If you wouldn't open your Bibles
with me to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. We'll begin our reading in verse
seven. Know ye therefore, that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
And the scripture, for seeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then, they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it's
written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it's evident. for the just shall live by faith.
And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we've gathered here
together this evening, come together out of the world with a heart's
desire to hear a word from thee. Father, I pray that you'd be
with our brother David as he comes in just a moment to open
your word to us, to preach the message that you've laid upon
his heart. Father, I pray you'd be with him in a mighty and a
special way. What man is sufficient for these
things? Father, I pray that you'd send your spirit upon him and
pray you would enable him to preach above and beyond himself,
because you've enabled him to preach in the power of thy spirit.
Father, speak to his heart and open his mouth that he might
be enabled by thy spirit to preach to our hearts. And Father, I
pray you'd give each of us here tonight, a hearing ear and a
believing heart. Father, who's sufficient for
these things? Who's sufficient to be able to
hear? We can't hear your gospel without your spirit. Father,
I pray you would cause faith to be mixed with everything that
we hear tonight, that we might be enabled by your mercy and
grace to leave here tonight rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Let his
name be exalted and magnified here. for truly he is all. Christ is all. He's all we need.
He's all we want. He's all of our salvation. He's
all of our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Father, he's all. Cause him to be all in our hearts
that we might rest in him. Father, we thank you for this
blessed opportunity that you've given us to meet together and
worship you. Pray you bless it. Father, we also pray a blessing
on those who are in times of great difficulty, trial. There
are so many right now. Father, we pray that you'd be
with them. We pray that you'd be with our brother Clay and
that whole family. Thankful that you've seemed fit
to bring our brother out of this world of sin and body of sin
and bring him home to be with thee. Father, his loved ones
are still here missing him and grieving him. We pray you comfort
their hearts with your presence. Father, all these things we ask
and we give thanks in that name which is above every name. In
the name of Christ our Savior, Amen. As I said before that we
opened the service, I've been feeling this whole week, looking
forward to tonight, thinking that that had to be how Cornelius
was feeling, waiting on Peter to come. David Edmondson's a
dear, dear friend. I've been looking forward to
getting to spend some time with him and visit with him. But much
more importantly, Much more importantly, he is a faithful, faithful preacher
of God's gospel. He's the pastor of Bible Baptist
Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. And David, you come and you bring
the message to us. God bless you on your heart. You know, when we come visit,
we stand up here and we always say what a privilege it is. You know, it really is. It really
is a privilege. It's an honor. And I still stand
amazed that the Lord called me to preach his word. It's just
so humbling and so... I don't know what else to say.
It's an awesome responsibility. But to be able to come and preach
to friends, people that love Christ, my, other than the Lord's
great token of grace to us, saving us in Christ, giving us one another,
is a close second, I think. I do so appreciate being here
tonight. My text tonight is 1 John 4,
if you would turn there with me. I love the writings of the
beloved John who referred to himself as the disciple whom
Jesus loved. And I thought about that so many
times. He didn't call himself that because
he thought he was special. He called himself that because
he just couldn't get over the wondrous fact that Christ loved
him. I'm the disciple that Jesus loved. I feel that way myself. Me? You
love me? And because of Christ's love
for Him, we often found Him leaning on the Savior's breast, you know,
to be close to His heart. That's the way a believer is.
And this is a place of quiet rest, isn't it? near Christ,
near to the heart of God. Jesus Christ is the quiet rest
in God's heart. Now, I want to begin reading
here in verse 10. And you're familiar with these
Scriptures. John spoke a lot about love. And here he says,
herein is love. And immediately he says, not
that we love God, but that He loved us. And He sent His Son
to be the propitiation, the atonement, the mercy seat for our sins. And beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwells
in us and his love is perfected in us. That's the proof of his
love to us. And hereby know we that we dwell
in him and he in us because he hath given us his spirit. And
we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be
the Savior of the world and whosoever confess that Jesus is the Son
of God, God dwelleth in Him. And He in God. And we know and
believe the love that God hath to us. God is love. And he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in Him. And herein
is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There's
no fear in love, but perfect love casts it out fear, because
fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. Now this is my text. Verse 19. Very short verse. Says multitudes. And we love Him because He first
loved us. Have you really thought about
that? Knowing this truth alone, that we love God because He first
loved us, it'll open up the Scriptures to you. It'll give you an understanding
that most people don't have. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's
not a cooperative effort between man and God. It's of the Lord.
I've said this often. It's kind of become a little
catchphrase with me. But salvation's of the Lord.
And what follows that is a period. End of sentence. Salvation's
of the Lord. We did the sinning. God did the
saving. We love Him because He first
loved us. Because. This is the reason.
That's what the word means. This is the reason we love Him.
Because He first loved us. Now I want you to turn with me
to Genesis 1. And we'll come back to 1 John
4 later, and I won't turn you a lot of places except they'd
be close here. But in Genesis 1, verse 26, here
we're talking about a time before time. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Spirit created the heavens and the earth. God spoke
them into existence. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. God commands, it always comes
to pass because He's God. And in verse 26, God said, let
us make man in our own image. Let us make man after our likeness. And then God gave that man that
He created dominion over all things. God made everything that
was made and He gave man dominion over this. And God provided for
man everything that man needed. God gave man dominion, that word
means authority, over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of
the air, over the cattle, over every creeping thing upon the
earth. It all belonged to God. Mankind doesn't let God do anything. How can you read the Scriptures
and say, let God, let Jesus have your heart? Well, first and foremost,
God don't want that naturally wicked heart. No, He's going
to have to give us a new heart that beats and pants after cries.
He's the one that gives new hearts. Look at Genesis 2, verse 7. It says, God formed man out of
the dust of the ground. Who did that? God did. And God
did what? He breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living soul. God made man in
His own image and likeness. That means God made man a spirit,
for God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and in truth. And then in verse 18 of Genesis
2, it says, And the Lord God said, It's not good that the
man should be alone. I will make him and help me. I'll make a help me for him.
Adam took a rib out of Adam's side. And he made the woman. He didn't take something from
Adam's head so that she could rule over him. And he didn't
take anything from Adam's foot where he would trample on her.
He took a rib from his side close to his heart. And she's his helpmate. She's his equal. She's his soulmate.
And God was pleased. And God said, very good. You
know, when God says very good, it's very good, isn't it? It
sure is. God put man and woman together
in the Garden of Eden. God built the most beautiful
garden that's ever been seen. Can you imagine? the Garden of
Eden, God's garden. My dad used to put out a big
garden. And boy, it was pretty. I mean, I didn't know much about
gardening, but I'd say, that's a pretty garden, Daddy. And he
would have those rows so straight and he would just keep them cultivated. It was just a beautiful thing
to see. But can you imagine God's garden?
The Garden of Eden. And God took the man and the
woman and He put them in that garden. Adam didn't let God in
his heart. God was already in the garden.
And He put Adam in the garden. And He puts Christ in our heart,
doesn't He? My, my. Man is there because
of divine election. Man is there by God's free choosing. God put man in the garden. God
made man out of the dust of the ground. He breathed life into
him. And then He put him in the garden and He provided everything
that he needed. Adam's not working the ground
by the sweat of his brow here. No, he's just going out and picking
a fruit off a tree. And the fruit just kept coming. It provided everything, everything
that man needed, God provided. We love Him because He first
loved us. Look at verse 9. It says, "...out
of the ground made the Lord to grow every tree that is pleasant
to the sight and good for food." Think about the passage of every
good and perfect gift coming from above. From God the Father
who's no variable, there's no shadow of turning. God's still
blessing. God's still saving sinners today. He doesn't change. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. But there was one tree. And you
know about this tree. It's called the tree of life.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It brought about
the knowledge of good and evil. And that knowledge is divinely
given. It has to be. You won't see it
any other way. God's got to divinely intervene
in our lives and give us light and give us light. And it's just
amazing that He's pleased to do that. But it's only in Christ. Divinely given. It belongs to
one person, God the Son, and to whosoever He's pleased to
give it. He can give it to who He pleases. Lord, reveal Your
Son to me and in me. What a marvelous, marvelous thing. He's my only hope of glory. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. Someone asked me not long ago,
they said, what are you preaching this week? Jesus Christ. Same
thing I preach every week, just from a different text. Same thing
you preach every week. Christ. That's all that's going
to help us. That's all that's going to save
us. What He's done for us. Not what we do for God. What
God has done for us. Now this tree of knowledge and
good and evil, this is God's tree. And listen, He said, Adam,
you can't partake of that tree. That tree is reserved for another.
That tree's been reserved for God the Son. This is the only tree that will
satisfy God's justice. It's a tree of life. And this
honor is reserved for Christ alone. And He's not going to
share His glory with another. He's not going to give it to
another. He is the tree of life. Christ is. And in Christ we see
good, perfection only in Him. And at the same time, we see
the evil within us. The knowledge of good and evil. It's seen in Christ, the tree
of life. And we love Him. because He first loved us. God created man in His own image
and likeness. We just saw that. And God gave
man everything he needed to live in paradise. Now let me ask you
thus far, what does Adam have to glory in? God's done everything
for him. God gave Adam a free will to
voluntarily worship the God who loved him and gave everything
for him. I hate to say this, ladies, but
he loved his wife more. And there's some worse things
you could say about a fellow than that. About loving his wife. But we can't put anything before
God because it all comes from Him. Everything. Everything we
have. Everything we are. It's God that gives it. And then
God gave Adam one commandment to keep. Just one. Just one. I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, I'm good on about eight of the ten now. Well, I have never kept one.
I'm not proud of that, but I've never kept one commandment. Because
the law of God says you've got to keep it perfectly. And if
you're guilty of one, you're guilty of the whole law. And
you've got to keep it perfectly. God requires perfection. Nothing
but perfection. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. My Adam offended God. Every one of us have offended
God. Our sin is against God and God only. That's what David said.
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. And God is justified. He's right
when He speaks against us. And God is clear when He judges
us guilty because guilty is what we are. God told Adam, you eat
of that tree, you're going to die. And he disobeyed God and
he died. He lived over 900 years. But
he died spiritually the very second that he disobeyed God.
God's holy justice demanded it. Look at Genesis 3 verse 7. It says, And the eyes of them
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. and they
sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they
heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
And the Lord called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art
thou? And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. and I hid
myself. And He said, Who told thee that
thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat." Oh, do you see a picture of yourself there?
I am created in the image and likeness of God. I had communion
with God and fellowship. I walked with God in the cool
of the day. That's fellowship. That's communion with God. Walking
with God in the cool of the day. And there was no need of a covering
for Adam and Eve. No sin. No need for a covering. Sin caused them to see their
nakedness. And what did they do? Well, we
all do. They tried to cover their own
nakedness. They sewed fig leaves together
by the works of their own hands, and God won't accept it. You won't accept it. He provided
the skins. I believe it had to be a lamb
to cover them. It just had to be because it's
a spotless lamb. A perfect lamb is all that God
will accept. And you can't provide with your
hands by your doing the perfection that God required. And if God
shows you this, you see your helplessness. And that's when
you see your need. And you'll never need Christ
if you don't have a need for your sin to be put away. Can't
provide with our hands what God requires. That's why God's people
love Christ. Because He first loved them.
I just keep thinking about that. He loved me. That's why I love
Him. So man's thrown out of the garden.
You know this story. No longer resides in God's paradigm. Man no longer has fellowship
with God. Man's now dead in trespasses
and sin. But there's mention of a woman's
seed in the midst of all this trouble. There's mention of a
seed that's going to come and put away the sin of God's people. And my, we know who that seed
is. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to crush the serpent's
head. He's going to put sin away. And
he's the only one that can. He's the only one that can. And
in the providence of time, along come Cain and Abel. And Eve said,
I've got that seed. I've got that seed. I've got
a man from the Lord. But Cain wasn't that man. And
Abel wasn't that man. Though he pictures God's murdered
son in many ways, Cain and Abel brought a sacrifice unto the
Lord. Do you remember that? And Cain was a tiller of the
ground. Abel was a shepherd of the sheep. And Cain brought the best work
of his hand. Now, you're talking about a gardener.
I bet Cain was a good one. And he brought this fruit. I
bet it was a beautiful fruit. Whatever it was, it doesn't matter.
Beautiful. God said, won't accept it. Won't
accept it. No shedding of blood. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. He rejected
Cain's sacrifice. He will not accept the work of
our hands. God only accepts the blood of
a lamb. This is going on since the beginning.
This was God's ordained purpose before the world ever began.
God accepted Abel's sacrifice. Rejected Cain. And I tell you,
if you tell a man that he can't do anything to be saved, then
he'll get mad. And that's what Cain did. He
got mad. He got angry with God. And Cain was angry with God because
God will never accept the best that we can bring. It has to be perfect, as I said,
to be accepted. I know one who can provide it.
I sure do. I sure do. Christ is the tree of life. Christ
is the skin of covering. Christ is able sacrifice. Christ
is our manna from heaven. Christ is the rock which we draw
living water from. Christ is the Passover lamb.
Christ is the sacrifice. Christ is the only high priest.
Christ is the mercy seat. It's Christ's blood poured upon
the altar. It's all about Christ. He's our
city of refuge. If we can get in Him, we're safe. He's our shelter in the time
of the storm. Back home, I was recently told
by a friend of mine that he knows a contractor that's gotten all
tied up in his work because he's building this guy an enormous
storm shelter. It's going to have a kitchen
and a bedroom and everything in it. Can you imagine? Well,
I hate to tell that man. I'm sure he's spending a lot
of money. But there is no man-made shelter. No man-made shelter
that can shelter a man from the storm of God's wrath and justice
and judgment. There's only one ark of refuge. There's only one shelter in the
time of storm. You know who it is. And you know
Him. All those in the ark of God,
all those in Christ, they're safe. I remember Noah's ark and
the animals. That's what we talked about as
kids. Oh, I see that so different now. That's Christ. I've got
to get in Him. Come into the ark. There's no
safety outside of the ark. Rahab, stay in the house. Rahab,
you better stay in the house. That house where that scarlet
cord hangs from the window, picturing the scarlet blood of Christ.
that drawing cord God dropped down from heaven to draw men
unto Himself. Isn't that amazing? This book's
about Him. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we love
Him because He first loved us. That's the only reason we love
Him. Because He first loved us. Christ is that brazen serpent
Moses held high. Look and live. Look and live. There's life in a look at the
Savior. Poison is permeating the bloodstreams of those bitten.
They're dying. They can't move. They can't walk.
They can't get up and come to the front of a church. They're
dead in trespasses. They're dying. What can you do? You can look. You can look to
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. All through the Scriptures, it's
the same. Jesus Christ is the Lord. He's the Lord God of salvation. Now I want to ask you three questions
in closing. I didn't intend to keep you long
tonight. I know you have to work, but I want this to be a blessing
to you. I pray, Lord, make this effectual
to our hearts. I want the Lord to make this
effectual in my heart. I need Christ now. I need Christ
tomorrow. I need Christ the next day. Faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Tell me the
story of Jesus. Tell me again how Christ died
for wretched worms like me. That's what gives me hope, Jonathan.
That's why I keep coming back. That's why I keep listening to
the Gospel. That's my only hope. Christ in
you. That's our only hope. First question. When did Christ love us? Well,
He's always loved His sheep. I can't explain that. He's always
loved His sheep. The beginning before the beginning.
He loved His sheep from the foundation of the world. He loved his sheep. Before any sinner had done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of Him, they
called it. That's where salvation is. But
of Him. But God. But God. My, what did Jacob do
to be saved? He deserved to be hated just
as Esau was. If I have another person, and
I don't mean to be ugly, but if I have another person tell
me, well, that's not fair. Well, I'll tell you what's not
fair. Not sending all of us to hell. That's what's not fair. Anything apart from that's mercy,
isn't it? Jacob didn't do anything to be
saved. It's not of the works of man's hand. Our works are
filthy rags. Our righteousness is nothing
but lepers' napkins and menstrual balls. Let's call it like it
is. That's what our righteousness
is. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. A dead man's biggest obstacle in coming to Christ is taking
the first step. If he can take that first step,
he can come all the way. But a dead man can't take the
first step. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth.
He was dead. Then the call came, and then
came the life. Christ didn't say, Lazarus, if
you come forth, I'll give you life. That's not what He said.
But that's what men are preaching today. You come to God, and God
will save you. No, it's just backwards. God
saves you, then you come to Him. Lazarus come forth, and he that
was dead came forth. He couldn't come forth when he
was dead. It's no different for us. Dead in trespasses and sin. Life came before the coming.
The coming was the result of the life given. And with the
command comes the life to come. God commands us to do something,
then He gives us the power and ability to do it. My, my. It's all of God, isn't it? Oh, we love Him because He first
Love does. We do love Him. It's because
He first loved us. It's God who quickens. It's God
that makes life. Never seen a dead man give himself
life. Only God can give life, and Christ
is life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. He died the just for the unjust
that He might what? Bring us to God. If we're going
to be brought to God, it's going to be Christ that brings us.
He's a just God and a savior. And that's why we love Him. Because
He first loved us. His love I don't deserve. I know every believer feels that
way. I can see how God might love you, but I just don't see
how He could love me. It's undeserved. Mercy and grace. But we do love Him. Why did Christ
love me first? Second thing. Did He look ahead
in time and see that I would and could do something that would
be appeasing to Him? No. No. Before we'd done any
good or evil, God made this choice. God made this decision. He loved me freely without a
cause. Nothing about me that would cause Him to love me. That's
what the word freely means. Without a cause. Men hated Him
freely without a cause. He loves us freely without a
cause. Not one thing in my hand can
I bring. Not one thing. And God gave me
to His Son, and God loves me and His Son, and I love Him because
He first loved me. Me? Wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. They hadn't been bound up. They
hadn't been doctored. Haven't been given any healing
ointment. Just open, oozing, putrefying,
unmollified. That's how God sees us. You know,
if I asked you here tonight, I've asked myself this question.
If you thought of the most obnoxious and repulsive thing that you
could absolutely imagine or think of, chances are you yourself
wouldn't come to mind. But that's the worst. My heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. Deceitful above everything. There's
nothing more deceitful. It's desperately wicked. Who
can know it? Only God can. God knows it and God says it
has to go. I'm going to have to give you
a new heart. I'm going to have to make you a new creation in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I do, old things will
be passed away, and behold, all things will become new. And you're
going to love me because I first loved you. Oh, I'm sick. I have spiritual leprosy. But
good news, those that are sick have need of a physician. When
was the last time you went to the doctor just to say hello? And give them $60, $75 and say,
hey, I just want to see how you're doing. No, we go to the doctor
when we're sick, when we need help. And those that are sick
have need of a physician. But those that are well don't.
We go when we're sick. Those that are righteous in their
own eyes. Those that are trusting in their own will. The ones who
say, oh, me and the Lord, we've got a good thing going. They're
resting in their work. They're resting in the work of
their own hands. And they don't need Christ. But
we, His sheep, oh, we need to shepherd. I'm prone to wander. I'm prone to leave the God I
love. I'm a dumb sheep. Oh, I go where I shouldn't go.
You know, just a dumb sheep. But I got a shepherd. Oh, let
me tell you about my shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He leaves
the 99 and go gets the one that lost and puts them on his shoulder
and brings them all the way back. What did that sheep have to do
with that? God carried them all the way back to the fold. Christ
said, I've got other sheep not of this fold. Them I must bring.
He's going to bring them. Every single one. Not always
who we think. Most of the time it's somebody
we don't think. But the Lord is His sheep. He's sheep. Who did Christ come to save?
Third question. One of my favorite verses in
all the Scriptures. This is a faithful saying. That
gets your attention, doesn't it? It's a faithful saying. It's
worthy of all acceptation. We all ought to accept and bow
to this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. God came into the world to save
sinners. Our sin is so horrific that it
took God Himself to put it away. Oh my! Who came to save us? Christ came to save us. That
impotent man, he lay at the pool of Bethesda and the Scripture
said he had no man to put him in the water. Listen, we don't
have any man that can put us in that stirring water of the
angel stirred. No, no. We don't have that. There's no man that can help
us. Not one. Like the man with the withered
hand. His hand is withered. He can't work. He can't do anything
to commend him to God. And not until God straightens
out his hands, straightens out his heart, gives him a new one.
No, no. Like the man full of leprosy.
We know the Lord can. The question is, will you? Lord,
will you? If you will, you can make me
whole. You can make me clean. I know you can. You can do anything. You can do absolutely everything.
Will you? Will you? And He's never turned
one down yet. Not one. You can't find it in
the Scripture. Can you? Someone came in needing help.
in need, and God said, no, you won't find it. I was a blind
beggar like Bartimaeus, and out of need, I cried all the morning.
Oh, they told me to shut up. Just shut up. I cried all the
morning. Lord, have mercy on me. Jesus, our son of David, have
mercy on me. I'm the one that needs it. I'm
the one that needs it. I had an issue of blood. I'm
different than the woman's, yes, but I spent all I had trying
to make it better. No earthly doctor could do me
any good. But God showed me if I could
just touch the hem of His garment, I could be made whole. And God
enabled me. He gave me life and I crawled.
The hem of the garment, I always, you know, Mom, I need you to
hem these pants. The feet of Christ is the highest
place there is. Come at His feet. Bow Him and
beg Him for mercy. You'll get it every time. You'll
get it every time. We, by God's grace, have seen
tonight that it's God who has done everything for us. I mean
everything. We haven't even scratched the
surface. You hear this all the time. This
faithful pastor and these men that preach for you. And what
a great token of God's grace that we're just voices crying
in the wilderness, Lord, save Your people. This is the condemnation. Light's
come into the world. Men love darkness. And it says
they love darkness rather than light. Rather than. And it's because their deeds
are evil, our Lord said. We're all evil by nature. So,
have you come to Christ? Have I come to Christ? I ask
myself that question often. Have I come to Christ? Am I trusting
in Him? Am I really bowing? That's the
only place rest can be found. The Lord worked six days creating
the heaven and the earth. And on the seventh day, he rested.
He didn't rest because he's tired. He rested because his work was
finished. When can you rest when your work's finished? Well, rest. Because it's finished. It really
is. Oh, may God enable us to see
that Christ has the words to eternal life. Where else would
we go, Lord? You have the words to eternal
life. No place else for us to go. Christ is the Word of eternal
life. Well, back to our text, and I'll
finish up. John 4, verse 17 again. Herein is our love made perfect, complete,
entire, mature, That's what that word means. That we may have
boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. Now that is the most amazing... I've never heard any better news
than that. You try to wrap your head around that and you just
can't. You see, God's ways are past finding out, aren't they?
We don't need a God we can understand. We just need God. Lord Jesus, though Satan in this
world desired to sift me as wheat, boy, I get sifted sometimes. But my prayer is, Lord, I pray
that my faith fail me not. My only hope is that Christ has
prayed for me that my faith fail me not. Our love is made perfect
in Jesus Christ. That's why we can have boldness
in the day of judgment. I can stand before God in the
day of judgment the wretch that I am by nature. And when God
looks at me, He sees me just as He sees His Son. So as He
is, so are we. And we are even right now in
this world. Christ gave us back everything
we lost and more. See, in Adam, we lost the way
and the truth and the life. And Christ is the way and the
truth and the life. Our warfare is accomplished.
The work is finished. We can sit down and rest. Just
rest. Oh, Lord, help me to rest. We
love Him because He first loved us. I pray that God might be
pleased to make it so for His glory, for our good, and for
Christ's sake. And that's what God does. It's
for His glory. It's for His people's good. And
it's for the sake of our Lord and Savior. Well, I appreciate
your attention. Thank you. And looking forward
to being with you again tomorrow. Thank you, Pastor, appreciate it. I thought as David was preaching,
I hope we're never guilty of I know people do this focus on
the, I don't know what you call it, the technical aspects of
what had to be done to accomplish redemption. That we never forget,
the work of redemption began, it was accomplished, God's people
are kept, and they'll all be glorified for this reason. God
sovereignly loved a people. That God would love me. If you
take that out of the gospel, you take that what grips the
heart and what draws us to Christ, isn't it? David, that was just
fantastic. Thank you. If you like that,
come back tomorrow at 10. David will preach the same message
from a different text. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we begin our service
asking for a blessing from your storehouses of grace. And Father,
we thank you. You've been pleased to grant
our request. Oh, how we thank you for the
love of our Lord Jesus Christ that moved him to sacrifice himself,
that moves him to continue to draw his people to himself by
the preaching of the gospel. It moves him to keep his sheep,
even though we're so undeserving. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray you bless your words. It's been preached to our hearts
Pray you'd give us a night of rest and bring us back refreshed
tomorrow to one more time, being able by your grace to hear the
gospel of your dear son. Father, it's in his name, for
his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Chris, come
lead us in a closing hymn.