1 John chapter 3 and chapter 4 speak concerning God's
love for us, toward us, and in us. Most people mistakenly imagine
that John's message in this book is our love for one another.
That is not the case. His message is God's love toward
us, God's love for us, and God's love in us. Our love for one
another is the result of God's love for us. It is the fruit
of God's love for us. Our love for Christ is the fruit
of his love for us. Chapter 3, John begins the chapter
this way, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. What wondrous,
magnificent love this is, that we should be called the sons
of God. Now, the love of God is known
only It is known only in the person
and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's love cannot
be known, it cannot be seen, it cannot be experienced except
in the person of Jesus Christ the Lord. People talk flippantly
and emotionally and sometimes very passionately about God's
love, God's great love, who know nothing of the person and work
of Christ. They do not know God's love. All they know is their imaginations
and their thoughts and their own passions, and they compare
God with themselves and call it love. Men and women everywhere
want to proclaim to people, God loves you. God loves you. If you're here without faith
in Christ, the word of God never, not one time, gives you any reason
to believe God loves you. None at all. The wrath of God
is upon those who believe not. God hates the workers of iniquity. God Almighty loves people in
Christ, and His love is only revealed in Christ. And if you
believe on His Son, God loves you. Oh, yes, He does, with an
everlasting love. If you believe not the Son of
God, you have nothing to expect from God except wrath and judgment
and condemnation. The love of God is revealed in
Christ. Look at 1 John 4 verse 9. In
this was manifested, in this was brought out to light, in
this was revealed the love of God toward us. How did we ever
find out God loved us? And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved God. We didn't. We couldn't. We wouldn't. But
that he loved us. and hath sent his Son to be the
propitiation, the justice-satisfying sacrifice for our sins. Now the Apostle tells us in verses
7 through 16 that if we are born of God, we do love one another.
This is an indisputable fact plainly revealed throughout the
Scriptures. God's saints love each other. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. That is to say, if I'm
born of God, I love my brethren. And if I don't love my brethren,
I'm not born of God. That's just as simple as it can
be, and as plain as it can be, and there's no explaining it
away. Believers love one another. Perfectly? No. Really? Yes. Sincerely? Yes, sir. Never an
interference of anything that doesn't look like it? Oh, plenty
of that. Plenty of that. But believers love each other.
Now let me give you a good, good synonym for love. It's called
commit. Believers are committed to one
another. Committed. I'm not talking about
some kind of frothy emotional passion. That's good. It's good
to feel love. I'm not talking about feeling.
I'm talking about commitment. Our God is so committed to us
that he gave his son to redeem us. So devoted that he sacrificed
his darling son. If we love our family, we're
devoted to them. That's what it means. That's
what it means. Sometimes that involves pain, but we're devoted
to Him. We're devoted to Him. Believers are devoted to one
another because they've experienced the devotion of God Almighty
to them. When we love God and that love
is known and experienced, then we have confidence before Him.
In verse 17, John sort of shifts gears. He says, when the love
of God is known and experienced in our hearts, love flows from
our hearts. And then in verse 17, he says,
herein is our love made perfect. Now that sounds a little strange.
Our love made perfect? Not yet. Not yet. Not in any sense of the word.
Well, what's he saying? If you have a marginal reference,
you'll notice that an alternative translation might better be given. Herein is love with us. Our love in us made perfect,
made complete. Now, now we're getting somewhere.
Herein is God's love in us made perfect, made complete and mature
and fixed in us. Turn to Romans 5. Let me show
you. Romans chapter 5. John's not talking about our
loving one another perfectly. That's not going to happen while
we live on this earth. He's not talking about us loving God perfectly.
That's not going to happen while we live on this earth. He's talking
about God's love revealed in Him adopting us, in Him sending
His Son to redeem us. Now, when He comes and reveals
that in us, His love's made perfect in us. It was perfect before,
but made perfect experimentally in us. Look in Romans 5 verse
1. Therefore, being justified, by
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation
works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.
And hope maketh not ashamed. Why? Because the love of God
is shed abroad in us. We're not going to ever be ashamed
of our hope. The hope we have in Christ will
never be brought to confusion. The hope we have in Christ will
never be confounded. The hope we have in Christ will
never allow us to blush with shame, so we'll look at you,
you fool, you trusted what you never had. Oh no, the hope that
we have make us not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. When
the Spirit of God comes and grants a sinner life and faith in Jesus
Christ, when the Spirit of God comes and reveals Christ in you,
then believing on Him, the love of God is shed abroad in your
heart and you have hope. I have hope of life everlasting
before God Almighty because I believe His Son. Now, herein is love
made perfect in me. The love of God made perfect
in you. God's love toward us, which is
shed abroad in our hearts by the knowledge of Christ, is made
perfect in us when we are made to see the fullness, completion,
and perfection of salvation, our own salvation in Christ. I began the message by telling
you, you cannot know God's love except by faith in Christ. Now
I want you to understand, believing on the Son of God, you have every
reason in this world to be absolutely unshakably confident of God's
love for you. No matter how you feel, no matter
what you go through, no matter what you experience. Believing
on the Son of God, His love is made perfect in us. Herein is
God's love made perfect in us, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Do you see the connection? That
we may have boldness in the day of judgment. There is a day appointed
when God shall judge the world in righteousness and strict justice. And in that day, The wicked and
unbelieving tremble before Him, and fear before Him, and the
saints of God will have confidence and joy before Him. Judgment
Day is held out by religious people as a terrorizing threat
to believers. You, you're going to meet God
and one of these days you're going to answer. Christ answered
for me, thank you. Judgment is passed for me, thank
you. And I will not be terrified by
the threats of religious men trying to hold over me condemnation
that's past. Oh no. Believers will stand before
God and have reason to stand before God with confidence in
the day of judgment. I stand before Him confidently
now. Do you? I'm accepted of God now, are
you? He smiles on me now, does he
smile on you? If so, do you think things are
going to change once we left this world? Of course not. The
hymn writer put it this way. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while through Christ's
blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous guilt and blame. The
wicked and the unbelieving, they tremble at the prospect of it.
They have nightmares about it. Some of you do, I'm sure. I used
to. Horrible nightmares. But God's saints love it, long
for it, and anxiously await it. At least we ought to. Do you
remember how Paul spoke in 1 Corinthians chapter 4? He said, I don't care
much what you think about me. He said, I won't allow myself
to be judged of you. In fact, I don't judge myself.
I'm waiting for that day when everything will be made manifest.
And soon, bless God, everything will be made manifest. Everything. Soon everything will be seen
in its true light, including me and you, in our true light,
as we really are in Christ before God. In that great day, we shall
stand fearless, without the least dread, while the rest of the
world calls and cries for the mountains and the hills and the
rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb.
God's saints will stand bold and rejoice before God Almighty
in that great day, giving Him the praise, worshiping Him, ascribing
glory to Him, declaring, This, my God and Savior, is the Lord,
my righteousness, I will magnify and exalt Him. Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honor, for Thou wast slain and
hast redeemed us to our God by Thy blood. Out of every nation
and kindred and tribe and tongue, You made us to be priests and
kings unto God, and we will reign forever. Would you have such confidence
now and in the day of judgment? What's the basis of it? Where
can it be found? Read the next line here in our
text. 1 John 4, 17. Herein is God's love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now look
at the next word. Because. Because. That's the key. Because. How can we have boldness
in the day of judgment? How can a man with a heart so
empty and corrupt, so barren and hard, so fickle and unstable. How can this man have boldness
before God's bar of holy justice? Because as he is, so are we in
this world. Wow. What a statement. What an astonishing
thing. This is the thing I want us to
set our hearts on this morning. May God teach us something about
it. As He is, so are we in this world. Do you believe on the
Son of God? Has God given you faith in Jesus
Christ, His darling Son? Are you born of God, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, robed in His righteousness? Have you
right now, I mean right now, just now, been
born of God and caused to believe on His Son, right where you sat?
Oh, Pastor, I do believe Him. Thank God, now I do see Him. I do trust Him. Will you hear
me? This is God's Word to you. To you. To you. If you believe
His Son. As He is, so are we in this world. He does not say, as He is, so
we shall be. He does not say, as he was, so
are we. He does not say that as he is,
we shall be in the world to come. But rather the text reads, as
he is, so are we right now in this world, no question, no qualification,
no condition. The whole purpose of God for
us in eternal predestination, in sovereign election, is that
we should be conformed to the image of his son. We saw that
a few weeks ago in Romans 8, 28 through 30. God Almighty has arranged everything
in eternal predestination and brings everything to pass in
divine providence and in all the works of His grace to conform
His elect ultimately in the perfection of resurrection glory to the
image of Jesus Christ the Lord. We shall be like Him. That's
great. But here, The Apostle John writes
by divine inspiration and tells us that God's purpose of grace,
which was accomplished in his purpose in eternity and shall
be accomplished ultimately in our own resurrection glory, is
already accomplished by his work of grace for us and in us in
Jesus Christ the Lord. As he is, so are we in this world. Now let's see what that means. As He is the begotten Son of
God, so are we right now in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ
is described in the scripture as the firstborn among many brethren. And we are His brethren of whom
He is not ashamed to speak and say, these are my brethren. Christ is the Son of God by virtue
of His nature. And I hate to even use that term
with reference to the eternal God, but I don't know another.
By virtue of the fact that He is God, the Eternal Son, He is
God Almighty Himself, the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity. We are the sons of God by adoption. In the sense that
He is the Son of God by virtue of His eternal deity, He is the
only begotten of the Father. He is that One who is eternally
begotten of the eternally begetting Father. But you and I are also
begotten of God. We are also the sons of God,
begotten by His grace, begotten of His Spirit. God Almighty loved
us as His sons. We read it in 1 John 3 verse
1. He chose us to be his sons and adopted us as his sons before
the world began. In sovereign election, the Lord
God said, they shall be my sons and daughters. I will be their
God and they shall be my people. And I will be a father unto them,
saith the Lord God. We were begotten of God in the
new birth, given the nature of God's Son. This is what he says
over in 1 Peter 1 or 2 Peter 1 verse 4. We are made partakers
of the divine nature. He gives us the nature of His
Son in the new birth, so that Jesus Christ, who is God, is
formed in us by the power of His Spirit. That is, His holy
nature as the God-man, our mediator, is formed in us in the new birth,
so that we're made to be partakers of the divine nature, begotten
again by the power of His grace. This is how Paul describes it
in Galatians. Because you are sons. Because you are sons. God had sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying, I am a father. Because
God adopted you. Because He chose you in the time
of mercy, He came to you by the power of the Spirit and caused
you to look to Him through faith in Christ and say, God on His
throne, that's my Father. This is a privilege greater than
any that can be described. John Gill said it's better to
be a son than a saint. A saint is a holy one. Angels
are saints, but they're not sons. They're servants. Adoption is
something even more glorious than redemption, pardon, and
justification. It is an act of great grace to
redeem from slavery, to pardon the criminal, or to justify the
ungodly. But it is a greater, far greater
and higher and more glorious act of grace to make the redeemed
slave, the pardoned felon, or the justified sinner, one's own
son. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Better to be one of God's sons
than to be one of the angels of God. They never knew redemption. They never knew the wonders of
grace that we've experienced and never can. Again, Gil said,
that is an infinitely higher honor than to be the sons and
daughters of the greatest man on earth. I'm talking about an
honor that Adam never had in the garden, an honor greater
than the angels in heaven can ever hope to attain. They are
sons by creation, but we are the sons of God by adoption and
grace. As Jesus Christ, that man who
sits in glory now, is God's son, so are we in this world. Look here now, look here now.
You're looking in the face of a man who is God's own darling
son. As Christ is loved of God with
an everlasting love. So are we right now in this world. Listen to what it said. Do you
remember it? John 17. Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved
me. Thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. Now try to grasp the meaning
of these words. as God the Father loved our mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ, with an everlasting, immutable love of
complacency and delight before the world began, because of his
perfect obedience to him as our substitute and surety. So he
loves us. Our Lord said in John chapter
10, therefore doth my Father love me, Because I laid down
my life for the sheep. Now what on earth do you reckon
that means? You mean God didn't love him
before he laid down his life for his sheep? What does it mean? Therefore doth my Father love
me, because for this reason I lay down my life for the sheep that
I might take it again. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. No man takes it from me. This
is my work, he says. He says, other sheep I have,
them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice. There
shall be one fold and one shepherd. He says, this commandment have
I received from my Father. Now my Father loves me because
I do it. What is he talking about? He's
not talking about his eternal deity. No. The Father loved him
as God the Son from eternity. He's talking about his surety
ship character. He's talking about himself as
the God-man, our mediator. God Almighty promised in the
old covenant of works and law that if men would walk before
Him and love God with all their heart, all their soul, all their
mind, and all their being, they would be loved of God. And no
man could do it. But here comes a man, God Almighty
in human flesh, who loves God with all his heart, all his soul,
all his mind, all his being, even unto death, willingly laying
down his life in compliance with the Father's will for the glory
of God. And the Father says, now I love
him. And the Son said, thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. He loves us exactly as he loves
his darling son, because all that his son did, he did for
us as our mediator and representative, and he has now made us worthy
of God's approval. You see, God loves us as he sees
us in Christ. only as he sees us in Christ,
because he sees us in Christ. He loves us for Christ's sake.
He loves us as he loved the Lord Jesus Christ, to the same degree
and for exactly the same reason, with an eternal, immutable, everlasting,
perfect love, free, yet earned altogether. Not by us. Christ
earned it for us. Absolutely, totally undeserved. Yet fully deserved. Not by what
we did. What Christ did for us. But hear
me, hear me. What Christ did. How can I say this? And say it
so you can get hold of it without being shocked to death. What
Christ did. God's elect did in Him. Really. Really. Did he love God with
all his heart, soul, mind and being? I did too. Did he honor
God's law in every point? I did too. Did he obey God's
will in everything? I did too. Did he die under the
wrath of God, made to be sin and satisfy the justice of God?
I did too. He's my representative. That's
what substitution means. I stand before God. as one loved
of God freely, but loved of God because in His Son I've earned
it. One loved of God without cause
at all, fully undeserved in myself, but in His Son. Because in His
Son. Because in His Son I deserve
the smile of God in glory. My Savior is my surety. Does Christ deserve the smile
of God in glory? Answer me. Is there anybody here
who would question it? Does that God-man who sits in
heaven deserve that God should smile on him and love him? Bless
God he does, Rod. I'm in him. You too. As he is, so are we in this world. Here's the third thing. As the
Lord Jesus Christ is God's elect, chosen of God and precious, So
are we. Turn to 1 Peter, 1 Peter 2. You remember what the Lord said
back in Isaiah 41? Behold, my servant, mine elect,
whom I uphold, in whom my soul delighteth. 1 Peter 2, verse
6. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, Precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded
Christ Jesus the Son of God was chosen to be our surety We were
chosen to be his people. He was chosen to be our Savior.
We were chosen to be saved He was chosen to be our Redeemer.
We were chosen to be redeemed He was chosen to be the head
over all things to the church. We were chosen to be his church
and his body and He is the sure foundation stone, elect and precious. We were chosen to be the temple,
the building of God on that foundation stone. Isaac Watts wrote a hymn. It's not in our hymn book. It's
in a few, but not in ours. But it's a great hymn. Christ
be my first elect, he said. Then chose our souls in Christ
our head. Before he gave the mountains
birth are laid foundations for the earth. Thus did eternal love
begin to raise us up from death and sin. Our characters were
then decreed, blameless in love, a holy seed, predestined to be
sons, born by degrees but chosen once, a new regenerated race
to praise the glory of His grace. With Christ our Lord, we share
a part in the affections of His heart. Nor shall our souls from
thence remove till God forgets his first beloved. Loved of God
as Christ is. Now here's a fourth thing. As
the Lord Jesus Christ is our substitute and is well-pleasing
to God, So you and I are well-pleasing to Him. Turn to Matthew chapter
17. Peter, James, and John are with
the Lord Jesus in the Mount of Transfiguration. In the Holy
Mount, Peter calls it. We saw His glory. That is, we
saw a manifestation of the glory he would soon have as our mediator
when he's exalted to the right hand of the Father and the God-man
himself is glorified as our Savior. And when Peter saw that and saw
Moses and Elijah standing there talking to the master and the
master talking to them, they were talking to him about the
death he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Peter seems to have
put Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, on equal footing
with the Son of God. And he said, let's build three
tents here, three tabernacles, so we can dwell here right on.
And God said, never, never. In verse 5, he said, this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. I love it. In whom? In whom? Now, I have told you
this so many times, I hope you know what I'm fixing to say.
If you don't, listen good. Know it next time. If he were
talking about him individually, he would have said, this is my
beloved son with whom I am well pleased. With whom? That's not
what he's talking about. I'll do grace and will and want
to brag a little bit. I said I'm so pleased with you
Never think about saying I'm so pleased in you. Just never
think about it I've told my daughter the other night so pleased with
her so pleased with her Oh, I I would never dream of saying I'm so
pleased in you. What's it talking about? This is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. I This, my son, is the mediator
of his people. He is Moses' mediator. He's Elijah's mediator. He's
your mediator. He's my mediator. And I'm pleased
in him, not you. Now, since I'm pleased in him,
pleased with what he's done, I'm pleased with you in him.
And when the disciples looked up, The Scripture tells us here,
they saw no man save Jesus only. Oh, blessed is that blindness
that is caused by sunburnt eyes, eyes burnt with the revelation
of the Son of Righteousness in your soul. Blessed is that man
who sees no man between Him and God except Jesus only. Blessed is that man who sees
nothing for righteousness and peace and redemption and sanctification
and acceptance with God and salvation and everlasting glory save Jesus
only. Blessed are those people who
hear Jesus only continually proclaimed from the Scriptures. Blessed
is that man. who opens this book and sees
no man save Jesus only. He is everything. Christ is all and in all. We are accepted of God. And the
Father is pleased with His Son. And being pleased with His Son's
obedience, His Son's person, His Son's blood, and His Son's
righteousness, He is pleased with us. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
justified from all things. Justified from all sin. And as he is, so are we in this
world. Turn to Romans 6. Romans 6. Peter tells us I'm sorry, Paul
tells us that our Lord Jesus was justified in the Spirit. He was made to be sin. He bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. The Father drew forth his
holy sword of justice and killed him because he was made to be
sin. And now on the third day after his death, he is raised
from the dead, and Paul says he is justified in the Spirit. That is, he is declared righteous
by his resurrection from the dead and his acceptance with
the Father. He said, when the Spirit of truth has come, he
will convince you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
Of sin, because of your unbelief. Of righteousness, because I go
to the Father. Of judgment, because the Prince
of this world is judged. He says he will convince you
of righteousness because I've gone to the Father. I believe that righteousness
is fully established. Because the God-man, my substitute,
who was made to be sin, now sits on the right hand of the highest
majesty as God, our Savior, in human flesh. And he couldn't,
if he hadn't put away our sin that was made to be his. Our
Lord Jesus is the paschal lamb slain for our sins. He is the
scapegoat who carried our sins into the tomb. And he is the
fit man who came back from the grave, bearing no sin. With his
spotless garments on, I am as holy as God's Son. Now, look
yonder. Look away, look away, my soul,
from all your experiences. Look away from all that goes
on inside you. Look away from all that men would
have you to turn to. Look away to Jesus Christ, the
God-man mediator, sitting on the right hand of the majesty
on high, and understand that the law has no more dominion
over him. Did he die to the law once? Is
that what the book says? As he is, so are we in this world. Look at Romans 6, verse 18. Sin has no more dominion over
him, being then made free from sin. You became the servants
of righteousness. That's talking about what our
experience is. You are dead to sin, made free from sin. How'd
that happen? Look at 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4. One of these days, I hope God
will give me a message from this text. 1 Peter 4, verse 1. For as much then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased
from sin. And as he is, so are we in this
world. In him is no sin. He will manifest
to take away our sin, and in him is no sin. Death has no more
dominion over him. He shall never die. He shall never die. He can't because he's already
died and conquered death. And as he is, so are we in this
world. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We sang it this morning. When
I'm gone, don't stand around my grave and cry. I am not here,
I did not die. Well, have you been smoking something
strange, preacher? No! I've been reading this book.
Our Lord said, he that believeth on me shall never die. Never. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. This
body is going to the grave, but this body ain't me. That's right. You know what? Something happens
and a house blows down here. It's painful and you hate to
see it happen. But there's nothing alive over
there. There's nothing alive over there.
It's just a house. It's just a house. And this isn't
even that. This is just a tent. That's all. And it's going to die. But it
can't really die because it never did live. It's just going to
be dissolved. I shall never, never, never die. Never. Never. No more than Christ
shall. Here's the sixth thing. As the Son of God is a stranger
in this world, and a stranger to this world, so are we. Our Lord said, tells us He was
in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. They didn't understand him. They
couldn't figure him out. They couldn't explain him. They
couldn't put him in a box that he'd fit in. They couldn't put
him in the right social class. They didn't know him. They didn't
have a clue who he was. They didn't have a clue what
motivated him. They didn't have a clue why he did what he did. He was a stranger to them. And
so it is with God's people. Look at John 15. John 15. As long as we are in this world,
if we follow Him, we will be strangers to it. Verse 17. These things I command
you, that you love one another. If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word that I said
unto you. The servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they persecuted me, they'll
also persecute you. If they kept my saying, they'll
also keep yours. Look at John 16, verse 1. These
things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended.
Don't let these things bother you. Don't let these things ruffle
your feathers. They shall put you out of the
synagogue. They'll kick you out of churches. kick you out of
their schools. Some of you have experienced
it, I have too. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth
you will think that he doeth God's service. The Jews crucified
our Redeemer in the name of God. Romanists persecuted and tortured
and burned our fathers at the stake in the name of God Almighty. Convinced they were doing God's
service. Convinced of it. Our Lord said so. He said so.
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me. Marvel not, my brethren, our
Lord tells us by the Apostle John, if the world hate you. You see, the Lord Jesus places
this badge of honor on all his disciples. What a badge of honor
it is. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Not of the world's religion.
They walk out of step with the religion of the world. Not of
the world's philosophy. They walk out of step with it.
Not of the world's fashion. They walk out of step with it.
Not of the world's ambitions. They're not of the world. They're
just not of the world's mind. We have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. And
as He is, so are we in this world. We are men and women who are
God's children, loved of God, chosen of God, well-pleasing
to God, our Father. As He is, so are we in this world. We are strangers to it, but bless
God, we're not strangers where it
matters. We are accepted with Christ in
the heavens and we're headed home. Over us, neither death
nor sin shall ever have dominion. Oh, may God give you grace now
to believe on His Son. Let's turn in our Songs of Grace
book, sing a hymn I wrote some years ago, As He Is, So Are We,
number 67 in your Songs of Grace book.