1 John chapter 4. I want to begin reading here
in verse 7. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 7. And read a few of these verses.
1 John chapter 4 and verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and every
one that loveth is born of God and knows God. He that loveth
not knows 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 loved God. but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God
so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells
in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has 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
dwells in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwells
in love dwells 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 fears is not made perfect in love. We love him because
he first loved us. If a 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 loves God loves his brother also. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And every one
that loveth him that begate loveth him also that is begotten of
him. By this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.
And this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. And
His commandments are not grievous. Really, my text is found in verse
10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. John speaks in these verses about
many things concerning love. He speaks here about the believers'
love to God and the believers' love one to another. He tells
us that there in verse 19. We love Him. We love God. We love Him. And then He tells
us that we love one another. But He tells us the cause, doesn't
He? He tells us the cause of why we love God, if we do. And
He tells us the cause of why we love one another. We love
God because He first loved us. He done a work in our hearts
because He loved us. And then we love others because
we're born of God. He says there in verse 7, Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one
that loveth is born of God. It's impossible to be born of
God and not love. Sometimes we make that awful
statement that we've got to love Him. We've got to love Him. But
you know, love for a child of God is the most natural thing
in the world. I have, my dad's gone now, but
especially as I get older, I favor my dad. I favor him because I
have his DNA, I reckon. I sure, me and him both was bald-headed.
We have the same eyes, the same complexion. He's my earthly Father. And I have traits of my earthly
Father. And it's the same way with God
as our Father. If we're born of God, we have
certain traits of our heavenly Father. God is love. And when we're born of God, we're
born of love. And when John says here, let
us love one another, he's simply telling us to do what comes natural
to do because we're born of God. It's the most natural thing in
the world. How can we be born of God? How can we be born of
God who is love and not love? It's impossible, isn't it? It's
impossible. He that loveth not knoweth not God. Why? How can we be certain of that?
Because God is love. If we're born of God, we're born
of love. Our love for God is of the same
kind and same nature as His love is for us. Not the same degree. Ain't no way that it'd be the
same degree, but it's the same kind, isn't it? It's the very
same nature. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And when we're born of God, we
have a new creature who is born of God. And he has the same nature
of love. I love you with the same nature
of which God loves you. You love me with the same nature
and the same kind of love that God loves me with. Not to the
same degree, but to the very same kind. If we loved God as He deserves
to be loved, and we loved Him continually with all our hearts
and all our minds and our souls and strength, we'd only be loving
Him with a love that He's worthy of. There is a vast difference
in degree in the love that He has for us and that love we have
for Him. His love that He puts within
us is His love, His nature. But isn't there a vast degree
of difference when we say He loves us and we love Him? We
love Him. When the Lord Jesus comes into
our hearts, and casts out Satan and forgives us a mountain of
sin, it's no surprise that we love Him. It's no surprise that
we love Him. He said, He that's forgiven much
loveth much. But what's our love? Even though
we love Him greatly, what's our love for Him compared to His
love for us? Especially when our love diminishes. Sometimes when that flame grows
into a little flicker, and sometimes we wonder, Lord, am I going to
die? Is my love going to dry up and
fade? We never excuse those Ephesians
when the Lord Jesus rebuked them for leaving their first love.
But I tell you, I can understand it, can't you? I've experienced
it. One dear old poet, I think, explained
it very well. He said, Dear Lord, and shall
we ever lie at this poor dying rate? Our love so faint, so cold
to you, and yours to us so great. Oh, come Holy Spirit, heavenly
dove, with all your quickening powers, come shed abroad a Savior's
love, and that shall kindle ours. But it doesn't matter if our
love never diminishes. If we love Him so firmly every
day, and God bring it to pass, let us live in this. There's
no reason for our love to grow cold. There's grace to warm our
love. There's the knowledge of His
love for us. Surely that will kindle our love
for Him. But if we could love Him as He
deserves to be loved, we'd still have to say this, not that we
loved Him. but that He loved us. I doubt if anybody loved the
Lord Jesus more than these apostles in the early church. Look how
they denied themselves. Look how they traveled all over
the known world to spread His name, and they did it because
they loved Him. They had love for Christ and
love for humanity, and yet John makes this statement, Herein
is love, not that I loved him, but he loved me. That's where
his heart was set upon. You and I have some precious
missionaries. Some of you met one of them,
a dear man, and the Lord just smashed him right out after you
met him, didn't He? And we've got some good missionaries. I
just put Lance Heller. The last newsletter on the desk
out there with some pictures of him sitting out in a bunch
of old trees. You see it on the bulletin board
back there, teaching some of those tribal people. And I talked with him about some
of the roughest terrain in the world. He left Orange County. Anybody know anything about Orange
County? Most people in Orange County live pretty good, don't
they? A lot of them do, and he did, and his wife did. They had
a substantial amount of money. They left it all and went over
there in an ungodly place that he walks for miles on the little
trails and sometimes so muddy that he can't get up to those
tribal people. Dangerous, dangerous tribes, killing one another often. And he goes there to tell them
of the redeeming grace that's in Jesus Christ. And he does
it because he loves the Savior. But you know something? If you
started talking about Lance's love for Christ, he'd probably
blush. He'd say the same thing that
John did. Not that I love him. My love
for him is not to be compared. It's he loved me. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved me. You read John Foxe's book of
Martyrs? And how those people, while they were burning in the
flames, they rejoiced and they sang. So often they lifted up
their voices and sang. And you know something? You never
read where they sang, Oh, How I Love Jesus. Even if they went
ahead to say, Because He first loved me. But they sang songs
like this. Loved with an everlasting love. Led by grace that loved to know. Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me, it is so. Full and perfect peace, all this
transport, all divine, in a love that cannot cease, I am His and
He is mine. I am His by love. He has begotten me by love. Elect
in love, redeem in love, call in love. here in His love, not
that we loved Him, but that He loved us. Here's my first point. I've got four little points.
It won't take me very long, and we'll go eat breakfast. My first
point is this. God's motive for loving us cannot
be found but only in Himself. God's motive for loving His people. And that's who He's talking about,
isn't it? Three times here, He said, Beloved, Beloved, Beloved. He's speaking to us. He doesn't
love us because of anything He sees in us. Listen to our text. Not that we loved God, but, but
He loved us. I want you to turn over to David's
confession over in Psalms 116. Look at David's confession of
his love for the Lord. And here's the difference between
our love for the Lord and His love for us. Nobody, not even
King David, ever loved the Lord for nothing. No man, no poor
sinner ever loves the Lord for nothing. It's not that he goes
outside and looks up in heaven and says, there's got to be a
Creator. God had to do this and He must
be so mighty. He must be so powerful and holy. And I'm going to love Him. I'm
going to love Him. I see in Him such glory and I'm
going to love Him. And you know, we don't even love
the Lord Jesus until He does something for us. He's altogether
lovely, isn't He? Why, He's called the Rose of
Sharon. He's called the Lily of the Valley. Someone was telling about the
little rabbits there in Palestine where the foxes would get after
them. And those little rabbits would run into those lilies. And there was such a sweet fragrance
about him, the fox couldn't pick up the scent of the rabbit. You
know, Jesus Christ is called the Lily of the Valley because
of His sweet fragrance. But that means nothing to a lost
sinner, does it? Until the Lord comes and reveals
His sweetness, reveals His mercies, forgives his sin, hears his cry
for grace, And then when the Lord delivers him, he said, oh,
I love you, I love you, I love you. But it's a cause love, isn't
it? Look here how David says in verse
1, Psalm 116, I love the Lord, and he did too. But look at this,
because he hath heard my voice and my supplication, because
he hath inclined his ear unto me, Therefore will I call upon
Him all the days of my life. The sorrows of death can pass
me. The pains of hell God hold upon
me. I found trouble. I found sorrow. Then I called upon the name of
the Lord, and I said, O Lord, I beseech You, deliver me. Gracious
is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. He preserveth
the simple. I was brought low, and He helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee, for thou hast delivered
my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling."
We do not love Him for nothing, do we? There is a reason. It
is cause. He saved us. He had mercy upon
us. He forgave us. Look back over. Look back over. in chapter 42,
or 14 in Psalms. Look over in 14th chapter of
Psalms. You see there why David loved
the Lord and why we love the Lord. But what is there in us that would motivate God to love
us? Look in chapter 14 of Psalms. Psalm chapter 14. Look at a couple
of places you're with me. Quickly, look at Psalm chapter
14 and look in verse 2. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there was any that did understand
and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Now I want you to turn over the
New Testament and look how this is quoted in the New Testament
in Romans chapter 3. Look in Romans chapter 3. And look in verse 9. Romans chapter 3 and verse 9.
What then? Are we Jews better than they,
than the Gentiles? No, and no wise. But we have
before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. We just read that, didn't we?
There is none that understands. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are altogether
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asp
is under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, their feet are swept to shed blood, destruction
and misery is in their way, the way of peace they have not known,
there is no fear of God before their eyes." And look at this,
they've got something against them, the law of God. Now we
know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world become guilty. before God. Now, brothers and
sisters, when the Lord looks down from heaven, and He does,
when He looks upon us as we're born to live our lives in this
world, what is it in us that would motivate God to love us?
Can you find the thing in you that would appeal to Him? If
you can, you're a better person than I am. And if you can, you
probably not judge yourself according to the Scriptures. Because there's
nothing good in any of us. Why would God? What would motivate
Him to love us? But look here, let's go one step
further. Look over in the 8th chapter and look in verse 5. Look at this. Look in the 8th chapter and look
in verse 5, what He says here. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind, the unregenerate mind, is enmity against God. For God to love somebody that
loves Him, that's still marvelous love, isn't it? And for God to
love a good man, for God to love the angels, I bet they marvel.
I bet those holy angels marvel that God loves them, His creatures,
His holy creatures. That's a marvel. For God to look and see us as
we are in our nature and full of corruption and sin and rebellion. That's a miracle above miracles.
That's almost unexplainable, incomprehensible. But it goes
further than that. For God to love His enemies.
He loved us when we were His enemies. And the question is,
what motive is in God for loving such as we are? And the answer
has to be, the motive is found in Himself and not outside of
Himself. He loves us because He loves
us. The Bible says that light has
come into the world and men love darkness. When they see the light,
they hate it. They love darkness rather than
light. When I was a young man, I hated
to go to church. Man, I hated to go to church.
Little Bella. I was like little Bella. Are
we done yet? Are we done? I want it out of
there. If I went a day, if I went a week or a month and I never
thought on God, I never had a thought of God, I tell you, it made me
happy. It made me happy. It made me afraid and miserable
when the thoughts come to my heart about God. It made me miserable. I hated the light. I didn't want
God to be my Lord. I didn't want Him to dictate
to me. I did not want Him pressing His demands and His rights upon
me. If I'd have had the nerve, I'd
have said what Pharaoh said. Who is the Lord? That I should
obey Him. I just didn't have the nerve
to do it. But that's what I desire. I hated darkness rather than
light. Depart from me. I desire not
the knowledge of your ways. Have you ever been there? Have
you ever been there? Aren't you amazed then when you
look back upon your life and sin and deadness and your foolishness
and enmity against God that He loved you then? He loved you
then? Spurgeon asked a lady in his
congregation one time, he said, he said, he said, Do you believe
and understand that God loved you before you were born? And
she said, Dear Mr. Spurgeon, I know this much. If
He didn't love me before I was born, He couldn't have loved
me after I was born. That's it, isn't it? You know
what the Bible says? But God who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin. Here in His love, we see that
love because the motive for His love is found in Himself. Here in His love. Not that we
loved Him, but that He loved us. And that's my second point. This is wonderful when we think
of this. Our text says this, not that we loved Him, but He loved us. He loved us. And here's something else that
would go a long way in explaining the love of God to us when we
consider this, the vast difference between Him and us. He loved us. Amazing love! How can it be that
thou, my God, should love me? I went to listen
to an astronomer. He seemed to be a converted man
years ago, back in the seventies. to listen to him. He came up
in this area and he was an astronomer from down south. And he preached
the message, what is man, that they aren't mindful of him. When
I consider the heavens, the works of your hands, the moon and the
stars that you've made, what is man? And he said at that time,
they could take the largest telescope that they had. And if they had
a way to get it to the nearest star, and point it back towards
your earth. They couldn't see her. He said
that's how insignificant this earth is in the whole realm of
creation. It's just a tiny ball out here
in the middle of this vast universe. And if this earth that seems
so big to us is so insignificant, what are you and what am I? before God. I was studying a little bit on
the universe, and they tell us this Milky Way, that we live
in this Milky Way galaxy. And a long, long time ago, they
thought this was the entire universe. They had no way of looking outside
our Milky Way galaxy. And they said, my, what a tremendous
universe this is. Now we're outside our little
galaxy. They said when they managed to
get outside of our galaxy, there are billions of galaxies. They know no end to it. And each
galaxy has its billions of stars. That's the vastness of this universe. And yet you know what the Lord
says? Do not I fill heaven and the earth, saith the Lord. He
is so immense. that He fills this universe. No, really, this universe is
in Him, isn't it? He's not so much in the universe
as the universe is in Him. That's the immensity of His glorious
person. Have you ever went out to your
garden or you're going fishing and you've dug some worms and
you pick a little worm up and you get acquainted with it? I
challenge you to do that. I do some strange things. I go
through the cemetery and preach to the dead people. I do some
strange things. The next time you dig up a little
red worm, pull it up and look at it. Don't have any eyes. Full
of mud. And look at it. And talk to it. Get acquainted with it. Look
at the difference between that worm that has its being in the
dust and lives in little channels before it dies. Look at the difference
between that worm and yourself. He's confined to the dust. You're
free. You go everywhere. Your thoughts
are free. You can put these thoughts together.
You can breathe fresh air. He's down there in the dirt,
eating dirt. There is a vast difference between
you and that worm. But listen, you have more in
common with that worm than God has with you. There is not near as much distinction
between you and God as there is between you and that worm. And yet He loves you. He loves
you. How does it make you feel to
think this immense, eternal Being loves you? John said, here in
His love, that He loved us. That's astounding, isn't it?
As I've gotten older, I look back on my dad and my mom, And
I am so disappointed, and to say the least, of my whole attitude
while I was growing up as a young man. My attitude towards my dad,
I didn't respect him. I was a rebellious brat. He should have beat me daily.
Looking back now, I wish he'd have tucked me out and beat me
daily to try to beat some sense in me. Rude sometimes to my mother. But as I get older, and look
back upon my mom and my dad and remember now what I didn't know
then and didn't consider then, some of their troubles, the heartaches
they went through. I saw both of them break down
and weep when they sent my brother's body back from Vietnam. This
broke their hearts. I didn't even consider the trouble
that they were going through. And yet, in all their heartaches
and sorrow that they had to go through, they cared for me. They made sure that I was safe
and taught and dressed. They raised me. And as I look
back now, I think, I had a dad and mom that loved me. In spite
of all their troubles, if you're a young person and you've got
a dad and mom and they're still living, here's what I would do.
I would go up and kiss my dad right on the cheek and say, Dad,
I love you. And give your mom a smacker right
in the mouth and say, I just wanted you to know I loved you.
I love you. I love you. I can't believe you
love me. But what's that? What's that
love of a parent? compared to the love of God. It's nothing. It's not to be
compared. Herein is love. Not that we loved
Him, but that He loved us. Can you hardly believe it? Can
you hardly believe it? I can hardly believe it. When
He formed me in the womb, He loved me. He separated me from my mother's
womb. He cared for me. He watched over
me. When all the powers of hell was
against me, He protected me. He saved me until He saved me. He saved me until He called me
and redeemed me. And all of these years now, He's
been holding me up Underneath are His everlasting arms. And
He has never refused to forgive my sins and be a tender Father
to me and promise when this life is over He would send His angels
and they would bundle me up and carry me up to His house. And
I with undimmed eyes and an unsinning heart would see Him and worship
Him. Brothers and sisters, that is
love. That is love. Amazing love. How can it be? How can it be? But there it is.
He loved us. God help us never get over that.
Never get over that. Thirdly, consider this with me.
John tells us something else about this love here. It's God's
love that took the initiative in restoring us to Himself. Notice what He said in my text.
In verse 10, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son. He sent His Son. You know there weren't many looking
for the Lord Jesus when He came, was there? A few hearts the Lord
had stirred up. The Holy Spirit had come and
stirred up their hearts. Oh, Simeon there in the temple, Anna,
those wise men came from the east, but there weren't many
looking for His kind. If the Lord had waited until
the world got together and bombarded heaven begging and pleading to
send Your Son, He never would have sent Him. He come unsought. And when He
got you, He was unwelcomed and unloved. But God sent Him. And the motive, we're told here,
for sending Him was His love. It's the same way in salvation,
is it not? It's always love that takes the
initiative. Spurgeon said in his day, they
were talking about if the sinner will just take the first step,
God will take the second step. If the sinner will just take
the first step, and Spurgeon said, well, that's the miracle,
isn't it? He said it wouldn't be a miracle
to take a second step or a third step. It's the first step. No
sinner ever took the initiative to come to the Lord to be saved
until the Lord comes to him. And here's what motivates Him
to come. He loved us. He loved us. When the Lord come to Israel,
He came to the nation, I guess probably the most deplorable
time in the history of that nation. And I say this because you say,
Bruce, they had a lot of religion. They did, didn't they? Larry's
been telling us about it. Blasphemers. against the Holy
Ghost, many of them were. Full of devils, disease and oppression. Then why did He come? He came
because love sent Him. Here in His love, God sent His
Son. And it's always that way. It's
always that way. I was reading a little story
about John Williams. great preacher just right after
Whitefield. He was in a little, they had
a little mob, young men, teenagers, and they sent John Williams into
George Whitefield's church to see what time it was. George
Whitefield was a preacher and John Williams came in the door
and the clock was on the back of the wall so he had to come
in to look back up and see the clock. And when he got in there,
he couldn't leave. Love arrested him. He began to
hear. Never heard before. Had no desire,
no love, no need for the Lord. And suddenly he was arrested
and sat down. And the group of his mob out
there waiting on him was mad at him that he never came back
out. You know the Bible tells us to
seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He's
near. But you know there's another verse that says, I was found
of them that sought me not. Ain't that amazing? I said, behold
me! Behold me! To a nation that asks
not after me. That's amazing. How could that
be? Love takes the initiative. It always takes the initiative.
That little fellow, what was his name? Zacchaeus. Climbed
up in the sycamore tree. And he climbed up there out of
curiosity. He had heard about Christ and
he just wanted to climb up there and see who he was and what he
looked like and everything. And he climbed up in that sycamore
tree. He was just going to watch the Lord as he passed by. But
the Lord didn't pass by. Why didn't he pass by? Love.
It was the time of love. And he stopped and looked up
and said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. Make haste and
come down. Today I must abide. I must abide
at your house. I must abide. Love insists on
it. I must abide. Wouldn't it be
wonderful if somebody had just come in here today and had no
thoughts of seeking the Lord? And all of a sudden the Lord
spoke to you and said, I must abide at your house today. Just
suddenly, what is it that causes the Lord to come and save us?
God loved us and sent His Son. And this is my last point. Notice
the kind of love this love of God is. Here is a love that gave
its all, that sacrificed its all to save us from our most
deplorable and inexcusable state. Herein is love that God sent
His Son to be the atoning victim for our sins. Oh, here is love, isn't it? Here
is love. He didn't send Him for our goodness.
He didn't send Him for any potential just to be an example that we
should follow Him and remodel ourselves. Look at Him and live like He
did and you'll be a better man. No, no. Look at Him hanging on the cross.
We can't be saved apart from Him shedding His blood, pouring
it out in shame and humiliation. And why did He do it? Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life, a man
lay down his life for his friends. There was but one way. to redeem
us and restore us to God. And that was Christ and Him crucified. But, oh, brothers and sisters,
please, please don't think that that was an easy thing for Him
to do. The most difficult thing the
Son of God ever did was redeem His people. He failed it. I'm not of those
who believe in a God who cannot feel and has no emotions. He's not a robot made out of
some metal. He's a feeling God, isn't He?
And we see the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and
He began to sweat this blood out of the pores of His skin.
And he got under such a load about it and emotional about
it. He said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. If we can redeem my people any
other way, let's do it. There was no other way. He had
to die. He had to suffer. He had to take
our sins. He had to undergo the awful wrath
of God. But how fillin'? Oh, with what
fillin'? The Bible says He grieved. The
Bible says He groaned. The Bible says He cried. The
Bible says He wept. How was He fillin' when He lifted
up His voice and said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken? The old poet said, with strength
enough, but non-despair. And why did he do it? Why would
he undergo that? Love. Love. And consider this about the Father.
Because it was the Father that sent His only begotten Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. How did the Father feel? What
was his reaction? What was he feeling in his heart?
You say, Bruce, you shouldn't talk about God this way. You
know God can rejoice? You know God can laugh? You know
God sings? If anybody has feelings, it's
Him. Do you feel things? Somebody
says, I wouldn't give my son, I wouldn't either. But if you
did, how would you feel? Then multiply that by infinity,
and we probably see how God feels. Marvin Stoniker preached a message
a while back on Jephthah, when he sacrificed his daughter, gave
his daughter for a burnt offering. And as he was preaching that
message, and he was talking about how Jephthah failed, And this
was his only child. He had no child, no son or daughter
apart from this. And he saw his daughter come
out. He knew he had already bowed to the Lord. The first one that
meets me, I'm going to offer them for a burnt offer. And here
comes his daughter. He grabs his coat and tears it
off of him. Tears his shirt off of him. And
there he stands with tears running down his face. And he said, girl,
you brought me to nothing. You have troubled my heart, because
I've done went to the Lord and vowed that I'd offer the first
one that met me out of my house. And as Marvin was preaching that,
I thought, if that's a beautiful picture of Christ being sacrificed,
and it was such a precious sacrifice, did God feel like Japheth? How could God have felt? when
His Son was hanging there made sin, when He saw the sin in Him,
and He poured out His wrath upon Him. How did He feel? I don't know. I don't know. But
I know this much. I know why He did it. I know
why He sent His Son. Because He loved us. He loved
us. He endured that because He loved
us. God spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us without any hesitation,
without any questioning. He did it willingly and lovingly. Why? Because you are in His love. This is life. God bless His Word.