether lovely. He loved His Son because of the beauty of His person. The Father doesn't love the Son unconditionally. He loves Him because He's worthy of His love, because of the beauty of His character.

This is the love of perfect satisfaction. God wouldn't change anything in His Son because He's perfect. He's altogether lovely in His sight. This is the love of perfect complacency. Because of the worthiness and the beautiness of the Son, of the beauty of the Son, it would be impossible to the Father not to love the Son. God didn't love His Son unconditionally. God loved His Son conditionally because of the altogether loveliness and beauty and glory of the Son. How does God love the son? He loves him because of his obedience. He obeyed the father perfectly.

He said in John 10, I love this verse of scripture. Let me read it to you. It's just a few pages back. John chapter 10, verse 17. You see, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The father told him to bear the sins of his people and to go to the cross and bleed and die under his wrath. And he said, yes, father.

Oh, the father loves him because of his perfect, beautiful obedience. The father cannot cease to love the son. Oh, the fathers loved the son. The father loves the son because the son glorifies him. You know, Christ came to glorify his Father. He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son that thy Son might glorify thee. The hour for which the universe was created for me to come and die. Father, the hour has come. The hour you ordained before time began when Christ was called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The hours come, glorify thy son, that thy son also might glorify thee. And he said in John 17, four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. Oh, the love of the father to the son. we bow before the Father's love to the Son.

Now, hear what the Lord says to every one of his people, every believer without exception. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now that is said to the church, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that it should be holy and without blemish. Christ loved the church, and the church is made of every individual believer. If I'm a believer, if you're a believer, Christ says this to you and me individually. As the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you. Now, if you're a believer, Jesus Christ has loved you eternally. There was never a time when he began to love you. is above our understanding. That's what the Bible teaches. Jeremiah 31, three says, behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love, a love that had no beginning.

Now I was born September 9th, 1959. That's when I came into existence. I suppose I was conceived nine months before that. And before that conception, I had no existence. Yet, the Lord says to me, as he says to Jeremiah and everyone that he loves, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.

All of God's people have been eternally known by the Lord Jesus Christ, eternally loved by the Lord Jesus Christ. There was never a time when he began to love his people, and there will never be a time when his love is ended for his people. It is an eternal love. Just as the father loves the son because of union with himself, the son loves his people because of union with himself.

Every believer is united to the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer of the Hebrews put it this way, in Hebrews 2, verse 11, both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified. Christ sanctifies, Every believer is sanctified. Both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. Not merely close together, but one. When he said, I am the vine and you are the branches, the same stem that goes through the vine goes through the branches. There's no connecting point. They're one. God's people are eternally united with him.

You know, when Paul said in Ephesians chapter five, he that loveth his wife, loveth himself. Well, if a man loves his wife, he benefits from it. He's only loving himself. He's the one who benefits from loving his wife, but that's not what Paul was talking about.

Because he said, I speak concerning Christ in the church. When Christ loved his wife, He was loving himself because that union between himself and his people makes them all one. Christ has the love of union with his people, the same love he has for himself, he has for them because they're his body, vitally united to him. Jesus Christ loves me conditionally. I repeat, there's no such thing as unconditional love. Jesus Christ loves me conditionally so that I am worthy of his love. Now, in and of myself, I realize I'm not worthy of his love. I'm a sinner.

But this is what he did for every one of his people. I've already quoted this. Let me quote it again. Ephesians 5, 25 and 26, husbands love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might wash it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy. and without blemish. Now this is what Jesus Christ has done for his people.

He's made it to where I have no spot of sin, that I'm holy and without blemish before him, and I'm lovely to him. He says to his church in the Song of Solomon to his bride, thou art all fair my love, there's no spot in me. That is what The church is, every individual is, to Jesus Christ. He loves them conditionally. He loves them because they're all together lovely to him. And he loves the church because they've obeyed him perfectly.

You see, when Jesus Christ obeyed the law, I obeyed the law. That's what baptism signifies. When he lived, I lived. When he kept the law, I kept the law. When he died, I died. When he was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. And I stand before God as one who has perfectly kept God's holy law. It's what is called justification. He justified his people. He made it to where they have never sinned. As the Father hath loved me, Even so have I loved you. Now, the father loved the son because the son glorified him.

And I know this, when I'm in heaven, by the grace of God, by the work of Christ in my behalf, when I stand before God's judgment throne, perfectly justified, when I stand before God as one who has never sinned because of what Christ did for me, I'm going to realize and understand that my salvation, He gets all the glory. And none goes to me. He did it all. I won't be singing, Jesus paid a half the other half I've owed and paid. I'll be singing, Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

Now, I want to read a passage in closing from John chapter four, where John speaks of our reliance on his love. First John chapter four, verse 16. And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. We've known it. He's made it known in his word, he's made it known in the gospel, and we've relied on that love, that saving love of God. John chapter 17, verse 23, the Lord says this.

Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. However the father loved the son, that's how he loved his people. Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. And the Lord said, as the father hath loved me, I've loved you. Now that's the love we're relying on. I'm relying that God's love is what He says it is in His Word. And I'm relying on the glorious fact that the way the Father loved the Son is the way He loved me. I'm relying on the fact that the way the Father loves the Son is the way the Son loves me. I'm relying on that. All my eggs are in that basket, that He only is everything in my salvation. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love. And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect, made mature. That's talking about our love to him.

Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now, can you imagine standing before God on judgment day with boldness, with no fear, knowing you stand before His judgment throne without guilt, without sin? That's what he says. Herein may we have boldness on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. Now this is every believer's hope. This is how I can stand bold before the very throne of God's judgment as he is.

Well, how is he? He's perfect. He's altogether lovely to His Father. He's without spot. He's the all-sufficient Savior. He's perfect righteousness. He's perfect holiness. As He is, so are we in this world right now. Verse 18 says, there's no fear in love. But perfect love, His perfect love to us, casts out fear. His perfect love, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. That perfect love casts out fear, because you know in Christ, you are altogether lovely because you're in Him. That casts out fear. Fear has torment. This is talking about that slavish fear of God, not measuring up, I need to do more. Fear has torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

We love him because he first loved us. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free. rolling like a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of His love, leading onward, leading homeward, to His glorious rest above. Believer, bathe in this. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information provided on the screen.