You Must Behold the Love of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. This is the Word of the Lord. 1 John 3 1-3 See, behold, what kind of love the Father has given to us, has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because We shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself, as he is pure. This is the word of the Lord.

Very good. My dear brother, my dear sister, as I said, I want to speak to you about the love that God has had for us in making us His children. And more specifically, the love that God the Father has had for us, that He has given us, that has made us the children of God. And even more specifically, my dear brother, my dear sister, I want you to see the urgent necessity that we have as Christians to see and to behold the love that the Father has given us in making us His children. If there is one thing that you are going to get out of this sermon, if there's only one line that you brothers and sisters, you children, that you are going to get out of this sermon, is the necessity that we Christians have to behold, to observe, to contemplate, to apprehend, to put in our hearts the reality that God the Father has manifested His love and that love has been given to us in making us His children.

My dear brother, my dear sister, many times we as Christians ask ourselves the question of how can I live a life of victory over sin? How can I thrive in my Christian faith? How can I bear fruits of righteousness? How can I grow in maturity and conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ? The Bible, the New Testament, and the Old Testament give many answers to those questions that we Christians have.

At times, the Bible will call us to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will call us to treasure up the word of the Lord in our hearts that we will not sin against the Lord. At times, the scripture will also call us to not neglect the gathering of the saints, because there's much grace in the saints coming together and strengthening one with the other. At times, the Bible will call us to pray in the Holy Spirit, Jude verse 20 and 21, so that we will keep ourselves in the love of God, waiting for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many biblical answers are given in the New Testament of how we can grow in maturity as Christians.

But the Spirit of God illuminating the Apostle John in 1 John chapter 3 is going to give a very important answer to all of those questions. That if we want to grow in conformity to Christ, that if we want to have victory over sin, that if we want to bear fruits of righteousness, we must behold the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children. that we must, that is an urgent necessity of the Christian, that on a daily basis, that every second of our life, we will be fully aware by faith that the Father has manifested his love towards us and he has made us his children. The apostle is going to address many different issues of the Christian life in chapter three. And the answer to all of those questions is going to be that the Christian is called to behold The fact that the Father has bestowed upon us such a love that the outcome of this love is that we become the children of God.

How are we going to face the opposition of the world? 1 John 3, verse 1, the second half of the verse. that the world does not know us because it did not know the Lord Jesus Christ? How are we going to face the opposition of this world that did not know the Son of God, and because it did not know the Son of God, does not know the children of God? How are we going to face the unrighteousness, the blackness, and the opposition that this world will bring upon us?

You must see the love that the Father has bestowed upon you in making you your children. How are we going to apprehend by faith the reality of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 and 3 in front of you. How are we going to apprehend the reality of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are going to see him as he is and that we are going to become like him by presently abiding in the reality that God the Father has given us his love and has made us his children. How are we going to have victory over sin?

How are we not going to walk in unrighteousness, but rather walk in the light and have victory over sin? 1 John 3, verse 4 to 10, by seeing the love that the Father has bestowed upon us and making us His children. How are we going to love one another and not be a Cain that hates his brother Abel? How are we going to love one another in the way that the Lord calls us? 1 John chapter 3 verse 11 to 18, by seeing the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us His children.

How are we going to have assurance of salvation as our brother Craig preached last week? How are we going to know with certainty that when our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart? 1 John 3, verse 19 to 24, the end of the chapter, by seeing, by beholding the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children. Brethren, the realities of which I'm speaking now are very difficult to explain. And it's even more difficult to explain in your second language with that Colombian accent.

My dear brother and sister, if the Lord is not among us, indeed we are not going to behold, we're not going to observe the great love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children. That type of beholding, that type of seeing, considering, observing, pondering, and treasuring up in our hearts that empowers us to go against the unrighteousness of this world, to overcome sin, and to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my dear brother and sister, it is of urgent necessity that whatever the outcome is of these things that we do as a church, that we learn to behold that love, because that is the type of love that is going to prevent us from becoming blind. 2 Peter 1.5-12 speaks that if we do not add to our faith all the virtues of the Christian life that have love as the pinnacle of those virtues, then the Christian can become blind, having forgotten that they were cleansed from their former sins.

The Christian can become blind, becoming barren and unfruitful, not given the fruits that only are the result of groaning faith towards love, knowing that we love because he loved us first. It is of urgent necessity, brother and sister and dear friend, that we will see by faith the great love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children. Now, none of my words, none of my sweat, none of my effort is going to put in your heart this great love and the manifestation of this great love of the Father. Only the Spirit of God through the preaching of the Word that is applied into your souls by the truth of the Spirit pointing you to the person of Jesus Christ. So it is my duty to come to this text and open this text before you, explain the meaning of the text, and from there simply apply it according to the scriptures so that the result of this will not be only one more sermon, but only one of us that we will be able to behold the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children.

I want to do those two things, explain the text, and then just give you at least two or three reasons why we must see and behold the love that the Father has had for us in making us His children. I'm not sure if you have had this question in your mind, but up to this point, I've said that the Apostle John says in 1 John 3, verse 1, that there is an urgent necessity for the Christian to behold the love of the Father. And I'm not sure if you asked yourself that question, but perhaps some of you did. Where do you see the intense and the urgency in the text? Where do you see, brother, that urgent call of the Apostle John for us that we must behold the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children.

Well, my dear brother and sister, if you pay attention to the first word of that verse that we have there, some of you may have the word see, some of you may have the word behold. That word, not very clearly there in the English, but very clear in the Greek, is not only a word of description in which the Apostle is calling us just to see the love that the Father has bestowed upon us, but brother and sister, that word there is an imperative. It's a commandment. What we have in 1 John 3, verse 1, the first word, is an apostolic commandment that is given to the church. An apostolic instruction that brings the force, not only of an instruction in a general sense, but that is an imperative.

That is a commandment in the category of you shall not kill, in the category of you shall not lie, in the category of you shall not sin against the Lord. What we have in the word see and behold is an imperative that is given to the church and to the Christians. Brother and sister, the Spirit of God through John is calling us to see and to behold, not as an option, not as something that can't be done, but rather as something that we must do as believers. There is a necessity that the Christian, by faith, will see and behold the love that the Father has had for us in making us His children. Now think about this, my dear brother and sister.

Who is the person that is writing this commandment? John, the one who saw Him, the one who spent time with Him, the one who experienced the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was at His bosom, the one who was seated next to Him, the one who saw the countenance of the Lord, the one who saw the hands of the Lord, the one who heard the human voice of our Lord and Savior, This man that now is old and after much affliction and tribulation and after guiding perhaps the churches of Asia, now is calling the congregation and not only the congregation but also us that we must see, that we must behold the love that the Father has had for us in making us his children. Of course, my dear brother and sister, the Apostle John is not calling your physical eyes to behold something that is spiritual. Of course, the Apostle is not referring to what you have in your head and you used to observe natural things. The word that we have here that is a commandment is a commandment that is obeyed by faith.

Because faith is the assurance, the convictions of things that we do not see, the things that we do not observe. Hebrews 11 chapter 1. Hebrews 11 verse 1. It is the certainty, the conviction of these things that we hope for. So what we have in 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 is a commandment, an imperative that is only to be obeyed by faith.

And you know what the terrifying thing is? That within the sound of my voice there are only two types of people. People who by the grace of the Lord and the visitation of the Holy Spirit have been illuminated in their eyes so that by that faith they can behold this love that the Father has had for them in making them their children. And there's some other people here among us hearing the voice that has been preached, that even though they have physical eyes to see the walls of this room and to see the men that preaches and the people seated around, they do not have eyes in the Spirit on their heart to see by faith the love that the Father has bestowed upon them to make up the children, because they are not children of the Father, but they are children of wrath, according to Ephesians chapter 2. Brother and dear sister, I commandment an instruction given from the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John that we will see, that we will behold, that we will not wait, that our lives actually depend upon seeing and beholding this great love that the Father has had for us.

And pay careful attention to what the Apostle says. The Apostle does not say, behold what great love the Son has bestowed upon us." Did you see that? It is true that the Son has loved us so much that He went upon the cross to give His life for us and He died to take the wrath of God so that we will be forgiven and that by faith in Him we will be the children of God. But the apostle does not say, behold, what kind of love the Son has had for us, but rather he says, behold, what kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us.

The Apostle also does not say, behold what kind of love the Holy Spirit has upon us, even though it is true that the Holy Spirit has loved us in such a way that Christ Jesus has applied to our hearts and we have come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. a brother and sister, by the illumination and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John says that the Christian is in the urgent necessity and under the commandment of seeing and beholding the love that the Father has bestowed upon us. The love that the Father has given to us. Out of the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit guided the Apostle to tell us that it is the love of the Father the one that we are to behold. That it is the love of the Father the one that we are to observe.

And the question is, why? Well, the reason why we are to behold the love of the Father given to us, it is because the result of what that love does. You see what is the result of what that love does when it's given to us? That has made us His children. The children of God, brethren.

And here is when my limitations in mind, heart, and vocabulary will not be able to explain the depths of what is written there. The glorious truth of adoption, brother and sister. The glorious truth of being a child, a son, or a daughter of God. Praise God that we are forgiven. Praise God that we are justified.

Praise God that we receive a new heart in regeneration. Praise hard that we are sanctified. But the pinnacle of the glory of the relationship that we have with God in the Lord Jesus Christ is the fact that we are the children of God. Because when we are the children of God, we have now entered in a relationship into the family, the divine family of the Trinity. My dear brothers and sisters, and I'm really sorry that I only speak to those who are parents, but you know what attaches you to your kids.

It doesn't matter what they say. It doesn't matter what they do. It doesn't matter what future they will have. It doesn't matter what they will do to you or don't. You will always love them.

Your heart is for your kids. Your heart is for your children. Your flesh is attached to them. And if we are evil, have that type of connection with our children or with our parents, Imagine how much more when we speak about the divine, the divine relationship that we have with God through adoption. My dear brother and sister, in regeneration, our heart of stone is changed to our heart of flesh.

In regeneration, we receive life. In regeneration, we are partakers of the divine nature. In adoption, we are partakers of the divine affections. My dear brothers and sisters, in justification, we have a new relationship to the law of God and we are forgiven and we are justified. In adoption, we have a new relationship to the love of God.

Love of God, because at times I do not pronounce that very well. The love of God. When we are adopted into the family of God, it is not about being forgiven or not under the law. It is to be partakers of the divine affections of the Trinity. To be inserted into the family of God.

I relationship, brother and sister, that not even the angels have Not even the greatest of the creatures have the intimacy that the child of God. And you know that the cost of us being inserted into the family of God is the son of God himself. That the father has manifested his love for us in giving his son, Jesus Christ, so that we will be inserted into the divine family of God. This is the glories of adoption. In sanctification, my dear brothers and sisters, we are partakers of the holiness of God in this present time.

But the truth is that for us to be holy and fully and completely sanctified, we have to die and a new body has to be given to us. And you know what the new body is? It is the redemption of the sons of God, Romans chapter 8, because sanctification is the partial partaking of the righteousness of God in this present time. When glory comes, it is the redemption of the body of the sons of God, because the pinnacle of this that we call Christianity is to be a child of God. is to be in the family of God.

That's why we speak of him or to him as our father, because now he's the one that cares for us and protects us and guides us. He's not only our God. He's not only our creator. He's not only a ruler. He's not only a master that tells us what to do and is with a whip telling us the path that we have to take.

No, brethren. He is our father. And by this glorious grace of adoption, we have been inserted into this glorious family. And the change in this vertical relationship is what gives meaning to the horizontal relationship. Because the reason why I call you brother, and the reason why I call you sister, and the reason why you call me brother, is not because we come to the same church, but it's because we have the same divine father.

Yes, praise to God, for our Lord Jesus Christ who died upon the cross. But brethren, the apostle here is calling us to behold the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us his children. When you see each other, what you see is a vessel upon which the love of the Father has been deposited, and that's why you call each other brother and sister. How are we going to love one another if we have not seen that love that the Father has bestowed upon us? How are we going to forgive one another?

How are we going to move on in grace? How are we going to behold Jesus Christ as the firstborn among many brothers? How are we going to follow the steps of Christ if we don't behold the love of the Father? Brethren, once again, it is not about your physical eyes. The Apostle does not say, go and understand, go and study the love of God, open a systematic theology so that you will comprehend the intrinsic details of the love of God, but rather it is speaking to your heart that you are to behold the love of the Father that has bestowed upon you.

So now, having at least trying in my limitations to explain what the text is pointing us and telling us to, let me please give you three reasons that I hope the Spirit of God will apply to your heart and will help you see deeper into this text, and more importantly, will help you, by grace, to see the love that the Father has bestowed upon you in making you His child. First, please pay careful attention to what the Apostle says. It says, see what kind of love the Father has. Brethren, see what kind of love the Father has given or bestowed upon us. Let me ask you this question.

Does the text says that the love that this Father has given us is a love for which we have had to pay? Does this text implicitly say that this love that the Father has given to us is something that we have had to earn? Does this text say that the love that the Father has bestowed upon us has been accomplished by my works and by my efforts? No. The love that the Father has given me is a gift.

Nothing have I done to deserve the love of the Father. Nothing have I accomplished in my life, 38 years of life, to be recipient of the love of the Father. There's no sermon that I have preached or I will preach, if the grace of the Lord allows, that will make me recipient of the love of the Father. There is no deed that you can perform that will make you object and recipient of the love of the Father. There's no possession that you can sell and take the money and give it in exchange to God so that you will be recipient of the love of God, because the love of God is a love that has been given.

And this is what God has been proclaiming to the world through the Scriptures, even from the Old Testament. If you remember, my dear brother and sister, Israel was called to be the Son of God. Exodus 4, verse 22. Israel is called to be the firstborn of the Son of God. And in that relationship of the Father to the people of Israel as their Son, is because it's the reason why God liberated the Israelites out of Egypt.

When the Lord is explaining the reason why Israel is the son and has been liberated, He tells us something very powerful. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 and 7 speaks, You are my chosen people. You are my peculiar people. I have chosen you out of the nations of the earth. And I have chosen you not because you are many in numbers.

I have chosen you not because you are very strong, but I have chosen you because I have set my love upon you. The reason why God liberated the firstborn Israel out of Egypt, it was not because of the deeds or the works of the people of Israel who by that time had put themselves into the Egyptian traditions to such a point that they were like pagans, but rather it was because God remembered the oath, he says in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 7, and he set his love upon the people of Israel and he rescued them out of slavery and he took them into the promised land. Knowing now, brethren, that that is a shadow of the redemption of the New Testament. If the people of Israel under the Old Covenant received redemption because the love of the Father was freely given to them, now, brethren, please pay attention now and see the New Testament that says that He has set and bestowed His love upon us just because it is a free gift given from Him. 1 John 4, verse 10 says, and this is love.

Not that we loved God, not that we did something to love God, but rather that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. That He sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. The people of Israel did nothing. People in the New Testament do nothing. The only thing that we bring to their relationship with God is our sin.

And He's the one that bestows the love upon us in a way that is free and is gracious indeed. But the question that I want us to ask ourselves and answer from the scriptures is this, brothers and sisters. How is the love of the Father freely given to the Christian under the New Testament? How is this love? How can the Father freely give this love to the Christian under the New Testament?

The answer to that is Jesus Christ. Pay attention to 1 John chapter 4 please in verse 9 and 10 if you turn your pages there as I drink a little bit of water. 1 John chapter 4 verse 9. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. Brethren, God, speaking of God the Father, that God sent His, what does it say in your Bible?

Only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The creator of heaven and earth and everything that is in them. The one who could have created something that was so precious.

The one who could have made with his wisdom something that was so beautiful and valuable. He could have taken out of the abundance of his treasures something to be given in exchange for wicked people like us that, by the way, are sons of disobedience and enemies of God. And yet God the Father has freely given his love to you, brother and sister, in taking not one of his sons, but taking his only son to be the propitiation for your sins. And brethren, if the Spirit of God does not help us and illuminate that truth to us, then we're never going to be able to see the depths of the beauty of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He took His only Son, who was the object of all the love of the Father, And he gave it, he sent it into the world to be an exchange, to be the propitiation, so that he will rescue people not only that did not deserve, but that deserve to receive the opposite. And the purpose of sending his son, brother and sister, was not only to liberate these people, like taking them from Egypt into a promised land.

The purpose of this giving of the son was not only just to make these people anew, but the purpose of the sacrifice of this which God has done for us is that in giving his son for us we will become part of his family. Brethren, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 5, perhaps for a good person, one will dare to die. I'm willing to die for my kids. I'm willing to die for my wife. Perhaps for a person that one feels a strong connection, one will give his life.

Perhaps for a righteous person, one would dare and consider to give your life and to sacrifice yourself. But God demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Brethren, it is only for us just to take a minute here and just to consider all the things that we have thought, all the things that we have said, all the places that we have gone, all the things that we have done against God, and only one of those things will be sufficient merits for Him to send us to hell so that we will pain in eternity. But when you put together all of our sins and when you bring all the people of God together and you put all of those sins, you know what God the Father did? He saw that and He sent His only Son to die upon the cross so that we will become His children.

What is forgiveness compared to adoption? Praise God for forgiveness. Brethren, we are children of God. What is regeneration compared to adoption? Praise God for a new heart.

But as I said, in regeneration we are partakers of the divine nature. In adoption we are partakers of the divine affections. The love of God are upon us. He has bestowed this love upon us. And if that was not sufficient, and if sending His Son to die upon the cross was not sufficient, as if something was lacking, the Father has not only manifested His love towards us in sending His only Son.

You know who else has He given us as a token of the love of the Father, brethren? Holy Spirit. Because when you return to Romans chapter 5 to see the glorious verse in Romans chapter 5 verse 8, please return there and you will see what the Apostle does from Romans chapter 5 all the way through Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 5. It says in verse 8, but God, or in verse 6, for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Brethren, 2,000 years have passed from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord was not pleased only in sending his son 2,000 years ago to die upon the cross so that we will become the children of God. But rather, he also decided to send his Holy Spirit 2,000 years ago to come upon the people of God and to come and indwell our hearts so that the love of God will not only be a concept, but we'll be seen in the presence of God himself among us.

Because pay attention, brethren, to what he says in verse 3 of Romans chapter 5. Not only that. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame. Why?

Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Brethren, many times we just read the scriptures and we just pass the things that are just written there and we just don't pay sometimes attention to them as we should. It says that the love of God has been shed, has been poured into the heart of the Christian. the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us His children. This love, brother and sister, has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that was given to us.

This glorious love, it is a free gift of the Father that is given by the Father, in the Son, Jesus Christ, through the presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer. The believer has been sealed with the fullness of the deity. The Christian has been united to the fullness of the deity. We are partakers of the divine nature. God is God and we are not, but we are united in such a way through the person of Jesus Christ That the spirit takes abode inside of a wicked Christian who has been redeemed.

Brethren, if you know what we have in our minds and we will have in our hearts, yet God in his spirit dwells among us. This is the spirit of freedom that then the Apostle Paul will elaborate in Romans chapter 8. If you quickly turn your page in Romans chapter 8. The love of God has been shed into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us. Romans chapter 8 verse 9.

You, however, speaking to Christians, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, the Spirit that was shed in Romans chapter 5, anyone that does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit of God, dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give you life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Bear with me, I'm going to verse 12.

who has been shedding to our hearts in manifestation of God's love. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. Why? For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received or has been given to you, has been poured into you.

You have received the spirit of what, brethren? adoption, as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The love that the Father has bestowed upon us is a love that is freely given. The Christian does not give anything in exchange.

The Christian does not earn. The Christian does not do anything in exchange of this great love that the Father has bestowed upon us in the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. And it is the presence of God in us that seals us as the children of God. And if we are children of God, then verse 17, pay attention, And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we might also be glorified with him. All the spiritual blessings that a Christian has in the heavenly places are the result of our adoption as children, because the blessings of the Father are only given to the children of God.

Praise God that we have been justified. Praise God that we have been forgiven. Praise God that we have been regenerated. Praise God that we are being sanctified by brethren. Mighty Lord gives us eyes to see the fact that when our earthly fathers might fail to us, that when people around us might fail to us, we have a heavenly father who gave his only begotten son so that we will be his children.

And this is the love to which the Apostle John is calling us that we must Behold the love that the Father has bestowed upon us, that we must behold that love because the more that by faith our eyes are open to see the manifestation of this love, brethren, the more that the things of this world that is passing away lose value. Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Brethren, if you allow your heart If you allow your eyes, if you allow your affections to be turned away from the great love that the Father has bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit, your heart is not going to be empty as a desert. Your heart is going to be filled with affections, but with affections for the things of this world.

And then the things of this world are passing away. And then the passing away things of this world make us be burdened with darkness because we don't belong to this world. It is important, my dear brother and sister, that whatever it takes, by His grace, that we will behold this great love that is freely given and that is by the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit, a Trinitarian love. And you know what James says in James 1, verse 16 and 17? Do not be deceived, he says.

Do not be deceived, beloved brothers and sisters. Every good gift, you remember the passage? Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, right? From the Father of light with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change. If this love that is freely given is a Trinitarian love, then you think that this love depends on your performance and that it changes, brethren?

You think that this love depends on how good a Christian you are on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday? You think that this love that the Father has bestowed upon you depends on your performance and your abilities to give answers to questions? This Trinitarian love is a good gift that comes from above, from the Father of light, with whom there's no variation, no change, because just as God is immutable, Brethren, his love is immutable. That's why in the continuation of what we have here, in verse 31, we have these glorious words, brethren, of chapter 8 of Romans. And you know where we go.

Verse 31, chapter 8. What then shall we say to these things? What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us, how will he not also give him graciously?

Let me read that. That was terrible. Verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, How will he not also give him graciously give us all things? How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

If He gave His Son, brethren, if He gave His Son, not the most precious of His treasures, if He gave His Son for your soul to rescue you when you didn't even know that you were lost and you were walking in your darkness and remember the day of your salvation when the Spirit came to you and opened your eyes to see the glories of the gospel, If He gave His Son, how is He not going to give you all things? Verse 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Of course, brethren, I'm not referring to physical things. You understand that, right?

I'm not speaking about cars or money or things like that. I'm speaking about the blessings of the presence of God. Verse 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

And the answer to that is, no, none of those things. As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No. In all these things, in all these distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sort, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. He who has been born of God, 1 John chapter 5 verse 3, he who has been born of God, he who is a child of God, those who are the children of God have overcome the world. And you know what is the victory of the Christian? Our faith. faith in him that has made us our children is what makes us conquerable all those things because there will come persecutions and many Christians will die there will come tribulations and many of them will suffer there will come times of distress of which we are not going to be rescued there's well there's going to come times of darkness of which we're not going to be removed there's going to be many Christians who will lose their lives But in all of those things they are more than conquerors, not because they triumphed through the tribulation or trial, but because they have been given by grace the gift of the love of the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit that by faith has made them the child of God.

So when they open their eyes, they behold the one who loved them, that gave his son, so that they will be united to him. And then when they look back, all the tribulations, all the trials, all the darkness, all the distress are this size, minute, compared with the excellences of what it is to belong to the family of God. And hence he says in verse 38, for I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. nor anything else in creation, not inside of me, not outside of me. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate me from the love that the Father has bestowed upon me in the Lord Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit that has been poured into my heart so that I will know that even though I don't deserve to be forgiven, I have not only been forgiven, but I have been made a child of God.

Brethren, What is all trials? What is all tribulations? What are the things of this world compared with that glory? Hence, the Apostle John says in 1 John 3, verse 1, behold, not as something that you can just simply point, but as a commandment. Brethren, Christian, brother and sister, we are in the urgent necessity to come to this book, to come in prayer, to the feet of Christ, to tell him, Lord, by your grace, teach me to behold the love that you have bestowed upon me that has made me your child.

Because the price of that love was the Lord Jesus Christ dying upon the cross for us. So that love is freely given for us and immutable. It does not change. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And the third thing, my dear brother and sister, for me to finish.

Brethren, pay attention to this with whatever energy now you have. This love that the Father has for your soul is not only freely given by the Father in the Son through the Spirit. This love that the Father has bestowed upon us is not only an immutable love that nothing can separate you from the love of God. But brethren, this love is a real love. It's not an abstract love.

It's not a love that is just simply read in the pages that men have written with their hands. The love of God is not something that is just heard of from the mouth of the preacher and an abstract concept that abides in the air and that is so distant to my experience and to my heart. The love of God is not an abstract concept that people simply study and speak about, but the love of God and it's real. Brethren, brethren, considering all of these things, thinking and asking the Lord that he will guide me on how is the love of God real? He sent me to this verse in 1 Peter chapter 5.

Please come with me. 1 Peter chapter 5. The Apostle Peter is speaking to the church that was under persecution in the first century. The Apostle Peter is going to say something very important. 3rd Peter, chapter 5.

The love of God is not only a love that is freely given and a love that is immutable and does not change, but it's a love brethren that is real. The church was going through much tribulations and difficulty. The church was being persecuted in ways that we have not experienced and perhaps we're never going to experience if that is the will of the Lord. This church was going through things that they could not give sometimes an answer to. Yet the apostle is going to call this church in verse Six, to humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he might exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him.

And then he comes. Why? Because he cares for you. Because the God who knows all things genuinely cares for the soul of his children. These people that were going through tribulations and trials and difficulties, the Apostle calls them to submit themselves under the mighty hand of God.

That if you have to go through tribulation, if you have to go through trials, submit yourself under the mighty, sovereign hand of the Lord who governs all things. Because in His due time, He's going to exalt you. It does not mean that He might remove you from the persecution. It might not mean that He's going to save your physical life. But in due time, He will exalt you.

Knowing that He is sovereign above all things, cast your anxieties on Him because, brethren, He cares for you. He cares for you. If a father and a mother, brothers and sisters, you who are fathers and mothers, you understand this. Whatever trial or suffering that one of our children goes through, it does not matter the reason, it does not matter the cause, He's always going to move in us and we are going to care for our child. We genuinely care for what our children are going through.

Now, how much more the Father who has bestowed this great love upon us. It is a real love. He cares for us. And not only that, but please come with me to Zephaniah chapter three. Zephaniah chapter 3, the reality of the love of God for us through the Lord Jesus Christ is manifested in a real way for the Christian.

Not only that he cares for us, but brethren, please pay careful attention to these words that we have here. Zephaniah, Zephaniah is how you pronounce that, right? Zephaniah chapter 3. Now, I know that perhaps there might be some views about the application of this text, but please pay attention to the principle, not so much the timing of the fulfillment of this text, but more the principle of God in relation to his people in Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 14. Please pay attention to this.

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies.

The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. On that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, fear not, O Zion. Let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.

He will, brethren, He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by His love. He will exult over you with a loud singing. Once again in verse 17, He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will rejoice over you with gladness.

He will rejoice over you with gladness, brethren? When I see in my mind and in my heart and in the things that I've done, will He rejoice with gladness when He sees me? When He is witness of my thoughts and my waverings like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind? Will He rejoice in me? Will He really care for me?

Or am I going to reduce this God just to this concept of this God that exists abstractly away from me? Brethren, the love of God has been bestowed upon us in making us His children. And when He says that by His grace a person becomes His children or His child, Then that person is the object of God's love in Jesus Christ. And that love is real. He cares for his children.

He rejoices in his children. He takes pleasure in his people. Psalm 149. The children of Zion are the reason why the Father rejoices. And when we see by faith, brethren, the depths of this truth, how are we going to sin against the one who loves us so much?

How are we not going to love our brothers and sisters who have been the recipients of the same love? How are we not going to expect the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ if when we see Him we're going to be like Him and we're going to be united to the family of God? Even when we consider and ponder in our hearts this glory of the love of God in making us his children, how are we going to turn away to see the things of this world and be easily distracted? Brethren, brothers, sisters, only one of you that we may behold the love that the Father has bestowed upon us in making us His children. Because the price of that love was the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what He has given us is not only His Son, but His Holy Spirit. And on top of that, He has given us the Church. So that in brothers and sisters, we may behold the love of God in the life of each one of us. But brethren, it is so sad that in the words that I'm saying, there are still people within the sound of my voice that are blind to this love. that because of their not coming to Christ by grace and in faith, they are not able to see and to behold this love that the Father has had for the church that has made of their children.

So, brother and sister, I ask that you will pray, and I'm asking you also, dear friend, you who have not come to Christ, You who have not come to the Lord, today is the day of your salvation. My dear friend, you who have not come to the Lord, if you are not a son of God, then you are a son of the devil. You're a son of disobedience and the wrath of God is upon you. But this God that is so loving and so merciful is saying that if you come and you repent and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not only be saved, but you will be made a child of God. And you will be an heir, an heir with the Lord Jesus Christ of all the things that are to come.

So then when you look back in this life, nothing matters of what we have or what we do not have, because the inheritance that is to come is much greater of what this world can offer, my dear brother and sister. And to you, brother and sister, I say, you must behold the love of your father. Daily, you must behold the love of your Father. He has given His Son for your soul. He has given you the Spirit to seal you and make you an heir.

He has empowered you to walk until the end, to endure until the end. And the purpose of all of this is the glory of His name. and the blessing upon your soul and upon the people of God. May the Lord be exalted, because what he has accomplished is great indeed, and the words of men are not sufficient to explain the depths of the gospel, the beauty of Christ, and the great manifestation of the triune God that has loved us in such a way that has made us his children. Amen?

Amen. Let us pray.