The Love Of God

Introduction

I ask that you turn in your Bibles, if you would, please, to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. In just a few moments, we’re going to read from that opening as we begin our study together this morning from the Word of God. As I am beginning, let me first of all say thank you for the great privilege you have afforded me to be with you this Lord’s Day. Marilyn and I are glad to be here together and to join with you in this exercise of worship to do what the Bible says, and that is, of course, to worship our Heavenly Father in spirit and in truth. What a great blessing. What a great opportunity that is. So many people in the audience this morning, friends and loved ones, so many people that I would like to mention by name.

I’ll not do that. Surely you know who you are, that we love and appreciate you so very much. If you wonder if I love you, just ask me and I’ll tell you later. But we’re certainly glad to be here and certainly excited even this evening, Lord willing at that time, to talk about gospel work in Ethiopia, something that is very near and dear to my heart and even to Maryland now as he has been joining with me in that work. John 3 and verse 16. How many times have you read it? Let’s do it again. John 3 and verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If there is one thing the world believes about God, if the world believes in God at all, if there is one thing the world believes about God, the world believes that God is a God of love.

God loves me. God is a God of love, and God loves me. And so again, if the world believes, if the world has faith in God at all, that’s something that the world believes. It hasn’t always been that way. For example, world history will tell us that in times past, people worship the gods because the gods were malicious or whimsical, that they were arbitrary, that they were capricious. And so, if you have a very vicious God, in order to appease the wrath of that vicious God, you then have to sacrifice your child, for example, to that God. And so you want to avert the anger of that God, and so here is my child. I’ll just put my child on this altar, the sacrifice to this God.

In exchange for that, if you have appeased the wrath of that God, this angry, malicious God, you expect that God to do something for you. In the history of our own country, for example, in the 1730s and 1740s, the great religious awakening, the emphasis there has shifted as you see gospel work and Christendom, I’m putting that in quotation marks, unfolding as our nation is growing and becoming this great nation as we know it today. You’ll read about God’s wrath, for example. We’re talking about the love of God, but Jonathan Edwards, for example, if you’ve read about him in World History Class or American history, Jonathan Edwards preached this famous sermon that is still extant today, sinners in the hands of an angry God. And the emphasis is on the anger of God.

The anger of God, the wrath of God, as it is poured out on sinners. And after all, Psalm 7 in verse 11 says that God is angry with the sinner every day. So surely God will be angry with the sinner. And so at various times you have various understandings and emphasis on who God is, as a God of wrath, as a God of judgment, as a God who has to, in some way be appeased because he is an arbitrary, capricious God. Today I would say this again. Today, if people believe at all, today, if people believe at all, they believe that God is indeed a God of love. You believe God loves you, yes. God loves you. Certainly the Bible says that. That’s what John 3 and verse 16 tells us.

We find it easy to believe that God loves us. We find it rather easy to believe that God loves all people. We may be comfortable about God’s love, but I would suggest to you that maybe we have faulty notions really about what the love of God is. We may have spongy ideas in our understanding about God’s love. Have you ever said something like this? Have you ever said, well, I love God, but it’s everybody else. I can’t stand. I love God. It’s all these other Christians around me that are really getting on my nerves. And so I want God to love me, and I want to love God. can those two ideas exist harmoniously, side by side? can you and I say that I love God, but everybody else, well, I could really just do without them.

You’re not going to say that’s a good thing. Sometimes people say, well, God is a God of love. Jesus certainly loves us. We sing the song Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And you know, Jesus didn’t judge people, and so if everybody would just be like Jesus is, the world would be a better place. And there’s no doubt about that. If we would all act like Jesus acted, we’d be better people, and all these kinds of good results would follow. The reality, of course, is that when people say Jesus is someone who loves us, and Jesus didn’t judge people, they’re really making an assumption about Jesus. They’re making an assumption about the judgment of God. That Jesus is non-judgmental, that Jesus didn’t ever condemn anyone or anything.

Really, what that’s saying is you can just do as you please. That is, you can live your life as you see fit, and you don’t sit in judgment on someone else. And certainly that precludes someone sitting in judgment on you as well. Everybody knows what Matthew 7 and verse 1 says. Judge not that you what? That you be not judged. You know what that passage says. But it also says later on in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7 and verse 6, that we want, we don’t want to give that which is holy to the dogs. How do you make a judgment about that? How do you decide who the dog is? How do you decide where you’re going to cast your pearls? And so a judgment has to be made.

Certainly it is true that some Christians, probably none of you, but some Christians are rather mean and ill-tempered. That’s true, but at the same time, we still have to make discriminating judgments about our own lives. A parent might say to the young person, the young man or the young lady, or both, I want you to go out and have a good time, but I want you to be home at midnight. And so, what is that parent doing? That parent is making a judgment about the relative safety of this young person. We expect you to be home at such a time. Or don’t take drugs. What about that? You ever say to your children, don’t take drugs? What are you saying? You’re making a judgment, an evaluation as to how you want this young person to conduct himself or herself.

Or even Jesus said, John 8 32, you shall know the truth in what? The truth shall make you free. Isn’t that a discriminating judgment? Isn’t that drawing the line somewhere? So the reality is when we begin talking about the love of God, we certainly have much revealed to us about the love of God. But let’s understand what the love of God is. Let’s understand what God says his love is and appropriate it to our lives. Let it be the motivation, the emphasis for who we are as the people of God, but to understand what it’s all about. Let’s read again this time from John 3, beginning in verse 16, but let’s read down through verse 21. John 3 and verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Verse 20. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God. And so as we think about God who loves us in our lesson this morning, let’s try to understand better what John is saying to us, and then of course make an application in our lives.

1. It Is Simply Astonishing That God Loves Us

How do you preach without the PowerPoint? Here it is, Tony. Here’s the first point. Here’s the first point. Here’s the first big point of our lesson. And it is this. It is simply astonishing. It is simply astonishing that God loves us. How about that? It is simply astonishing that God loves us, but here’s another question. Do we think of God’s love in those terms? That is, do we think it is astonishing that God loves us? I’m afraid sometimes we don’t think that way. What we say is, no, it’s not astonishing that God loves us because God should love me. I mean, after all, look at me. I’m a relatively nice guy. I’m in good humor most of the time. You can tell by looking, I’m suave and debonair.

And so, I mean, God would be foolish not to love me, right? I mean, I’m I’m an American and I live in Texas. And so God should love me above all people, you see. God would be foolish not to love me. What is there not to love? You think about that. You think about this young man who is dating this young lady. And when this young man who is dating this young lady says to the young lady, I love you. When the young man says to the young lady, I love you, what is he saying? He’s saying everything about you.

Your personality, wow. I’ve never made anybody. There’s nothing about you that I don’t love. He’s not saying to her, I love you, but really you need to brush your teeth, and you’re kind of irritating sometimes, and you haven’t combed your hair, but really I do love you. That’s not what he’s saying. He says, Everything about you, everything about you I love. And then you see, the Lord comes along and he says to you and me, I love you. That’s what John 3.16 says. You can look at it again. You know what it says. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. See, God comes along and he says to you and me, I love you.

But what is he saying? Is he saying, I love your personality? I love the way you look on the outside. I love your smart sparkling wit. I love all of these good things about you, your ability to make conversation. You’re so cute. I mean, the world is so lovable. All of that is biblical nonsense. The world in John chapter 3 is a world that is messed up. It is messed up because of sin. It is messed up because of alienation, because of rebellion, because of stubbornness. It is a world that is condemned, stands condemned because of its own rebellion and lack of attention to the will of God. Even to the fact, the grand sweeping statement that God loves the world. Deuteronomy 7 and verse 7.

I don’t have my Old Testament. Tony, read that for me, will you? Deuteronomy 7 and verse 7. He’s going to read it real loud, and y’all are going to listen. Moses wrote Deuteronomy. You all have been studying it, evidently. Lord did not set his love like you nor choose you. Because you were born in number of the any of the stop right there. What Moses, the Lord through Moses, is telling the Israelites listen, it’s not who you are. It’s not what you’ve done. It’s not because of some great accomplishment upon your part. The Lord says, I’m not in need of great numbers to accomplish my will. But I have set my love upon you. Look in chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, one more passage since we have this open.

Look in chapter 8 and verse 18. Deuteronomy 8.18, please, sir. But you shall remember the Lord your God for the Lord. That you may confirm his covenant, which he worth your fathers as it is this day. Alright, thank you. What the Lord says is listen, folks, when you get to the promised land, remember how you got there. When you get to the promised land, remember where these blessings have come from. When you get to the promised land, remember you’re going to have houses and crops and all of these blessings, and it’s because of me. Now what we say, listen, God should love us. After all, look at us. Look how good we are. Look at what we’ve done. Look at all of these great accomplishments, even in the name of the Lord, even in the kingdom of God.

Again, I would say the world of John, in John 3 and verse 16, a world of hatefulness, a world of idolatry, of wickedness. Look in John chapter 1 and verse 10. Look in John 1 and verse 10, it says this. He that is Christ. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came into his own, and his own received him not. That is, he comes to this world. The word became flesh and dwelt among men. He came to bring about salvation from sin. He makes it possible by the very act of leaving heaven and coming to this earth and ultimately giving up his life, dying on the cross for our sins. Yet they did not know him.

That doesn’t mean they didn’t see him, or that they didn’t recognize some of the things that he was doing. It means that they were failing to enter into a covenant relationship with him. I want you to look at this passage, look in chapter 3. Again, verse 19, we have read this again. Again, we will. This is the condemnation that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. The exposure of light shows where the dirt is.

That is the value of light. Really, that is the task, the responsibility of life. And we have a responsibility to the light as well, that we would open our hearts to God’s will. And that’s what John is helping us understand. Now, when you and I read John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, we are the world. You are the world. We’re the world crippled by sin. And we need for God to love us, I’ll tell you, and the fact that God loves us is astonishing. I think about pride sometimes. Do you ever think about pride? Pride is dangerous. Pride is subtle. It is certainly greedy. Pride is a greedy for glory. And I’ll tell you what ends up happening in our lives.

I believe it’s Ezekiel 14 in verse 4, where the prophet says that we have idols in our hearts. And the biggest idol that we can have in our hearts is self. And that we want the glory for ourselves. And that’s why we say, it’s not astonishing that God should love us. God should love us. After all, look at who we are. Isaiah 48 in verse 11. I won’t turn there or ask Tony to do it, but what that says is, I will not. The Lord says, I will not give my glory to another. I will not give my glory to another. And when we persist in sin and rebellion before God, really we’re trying to take glory away from God.

2. The Measure of God's Love Is Jesus

It is astonishing that God loves us, but the means of God’s love for us is Jesus. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. But I want you to be turning to John 17, if you would please. Look in that chapter with me, John chapter 17. Interspersed throughout John’s gospel, you know this perfectly well. Interspersed throughout John’s gospel, often you find Jesus saying to the Father, I love you. And you find the Father saying, Here is the love that I have for my son. And that’s what this chapter is talking to us about. For example, look in verse 23, John 17, 23. I in them and you in me, that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

He’s praying for the disciples that would remain. Jesus will soon die on the cross. I’m leaving you behind, and I want you to be united in love for each other. And here is that example that the Father loves me, and I love the Father as well. Continue. Look in verse 24. Father, I desire that they also, whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me for you. Now listen to this, for you have loved me before the foundation of the world. You think about the fact that here you have Father and Son, you have God enjoying perfect fellowship before the creation of the world. We might say something like this. Would you agree if I were to say, really, ultimately, God doesn’t need us?

That is, he is not dependent upon us. We are dependent upon him. And so you have God and his son enjoying this perfect fellowship before the creation of the world. But then God created the heavens and the earth, and here we are, and we have life and breath and all things and the opportunity to be in a relationship with God. But then what did we do? We sinned. We just thumbed our noses at God. But he has still chosen to save us in spite of how we have acted. In fact, Paul talks about this in Romans 5. If we had time, we could look at that. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. You want to know who the ungodly people are? The people you’re sitting by.

Just look to your right, look to your left. We’re the ungodly people for whom Jesus died. Look in John 6. Did I ask you to look in John 6? I don’t think so. Look in John 6, beginning in verse 37. God has chosen to save us. John 6 and verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given, of all he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up in the last day.

Now listen to verse 40. And this is the will of him who sent me. That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up in the last day. You see, God loves you and me so much that he gave himself. God loves us so much that he gave himself. So the measure of God’s love is Jesus. What does that mean? At least two things. I would say, first of all, giving Jesus costs something. We say, well, it’s God, and God gave his son, and God has everything. Really, it’s no big deal for God to do that. The reality is it cost, it cost for Jesus to come. Parents, you think about this. Parents, would you gladly sacrifice the life of your child to save somebody else’s life?

Would you gladly sacrifice the life of your child to save somebody else’s life? We know how we would struggle with that, don’t we? The second thing I would say is when we talk about the love of God, when we talk about the love of Jesus, it shows us the kind of love that Jesus has. He shows us the kind of love that Jesus has for all of us. So the question is, what kind of love does he have? Well, for example, when he saw the multitudes without a shepherd, he had compassion on them. That’s in Mark chapter 9. In Matthew 19, he says to the little children, let them come to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven. He loved these little children. He knew who they were and what they were all about.

Even in Matthew 23, after this stinging denunciation of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, you hypocrites, you scribes, you’re clean on the outside, but you’re filthy on the inside. Even after all of that, as he looks over the city of Jerusalem, he says, How oft would I, but ye would not. As a as a hen gathers her chips under her wings, I would have gathered you to myself, but ye would not. He loved. He loves the world. I want you to think about this. Look in Luke chapter 23 and verse 34. For six hours, for six hours, Jesus hangs on the cross. An ordinary criminal would shriek in pain as the stakes are driven through his hands and feet. Jesus cries. He cries out, Father, why have you forsaken me?

To feel the enormity of the weight, the sins of the world. If Jesus is there on the cross, you and I might say, well, now, listen, it’s okay with us if he would just think of himself. There he is. All of the suffering that is taking place. It’s okay, you see, as far as I’m concerned, if Jesus would just maybe focus on himself for a little while. But did he do that? That’s what you and I would probably do. But I’ll tell you what Jesus did, even on the cross, he’s thinking of others. He’s not thinking of their villainy, he’s not thinking of their harshness, he’s not thinking of them with malice. Luke 23 and verse 34. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

3. Why Does God Love Us? That We Might Have Life

And they divided his garments and cast lot. You know, when Jesus says this, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He’s praying for you. He’s praying for me. I don’t know if you write in your Bible if you make notes, but if you do, write your name right by that passage. Just write your name right by that passage because you’re the one for whom Jesus prays. The third point of our lesson is this. Why does God love us? It is astonishing that God loves us, number one. Number two, the measure of God’s love for us is Jesus. Number three, why does God love us? It’s that we might have life. We might have life. Now let’s go back to John 3 and verse 16.

John 3 and verse 16, for God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son. But I want you to look in verse 18. John 3 and verse 18. He who believes in him is not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. We’ve got to believe, we’ve got to come to the Lord, and when we do that, we will not perish, but we will have eternal life. Jesus does not come to condemn, he comes to save. That is, there is a purpose to the death of Jesus. You think about it now. You are the reason Jesus came to this earth. I’m the reason. Jesus came to this earth to give up his life, to die on the cross for all of us.

He was not a victim. You remember John 10 and verse 17, Jesus says, I lay down my life, I take it up again. He was willing to endure the cross. I must go to Jerusalem and there die for all people. He is not simply an abstract lesson. He is not merely an example. He is an example, but not merely an example. Jesus went to the cross to save people who were condemned. Jesus went to the cross to save people who are hanging there already in condemnation because of their sins. And guess what? That’s you and me. That’s why he died. Look in John chapter 6 as an illustration, one among many in the Gospel of John, about this business of life. God wants us to live in him, to have spiritual life.

John chapter 6 is about the loaves and the fishes. You know that Jesus fed the multitude by a thousand plus. They are all fed in one day. Now the next day, what happens? They come back. I mean, they were not fools. They were saying, This man, he’s our meal ticket. We want more food, you see. I want you to look in John chapter 6 and verse 26. Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Now, again, we judge them harshly because of that, but put yourself in their place. They probably had the best meal they’ve ever had the day before. And here is this man who is able to do this for us.

So we’ve got to find him. What does he say? He says, Okay, you come back, you want some food? I’ll give you some food. I’ll give you some food, and after you eat the food that I give you, guess what? You won’t ever be hungry again. Just like he told the woman at the well in John 4. I’ll give you a drink of water. When you drink the water I give you won’t ever be thirsty again. Verse 27. Look at it with me. John 6, 27. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him. And so you have Jesus saying, Here is the food that perishes.

That would be like the manna in the wilderness, as God rains down manna, food from heaven. That’s over there in Psalm 78. The food of angels. Angel food cake. Is this thing still on? I want you to look in John 6 and verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. What about that? Are we hungry spiritually? Are we thirsty spiritually? Do we have that insatiable appetite? That’s what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, hunger and thirst after righteousness. Do you and I have that you and I have that insatiable curiosity, that insatiable longing for who Christ is, for the words of Christ, for the relationship that he provides for us.

Are we alive in Christ? Look again in John 6 and verse 48 this time. I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. And you can have this bread. That’s when he says, Eat my flesh and drink my blood. I’ll say this parenthetically, y’all can talk about it later. I don’t believe that’s talking about the Lord’s supper. I believe it’s talking about the words of Christ, the teaching that Christ did. Now, to seal that, at least in my mind, look in chapter 6 and verse 63. It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. How do we understand what Jesus says? These words are spirit. I believe he’s saying these are spiritual words.

Certainly they emanate from the Holy Spirit of God, as we’re reading the revelation of God, but they bring spiritual life to us. We have physical life. But the reality is you and I, we can be alive. We’re all alive right now. But read Ephesians 2, we can be dead. We can be dead people walking around, but we want to be alive in Christ. And that’s what this passage is helping us understand. It certainly says that we don’t live by bread alone. You see, that’s that hard lesson the Israelites needed to learn over there in Deuteronomy. Look this time in chapter 6 and verse 53. Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in him.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Everybody’s going to be raised. He’s talking about being raised up to life and light and immortality through the gospel. Now, before we leave this chapter, look in chapter 6 and verse 68. Jesus is talking to these people. Eat my flesh, drink my blood. What did they say? They recoiled at that. This is a hard saying. We can’t accept this. That’s preposterous. That’s a commitment that we can’t make, even if we understand surely they didn’t the full implications of that. So the disciples, verse 66, went back and walked no more with them. Disciples did that now. Do we have any disciples here this morning? Surely we do.

4. The Means by Which We Enjoy God's Love: Faith

The disciples went back and walked no more with them. Are you going to go away? Jesus said to the twelve. Now, verse 68. But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. So there is that correlation. There is that relationship between what Christ teaches and the spiritual life that he wants to provide for all of us. Alright, are you still with me? Here’s the last point of our lesson. Number four, the means by which we enjoy God’s love. The means by which we enjoy the life that God gives to us. Faith. Faith. Look in John 3 and verse 16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I don’t know how it is here, but I would say where I am and other places. When we read John 3 16, we preachers do this. Maybe we’re irresistibly strong to say something like this. We just can’t help ourselves. Yes, we’re saved by faith, but it’s not by faith alone. And that’s true, and I think we say that because the doctrine of salvation by faith alone is so prominent in the denominational world. I get that. But the reality is John doesn’t do that, you see. John didn’t give us John 3.16 and say parenthetically, here’s a footnote, but it’s not by faith alone.

He’s using faith in a comprehensive sense. I want you to look at this. John talks about faith often, obviously. That’s what the gospel of John is about. Look in chapter 5. Look in John 5 and verse 24. John 5 and verse 24. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him, who sent me, has everlasting life and does not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life. He’s talking about faith. He’s talking about Jesus, about having faith in Christ. Look in John 6 and verse 47. Look in John 6.47, Jesus said, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I mean, that’s what Jesus says, and we need to understand it, but it ought to be enough.

That’s what it says. It ought to be enough to understand and accept what he tells us. Even though I violated that. John 20 and verse 31. This, of course, is the purpose for the gospel of John. I know you’ve studied this. Jesus did all of these signs that are not written in this book. Now, John 20 and verse 31, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in his name. And so it is, you have faith in a comprehensive sense. Even Jesus said, if you love me, you’ll keep my what? Commandments. John 14 and verse 15. You talk about faith, that doesn’t eliminate the need to do the will of God.

But the reality is, of course, is that we have faith in Christ. What if I said this? Would you agree? We’re saved by faith. We’re justified by faith. That’s what Paul said in Romans 5 and verse 1. But what if I said this? If you and I, if you and I don’t have enough faith to do what Jesus tells us to do, we don’t have enough faith to be saved. If we don’t have enough faith to do what Jesus tells us to do, we don’t have enough faith to be saved. Even the illustration before John 3 16 about Moses and the Israelites and the snake fights in Numbers chapter 21. Do something for us, Moses, in their rebellion, of course, he intercedes, and so he puts the brass serpent in the middle of the congregation, but he tells them, you’ve got to what?

You’ve got to look. But did they have to believe what he said? Surely they had to believe what he said. He says, if you’ll look, then you’ll be spared. That’s the reality. That’s what faith is, you see. Trusting the Lord to do what he says. And I just would look at this. Look in John 12.42, which is an illustration that helps you and me understand. You and I can understand that faith alone is not enough. John 12 42. Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. They believed. I mean, that’s what John says, but they wouldn’t carry through with it, you see. So right there, faith alone, not carrying through, not following the will of God.

Conclusion

It’s not enough. But I’ll tell you what the faith of the gospel is. The faith of the gospel, my friends, is the conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came into this world to save you and me from sin, and we can enter into a relationship with Him because God loves us. And we know He loves us because He sent His Son. And His Son died on the cross for our sins, and that gives us life, and we come to the Lord by faith. And so as we conclude this lesson, let me ask you this question have you done that? Have you come to the Lord by faith? In an understanding and a comprehension of his will. To be united with Christ in the likeness of his death, to have your sins washed away in the precious blood of God’s Son.

That’s possible, you see. It was possible because of Peter. You can be like Peter. You can look again briefly, John 6 and verse 69. We have also come to believe and know that you are the holy one from God. You can believe that. Or you can be like Martha, for example, in John chapter 8 11. You can be like Peter and have faith in the Lord. You can be like Martha. John 11 and verse 27. He said, she said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming to the world. Have you done that? Do you want to do that? The question is, how is that possible? Again, it’s possible because God so loved the word that he gave his all of his God.

Whatever duty, whatever allegiance you owe to the Lord, we hope and pray you’ll give that to the Lord right now while we stand by receiving.