WEBVTT 00:00:01.216 --> 00:00:06.500 Our subject matter is the love of Christ. 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:08.377 And I would have you open your Bibles 00:00:08.377 --> 00:00:14.074 to Ephesians 3. 00:00:14.074 --> 00:00:16.075 And I would just like to read once again 00:00:16.075 --> 00:00:19.051 starting in verse 14. 00:00:19.051 --> 00:00:21.010 Ephesians 3:14, 00:00:21.010 --> 00:00:23.310 The Apostle Paul writing 00:00:23.310 --> 00:00:26.240 to the Ephesian church. 00:00:26.240 --> 00:00:31.342 "For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father..." 00:00:31.342 --> 00:00:36.490 He's praying for these Christians 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:38.455 that make up this church 00:00:38.455 --> 00:00:40.681 in the city of Ephesus 00:00:40.681 --> 00:00:45.330 which is modern-day Turkey 00:00:45.330 --> 00:00:48.356 on the coast. 00:00:48.356 --> 00:00:50.262 He bows his knees to the Father 00:00:50.262 --> 00:00:52.645 "from Whom the whole family 00:00:52.645 --> 00:00:56.651 in heaven and on earth is named, 00:00:56.651 --> 00:01:00.653 that according to the riches of His glory..." 00:01:00.653 --> 00:01:02.590 Paul is praying that God, 00:01:02.590 --> 00:01:06.097 according to the riches of God's glory, 00:01:06.097 --> 00:01:08.669 may grant something. 00:01:08.669 --> 00:01:12.643 He wants to see this granted. 00:01:12.643 --> 00:01:14.212 That these Christians would be 00:01:14.212 --> 00:01:18.489 strengthened with power through God's Spirit 00:01:18.489 --> 00:01:22.923 in their inner being 00:01:22.923 --> 00:01:25.109 to have Christ dwell, 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:27.853 settle down deeply and richly. 00:01:27.853 --> 00:01:29.283 That's the idea. 00:01:29.283 --> 00:01:30.104 Dwell. 00:01:30.104 --> 00:01:33.073 It is a word that means to settle in. 00:01:33.073 --> 00:01:36.645 Into their hearts through faith, 00:01:36.645 --> 00:01:38.906 "that you being rooted and grounded in love 00:01:38.906 --> 00:01:41.130 may have strength to comprehend 00:01:41.130 --> 00:01:43.789 with all the saints what is the breadth 00:01:43.789 --> 00:01:47.553 and length and height and depth, 00:01:47.553 --> 00:01:50.124 and to know the love of Christ 00:01:50.124 --> 00:01:52.639 that surpasses knowledge 00:01:52.639 --> 00:01:56.834 that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." NOTE Paragraph 00:01:56.834 --> 00:01:59.521 Father, I pray, 00:01:59.521 --> 00:02:02.128 please give us this comprehension. 00:02:02.128 --> 00:02:03.839 We would pray for the same thing 00:02:03.839 --> 00:02:05.806 that Paul prays for, 00:02:05.806 --> 00:02:08.669 that according to the riches of Your glory 00:02:08.669 --> 00:02:13.627 please strengthen our comprehension 00:02:13.627 --> 00:02:16.629 that we would behold riches, 00:02:16.629 --> 00:02:18.557 that we would behold such things 00:02:18.557 --> 00:02:21.248 as perhaps we've never imagined 00:02:21.248 --> 00:02:29.384 from this insurpassable love, 00:02:29.384 --> 00:02:33.420 unknowable in its dimensions. 00:02:33.420 --> 00:02:34.916 Please give us this. 00:02:34.916 --> 00:02:39.599 I pray in Christ's name, Amen. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:44.757 The first thing I want to point out is this: 00:02:44.757 --> 00:02:54.128 This prayer is not randomly positioned 00:02:54.128 --> 00:02:57.690 in this letter. 00:02:57.690 --> 00:03:00.118 It doesn't come at the beginning of the letter. 00:03:00.118 --> 00:03:03.075 It doesn't come at the end of the letter. 00:03:03.075 --> 00:03:06.279 It comes in the middle of the letter. 00:03:06.279 --> 00:03:08.816 You say, so what? 00:03:08.816 --> 00:03:10.502 Just this. 00:03:10.502 --> 00:03:13.024 Have you ever heard it said? 00:03:13.024 --> 00:03:18.013 Have you ever noticed the reality 00:03:18.013 --> 00:03:20.869 that often in Paul's epistles, 00:03:20.869 --> 00:03:25.008 you get doctrine 00:03:25.008 --> 00:03:28.119 and then you get a "therefore"? 00:03:28.119 --> 00:03:31.770 Look at the beginning of chapter 4. 00:03:31.770 --> 00:03:34.136 "I, therefore..." 00:03:34.136 --> 00:03:36.128 A therefore. 00:03:36.128 --> 00:03:38.376 Because that's true, 00:03:38.376 --> 00:03:43.096 therefore this is how you ought to live. 00:03:43.096 --> 00:03:46.556 For many of you, that is not strange to hear this. 00:03:46.556 --> 00:03:48.836 You know that the epistle that Paul wrote 00:03:48.836 --> 00:03:53.825 to the Romans, you have 11 chapters, 00:03:53.825 --> 00:03:57.311 largely of indicative verbs. 00:03:57.311 --> 00:04:00.278 You say, I don't know about that. 00:04:00.278 --> 00:04:04.632 Indicative verbs are simply verbs 00:04:04.632 --> 00:04:08.513 that indicate realities. 00:04:08.513 --> 00:04:10.324 They're not commanding 00:04:10.324 --> 00:04:12.537 or exhorting us to do anything. 00:04:12.537 --> 00:04:14.582 They're simply stating, 00:04:14.582 --> 00:04:17.314 they're indicating - thus indicative - 00:04:17.314 --> 00:04:19.705 they're indicating what's true. 00:04:19.705 --> 00:04:22.777 And see, then, based on what's true, 00:04:22.777 --> 00:04:26.683 Paul then says "therefore..." 00:04:26.683 --> 00:04:30.007 Because of God's mercies, 00:04:30.007 --> 00:04:34.023 this is how you ought to live. 00:04:34.023 --> 00:04:37.365 You see, we are at that point 00:04:37.365 --> 00:04:39.055 in this letter. 00:04:39.055 --> 00:04:43.509 We are at the position of transition. 00:04:43.509 --> 00:04:45.175 We need to notice that. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:45.175 --> 00:04:46.312 You say why? 00:04:46.312 --> 00:04:48.525 What's that got to do with anything? 00:04:48.525 --> 00:04:51.219 Just this. 00:04:51.219 --> 00:04:53.822 Paul is not praying that we would 00:04:53.822 --> 00:04:56.982 comprehend the love of Christ 00:04:56.982 --> 00:04:59.483 until after he spent 00:04:59.483 --> 00:05:01.644 the greater part of three chapters 00:05:01.644 --> 00:05:06.206 telling us about that love, 00:05:06.206 --> 00:05:08.729 and now having told us, 00:05:08.729 --> 00:05:11.218 he says, "Father, 00:05:11.218 --> 00:05:16.685 according to the riches of Your glory, 00:05:16.685 --> 00:05:18.715 cause these people to comprehend 00:05:18.715 --> 00:05:21.108 what I just told them. 00:05:21.108 --> 00:05:25.326 Because now, I'm going to turn my attentions 00:05:25.326 --> 00:05:31.055 to them practically living these things out." 00:05:31.055 --> 00:05:34.329 You see, if you look at chapter 4, 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:36.307 "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord 00:05:36.307 --> 00:05:38.134 urge you to walk in a manner worthy 00:05:38.134 --> 00:05:40.269 of the calling to which you've been called." 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:41.997 You see the argumentation? 00:05:41.997 --> 00:05:43.623 You have been called to something, 00:05:43.623 --> 00:05:45.137 and I've just been telling you 00:05:45.137 --> 00:05:47.307 about all the glories of your calling 00:05:47.307 --> 00:05:49.138 and all the glories of the love 00:05:49.138 --> 00:05:50.529 that God has for you, 00:05:50.529 --> 00:05:52.811 and what He's powerfully done 00:05:52.811 --> 00:05:54.226 to save your soul. 00:05:54.226 --> 00:05:56.519 And now, because of all those things, 00:05:56.519 --> 00:06:00.222 I want you to walk worthy. 00:06:00.222 --> 00:06:02.948 And as you move down through here, 00:06:02.948 --> 00:06:06.631 you can see what's coming at us. 00:06:06.631 --> 00:06:11.260 You can see, Ephesians 4:17, 00:06:11.260 --> 00:06:14.751 "You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do." 00:06:14.751 --> 00:06:16.440 This is about how we walk. 00:06:16.440 --> 00:06:19.350 And 5:1, "Be imitators of God 00:06:19.350 --> 00:06:22.583 as beloved children and walk in love." 00:06:22.583 --> 00:06:24.396 You see, this is all about our walk. 00:06:24.396 --> 00:06:26.276 He's going to tell us how to live. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:26.276 --> 00:06:29.453 But listen, the world, 00:06:29.453 --> 00:06:33.323 the world's ethic, the world's morality - 00:06:33.323 --> 00:06:34.869 I always remember, 00:06:34.869 --> 00:06:38.161 when I was back, like late in high school 00:06:38.161 --> 00:06:40.709 and in my college years. 00:06:40.709 --> 00:06:42.048 I remember, 00:06:42.048 --> 00:06:44.461 I was doing drugs. 00:06:44.461 --> 00:06:47.591 I was misuing alcohol. 00:06:47.591 --> 00:06:50.384 And I remember, you'd go to a bar 00:06:50.384 --> 00:06:52.705 and you would see in the bathroom: 00:06:52.705 --> 00:06:54.788 "Just Say No." 00:06:54.788 --> 00:06:57.840 That was the world's slogan about drugs. 00:06:57.840 --> 00:06:58.965 Just say no. 00:06:58.965 --> 00:07:01.249 Well, that's how the world is. 00:07:01.249 --> 00:07:03.382 The world starts with its commandments. 00:07:03.382 --> 00:07:06.503 The world starts with its rules. 00:07:06.503 --> 00:07:09.768 But that's not how Christianity is. 00:07:09.768 --> 00:07:12.659 This is strategic. 00:07:12.659 --> 00:07:15.447 Because Paul knows this, 00:07:15.447 --> 00:07:19.055 he knows the if he can get God's people 00:07:19.055 --> 00:07:22.946 overwhelmed with love, 00:07:22.946 --> 00:07:24.657 then you know what? 00:07:24.657 --> 00:07:30.485 The Christian ethic just flows right out of it. 00:07:30.485 --> 00:07:36.812 And listen, if you try to live the Christian life 00:07:36.812 --> 00:07:41.885 without the warmth of the love of Christ, 00:07:41.885 --> 00:07:44.813 you have dead religion. 00:07:44.813 --> 00:07:47.127 It's no good. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:47.127 --> 00:07:50.845 You know, Hudson Taylor was so convinced of this, 00:07:50.845 --> 00:07:53.421 you know, he had a thousand, 00:07:53.421 --> 00:07:58.085 he got to the place of a thousand missionaries 00:07:58.085 --> 00:08:02.312 in the inland regions of China. 00:08:02.312 --> 00:08:04.728 You know what he did? 00:08:04.728 --> 00:08:08.867 Do you know what book Hudson Taylor wrote? 00:08:08.867 --> 00:08:10.386 Now many of you know 00:08:10.386 --> 00:08:12.254 the two-volume biography, 00:08:12.254 --> 00:08:13.972 but that wasn't written by him. 00:08:13.972 --> 00:08:15.553 Do you know what he wrote? 00:08:15.553 --> 00:08:19.371 Anybody know? 00:08:19.371 --> 00:08:21.622 I'll tell you what he wrote. 00:08:21.622 --> 00:08:24.579 He wrote a commentary 00:08:24.579 --> 00:08:29.839 on the Song of Solomon. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:35.524 His desire was to encourage his missionaries. 00:08:35.524 --> 00:08:38.245 So you know what he wrote on? 00:08:38.245 --> 00:08:40.068 The Song of Solomon. 00:08:40.068 --> 00:08:44.848 The allegory - a picture 00:08:44.848 --> 00:08:49.182 of Christ and His love for the church. 00:08:49.182 --> 00:08:51.439 You don't want to miss this. 00:08:51.439 --> 00:08:53.483 You don't want to miss this. 00:08:53.483 --> 00:08:55.396 Brethren, we do not want to try 00:08:55.396 --> 00:08:58.252 to live the Christian life 00:08:58.252 --> 00:09:00.833 without a sense of the great love 00:09:00.833 --> 00:09:03.773 that God has for His people, 00:09:03.773 --> 00:09:06.319 because if you do, you will have dead religion. 00:09:06.319 --> 00:09:09.890 It will be hollow and it will be dry. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:09.890 --> 00:09:11.781 I'll tell you this, 00:09:11.781 --> 00:09:14.608 no people have turned the world upside down 00:09:14.608 --> 00:09:16.094 like the people who have been 00:09:16.094 --> 00:09:18.640 ravished by the love of Christ. 00:09:18.640 --> 00:09:20.162 That's just a reality. 00:09:20.162 --> 00:09:22.456 Because when you're so moved by that love, 00:09:22.456 --> 00:09:25.349 you will go to the stake to be burned. 00:09:25.349 --> 00:09:27.982 You will go to the ends of the earth. 00:09:27.982 --> 00:09:29.201 Why? 00:09:29.201 --> 00:09:31.834 Paul said it. 00:09:31.834 --> 00:09:39.615 He said the love of Christ constrains me. 00:09:39.615 --> 00:09:41.617 That's not the first thing that he said. 00:09:41.617 --> 00:09:42.712 You know what he said? 00:09:42.712 --> 00:09:45.132 He said if I'm crazy, 00:09:45.132 --> 00:09:47.430 if I'm out of my mind, 00:09:47.430 --> 00:09:49.972 it's unto the Lord. It's unto God. 00:09:49.972 --> 00:09:51.484 There were people like Festus 00:09:51.484 --> 00:09:53.615 who said, "Paul, you're out of your mind. 00:09:53.615 --> 00:09:56.469 Too much learning. You're crazy." 00:09:56.469 --> 00:10:00.431 He said, "if I am, it's for God." 00:10:00.431 --> 00:10:02.282 He said if I'm not in my right mind, 00:10:02.282 --> 00:10:05.585 Corinthians, it's for you. 00:10:05.585 --> 00:10:07.196 And then he said 00:10:07.196 --> 00:10:10.747 the love of Christ constrains me. 00:10:10.747 --> 00:10:13.259 What does that mean? 00:10:13.259 --> 00:10:16.151 If I'm going to be a crazy man for God, 00:10:16.151 --> 00:10:18.450 if I'm going to love the people of God, 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:19.542 behind it all, 00:10:19.542 --> 00:10:22.763 I'm constrained by the love of Christ. 00:10:22.763 --> 00:10:24.583 The love of Christ is constraining. 00:10:24.583 --> 00:10:28.519 It is compelling. 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:30.590 So, you want to feel this. 00:10:30.590 --> 00:10:35.194 You want to get this. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:35.194 --> 00:10:37.425 And I've spent the last days, 00:10:37.425 --> 00:10:41.710 I think probably this is going to take 00:10:41.710 --> 00:10:47.306 six or eight sermons. 00:10:47.306 --> 00:10:51.453 And I want to try to explore the love of Christ 00:10:51.453 --> 00:10:56.503 from all manner of different perspectives. 00:10:56.503 --> 00:11:00.839 And I was really thinking, where do you start? 00:11:00.839 --> 00:11:03.182 Where do you start? 00:11:03.182 --> 00:11:06.158 Well, I know this. 00:11:06.158 --> 00:11:09.022 That because of the place in this letter 00:11:09.022 --> 00:11:13.177 where Paul prays this prayer, 00:11:13.177 --> 00:11:19.037 he is thinking about the love of God, 00:11:19.037 --> 00:11:20.942 the love of Christ 00:11:20.942 --> 00:11:22.851 that he has already expressed 00:11:22.851 --> 00:11:29.112 to these folks especially in the first two chapters. 00:11:29.112 --> 00:11:31.408 I know that. 00:11:31.408 --> 00:11:36.123 And one of the most profound statements 00:11:36.123 --> 00:11:37.906 that he made to them 00:11:37.906 --> 00:11:43.105 comes at the beginning of chapter 2. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:43.105 --> 00:11:49.117 Brethren, I want us to experience this love. 00:11:49.117 --> 00:11:51.905 How do we go about trying to comprehend 00:11:51.905 --> 00:11:53.463 the breadth, the length, 00:11:53.463 --> 00:11:55.333 the height, the depth? 00:11:55.333 --> 00:11:57.958 And perhaps a good place to start 00:11:57.958 --> 00:12:02.988 is by reminding ourselves right here at the beginning 00:12:02.988 --> 00:12:09.770 how unworthy we are of Christ's love. 00:12:09.770 --> 00:12:12.227 We don't deserve this. 00:12:12.227 --> 00:12:15.874 Let us remember the mighty contrast 00:12:15.874 --> 00:12:19.130 that Paul breaks forth with 00:12:19.130 --> 00:12:21.246 back at the beginning of chapter 2. 00:12:21.246 --> 00:12:25.643 Let's look at that. 00:12:25.643 --> 00:12:29.614 Ephesians 2. 00:12:29.614 --> 00:12:34.264 "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins..." 00:12:34.264 --> 00:12:42.033 You were. 00:12:42.033 --> 00:12:46.497 This is reality here. 00:12:46.497 --> 00:12:51.852 This is where people are. 00:12:51.852 --> 00:12:55.398 This is where these Christians were 00:12:55.398 --> 00:12:57.347 before they were saved. 00:12:57.347 --> 00:13:01.018 "You were dead..." 00:13:01.018 --> 00:13:02.253 See, lost people, 00:13:02.253 --> 00:13:04.692 people who aren't Christians, 00:13:04.692 --> 00:13:10.210 it's not a minor sickness. 00:13:10.210 --> 00:13:17.039 It's an all-encompassing radical lostness. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:18.194 Dead. 00:13:18.194 --> 00:13:20.244 Dead in trespasses and sins 00:13:20.244 --> 00:13:23.115 "in which you once walked, 00:13:23.115 --> 00:13:25.295 following the course of this world." 00:13:25.295 --> 00:13:26.709 We were worldly people. 00:13:26.709 --> 00:13:29.153 "...Following the prince of the power of the air." 00:13:29.153 --> 00:13:30.312 That's the devil. 00:13:30.312 --> 00:13:32.750 We were devilish people. 00:13:32.750 --> 00:13:37.248 We didn't believe it - that we were. 00:13:37.248 --> 00:13:39.049 "...The spirit that is now at work 00:13:39.049 --> 00:13:41.911 in the sons of disobedience." 00:13:41.911 --> 00:13:43.628 That's us. 00:13:43.628 --> 00:13:46.447 Disobedient, rebellious. 00:13:46.447 --> 00:13:49.193 Because we broke God's laws. 00:13:49.193 --> 00:13:52.003 We may not have admitted that we did, but we did. 00:13:52.003 --> 00:13:54.434 And we may not have recognized 00:13:54.434 --> 00:13:58.397 that God disapproved of it strongly. 00:13:58.397 --> 00:14:01.263 We basically create a god in our own imaginations 00:14:01.263 --> 00:14:04.015 that doesn't care if we break his commandments. 00:14:04.015 --> 00:14:05.872 But, that's the reality. 00:14:05.872 --> 00:14:07.663 We were sons of disobedience. 00:14:07.663 --> 00:14:10.038 "...Among whom we all once lived 00:14:10.038 --> 00:14:12.272 in the passions of our flesh." 00:14:12.272 --> 00:14:15.014 Passionate, greedy, hungry, 00:14:15.014 --> 00:14:18.265 lusting after our sin. 00:14:18.265 --> 00:14:20.554 "Carrying out the desires of the body 00:14:20.554 --> 00:14:23.632 and the mind." 00:14:23.632 --> 00:14:27.854 And I want you to remember this, 00:14:27.854 --> 00:14:32.844 "we're by nature children of wrath 00:14:32.844 --> 00:14:38.929 like the rest of mankind." 00:14:38.929 --> 00:14:41.523 I want us to focus on that. 00:14:41.523 --> 00:14:45.448 Children of wrath. 00:14:45.448 --> 00:14:48.298 V. 4, "But God being rich in mercy 00:14:48.298 --> 00:14:50.468 because of the great love..." 00:14:50.468 --> 00:14:52.766 See, here's the great love. 00:14:52.766 --> 00:14:56.731 This is the great love of God, 00:14:56.731 --> 00:14:59.994 "with which He loved us." 00:14:59.994 --> 00:15:02.479 And He came with that love even when we were dead 00:15:02.479 --> 00:15:03.930 in our trespasses and made us 00:15:03.930 --> 00:15:05.499 "alive together with Christ. 00:15:05.499 --> 00:15:08.081 By grace you have been saved." NOTE Paragraph 00:15:08.081 --> 00:15:09.476 Now hear me. 00:15:09.476 --> 00:15:12.214 Children of wrath. 00:15:12.214 --> 00:15:15.019 Children of wrath doesn't mean it's our wrath. 00:15:15.019 --> 00:15:16.937 It doesn't mean we were angry. 00:15:16.937 --> 00:15:18.924 It doesn't mean we were wrathful. 00:15:18.924 --> 00:15:22.967 It means that in the face of the horrors 00:15:22.967 --> 00:15:27.081 of the darkness of our deadness 00:15:27.081 --> 00:15:31.344 and devilishness and lust, 00:15:31.344 --> 00:15:34.306 God was angry. 00:15:34.306 --> 00:15:37.463 God was angry with us. 00:15:37.463 --> 00:15:39.535 We were children of wrath. 00:15:39.535 --> 00:15:42.520 One of the lexicons describes wrath 00:15:42.520 --> 00:15:47.804 as this vigorous upsurge. 00:15:47.804 --> 00:15:50.546 That's what it was. An upsurge of indignation. 00:15:50.546 --> 00:15:55.205 You remember how God said to Abraham 00:15:55.205 --> 00:15:56.624 concerning the Amorites? 00:15:56.624 --> 00:16:01.164 The sin of the Amorites is not yet full. 00:16:01.164 --> 00:16:07.391 When we sin it's like this sin 00:16:07.391 --> 00:16:09.978 is building, it's filling up. 00:16:09.978 --> 00:16:12.731 It's like this great container 00:16:12.731 --> 00:16:14.931 is filling up with our sin 00:16:14.931 --> 00:16:18.006 and proportionate to it is the wrath of God. 00:16:18.006 --> 00:16:20.519 And it intensifies and it upsurges 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:22.122 and it increases 00:16:22.122 --> 00:16:26.389 and God is angrier and angrier and angrier. 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:29.144 But here it is. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:29.144 --> 00:16:35.199 In His anger, He ought to destroy us. 00:16:35.199 --> 00:16:37.258 But what happens? 00:16:37.258 --> 00:16:41.554 God's power to save - and you see it here. 00:16:41.554 --> 00:16:44.847 God's power to save, 00:16:44.847 --> 00:16:49.877 it's coming face-to-face. 00:16:49.877 --> 00:16:53.363 But what you have here in v. 3 00:16:53.363 --> 00:16:59.670 is God - all of mankind, 00:16:59.670 --> 00:17:02.518 we were children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:17:02.518 --> 00:17:04.436 That's all of mankind. 00:17:04.436 --> 00:17:07.830 God is angry. They're children of wrath. 00:17:07.830 --> 00:17:10.764 And God is going to destroy 00:17:10.764 --> 00:17:13.305 these children of wrath. 00:17:13.305 --> 00:17:17.867 But, God... 00:17:17.867 --> 00:17:20.918 But, God being rich in mercy, 00:17:20.918 --> 00:17:22.595 because of the great love... 00:17:22.595 --> 00:17:26.267 it's like God's power to destroy 00:17:26.267 --> 00:17:32.264 comes face-to-face with God's power to save. 00:17:32.264 --> 00:17:35.809 God's love is confronted by God's wrath. 00:17:35.809 --> 00:17:38.099 That's what's happening and here's the thing, 00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:40.258 here's the thing, brethren. 00:17:40.258 --> 00:17:48.001 If we underestimate God's wrath, 00:17:48.001 --> 00:17:52.315 you will underestimate His love. 00:17:52.315 --> 00:17:54.929 It is this backdrop of wrath 00:17:54.929 --> 00:17:59.578 that makes this love so amazing. 00:17:59.578 --> 00:18:00.654 But this happens. 00:18:00.654 --> 00:18:02.507 This underestimation of wrath, 00:18:02.507 --> 00:18:04.206 it happens all the time. 00:18:04.206 --> 00:18:07.804 God's love and Christ's love - 00:18:07.804 --> 00:18:09.346 it's taken for granted. 00:18:09.346 --> 00:18:10.446 And I'll tell you why. 00:18:10.446 --> 00:18:11.413 You know why. 00:18:11.413 --> 00:18:12.966 Because people basically think 00:18:12.966 --> 00:18:14.393 they're not children of wrath. 00:18:14.393 --> 00:18:16.104 They don't think they're that bad. 00:18:16.104 --> 00:18:18.204 They don't think they follow in this course; 00:18:18.204 --> 00:18:20.792 this following of the prince of the power of the air. 00:18:20.792 --> 00:18:23.196 They don't believe that they're sons of disobedience. 00:18:23.196 --> 00:18:25.646 They don't believe that they're carrying out 00:18:25.646 --> 00:18:27.525 all these passions of the flesh. 00:18:27.525 --> 00:18:29.117 They don't believe it. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:29.117 --> 00:18:31.185 You know what? 00:18:31.185 --> 00:18:32.788 You've heard it. 00:18:32.788 --> 00:18:34.160 You've heard it from those - 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:36.459 those of you that have gone out evangelizing, 00:18:36.459 --> 00:18:37.417 you've heard it. 00:18:37.417 --> 00:18:38.669 You always hear it. 00:18:38.669 --> 00:18:40.521 People think that they're pretty good people. 00:18:40.521 --> 00:18:42.888 And you know what? When you think you're pretty good people, 00:18:42.888 --> 00:18:44.606 and you don't think you're a child of wrath, 00:18:44.606 --> 00:18:45.604 you know what? 00:18:45.604 --> 00:18:48.648 You will not take God's love seriously 00:18:48.648 --> 00:18:52.882 because God's love will be cheap. 00:18:52.882 --> 00:18:54.473 That's the problem. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:54.473 --> 00:18:57.188 Mankind in general assumes 00:18:57.188 --> 00:19:00.884 that we daughters and sons of Adam, 00:19:00.884 --> 00:19:05.149 that we're lovable. 00:19:05.149 --> 00:19:08.520 I mean, that's basically how we view ourselves. 00:19:08.520 --> 00:19:11.854 We think God likes us. 00:19:11.854 --> 00:19:14.073 We're children of wrath. 00:19:14.073 --> 00:19:15.474 Let me tell you something. 00:19:15.474 --> 00:19:17.510 That means that God's hatred 00:19:17.510 --> 00:19:23.108 is very much aimed at us. 00:19:23.108 --> 00:19:25.086 We don't want to underestimate this love. 00:19:25.086 --> 00:19:26.868 The vast majority of mankind 00:19:26.868 --> 00:19:30.452 doesn't take death and eternity 00:19:30.452 --> 00:19:32.292 and judgment seriously 00:19:32.292 --> 00:19:34.188 for this very reason. 00:19:34.188 --> 00:19:36.169 I have talked to so many people that say, 00:19:36.169 --> 00:19:39.249 you know, they hope to just sort it out. 00:19:39.249 --> 00:19:41.932 It will all work out. 00:19:41.932 --> 00:19:44.228 What craziness! 00:19:44.228 --> 00:19:45.920 It will all work out. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:47.320 Here they are standing there. 00:19:47.320 --> 00:19:49.110 They are under the wrath of God 00:19:49.110 --> 00:19:50.570 and every day their sins 00:19:50.570 --> 00:19:52.631 mount up higher and higher 00:19:52.631 --> 00:19:54.382 and higher to heaven, 00:19:54.382 --> 00:19:57.042 and they're filling up the measure of their sin 00:19:57.042 --> 00:19:58.341 and the day is coming 00:19:58.341 --> 00:20:01.612 when the earth will not bear them any longer 00:20:01.612 --> 00:20:04.173 and that weight of sin will break through 00:20:04.173 --> 00:20:06.934 and they will fall headlong into hell. 00:20:06.934 --> 00:20:09.695 And God will be there to cast them. 00:20:09.695 --> 00:20:12.672 He detests them and He will cast them 00:20:12.672 --> 00:20:14.114 away from Himself. 00:20:14.114 --> 00:20:18.233 This is the reality of Scripture. 00:20:18.233 --> 00:20:20.708 We just have as mankind, 00:20:20.708 --> 00:20:22.669 we just basically have this idea 00:20:22.669 --> 00:20:25.602 that God indiscriminately, universally 00:20:25.602 --> 00:20:27.613 throws His love around on all 00:20:27.613 --> 00:20:29.287 the good people of this world 00:20:29.287 --> 00:20:31.591 and that there's nothing to worry about. 00:20:31.591 --> 00:20:33.232 And I'll tell you this, 00:20:33.232 --> 00:20:37.673 man cannot appreciate the love of Christ 00:20:37.673 --> 00:20:43.962 until he really appreciates who he is, 00:20:43.962 --> 00:20:46.113 what he is, 00:20:46.113 --> 00:20:48.116 who God is, 00:20:48.116 --> 00:20:53.859 how God feels towards him. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:53.859 --> 00:20:56.463 Shall we take a test? 00:20:56.463 --> 00:20:59.696 Let's take a test. 00:20:59.696 --> 00:21:11.840 I want you to look at Romans 9. 00:21:11.840 --> 00:21:28.175 Romans 9:13. 00:21:28.175 --> 00:21:33.297 "As it is written..." 00:21:33.297 --> 00:21:34.926 God is saying this. 00:21:34.926 --> 00:21:39.709 "Jacob have I loved, 00:21:39.709 --> 00:21:46.284 but Esau I hated." 00:21:46.284 --> 00:21:48.959 Oh how men and women 00:21:48.959 --> 00:21:51.081 try to reinterpret this. 00:21:51.081 --> 00:21:52.664 They try to twist this. 00:21:52.664 --> 00:21:55.414 They try to yank on this thing 00:21:55.414 --> 00:21:57.711 and deny this reality 00:21:57.711 --> 00:22:01.175 and do all sorts of somersaults 00:22:01.175 --> 00:22:06.597 to avoid dealing with this. 00:22:06.597 --> 00:22:10.445 A test. 00:22:10.445 --> 00:22:13.121 God loves Jacob. 00:22:13.121 --> 00:22:16.296 He hates Esau. 00:22:16.296 --> 00:22:18.672 Somebody will say, 00:22:18.672 --> 00:22:20.387 well, because Jacob was a good guy 00:22:20.387 --> 00:22:25.675 and Esau was a bad guy. 00:22:25.675 --> 00:22:32.823 But that's not what's happening here. 00:22:32.823 --> 00:22:35.514 You know what Scripture says? 00:22:35.514 --> 00:22:38.625 Before they were born, 00:22:38.625 --> 00:22:41.920 before they had done either good or bad 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.137 that the purposes of God, 00:22:44.137 --> 00:22:47.574 the purposes of God's election 00:22:47.574 --> 00:22:51.691 might stand, 00:22:51.691 --> 00:22:55.351 God chooses to love one, 00:22:55.351 --> 00:23:00.236 and God's hatred is on the other. 00:23:00.236 --> 00:23:02.626 You see, until we really come face-to-face 00:23:02.626 --> 00:23:08.853 with the reality that God hates, 00:23:08.853 --> 00:23:19.022 that backdrop makes the love of Christ sweet. NOTE Paragraph 00:23:19.022 --> 00:23:21.743 The test. 00:23:21.743 --> 00:23:25.686 The first thing you want to recognize: this is true. 00:23:25.686 --> 00:23:27.717 Here are twins. Two brothers. 00:23:27.717 --> 00:23:30.539 God loves one. God hates the other. 00:23:30.539 --> 00:23:33.052 And so how do you process the statement? 00:23:33.052 --> 00:23:34.923 Listen, you know what so many men do? 00:23:34.923 --> 00:23:38.114 They put this verse on trial. 00:23:38.114 --> 00:23:39.702 But let me tell you something, 00:23:39.702 --> 00:23:41.287 when you read a verse like this, 00:23:41.287 --> 00:23:42.656 God is not on trial. 00:23:42.656 --> 00:23:44.597 You are on trial. 00:23:44.597 --> 00:23:47.673 How you respond to this verse 00:23:47.673 --> 00:23:53.624 says an enormous amount about you. 00:23:53.624 --> 00:23:55.510 You know what? 00:23:55.510 --> 00:23:59.014 You pass the test 00:23:59.014 --> 00:24:02.847 if you look at this statement 00:24:02.847 --> 00:24:05.909 and you say, 00:24:05.909 --> 00:24:10.597 Esau is getting exactly what he deserves. 00:24:10.597 --> 00:24:14.975 Esau is hated by God and he deserves that. 00:24:14.975 --> 00:24:19.363 You pass the test if you look at this verse 00:24:19.363 --> 00:24:21.527 and you say Esau is getting 00:24:21.527 --> 00:24:26.483 exactly what I deserve. 00:24:26.483 --> 00:24:31.974 You pass the test if you read this 00:24:31.974 --> 00:24:36.705 and you marvel that the infinitely holy God 00:24:36.705 --> 00:24:40.067 would ever bestow His love on the likes of Jacob. 00:24:40.067 --> 00:24:42.530 You see, that's when you pass the test. 00:24:42.530 --> 00:24:44.682 And the thing is, you know what? 00:24:44.682 --> 00:24:47.912 You know what we can tell by the next verse? 00:24:47.912 --> 00:24:53.640 Paul expects most men to fail the test. 00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:55.217 Can you see by the next verse 00:24:55.217 --> 00:24:59.716 what he anticipates most people are going to say? 00:24:59.716 --> 00:25:01.890 Verse 14, "What shall we say then? 00:25:01.890 --> 00:25:04.632 Is there injustice on God's part?" 00:25:04.632 --> 00:25:06.211 That's what he expects. 00:25:06.211 --> 00:25:07.927 He expects people to say, 00:25:07.927 --> 00:25:12.399 "that's not fair." 00:25:12.399 --> 00:25:13.739 That's what he expects. 00:25:13.739 --> 00:25:15.270 You can see it. 00:25:15.270 --> 00:25:19.142 Injustice! 00:25:19.142 --> 00:25:20.091 And you know what? 00:25:20.091 --> 00:25:22.377 They're not saying, 00:25:22.377 --> 00:25:27.045 "oh, I cannot believe that verse." 00:25:27.045 --> 00:25:31.107 "How could God ever love Jacob?" 00:25:31.107 --> 00:25:32.783 That's not what they're saying. 00:25:32.783 --> 00:25:35.568 They're not saying, "that is unjust! 00:25:35.568 --> 00:25:37.342 How could that ever happen?" 00:25:37.342 --> 00:25:39.516 That's not what they're saying. 00:25:39.516 --> 00:25:41.822 You know what they're saying? 00:25:41.822 --> 00:25:45.335 "Esau got a raw deal. 00:25:45.335 --> 00:25:47.647 That's not fair." 00:25:47.647 --> 00:25:52.852 So, that's what Paul imagines. 00:25:52.852 --> 00:25:56.081 But people immediately feel Esau, 00:25:56.081 --> 00:25:59.072 he got a raw deal. 00:25:59.072 --> 00:26:05.613 If anything in you shouts injustice, 00:26:05.613 --> 00:26:08.338 it's going to be impossible for you 00:26:08.338 --> 00:26:11.575 to appreciate the love of Christ. 00:26:11.575 --> 00:26:14.535 Oh, if we would feel the love of Christ, 00:26:14.535 --> 00:26:21.291 how necessary it is to feel the hatred of Christ. 00:26:21.291 --> 00:26:28.485 Does something in you cry: that's not just? 00:26:28.485 --> 00:26:30.516 Because look, 00:26:30.516 --> 00:26:33.015 what you feel about Esau, 00:26:33.015 --> 00:26:36.083 you will project to yourself. 00:26:36.083 --> 00:26:38.812 You will feel like: "you don't know Esau." 00:26:38.812 --> 00:26:42.241 You know why people cry out? 00:26:42.241 --> 00:26:43.716 You know why people shout 00:26:43.716 --> 00:26:45.041 "that's not fair"? 00:26:45.041 --> 00:26:48.066 Not because they care a lick about Esau. 00:26:48.066 --> 00:26:51.295 They could care less about Esau. 00:26:51.295 --> 00:26:53.559 The reason they don't like it 00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:55.270 is because of what it says 00:26:55.270 --> 00:26:59.507 about how God deals with them 00:26:59.507 --> 00:27:04.058 and who God is, 00:27:04.058 --> 00:27:06.096 how that affects me. 00:27:06.096 --> 00:27:09.099 That's the issue. NOTE Paragraph 00:27:09.099 --> 00:27:11.446 Let's just look at some things. 00:27:11.446 --> 00:27:12.845 Psalm 5. 00:27:12.845 --> 00:27:14.296 Many of you know this. 00:27:14.296 --> 00:27:15.685 Let's think. 00:27:15.685 --> 00:27:19.813 Let's think about the tenor of Scripture. 00:27:19.813 --> 00:27:38.844 Psalm 5:5 - go back there. 00:27:38.844 --> 00:27:45.383 Listen, Scripture says 00:27:45.383 --> 00:27:52.681 we were children of wrath 00:27:52.681 --> 00:27:55.025 like the rest of mankind. 00:27:55.025 --> 00:27:57.326 You could just as easily say 00:27:57.326 --> 00:28:01.306 we were children of God's hatred, 00:28:01.306 --> 00:28:03.519 children of God's indignation, 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:06.521 children of God's anger. 00:28:06.521 --> 00:28:08.352 That's what we were. 00:28:08.352 --> 00:28:11.264 You have to remember the stock 00:28:11.264 --> 00:28:13.652 from which we came. 00:28:13.652 --> 00:28:16.453 Psalm 5:5, 00:28:16.453 --> 00:28:21.855 "The Lord hates all evildoers." 00:28:21.855 --> 00:28:24.506 And what you want to really recognize 00:28:24.506 --> 00:28:32.670 is that little appendage to evil. 00:28:32.670 --> 00:28:35.524 The "doers." 00:28:35.524 --> 00:28:40.587 There's a common expression 00:28:40.587 --> 00:28:48.085 that "God hates the sin, but loves the sinner." 00:28:48.085 --> 00:28:50.398 But you won't find that quoted 00:28:50.398 --> 00:28:51.944 anywhere in Scripture. 00:28:51.944 --> 00:28:54.787 It doesn't come from Scripture. 00:28:54.787 --> 00:28:57.957 Men have devised that saying 00:28:57.957 --> 00:29:00.640 because that's not what the Scripture teaches. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:03.681 Who does God hate? 00:29:03.681 --> 00:29:08.481 God hates all - not just all evil. 00:29:08.481 --> 00:29:12.816 He hates the doer of evil. 00:29:12.816 --> 00:29:15.106 And if you look at the very next verse, 00:29:15.106 --> 00:29:18.438 "the Lord abhors..." 00:29:18.438 --> 00:29:21.743 That's probably even a stronger word than hatred. 00:29:21.743 --> 00:29:28.874 "The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty." 00:29:28.874 --> 00:29:31.144 The bloodthirsty. 00:29:31.144 --> 00:29:35.308 They don't care about other people. 00:29:35.308 --> 00:29:39.238 "...And the deceitful." 00:29:39.238 --> 00:29:41.044 The problem is that we all come 00:29:41.044 --> 00:29:45.482 from the stock of liars. 00:29:45.482 --> 00:29:47.409 We were breathing out lies 00:29:47.409 --> 00:29:48.839 from the very beginning, 00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:51.061 right from our mother's womb. 00:29:51.061 --> 00:29:53.475 It says that the Lord abhors such. NOTE Paragraph 00:29:53.475 --> 00:29:56.953 Or go over a few pages to Psalm 11. 00:29:56.953 --> 00:30:08.525 Psalm 11:5, 00:30:08.525 --> 00:30:11.707 "The Lord..." 00:30:11.707 --> 00:30:13.298 What does it say here? 00:30:13.298 --> 00:30:18.098 "His soul hates the wicked 00:30:18.098 --> 00:30:23.850 and the one who loves violence." 00:30:23.850 --> 00:30:29.952 His soul hates, not just wickedness, 00:30:29.952 --> 00:30:32.056 but the wicked. 00:30:32.056 --> 00:30:33.679 Not just violence, but the one 00:30:33.679 --> 00:30:38.884 who loves violence. 00:30:38.884 --> 00:30:40.135 There are verses. NOTE Paragraph 00:30:40.135 --> 00:30:41.838 Let me just tell you a few verses. 00:30:41.838 --> 00:30:43.251 Don't turn to these. 00:30:43.251 --> 00:30:47.329 But in Leviticus 26, God says this, 00:30:47.329 --> 00:30:50.086 "Walk contrary to Me, 00:30:50.086 --> 00:30:53.580 My soul will abhor you." 00:30:53.580 --> 00:30:58.599 Or this, Hosea 9, Ephraim - 00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:02.634 "Every evil of Ephraim's..." 00:31:02.634 --> 00:31:04.918 That was basically the way you described 00:31:04.918 --> 00:31:07.005 the Northern kingdom. 00:31:07.005 --> 00:31:10.519 "Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal. 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.398 There I began to hate them. 00:31:12.398 --> 00:31:14.631 Because of the wickedness of their deeds, 00:31:14.631 --> 00:31:16.327 I will drive them out of My house. 00:31:16.327 --> 00:31:18.676 I will love them no more." 00:31:18.676 --> 00:31:20.287 Or Jeremiah 12. 00:31:20.287 --> 00:31:22.330 "My heritage..." here He's speaking 00:31:22.330 --> 00:31:23.921 about the house of Judah. 00:31:23.921 --> 00:31:25.563 "My heritage has become to Me 00:31:25.563 --> 00:31:27.265 like a lion in the forest. 00:31:27.265 --> 00:31:29.255 She has lifted up her voice against Me, 00:31:29.255 --> 00:31:32.325 therefore, I hate her." 00:31:32.325 --> 00:31:37.084 He's speaking about the people of Judah, 00:31:37.084 --> 00:31:38.665 of the Southern kingdom. 00:31:38.665 --> 00:31:40.786 In Proverbs 3:32, 00:31:40.786 --> 00:31:42.840 "the devious person 00:31:42.840 --> 00:31:47.579 is an abomination to the Lord." 00:31:47.579 --> 00:31:49.377 Proverbs 6. 00:31:49.377 --> 00:31:51.554 "There are six things that the Lord hates, 00:31:51.554 --> 00:31:53.722 seven that are an abomination to Him." 00:31:53.722 --> 00:31:55.447 And you know what two of them are. 00:31:55.447 --> 00:31:57.837 It's not just the acts of wickedness. 00:31:57.837 --> 00:32:00.193 It's "a false witness." 00:32:00.193 --> 00:32:02.381 God says, I hate, I abominate 00:32:02.381 --> 00:32:04.545 "a false witness who breathes out lies 00:32:04.545 --> 00:32:08.479 and one who sows discord among brothers." 00:32:08.479 --> 00:32:11.539 Somebody who's divisive, God hates them. 00:32:11.539 --> 00:32:13.418 Not just what they do. 00:32:13.418 --> 00:32:15.998 Scripture says, "them." NOTE Paragraph 00:32:15.998 --> 00:32:22.313 You can't go but six chapters into your Bible, 00:32:22.313 --> 00:32:25.083 and what happens? 00:32:25.083 --> 00:32:29.853 God kills every man, woman, and child 00:32:29.853 --> 00:32:32.049 on the face of the earth 00:32:32.049 --> 00:32:36.805 except eight souls. 00:32:36.805 --> 00:32:43.940 God hates not just the sin. 00:32:43.940 --> 00:32:46.620 You know, years ago, 00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:54.441 we had a tract that showed the ark. 00:32:54.441 --> 00:32:59.615 Lightning, dark clouds, the rain is falling. 00:32:59.615 --> 00:33:02.711 And there are men and women desperate 00:33:02.711 --> 00:33:04.746 as the waters are rising 00:33:04.746 --> 00:33:08.329 trying to get into the ark. 00:33:08.329 --> 00:33:10.956 And on the side of it is a smiley face 00:33:10.956 --> 00:33:15.701 that says, "Smile. God loves you." 00:33:15.701 --> 00:33:19.831 That tract was not made to be funny. 00:33:19.831 --> 00:33:26.048 It was made to show how foolish 00:33:26.048 --> 00:33:29.960 so much of modern-day evangelism is. 00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:31.639 When you go out into this world 00:33:31.639 --> 00:33:33.385 and you tell people to smile 00:33:33.385 --> 00:33:36.305 because God loves them... 00:33:36.305 --> 00:33:39.802 Look, what Scripture tells us 00:33:39.802 --> 00:33:45.665 is that all of mankind are children of wrath. 00:33:45.665 --> 00:33:50.041 We are objects of the hatred of God 00:33:50.041 --> 00:33:53.091 by nature. 00:33:53.091 --> 00:33:56.220 We don't deserve His love. 00:33:56.220 --> 00:33:58.219 God could say this: 00:33:58.219 --> 00:34:01.857 Noah have I loved, 00:34:01.857 --> 00:34:06.336 and the rest of the world I hated. 00:34:06.336 --> 00:34:08.293 You see, we get stirred up - 00:34:08.293 --> 00:34:10.313 Paul expects people to get stirred up 00:34:10.313 --> 00:34:13.294 just when it's "Jacob have I loved 00:34:13.294 --> 00:34:16.263 and Esau have I hated." 00:34:16.263 --> 00:34:19.991 Just one and one. 00:34:19.991 --> 00:34:22.923 God's love. God's hatred. 00:34:22.923 --> 00:34:26.802 But what about when God takes the whole world 00:34:26.802 --> 00:34:28.695 and His hatred is expressed 00:34:28.695 --> 00:34:30.624 and He wipes them all out? 00:34:30.624 --> 00:34:32.952 And He saves but eight souls? 00:34:32.952 --> 00:34:34.562 This is the kind of God we have. 00:34:34.562 --> 00:34:36.043 And let me tell you something, 00:34:36.043 --> 00:34:38.545 when He wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah, 00:34:38.545 --> 00:34:40.363 He has Peter tell us 00:34:40.363 --> 00:34:43.165 He brought them to extinction. 00:34:43.165 --> 00:34:45.290 He turned them to ashes 00:34:45.290 --> 00:34:47.971 as an example of what is going to happen 00:34:47.971 --> 00:34:52.724 to the ungodly now. 00:34:52.724 --> 00:34:54.866 He spared Lot. 00:34:54.866 --> 00:34:56.932 This is all through Scripture. 00:34:56.932 --> 00:34:59.025 Lot have I loved, 00:34:59.025 --> 00:35:02.745 Sodom and Gomorrah have I hated. 00:35:02.745 --> 00:35:08.283 This is all over. NOTE Paragraph 00:35:08.283 --> 00:35:11.618 When the Lord hates somebody, 00:35:11.618 --> 00:35:14.986 in Paul's estimation, it's not injustice. 00:35:14.986 --> 00:35:17.589 Is there is injustice with God? Why? 00:35:17.589 --> 00:35:19.994 Because Esau was hated. 00:35:19.994 --> 00:35:22.227 He said, "by no means." 00:35:22.227 --> 00:35:27.392 God said, "I will have mercy 00:35:27.392 --> 00:35:29.603 upon whom I will have mercy, 00:35:29.603 --> 00:35:31.327 and I will have compassion..." 00:35:31.327 --> 00:35:33.003 Remember this, 00:35:33.003 --> 00:35:34.744 mercy. 00:35:34.744 --> 00:35:36.650 If you get justice 00:35:36.650 --> 00:35:38.640 and you get what your sins deserve, 00:35:38.640 --> 00:35:41.380 it is the full, all-out, deep wrath 00:35:41.380 --> 00:35:44.044 and hatred and indignation and fury, 00:35:44.044 --> 00:35:46.728 fierce anger of God, 00:35:46.728 --> 00:35:48.533 and that is what mankind deserves 00:35:48.533 --> 00:35:49.803 and we don't think so, 00:35:49.803 --> 00:35:51.053 and we have to be reminded 00:35:51.053 --> 00:35:52.285 over and over of this, 00:35:52.285 --> 00:35:54.844 and this is the reason why I wanted to go back to it. 00:35:54.844 --> 00:35:57.579 Brethren, what stock do we come from? 00:35:57.579 --> 00:36:00.700 We were children of wrath 00:36:00.700 --> 00:36:04.708 like the rest of mankind. 00:36:04.708 --> 00:36:09.467 Paul says it is no injustice on God's part 00:36:09.467 --> 00:36:11.603 for Him to hate Esau. 00:36:11.603 --> 00:36:15.935 Why? Because it's not unjust. 00:36:15.935 --> 00:36:17.299 It's just. 00:36:17.299 --> 00:36:18.948 That means it's right. 00:36:18.948 --> 00:36:22.324 It is right for God to hate sinners. NOTE Paragraph 00:36:22.324 --> 00:36:23.890 And you can be sure of this, 00:36:23.890 --> 00:36:25.216 if God hates somebody, 00:36:25.216 --> 00:36:27.989 it's precisely because they're hate-worthy. 00:36:27.989 --> 00:36:29.998 If God abominates somebody, 00:36:29.998 --> 00:36:32.593 it's because they're abominable. 00:36:32.593 --> 00:36:34.646 If God is offended by somebody 00:36:34.646 --> 00:36:37.185 it's because they're offensive. 00:36:37.185 --> 00:36:39.334 That is the reality, brethren. 00:36:39.334 --> 00:36:43.562 God is not unjust to hate mankind. 00:36:43.562 --> 00:36:46.796 Because mankind is a hateful thing 00:36:46.796 --> 00:36:48.122 by nature. 00:36:48.122 --> 00:36:49.609 It ought to be hated. 00:36:49.609 --> 00:36:51.753 Evil people ought to be hated 00:36:51.753 --> 00:36:55.271 by a good and a holy God. 00:36:55.271 --> 00:36:57.908 That is only right. 00:36:57.908 --> 00:36:59.433 God hated mankind. 00:36:59.433 --> 00:37:01.916 He wiped out mankind in the flood. 00:37:01.916 --> 00:37:05.048 Why? Because those people 00:37:05.048 --> 00:37:08.831 were such character that it demanded 00:37:08.831 --> 00:37:10.498 that they be wiped out. 00:37:10.498 --> 00:37:13.200 Justice demanded it. 00:37:13.200 --> 00:37:16.027 God only damns those who are damnable. 00:37:16.027 --> 00:37:18.439 But that's all of mankind. There are no exceptions. 00:37:18.439 --> 00:37:20.285 You can read there in Romans 3. 00:37:20.285 --> 00:37:21.605 There's none righteous. 00:37:21.605 --> 00:37:24.380 And in case we thought, well, there might be an exception: 00:37:24.380 --> 00:37:27.389 No, not one. NOTE Paragraph 00:37:27.389 --> 00:37:29.767 Boy, we have to be reminded, 00:37:29.767 --> 00:37:35.001 reminded over and over. 00:37:35.001 --> 00:37:38.229 You know, we just have this sense 00:37:38.229 --> 00:37:40.582 that the world - we don't feel it. 00:37:40.582 --> 00:37:41.868 We don't feel it. 00:37:41.868 --> 00:37:43.725 We don't hear the thunder all the time 00:37:43.725 --> 00:37:46.578 and see the dark clouds. 00:37:46.578 --> 00:37:48.489 But like Pilgrim in Pilgrim's Progress, 00:37:48.489 --> 00:37:51.844 he recognized there is a storm. 00:37:51.844 --> 00:37:53.712 There is destruction. 00:37:53.712 --> 00:37:56.920 It's coming. It's on the horizons out there. 00:37:56.920 --> 00:38:00.275 But we have to be brought back. 00:38:00.275 --> 00:38:02.928 We have to be reminded. 00:38:02.928 --> 00:38:05.567 Brethren, by nature, 00:38:05.567 --> 00:38:08.341 we were children of wrath. 00:38:08.341 --> 00:38:11.664 Children of God's hatred. 00:38:11.664 --> 00:38:13.329 Look, what did we do? 00:38:13.329 --> 00:38:14.876 We followed the prince 00:38:14.876 --> 00:38:16.927 of the power of the air. 00:38:16.927 --> 00:38:19.477 We lived in the passions of our flesh. 00:38:19.477 --> 00:38:22.190 We were dead in sin. 00:38:22.190 --> 00:38:25.103 And what did we do? 00:38:25.103 --> 00:38:28.534 We were haughty. 00:38:28.534 --> 00:38:30.022 Have you ever read: 00:38:30.022 --> 00:38:31.324 Six things God hates, 00:38:31.324 --> 00:38:33.147 seven that are an abomination to Him? 00:38:33.147 --> 00:38:35.276 And one of those things is: 00:38:35.276 --> 00:38:38.614 haughty eyes. 00:38:38.614 --> 00:38:43.849 Those were our eyes. 00:38:43.849 --> 00:38:45.807 Liars. 00:38:45.807 --> 00:38:47.108 We lied. 00:38:47.108 --> 00:38:50.448 Some worse. Some less. 00:38:50.448 --> 00:38:53.659 But what does Scripture say? 00:38:53.659 --> 00:38:55.203 "Six things that the Lord hates, 00:38:55.203 --> 00:38:56.542 seven that He abominates... 00:38:56.542 --> 00:38:58.317 a lying tongue." 00:38:58.317 --> 00:39:00.099 That was our tongue. 00:39:00.099 --> 00:39:01.803 You may look at a child - 00:39:01.803 --> 00:39:03.502 "did you take the cookie?" 00:39:03.502 --> 00:39:05.064 And they're like "no," 00:39:05.064 --> 00:39:06.659 and you can look at that 00:39:06.659 --> 00:39:09.034 and it can make you laugh. 00:39:09.034 --> 00:39:11.463 You think that's laughable? 00:39:11.463 --> 00:39:13.539 God says "I hate that." 00:39:13.539 --> 00:39:15.790 "I hate it." 00:39:15.790 --> 00:39:17.363 Men don't think like God thinks, 00:39:17.363 --> 00:39:19.056 and the things that man cherishes, 00:39:19.056 --> 00:39:24.322 God finds an abomination. 00:39:24.322 --> 00:39:26.232 We devised wickedness. 00:39:26.232 --> 00:39:27.657 That was me. 00:39:27.657 --> 00:39:31.088 I was thinking of all sorts of ways 00:39:31.088 --> 00:39:33.724 to appease myself and gratify myself 00:39:33.724 --> 00:39:35.510 and enjoy myself 00:39:35.510 --> 00:39:37.438 and devising it all the time, 00:39:37.438 --> 00:39:39.672 not caring how many of God's commandments 00:39:39.672 --> 00:39:40.772 it might break. 00:39:40.772 --> 00:39:42.526 There are six things the Lord hates, 00:39:42.526 --> 00:39:44.090 seven that are an abomination - 00:39:44.090 --> 00:39:46.556 a heart that devises wicked plans. 00:39:46.556 --> 00:39:48.180 That was my heart. 00:39:48.180 --> 00:39:51.258 That was your heart. NOTE Paragraph 00:39:51.258 --> 00:39:54.093 Do you recognize when people like this die 00:39:54.093 --> 00:39:55.906 and they come face-to-face with God, 00:39:55.906 --> 00:39:58.154 what happens? 00:39:58.154 --> 00:40:01.087 It is terror. 00:40:01.087 --> 00:40:04.245 It is utterly terrifying. 00:40:04.245 --> 00:40:08.995 You meet this God - holy, holy, holy - 00:40:08.995 --> 00:40:12.161 you meet this God 00:40:12.161 --> 00:40:14.749 and you don't have protection, 00:40:14.749 --> 00:40:16.463 and you don't know anything, 00:40:16.463 --> 00:40:20.561 really know something of the love of Christ 00:40:20.561 --> 00:40:22.243 in rescuing your soul 00:40:22.243 --> 00:40:25.440 and pouring out His soul on that cross for you, 00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:27.925 and you come there unprotected, 00:40:27.925 --> 00:40:30.532 and you come there unloved by Christ, 00:40:30.532 --> 00:40:34.767 I'll tell you this. 00:40:34.767 --> 00:40:37.691 You will not sort it all out. 00:40:37.691 --> 00:40:40.079 You'll not say, like so many people say, 00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:42.282 "Well, I'll say to God..." 00:40:42.282 --> 00:40:47.113 Yeah. You will say nothing. 00:40:47.113 --> 00:40:50.893 What you will hear is "depart from Me, 00:40:50.893 --> 00:40:53.774 you workers of iniquity." 00:40:53.774 --> 00:40:54.791 Depart. 00:40:54.791 --> 00:40:57.079 It is like God saying... 00:40:57.079 --> 00:40:58.612 it's Christ. 00:40:58.612 --> 00:41:01.020 It's Christ saying "away with them." 00:41:01.020 --> 00:41:02.828 Away! 00:41:02.828 --> 00:41:06.382 I can't tolerate their presence. 00:41:06.382 --> 00:41:09.172 Do you know what Isaiah said? 00:41:09.172 --> 00:41:11.051 Isaiah said that we are all 00:41:11.051 --> 00:41:16.393 like an unclean thing. 00:41:16.393 --> 00:41:18.222 And all of our righteousnesses 00:41:18.222 --> 00:41:20.639 are as filthy rags. 00:41:20.639 --> 00:41:24.426 You look that up in the lexicon. 00:41:24.426 --> 00:41:27.883 There's just one word. 00:41:27.883 --> 00:41:33.096 Menstruation. 00:41:33.096 --> 00:41:35.432 You see, we need to recognize 00:41:35.432 --> 00:41:37.695 what we are by nature. 00:41:37.695 --> 00:41:44.557 We are menstruation? 00:41:44.557 --> 00:41:46.336 I mean, that's basically a picture 00:41:46.336 --> 00:41:57.101 of what my life outside of Christ amounted to. 00:41:57.101 --> 00:42:00.861 Do you recognize what sort of people 00:42:00.861 --> 00:42:08.235 Christ has chosen to love? 00:42:08.235 --> 00:42:11.537 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. 00:42:11.537 --> 00:42:14.146 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. 00:42:14.146 --> 00:42:16.963 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. 00:42:16.963 --> 00:42:18.514 Thus says Proverbs 15. 00:42:18.514 --> 00:42:20.377 Brethren, do you hear what I'm saying? 00:42:20.377 --> 00:42:22.367 Scripture says God hates idolatry. 00:42:22.367 --> 00:42:25.147 We loved other things more than God. 00:42:25.147 --> 00:42:26.391 God hates rebellion. 00:42:26.391 --> 00:42:28.535 We were the ones breaking His commandments. 00:42:28.535 --> 00:42:30.966 God hates robbery. 00:42:30.966 --> 00:42:32.441 We were the ones. 00:42:32.441 --> 00:42:34.516 God hates wrong. God hates pride. 00:42:34.516 --> 00:42:35.867 God hates arrogance. 00:42:35.867 --> 00:42:37.613 You and I were the proud ones. 00:42:37.613 --> 00:42:39.014 God hates perverted speech. 00:42:39.014 --> 00:42:40.897 He hates haughtiness. He hates lying. 00:42:40.897 --> 00:42:42.690 He abominates the ways of the wicked, 00:42:42.690 --> 00:42:44.050 the thoughts of the wicked, 00:42:44.050 --> 00:42:45.776 but more than that, He abominates 00:42:45.776 --> 00:42:47.247 the wicked themselves. 00:42:47.247 --> 00:42:50.153 What are we by nature? 00:42:50.153 --> 00:42:52.083 These were our hearts, 00:42:52.083 --> 00:42:56.666 our feet, our tongues. 00:42:56.666 --> 00:43:02.905 By nature, we are children of wrath. 00:43:02.905 --> 00:43:04.553 And you know what Scripture says 00:43:04.553 --> 00:43:06.038 there in Ecclesiastes? It says, 00:43:06.038 --> 00:43:10.190 "Because the sentence against 00:43:10.190 --> 00:43:12.153 our evil deeds 00:43:12.153 --> 00:43:14.716 was not executed speedily, 00:43:14.716 --> 00:43:16.407 the heart of the children of man 00:43:16.407 --> 00:43:18.514 is fully set to do evil." 00:43:18.514 --> 00:43:21.237 God didn't kill us the very first time we sinned, 00:43:21.237 --> 00:43:22.738 and so you know what happened? 00:43:22.738 --> 00:43:25.085 We grew bold in our sin. 00:43:25.085 --> 00:43:26.489 That's what happens. 00:43:26.489 --> 00:43:30.231 We sin. I'm not struck down. 00:43:30.231 --> 00:43:32.622 We thought that God must not care. 00:43:32.622 --> 00:43:34.498 Our sin must not be a big deal. 00:43:34.498 --> 00:43:36.080 We thought our crimes were small. 00:43:36.080 --> 00:43:39.587 But make no mistake about it, 00:43:39.587 --> 00:43:41.881 the measure of our sin was filling up, 00:43:41.881 --> 00:43:44.609 and you know what Scripture says? 00:43:44.609 --> 00:43:46.524 That if you don't obey Jesus Christ, 00:43:46.524 --> 00:43:49.573 the wrath of God abides upon you already. 00:43:49.573 --> 00:43:50.958 It is hanging over you 00:43:50.958 --> 00:43:53.603 and it is like this heavy cloud; 00:43:53.603 --> 00:43:57.162 storm cloud that is just growing 00:43:57.162 --> 00:43:58.904 heavier and heavier 00:43:58.904 --> 00:44:01.200 with the wrath of God. 00:44:01.200 --> 00:44:03.732 And that's where we were. 00:44:03.732 --> 00:44:08.480 Because it hasn't fully struck our consciences, 00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:11.273 and we're such forgetful people, 00:44:11.273 --> 00:44:14.565 we need to come back and recognize, 00:44:14.565 --> 00:44:20.471 what hateful creatures we were to God. 00:44:20.471 --> 00:44:22.458 I mean hating us with the intensity 00:44:22.458 --> 00:44:24.558 of His entire divine being. 00:44:24.558 --> 00:44:26.613 Scripture doesn't say because God knew 00:44:26.613 --> 00:44:27.891 He was going to save us, 00:44:27.891 --> 00:44:31.237 somehow we averted being children of wrath 00:44:31.237 --> 00:44:32.939 like the rest of mankind. 00:44:32.939 --> 00:44:34.963 That's what we were. 00:44:34.963 --> 00:44:37.470 I'll tell you men provoke God on every side 00:44:37.470 --> 00:44:39.399 and we were right there in the crowd. 00:44:39.399 --> 00:44:40.930 We were provoking Him, 00:44:40.930 --> 00:44:44.584 and there is fierce wrath. 00:44:44.584 --> 00:44:47.735 Brethren, do you see people like this? 00:44:47.735 --> 00:44:49.580 You know, your neighbor? 00:44:49.580 --> 00:44:50.733 Your co-worker? 00:44:50.733 --> 00:44:52.212 Do you see people like this? 00:44:52.212 --> 00:44:55.837 Men are highly offensive to God. 00:44:55.837 --> 00:44:57.987 That's how man is by nature. 00:44:57.987 --> 00:45:04.041 By nature, children of wrath. NOTE Paragraph 00:45:04.041 --> 00:45:09.165 So, you say, 00:45:09.165 --> 00:45:12.938 man, I visited this church today to hear this? 00:45:12.938 --> 00:45:15.434 Look. 00:45:15.434 --> 00:45:18.612 This is true. 00:45:18.612 --> 00:45:21.805 And because it's strong, 00:45:21.805 --> 00:45:24.302 because you may not like it, 00:45:24.302 --> 00:45:27.376 it doesn't make it go away. 00:45:27.376 --> 00:45:28.719 But what we have to remember 00:45:28.719 --> 00:45:30.117 is if God stopped right there 00:45:30.117 --> 00:45:31.450 just like with the demons 00:45:31.450 --> 00:45:35.319 and He said, "I'm done with you. 00:45:35.319 --> 00:45:36.877 You're all gone." 00:45:36.877 --> 00:45:38.015 But He didn't. NOTE Paragraph 00:45:38.015 --> 00:45:41.823 You know what we have? We have Ephesians 2:4. 00:45:41.823 --> 00:45:45.880 And this is where you can take a sigh of relief. 00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:48.380 But you know, you can't 00:45:48.380 --> 00:45:50.930 if you have not passed 00:45:50.930 --> 00:45:58.209 from verses 1, 2, and 3 into 4. 00:45:58.209 --> 00:46:01.958 The love. The love. 00:46:01.958 --> 00:46:06.171 "But God being rich in mercy 00:46:06.171 --> 00:46:07.768 because of the great love 00:46:07.768 --> 00:46:08.981 with which He loved us 00:46:08.981 --> 00:46:11.039 even when we were dead in our trespasses, 00:46:11.039 --> 00:46:13.100 made us alive together with Christ." 00:46:13.100 --> 00:46:15.980 If we would begin to comprehend something 00:46:15.980 --> 00:46:18.706 of the love of the Son of God for His people, 00:46:18.706 --> 00:46:23.400 we need to recognize that Christ chooses. 00:46:23.400 --> 00:46:31.847 Brethren, grasp this! 00:46:31.847 --> 00:46:35.303 Who are those people that He says, 00:46:35.303 --> 00:46:40.263 "Depart from Me"? 00:46:40.263 --> 00:46:45.837 "Your works are like filthy rags." 00:46:45.837 --> 00:46:47.998 You know who they are? 00:46:47.998 --> 00:46:50.747 Children of wrath. 00:46:50.747 --> 00:46:54.917 And such were we. 00:46:54.917 --> 00:46:59.741 Children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:46:59.741 --> 00:47:02.783 Think about the most disgusting thing 00:47:02.783 --> 00:47:08.156 you can think about. 00:47:08.156 --> 00:47:15.292 God chooses to set His love there. 00:47:15.292 --> 00:47:18.877 That's what Christ is doing. 00:47:18.877 --> 00:47:25.698 Christ is loving those who should be hated. NOTE Paragraph 00:47:25.698 --> 00:47:28.234 Look, we're no Cinderella story. 00:47:28.234 --> 00:47:31.614 I just thought about this - the love stories of this world. 00:47:31.614 --> 00:47:33.355 You know, you look at Cinderella. 00:47:33.355 --> 00:47:37.106 She's getting a raw deal from an evil step-mother. 00:47:37.106 --> 00:47:38.587 But she could sing beautifully 00:47:38.587 --> 00:47:39.770 and she was beautiful, 00:47:39.770 --> 00:47:41.402 and so when the prince comes along 00:47:41.402 --> 00:47:43.251 and he bestows his love there... 00:47:43.251 --> 00:47:47.491 Brethren, when a nation loves its leader 00:47:47.491 --> 00:47:50.745 or it loves its sports star, 00:47:50.745 --> 00:47:53.015 or when a prince sets his love 00:47:53.015 --> 00:47:55.795 on the princess, 00:47:55.795 --> 00:48:03.563 that love may be altogether real. 00:48:03.563 --> 00:48:04.811 But you know what? 00:48:04.811 --> 00:48:07.481 All the love stories of the world, 00:48:07.481 --> 00:48:10.669 there's something lovable and admirable 00:48:10.669 --> 00:48:18.143 in the one who ends up getting loved. 00:48:18.143 --> 00:48:22.149 That's not true with us. 00:48:22.149 --> 00:48:26.284 (incomplete thought) NOTE Paragraph 00:48:26.284 --> 00:48:27.784 Here's the thing, 00:48:27.784 --> 00:48:32.957 you can pull out your tape measure. 00:48:32.957 --> 00:48:35.698 Is it not true that the more unlovable 00:48:35.698 --> 00:48:37.878 the object loved, 00:48:37.878 --> 00:48:40.309 the greater that love must be. 00:48:40.309 --> 00:48:45.850 I mean, you can put your tape measure next to this. 00:48:45.850 --> 00:48:48.620 You can estimate something of the glory 00:48:48.620 --> 00:48:51.856 of the love of Christ 00:48:51.856 --> 00:48:59.266 based on who it is that He loved. 00:48:59.266 --> 00:49:02.229 To love the unlovable. 00:49:02.229 --> 00:49:04.728 But we have to come back to that 00:49:04.728 --> 00:49:07.447 and remember. 00:49:07.447 --> 00:49:11.102 Because that alone will create an appreciation. 00:49:11.102 --> 00:49:13.138 If you want to send the people out 00:49:13.138 --> 00:49:15.360 to walk worthy of their calling, 00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:17.581 you want to send people out 00:49:17.581 --> 00:49:20.036 to walk no more like the Gentiles, 00:49:20.036 --> 00:49:28.988 you want to send them out to walk in love, 00:49:28.988 --> 00:49:34.809 if we're overwhelmed by that reality, 00:49:34.809 --> 00:49:37.824 how could He have ever loved me? 00:49:37.824 --> 00:49:40.579 How could this be? 00:49:40.579 --> 00:49:42.434 It's that appreciation. NOTE Paragraph 00:49:42.434 --> 00:49:46.306 But let's measure it in another way. 00:49:46.306 --> 00:49:51.310 Christ's special saving love. 00:49:51.310 --> 00:49:53.891 You have to remember what Paul's doing. 00:49:53.891 --> 00:49:56.933 He is addressing Christians at Ephesus. 00:49:56.933 --> 00:49:58.760 He's not addressing the world. 00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:01.335 And when he says, "I'm praying, 00:50:01.335 --> 00:50:03.599 I'm bending my knee before the Father," 00:50:03.599 --> 00:50:04.920 He says I'm praying 00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:08.496 that you might have this strength to comprehend 00:50:08.496 --> 00:50:10.733 the vast dimensions of this love - 00:50:10.733 --> 00:50:13.174 you remember, 00:50:13.174 --> 00:50:15.529 it's that they might comprehend 00:50:15.529 --> 00:50:19.288 with all the saints. 00:50:19.288 --> 00:50:20.620 The saints. The Christians. 00:50:20.620 --> 00:50:23.108 The ones who have had this love 00:50:23.108 --> 00:50:24.573 bestowed upon them. 00:50:24.573 --> 00:50:27.265 Do you know something? 00:50:27.265 --> 00:50:32.314 Jesus does not give His love - 00:50:32.314 --> 00:50:35.197 His saving love, His special love, 00:50:35.197 --> 00:50:37.658 the love that Paul is praying 00:50:37.658 --> 00:50:40.277 that these people would be able to comprehend - 00:50:40.277 --> 00:50:44.425 Jesus doesn't give that love indiscriminately 00:50:44.425 --> 00:50:48.214 and universally. 00:50:48.214 --> 00:50:53.550 And one of the ways that we can measure 00:50:53.550 --> 00:50:58.946 and get a feel for the love of Christ 00:50:58.946 --> 00:51:02.134 is its rarity. NOTE Paragraph 00:51:02.134 --> 00:51:04.068 You know when I was a kid, 00:51:04.068 --> 00:51:05.978 I collected coins, 00:51:05.978 --> 00:51:08.058 baseball cards, 00:51:08.058 --> 00:51:10.463 hockey cards, basketball cards, 00:51:10.463 --> 00:51:12.282 football cards, 00:51:12.282 --> 00:51:15.852 butterflies, stamps - 00:51:15.852 --> 00:51:19.527 I collected a number of stuff. 00:51:19.527 --> 00:51:21.993 And you know this? 00:51:21.993 --> 00:51:26.218 What is it that really makes a coin valuable? 00:51:26.218 --> 00:51:32.138 There's something about its rarity. NOTE Paragraph 00:51:32.138 --> 00:51:36.707 If you just start to think, 00:51:36.707 --> 00:51:43.111 sometimes this just comes over me. 00:51:43.111 --> 00:51:45.292 Jacob have I loved. 00:51:45.292 --> 00:51:49.654 Esau have I hated. 00:51:49.654 --> 00:51:55.284 Christ's love is possessed 00:51:55.284 --> 00:51:57.591 by relatively few. 00:51:57.591 --> 00:51:59.154 Do you recognize 00:51:59.154 --> 00:52:01.832 that when you go out through this city, 00:52:01.832 --> 00:52:04.908 if you're one of the ones who is loved by Christ 00:52:04.908 --> 00:52:09.011 with the same love that these Ephesians were loved with, 00:52:09.011 --> 00:52:10.516 do you recognize 00:52:10.516 --> 00:52:12.455 that as you're driving home, 00:52:12.455 --> 00:52:14.756 it's not like all the cars that are passing you, 00:52:14.756 --> 00:52:17.680 the people possess that love. 00:52:17.680 --> 00:52:20.426 It's not like on the freeway, 00:52:20.426 --> 00:52:23.664 the people possess that love that you're driving by. 00:52:23.664 --> 00:52:26.357 Do you recognize that when you walk into a grocery store 00:52:26.357 --> 00:52:28.552 or you are out in the midst 00:52:28.552 --> 00:52:32.873 of the populations of this earth, 00:52:32.873 --> 00:52:38.060 those who Christ has set His love upon like this 00:52:38.060 --> 00:52:45.120 are relatively few. 00:52:45.120 --> 00:52:49.284 That makes this love so precious. 00:52:49.284 --> 00:52:51.169 I'll tell you this, 00:52:51.169 --> 00:52:53.565 if Jesus Christ after man had sinned 00:52:53.565 --> 00:52:57.618 had chosen to save all of mankind, 00:52:57.618 --> 00:53:03.665 that love would be altogether precious. 00:53:03.665 --> 00:53:06.788 But you know how man would view it? 00:53:06.788 --> 00:53:09.734 You know how he would view it? 00:53:09.734 --> 00:53:12.675 What would we say? 00:53:12.675 --> 00:53:16.236 See, God is concerned about what people say. 00:53:16.236 --> 00:53:20.756 You remember how it was with Gideon? 00:53:20.756 --> 00:53:22.860 How was it? 00:53:22.860 --> 00:53:26.128 No, if you go out there with 32,000 people, 00:53:26.128 --> 00:53:28.582 you're going to say we got us the victory. 00:53:28.582 --> 00:53:30.819 God is concerned about what people say. 00:53:30.819 --> 00:53:32.762 And you know if Jesus saved everybody, 00:53:32.762 --> 00:53:35.276 you know what man would say? 00:53:35.276 --> 00:53:37.457 Well, somehow we had it coming. 00:53:37.457 --> 00:53:39.084 I mean, somehow we deserved it. 00:53:39.084 --> 00:53:42.450 Somehow we weren't really that bad. 00:53:42.450 --> 00:53:46.089 Do you know what the backdrop of hell does? 00:53:46.089 --> 00:53:50.196 Especially when the multitudes, 00:53:50.196 --> 00:53:54.766 it really shows that is a backdrop 00:53:54.766 --> 00:53:56.628 against which the preciousness 00:53:56.628 --> 00:54:06.053 of Christ's love becomes so vivid. NOTE Paragraph 00:54:06.053 --> 00:54:09.181 Isaiah in Romans 9. 00:54:09.181 --> 00:54:10.920 You know what he said? 00:54:10.920 --> 00:54:12.605 He said, 00:54:12.605 --> 00:54:14.551 "Though the number of the sons of Israel 00:54:14.551 --> 00:54:17.937 be as the sand of the sea, 00:54:17.937 --> 00:54:25.406 only a remnant of them will I save." 00:54:25.406 --> 00:54:28.289 Have you ever read that? 00:54:28.289 --> 00:54:32.387 They may be like the sands upon the sea, 00:54:32.387 --> 00:54:35.708 like the numbers of the stars, 00:54:35.708 --> 00:54:39.758 and God says, "a remnant." 00:54:39.758 --> 00:54:43.358 What is a remnant? 00:54:43.358 --> 00:54:45.817 A remnant. 00:54:45.817 --> 00:54:48.544 Only a remnant will be saved. 00:54:48.544 --> 00:54:50.078 Or have you ever read this? 00:54:50.078 --> 00:54:52.170 "The gate is narrow. 00:54:52.170 --> 00:54:54.427 The way is hard that leads to life." 00:54:54.427 --> 00:54:56.789 How many find it? 00:54:56.789 --> 00:55:01.616 Few there be that find it. 00:55:01.616 --> 00:55:02.882 Or how about this? 00:55:02.882 --> 00:55:09.401 Many are called, and what? 00:55:09.401 --> 00:55:16.708 Few are chosen. 00:55:16.708 --> 00:55:19.846 Do you realize in a world 00:55:19.846 --> 00:55:23.332 of eight billion people 00:55:23.332 --> 00:55:27.658 and all through the history of mankind? 00:55:27.658 --> 00:55:32.270 I think somebody in some Christian magazine 00:55:32.270 --> 00:55:35.623 or some Christian book that I was reading years ago, 00:55:35.623 --> 00:55:38.564 I remember somebody was basically 00:55:38.564 --> 00:55:44.267 taking numbers from like the Gallup Poll 00:55:44.267 --> 00:55:48.127 and saying, look, if we basically believe 00:55:48.127 --> 00:55:51.933 that people are genuine 00:55:51.933 --> 00:55:54.391 who claim to be Christians, 00:55:54.391 --> 00:55:57.610 who go to evangelical churches, 00:55:57.610 --> 00:56:00.539 who believe in the Trinity, 00:56:00.539 --> 00:56:02.845 believe in the resurrection, 00:56:02.845 --> 00:56:06.816 believe just some basic tenets. 00:56:06.816 --> 00:56:11.025 And they worked those numbers down 00:56:11.025 --> 00:56:15.967 across the world. 00:56:15.967 --> 00:56:17.998 Have you ever looked at Operation World? 00:56:17.998 --> 00:56:21.980 And looked even at their maybe more liberal estimations? 00:56:21.980 --> 00:56:27.670 Country after country after country? 00:56:27.670 --> 00:56:31.389 How few true Christians there are 00:56:31.389 --> 00:56:35.211 in all those countries? 00:56:35.211 --> 00:56:36.721 And then you think about this. 00:56:36.721 --> 00:56:38.677 Even within the church itself, 00:56:38.677 --> 00:56:41.021 Jesus says that in the last day, 00:56:41.021 --> 00:56:42.888 there's going to be many from our ranks 00:56:42.888 --> 00:56:45.770 who are going to say we did many mighty works for God, 00:56:45.770 --> 00:56:47.217 even in the church. 00:56:47.217 --> 00:56:50.520 He says there's an enemy who sows tares 00:56:50.520 --> 00:56:51.647 and even in our midst, 00:56:51.647 --> 00:56:55.922 many are going to turn out to not be true. 00:56:55.922 --> 00:56:59.364 Do you recognize that if you have this love, 00:56:59.364 --> 00:57:00.811 how rare it is? 00:57:00.811 --> 00:57:03.265 Look, I'm not saying that Jesus 00:57:03.265 --> 00:57:08.096 doesn't offer that love freely 00:57:08.096 --> 00:57:12.914 to all who will come to Him to have it. 00:57:12.914 --> 00:57:15.225 He does. 00:57:15.225 --> 00:57:16.640 But in the end, 00:57:16.640 --> 00:57:21.855 Scripture affirms how few there be 00:57:21.855 --> 00:57:24.891 that find it. 00:57:24.891 --> 00:57:29.263 Listen, in this very book, 00:57:29.263 --> 00:57:30.523 Paul's going to say, 00:57:30.523 --> 00:57:34.512 "Husbands, love your wives..." 00:57:34.512 --> 00:57:38.819 not like Christ loves the whole world. 00:57:38.819 --> 00:57:47.525 "Love your wives like Christ loves His church." 00:57:47.525 --> 00:57:54.906 It's a very narrow, very small - who is it? 00:57:54.906 --> 00:57:57.333 It's His bride. 00:57:57.333 --> 00:57:58.904 It's the true church. 00:57:58.904 --> 00:58:03.400 It's those who He gave Himself up for. 00:58:03.400 --> 00:58:04.661 Just like a husband. 00:58:04.661 --> 00:58:06.846 A husband doesn't just indiscriminately love 00:58:06.846 --> 00:58:09.368 all women in the world. 00:58:09.368 --> 00:58:11.016 He focuses that love, 00:58:11.016 --> 00:58:17.279 and so it is with Christ. NOTE Paragraph 00:58:17.279 --> 00:58:19.143 The disciples came to Him one day, 00:58:19.143 --> 00:58:21.412 and said, 00:58:21.412 --> 00:58:27.463 "Lord, why do You speak to them in parables?" 00:58:27.463 --> 00:58:29.183 Remember that? 00:58:29.183 --> 00:58:31.917 Remember what Jesus said? 00:58:31.917 --> 00:58:38.040 "To you," speaking to the 11 of the 12, 00:58:38.040 --> 00:58:39.683 "to you it has been given 00:58:39.683 --> 00:58:44.389 to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." 00:58:44.389 --> 00:58:47.256 But to them - to who? 00:58:47.256 --> 00:58:52.306 To the crowds, it has not been given. 00:58:52.306 --> 00:58:57.013 You see that love gives. 00:58:57.013 --> 00:58:59.706 And to be one of those objects 00:58:59.706 --> 00:59:03.525 that have received this special, saving love; 00:59:03.525 --> 00:59:06.865 to receive ears to hear. 00:59:06.865 --> 00:59:08.823 It's been given. NOTE Paragraph 00:59:08.823 --> 00:59:10.089 Or how about this? 00:59:10.089 --> 00:59:13.651 In Luke, Jesus says to those 00:59:13.651 --> 00:59:15.199 that were returning - the 72, 00:59:15.199 --> 00:59:16.497 "Do not rejoice in this, 00:59:16.497 --> 00:59:18.751 that the spirits are subject to you. 00:59:18.751 --> 00:59:20.636 Rejoice..." 00:59:20.636 --> 00:59:23.731 Rejoice. 00:59:23.731 --> 00:59:25.584 "Rejoice that your names 00:59:25.584 --> 00:59:27.420 are written in heaven. 00:59:27.420 --> 00:59:28.840 In that same hour, 00:59:28.840 --> 00:59:30.623 He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, 00:59:30.623 --> 00:59:32.019 and He said this, 00:59:32.019 --> 00:59:33.553 'I thank You, Father, 00:59:33.553 --> 00:59:35.125 Lord of Heaven and earth, 00:59:35.125 --> 00:59:40.029 that You have hidden...'" 00:59:40.029 --> 00:59:43.614 I was struck by this. 00:59:43.614 --> 00:59:47.652 In John 14, 00:59:47.652 --> 00:59:50.157 "I will love you 00:59:50.157 --> 00:59:55.556 and manifest Myself to you." 00:59:55.556 --> 01:00:00.888 "Father, You have hidden these things 01:00:00.888 --> 01:00:02.594 from the wise and understanding, 01:00:02.594 --> 01:00:04.971 revealed them to little children. 01:00:04.971 --> 01:00:08.948 Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will." 01:00:08.948 --> 01:00:12.377 What I find is this, love gives. 01:00:12.377 --> 01:00:14.388 And one of the primary things 01:00:14.388 --> 01:00:16.254 that we find that loves gives 01:00:16.254 --> 01:00:20.178 is a revelation of itself. 01:00:20.178 --> 01:00:22.783 You think about a man and a woman 01:00:22.783 --> 01:00:25.372 and as they give themselves to each other, 01:00:25.372 --> 01:00:30.314 there is a greater and greater revealing. 01:00:30.314 --> 01:00:32.403 And where Christ loves, 01:00:32.403 --> 01:00:37.261 He says it's been given to you to know. 01:00:37.261 --> 01:00:40.002 It's been given to you to have your eyes open 01:00:40.002 --> 01:00:41.863 and to have your ears open. 01:00:41.863 --> 01:00:44.146 It's been given to you to have 01:00:44.146 --> 01:00:48.221 manifestations of Myself. 01:00:48.221 --> 01:00:51.060 He says, "Peter, 01:00:51.060 --> 01:00:53.482 but who do you say that I am?" 01:00:53.482 --> 01:00:55.438 "Thou art the Christ. 01:00:55.438 --> 01:00:58.429 The Son of the living God." 01:00:58.429 --> 01:01:04.490 He says, "Peter, blessed are you." 01:01:04.490 --> 01:01:06.606 He says, "that was revealed to you 01:01:06.606 --> 01:01:07.831 not by flesh and blood, 01:01:07.831 --> 01:01:09.878 that was revealed to you by My Father." 01:01:09.878 --> 01:01:14.626 There's this revelation. 01:01:14.626 --> 01:01:17.420 Jesus says, "I no longer call you servants, 01:01:17.420 --> 01:01:18.979 for the servant does not know 01:01:18.979 --> 01:01:20.178 what his master is doing. 01:01:20.178 --> 01:01:21.470 I have called you friends. 01:01:21.470 --> 01:01:23.554 For all that I have heard from My Father, 01:01:23.554 --> 01:01:26.099 I have made known to you." 01:01:26.099 --> 01:01:29.049 "You did not choose Me. 01:01:29.049 --> 01:01:33.619 I chose you." 01:01:33.619 --> 01:01:36.705 We're going through life children of wrath. 01:01:36.705 --> 01:01:39.980 We're going through life hating God, 01:01:39.980 --> 01:01:41.455 following the devil, 01:01:41.455 --> 01:01:44.299 dead in sins, 01:01:44.299 --> 01:01:46.268 and Christ comes along. 01:01:46.268 --> 01:01:50.076 We're detestable, we're hateful. 01:01:50.076 --> 01:01:52.302 And such things move in God - 01:01:52.302 --> 01:01:53.530 how could He do it? 01:01:53.530 --> 01:01:56.137 How could He love such as us? 01:01:56.137 --> 01:01:59.411 But He chooses. 01:01:59.411 --> 01:02:01.954 It's a rare love. 01:02:01.954 --> 01:02:07.258 That makes it especially valuable. 01:02:07.258 --> 01:02:08.415 Jesus said it. 01:02:08.415 --> 01:02:09.611 "In truth I tell you, 01:02:09.611 --> 01:02:11.193 there were many widows in Israel 01:02:11.193 --> 01:02:12.326 in the days of Elijah 01:02:12.326 --> 01:02:15.133 when the heavens were shut up three years and six months. 01:02:15.133 --> 01:02:16.906 A great famine over the land. 01:02:16.906 --> 01:02:18.536 Elijah was sent to none of them, 01:02:18.536 --> 01:02:21.128 but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon 01:02:21.128 --> 01:02:22.927 to a woman who was a widow." 01:02:22.927 --> 01:02:29.600 You see how there were many, 01:02:29.600 --> 01:02:34.186 and God's specific love passes over 01:02:34.186 --> 01:02:38.057 all of them to this widow. 01:02:38.057 --> 01:02:45.546 There were many lepers in the days. 01:02:45.546 --> 01:02:49.233 "The prophet Elijah cleansed none 01:02:49.233 --> 01:02:51.568 but Naaman the Syrian." 01:02:51.568 --> 01:02:53.664 And you know what? It filled them with wrath 01:02:53.664 --> 01:02:56.511 and they wanted to throw Him over the cliff. 01:02:56.511 --> 01:02:59.573 That's the same wrath that people feel - 01:02:59.573 --> 01:03:03.962 "Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated." 01:03:03.962 --> 01:03:06.308 There's those words of the psalmist 01:03:06.308 --> 01:03:08.894 that the lovingkindness of God, 01:03:08.894 --> 01:03:11.586 or His steadfast love endures forever. 01:03:11.586 --> 01:03:13.987 It seems like we heard about that just recently. 01:03:13.987 --> 01:03:16.363 But His steadfast love endures forever. 01:03:16.363 --> 01:03:19.725 It says He wiped out Pharaoh. 01:03:19.725 --> 01:03:22.295 He killed all their firstborn. 01:03:22.295 --> 01:03:24.270 But the steadfast love of God 01:03:24.270 --> 01:03:25.814 endures forever. 01:03:25.814 --> 01:03:28.391 Do you see? 01:03:28.391 --> 01:03:29.810 How does it endure forever 01:03:29.810 --> 01:03:31.744 when He's killing all the firstborn? 01:03:31.744 --> 01:03:33.949 Because He loves Israel. 01:03:33.949 --> 01:03:38.313 It's a very specific love. 01:03:38.313 --> 01:03:40.836 We're talking about the love of Christ. 01:03:40.836 --> 01:03:43.378 It's special. It's special. 01:03:43.378 --> 01:03:46.795 Do you remember Jesus, 01:03:46.795 --> 01:03:54.300 He says, "Fear not, little flock." 01:03:54.300 --> 01:03:55.986 Why not? 01:03:55.986 --> 01:03:57.889 "For it's your Father's good pleasure 01:03:57.889 --> 01:04:03.546 to give you the kingdom." 01:04:03.546 --> 01:04:07.144 You need to let this grab hold. 01:04:07.144 --> 01:04:08.486 You walk out in the world, 01:04:08.486 --> 01:04:11.708 remember the stock from which you came. 01:04:11.708 --> 01:04:13.946 And remember, 01:04:13.946 --> 01:04:17.237 if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, 01:04:17.237 --> 01:04:21.788 such a love is upon you that is rare. 01:04:21.788 --> 01:04:23.814 You are one of the remnant. 01:04:23.814 --> 01:04:25.410 You are one of the few. 01:04:25.410 --> 01:04:30.643 You are one of the little flock. 01:04:30.643 --> 01:04:33.662 For Jesus to call His flock "little." 01:04:33.662 --> 01:04:35.972 I know that in the end it's going to be 01:04:35.972 --> 01:04:38.533 such a number from all the tribes and tongues. 01:04:38.533 --> 01:04:40.695 I know that. 01:04:40.695 --> 01:04:45.210 But at any given snapshot, 01:04:45.210 --> 01:04:48.143 those who truly know His love, 01:04:48.143 --> 01:04:49.955 I'll tell you what, I can tell you 01:04:49.955 --> 01:04:51.656 what He told those that came back 01:04:51.656 --> 01:04:53.769 from casting out those demons. 01:04:53.769 --> 01:04:55.317 You ought to rejoice. 01:04:55.317 --> 01:04:58.084 You ought to jump up and down. 01:04:58.084 --> 01:05:02.040 If Christ's love is upon you, 01:05:02.040 --> 01:05:04.803 you have everything! 01:05:04.803 --> 01:05:07.159 I mean, what could you complain about? 01:05:07.159 --> 01:05:09.567 You're one of the few. 01:05:09.567 --> 01:05:11.051 You're one of the little flock. 01:05:11.051 --> 01:05:13.225 When you're gripped with this and you go out, 01:05:13.225 --> 01:05:17.490 and now, you're hearing, "walk worthy." 01:05:17.490 --> 01:05:21.279 Walk worthy because you're not like everyone else. 01:05:21.279 --> 01:05:23.684 You are special 01:05:23.684 --> 01:05:26.397 because that special love 01:05:26.397 --> 01:05:28.787 was bestowed on you 01:05:28.787 --> 01:05:31.979 because He chose to put it there. 01:05:31.979 --> 01:05:34.391 What a thing is this! 01:05:34.391 --> 01:05:36.221 What an honor! 01:05:36.221 --> 01:05:37.577 What a gift! 01:05:37.577 --> 01:05:41.461 What love! 01:05:41.461 --> 01:05:45.557 That would do such things for such people as us. 01:05:45.557 --> 01:05:47.145 You think about where you'd be 01:05:47.145 --> 01:05:48.609 if you'd have died six months 01:05:48.609 --> 01:05:53.588 before you got saved. 01:05:53.588 --> 01:05:55.604 You'd be in hell 01:05:55.604 --> 01:06:02.381 and altogether deserving those torments. 01:06:02.381 --> 01:06:03.819 But He stood in our place 01:06:03.819 --> 01:06:07.362 and He drank that cup. 01:06:07.362 --> 01:06:12.998 And now, the benefits of that. 01:06:12.998 --> 01:06:14.652 A good deal of us in this room, 01:06:14.652 --> 01:06:15.551 and I'll tell you, 01:06:15.551 --> 01:06:18.437 if you find yourself on the outside, 01:06:18.437 --> 01:06:22.418 don't go out and hang yourself like Judas. 01:06:22.418 --> 01:06:24.406 The thing to do is hear these words. 01:06:24.406 --> 01:06:25.575 Jesus says, 01:06:25.575 --> 01:06:27.857 "him that comes to Me, 01:06:27.857 --> 01:06:31.250 I will in no wise cast out." 01:06:31.250 --> 01:06:33.134 You know what that means? 01:06:33.134 --> 01:06:35.971 "You come to Me and I will love you. 01:06:35.971 --> 01:06:38.644 I will embrace you with My love 01:06:38.644 --> 01:06:45.413 and I will not let you go." NOTE Paragraph 01:06:45.413 --> 01:06:50.156 Father, I pray, help us 01:06:50.156 --> 01:06:53.552 to feel this and to be moved by it. 01:06:53.552 --> 01:06:56.778 I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.