1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,080 Well now, I think that many of us have made a commitment in these last days to get ourselves 2 00:00:04,080 –> 00:00:06,420 in spiritual shape. 3 00:00:06,420 –> 00:00:12,920 We all know the lethargy that comes upon us when the body is out of condition, and we’ve 4 00:00:12,920 –> 00:00:16,879 been using that analogy, really, to say that there is a similar kind of lethargy that can 5 00:00:16,879 –> 00:00:23,020 come over our inner life, our spiritual life, can come over our soul, when we get out of 6 00:00:23,020 –> 00:00:24,760 spiritual shape. 7 00:00:24,760 –> 00:00:28,600 So we’ve identified that it’s time to get into God’s gymnasium. 8 00:00:28,799 –> 00:00:32,980 Jude the apostle is our coach and our trainer. 9 00:00:32,980 –> 00:00:37,700 And we’ve been saying at the end of this letter of Jude, just before the Book of Revelation, 10 00:00:37,700 –> 00:00:44,200 the end of the New Testament, that he gives to us seven workouts for a healthy Christian 11 00:00:44,200 –> 00:00:45,200 life. 12 00:00:45,200 –> 00:00:50,700 Now, we’ve been learning the first two, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and 13 00:00:50,700 –> 00:00:53,939 then last week, pray in the Holy Spirit. 14 00:00:53,939 –> 00:00:56,400 Today we come to the third of these seven workouts. 15 00:00:56,400 –> 00:01:01,240 You’ll find it in Jude and verse 21, if you will open your Bibles there. 16 00:01:01,240 –> 00:01:11,040 Keep yourselves in God’s love, keep yourselves in God’s love. 17 00:01:11,040 –> 00:01:16,500 Now, immediately when a Christian looks at that phrase in the Bible, there will be some 18 00:01:16,500 –> 00:01:19,879 very obvious questions that come to our minds. 19 00:01:19,879 –> 00:01:24,080 Keep yourselves in God’s love? 20 00:01:24,099 –> 00:01:32,400 Does that mean that it is possible for a Christian to slip out of the love of God? 21 00:01:32,400 –> 00:01:38,320 And if it’s up to me to keep myself in God’s love, how am I to go about doing that? 22 00:01:38,320 –> 00:01:43,000 Well, we are going to face these questions head-on this morning. 23 00:01:43,000 –> 00:01:49,459 It’s important that we understand that the Bible talks about God’s love in several distinct 24 00:01:49,459 –> 00:01:51,339 ways. 25 00:01:51,360 –> 00:01:58,040 If you can think of it this way, there is a whole spectrum of the radiance and brilliance 26 00:01:58,040 –> 00:02:03,879 of the single statement, God is love. 27 00:02:03,879 –> 00:02:08,860 If you want to follow this subject further, I found great help in reading Don Carson’s 28 00:02:08,860 –> 00:02:14,039 book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, where he makes this point. 29 00:02:14,039 –> 00:02:22,460 I find it very helpful just to clarify that indeed when we say God is love, there is a 30 00:02:22,460 –> 00:02:30,600 whole spectrum of meaning, a spectrum of color that radiates from that single statement. 31 00:02:30,600 –> 00:02:38,059 Let me set out just five dimensions of the love of God for us to consider this morning. 32 00:02:38,179 –> 00:02:45,460 The first is that the Bible speaks of what we might describe as his providential love. 33 00:02:45,460 –> 00:02:53,399 That is, that God is kind and gives good gifts to his enemies as well as his friends. 34 00:02:53,399 –> 00:02:57,699 You remember that Lord Jesus spoke about this providential love of God when he said that 35 00:02:57,699 –> 00:03:03,139 God makes the sun to rise on the just as well as the unjust, he sends the rain on the good 36 00:03:03,139 –> 00:03:06,500 as well as the evil. 37 00:03:06,580 –> 00:03:15,919 It is a remarkable thing that God gives wonderfully good gifts to incredibly wicked people. 38 00:03:15,919 –> 00:03:19,139 God loves his enemies. 39 00:03:19,139 –> 00:03:24,300 If I say to my wife, as I happened to do this last week, you know, I feel like buying you 40 00:03:24,300 –> 00:03:26,940 a gift, let’s go and hit the shops. 41 00:03:26,940 –> 00:03:32,139 That may be an expression of love, but there’s nothing very surprising about it. 42 00:03:32,139 –> 00:03:36,899 But if you said to your worst enemy, hey, I want to buy you a gift. 43 00:03:36,899 –> 00:03:38,619 I just feel like doing that. 44 00:03:38,619 –> 00:03:42,300 And why don’t we go and hit the shops and you choose. 45 00:03:42,300 –> 00:03:43,940 You said that to your worst enemy. 46 00:03:43,940 –> 00:03:46,740 That would be truly remarkable. 47 00:03:46,740 –> 00:03:51,779 Now here is the amazing dimension of God’s providential love that he gives good gifts 48 00:03:51,779 –> 00:03:55,259 to his enemies as well as to his friends. 49 00:03:55,259 –> 00:04:02,899 One day God’s enemies will come under his judgment, but right now, while being his enemies 50 00:04:02,899 –> 00:04:08,199 they receive good gifts from the hand of the God they despise. 51 00:04:08,199 –> 00:04:12,179 Secondly, we may distinguish God’s saving love. 52 00:04:12,179 –> 00:04:18,459 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him 53 00:04:18,459 –> 00:04:20,899 should not perish but have everlasting life. 54 00:04:21,160 –> 00:04:25,859 In other words, the Bible tells us that in addition to a general kindness to all, whether 55 00:04:25,859 –> 00:04:33,019 they be good or evil, God reaches out specifically in Jesus Christ, incredibly offering to all 56 00:04:33,019 –> 00:04:39,119 people in every culture, of every background and whatever we have done, an eternal salvation 57 00:04:39,119 –> 00:04:44,299 which may be received through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. 58 00:04:44,299 –> 00:04:52,320 And whoever believes, whoever is no longer God’s enemy, but rather his friend. 59 00:04:52,320 –> 00:04:56,880 And God says to all men and to all women, and to you this morning, whatever you have 60 00:04:56,880 –> 00:05:04,500 done, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 61 00:05:04,500 –> 00:05:09,619 That is love, saving love. 62 00:05:09,619 –> 00:05:13,660 Thirdly, we may distinguish God’s covenant love. 63 00:05:14,440 –> 00:05:20,299 This is God’s firm and unshakeable commitment to his own people. 64 00:05:20,299 –> 00:05:25,239 Now, notice that this is different from the first two. 65 00:05:25,239 –> 00:05:36,019 You see, if I can make it specific, Hitler and Stalin received God’s providential love. 66 00:05:36,019 –> 00:05:40,380 They received good gifts from him. 67 00:05:41,260 –> 00:05:49,459 Hitler and Stalin were included within the offer of God’s saving love. 68 00:05:49,459 –> 00:05:55,700 Whoever believes in him, that offer is extended to all in the course of their lifetime, whatever 69 00:05:55,700 –> 00:06:00,380 they have done. 70 00:06:00,380 –> 00:06:06,179 But we have no reason to believe that these men knew anything of his covenant love. 71 00:06:06,179 –> 00:06:13,440 This is the love that God sets upon his covenant people, that is, those who have been redeemed 72 00:06:13,440 –> 00:06:20,040 by his grace, those who have been raised to spiritual life through faith in the Lord Jesus 73 00:06:20,040 –> 00:06:24,959 Christ, and obedience to his commands. 74 00:06:24,959 –> 00:06:30,600 In the Old Testament, of course, this community was Israel, the community of faith, and God 75 00:06:30,600 –> 00:06:35,940 bound himself to these people in an unbreakable covenant of love. 76 00:06:35,940 –> 00:06:47,619 I will be your God, you will be my people, you will be holy as I am holy. 77 00:06:47,619 –> 00:06:52,700 And God’s people, as we know, broke that covenant in all kinds of ways, but God could not give 78 00:06:52,700 –> 00:06:56,019 up loving his own redeemed people. 79 00:06:56,019 –> 00:07:00,299 The book of Isaiah describes this for us, very powerfully, through the story of a man 80 00:07:00,299 –> 00:07:05,700 whose wife was consistently, persistently, unfaithful. 81 00:07:05,700 –> 00:07:12,679 And God used that as a picture of the tearing of his own heart on account of the unfaithfulness 82 00:07:12,679 –> 00:07:15,140 of his own redeemed people to him. 83 00:07:15,140 –> 00:07:19,739 But then in the book of Isaiah God says these incredible words, Oh Ephraim, speaking of 84 00:07:19,739 –> 00:07:23,760 his own people, How can I give you up? 85 00:07:23,760 –> 00:07:29,720 I can’t stop loving you, God says, because you are my covenant people. 86 00:07:30,459 –> 00:07:32,040 Now, you see the distinction? 87 00:07:32,040 –> 00:07:38,079 Providential love in which God gives good gifts to incredibly wicked people. 88 00:07:38,079 –> 00:07:41,760 We sometimes ask the question you know, why do bad things happen to good people? 89 00:07:41,760 –> 00:07:42,760 Here’s another question. 90 00:07:42,760 –> 00:07:44,480 Why do good things happen to bad people? 91 00:07:44,480 –> 00:07:46,839 That’s God’s providential love. 92 00:07:46,839 –> 00:07:52,700 His saving love that is offered to all so that in the course of lifetime all, whatever 93 00:07:52,700 –> 00:07:57,040 you have done, have an opportunity of coming to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus 94 00:07:57,820 –> 00:07:59,200 Christ. 95 00:07:59,200 –> 00:08:05,679 His covenant love that embraces his redeemed people, a love of which he says I cannot give 96 00:08:05,679 –> 00:08:07,380 you up. 97 00:08:07,380 –> 00:08:11,220 Fourthly, his disciplining love. 98 00:08:11,220 –> 00:08:15,640 This is again a love that is particularly directed towards his own people. 99 00:08:15,640 –> 00:08:21,279 It is the love by which he forms the likeness of Jesus Christ in his own children. 100 00:08:21,279 –> 00:08:24,079 We read about this in Hebrews chapter 12. 101 00:08:24,079 –> 00:08:31,119 The Lord disciplines those who he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. 102 00:08:31,119 –> 00:08:35,940 So endure hardship as discipline, because God is treating you as sons. 103 00:08:35,940 –> 00:08:42,580 Again, this is something that is unique to God’s own redeemed people. 104 00:08:42,580 –> 00:08:47,280 The wicked do not experience this love. 105 00:08:47,280 –> 00:08:50,159 The Bible tells us of the wicked what God does with them. 106 00:08:50,159 –> 00:08:53,039 Romans chapter 1 is he gives them up. 107 00:08:53,440 –> 00:08:57,479 That’s why they ultimately end up in hell. 108 00:08:57,479 –> 00:09:00,440 But with God’s children, he does not do that. 109 00:09:00,440 –> 00:09:03,299 He allows the wicked to go their own way. 110 00:09:03,299 –> 00:09:05,380 He honors their own choice. 111 00:09:05,380 –> 00:09:12,799 He gives them up, Paul says in Romans, but with his own children, he distinctly intervenes 112 00:09:12,799 –> 00:09:14,859 to prevent them from going astray. 113 00:09:14,859 –> 00:09:17,000 He disciplines those who he loves. 114 00:09:17,000 –> 00:09:22,559 That’s one of the privileges of being within this covenant community of God’s people, 115 00:09:22,559 –> 00:09:27,880 that he disciplines those who he loves—he does not regard us as outside of his family, 116 00:09:27,880 –> 00:09:29,380 but in his family. 117 00:09:29,380 –> 00:09:34,400 So that is why the Bible says judgment begins with the house of God. 118 00:09:34,400 –> 00:09:40,140 A wonderful thing, really, to be under the disciplining love of God. 119 00:09:40,140 –> 00:09:46,940 And then, fifthly, what I describe as best I can as God’s affirming love. 120 00:09:47,080 –> 00:09:53,320 We’re referring here to the joyful affirmation that the children of God know when they’re 121 00:09:53,320 –> 00:09:56,039 walking in fellowship with him. 122 00:09:56,039 –> 00:10:01,880 The ways in which, by the Holy Spirit, God says, I love you. 123 00:10:01,880 –> 00:10:08,479 That relational intimacy, that affirmation in which, as Paul puts it in Romans, the love 124 00:10:08,479 –> 00:10:15,219 of God is shed abroad in our hearts, it floods our souls by the Holy Spirit, so that we come 125 00:10:15,219 –> 00:10:19,640 to know and feel that we are truly loved by God. 126 00:10:19,640 –> 00:10:23,219 This is of course what Adam and Eve knew in the garden. 127 00:10:23,219 –> 00:10:26,640 They walked with the Lord God in the cool of the day. 128 00:10:26,640 –> 00:10:32,280 There was no need for saving love then, no need for disciplining love then, no particular 129 00:10:32,280 –> 00:10:37,380 aspect of providential love then, of course, because there were only Adam and Eve in the 130 00:10:37,380 –> 00:10:40,539 garden and all things were provided for them. 131 00:10:40,539 –> 00:10:46,859 When the Lord God came and sharing their work, sharing their relationships, sharing their 132 00:10:46,859 –> 00:10:56,760 very lives, they experienced by walking with God in the garden, in the cool of the day, 133 00:10:56,760 –> 00:11:03,419 the affirmation of the love of God. 134 00:11:03,419 –> 00:11:05,599 Then guess what? 135 00:11:05,599 –> 00:11:11,460 They found a way of getting out of it, didn’t they? 136 00:11:11,460 –> 00:11:18,599 They did, and there begins the whole of the Bible story. 137 00:11:18,599 –> 00:11:22,520 So is it possible to slip outside of God’s love? 138 00:11:22,520 –> 00:11:26,219 Is it possible for a believer to slip outside of God’s love? 139 00:11:26,219 –> 00:11:29,880 Well, see that’s actually a more complex question than it first meets the eye. 140 00:11:29,880 –> 00:11:34,919 If you’re talking about God’s covenant love, the answer is certainly no. 141 00:11:34,919 –> 00:11:38,940 If you’re talking about God’s affirming love, of this walking in fellowship with God, the 142 00:11:38,940 –> 00:11:42,219 answer is certainly, yes. 143 00:11:42,219 –> 00:11:48,640 These distinctions are important, and it’s useful, I think, for us to bear them in mind 144 00:11:48,640 –> 00:11:50,760 when we come to oversimplistic statements. 145 00:11:50,760 –> 00:11:55,479 You see, folks say things like this, you know, well, of course, God loves everybody just 146 00:11:55,479 –> 00:11:56,979 the same. 147 00:11:57,080 –> 00:11:59,739 Well, is that true? 148 00:11:59,760 –> 00:12:05,059 Well, if you’re talking about His providential love, then it is self- evidently true. 149 00:12:05,059 –> 00:12:08,619 If you’re talking about His saving love, that is equally offered to all. 150 00:12:08,619 –> 00:12:13,359 It’s not offered more to people who’ve lived a more conservative moral life than those 151 00:12:13,359 –> 00:12:14,719 who’ve kicked over the traces. 152 00:12:14,719 –> 00:12:16,280 It’s offered equally to all. 153 00:12:16,280 –> 00:12:18,820 Wonderful thing! 154 00:12:18,820 –> 00:12:22,919 But if you’re talking about God’s covenant love or His disciplining love or His affirming 155 00:12:23,419 –> 00:12:29,780 is certainly not the case that God loves all people the same. 156 00:12:29,780 –> 00:12:36,780 When people say, God’s love is unconditional, is that true? 157 00:12:36,780 –> 00:12:41,820 Well, it’s certainly true if you’re talking about His saving love, it’s certainly true 158 00:12:41,820 –> 00:12:46,659 if you’re talking about His covenant love or His providential love, but when it comes 159 00:12:46,659 –> 00:12:52,880 to God’s affirming love, there is a condition. 160 00:12:52,880 –> 00:13:01,440 You will remain in my love, said Jesus, if that’s a condition you obey my commands. 161 00:13:01,440 –> 00:13:08,659 So, it is important if we’re to avoid confusion, and there is great confusion over this theme 162 00:13:08,659 –> 00:13:14,059 of the love of God, that we must give proper weight to all the the Bible says about the 163 00:13:14,059 –> 00:13:15,059 love of God. 164 00:13:15,059 –> 00:13:23,820 The love of God is free, unchangeable, unconditional, unmerited and unearned, but at the same time, 165 00:13:23,820 –> 00:13:28,179 Christ calls us to remain in his love, and makes it quite clear that to do that, we must 166 00:13:28,179 –> 00:13:29,679 obey his commands. 167 00:13:29,679 –> 00:13:36,739 And I hope to show you in the time that we have this morning, why we need that integration 168 00:13:36,739 –> 00:13:41,119 of God’s full revelation in Scripture. 169 00:13:41,119 –> 00:13:46,460 Because God addresses it at particular points in particular ways, so that all of us need 170 00:13:46,460 –> 00:13:54,640 every part of this incredible spectrum of the glory of the love of God. 171 00:13:54,640 –> 00:13:57,239 Now then, let’s come to this third workout. 172 00:13:57,239 –> 00:14:02,799 If we’re to keep ourselves in spiritual shape, Jude says whatever you do, keep yourselves 173 00:14:02,799 –> 00:14:05,679 in the love of God. 174 00:14:05,679 –> 00:14:08,599 Now, how are we going to do that? 175 00:14:09,059 –> 00:14:14,239 I want to suggest three simple exercises in this third workout. 176 00:14:14,239 –> 00:14:18,260 We’ll spend most of our time on the first, and then more briefly on the second two. 177 00:14:18,260 –> 00:14:23,719 The three exercises are simply remember, obey, and reflect. 178 00:14:23,719 –> 00:14:25,260 Number one, remember. 179 00:14:25,260 –> 00:14:28,919 How are you going to keep yourself in the love of God? 180 00:14:28,919 –> 00:14:32,460 Number one, remember. 181 00:14:32,460 –> 00:14:38,539 When you are tempted to doubt God’s love for you, call to mind the unchangeable, and 182 00:14:38,539 –> 00:14:45,520 indisputable, and overwhelming evidence of God’s love for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. 183 00:14:45,520 –> 00:14:48,140 That’s where you begin. 184 00:14:48,140 –> 00:14:53,039 So you’re struggling with some overwhelming difficulties as you’ve come to church today. 185 00:14:53,039 –> 00:14:55,039 You wonder how you’re going to face this coming week. 186 00:14:55,039 –> 00:14:59,460 You’ve said at the back of your mind, I don’t know if God really cares about me at all. 187 00:14:59,919 –> 00:15:06,599 I’m saying to you from the scriptures, begin here by calling to your mind intentionally 188 00:15:06,599 –> 00:15:12,119 the overwhelming and indisputable evidence of God’s love in Jesus. 189 00:15:12,119 –> 00:15:21,400 God demonstrates His love for us in this—that while we were still sinners, Christ died for 190 00:15:21,400 –> 00:15:23,340 us. 191 00:15:23,340 –> 00:15:28,159 Some of us desperately need to work this into our minds and into our souls. 192 00:15:28,159 –> 00:15:33,659 We have been plagued with a psychology that we’ve kind of grown up with, a way of thinking 193 00:15:33,659 –> 00:15:39,659 that says that I will only be loved by God if I earn that love. 194 00:15:39,659 –> 00:15:40,979 Some of us really think like that. 195 00:15:40,979 –> 00:15:44,599 We find it very, very difficult to get away from that. 196 00:15:44,599 –> 00:15:49,500 I want to speak directly to that this morning—remember the love of God. 197 00:15:49,500 –> 00:15:53,520 Let me try and make it a little more personal by taking an example. 198 00:15:53,520 –> 00:15:56,099 We’re going to have two imaginary characters this morning. 199 00:15:56,099 –> 00:15:57,099 Here’s the first. 200 00:15:57,099 –> 00:15:58,099 We’ll call them Bill and Ben. 201 00:15:58,099 –> 00:15:59,099 We’ll have Bill now. 202 00:15:59,099 –> 00:16:00,739 We’ll have Ben later. 203 00:16:00,739 –> 00:16:01,739 Okay? 204 00:16:01,739 –> 00:16:05,280 Bill’s in high school—imaginary character. 205 00:16:05,280 –> 00:16:09,659 Bill has been brought up in an evangelical church just like this where he is taught that 206 00:16:09,659 –> 00:16:11,559 God loves him. 207 00:16:11,559 –> 00:16:16,020 He believes this, and he has put his faith in Jesus Christ. 208 00:16:16,020 –> 00:16:18,599 Bill’s a perfectionist. 209 00:16:18,599 –> 00:16:22,080 And he’s rather shy—timid —by nature. 210 00:16:22,080 –> 00:16:27,200 He’s had throughout his high school career a string of straight As in his school report. 211 00:16:27,239 –> 00:16:32,260 That’s what he aims for—Bill—and when he doesn’t get it, he’s pretty disappointed 212 00:16:32,260 –> 00:16:33,340 with himself. 213 00:16:33,340 –> 00:16:37,539 He’s a sincere lad and he genuinely wants to please God. 214 00:16:37,539 –> 00:16:43,520 He has many fears, though, and he sometimes wonders if God can really love him. 215 00:16:43,520 –> 00:16:47,539 When it comes to the Communion service, he sits and wonders if he should really take 216 00:16:47,539 –> 00:16:52,280 the bread and wine, because there are, after all, many things in Bill’s life that are 217 00:16:52,280 –> 00:16:54,119 not really as they should be. 218 00:16:54,119 –> 00:16:57,119 His thought life is one of them. 219 00:16:57,599 –> 00:17:00,739 He really struggles with that one. 220 00:17:00,739 –> 00:17:04,560 And then last week, when he was at school, there were some kids who really got on his 221 00:17:04,560 –> 00:17:06,739 case and he lost it. 222 00:17:06,739 –> 00:17:13,060 He let out that afternoon a string of foul language and he felt so ashamed. 223 00:17:13,060 –> 00:17:16,819 A Christian doesn’t behave like that, Bill said to himself. 224 00:17:18,180 –> 00:17:22,959 In fact, sometimes Bill has wondered if he’s really a Christian at all. 225 00:17:22,979 –> 00:17:31,800 Bill needs to remind himself of God’s love by grasping God’s unconditional love to him 226 00:17:31,800 –> 00:17:33,859 as he is. 227 00:17:33,859 –> 00:17:40,560 Bill, you do not earn the love of God with your straight A’s. 228 00:17:40,560 –> 00:17:48,380 You do not earn the love of God by achieving victory over every temptation. 229 00:17:48,380 –> 00:17:52,880 Bill, God does not stop loving you when you fail. 230 00:17:52,880 –> 00:18:02,800 Bill, God loves you, Bill, with an everlasting and an unchangeable love. 231 00:18:02,800 –> 00:18:08,500 Now you may be a little older or younger than Bill, but essentially that’s what you need 232 00:18:08,500 –> 00:18:12,780 to get into your mind, because you struggle with the same thought pattern as he does. 233 00:18:12,780 –> 00:18:17,420 How are you going to get that into your mind? 234 00:18:17,420 –> 00:18:18,420 There’s three ways to remember. 235 00:18:18,420 –> 00:18:19,459 The first, the Lord’s Supper. 236 00:18:19,459 –> 00:18:21,160 Let’s begin there. 237 00:18:21,400 –> 00:18:28,199 You see, at the very center of Christian worship, God has given us an exercise to keep you 238 00:18:28,199 –> 00:18:31,560 in spiritual shape. 239 00:18:31,560 –> 00:18:38,780 We come to a table where we receive bread and wine that direct our attention, if we 240 00:18:38,780 –> 00:18:45,199 follow God’s signposts, to a cross where the body of Jesus was broken and the blood 241 00:18:45,199 –> 00:18:50,520 of Jesus was shed for you. 242 00:18:50,520 –> 00:18:54,560 This is love, the Bible says. 243 00:18:54,560 –> 00:19:00,920 Not that we loved God, but that God has loved us and given His Son as an atoning sacrifice 244 00:19:00,920 –> 00:19:05,119 for our sins. 245 00:19:05,119 –> 00:19:13,839 And God uses the supper to tell you that He loves you. 246 00:19:13,839 –> 00:19:18,500 We used to sing quite often when I was a kid a hymn when we came to the Lord’s Table, 247 00:19:18,500 –> 00:19:19,500 and it went like this. 248 00:19:19,500 –> 00:19:23,079 It’s so helpful, that’s why I repeat it. 249 00:19:23,079 –> 00:19:31,199 Give me a sight, O Savior, of your wondrous love for me. 250 00:19:31,199 –> 00:19:35,239 That love that brought you down to earth to die on Calvary. 251 00:19:35,239 –> 00:19:39,400 O, make me understand it. 252 00:19:39,400 –> 00:19:42,900 Help me to take it in. 253 00:19:42,900 –> 00:19:48,459 What it meant to you, the Holy One, to bear away my sin. 254 00:19:48,760 –> 00:19:50,839 Sin. 255 00:19:50,839 –> 00:19:58,060 You could spend your whole life seeking to gaze on the mystery of that revelation of 256 00:19:58,060 –> 00:20:02,199 the everlasting love of God for you. 257 00:20:02,199 –> 00:20:03,219 Are you using this exercise? 258 00:20:03,219 –> 00:20:08,199 Are you coming to the Lord’s table as often as we have that opportunity, with open eyes 259 00:20:08,199 –> 00:20:11,979 and ears, and a believing heart? 260 00:20:11,979 –> 00:20:17,660 The body of Jesus was broken for you! 261 00:20:17,660 –> 00:20:24,000 The blood of Jesus was shed for you! 262 00:20:24,000 –> 00:20:29,800 And in the Lord’s supper, the Lord invites us to take the bread, and to take the cup. 263 00:20:29,800 –> 00:20:35,099 He’s saying to us in his clear, a visual aid for all of us who say we’re visual learners. 264 00:20:35,099 –> 00:20:36,079 Use this. 265 00:20:36,079 –> 00:20:37,079 Feed on it. 266 00:20:37,079 –> 00:20:40,979 He’s saying, look this is love and it touches you. 267 00:20:40,979 –> 00:20:41,979 Take it! 268 00:20:41,979 –> 00:20:42,979 Take it! 269 00:20:42,979 –> 00:20:44,839 Take it! 270 00:20:44,839 –> 00:20:46,819 Receive it! 271 00:20:47,380 –> 00:20:51,380 And some of us are just sitting here and they’re going, and saying, oh, I don’t really know 272 00:20:51,380 –> 00:20:55,500 if God loves me. 273 00:20:55,500 –> 00:21:02,819 You may go through great days of great darkness, bereavement, sorrow, confusion, pain, and 274 00:21:02,819 –> 00:21:10,619 right now you find it difficult to see where God is or where His love is in all of this. 275 00:21:10,719 –> 00:21:22,439 But God gives you bread, and God gives you wine, and He says, look at this cross and 276 00:21:22,439 –> 00:21:27,780 don’t ever say that I don’t love you. 277 00:21:27,780 –> 00:21:32,199 Don’t ever say that. 278 00:21:32,199 –> 00:21:36,619 Secondly, the scriptures. 279 00:21:36,660 –> 00:21:42,119 A while back, a friend of mine, a pastor, was in India for a series of meetings. 280 00:21:42,119 –> 00:21:46,900 And when he arrived in this particular town in south India, there were posters all over 281 00:21:46,900 –> 00:21:52,199 the town that were advertising this campaign that was going to be held in a large stadium 282 00:21:52,199 –> 00:21:54,719 at which he would speak. 283 00:21:54,719 –> 00:22:01,459 The poster was supposed to say that he would bring the evening messages. 284 00:22:01,459 –> 00:22:05,459 Unfortunately, there was a typo. 285 00:22:05,560 –> 00:22:16,000 And the poster said that the visiting pastor from England would bring the evening massages. 286 00:22:16,000 –> 00:22:20,079 A fascinating thought. 287 00:22:20,079 –> 00:22:29,520 But you know, the work of the preacher is to massage the Word of God into your soul. 288 00:22:29,719 –> 00:22:36,760 To massage it into your soul until it changes not only what you think, but what you feel. 289 00:22:36,760 –> 00:22:41,000 That’s what a massage does, isn’t it? 290 00:22:41,000 –> 00:22:50,339 Now, I know that some of us who experienced little love earlier in our lives, or some 291 00:22:50,339 –> 00:22:58,400 of us who are perfectionists by nature, have great difficulty in feeling that we are really 292 00:22:58,420 –> 00:23:00,560 loved by God. 293 00:23:00,560 –> 00:23:05,660 So, you need this workout. 294 00:23:05,660 –> 00:23:14,000 Massage the Word of God in its simplest form into your soul. 295 00:23:14,000 –> 00:23:20,760 Memorize and personalize Scripture that speaks to you of the love of God. 296 00:23:20,760 –> 00:23:22,060 Personalize it. 297 00:23:22,060 –> 00:23:29,680 The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me. 298 00:23:29,680 –> 00:23:39,280 Now, in your meditation, in your reflection, massage that into your soul, until eventually 299 00:23:39,280 –> 00:23:42,839 it will change—not only the way that you think, but, I promise you, the way that you 300 00:23:42,839 –> 00:23:45,479 feel. 301 00:23:45,479 –> 00:23:51,739 God demonstrates His love for me, in this. 302 00:23:51,739 –> 00:23:55,800 While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. 303 00:23:55,800 –> 00:24:01,400 Allow God to tell you that He loves you—that is what the Word is stating, this is what 304 00:24:01,400 –> 00:24:06,020 God is saying to you in the Scripture, this is His revelation. 305 00:24:06,020 –> 00:24:11,140 Now, listen to what He says. 306 00:24:11,939 –> 00:24:13,300 Thirdly, prayer. 307 00:24:14,180 –> 00:24:16,439 I love Garrison Keillor’s books about Lake Wobegon. 308 00:24:16,439 –> 00:24:18,680 Do you ever read these Lake Wobegon books? 309 00:24:18,680 –> 00:24:23,319 Some of them are absolutely hilarious, and he describes at one point, a rather awkward 310 00:24:23,319 –> 00:24:28,680 teenager growing up, in fact throughout the books, growing up in a small town, and at 311 00:24:28,680 –> 00:24:34,400 one point this lad makes a speech at a high school graduation, and afterward someone comes 312 00:24:34,400 –> 00:24:39,540 up and says, hey, nice speech, but the kid can’t receive a compliment. 313 00:24:40,239 –> 00:24:43,000 Oh, no, he says, no, no, I was just rambling. 314 00:24:43,000 –> 00:24:44,380 I didn’t know what I was talking about. 315 00:24:44,380 –> 00:24:49,020 I was just glad when it was over, and I was able to sit down. 316 00:24:49,020 –> 00:24:55,380 He couldn’t receive a compliment, Keillor says, because inside there was a raging monster 317 00:24:55,380 –> 00:25:02,439 that didn’t just want to hear nice speech, but wanted someone to fall down before him 318 00:25:02,439 –> 00:25:04,119 in worship. 319 00:25:04,119 –> 00:25:08,680 And that’s probably where some of us are. 320 00:25:08,680 –> 00:25:14,180 For some of us, we are so consumed, either with our own pain or with our own perfectionism, 321 00:25:14,180 –> 00:25:16,979 that we do not hear the Word of God. 322 00:25:16,979 –> 00:25:20,859 We cannot receive the affirmation of God’s love. 323 00:25:20,859 –> 00:25:26,099 So, when God says, I love you, you brush it off and go on thinking exactly as you did 324 00:25:26,099 –> 00:25:27,300 before. 325 00:25:27,300 –> 00:25:33,020 Now that is why Paul tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 326 00:25:33,020 –> 00:25:34,020 Holy Spirit. 327 00:25:34,020 –> 00:25:41,079 There is a distinct work of the Holy Spirit to convert the very feeling dimension of our 328 00:25:41,079 –> 00:25:46,239 souls to a true faith in the God who loves us. 329 00:25:46,239 –> 00:25:51,060 That is why he prays for this to be happening in the lives, not of the unconverted, but 330 00:25:51,060 –> 00:25:52,199 of believers. 331 00:25:52,199 –> 00:25:58,040 He asks in Ephesians 3 that God would give to young believers, the power. 332 00:25:58,040 –> 00:26:03,699 Notice that word, the power to grasp how long and high and wide and deep is the love of 333 00:26:03,819 –> 00:26:08,359 Christ is saying, what I’m praying for you is that you’ll have the inner strength, the 334 00:26:08,359 –> 00:26:13,939 inner capacity to contain the knowledge of this love that up until now you’ve just been 335 00:26:13,939 –> 00:26:17,979 brushing off as if it was something of no account. 336 00:26:17,979 –> 00:26:20,880 Now, that’s a great way to pray. 337 00:26:20,880 –> 00:26:31,199 Oh God, you know how little this container is able to hold the knowledge of your love. 338 00:26:31,280 –> 00:26:35,219 How shriveled this dried-up soul is. 339 00:26:35,219 –> 00:26:46,219 Open it up and expand my capacity to contain something of the breadth and depth and length 340 00:26:46,219 –> 00:26:49,000 and height of your love for me. 341 00:26:49,000 –> 00:26:50,520 Start praying like that. 342 00:26:50,520 –> 00:26:54,800 Get in this gymnasium. 343 00:26:54,800 –> 00:27:00,319 And you will find that the love of God begins to touch the inner places of your soul. 344 00:27:01,239 –> 00:27:02,319 That’s the first thing. 345 00:27:03,680 –> 00:27:07,640 Remember, now I did tell you the first was the longest. 346 00:27:07,640 –> 00:27:09,319 Here’s the second. 347 00:27:09,319 –> 00:27:11,719 You said amen, that was the wrong place to say it. 348 00:27:12,060 –> 00:27:15,959 Secondly, obey. 349 00:27:15,959 –> 00:27:20,819 Now Jesus spoke about this clearly in John 15 in verse 10. 350 00:27:20,819 –> 00:27:26,800 If you obey my commandments, he says, you will remain in my love. 351 00:27:26,800 –> 00:27:30,719 Now it’s pretty clear when you read that, that Jude had these words in his mind when 352 00:27:30,760 –> 00:27:34,939 he wrote verse 21 under the inspiration of the Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of 353 00:27:34,939 –> 00:27:35,939 God. 354 00:27:35,939 –> 00:27:38,339 If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love. 355 00:27:38,339 –> 00:27:41,680 Keep yourselves in the love of God. 356 00:27:41,680 –> 00:27:45,239 Now we’ve had bild’s story very briefly, let’s have Ben’s story. 357 00:27:45,239 –> 00:27:46,979 Here’s another high schooler. 358 00:27:46,979 –> 00:27:49,959 He’s been brought up in the same church as his friend, Bill. 359 00:27:49,959 –> 00:27:52,359 He also has been taught that God loves him. 360 00:27:52,359 –> 00:27:55,959 He believes this and he also has put his faith in Jesus Christ. 361 00:27:55,959 –> 00:28:00,380 And last week, the pastor was in fine form and preached a marvelous sermon on God’s 362 00:28:00,599 –> 00:28:01,599 love. 363 00:28:01,599 –> 00:28:05,500 There is nothing, he said, that you can do that will make God love you more. 364 00:28:05,500 –> 00:28:11,219 There is nothing, he said, that you can do that will make God love you less. 365 00:28:11,219 –> 00:28:17,339 This was a tremendous help to Bill but it became a stumbling block to Ben. 366 00:28:17,339 –> 00:28:22,920 Because on Tuesday, you see, Ben was in the shopping mall with some friends. 367 00:28:22,920 –> 00:28:26,660 They were looking through the racks of CDs and Ben saw one that he would like and he 368 00:28:26,660 –> 00:28:31,900 slipped it under his coat and then walked out of the shop with his friends. 369 00:28:31,900 –> 00:28:35,780 Later that night he was watching TV, he found what’s called an adult film. 370 00:28:35,780 –> 00:28:40,260 He knew he shouldn’t be watching it but he felt in the mood and so he watched it anyway. 371 00:28:40,260 –> 00:28:46,060 Ben of course knows that what he was doing was not right, but God loves him. 372 00:28:46,060 –> 00:28:48,859 And God’s love does not depend on anything Ben does, right? 373 00:28:48,859 –> 00:28:51,540 That’s what the pastor said. 374 00:28:51,939 –> 00:29:01,300 Ben and there are some Ben’s among us needs to hear this. 375 00:29:01,300 –> 00:29:07,819 Ben what you are doing right now will bring God’s disciplining love on you. 376 00:29:07,819 –> 00:29:13,819 It will cost you your fellowship with God. 377 00:29:13,819 –> 00:29:20,060 And frankly Ben if you persist in this kind of behavior it actually raises questions over 378 00:29:20,400 –> 00:29:24,699 whether you may even be deceived about your own salvation because those who belong to 379 00:29:24,699 –> 00:29:27,839 Christ declare war on sin. 380 00:29:27,839 –> 00:29:33,439 You see there’s all the difference in the world between Bill and Ben. 381 00:29:33,439 –> 00:29:40,040 We can’t always see it but God surely does. 382 00:29:40,040 –> 00:29:46,800 If Ben you remain obey Jesus’ Commandments then you will remain in his love. 383 00:29:47,560 –> 00:29:50,859 He’s the Word of God to you. 384 00:29:50,859 –> 00:29:55,119 This does not mean Ben that you’re earning the love of God by not stealing and by not 385 00:29:55,119 –> 00:30:02,239 watching particular films, but it does mean that disobedience to God forfeits the knowledge 386 00:30:02,239 –> 00:30:04,780 of his fellowship. 387 00:30:04,780 –> 00:30:07,939 And frankly Ben all the attendance at the Lord’s Supper and all of the reading of 388 00:30:07,939 –> 00:30:12,540 the Bible and all of the praying for a greater capacity to retain the love of God is not 389 00:30:12,540 –> 00:30:16,579 going to do you any good unless you’re prepared to change what you’re doing that is 390 00:30:16,599 –> 00:30:21,839 in direct disobedience to God’s command. 391 00:30:21,839 –> 00:30:27,540 The father never stopped loving the prodigal son but the son did not remain in his love. 392 00:30:27,540 –> 00:30:34,040 He went his own way and it was a disaster until he decided to return to the father and 393 00:30:34,040 –> 00:30:38,479 submit himself wholly to what the father was calling him to do. 394 00:30:38,479 –> 00:30:43,699 The son never stopped shining, but on a day where there are clouds we do not feel the 395 00:30:43,699 –> 00:30:48,459 warmth of the son, just as the prodigal did not experience the love of the father that 396 00:30:48,459 –> 00:30:51,439 was waiting for him to return. 397 00:30:51,439 –> 00:30:58,420 Sinner like the clouds in the sky, that though God’s love streams towards us, cut us off 398 00:30:58,420 –> 00:31:04,280 from the knowledge and the fellowship and the affirmation of that love flooding our 399 00:31:04,280 –> 00:31:07,680 souls. 400 00:31:07,680 –> 00:31:12,459 When Jude says, keep yourselves in the love of God, he was reminding us of something absolutely 401 00:31:12,459 –> 00:31:16,060 fundamental to healthy relationships. 402 00:31:16,060 –> 00:31:21,339 If you want to cultivate a close relationship with someone, don’t do what annoys them. 403 00:31:21,339 –> 00:31:26,500 This is a very simple stuff to take home. 404 00:31:26,500 –> 00:31:35,199 If your wife does not like you getting up at midnight to practice the trumpet, don’t 405 00:31:35,199 –> 00:31:37,219 do it. 406 00:31:37,219 –> 00:31:44,420 She may not stop loving you because you play the trumpet at midnight, but because it annoys 407 00:31:44,420 –> 00:31:52,099 her, she may very well take a high-heeled shoe and fling it at you. 408 00:31:52,099 –> 00:31:59,060 If you want to remain in the love of God, don’t do those things that displease Him. 409 00:31:59,060 –> 00:32:04,119 If you do, it’s not that He’ll stop loving you, but there will be a conflict in this 410 00:32:04,780 –> 00:32:06,800 until you are reconciled with Him. 411 00:32:06,800 –> 00:32:12,199 That’s why Paul says in 2 Corinthians, by the way, to believers be reconciled with 412 00:32:12,199 –> 00:32:13,199 God. 413 00:32:13,199 –> 00:32:15,800 Think about that. 414 00:32:15,800 –> 00:32:20,319 If you drive tomorrow down the expressway in anger at everyone else, come into your 415 00:32:20,319 –> 00:32:24,400 office, bark at your secretary, grumble over your pile of papers on your desk, make life 416 00:32:24,400 –> 00:32:29,520 generally miserable for everyone around you, don’t expect that you will experience much 417 00:32:29,520 –> 00:32:32,439 of the love of God. 418 00:32:32,479 –> 00:32:38,079 You are grieving the Holy Spirit, and when the Spirit is grieved, He is silent, He does 419 00:32:38,079 –> 00:32:41,920 not speak the love of God to your heart. 420 00:32:41,920 –> 00:32:46,719 And some of us are spending a great deal of time under the clouds, we wonder why communion 421 00:32:46,719 –> 00:32:50,760 and Bible and prayer don’t do us any good, and the answer is simply there is disobedience 422 00:32:50,760 –> 00:32:56,579 going on, it’s got to stop and we won’t be reconciled to God until it does. 423 00:32:57,260 –> 00:33:03,060 Thirdly, and most briefly of all, reflect. 424 00:33:03,099 –> 00:33:08,959 Here is something for Bill and Ben and everyone else, the experience of the love of God is 42500:33:08,959 –> 00:33:13,099 about giving as well as receiving. 426 00:33:13,099 –> 00:33:16,819 God’s love is a love that is both given and received. 427 00:33:16,819 –> 00:33:21,239 Even before the creation, within the mystery of the Trinity, Father, and Son, and Spirit, 428 00:33:21,280 –> 00:33:28,859 there was the giving and receiving of love—an eternal, wonderful, glorious mystery. 429 00:33:28,859 –> 00:33:36,099 Now, keeping yourself—myself—in the love of God means more than me receiving it, it 430 00:33:36,099 –> 00:33:40,660 means me reflecting its very nature, and that involves giving it. 431 00:33:40,660 –> 00:33:44,000 And that’s what John makes clear in his first letter when he says, if we love one 432 00:33:44,000 –> 00:33:50,579 another, then God lives in us and his love is made complete in us—if we love one another. 433 00:33:51,420 –> 00:33:55,280 God’s love does its work in you when it brings you to the place where you are truly 434 00:33:55,280 –> 00:34:00,479 able to love another person with the same love that he has given you. 435 00:34:00,479 –> 00:34:04,839 We read it from the very words of Jesus, I am the vine and you are the branches. 436 00:34:04,839 –> 00:34:06,939 Think of that incredible picture. 437 00:34:06,939 –> 00:34:11,080 Remain in me and I will remain in you and you will bear much fruit. 438 00:34:11,080 –> 00:34:13,540 A Christian is a person who is in Christ. 439 00:34:13,540 –> 00:34:20,320 The life of God, the love of God, the Spirit of God flows into the life of a Christian 440 00:34:20,360 –> 00:34:21,360 believer. 441 00:34:21,379 –> 00:34:22,860 It’s not just that you believe in him. 442 00:34:22,860 –> 00:34:29,860 It is that you are in him, Christian, and he is in you by the power of his Holy Spirit. 443 00:34:29,860 –> 00:34:33,820 And just as the life of a tree flows into its branches, the life of God and the love 444 00:34:33,820 –> 00:34:38,320 of God flows into every member of the body of Christ. 445 00:34:38,320 –> 00:34:42,419 So some of us will go home very shortly to a difficult relationship. 446 00:34:42,419 –> 00:34:47,580 Some of us will go tomorrow to work in a cold and heartless place. 447 00:34:47,580 –> 00:34:55,500 Keep yourself in the love of God, and as that love flows into you, you will have something 448 00:34:55,500 –> 00:35:02,060 to give that is a reflection of the love with which you have been loved. 449 00:35:02,060 –> 00:35:06,020 And the most beautiful thing about it is that it is the most natural thing in all of the 450 00:35:06,020 –> 00:35:07,020 world. 451 00:35:07,020 –> 00:35:12,100 It is not a case of me saying, now I got to go and love these horrible people. 452 00:35:12,199 –> 00:35:17,719 It is that the life and the love of God flows into the believer. 453 00:35:17,719 –> 00:35:23,500 Keeping yourself in the love of God, you will have compassion, even towards some cold and 454 00:35:23,500 –> 00:35:25,520 heartless people around you. 455 00:35:25,520 –> 00:35:31,500 Keeping yourself in the love of God, you will find the ability to forgive that most difficult 456 00:35:31,500 –> 00:35:33,100 offense. 457 00:35:33,100 –> 00:35:41,280 Keeping yourself in the love of God, others will see the love of God in you. 458 00:35:41,620 –> 00:35:44,280 Let’s pray together, shall we? 459 00:35:44,800 –> 00:35:51,979 Father in heaven, there are homes and schools and offices all round this place that desperately 460 00:35:51,979 –> 00:35:56,439 need to be touched and warmed by your love. 461 00:35:56,439 –> 00:36:02,239 So, help us to keep ourselves in that love so that we reflect it to others. 462 00:36:02,239 –> 00:36:11,600 And to that end, we ask that we may be well-exercised as we remember and obey and reflect 463 00:36:11,600 –> 00:36:17,419 through Jesus Christ our Lord. 464 00:36:17,419 –> 00:36:19,419 Amen.