1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:02,440 This is the last of our four week series 2 00:00:02,440 –> 00:00:04,440 on the subject of God’s love, 3 00:00:04,440 –> 00:00:07,520 loving and being loved by Jesus Christ 4 00:00:07,520 –> 00:00:09,520 and I’d like you to open your Bible, if you would, 5 00:00:09,520 –> 00:00:13,740 at the Song of Solomon chapter 6 and verse 3. 6 00:00:13,740 –> 00:00:17,180 Song of Solomon chapter 6 and verse 3. 7 00:00:17,180 –> 00:00:20,340 We saw last week that the Song of Solomon, 8 00:00:20,340 –> 00:00:22,980 the whole book is a beautiful love story 9 00:00:22,980 –> 00:00:26,020 about a king and about his bride 10 00:00:26,020 –> 00:00:28,340 and it points us to Jesus Christ, 11 00:00:28,400 –> 00:00:32,020 the great king and his bride, the church 12 00:00:32,020 –> 00:00:34,299 and I want to draw your attention 13 00:00:34,299 –> 00:00:38,860 especially to Song of Solomon, chapter 6 and verse 3 14 00:00:38,860 –> 00:00:43,779 where we really have the believer’s relationship with Christ 15 00:00:43,779 –> 00:00:48,279 expressed very beautifully in just a few words. 16 00:00:49,160 –> 00:00:51,860 Chapter 6, verse 3, 17 00:00:51,860 –> 00:00:59,360 I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine. 18 00:00:59,360 –> 00:01:04,360 I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine. 19 00:01:05,220 –> 00:01:08,660 We’ve seen that later in the bible in the new testament 20 00:01:08,660 –> 00:01:12,559 Jesus Christ presents himself to us, his redeemed people 21 00:01:12,559 –> 00:01:15,180 as the great heavenly bridegroom 22 00:01:15,180 –> 00:01:17,360 and that he speaks of us, 23 00:01:17,400 –> 00:01:20,320 the church, as being his bride. 24 00:01:20,320 –> 00:01:22,339 We’ve been looking at the strength of Christ’s love 25 00:01:22,339 –> 00:01:24,660 even when he seems far away, 26 00:01:24,660 –> 00:01:26,540 that he loves us well, 27 00:01:26,540 –> 00:01:29,379 and today we’re looking at what it means 28 00:01:29,379 –> 00:01:33,540 to enjoy the love of Jesus Christ. 29 00:01:33,540 –> 00:01:34,919 Now I want you to think about this, 30 00:01:34,919 –> 00:01:39,019 the whole bible really is a love story. 31 00:01:39,019 –> 00:01:42,599 In the beginning, was God. 32 00:01:42,599 –> 00:01:45,199 And God is love. 33 00:01:46,099 –> 00:01:47,739 So think about this. 34 00:01:47,739 –> 00:01:49,580 Before anything else existed, 35 00:01:49,580 –> 00:01:51,639 before the world, before the creation, 36 00:01:51,639 –> 00:01:55,419 before there was anything that we could see, 37 00:01:55,419 –> 00:02:00,419 love existed because love flowed 38 00:02:00,580 –> 00:02:03,459 between the three persons of the Trinity, 39 00:02:03,459 –> 00:02:07,059 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 40 00:02:07,059 –> 00:02:10,699 Jesus refers to this specifically in John 17, 41 00:02:10,699 –> 00:02:12,860 that records his prayer to the Father 42 00:02:12,880 –> 00:02:15,279 the night before he was crucified. 43 00:02:15,279 –> 00:02:19,059 And he says this, John 17, 24, it’s a very important verse, 44 00:02:19,059 –> 00:02:20,139 he says to the Father, 45 00:02:20,139 –> 00:02:25,139 you loved me before the foundation of the world. 46 00:02:26,559 –> 00:02:30,240 Before anything was created, Jesus says to the Father, 47 00:02:30,240 –> 00:02:33,380 you loved me. 48 00:02:34,520 –> 00:02:39,520 Now, I can still remember when I first heard this truth 49 00:02:39,919 –> 00:02:42,559 and the impact that it made on me. 50 00:02:43,220 –> 00:02:47,860 I was about 16 years old in the small Baptist church 51 00:02:47,860 –> 00:02:52,339 that I grew up in, in Edinburgh, and Scotland, 52 00:02:52,339 –> 00:02:55,419 and our pastor was speaking on this verse, 53 00:02:55,419 –> 00:02:58,020 John 17, and verse 24. 54 00:02:58,020 –> 00:03:03,020 And he simply said, before anything else existed, 55 00:03:03,679 –> 00:03:05,240 there was love. 56 00:03:06,199 –> 00:03:10,559 And he went on to speak about how there is one God 57 00:03:10,559 –> 00:03:15,179 who exists in three persons, and how love flows 58 00:03:15,179 –> 00:03:18,580 between the Father and the Son and the Spirit, 59 00:03:18,580 –> 00:03:23,580 always has, always will, so that the life of God 60 00:03:23,740 –> 00:03:26,759 is a life of perpetual joy, 61 00:03:26,759 –> 00:03:31,399 because of this constant self-giving and receiving 62 00:03:31,399 –> 00:03:35,600 that takes place within his own being. 63 00:03:37,339 –> 00:03:39,440 And I remember thinking, sitting in church 64 00:03:39,479 –> 00:03:42,279 that Sunday morning as a 16-year-old, 65 00:03:42,279 –> 00:03:46,500 that is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. 66 00:03:46,500 –> 00:03:51,339 And I remember thinking, this is why love is so great. 67 00:03:51,339 –> 00:03:54,059 This is why the longing to love, 68 00:03:54,059 –> 00:03:57,559 and the longing to be loved, to give and to receive in love 69 00:03:57,559 –> 00:03:59,679 is so deeply in all of our hearts, 70 00:03:59,679 –> 00:04:02,020 because we are made in the image of God, 71 00:04:02,020 –> 00:04:04,979 and God is love, and love always has been 72 00:04:04,979 –> 00:04:07,880 flowing within his very nature. 73 00:04:08,779 –> 00:04:12,199 He made us to give and to receive love 74 00:04:12,199 –> 00:04:14,539 as he in himself does. 75 00:04:14,539 –> 00:04:17,220 And you begin to think about that. 76 00:04:17,220 –> 00:04:19,380 You say, of course, that’s why Jesus says, 77 00:04:19,380 –> 00:04:21,119 The first and greatest commandment, 78 00:04:21,119 –> 00:04:22,399 The thing for which you’re made, 79 00:04:22,399 –> 00:04:23,899 the thing to which you’re called, 80 00:04:23,899 –> 00:04:26,040 the thing in which you find yourself 81 00:04:26,040 –> 00:04:27,899 is this, to love God with all your heart, soul, 82 00:04:27,899 –> 00:04:29,279 mind, and strength, and the second, 83 00:04:29,279 –> 00:04:33,559 he said, is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. 84 00:04:33,559 –> 00:04:35,420 So what was it that went wrong? 85 00:04:35,420 –> 00:04:37,700 Here we are, we’re created in the image of God. 86 00:04:38,640 –> 00:04:41,459 In his very being, knows the perpetual joy 87 00:04:41,459 –> 00:04:43,619 of this constant giving and receiving 88 00:04:43,619 –> 00:04:46,519 within the being that he is, 89 00:04:46,519 –> 00:04:49,100 Father and Son and Holy Spirit, 90 00:04:49,100 –> 00:04:52,380 and we’re made in that image to reflect this love. 91 00:04:52,380 –> 00:04:54,119 What in the world went wrong? 92 00:04:56,399 –> 00:04:57,540 Listen to this answer. 93 00:04:58,459 –> 00:04:59,579 I just came across this in my reading this week 94 00:04:59,579 –> 00:05:02,019 from a writer by the name of Michael Reeves, 95 00:05:02,019 –> 00:05:03,200 very perceptive. 96 00:05:05,220 –> 00:05:06,040 I quote, he says this, 97 00:05:06,140 –> 00:05:07,279 what went wrong? 98 00:05:08,640 –> 00:05:12,380 It was not that Adam and Eve stopped loving. 99 00:05:14,000 –> 00:05:18,160 They were created as lovers in the image of God 100 00:05:18,160 –> 00:05:20,160 and they could not undo that, 101 00:05:21,200 –> 00:05:23,760 Instead he says, 102 00:05:23,760 –> 00:05:28,600 that love turned it turned, 103 00:05:29,559 –> 00:05:33,160 so that when the apostle Paul writes of sinners, 104 00:05:33,160 –> 00:05:38,160 he describes them as lovers of themselves, 105 00:05:38,519 –> 00:05:40,959 lovers of money, 106 00:05:40,959 –> 00:05:43,459 lovers of pleasure, 107 00:05:43,459 –> 00:05:46,739 rather than lovers of God. 108 00:05:46,739 –> 00:05:47,559 And he says, 109 00:05:47,559 –> 00:05:50,019 lovers we remain, 110 00:05:50,019 –> 00:05:52,000 but twisted. 111 00:05:52,000 –> 00:05:54,299 Our love misdirected, 112 00:05:54,299 –> 00:05:56,679 our love perverted, 113 00:05:56,679 –> 00:05:58,579 created to love God, 114 00:05:58,619 –> 00:06:01,940 we turn to love ourselves 115 00:06:01,940 –> 00:06:04,519 and anything but God. 116 00:06:05,839 –> 00:06:08,200 Now, that’s very, very insightful. 117 00:06:08,200 –> 00:06:12,160 And it really is the heart of what the Bible calls sin, 118 00:06:12,160 –> 00:06:13,720 what is sin as its core. 119 00:06:13,720 –> 00:06:17,480 At its core, it is a misdirected love. 120 00:06:17,480 –> 00:06:19,640 It’s a disorder in the affection. 121 00:06:19,640 –> 00:06:24,119 At its root, it is that we love the wrong things, 122 00:06:24,119 –> 00:06:25,799 which is why it says in James one 123 00:06:25,799 –> 00:06:27,140 that this is how we’re tempted. 124 00:06:27,140 –> 00:06:30,980 Each one is tempted as he’s drawn away by his own desire. 125 00:06:30,980 –> 00:06:35,700 It’s the twist in the love that makes us sinners, 126 00:06:35,700 –> 00:06:40,459 the misdirection of it, loving the wrong things. 127 00:06:41,459 –> 00:06:43,220 And of course that is why by nature 128 00:06:43,220 –> 00:06:46,179 our first instinct is never to seek God 129 00:06:46,179 –> 00:06:49,079 but always to hide from God. 130 00:06:49,079 –> 00:06:50,579 See, when Adam really loved God 131 00:06:50,579 –> 00:06:52,019 and God came into the garden, 132 00:06:52,019 –> 00:06:54,980 Adam loved to walk with God in the cool of the day. 133 00:06:55,019 –> 00:06:57,600 But when Adam’s love turned, 134 00:06:57,600 –> 00:07:00,760 and it turned on himself and it got misdirected, 135 00:07:00,760 –> 00:07:02,779 then he doesn’t want to come and seek God 136 00:07:02,779 –> 00:07:04,019 and walk with God, what does he do? 137 00:07:04,019 –> 00:07:05,459 He hides from God. 138 00:07:05,459 –> 00:07:08,820 God’s seeking him, but he’s hiding from God. 139 00:07:08,820 –> 00:07:12,540 Love is seeking him, but he’s hiding from love 140 00:07:12,540 –> 00:07:14,579 because something has become twisted 141 00:07:14,579 –> 00:07:19,260 and misdirected in his own affections, in his own heart. 142 00:07:20,700 –> 00:07:22,220 And you see the same, for example, 143 00:07:22,220 –> 00:07:24,019 with the calling of the first disciples. 144 00:07:24,019 –> 00:07:26,459 So God comes into the world in Jesus Christ. 145 00:07:26,459 –> 00:07:30,420 And Jesus goes and he calls the first disciples. 146 00:07:30,420 –> 00:07:32,299 And Luke, chapter 5 tells us 147 00:07:32,299 –> 00:07:35,940 of how he unveiled his glory in some degree 148 00:07:35,940 –> 00:07:38,260 through a miraculous catch of fish. 149 00:07:38,260 –> 00:07:40,440 These folks who were to become disciples later, 150 00:07:40,440 –> 00:07:42,100 they’d been out, they’ve been fishing. 151 00:07:42,100 –> 00:07:42,940 The catch, nothing. 152 00:07:42,940 –> 00:07:44,600 Jesus says threw in the net the other side. 153 00:07:44,600 –> 00:07:48,059 There was this enormous catch and Peter becomes aware 154 00:07:48,059 –> 00:07:51,260 that he’s in the presence of at least someone awesome, 155 00:07:51,260 –> 00:07:55,019 someone holy, someone he calls Lord. 156 00:07:56,559 –> 00:07:58,200 And so what’s his response? 157 00:07:58,200 –> 00:08:00,239 Is his response to say, oh, this is amazing? 158 00:08:00,239 –> 00:08:01,959 Jesus, I’ve got to become your follower. 159 00:08:01,959 –> 00:08:04,299 I’m seeking you, I’m going after you, no. 160 00:08:05,839 –> 00:08:10,500 What Peter says is, depart from me, Lord, 161 00:08:11,500 –> 00:08:13,880 because I am a sinful man. 162 00:08:13,880 –> 00:08:15,500 I don’t belong here with you. 163 00:08:16,880 –> 00:08:19,140 You gotta find someone else who’s holy. 164 00:08:19,640 –> 00:08:23,059 I’m not the kind of person that you’re looking for. 165 00:08:23,059 –> 00:08:25,779 There’s something way, way too twisted inside of me. 166 00:08:27,600 –> 00:08:31,140 So here’s Peter doing exactly what Adam did 167 00:08:31,140 –> 00:08:33,719 after his love turned in the garden. 168 00:08:33,719 –> 00:08:36,599 He’s not seeking God, he’s hiding from God. 169 00:08:36,599 –> 00:08:39,880 He’s saying, I need to keep a distance from you. 170 00:08:39,880 –> 00:08:43,000 And of course, isn’t that the most tragic waste of all? 171 00:08:43,000 –> 00:08:44,940 Because here is God in the flesh. 172 00:08:44,940 –> 00:08:47,880 Here is love in the flesh. 173 00:08:48,559 –> 00:08:52,380 And hiding from God is hiding from love, 174 00:08:52,380 –> 00:08:54,840 and running from God is running from love. 175 00:08:56,020 –> 00:08:58,400 And that’s the most tragic waste in all of the world. 176 00:08:58,400 –> 00:09:00,239 Thank God Jesus doesn’t let him go. 177 00:09:00,239 –> 00:09:02,479 He says, now I’m gonna make you something. 178 00:09:02,479 –> 00:09:05,559 And so they draw up the boats and they leave everything 179 00:09:05,559 –> 00:09:07,059 and they follow him. 180 00:09:08,559 –> 00:09:09,760 And it’s very interesting to me 181 00:09:09,760 –> 00:09:12,299 as you just follow this story of the Bible here 182 00:09:12,299 –> 00:09:15,059 that later, this same man Peter 183 00:09:15,059 –> 00:09:17,780 describes why it was that Jesus came into the world, 184 00:09:17,780 –> 00:09:19,320 and this is how he puts it, he says, 185 00:09:19,320 –> 00:09:21,880 Jesus suffered once for sins, 186 00:09:21,880 –> 00:09:23,960 the righteous for the unrighteous. 187 00:09:23,960 –> 00:09:27,559 Here’s what it was all about, to bring us to God. 188 00:09:27,559 –> 00:09:30,039 To bring us to the God who loves us 189 00:09:30,039 –> 00:09:33,799 who otherwise we find ourselves running away from. 190 00:09:34,679 –> 00:09:38,760 Peter is saying, here’s why Jesus went to the cross. 191 00:09:38,760 –> 00:09:40,880 He went to the cross so that people like us 192 00:09:40,880 –> 00:09:43,719 who love the wrong things and therefore feel 193 00:09:43,719 –> 00:09:46,479 that we don’t belong anywhere near to God 194 00:09:46,520 –> 00:09:50,099 that we should actually be brought back to him. 195 00:09:51,679 –> 00:09:55,520 And Jesus specifically had this in mind 196 00:09:55,520 –> 00:09:57,719 when he went to the cross. 197 00:09:57,719 –> 00:09:59,880 Again, John chapter 17 that tells us 198 00:09:59,880 –> 00:10:02,440 all that was in the mind of Jesus as he went to the cross. 199 00:10:02,440 –> 00:10:05,200 The night before he suffered and died, 200 00:10:05,200 –> 00:10:06,619 the night that he was betrayed, 201 00:10:06,619 –> 00:10:08,159 he prays to the father. 202 00:10:08,159 –> 00:10:09,919 And this is what he prays, 203 00:10:09,919 –> 00:10:14,919 he prays that the love with which you father have loved me 204 00:10:17,000 –> 00:10:19,539 may be in them. 205 00:10:20,880 –> 00:10:22,299 Now friends, just look at these words 206 00:10:22,299 –> 00:10:23,320 and try and take that in, 207 00:10:23,320 –> 00:10:25,359 that’s one of the most amazing statements 208 00:10:25,359 –> 00:10:26,359 in all of the Bible. 209 00:10:28,119 –> 00:10:29,599 Jesus has just said, 210 00:10:29,599 –> 00:10:32,799 father you’ve loved me before the foundation of the world, 211 00:10:32,799 –> 00:10:34,479 before everything else existed. 212 00:10:34,479 –> 00:10:37,280 There was this love that was between father, son, spirit, 213 00:10:37,280 –> 00:10:40,039 flowing eternally within the being of God. 214 00:10:41,359 –> 00:10:43,799 And now Jesus says this is what I’m praying 215 00:10:43,799 –> 00:10:46,159 and this is why I’m gonna die on this cross. 216 00:10:46,200 –> 00:10:49,099 That the love with which you have loved me, 217 00:10:50,000 –> 00:10:52,719 the love of the father for the son 218 00:10:53,679 –> 00:10:55,919 may be in 219 00:10:55,919 –> 00:10:57,080 these 220 00:10:57,080 –> 00:10:58,080 disciples, 221 00:10:58,080 –> 00:10:59,599 in them, 222 00:10:59,599 –> 00:11:01,679 in my people. 223 00:11:02,739 –> 00:11:04,099 So you see what this is saying. 224 00:11:04,099 –> 00:11:06,539 It’s quite staggering when you think about it. 225 00:11:07,479 –> 00:11:11,000 Jesus is saying that the very purpose for which he suffers 226 00:11:11,000 –> 00:11:15,099 is to bring us into his own enjoyment 227 00:11:15,140 –> 00:11:19,340 of the father’s love that we should enter into 228 00:11:19,340 –> 00:11:24,260 and share in the delight that the father has in the son 229 00:11:24,260 –> 00:11:29,260 and that we should be caught up in the circle of their love, 230 00:11:29,340 –> 00:11:32,820 which has always existed from before the beginning of time. 231 00:11:34,340 –> 00:11:35,460 And that is surely why, 232 00:11:35,460 –> 00:11:38,000 when you get to the end of the Bible’s story, 233 00:11:38,000 –> 00:11:40,039 you have this great scene that we call 234 00:11:40,039 –> 00:11:42,280 the marriage supper of the Lamb. 235 00:11:42,280 –> 00:11:44,020 What are you having at the marriage supper of the Lamb? 236 00:11:44,020 –> 00:11:47,080 You have the father full of joy, why? 237 00:11:47,080 –> 00:11:50,400 Because it is the son’s wedding day 238 00:11:50,400 –> 00:11:53,239 and here is the son full of joy 239 00:11:53,239 –> 00:11:54,960 and the father’s love for the son. 240 00:11:54,960 –> 00:11:59,020 And now there’s a bride being brought into this great love 241 00:11:59,020 –> 00:12:01,500 that father and son have always shared. 242 00:12:01,500 –> 00:12:04,179 And the bride is the church, the bride is the redeemed, 243 00:12:04,179 –> 00:12:05,340 the loved of Christ, 244 00:12:05,340 –> 00:12:10,000 and therefore the loved of the father. 245 00:12:10,000 –> 00:12:11,919 So I’m saying to you, this is marvelous. 246 00:12:12,119 –> 00:12:14,739 The whole Bible story from eternity past 247 00:12:14,739 –> 00:12:17,380 to eternity future is one great story of love. 248 00:12:17,380 –> 00:12:22,059 God is love and the whole of the creation 249 00:12:22,059 –> 00:12:23,799 is the overflow of this love 250 00:12:23,799 –> 00:12:25,539 between father, son, and spirit 251 00:12:25,539 –> 00:12:27,619 that has always existed 252 00:12:27,619 –> 00:12:29,619 and our redemption flows out of it 253 00:12:29,619 –> 00:12:33,739 because it is all about the son bringing us into the love 254 00:12:33,739 –> 00:12:36,460 that he has always enjoyed flowing into him 255 00:12:36,460 –> 00:12:37,940 and flowing from him, 256 00:12:37,940 –> 00:12:40,219 communicated between the father and the son. 257 00:12:40,219 –> 00:12:41,580 Don’t you think that’s amazing? 258 00:12:42,159 –> 00:12:44,940 That we should be brought into the enjoyment 259 00:12:44,940 –> 00:12:47,239 that Jesus has of his own father’s love? 260 00:12:48,460 –> 00:12:50,340 That’s why I’m suffering, Jesus says. 261 00:12:51,780 –> 00:12:54,200 That’s what I’m asking for. 262 00:12:55,140 –> 00:12:57,500 Well, that of course is a very good reason 263 00:12:57,500 –> 00:12:59,020 for going right to the middle of the Bible 264 00:12:59,020 –> 00:13:00,219 and the song of Solomon, 265 00:13:00,219 –> 00:13:04,039 which very significantly is a human love story 266 00:13:04,039 –> 00:13:07,059 that obviously points to something much more, 267 00:13:07,059 –> 00:13:08,900 which is the big love story 268 00:13:08,960 –> 00:13:12,320 that is the whole of the Bible. 269 00:13:12,320 –> 00:13:15,159 And we saw last week as we looked at this together 270 00:13:15,159 –> 00:13:18,679 that it is the story of a king’s love for his bride, 271 00:13:18,679 –> 00:13:20,479 a king’s love for his bride, 272 00:13:20,479 –> 00:13:22,299 and the bride’s love therefore 273 00:13:22,299 –> 00:13:25,580 for the king who becomes her husband. 274 00:13:26,979 –> 00:13:28,359 And of course, the king in the story is Solomon, 275 00:13:28,359 –> 00:13:29,580 the song of Solomon. 276 00:13:29,580 –> 00:13:32,260 And Solomon, if you read earlier in the Bible 277 00:13:32,260 –> 00:13:35,260 was famed around the world for his wealth, 278 00:13:35,260 –> 00:13:37,880 fabulously wealthy Solomon was. 279 00:13:39,140 –> 00:13:41,760 And so when this woman marries Solomon 280 00:13:41,760 –> 00:13:43,500 and becomes his bride, 281 00:13:43,500 –> 00:13:46,700 she enters into the most extraordinary wealth. 282 00:13:46,700 –> 00:13:49,520 Immediately she’s gonna be surrounded by servants 283 00:13:49,520 –> 00:13:52,900 and the most lavish imaginable lifestyle 284 00:13:52,900 –> 00:13:56,820 and all that becomes hers because she becomes his. 285 00:13:58,880 –> 00:14:00,419 But what’s very striking to me 286 00:14:00,419 –> 00:14:02,539 as I’ve read through Song of Solomon 287 00:14:02,539 –> 00:14:04,820 and reflected on it over these days 288 00:14:06,179 –> 00:14:07,780 is that as far as I can see, 289 00:14:07,859 –> 00:14:10,859 she doesn’t say a single word about any of that. 290 00:14:10,859 –> 00:14:11,820 Not a single word. 291 00:14:14,159 –> 00:14:17,299 Her song is not about the lifestyle 292 00:14:17,299 –> 00:14:19,380 into which the King has brought her. 293 00:14:21,340 –> 00:14:24,559 Her song is about the King himself. 294 00:14:26,179 –> 00:14:28,580 It’s about her love for the King 295 00:14:29,859 –> 00:14:34,460 and it’s about the King’s great love for her. 296 00:14:34,460 –> 00:14:37,659 And if you want one verse to encapsulate 297 00:14:37,859 –> 00:14:39,179 the whole message of the story, 298 00:14:39,179 –> 00:14:41,960 it’s our verse in chapter six and verse three 299 00:14:41,960 –> 00:14:43,460 in which she says, 300 00:14:43,460 –> 00:14:46,039 “‘I am my Beloved’s 301 00:14:46,039 –> 00:14:50,739 “‘and my Beloved is mine.’” 302 00:14:52,619 –> 00:14:54,260 Now, I want to focus in first 303 00:14:54,260 –> 00:14:56,780 on this word beloved. 304 00:14:56,780 –> 00:14:58,859 That’s the heart of what it is. 305 00:14:58,859 –> 00:15:00,960 We miss it if we miss 306 00:15:00,960 –> 00:15:03,679 that it’s all about love, 307 00:15:03,679 –> 00:15:05,700 a relationship of love. 308 00:15:05,700 –> 00:15:09,400 That’s the bond that this book is pointing to 309 00:15:09,400 –> 00:15:10,900 that is at the very heart 310 00:15:10,900 –> 00:15:14,020 of the relationship between Christ 311 00:15:14,020 –> 00:15:16,340 and the believer, the bond of love. 312 00:15:17,719 –> 00:15:20,780 I want you to consider this first here. 313 00:15:22,419 –> 00:15:24,960 As we think about what it means to love, 314 00:15:26,559 –> 00:15:31,559 beware of the gold-digger mentality. 315 00:15:32,500 –> 00:15:37,500 Beware of the gold-digger mentality. 316 00:15:38,599 –> 00:15:39,919 Now I checked the dictionary 317 00:15:39,919 –> 00:15:42,900 for a definition of the word gold-digger, 318 00:15:42,900 –> 00:15:46,099 and this is what I found in Merriam-Webster. 319 00:15:46,099 –> 00:15:49,099 And actually to my surprise it was the first definition 320 00:15:49,099 –> 00:15:50,539 and not somewhere down the list, 321 00:15:50,539 –> 00:15:51,580 but this is what it says. 322 00:15:51,580 –> 00:15:52,539 I Googled it. 323 00:15:52,539 –> 00:15:54,179 This is what came up. 324 00:15:54,179 –> 00:15:56,739 Gold-digger. 325 00:15:56,859 –> 00:16:01,619 A woman who becomes or tries to become 326 00:16:01,619 –> 00:16:05,260 romantically involved with a rich man 327 00:16:05,260 –> 00:16:10,159 in order to get money and gifts from him. 328 00:16:11,159 –> 00:16:11,979 Now I don’t know about you, 329 00:16:11,979 –> 00:16:14,039 but that, when I read it, immediately seemed to me 330 00:16:14,039 –> 00:16:17,799 to be a somewhat sexist definition, 331 00:16:17,799 –> 00:16:19,559 because I’m quite sure that it can 332 00:16:19,559 –> 00:16:21,840 and does happen the other way around. 333 00:16:21,840 –> 00:16:23,640 So let me just, to balance this up, 334 00:16:23,640 –> 00:16:26,219 put it the other way around and let’s paint the picture 335 00:16:26,599 –> 00:16:29,200 and will you think about this with me for a moment. 336 00:16:30,159 –> 00:16:33,359 Picture a rich widow. 337 00:16:33,359 –> 00:16:35,780 I mean, this woman is loaded, 338 00:16:35,780 –> 00:16:38,039 she is very wealthy, 339 00:16:38,039 –> 00:16:41,020 she lives in the most marvelous home, 340 00:16:41,020 –> 00:16:44,780 she takes the most exotic vacations and so forth and so on. 341 00:16:46,260 –> 00:16:48,520 And a man comes alongside her 342 00:16:49,659 –> 00:16:52,440 and he becomes romantically involved with her. 343 00:16:53,400 –> 00:16:55,880 And then the end, he marries her. 344 00:16:56,820 –> 00:16:58,520 And now he enters into 345 00:16:58,520 –> 00:17:01,679 and enjoys all the benefits of the life 346 00:17:01,679 –> 00:17:03,099 that he now shares with her, 347 00:17:03,099 –> 00:17:07,260 the lavish home, the marvelous and exotic vacations 348 00:17:07,260 –> 00:17:08,920 and so forth and so on. 349 00:17:08,920 –> 00:17:13,520 But he does not love her. 350 00:17:15,800 –> 00:17:19,160 He never did and he never will. 351 00:17:19,459 –> 00:17:24,459 He does not love her, his whole intent 352 00:17:24,880 –> 00:17:27,880 right from the beginning was simply 353 00:17:27,880 –> 00:17:32,719 that he should have what she enjoys. 354 00:17:35,979 –> 00:17:38,079 Now let that picture settle in your mind 355 00:17:38,079 –> 00:17:40,839 and what would you think of such a man. 356 00:17:40,839 –> 00:17:43,020 Clearly you would not admire him, 357 00:17:44,060 –> 00:17:46,719 you would call him a gold digger, 358 00:17:47,579 –> 00:17:52,060 you would think him selfish at the core, 359 00:17:52,060 –> 00:17:57,060 dishonorable, unworthy and you would be right. 360 00:17:59,760 –> 00:18:00,979 But here’s my question, 361 00:18:00,979 –> 00:18:04,500 is that not precisely the way 362 00:18:04,500 –> 00:18:09,099 in which too often we may have regarded Jesus Christ? 363 00:18:10,300 –> 00:18:12,199 He owns heaven, 364 00:18:13,420 –> 00:18:16,300 he can get us out of hell, 365 00:18:16,380 –> 00:18:18,680 he can get the blessings of God 366 00:18:18,680 –> 00:18:20,760 that will make life better for us 367 00:18:20,760 –> 00:18:25,199 and so we are going to accept him. 368 00:18:25,199 –> 00:18:28,660 By the way, isn’t that the strangest way 369 00:18:28,660 –> 00:18:31,339 for a Christian believer to speak about 370 00:18:31,339 –> 00:18:34,199 their relationship with Jesus Christ, 371 00:18:34,199 –> 00:18:37,199 to accept him? 372 00:18:37,199 –> 00:18:41,380 I mean I would never speak about my wife in that way. 373 00:18:41,380 –> 00:18:45,760 34 years ago when we got married, I accepted her. 374 00:18:46,359 –> 00:18:48,800 You would find that an offensive way of speaking. 375 00:18:48,800 –> 00:18:50,000 It wouldn’t enter my head. 376 00:18:50,000 –> 00:18:52,199 I love her. 377 00:18:52,199 –> 00:18:54,380 I embraced her. 378 00:18:54,380 –> 00:18:57,079 I gave myself to her and counted myself so privileged 379 00:18:57,079 –> 00:19:01,079 that she would give herself to me. 380 00:19:01,079 –> 00:19:04,500 A. W. Tozer sounded the alarm over what I’m calling 381 00:19:04,500 –> 00:19:08,599 gold-digger Christianity. 382 00:19:08,599 –> 00:19:11,760 In these words, 383 00:19:11,760 –> 00:19:14,959 the whole transaction of religious conversion 384 00:19:15,060 –> 00:19:19,839 has been made mechanical and spirit-less. 385 00:19:19,839 –> 00:19:23,760 Christ may be, quote, received 386 00:19:23,760 –> 00:19:27,520 without creating any special love for Him 387 00:19:27,520 –> 00:19:30,560 in the soul of the receiver. 388 00:19:30,560 –> 00:19:34,060 The man is, quote, saved, 389 00:19:34,060 –> 00:19:40,760 but he is not hungry or thirsty after God. 390 00:19:40,839 –> 00:19:46,160 Now, friends, Tozer wrote these words in 1948. 391 00:19:46,160 –> 00:19:50,380 That is, 66 years ago, 392 00:19:50,380 –> 00:19:52,939 which means that the vast majority of us 393 00:19:52,939 –> 00:19:54,900 all of our lives have grown up 394 00:19:54,900 –> 00:20:02,060 breathing the air of an emaciated form of Christianity 395 00:20:02,060 –> 00:20:04,839 that he describes here. 396 00:20:04,839 –> 00:20:08,540 Gold digger Christianity. 397 00:20:08,540 –> 00:20:11,819 In which you make a decision in order to get out of hell, 398 00:20:11,819 –> 00:20:15,579 get into heaven, accept Jesus, get God on your side, 399 00:20:15,579 –> 00:20:17,199 your life will be better that way, 400 00:20:17,199 –> 00:20:25,359 but very little love for Jesus Christ. 401 00:20:25,359 –> 00:20:32,040 And you open the Bible and you find a different world. 402 00:20:32,040 –> 00:20:34,359 You find Peter writing to real Christians 403 00:20:34,359 –> 00:20:40,319 and saying this, though you have not seen him 404 00:20:40,319 –> 00:20:46,160 you love him, you love him. 405 00:20:46,160 –> 00:20:50,839 So I am saying to you beware of gold digger Christianity, 406 00:20:50,839 –> 00:20:52,959 the gold digger mentality. 407 00:20:52,959 –> 00:20:55,819 Jesus, at the end of the Bible actually 408 00:20:55,819 –> 00:20:59,800 gives us a profile of what I am calling the gold 409 00:20:59,800 –> 00:21:01,560 digger mentality. 410 00:21:01,599 –> 00:21:03,719 It’s actually there in the words that Christ 411 00:21:03,719 –> 00:21:08,640 speaks to the church at Ephesus in Revelation and chapter two. 412 00:21:08,640 –> 00:21:10,119 You may recall what he says, there 413 00:21:10,119 –> 00:21:11,619 are three things basically. 414 00:21:11,619 –> 00:21:16,939 Jesus says to these folks, I know your works and your toil 415 00:21:16,939 –> 00:21:19,540 and your patient endurance. 416 00:21:19,540 –> 00:21:22,839 So here are people who are hard workers in the church. 417 00:21:22,839 –> 00:21:24,780 Here are people who are loyal folks, 418 00:21:24,780 –> 00:21:26,800 who stick at it with steady tenacity. 419 00:21:26,800 –> 00:21:29,339 Show up, good people. 420 00:21:29,339 –> 00:21:31,160 Then he says, I know that you cannot 421 00:21:31,180 –> 00:21:34,180 bear those who are evil, but you have 422 00:21:34,180 –> 00:21:37,420 tested those who call themselves apostles and are not. 423 00:21:37,420 –> 00:21:40,000 And you have found them to be false. 424 00:21:40,000 –> 00:21:46,119 So here are people of moral integrity, can’t stand evil. 425 00:21:46,119 –> 00:21:48,760 Here are people of doctrinal orthodoxy, 426 00:21:48,760 –> 00:21:51,439 discerning with regards to false claims, 427 00:21:51,439 –> 00:21:55,920 sticklers for being Biblically orthodox. 428 00:21:55,920 –> 00:21:58,119 And Jesus commends all of these things, 429 00:21:58,119 –> 00:22:02,839 hard work, moral integrity, Biblical orthodoxy, 430 00:22:02,839 –> 00:22:05,180 He commends them all and then He says this. 431 00:22:05,180 –> 00:22:08,699 But I have got one thing against you. 432 00:22:08,699 –> 00:22:16,500 You have abandoned the love that you had at first. 433 00:22:16,500 –> 00:22:20,400 You are doing the work, you are living the life, 434 00:22:20,400 –> 00:22:24,819 you are holding the line. 435 00:22:24,839 –> 00:22:30,300 But whatever happened to I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine’. 436 00:22:30,300 –> 00:22:33,199 Christ is saying I don’t hear that from you. 437 00:22:33,199 –> 00:22:36,439 I don’t hear it from you. 438 00:22:36,439 –> 00:22:39,099 And therefore he says to this church in Ephesus, 439 00:22:39,099 –> 00:22:40,520 you’ve got to repent. 440 00:22:40,540 –> 00:22:43,579 Something’s got to change because otherwise I’m going to take the candlestick away. 441 00:22:43,579 –> 00:22:46,219 Now he’s talking about a church and what he’s saying is 442 00:22:46,219 –> 00:22:51,719 How the life of a church is sustained or how the life of a church dies down. 443 00:22:52,640 –> 00:22:56,239 That’s what the reference to the candlestick is all about. 444 00:22:56,239 –> 00:22:58,359 And what we learn from it is simply this. 445 00:22:58,359 –> 00:23:02,739 That the life of a church cannot be sustained by hard work, 446 00:23:02,739 –> 00:23:06,520 by moral integrity and doctrinal orthodoxy alone. 447 00:23:06,520 –> 00:23:09,660 The life of a church, and therefore the life of a Christian 448 00:23:09,660 –> 00:23:17,079 is sustained through a vibrant love for Jesus Christ. 449 00:23:17,079 –> 00:23:19,099 Lose that and you lose everything. 450 00:23:19,800 –> 00:23:21,260 You’re only left with a shell. 451 00:23:23,719 –> 00:23:28,060 And so beware of the gold digger mentality. 452 00:23:28,060 –> 00:23:30,219 Beware of simply looking to Jesus Christ, 453 00:23:30,219 –> 00:23:32,780 to what he can give you, and what he can make right, 454 00:23:32,780 –> 00:23:34,040 and what you want in your life. 455 00:23:36,780 –> 00:23:40,079 Now, of course, the time when this really comes home. 456 00:23:40,079 –> 00:23:44,260 And these times may prove to be the sparkling moments 457 00:23:44,260 –> 00:23:47,260 of our Christian lives. 458 00:23:47,260 –> 00:23:49,959 Are the moments when Jesus Christ allows us 459 00:23:49,959 –> 00:23:53,859 to walk in a place where we very obviously don’t receive 460 00:23:53,859 –> 00:23:56,619 from the hand of God what we asked and what we wanted. 461 00:23:58,339 –> 00:24:01,079 And I want to say to you, for your encouragement today, 462 00:24:01,079 –> 00:24:05,140 the very best place of all, the very best time of all, 463 00:24:05,140 –> 00:24:08,099 for you to tell Christ that you really love him 464 00:24:09,380 –> 00:24:11,180 is when you find yourself in the middle 465 00:24:11,180 –> 00:24:14,380 of an experience of pain, and of loss. 466 00:24:15,380 –> 00:24:18,420 And I say that for this reason, 467 00:24:18,420 –> 00:24:20,420 there is nothing very surprising 468 00:24:20,420 –> 00:24:21,900 about a Christian who loves God 469 00:24:21,900 –> 00:24:23,819 when everything in life is going well, 470 00:24:25,599 –> 00:24:28,060 but Christians who love the Lord 471 00:24:29,020 –> 00:24:33,420 when good gifts are taken away or are withheld, 472 00:24:34,459 –> 00:24:38,979 they demonstrate to heaven, on earth, and in hell 473 00:24:39,979 –> 00:24:42,660 that they really do love God 474 00:24:42,939 –> 00:24:46,079 and not just his gifts. 475 00:24:47,219 –> 00:24:48,060 And you know, of course, 476 00:24:48,060 –> 00:24:49,420 that that is the main, in fact, 477 00:24:49,420 –> 00:24:51,459 the whole point of the Book of Job, 478 00:24:52,420 –> 00:24:56,300 which begins with Satan slandering God. 479 00:24:57,660 –> 00:24:59,260 And here was his blasphemy. 480 00:25:00,400 –> 00:25:01,880 He comes to God and he says, 481 00:25:01,880 –> 00:25:05,520 “‘Now, the only reason that Job loves you, 482 00:25:06,500 –> 00:25:09,920 “‘the only reason that he’s living this righteous life 483 00:25:09,939 –> 00:25:13,239 “‘is that you have filled his life with blessings. 484 00:25:14,239 –> 00:25:16,420 “‘You have showered him with wealth. 485 00:25:17,339 –> 00:25:21,479 “‘You have surrounded him, God, with loved ones. 486 00:25:21,479 –> 00:25:26,079 “‘Job is blessed, blessed beyond measure, 487 00:25:26,079 –> 00:25:29,140 “‘and he knows where his bread is buttered, 488 00:25:30,319 –> 00:25:33,180 “‘and that’s why he loves you. 489 00:25:33,180 –> 00:25:35,880 “‘It’s just because of what you give him.’” 490 00:25:36,959 –> 00:25:39,540 Now, you can understand Satan saying such a thing 491 00:25:39,640 –> 00:25:42,300 because hell knows nothing of love, 492 00:25:42,300 –> 00:25:45,219 and Satan could not believe 493 00:25:45,219 –> 00:25:48,819 that anyone could possibly love God for who he is, 494 00:25:50,180 –> 00:25:54,979 and so he slanders God by essentially accusing God 495 00:25:54,979 –> 00:25:58,439 of buying Job’s affection. 496 00:26:00,060 –> 00:26:01,300 Well, you know the story. 497 00:26:02,380 –> 00:26:06,800 One gift after another was stripped away from Job, 498 00:26:07,800 –> 00:26:11,359 and this godly man then walked 499 00:26:11,359 –> 00:26:14,819 through a dark valley of pain, 500 00:26:16,180 –> 00:26:21,180 and he struggled with many, many unanswered questions, 501 00:26:21,439 –> 00:26:24,579 and the whole book depicts the depth of that struggle 502 00:26:24,579 –> 00:26:26,380 and the agonies of it, 503 00:26:26,380 –> 00:26:31,380 but in all of that struggle, he did not stop loving God. 504 00:26:32,599 –> 00:26:34,400 That’s the point of the book. 505 00:26:34,439 –> 00:26:37,719 He did not stop loving God, 506 00:26:37,719 –> 00:26:41,439 though He slay me, yet I shall trust Him. 507 00:26:41,439 –> 00:26:43,760 I know that my Redeemer lives, 508 00:26:43,760 –> 00:26:47,199 and even if worms destroy this body in my flesh, 509 00:26:47,199 –> 00:26:49,040 I shall see God. 510 00:26:50,920 –> 00:26:53,540 What I’m saying to you is that when Job loved God 511 00:26:53,540 –> 00:26:57,079 in the middle of his pain and his suffering and his loss, 512 00:26:57,079 –> 00:27:01,479 his testimony glorified God in heaven. 513 00:27:01,520 –> 00:27:04,979 It silenced Satan in hell, 514 00:27:04,979 –> 00:27:07,280 and throughout thousands of years 515 00:27:07,280 –> 00:27:11,660 it has brought strength to millions of Christians 516 00:27:11,660 –> 00:27:15,439 to persevere and to glorify God. 517 00:27:15,439 –> 00:27:16,719 So here’s my conclusion. 518 00:27:18,119 –> 00:27:20,439 Of all the things that you and I may do 519 00:27:20,439 –> 00:27:23,099 in the service of God in the course of our lives, 520 00:27:24,560 –> 00:27:27,579 loving Christ still 521 00:27:27,579 –> 00:27:30,140 in the middle of unexplained suffering and loss 522 00:27:30,500 –> 00:27:32,219 and may prove to be 523 00:27:32,219 –> 00:27:35,219 the greatest contribution you will ever make 524 00:27:35,239 –> 00:27:37,099 to glorifying Christ 525 00:27:37,099 –> 00:27:39,699 and to the advance of his kingdom in the world. 526 00:27:39,699 –> 00:27:41,439 It’s that important. 527 00:27:42,800 –> 00:27:46,140 Loving Christ in the face of pain and of loss 528 00:27:46,140 –> 00:27:48,660 glorifies God in heaven, 529 00:27:48,660 –> 00:27:52,780 it causes consternation in hell, 530 00:27:52,780 –> 00:27:55,219 and it brings strength to believers 531 00:27:55,219 –> 00:27:59,459 who see that God is worthy for himself 532 00:27:59,459 –> 00:28:03,780 and not simply on account of his gift. 533 00:28:05,140 –> 00:28:08,819 So beware of the gold digger mentality. 534 00:28:08,819 –> 00:28:11,420 And when you walk through a place of difficulty 535 00:28:11,420 –> 00:28:13,939 and suffering and loss and you love Christ still, 536 00:28:13,939 –> 00:28:16,660 you shoot it to bits to the glory of God 537 00:28:16,660 –> 00:28:18,619 and to the silencing of Satan. 538 00:28:18,619 –> 00:28:19,640 It’s marvelous. 539 00:28:19,640 –> 00:28:21,560 It’s that important. 540 00:28:23,939 –> 00:28:26,060 Two other things to say in the few minutes 541 00:28:26,060 –> 00:28:27,099 that remain here. 542 00:28:27,819 –> 00:28:30,420 The main thing I’ve wanted to focus on 543 00:28:30,420 –> 00:28:32,060 is this word, beloved. 544 00:28:32,060 –> 00:28:37,060 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine. 545 00:28:38,579 –> 00:28:41,359 Beware of the gold digger mentality. 546 00:28:43,579 –> 00:28:44,959 But think about this. 547 00:28:46,040 –> 00:28:49,439 My beloved is mine. 548 00:28:50,57 –> 00:28:51,979 Isn’t that great? 549 00:28:51,979 –> 00:28:54,800 To be able to say that of Jesus Christ. 550 00:28:54,800 –> 00:28:56,500 Christ is mine. 551 00:28:57,800 –> 00:28:59,579 So as we take this into our hearts today 552 00:28:59,579 –> 00:29:01,280 I just want to give you this encouragement 553 00:29:01,280 –> 00:29:04,119 that you should enjoy the strength of Christ’s love. 554 00:29:04,119 –> 00:29:05,540 Christ is mine. 555 00:29:05,540 –> 00:29:08,060 My beloved is mine. 556 00:29:08,060 –> 00:29:10,560 That’s one of the great blessings of being a Christian 557 00:29:10,560 –> 00:29:13,599 that a Christian can say Christ is mine 558 00:29:13,599 –> 00:29:14,959 and there’s a strength in that. 559 00:29:14,959 –> 00:29:16,280 There’s a peace in that. 560 00:29:16,280 –> 00:29:18,160 There’s a confidence in that. 561 00:29:18,160 –> 00:29:20,180 There’s a security in that. 562 00:29:20,180 –> 00:29:21,239 Christ is mine. 563 00:29:21,239 –> 00:29:26,239 I’m in him and he is in me and that’s not in doubt 564 00:29:26,239 –> 00:29:28,339 and notice how personal this is. 565 00:29:28,339 –> 00:29:29,800 Christ is mine. 566 00:29:29,800 –> 00:29:32,400 My beloved is mine. 567 00:29:34,319 –> 00:29:37,319 I found just the other week 568 00:29:38,900 –> 00:29:40,920 the passage of one of Jerry Bridges’ books 569 00:29:40,920 –> 00:29:43,520 in which he shares his own personal testimony 570 00:29:43,520 –> 00:29:48,199 in relation to this personalizing of the love of God 571 00:29:48,199 –> 00:29:49,280 and I found it very helpful. 572 00:29:49,280 –> 00:29:51,140 He says this, 573 00:29:51,140 –> 00:29:55,520 There was a period in my early Christian life 574 00:29:55,540 –> 00:29:58,640 when my concept of God’s love 575 00:29:58,640 –> 00:30:02,239 was little more than a logical deduction. 576 00:30:03,199 –> 00:30:06,180 God loves the world. 577 00:30:06,180 –> 00:30:08,959 I am part of the world. 578 00:30:08,959 –> 00:30:12,180 Therefore God loves me. 579 00:30:13,319 –> 00:30:14,140 He says, 580 00:30:14,140 –> 00:30:18,160 It was as if God’s love were a big umbrella 581 00:30:18,160 –> 00:30:21,900 to protect us all from his judgment against sin 582 00:30:21,900 –> 00:30:24,459 and I was under the umbrella 583 00:30:24,459 –> 00:30:27,300 along with thousands of other people. 584 00:30:28,319 –> 00:30:32,739 There was nothing particularly personal about it. 585 00:30:34,180 –> 00:30:36,819 Then one day I realized 586 00:30:37,780 –> 00:30:40,859 God loves me. 587 00:30:42,459 –> 00:30:46,900 Christ died for me. 588 00:30:48,819 –> 00:30:51,540 So that’s Galatians chapter two in verse 20, isn’t it? 589 00:30:52,180 –> 00:30:55,599 The Son of God loved me 590 00:30:56,800 –> 00:30:59,199 and gave himself for me. 591 00:31:00,079 –> 00:31:03,119 He actually loves me. 592 00:31:04,479 –> 00:31:07,760 Friend, put yourself in the picture here. 593 00:31:08,640 –> 00:31:12,719 He had you in mind when He came into the world. 594 00:31:12,719 –> 00:31:15,800 He had you in mind when He bore sins on the cross. 595 00:31:15,800 –> 00:31:18,760 He had you in mind when He ascended to the Father. 596 00:31:18,900 –> 00:31:20,739 He has you on His heart right now. 597 00:31:20,739 –> 00:31:24,140 Conscious awareness of you at the right hand of the Father. 598 00:31:24,140 –> 00:31:26,579 When He comes back it’s to get you. 599 00:31:28,459 –> 00:31:31,339 He does not simply save a mass. 600 00:31:32,500 –> 00:31:35,199 He saves people with names and faces 601 00:31:35,199 –> 00:31:38,239 and if you’re a Christian believer you are one of them. 602 00:31:39,780 –> 00:31:42,880 I just thought about it that generally God loves the world. 603 00:31:42,880 –> 00:31:44,859 I’m part of the world biological deduction. 604 00:31:44,859 –> 00:31:47,579 He must love me and then I came to the place of saying, 605 00:31:48,119 –> 00:31:49,939 God loves me. 606 00:31:51,040 –> 00:31:52,660 That was my biggest prayer for today 607 00:31:52,660 –> 00:31:54,880 that that’s gonna dawn in a fresh way 608 00:31:54,880 –> 00:31:56,280 and perhaps for the first time 609 00:31:56,280 –> 00:31:59,939 in some parts right here God loves me. 610 00:31:59,939 –> 00:32:01,780 This is for me enjoying Christ. 611 00:32:01,780 –> 00:32:03,459 Love Christ is mine. 612 00:32:03,459 –> 00:32:06,339 My beloved is mine. 613 00:32:08,920 –> 00:32:10,880 This Christ is always for you. 614 00:32:11,800 –> 00:32:13,839 He is always with you. 615 00:32:13,839 –> 00:32:16,459 He is always working for your good. 616 00:32:16,520 –> 00:32:19,000 Let this be your strength. 617 00:32:19,000 –> 00:32:20,199 Let this be your light. 618 00:32:20,199 –> 00:32:23,000 Let this be your hope as you’re going into another week. 619 00:32:23,000 –> 00:32:25,579 My beloved is mine. 620 00:32:26,500 –> 00:32:28,699 And remember the great thing about being able 621 00:32:28,699 –> 00:32:31,260 to say that Jesus Christ is yours 622 00:32:31,260 –> 00:32:36,260 is that Christ is yours not only for time but forever. 623 00:32:36,280 –> 00:32:38,800 Because all other gifts that are given to you 624 00:32:38,800 –> 00:32:42,119 everything else about which you may say mine in this life 625 00:32:42,119 –> 00:32:44,319 is only given to you for a time. 626 00:32:44,319 –> 00:32:47,540 Other gifts have a beginning and a middle and an end. 627 00:32:47,540 –> 00:32:50,540 You may say mine of your home. 628 00:32:50,540 –> 00:32:52,660 You may say mine of your money. 629 00:32:52,660 –> 00:32:54,079 You may say mine of your work. 630 00:32:54,079 –> 00:32:56,339 You may say mine of your loved ones. 631 00:32:57,859 –> 00:32:59,920 But they are only yours for a time. 632 00:33:01,900 –> 00:33:06,900 But when you say of Jesus Christ my beloved is mine 633 00:33:08,500 –> 00:33:12,619 you can know for sure that he is yours forever. 634 00:33:14,439 –> 00:33:19,439 Forever and an unbreakable bond of amazing love. 635 00:33:23,680 –> 00:33:26,219 The very last thing to say is simply this. 636 00:33:27,280 –> 00:33:29,160 In the light of all this why would you not 637 00:33:29,160 –> 00:33:31,640 then give yourself to Jesus Christ 638 00:33:31,640 –> 00:33:34,300 without condition and without reservation. 639 00:33:34,300 –> 00:33:38,699 Why would you not then say, I am my beloved? 640 00:33:39,520 –> 00:33:41,800 What a marvelous statement that is of 641 00:33:41,800 –> 00:33:43,560 complete self-giving. 642 00:33:44,760 –> 00:33:47,959 I’m Christ’s, Christ is mine, I’m Christ’s 643 00:33:47,959 –> 00:33:50,939 without reservation, without condition. 644 00:33:52,319 –> 00:33:54,140 What could possibly hold you back 645 00:33:54,140 –> 00:33:56,260 from giving yourself to Jesus Christ 646 00:33:56,260 –> 00:33:59,280 without condition, without reservation today? 647 00:34:00,359 –> 00:34:03,020 Yielding yourself in a fresh and a full way 648 00:34:03,020 –> 00:34:06,459 to Jesus Christ in the light of this amazing love 649 00:34:06,459 –> 00:34:07,339 that he has for you? 650 00:34:07,380 –> 00:34:09,179 What could you possibly be afraid of? 651 00:34:11,040 –> 00:34:12,939 What would be so good in your life 652 00:34:12,939 –> 00:34:14,760 that you might hold back? 653 00:34:16,100 –> 00:34:20,020 In order to hold onto that, hold back from this love 654 00:34:20,020 –> 00:34:23,340 that Christ has in his heart for you 655 00:34:23,340 –> 00:34:25,060 and reaches out to you with? 656 00:34:27,000 –> 00:34:29,100 As I think and pray of some of you 657 00:34:29,100 –> 00:34:32,379 who are still in the place of battling away 658 00:34:32,379 –> 00:34:34,239 as to whether you’re going to give yourself 659 00:34:34,239 –> 00:34:36,979 to Jesus Christ or not, the greatest sadness 660 00:34:37,000 –> 00:34:40,040 I feel for you is that by still holding out 661 00:34:40,040 –> 00:34:43,439 you are showing that you have not yet discovered his love. 662 00:34:45,060 –> 00:34:46,840 And the reason that you’re not yet his 663 00:34:46,840 –> 00:34:48,360 is he’s not yet yours. 664 00:34:49,520 –> 00:34:51,439 And the reason that he’s not yet yours 665 00:34:51,439 –> 00:34:53,959 is that you are not yet his, 666 00:34:53,959 –> 00:34:56,800 and the reality right now is that he is standing 667 00:34:56,800 –> 00:34:59,479 on the door of your life, knocking. 668 00:34:59,479 –> 00:35:01,879 He’s outside of your life, not inside, 669 00:35:01,879 –> 00:35:04,020 because you’re still pushing him away, 670 00:35:04,020 –> 00:35:06,600 and he wants to be invited in. 671 00:35:06,620 –> 00:35:09,139 And when he becomes yours, you will become his, 672 00:35:09,139 –> 00:35:11,340 and you’ll be able to say with all of the people of God, 673 00:35:11,340 –> 00:35:14,060 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. 674 00:35:16,760 –> 00:35:18,800 And what a blessing that is, 675 00:35:19,979 –> 00:35:24,820 to be able to go through life knowing who you are 676 00:35:26,340 –> 00:35:27,860 and to whom you belong. 677 00:35:27,860 –> 00:35:30,459 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. 678 00:35:32,620 –> 00:35:34,860 I was listening a couple of weeks ago to a message 679 00:35:35,159 –> 00:35:36,939 in a completely different part of the Bible 680 00:35:36,939 –> 00:35:38,520 by Sinclair Ferguson. 681 00:35:39,540 –> 00:35:42,620 And he said something that struck me in a fresh way. 682 00:35:42,620 –> 00:35:44,239 He was talking about his years 683 00:35:44,239 –> 00:35:47,139 as a Christian following Christ. 684 00:35:47,139 –> 00:35:47,959 And he said, 685 00:35:47,959 –> 00:35:49,919 one of the things for which I’ve been so thankful 686 00:35:49,919 –> 00:35:52,379 in my life as a Christian 687 00:35:52,379 –> 00:35:55,159 is that being a follower of Jesus Christ 688 00:35:55,159 –> 00:36:00,159 and belonging to Jesus Christ has simplified my life. 689 00:36:01,040 –> 00:36:04,520 And I thought, that’s a very striking thing to say. 690 00:36:05,879 –> 00:36:08,879 And here was his explanation as to why he said that. 691 00:36:09,879 –> 00:36:14,879 He said, you see, we go through life with so many demands, 692 00:36:15,320 –> 00:36:17,659 so many pressures, so many things coming at us, 693 00:36:17,659 –> 00:36:19,679 work and what we’ve got to do that, 694 00:36:19,679 –> 00:36:21,899 and family and children and church 695 00:36:21,899 –> 00:36:24,159 and people asking things of us. 696 00:36:24,159 –> 00:36:27,580 And we find ourselves increasingly saying, 697 00:36:27,580 –> 00:36:30,239 how can I keep all the balls in the air 698 00:36:30,239 –> 00:36:32,459 and all these things that I’ve got to do and be 699 00:36:32,459 –> 00:36:33,820 and all the rest of it. 700 00:36:33,820 –> 00:36:36,179 And sometimes you come to the place of saying, 701 00:36:37,100 –> 00:36:40,060 who am I and what am I supposed to be doing? 702 00:36:41,659 –> 00:36:43,219 And here’s where you begin. 703 00:36:44,860 –> 00:36:46,659 I am my beloved. 704 00:36:47,659 –> 00:36:48,719 That’s who I am. 705 00:36:50,239 –> 00:36:51,620 I belong to Christ. 706 00:36:51,620 –> 00:36:54,000 That’s the first and the single most important 707 00:36:54,000 –> 00:36:55,719 defining thing about me. 708 00:36:56,060 –> 00:36:57,719 And everything else is gonna have to find 709 00:36:57,719 –> 00:36:59,179 it’s place underneath that. 710 00:37:00,260 –> 00:37:01,840 That’s who I am. 711 00:37:01,840 –> 00:37:03,040 I’m my beloved. 712 00:37:04,479 –> 00:37:07,899 And my beloved is mine. 713 00:37:07,899 –> 00:37:10,919 Christ is mine. 714 00:37:10,919 –> 00:37:14,219 And with all the stuff that’s coming at me this week 715 00:37:14,219 –> 00:37:16,199 and in the months and perhaps even the years 716 00:37:16,199 –> 00:37:18,479 that lie ahead that would perplex me, 717 00:37:18,479 –> 00:37:21,560 this is how I’m going to face the challenges 718 00:37:21,560 –> 00:37:23,639 on the road ahead of me. 719 00:37:23,639 –> 00:37:25,959 Christ is mine, Christ is with me. 720 00:37:27,139 –> 00:37:28,699 Christ is for me. 721 00:37:29,639 –> 00:37:34,000 And Christ will never let me go. 722 00:37:34,000 –> 00:37:35,000 Let’s pray together. 723 00:37:36,760 –> 00:37:40,439 Father, we are so grateful to be able to say of Christ, 724 00:37:40,439 –> 00:37:45,439 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. 725 00:37:48,800 –> 00:37:52,159 Flood our souls we pray in a fresh way 726 00:37:52,280 –> 00:37:55,719 by the knowledge of your love that we may give ourselves 727 00:37:55,719 –> 00:37:58,879 without condition or reservation to you 728 00:37:59,780 –> 00:38:03,939 in a bond of joyful love 729 00:38:03,939 –> 00:38:07,360 that beginning now in the realities of this life 730 00:38:07,360 –> 00:38:10,179 may find its fullness as we are caught up 731 00:38:10,179 –> 00:38:14,560 into the full blessing of your everlasting love, 732 00:38:14,560 –> 00:38:17,280 the love of Father, Son, and Spirit 733 00:38:17,360 –> 00:38:20,860 to share this with you forever and forever 734 00:38:22,540 –> 00:38:24,219 through Jesus Christ our Lord. 735 00:38:24,219 –> 00:38:26,199 And everyone said, Amen.