1 John chapter 4. The chapter has 21 verses in
it, and I want to read it. Our subject this morning is knowing
the love of God. Knowing the love of God, being
conscious of it, apprehending something of it, perceiving it,
having it manifested to us, knowing the love of God. Let's begin
in verse 1 and read this chapter. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already
it is in the world. You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world. They are of the world. And they
speak of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and every
one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. 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 love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the perpetuation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. Though man hath seen
God at any time, if we love one another, God dwelleth in us,
and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him because he first
loved us. If any man say, I love God, and
hate his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him. that he who loveth
God loveth his brother also. My motive in looking at this passage this
morning concerning the love of God is to clear up some confusion
and some misunderstanding concerning this love. Much of the controversy
today is coming from an unbelieving
world, an unregenerate world, who are believing things that
does not even belong to them in the Word of God. I think we've
all heard people say, and it's yet almost a common thing for
some lost person to say, that has no interest in the gospel,
no interest in God at all, and yet they'll say, we know that
all things work together for good, But that's qualified in
scriptures, isn't it? That's not to everybody. All
things work to good for them who love God, who are the called
according to His purpose. But someone will say, Bruce,
doesn't the scripture say that God loves us? It certainly does. I just read it several times
here in these passages. But who is the us? Who are these
epistles addressing? He says several times here in
verse 9, 10, 11, 16, and 19 that God loves us. But look back one chapter, in
chapter 3, and look in verse 1 and 2. Chapter 3 and verse
1 and 2, and the Scriptures always qualifies who these passages
are written to. And look what he says in 1 John
3, verses 1 and 2. Beloved, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God? Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Who is John speaking
to when he says God has manifested His love to us? He's speaking
to sons of God. He's speaking to those who know
God. and whose faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in chapter
5, how he closes this epistle. Look in verse 19. He identifies
them again, who he's talking to. Chapter 5 and verse 19, and
we know that we are of God. We're born of God. We're called
of God. We're children of God. We're
sons of God. We are of God, and the whole
world lieth in wickedness." See the distinction? When he says
that God has manifested His love to us, he's speaking to the children
of God. He's speaking to those who have
been begotten of God, Christian believers. You and I are blessed
with many Christian forefathers. who were theologians. Many of them, like John Bunyan
and Spurgeon and some of the rest, would never call themselves
theologians, but they were. They were great men, Martin Luther
and some of the others, and some in the present day as well. They
had an excellent way of explaining to us the love of God so that
we could grasp it and understand it better. Let me give you two
things, the way they distinguish the love of God, and this is
so important. First of all, they described
one aspect of God's love that they call the love of benevolence, a kindness in God. a good will
towards God, a desire to do men good. And you find this love
in Psalm 145 verse 9, the Lord is good to all and his mercies
are over all his works. I want you to turn to a couple
of passages with me and show you this love of benevolence
And our Puritan forefathers especially said this love of benevolence,
this love of God that is kind to people and good to people,
is over all His creation. Now look how Paul says it in
Acts chapter 14. I'll put you a little marker
in 1 John because we're coming back to that in a minute. But
look in Acts chapter 14 how Paul describes what I'm saying. This is where he was preaching,
and they wanted to offer sacrifices to him and Barnabas, and he ran
in amongst them and rebuked them for it. And he says in verse
15, Sirs, why do you these things? We are also men of like passions
with you and preaching to you that you should turn from these
vanities unto the living God which made heaven and earth and
the sea and all things therein, who in time past suffered all
nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not
himself without witness in that he did good. He was kind, He
was merciful, and He shows that kindness in this way, and He
gave us rain from heaven. Now how important is rain from
heaven? We'll die without it. And God looked upon the heathen
nations that were rebels against Him, and He had this love of
benevolence, this kindness to them. And He gave them rain from
heaven, and fruitful seasons, and filled their hearts. with
gladness. I think the parallel passage
to this, you'll find it over in Luke chapter 6 and in Matthew
chapter 5. Remember the Lord Jesus said, love your enemies and pray for
them that hate you and bless them that curse you, that you
may be the children of your Father who art in heaven Because He
makes His Son to rise upon the evil, and He sends rain on the
just, unjust as well as the just. Now, our forefathers called this
the love of benevolence. And the reason they called it
that is because it's manifested the kindness of God towards His
creatures, the goodness of God and the goodwill of God towards
His creature. I want you to turn to another
passage. If you can find Hosea chapter 9, and I want you to
look in verse 15. Here's the thing about this love
of benevolence that's found in God towards mankind. It will
end. It will end when man's life ends. When man breathes out his last
breath, this benevolent love will end. If he's not in Christ, he'll
see his last sunrise. If he's not in Christ, he'll
never feel another drop of water. If he's not in Christ, he'll
die under the awful judgment of God. This love of benevolence,
as our forefathers explained it, is concerning this temporary
life. God's goodness and His kindness
extended towards His creature. And look how Hosea says it in
chapter 9, and look in verse 15. This is God speaking to the
children of Israel. All their wickedness is in Gilgal,
for there I hated them for the wickedness of their doings. And
I will drive them out of my house." And look at this, I will love
them no more. I will love them no more. Now,
what kind of love did God have to these people if He said, I'll
love you no more? The love that I had for you is
coming to an end. It had to be what our forefathers
called God's love of benevolence, His kindness, His willingness
to do His creatures good. But this love is not saving.
It's only temporary. There was another love our forefathers
used to describe the love of God, and it's this. It's the
love of complacency. Now, if there's ever any words
that modern dictionaries have changed the meaning to, it's
this word complacency. When we think of complacency,
what do you think about? You think of somebody really
that's lazy, self-centered. They've got self-satisfied. We
hear coaches. and the basketball team, and
they've got a lead, and they're going into the fourth quarter,
and he calls timeout, and he gets his team around him, and
what's he tell them? Don't get complacent. Don't get
self-satisfied. We'll get beat. The way we use
complacency in our day, it's always negative. It's never a
good thing. But you know, that's not the
way our forefathers understood this word complacency. That's
not the root word of complacency. The root word of complacency
is this, to take great delight in, to take great pleasure in. And when this is applied to the
love of God, God takes great delight and pleasure in his love
that he has for his redeemed people in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the love of compassion.
It's the opposite. He doesn't sit on his laurels.
He's not satisfied with where they're at. He's purposed to
redeem them. He said, I'll rejoice over them
to do them good. He's always working on their
behalf, isn't he? And that's what we call the love
of complacency. And this is covenant love for
his elect. Listen to this. Beis yah, be
my people. And I will be their God, and
I will rejoice over them to do them good. I will plant them
in the land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole
soul, saith the Lord." And our covenant God has a people that
He's chosen in His Son, and His loving heart is bent on doing
them good, not temporarily, but for eternally. And that love
for them will never cease. It's not like the love of benevolence. It's this love that God rejoices
in, that He delights in for His people. It had no beginning,
and it will have no end. It's this special, everlasting
love for His people. Listen to how the Lord Jesus
Christ described this love in John 17 and 23. He's praying
to the Father, and He said, You have loved them as you have loved
Me." Now, what kind of love is that? That God could love His
people, His elect people, just like He loves His Son. Isn't that amazing? I stand amazed
in the presence. And that's why. That's why. They are chosen in Christ. They
are loved in Christ, and get this, they are loved with Christ. And they can no more be separated
from the love of God the Father than Jesus Christ Himself can
be separated from that love. The Apostle Paul said, I am persuaded
that neither the death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heights,
nor depths, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus the Lord." This
is redeeming love. This is love that refuses to
let you die in your sins. The everlasting, pure love of
God. And our forefathers described
it as love of complacency. Did that help you understand
the love of God a little bit? I don't know if you believe that
or not. But I appreciate you sitting and listening to me while
I try to explain it. I appreciate nobody jumping up and shaking
their head. No, no, no, no, that can't be. I'm glad you sat silently
and listened while I explained what many and most of our forefathers
believed. Now, why is this important? Well,
you and I are living in a day, we're living in decades, where
some people are telling unbelievers, telling the most open and profane
rebels that God loves them. Isn't that happening everywhere?
I mean, preachers get into pulpit on TV and say, God loves you,
and talking sometimes to thousands of people. How could he possibly
know that? Now, if they're talking about
the love of benevolence, okay, I agree with that. Though I think
even that we have to be careful. But that's not the love of benevolence
they're talking about. It's the love of complacency. God loves you just like He loves
His children. God loves you everlastingly.
God loves you with His redeeming love. And brothers and sisters,
that's dangerous to me. You never see it take place in
the book of Acts. And the wonder, the reason they
did, because even the apostles could not know who God loves
and who He doesn't, except when it's manifested. And you take
a man that's in his sin, he's an unbeliever, and you keep telling
him that God loves him, that's going to give him a false assurance. If God loves me, he thinks in
his subconscious that all is well. I mean, I love my children. You love your children. Would
you do anything to hurt your children? No. But that's your
children. They're telling this to unbelievers,
to those who are not the children of God. And I'm telling you,
brothers and sisters, it's dangerous. It's absolutely dangerous. And
I think, really and honestly, it either borders on blasphemy
or it is outright blasphemy. Because it's dishonoring to God. You tell people that God loves
them, and yet they die in their sins. What does the love of God
then have to do with our salvation? If He loves the lost just like
He does the saved, and the lost are going to perish, what does the love of God even
mean? It's an awful thing to tell this
ungodly, rebellious world that God loves you. That's the saint's
bread. That's the saint's food. Let's
see some things that John tells us here in this chapter concerning
God's love of complacency, that love that he delights in, in
loving his redeemed people. First of all, John tells us here
in verse 9 and 10 that this love has to be manifested. It's not
known by nature. It has to be revealed. It has
to be made clear. And John emphasizes two things
here in our text. Look back over at our text again,
and look in verse 9, and he says this. And this was manifested. And this is revealed. It's made
known. The love of God toward us. because
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him, hearing His love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the atoning victim
for our sin. John emphasizes two things in
this verse 9. One, he emphasizes that great
love of God in sending His Son. to being an atoning victim for
our sins, and to bring us eternal life,
he said in verse 9. This is the gospel, isn't it?
That God sent His Son, Jesus Christ incarnate, and He took
the sins of all His people, and He made them His own, and He
bore those sins to Calvary, and He atoned for those sins. They
buried Him, and He rose again, and He ascended to heaven, and
He is seated there on the right hand of God, ever living to make
intercession for His people. Why did He do that? Why did God
send His Son? The motive He gives is love,
for God so loved that He gave. It says something else about
this verse, too. This cross of Christ is the ultimate
way in which this love of God is manifested. How can we know
the love of God? We know it this way. He sent
his Son all the way from heaven to redeem us, to die in our stead. This poor unregenerate world
doesn't recognize its need for the cross of redemption, does
it? It has no real faith in Him who
died upon that cross. It has no heart love for Him.
It doesn't adore Him. It doesn't appreciate Him. How
can this lost world know the love of God in sending a Savior
when they don't even know the Savior and don't even see their
need of the Savior? The love of God is manifested
in this, and the world says, I have no need for that, thank
you. How can they know the love of God then? Well, it's something
they're borrowing. Every man is born with this consciousness
of God's love. No, he's not. No, he's not. Every man is born with a wicked
heart. And his mind is enmity against
God. And if he ever comes to know
the love of God, it's because God has opened his heart to make
him feel his need of Christ. And then when he sees what Christ
has done, what does he say? Oh, I stand amazed! I stand amazed. Can you imagine that thief on
the cross? There he was cursing the Lord.
Both of them was cursing the Lord. If you be the Christ, come
down from the cross and we'll believe you. And boy, he was
on the brink of eternity, wasn't he? Dying in his sin without
God and without any hope. And suddenly, miraculously, the
Holy Spirit opened that man's understanding. The most miraculous
conversion, I think, in the Scripture. More so than the Apostle Paul.
Because here's a man hanging in pain and agony. And he forgets
about that pain. He goes beyond the agony. And
he says, I'm standing on the brink of eternity. I'm ready
to perish in my sins. And the Holy Spirit opened his
heart to make him realize that man on the sinner cross was the
Son of God, the Lord of glory, dying for sinners. And he turns
to him and said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And what did the Lord tell him? Just a few hours from now, you're
going to be with me in my kingdom. What do you think that man thought
about the love of God? Now, if you talk about standing
amazed in the presence, hanging amazed in the presence, when
the Lord told him today, you'll be with me in paradise, his heart
was flooded. His heart overflowed with this
knowledge, oh, God must love me. How do you know that? Look who's hanging by me on this
bloody cross. Who sent him? God sent Him. What's the motive for sending
Him? To die for your sins. There's where we see the love
of God. It has to be manifested, doesn't it? You're here this
morning and God made you feel your need of Christ and being
saved by Him. He reveals Hisself to you. Boy,
you see the love of God because you see the cross. You see the
Savior hanging on the cross. Amazing love, how could it be
that Thou, my God, hast died for me? He said in chapter 3
and verse 16, You are by perceived we the love of God. You can know it. You can understand
something of it. How? Because He laid down His
life. That's the first point. This love has to be made manifest.
It has to, brothers and sisters. And as long as man is in their
nature, they'll know nothing about the love of God in Christ.
Secondly, here's something else John tells us about this love
of God, this love of complacency. If God loves a man with this
love, He will begin a work of grace in him. He'll begin a work
of repentance and faith. He'll bring that man to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then He, God Himself, the
Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, will come into that person's
heart and dwell there. We know God's love because He
dwells in our hearts. John keeps saying this, does
he, in this chapter 4, in verse 12. Look at the places here he
says this. Look in verse 12. No man hath
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us. And look down in verse 13. Hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath
given us of his Spirit. Verse 15, Whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. And we have
known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."
God comes and dwells. in the hearts of those He loves. Listen to how the Lord Jesus
said, ìIf a man loves Me, he will keep My words.î Thatís why
you read the Word. This is why you believe it. This is why you love it. This
is why itís the rule of your faith and practice. ìIf any man keep My words, My
Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our
abode with him." One of the most amazing things. Is this not that
the God that fills heaven and earth fills all spaces of time,
and He comes and dwells in a little heart? Ain't that amazing? Why would he do that? Because
he delights to love that art. Notice the way in which we know
the triune God dwells in us. Look in chapter 3 and verse 24. Look in chapter 3 and verse 24.
We'll go all the way back up to verse 22. Whatsoever we ask,
we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do
those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his
commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus
Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And
he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us, because He's given to us of His Spirit. How do we know God dwells in
us? He's given us of His Spirit. What does His Spirit do in our
hearts? He bears witness to us. He bears
witness to our spirit that you are children of God. Now, He does that secretly. He
doesn't come to you and speak to your natural ear and say,
hey, you're a son of God. He does this to your spirit. He bears witness to your spirit
that you're sons of God. And you know how that shows itself?
It's so practical the way that shows itself. You do something
after your conversion that you never really, from your heart,
did before conversion. You know what it is? Father. Father. Father. Father. Papa. Papa? I love what Jack calls Brad sometimes. He calls him Papa. You know,
that's the Greek word for father, father. It's Papa, Papa. You
cry that, don't you? Why do you cry that? Because
the Spirit of the trial in God has come into your heart. And
you are a true son of God, born of God. And you cry. And the Spirit cries in you,
Father, Father, why do you do that? Because God dwells there.
Why does He dwell there? Because He loves you with this
love of complacency. We have a faith that we never
had before. We weren't born with it. We have
a heart faith in Jesus, the Son of God. This is His commandment. that we believe on His Son, Jesus
Christ. Why did you obey that commandment? He gave you grace, didn't He?
You see, here's the difference, brothers and sisters, between
law and grace. The law commands all kinds of
things, but it don't give us any grace to do anything. The
old poem says, work, work, the law commands, but gives us neither
feet nor hands, but sweeter sounds the gospel brings. It bids us
fly and then gives us wings. It commands us to repent and
then grants us repentance. It commands us to come to God
through Christ and then draws us to God in Christ. He commands
us to love one another and gives us grace to love one another.
God begins a work of grace in the hearts of those whom He loves. Now, if you're here this morning
and God's never begun a work of grace in you, He's never broken
your heart, He's not drawn you to His Son, you really don't
have any grounds to say, I know God loves me. When you find yourself
in Christ, that's when you can say, God loves me. When you can
see a work of grace, and sometimes I know it's difficult to detect
a work of grace in your heart. Sometimes that's how secret it
is. But when you finally do detect it, you can say, why did God
work in me? Why is He working in me? And
the answer can only be the cause of this love of complacency. Historical faith is a good thing,
but it's not saving, is it? No, we need a heart faith, a
heart faith. We have a love that we never
had before, faith, hope, a spirit. If our confession of Jesus Christ
is true and honest, brothers and sisters, and we really believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and only Redeemer, And
if we truly love our brethren and our sisters in Christ, we
can have this confidence. God is dwelling in us. For where He dwells, He's a working
God, isn't He? He just doesn't command us to
do something and leave us to ourselves. He gives us grace
to do it. He works in us to do it. And He does so because He loves
us. We have known and believed the
love that God has to us. How do we know that, Bruce? Because
we felt our need of the Christ of the cross. We've seen Him
coming down and making an atonement. God has opened our heart to make
us feel our need of Him. And He satisfied that need. Thirdly, John says something
else here about this love of complacency. Where this love is in the heart, it will always make a man love
God back. If God loves you this way, then
there's going to come a time in your life He's going to so
work in your heart that you're going to love Him. Look what He says down in verse
19. We love Him. We love Him. Why do we love Him? Because He
first loved If God loves you, that love is
going to be reciprocal, and you're going to love Him back. Let me
ask you this question. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, do you really love Him?
I'm not saying, Bruce, I don't love Him perfectly. I'd be doubtful
of you if you told me that. I know you don't love Him perfectly. And I'm not asking if Your love
ever gets cold if you ever get indifferent. I know the answer
to that, too. I'm just asking you this. When
you search your heart of hearts, what thank you of Jesus Christ? What thank you of God? Do you
love Him? Well, if you love Him, if you
really love Him, if you love the person of Jesus Christ, If
you love those two natures that you see in Him, God and man,
if you love His miracles, you love His death, you love His
intercession, you love His salvation, you love His people, you love
His Word, if you love Him, it's because God loved you first. I tell you, our loving God is
almost as mysterious and wonderful as Him loving us, is it not?
I'm amazed that I love God. I spent all through my teenage
years, and one of the burdens of my heart was, boy, I just
don't love the way of the Lord. He was such a burden to me to
sit and listen to a sermon thirty minutes just kill me. Even to
sit and listen to an old song of Zion. I had no taste for it. We had to go to church, remember?
We had to go to church. I was the only one left at the
house, and I still had to go to church. Everybody else was
gone, and I still had to go, and I hated it. Man, did I hate
it. There's nothing more that I love
now than the gospel. than God, than
the Troned God. Is there you? Ain't this take
precedent over everything? Some of you have suffered for
the cause of Christ. You've been mocked, ridiculed.
You've suffered. But you glory in that. And why?
Because you love Him. You love Him. To tell an unbeliever who has
never experienced the work of grace in his heart that God loves
them is to tell them something that neither you nor they know. Do you love Christ? Do you really
love Christ? That God loves you? Not because
you love Christ, but you love Him because He loves you. And
He brings you to love Him back. We have known and believed the
love that God has to us is to be manifested. I love God today. I love Him. I don't love Him
as I should. Probably don't even love Him
as I could. But someday I will. But I love Him. I love Him. Look what he says in chapter
2, and I'll go to my last point in verse 8. Again, a new commandment I write
unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the
darkness is past. The darkness of sin, the darkness
of ignorance, the darkness of unbelief, the darkness of rebellion
and an old hard heart. The darkness is past. And the
true light now shines. Boy, that's a good way to describe
conversion, isn't it? I was going along in darkness.
I was in darkness, ignorant. And this light come and shined
into my heart and gave me the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And I love Him for it. I love
Him for it. My last point is this, brothers
and sisters. Where this love of complacency
dwells in the heart, it will never quit loving. That love will never give up.
That love will never fail to fight to the end. And it will
finally overcome all its obstacles. Look what he says in chapter
4 in verse 4. You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world. Who has the believer overcome? Well, is he not overcoming Satan? Can you imagine how frustrated
Satan must get when he comes to attack somebody like us? And
he thinks, man, I've got these guys. Look at them. They're nothing.
And he gives it his best shot. He beats in on our brains until
we're half crazy. But he can't overcome us. We
overcome him. He's got all this experience
and all this wisdom. And all we've got in our hearts
is the love of God, and we overcome Him. We've got a world that allures
us. Do you ever get allured by this
world? Its temporal advantages? Oh, my goodness. Some person said a while back,
they said, I can't understand why demons went back to the world.
I can. I can. Well, this world's attractive,
ain't it? It must be. Look at the people
that's engulfed in it. Dying in it. Why hasn't it overcome you? Why
have you overcome this world? One reason. Greater is He that
is in you in this love of complacency than he that's in the world.
You've overcome the wicked one. And the flesh, this vile, sinful,
fallen flesh, you're always warring against it, aren't you? It wars
against your soul and your spirit wars right back against it. And
you're in this warfare. I can tell you who's going to
overcome at last. This inner man, this new man. John said, we have overcome them
all. And it's because of this, this
love of God that's in our hearts. It'll never fail, brothers and
sisters. The love of Christ constrains us. And we just keep going. The
work is so slow, isn't it? I'm not about to get up here
and tell you, boy, I've got a maid. I prayed to step into heaven. The work goes on so slow. But
it goes on, doesn't it? And this is why. Why is this
so important? Well, look back in chapter 2
again. This is important for this reason. Look what John said
about some people who have professed the Lord. Look in verse 18, 1
John chapter 2, verse 18. Little children, it is the last
time. And as you have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know
that it is the last time. They went out from us. But they
were not of us. If they had been of us, they
no doubt would have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be manifested that they were not all of us. When somebody leaves this ministry
here, when somebody leaves the preaching of the gospel here,
it hurts. It hurts me. But if they leave
here and go to another place where the gospel is preached,
That takes the hurt away. Boy, you talk about the pain.
You felt it and I felt it. When we see somebody come here
and profess Jesus Christ and leave their profession of Him,
they leave the gospel altogether. That's what John is talking about.
They leave Christ. And you know what John said?
They're not out of us. They haven't left here and went
to another place to hear the gospel. They've left Christ.
They've left their profession of Christ. They've left the gospel. And why did they do that? If
they had been of us, they no doubt would have continued with
us. What's he saying there? He's
saying if God has begun a work of love in your heart, it's going
to continue. And if it ceases sometime and
you leave him and you leave your profession of him, it's because
you never knew him to start with. This love of complacency never
had begun to work in your heart. My friends, if God loves you
with this kind of love, it means something. It has some eternal
implications to it. He loved you and because He loved
you, He put your name down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Because
He loved you, He sent the Son of His love to bear your sin
and your curse. And because He loved you, He
sent the Holy Spirit and called you and regenerated you. And He'll never let you go. This
love will never let you go until He has you there in the Father's
house. Never. Now, did that help concerning
the love of God? I hope that helps you. I hope
it helps you. Go home and think about these
things. I know you will. Father, our gracious Father,
our merciful, merciful Father, Thank you for your word. It's
our light. It's our lamp. It's our roadmap. Thank you for giving it to us.
Thank you for your wisdom and declaring these things in your
word. Thank you for your work of grace in so many hearts. Those
who never loved you before, you brought to love you this morning
here in this place. And Lord, we praise you for it.
Thank you for your work of love. Thank you for these saints. We
pray for those who are sickly like Lethar. Lord, you're everywhere. You're
there with him this morning. Comfort him. Encourage him. Strengthen
his heart. Shed your love abroad in it.
O Lord, be mindful of the many, many needs we have here. Thank
You for this daily bread that has been supplied to us. Bless
it, and would You be pleased to bless our fellowship one with
another as we partake of this meal. In the name of our Lord
and our Savior, we pray, Amen.