A portion of our scheduled reading
for this past Thursday was John chapter 17, our Lord's great
high priestly prayer for us. In this prayer, our Savior expresses
his desire for his people, desire which cannot be denied, that
which the Son of God desires the Son of God has. that which
he seeks for us as our mediator, we shall have because he is our
mediator. In this passage, the Lord Jesus
praised that the Father would give him the glory he had with
him before the world was. And he praised that the Lord
God would be pleased to keep his people whom he had given
him, that he would sanctify his people, and that he would give
him His reward as our mediator and our substitute. And then
we got to the last verses, verses 23, 24, 25, and 26, where our
Savior is seeking His reward. And the first thing He mentions
as His reward in verse 23 is this, I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect
in one that the world may know that thou hast loved them as
thou hast loved me. After Shelby read this chapter
to me we chatted about it a good while and I just knew I had to
come to these last verses for my messages today. My subject
this morning is thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. What an astounding
statement. The Son of God says that thou
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. This same writer, the
one who wrote John's Gospel, wrote the epistles of 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd John. Revelation. In 1 John chapter
4 verse 17 he makes this statement, Perfect love casteth out all
fear. There is no fear in love, for
perfect love casteth out all fear. What is he talking about? Perfect love casteth out all
fear. He is not suggesting somehow
that if we love God perfectly, we won't have any fear. That's
not even a possibility. He's talking about the knowledge
of God's perfect love for us. If a man or woman is convinced
of God's perfect love for him, He walks without fear in this
world. Perfect love casteth out all
fear. Let me see if I can illustrate
that in a way that you can all get hold of it. When Shelby and
I were dating, I was sort of convinced that she loved me.
But if I saw another fellow looking at her the wrong way, he was
likely to get an expression of my anger. And she was likely
to get it because I wasn't convinced of her complete love for me. These days, we still, she doesn't
show her age like I do, but we go places and fellas still don't
know we're together, they'll flirt with her and they'll start
talking and so forth. I just stand back and kind of
smile. Doesn't bother me a bit in the world. I feel kind of
like Barney Fife on Andy Griffith's show with Thelma Lou. I've got
her in my hip pocket right where I want her. I'm just convinced
she loves me. So fellas can just make all the
approaches they want to. Doesn't bother me a bit in the
world. I'm convinced of it. So I have no fear of this relationship
because I'm convinced of her love for me. Not because I'm
convinced of my love for her. but convinced of her love for
me. So nobody's going to get her
and take her away from me because she loves me. Will you hear me? I'm convinced of God's love for
me. I'm convinced of God's love for
me. He's revealed himself to me in
his darling son. And as I walk convinced of God's
love for me, I walk through this world without fear. Without fear because of myself,
without fear because of other men, without fear because of
my sin, without fear because of what I do or don't do, without
fear because of God's perfect love for me. Now let's look at
this Wondrous passage of scripture together verse 23 tonight. I'll come back to verse 24 the
Lord willing I In them The Lord Jesus is in us in a distinct
unique way he's in us savingly now obviously as the omnipresent
God Christ is in all the world as the creator of all men and
He is in all men in the sense that He gives all men light,
light of conscience by which all are found guilty and condemned
before Him. As the incarnate God, there was
a time when Christ stepped into humanity. He was in the world
in our flesh. And John in chapter 1 deals with
this in considerable length. He says, the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. God came into humanity and came
into the world and tabernacled among us. But when he says here,
I in them, our Lord is telling us that he is in every believing
sinner in a special, gracious way. I am in them. In regeneration, in the new birth,
Christ comes into a person's life. Christ dwells in us. We're made partakers of the divine
nature. We have Christ Jesus formed in
us. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
so that he is in every heaven-born soul, dwelling in us by his spirit
as the king in his kingdom, as the head in his members, as the
master in his household. What wondrous condescending grace. Christ is in us. Therefore, because
he who is holiness dwells in us, we have holiness within. Holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. Because he who is light dwells
in us, we have light within us. We're children of light and we
shall never walk in darkness. Because He who is life dwells
in us, we have Him dwelling in us as life, life eternal given
to us by God. Because Christ dwells in us in
grace now, we shall dwell with Him forever in glory. I in them
and thou in me, our Savior says. God the Father Indeed, the triune
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are in Christ Jesus, the God-Man,
our Mediator. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. So that all that God is, is in
this man who is the God-Man, our Savior. all the incomprehensible
being of the triune God is in him bodily. And that's how we
know God. He is the word by whom God reveals
himself and expresses himself to us. So that we know God only
as we know Christ. We know God only in Christ. And all of God we shall ever
know is in Christ Jesus the Lord. I in them and thou in me, now
watch this, that they may be made perfect in one. That they may be made perfect
in one. All the fullness of God is in
Christ and of Christ in his people. It is designed for this purpose
that we should be made perfect in one. perfect as one body,
perfect in one person, that is in Christ Jesus. We are made
perfect by our Savior's obedience unto death and complete free
justification so that all our sins have been put away and we
have been made the very righteousness of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. As He was made sin for us, every
believer is made the righteousness of God in Him. Not only that,
but in regeneration, we are perfect in Him in sanctification. He
has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Not perfect in
ourselves. Not perfect in ourselves. Not
even getting better in ourselves. Our perfection, our holiness,
our sanctification is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he has come in
us in sanctification, giving us his own nature so that we
stand before God in Christ Jesus, one with Christ, both in justification
and in sanctification, perfect in him. We are made holy. That holiness, I repeat, without
which no man shall see the Lord. And soon, because Christ is both
in the Father and in us, because He is in glory and we are in
glory with Him, because He's within the veil and because His
blood speaks for us there, we shall soon drop this robe of
flesh and be made perfect in glory. These bodies, these old
Adamic natures we carry about with us. This old man we must
carry till we die is the only thing hindering our enjoyment
of that perfection that's ours now. In glory we shall stand
before God without even the trace of sin. That's more than I can imagine.
Without even the trace of sin. Now read on. I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one." Watch this. Here's the purpose of all this.
Here's the purpose of all this. He's saying, Father, give me
my reward. Give me what I've earned from
you. Give me that which is the reward of my obedience. That
the world may know that thou hast sent me. That the world may stand convinced
that the world may be absolutely convinced that thou hast sent
me. Some years ago we used to sing,
everybody ought to know, everybody ought to know, everybody ought
to know who Jesus is. And when God gets done, everybody's
going to know He is. Everybody's going to confess
that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the Father. Now,
watch this. 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 that the world may know that everybody,
everybody, heaven, earth, and hell, every every angel, every
demon, every man, Satan himself, that the world may know that
thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me." Imagine that. What an astounding statement.
Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. That's something
I couldn't even imagine. yet alone declare, if it weren't
written right here in this book, if it weren't given to us right
here from the lips of God the Son himself. Thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. God the Father loved Christ as
his own Son and loved him as our mediator from everlasting.
He loved him when he assumed our humanity and walked on this
earth as our representative. He loved him in all that he did
while he walked on this earth. And oh, how God loved his son,
even when, especially when, he was made sin for us. when He,
through justice, suffered death, being slaughtered by the righteous
judgment of God and abandoned by Him, even then, as He's pouring
out all His wrath upon His Son, which His Son fully deserved,
even then He loved Him. And so He says, Thou hast loved
them as Thou hast loved Me. The instances of the Father's
love The demonstrations of that love to the Son are marvelous
to behold. Because the Father loves the
Son, not as His Son, but as the God-Man, our Mediator. Because
the Father loves the Son, not in His essential Godhood, but
as the God-Man, our surety and our substitute. Therefore, He
has put all things into His hands from everlasting. trusting all
things to the Son. You remember how the Apostle
says, in whom ye also trusted after that ye believed? Before
ever we trusted him, God trusted his Son with all his people,
all his will, all his purpose, and all his glory. He says, you
go now and glorify me. You go now and save my people. You go now and perform my will. You go now and accomplish all
my purpose. He made him to be head over all
things and put all things under his feet and determined that
in all things he should have the preeminence. The Father's
love for the Son is an eternal, immutable, indestructible love
of complacency and delight. I suggest you write that down.
The Father's love for the Son is an eternal, immutable, indestructible
love of complacency and delight. I suggest you write that down
for this reason. This is what it means. The Father's
love for you, His people, the Father's love for me, His chosen
child, is an eternal, immutable, indestructible love of complacency
and delight. Oh, God, seal that fact to my
heart and to the hearts of your people this hour. God's love
for his own is an eternal, indestructible, immutable love of complacency
and delight. Our Lord Jesus here declares
that the Lord God our Father loves His people in exactly the
same way as He loves Him. God loves us in His Son for the
sake of His Son as He loves His Son. John Gill made this observation,
if I can remember it correctly. He says, when he says, thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me, he's saying there is a similarity
of love, a similarity of cause, and a similarity of effect. He
loves us for the same reason as he loves his son. He loves
us as he loves his son. And the results of the love are
the same. Behold what manner of love The
Father hath bestowed upon us. Does He indeed love us as He
loves His own darling Son? Did He choose Christ as our Mediator? So He chose us. Did the Father
make a covenant with His Son before the world began? So He
made a covenant with us. Did the Father raise His Son
from the dead, making Him free from all sin? So He raised us
up in His Son and made us free from sin. Did the Father supply
the Son with all things in daily providence while He walked on
this earth? So He supplies us. Did the Father send His angels
and send His Spirit to help His Son and minister to His Son when
He was tempted? So He sends His angels and sends
His Spirit to help us. Does the Father perform all things
for the Son? So He performs all things for
us. Does the Father love the Son from everlasting? So He loves
us. Does the Father accept the Son
at all times from everlasting? So He accepts us. Does the Father
love the Son with utmost pleasure, satisfaction, and delight? So
He loves us with utmost pleasure, satisfaction, and delight. So
that the hymn writer expressed it well. So very near to God,
nearer I cannot be, for in the person of His Son I am as near
as He. Dear, so very dear to God, dearer
I cannot be, for in the person of His Son I am as dear as He. Let my heart be forever humbled,
ravished, inspired, and filled with praise for my God, for His
great love, toward me in Christ Jesus and may God do that for
you. What a great glorious gospel
truth we have here. So honoring to God. The love
I want to talk to you about, God's love for us is love just
like we would expect from God. So comforting to us. What can
be more comforting than the realization of God's love for us. Thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. It's our Savior's desire. It is His purpose that the whole
world shall know that God loves us as He loves His Son, and so
it shall be. This little word, as, let me
tell you exactly what it means. Thou hast loved them just as
thou hast loved me. Thou hast loved them even as
thou hast loved me. Thou hast loved them in proportion
as thou hast loved me. Thou hast loved them to the same
degree as thou hast loved me. Now let me follow Dr. Gill's outline and give you my
message here. First, there is a similarity
of cause between God's love for Christ and his love for us. Thou hast loved them as thou
hast loved me. The Lord God loves me. Bobby, he loves you for the very
same reason he loves his son. Well, what's that? He loves his
son as his son But that's not what he's talking about. That's
not what he's talking about. He loves his son because his
son is one with him, because his son is him. They are one,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and a mutual complacency in the
eternal Godhead. But here he's speaking about
a cause. Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Turn back
to chapter 10. I'll show you the cause. John
chapter 10. The Lord God loves us. as He loves His Son as our Mediator. Now be sure you get this. It'll
help you. God the Father loves us as He loves Christ our Mediator
for the same reason, based upon His Son's perfect obedience unto
the Father. Look here in John 10, verse 14.
I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep. known of mine. Verse 15, As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Now watch verse 17. Watch this,
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life
that I might take it again. Therefore doth the Father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. Now,
this is what those words mean. In your mind's eye, look yonder,
seated in heaven, at that man, Jesus Christ the Lord, our Mediator,
and understand that the Father's love for him as a man is a love
he fully deserves. It's a love he fully deserves.
He earned it. He merited it. He won it by his
obedience. He won it by his obedience. Not the love that's his because
of a relationship he has with the father. But love that's his
because of his merit and his worth as our mediator. So is the love of God for his
elect. Yes, he says, I will love them
freely. And he loves us simply because
he would love us. But the love he has for us, he
has for us in Christ because of Christ for the same reason
as he loves Christ. He loves us because of His Son's
obedience as our substitute. Second, this word as suggests
a similarity of love. The Lord God loves His people
in the same way as He loves His Son. Again, let me stress the
fact that our Savior is comparing His love, the Father's love for
Him as a mediator to His love for us as those for whom He is
the mediator. Christ as our mediator is the
first object of God's love. He loved Christ as the head of
his mystical body, the church, and us as members. He loved Christ
for his own sake and loves us for Christ's sake. God the Father
loved Christ the God-man as the express image of his person,
the exact likeness of his being. So He loves His people who are
in Him and those who shall be renewed by His grace at the image
of Him. He loves Christ as His only begotten
Son and loves us as His adopted sons. Because the Savior says,
Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me, we are assured
of these two things. The Father loves us freely. He
chose the Son to be our mediator because He would. He loved the
Son as our mediator because He would. And He loves us just because
He would. Not because of something we did
to attract His love. Not because of a decision we
made. Not because of a change we made in our life. Not because
of something He gets from us, but freely. And yet the Father
loves us deservedly because of the Son's obedience. And He loves
us tenderly and affectionately. As the father's love for his
son is a tender, indescribably affectionate love, so is his
love for us. Turn to two texts in the Old
Testament, Isaiah chapter 62, Isaiah 62. Theologians in their
desire to be precise and orthodox, often
state things in such a way as almost would make God to be an
abstract imagination, without passions, without parts, and
those things are true, God's spirit, I understand that. But
God expresses himself in such a way as to make us understand
his tenderness toward us. He loves us with tenderness,
with affection. Listen to Isaiah 62 verse 5. As a young man marrieth a virgin,
so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I don't think I will ever forget
the day 46 years ago. We'll be in June. I was standing
right here and they played that wedding march and I guess there
were five or six hundred people in the church building and opened
that door and I turned around and looked and there she stood
coming down the aisle and she got up right beside me and the
pastor told us to join hands and we took our vows and oh what
joy. What joy. She's mine. God says
that's how He rejoices over me. Can you imagine that? God says
that's how He rejoices over you. Tenderness, affection, ravished
with love. Turn to Zechariah chapter 2,
Zechariah 2, verse 8. I want you to get there. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto
all nations which spoiled you. For he that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye. He that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye. Oh, is this how God loves me?
So that one who touches me, it's as if he stuck his finger in
God's eye. That's how he loves me, with
tenderness and affection. And this love for God, a love
of God for his elect, I stress again, is an immutable love. I'll say more about this, Lord
willing, tonight. For now, let me simply remind
you that there's no possibility of change. in our God. There is no possibility of change
in our God. That means, Rex, God's love for
you never varies. And you and I can't begin to
grasp that. We can't begin. Our love for
our wives varies. Our love for our children varies. Our love varies with our own
weaknesses or strengths. Our love varies with our own
goodness or evil. Our love for others varies according
to their own good or evil. Not God's love. God's love never
changes. David, there's not one thing
you can do to make God love you anymore. And not one thing you
can do to cause Him to love you any less. If that don't float your boat,
I don't know what will. God's love doesn't vary. I am the Lord. I change not, He declares. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. All right, here's the third thing.
This is the last thing. Thou hast loved them as thou
hast loved me. That means there is a similarity
of effects or results. The effects and fruits of love,
the consequences of God's love to the Lord Jesus and his love
to his elect are the same. People talk about God's love loving all men and loving folks
universally and all that stuff. Let me tell you something. Love that has no effect and bears
no fruit is just lip love. And lip love is useless love.
Love that is never known by the one who is loved is a frustrated
passion and that destroys one's own peace and happiness. A love
that sees no benefit and blessing upon its object is only misery
and woe. It's a tormenting love. But that's
not God's love. Oh, no. A thousand times, no.
God's love toward us, like His love toward His Son, our Mediator,
is an effectual, fruitful, beneficial love. Let me show you four or
five things. First, turn to John chapter 15. John 15. Love involves the revelation
of secrets. Love involves the revelation
of secrets. Those who are intimate. are those to whom you make known
secret things about yourself. You don't dare do that with common
folks. No, you don't dare do that with
common folks. But those who are intimates,
they are the ones who learn secrets about you. All things are open,
common knowledge between two people who love one another.
As all things are manifest and made known to the Son as our
mediator by the Father, so all things are made manifest and
made known to God's elect by the Son. This is what it says. Henceforth I call you, John 15,
15, I call you not servants, for a servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I call you friends. for all things that
I have heard of my Father I have made known to you. All the will
of God, all the purpose of God, all the intent of God, The Lord
Jesus had made known to Him as our Mediator to fulfill for us. So we see Him standing in Revelation
10 with one foot on the earth and one on the sea fulfilling
the purpose of God. And He has made known to us in
His Word by the Gospel all that the Father made known to Him.
All His purpose, all His will, all His desire, all his ambition. Go back and read the 17th chapter
of John again and read it carefully and listen to the Savior pray.
As he makes known to us all the will that he has for us. All the will of God for us. Father, I ask not that you take
them out of the world, not yet, not yet, but that you keep them
from the evil. Keep them from the evil one. Keep them from Satan, yes, yes.
But keep them from the evil. God, preserve my holy, righteous
people in the sinful, godless, reprobate world in which they
live. Keep them from the evil. Let
no evil happen to God's elect. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Keep them from the evil. Father,
I will, I will, that you sanctify them, set them apart, hold them
as your own, your peculiar people, through your truth, your word
is truth. And then, Father, then when you've
finished with them in this world, and you fulfilled all your purpose
in them in this world, I will that they also whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. I intend to see the doctor in
the morning and Dr. Hendricks is a friend of mine
and I intend on telling him this because I know he takes personal
interest in me. When you have done all you can
do, if you outlive me, and I die in your hands, don't you feel
the least bit bad? Don't you feel the least bit
bad? Because I will die according to my Savior's prayer for me.
I will. That Don Fortner be with me where
I am. That he may behold my glory. Oh, what a grand prayer. And
these things I ask, my father, that the world may know that
you've sent me, and that the world may know that you love
my people as you love me. God's love is a bounteous love,
so that the effect of it is this. He's given all things to the
Son. He put all things in the hands
of His Son. Thou hast given Him all things. Thou hast put all things under
His feet. Now listen, listen. The Lord
Jesus has given us all things. Put all things under our feet. Makes all things to benefit us,
His people. Given us all spiritual blessings. All grace and all mercy, and
he gives us all things to enjoy, for we are his and he is God's. Here's a third result of that
love. As the Lord Jesus was upheld and strengthened, protected throughout
the days of his obedience to do his Father's will, so the
Lord God upholds, strengthens, and protects us, his people.
the objects of his love throughout our days of obedience in this
world to do his will. My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient for thee. How he's proved it over and over
again. How he's proved it. how we ought
to believe it. Here's the fourth result of our
Savior's love. Everything that Christ did for
God was accepted and well-pleasing to God because of His love for
Him. Everything the Savior did for
Jehovah was accepted and well-pleasing, a sweet, sweet-smelling savor
to God because of His love for Him. And everything we do throughout the days of our service
here is accepted of God. Turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter
9. Our Heavenly Father accepts our
paltry, sinful, failing efforts at honoring Him as if they were
perfect. Our Lord Jesus took the sacrifice
that Mary made when she anointed His feet with an alabaster box
of ointment and washed them with her tears and wiped them with
the hairs of her head and kissed His feet. He said, She hath wrought
a good work on me. And I know people will hear this,
misunderstand it, and I can't help that. I'm not going to rob
you of this treasure because somebody
will abuse it, misuse it. The Lord God, our Savior, accepts the totality of our lives
of devotion to Him. And Mark, when we get done, this
is what I'm going to say about you. Mark Henson has wrought
a good work on me. In the totality of our lives, you're not your own. You're bought
with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirits,
which are God's. I beseech you, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies. What's he talking
about? The totality of your lives. A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God. That's just your reasonable service.
Well, will he accept it? Will he? We offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God. What does the book say? By Christ
Jesus. He hears our prayers for Christ's
sake. He answers our request for Christ's
sake. We meet in His name and He meets
with us for Christ's sake. Look here in Ecclesiastes chapter
9, verse 9, verse 7. Go thy way, eat thy bread with
joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth
thy works. What? What? Well, God accepts our sacrifices. He accepts our labors. He accepts
our services. He accepts eating your bread
and drinking your wine. That means, Bobby, He accepts
your day-by-day life for Him. He accepts your day-by-day life
for Him. But you don't. Let thy garments
be always white. Let your garments be always priestly
garments. And let thy head lack no ointment. You have an unction from the
Holy One. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all
the days of the life of thy vanity. All the days of this meaningless
existence on earth, live joyfully with your wife. which he hath
given thee under the sun all the days of thy vanity. Now watch
this. For this is thy portion in this life and in thy labor
which thou takest under the sun. I beg of God that I might honor him You, my
brothers and sisters, I know you beg of God the same thing.
I want to honor you. I want to honor you. And I recognize that in these
49 years walking in grace, Merle, I've never done anything honoring
to God. The best I've ever done, shot
full of sin. The best ambition, the best desire,
the noblest hope, just shot full of sin, filthy, filthy. Because I touched it. But the Lord God accepts to totality
of it all for Christ's sake. He accepts us in the totality
of our lives for Christ's sake. And when he's finished, here's
one other effect of that love. As the Lord Jesus was highly
honored and exalted by God the Father, as the object of his
love. So the Lord God, our Savior,
will highly honor and exalt us as the objects of his love. Hear
what he says. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am
set down with my Father in his throne. Hear the Son of God then, my
brother, my sister. Hear Him and rejoice all the
days of your vanity in this world. Thou hast loved them as thou
hast loved me. What a pillow on which to rest
my head. What a comfort for our poor aching
hearts. What a glorious theme for day
by day meditation. What a cause for adoration, praise,
and worship. What a motive for utter consecration
to Him. What a motive for utter consecration
to Him. Merle, if He has so loved us,
how we ought to love Him. As He has been so faithful to
us, how we ought to be faithful to Him. What would you give to know the
enjoyment and assurance of such love from God? Perhaps you're
thinking, Pastor, I'd give anything. I'd do anything. Let me ask you
another question. Would you be willing to give
nothing? Would you be willing to do nothing? You see, the enjoyment of this
love comes to sinners freely, freely, by faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Believe on the Son of God and
go home today rejoicing to hear the Son of God say in your soul God in all his glorious being loves you exactly like he loves me Amen. Let's stand together and
pray.