Open Ephesians 3, if you want
to turn there with me for my text, Ephesians chapter 3. I've got to leave right after
I preach. I don't want to do that, but
I can't stay awake to get back home if I don't. As I've gotten
older, I can't do a lot of things I used to do. I hate to leave
because one of my favorite preachers is preaching after I do, Brother
Todd. And I not only enjoy Todd's preaching,
I enjoy him and Lynn very much. We have so many discussions and
I tell people all the time, if they want advice, if you want
the truth, don't call Todd. If you don't want the truth,
don't call Todd. That's what I mean, if you don't want the
truth. There was a fellow in his congregation
who called me one time and said, I need to make a decision and
I want to know what you thought about it. I said, well, what
did Todd say? He said, I haven't asked him
yet. He said, when he tells me, I've got to do it. When we used to have our conferences
up home, Todd and Don and Bill used to preach our conferences.
And they'd come up early, Don and Donnie and Todd would. And
we'd sit around and talk about what they were going to preach.
And one time, Todd was going to preach on Acts 10, the conversion
of Cornelius. And me and Donnie just couldn't
agree with him for nothing. We just said, well, I can't see
it that way. And we went with expectations, me and Donnie did,
to see what Todd was going to say about that. And he preached
on Acts chapter 10, the conversion of Cornelius. And we got back
home in the living room and sat down and Todd looked at me and
Donnie and said, well, did I convince you fellas? And I don't know
about Donnie, but I had to reevaluate what I thought about the conversion.
But one time, me and him were down at Donnie Bell's and he
was going to preach that day and I was going to preach the
next morning. He asked me what I was preaching on. I said, well,
I'm going to preach on infants. What happens to infants when
they die? And he said, man, I wouldn't preach that for nothing. Remember
that? Wouldn't preach that for nothing.
And he gave me two or three reasons why. I said, well, I'm going
to give it a stab. And Todd went back home Got the
message later and he called me and said, man, that was good.
I'm glad you preached that. So I've enjoyed Todd and Ivers
very much. Very much. Enjoyed Don Fortner. I often think about what Bill
Carver said about you that time. You can tell. Bill Carver was praying one time
and said, Lord, help us to love one another. Lord, help me to
love Don Fortner. You know it. He said, Lord, you know it's
hard to love Don sometimes. I found that to be so. All right, all right, you laugh,
you laugh. In Ephesians chapter 3, I want
to read, begin in verse 13. This is Paul's prayer for this
church. I'm sure it would be His prayer
for us if He were here. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
13. Wherefore, I desire that you
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
the length, the depth, and the height, and to know the love
of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to
do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the
church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. My subject tonight is found
here in verse 19, the love of Christ. Paul mentions two distinguishing
characteristics here of a child of God. All the children of God
have these two things that sets them apart from the lost world.
He mentions one here in verse 16. That He would strengthen
you with might by His Spirit in the inner man. What's the difference between
the lost man and the saved man? The lost man is but one man.
He's flesh. Frank read it to us. When you
were in the flesh, that's all a lost man is. He's just one
man. Flesh. That's all he'll ever be if the
Lord don't make him two men, give him a new man. But the Lord's
children have this distinction. They've been made anew in the
Lord Jesus Christ. A new creature in Christ. They're
born of God. Born of the incorruptible seed. There's a man there, an inner
man that never was before. He's incorruptible. Do I understand
that? No, I don't understand that.
But it's so, isn't it? After the inner man. Strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. And then the other distinction,
the other characteristics of the children of God, they know
the love of Christ. Every child of God knows the
love of Christ. He may know little about it,
but he knows the love of Christ. He's been taught that the Spirit
of God has shed abroad the love of God in his heart. Now I know
the world talks a lot today about Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves us all. And I would
have to agree with John Gill. Jesus Christ has the capacity
and did love his fellow man. God loves his creatures to some
degree, in some sense, as their creator. He provides for them,
the sun coming up on them, sending rain. He does them good. I have
a dear sick neighbor who comes down to my house, and he said,
the Lord is good to me. He probably don't believe that,
but you know God's been good to everybody. This side of hell. Is that not so? He has. But this love here that Paul
speaks about in verse 19, the love of Christ, this is a particular
love. This is a distinguishing love. This is the love of Jesus Christ
for His own and only His people. Nobody else but His own elect
people. To know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge. Well, how can we know the love
of Christ? To know the love of Christ. Well,
first of all, I think we have to do this. We have to establish
the doctrine of the love of Christ. We need a foundation for what
we know, don't we? We got a foundation for our faith. We need a foundation for our
knowledge. Where do we get what we get?
I know this and I know that. Where did you get it? From the
Bible. From the Word of God. So first of all, let's go to
the Scriptures and establish what the love of Jesus Christ
is. Before we know the love of Christ,
we need to do that, don't we? As a doctrine of the Scriptures. Is it a doctrine of God's Word?
Has the Holy Spirit revealed the love of Christ in the Scripture?
If He has, what is it? What's it like? Can we know it
from the Word of God? Let's study on that just for
a few minutes together. First of all, the love of Christ
as the doctrine of the Scripture. We're told there is such a thing
as the love of Christ in the Scriptures. And it has no beginning. The love of Christ for His people
has no beginning. It was in the heart of Jesus
Christ from all eternity. Now how do we know that? Jeremiah
chapter 31 verse 3. I have loved Thee. with an everlasting love. He loves His own now, doesn't
He? If you go back a thousand years from now, that verse doesn't
change. He loves His own then. But if
you go back to when this verse was first written by the prophet,
when the Holy Spirit spake it to him and He wrote it down and
the ink was still wet, it's true then. He loves His own with an
everlasting love. But what if you go back before
the verse was pinned down? Is it true then? It didn't make
it so because He wrote it down. He wrote it down that we may
know that it was so. If we go back before the foundation
of the world, before time, Before those stars shined in this universe. Before there was a sun to light
the day or the moon to light the night. Before the sons of
God sang together. Before those holy cherubs ever
opened their eyes to see the face of their Creator. Go back
before then. Go back when the eternal triune
God dwelt alone. He was full. He was free. He was happy. And you know something? Christ loved His people then. Spurgeon said you go back to
the foundation of the world, and you get on the wings of faith,
and you soar back into eternity as far as you can. And when you've
reached the beginning, if there is such a thing, you'll find
this, Christ loved His people. I don't know if you could ever
find a beginning back there. But if you did, Jesus Christ
was before that. Jesus Christ is God. And He loved
His people then. He has no beginning. So His love
for His people has no beginning. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Now that's the doctrine of the
Scripture. That's the doctrine of the Scripture. It has no rise,
does it? It has no rise. No beginning
to it. No beginning. The second doctrine of the love
of Christ is this. It has no end. It's without end. No rise or no fall. In John chapter
13 and verse 1, having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them until the end. The end of His ministry? Well,
yes. The end of their lives? Yes. The end of the world? Yes. When the earth melts with
firm and heat, when every man has been assigned their long
home in eternity, if you could find the end of eternity that's
to come, He loves them beyond that. I don't think He'll ever
let eternity end because He loves His people for all eternity.
Eternity dwells in Christ, doesn't it? If you could find the end
of Him, you'll find the end of His love. But brothers and sisters,
He has no beginning of days nor end of life. He's the eternal
God. From everlasting to everlasting,
He's God. And Christ is God. So His love
has no beginning and it has no end. That's the doctrine of the
Scripture. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's another
doctrine of the Scripture concerning the love of Christ for His people. It's unconditional. The love
of Jesus Christ is unconditional. You know there's no creature
love that is unconditional. You don't love anybody unconditionally,
do you? You see some mother sometime
with her little infant in her lap and she says, oh, I love
you unconditionally. Well, just wait a few years and
you'll see about that. when she runs him out of the
house and urges him to come back in. The Lord Jesus said, Would
a mother forsake her suckling child? She may. Oh Lord, not
only she may, they do. Haven't they forsaken them in
our day? See, here's the difference in our love and His. Our love
is human love. It has to have an object to attract
it. And as long as that object is
attractive to my heart, I'll love it. But let the object become
unattractive, and I'll cease to love it. Even the angels,
the elect angels, they love the cause. When they opened their
eyes and looked on the face of their Creator, they loved Him
because He's my Creator. He's glorious and holy. But even
they can't love unconditionally. But Christ's love is uncaused. Listen to what he said in Hosea
14.4, I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely. He never loves anybody because
of what he sees in that person. That word freely means without
obligation. without constraint, without obstruction,
without reserve, without hindrance. The cause of Christ's love is
found solely in Himself. Now isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful when you get a good look at yourself, ain't it? And
as you see more of the depths of what's in you, aren't you
glad that His love, the sole cause of it, is found in Himself? He loves because He loves. And that's as far back and as
deep as you can go. Fourthly, there's a doctrine
in the Scriptures of the love of Christ, and I think this naturally
follows, that knows no change. It knows no change. If it's unconditional,
then it will know no change. I change not because I'm the
Lord. And what follows, therefore,
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Christ loved His people before
they had a being. He loved them when they had their
being in Adam. Upright and holy and good. He loved them when they fell
in Adam. It never changed. When they fell out of love with
Him. When they became enemies of God
in their mind by wicked works. When they took up with God's
enemy, Satan. When they lay dead in their trespasses
and sin. Did His love change for them
then? It knows no change. even when you were dead in sins,
for His great love wherewith He loved us." Even when we were
dead in sins, His love for His people never changed then. It
cannot change, brothers and sisters. It knows no change. Oh, the love
of Christ. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The love of Christ for His own don't change when they struggle
with their sins. When they're full of doubts and
fears about it all, His love for them never changes. He may
change the way He deals with them. He may lay His rod on their
back. He may chasten them sore. He
may hide His face. But I tell you this, His love
for them will never change. It cannot know any change. Doesn't that bless you in your
deep trials? I tell you, you'll notice this sometime. The chastening
hand is heavy upon you, and it's been heavy for a while, and it's
created some doubts, and you go to Him in prayer, and you
refuse to call Him Father, you'll notice the check upon your conscience.
He's your Father, even though when He lays you low and hides
His face, and He'll have you to address Him as Father, because
He don't change. God in Christ never changes towards
His people. The love of Christ, which Christ
does not. There's a doctrine in the Scripture,
the love of Christ is without limit. It's without limits. Paul mentions something about
that here, doesn't he? To fathom the what? The depths,
the heights, the width, and the length. The depths of Christ's
love. How could we possibly fathom
the depths of the love of Christ? To fathom the depths of the love
of Christ, we'd have to know how high He was before He came
to this earth. If we want to know how far he
stooped, look how high he was before he came. The Bible says
not only that he was in heaven, but that he was above the heaven.
He had to humble himself to behold the things that's in heaven.
How low then did he stoop to be conceived in the womb of a
sinful woman. How low did He stoop, brothers
and sisters, to take our flesh to Himself with all of its natural
infirmities, leave His riches in heaven, and become poor for
your sake? Have no place to lay His head?
Not only that, but to have His enemies persecuted, to become
a man of sorrows, and have His friends to deny Him and forsake
Him. Oh, but I tell you, I tell you
that. This is nothing to the stoop He was getting ready to
make. What about on Calvary Street? You and I want to know the stoop.
You want to know the depths of Christ's love? Then look at the
cross. When our sins met upon Him with
the awful judgment of God. when He said, I sink in deep
mire where there is no standing. All thy waves and thy billows
have gone over Me. And there He was at the bottom,
a depth that neither you nor I nor angels could conceive. And there He stayed in that depth
till every sin was punished to the full extent of the law and
just as itself swore that it was satisfied and would never
smite again the Lord's people. And it was only then that he
came up out of those depths. Oh, the depths of the love of
Christ. It's a stupid love, isn't it? It's a stupid love. But consider the heights. What
about the heights of His love? Who can comprehend the heights
of the love of Jesus Christ? Remember Pharaoh's butler? He
got back up into the palace and he forgot Joseph, didn't he?
He forgot Joseph. But Christ is back in His palace.
I mean, He's exalted high. We've heard about it these past
two or three days, haven't we? How high is He? He's exalted
above all principalities and powers. above all might and all
thrones and every name, everything and everybody is subject to Him. My Son sat at My right hand and
rule over everything and rule over everybody until I make Your
enemies Your footstool. This is the Lord of glory, exalted
high, and yet on His sovereign throne, He loves His people." Boy, it's good to be loved. Come
at a meeting like this and you see old friends and they'll hug
your neck and they'll say, oh Bruce, I love you. I miss seeing
you. I'm amazed by that. I'm amazed
I've got such friends that I've got. But you're my equal. Can
you imagine what it is to be loved of the Lord of glory? The
King of kings upon the throne. There's no kings here that we
knew. And if we knew them, we couldn't approach them. But here
is the Son of God, exalted above all. And He loves His people. Can you imagine it? And yet,
that's what the Word of God tells us. Oh, the love of Christ that
passeth knowledge. And what about the length of
the depth? Can we comprehend the depth? of the width and the
length of His love? The Bible says love covers a
multitude of sins. Can you remember the first time
you consciously sinned? I can't. I unconsciously sinned
as soon as I got out of my mother's womb. Speaking lies. Cried and
cried and cried until my mother picked me up. Then I'd quit. Was I hurting? Was I dying? No.
But I wanted her to think that. At least that's what she told
me. But I wasn't conscious of that. I'm not conscious of the
first sin I've ever committed. That's how far back my sin goes
in my life. And I am certain of this, and
I say this with shame, that I'll never quit sinning until I've
lost my breath. I tell you, that's a long time,
ain't it? There's a length to our sins, brothers and sisters,
that's long. One of the glorious things about
dying is you'll never sin again. That'll be glory for me, won't
it you? But as long as I'm in this world,
evil is present with me and I'm saying, oh wretched man that
I am. The length of my sin went from the mother's womb to my
grave. And what about His breath? I
tell you, it's just spreading, isn't it? Just spreading. The longer you live and the more
you have your heart open, the more you see sin, it just spread
all through you. From the crown of your head to
your feet to your arms, came into this world through one man
and look how it spread. But I tell you, there's a love
that will cover the length and the breadth of your sin. When
I pass by you, Your time was the time of love, my love. And
I spread my skirt over you, and I covered your nakedness. All
of it? All of it. All of it. A spread and long sin. Life of sin. Oh, but love covers
it, does it not? That's the doctrine, brothers
and sisters, of the Scripture. And sixthly is this, to think
about this. There is a doctrine in the Scriptures
of Christ's love that is a giving love. A giving love. A generous love. He gave Himself
to God. A sacrifice and an offering for
our sins. A giving love. I had to go to
my wife before I came down here and beg a few dollars. I stay
broke all the time. And what she tells me is, I can't
give you much, you just give it away. Well, it's easy to be
generous when you don't have anything in it. But I tell you, He's wealthy.
Have you ever known anybody more wealthy than Jesus Christ the
Lord? And more willing to give it than He is? Everything you
have, He's given it to you. Isn't that right? He's given
us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything. You don't have a thing worth
having. You don't have anything spiritually, but what He's given
it to you. What do you have, but what you've
received at His hand. And even though He's given, given,
given, given, given, He's not diminished at all. We're down
at the ocean. A month or so ago, I thought
about getting me a little teaspoon and going under and standing
on the ocean and let people see me. What are you doing? I'm going
to dip this thing dry. They'd have probably arrested
me or stood and laughed at me just fine. I tell you what, look
what Christ has given. Will He ever run dry? Of grace
and mercy and love, all of His benefits, And He gives so freely. Freely. I'll give you the water
of life freely. Freely. I'll just keep on giving
it. Keep on giving it. That's the doctrine. I know that
may be not all of it. Of course, it's not all of it.
But that gives you a little hint about the doctrine of Christ's
love. And that will keep you thinking for a while longer. How can we know this love? Because
we have to know it experimentally, experientially. We have to know
it in this inner man, in our hearts. It's not just enough
to have it written in the Bible. Thank God it's there or we wouldn't
know anything about it for sure. But now, dear children of God,
how do we know the love of Christ experientially in our heart?
I want to give you three quick things. And I'm almost embarrassed
to even tackle this. I just sank in my soul to try
to tackle a subject like this. Three little things. Three ways
that we can know the love of Christ. The first one is this.
We can know it this way. By His drawing us to Himself. We can know it by His drawing
us to Himself. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn to you. When Christ draws you to Himself,
you know His love. That's the way you know He loves
you. Because He's drawn you to Himself. I spent my whole teenage
years, my wife will bear witness to this, because she's known
me almost all my life. I stayed under conviction all
the time. But it was a legal conviction. This is no legal
conviction. I was miserable, under bondage. I needed to do better. I needed
to get my act together. I needed to quit doing so many
things that I was doing. I needed to start doing things
that I wasn't doing. But I didn't need Christ. I wasn't
conscious of my need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Until finally He
made me conscious of my need of Him. that all my willing and
all my running would not save me. And He showed me, I'm going to
have to save you. You can't save yourself and nobody
else can save you. I'm going to have to save you
myself by my merit, by my power. And He brought me to Himself.
That's the way I came to Him with a need of Him. When the
Apostle Paul told that Philippian jailer, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved. What was he doing? Why did he
tell him that? He pointed himself to Christ. He pointed that poor, trembling,
despairing soul to Christ. Christ is the one that can meet
your need. Christ is the only one that can
save you. And what did that man do? He
went to Christ. He believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you know, that man knew the love of Christ. That's why the Scripture says
he rejoiced believing in God with all his heart. When we come
to Christ, to God by Him, with a heart knowledge, that we're
lost. And that we can't be saved. We
can't save ourselves. But He must save us. And when
we're drawn to Him that way and find ourselves accepted in Him,
complete in Him, then you know what we have? We have the knowledge
of His love. Every stain of God, this is where
the knowledge of Christ's love begins. You didn't know it until
He saved you, did you? You may have talked about it,
may have quoted some scriptures. When He's drawing you to Himself,
that's how you know it. But listen to this, this drawing
doesn't stop. It doesn't quit upon the initial
drawing us to Himself. There are times and seasons when
Christ draws us to Himself. And if we're going to have a
knowledge of Him that deepens, we must be sensitive to that
drawing. I love this passage in Psalms
of Solomon. My beloved spake unto me. He
said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Rise up, my love. He spake to
me. And he said, Rise up and come
away. There are some of you here, bless
your hearts, you don't have the time. We preachers think everybody's
got the time that we've got. Don't we? Everybody should study
their Bible and these good books like we do. But you don't have
the time. Some of you men own businesses. Some of you work long hours.
Some of you mothers. You're tired of the night. You
go to bed and you whirl out, aren't you? But listen. Be sensitive of the voice of
Christ. Because He draws the inner man. He speaks to the inner man. Sometimes
at night. You've noticed this in yourself.
Sometimes at night when you get up for some reason or another,
go to the bathroom or check on something, you'll find this impulse. It may be the slightest impulse
to seek His face, to pray. But you say, oh, I'm so tired.
I've just worked hard all day. I'm so tired. Listen, don't resist
that impulse. Seek Him. Seek him in the night
season. He does a lot of night work.
Listen to Psalms of Solomon. Listen to this. I sleep, but
my heart awakes. My inner man is awakened. Who awoken it? Why, it's the
voice of my beloved. What's he doing? He's knocking.
And he said, open to me my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled,
for my head is filled with dew and my hair with the drops of
the night. Boy, is it night, wasn't it?
And he spoke to his love. Be sensitive of that, brothers
and sisters. The Lord does a lot of night
work. Most love making is done of the night, ain't it? Huh? That's when he makes love
to his spouse a lot. At night? I don't mean to be
vulgar, but is that not so? Paul and Silas had worked all
day in preaching. That evening they were beat.
Then they were thrown into the inner cell. But at midnight,
their Beloved came to them and says, Open up, my love, my dove. I've come to make love to your
inner man. And what did they do? They sang.
And they praise God at midnight. But I tell you, the church didn't
do that, did she? Oh, in the Old Testament, she
didn't do that. And she missed such a great blessing. Here's
what she said. She said, oh, my lover, I'm so
tired. I've put off my coat. How can
I put it on again? I've washed my feet and I'm in
bed and I'm tired. Oh, what a blessing she missed.
You want to know the love of Christ? Be sensitive in your
soul to His voice. Seek Him. These impulses that
you have to pray and seek His face, be sensitive to that. I wonder who knew more about
the love of Christ? Martha or Mary? They were both
loved of Christ, were they not? I wonder who knew most about
the love of Christ? I bet you the One that chose
that good part. I bet you the One that sat at
His feet and heard His Word. I don't just want to sit at His
feet. You know what we ought to do. You want to know the love
of Christ. The Apostle John spoke so much
about love, didn't he? I wonder how he found out about
all of that. He lay on the Master's breast. He heard His heartbeat. You want to know more about the
love of Christ? Lay on His breast. The church in the Old Testament,
they went just a little bit higher than that. Let Him kiss me with
the kisses of His mouth. For His love is better than wine. I remember hearing Brother Don.
Never heard this preached on before. Never heard it even brought
out like this. All my Christian life, I heard this Christ standing
at the door knocking, you know. And that applied to lost people. I stand at the door and knock?
That's the same thing He told His spouse in the Old Testament,
wasn't it? It's the voice of my Beloved.
And He's knocking. If any man will hear my voice
and open the door, what happens? I'll come in to Him and sup with
Him. And He'll sup with me. Oh, brothers
and sisters, I'm just saying this, dear children of God, if
you would know the love of Christ, be sensitive to that voice, to
the voice of your lover, and seek Him, even though it's night
and even though you're tired. Seek Him. That's where you'll
find more and more and more of the love of Christ. Secondly
is this, sometimes we know more of Christ's love in great troubles,
do we not? I tell you, I've never prayed
for troubles and I never will pray for troubles. But I don't
despise them like I used to. Because I found out in my deepest
sorrow, in my deepest affliction, I have learned more about the
love of the Lord Jesus Christ. I stopped the other day and visited
Donnie and Belle and spent a couple of days with them. It just broke
my heart to see what they were going through. Deep, deep afflictions. But you know something? I just
about bet that out of those deep afflictions, they're going to
know more of Christ's love than they do now. Hezekiah was dying
and the Lord delivered him from it. And he said, you have, in
love to my soul, delivered me from the pit of corruption. Some
of you know what deep trials are. And when the Lord delivers you
from them, Don't you know more now of the love of Christ to
yourself? Thirdly is this. We can know
the love of Christ experientially as we walk with Him in the way
of obedience. Let me read that to you because
I'm closing. Look in John chapter 14. We know the love of Christ. Know it experientially. as we
walk with Him in the way of obedience to His command. Look in John
chapter 14 and look in verse 21. He that hath My commandments.
Now there's law commandments and there's grace commandments.
There's law commandments. Boy, that will grieve the old
man to death. But there's grace commandments.
Here's my commandments. Here's God's commandments for
His children. That you believe in Him whom
He hath sent, and love one another. I tell you, if we'll do that,
we'll do well, won't we? He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, retaineth them, He it is that loveth me. And
he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. That is, my Father
will make him to know that He loves him. The father don't love
him because he keeps his commandments. The father's always loved him.
But the father will make him to know that he loves him. And I will love him and I will
manifest myself to him. When? While he's walking in the
way of obedience. I'm looking down in verse 23.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will
keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him and make our abode with him." Our forefathers used to
put two things together. Obedience and assurance. They
said, these lack twin brothers, you can't separate them. A man
may be saved, but if he's slothful and neglectful, I'll tell you
what, he's apt to fall into some doubts and fears, maybe even
about his salvation. Maybe doubt in the love of Christ.
Where are we assured about His love? When we walk with Him in
obedience. There's a principle that the
flesh is grieved to even think about. But the inner man loves
it. And it prays to be able through
grace to do it. Take up your cross. Deny yourself. and follow me. But brothers and
sisters, in that we learn more of the love of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Clay spoke of the young lady
that he baptized this morning. I tell you, I don't feel sorry
for her a bit. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I rejoice in
that. If I see somebody in the fire for the glory of Christ,
I tell you, I just rejoice in it. Because she's going to come
out of this with a deeper knowledge of the love of her Lord than
I have. Because you let him find his
people in the battle, in the heat of the battle. He'll show
them that he's the captain of their salvation. But you can't
find him except he's your commander in the heat of the battle. A
good soldier enduring hardness for the glory of Christ. I never
was in the military, but I was talking to one of you the other
day that was telling me about being in Fallujah when they had
destroyed that place. Such devastation. I can't imagine
what it would be to be in the heat of the battle and to have
a good commanding officer to look to. And boy, you heard his
voice. And you had confidence in Him.
He'd tell you when to go forward. He'd tell you to go to the right,
to the left, what to look for. And you was listening, you was
watching Him. You had confidence in Him going to lead you through
the battle. And boy, when you got through the battle, you'd
go up to Him and say, Sir, I appreciate you. I got the deepest admiration
for you. We'd have never got out of that
mess if you hadn't been who you are. And buddy, right in the heat
of the battle, when you have followed Jesus Christ at all
costs, when you have pushed in everything. I am in it for the
long haul. I am in it lock, stock, and barrel.
And you mean it, and God will bear witness to it. There is
when Christ will uphold you. Whatever you face for His glory,
there is where you are apt to see. You will go to this verse
and say, oh, the love of Christ. And you will say, yes, yes, yes. I know it. I know it. He is my
Captain. He is my Commandant. I know it
in my own heart now. I've read it, but now I've experienced
it in my soul. Oh, to know the love of Christ.
And it passeth knowledge. What's the greatest knowledge
that we can come to in the love of Christ? That it passeth knowledge. Spurgeon said some of these fellows
that thinks they can see to the bottom of God's mysteries, He
said their whole problem is they got such a shallow mind that
they see the bottom of that. The love of Christ that passes
us knowledge. And when we come to that knowledge,
that I can't comprehend it. It's too great, the depths of
heaven, it's just too tremendous, it's too glorious. Amazing love. And that's the greatest knowledge
we can come to. That it passes our knowledge. I don't know hardly what this
last phrase means, that you might be filled with all the fullness
of God, but I know there are scriptures that says this, filled
with the Holy Ghost. Oh, wouldn't that be amazing?
Filled with all the fullness of God. Filled with all goodness. Filled with all comfort. Filled
with the knowledge of His will. Filled with spiritual understanding. Filled with wisdom. He hath filled
the hungry with good things, filled with all the fullness
of God. God bless you.