In the book of John, chapter 3, notice with me as we come this morning, reading verse 16 to begin our message. This morning, instead of preaching on the resurrection this morning, which I have done for thirty-four and a half years, I don't think I've missed a Sunday yet, I want to preach a message titled, The Love of God, which includes the resurrection. I want to continue our series on the attributes of God. I did not want to break this morning with that, but we will incorporate with this because you can't preach on the love of God and the love of Christ without dealing with this subject. Now, you'll notice with me as we come, and I'll be reading in verse 26, and by the way, Wednesday night, We spoke of Jonah and him being the sign that the Lord Jesus gave of his death, burial, and resurrection. This evening, we'll be observing the Lord's Table. When we come together, it's an ordinance. It was instituted the night before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is a command in the Holy Scripture, and we will be obedient to that tonight. Amen? And notice with me now, as we read in verse 16, he said, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Heavenly Father, we ask, dear God, this morning that thy will to be done Lord, we thank Thee for this day, the opportunity to sing, Lord, the Psalms, the hymns, to come together and worship. Lord, to look into Thy Word and to reflect this morning, yes, upon the resurrection, but also upon Thy love. for us. And Lord, we just ask today that thy will to be done. We ask, Lord, your anointing and blessing to be upon the reading of the Holy Scripture. And Father, we pray this morning that you speak to our hearts as we prepare this evening for the Lord's table. We just ask all of these things in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. And amen. You may be seated. We do know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of Christianity. Over a hundred verses, references in the New Testament to the resurrection of Christ. It is a vital part of the Gospel. I mean, you read Romans 1-4, Romans 4-23 and 25, Romans chapter 10 in verse 9 and many other places, the resurrection is a vital part of the gospel. That is the good news by which we receive eternal life. It was the theme of the apostles' preaching. Every apostle preached on the resurrection of Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And not only that, the resurrection of Christ validated his claims to be the Son of God. they validated his claims. He claimed to be the Son of God, that he was sent from heaven, as we would see right here in our surrounding text in John chapter three, and so it validated his claims that he was the Son of God. And as we said before, even the pine trees this time of year, some of them anyway, testify to the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, We refer to, when we talk about Easter, basically it is referred to as the Christian Passover. And the word Easter, I don't need to preach another message on this, but just say a few things. We've done this several years ago. The word Easter in your Bible, mentioned one time in Acts chapter 12 and verse 4, is a good word. It is not a pagan word. It is a good word that has to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And even in the Tyndale translation, 1527, that the King James, about 85% of it came from, he refers to Easter 14 times, the Easter lamb 10 times, Easterfest once, and the Paschal lamb three times. And so, you and I, we keep all the paganism out of this time of year. But we do know that Jesus Christ rose in the spring. Do we not know that? And every flower testifies to that. And so we hang on to the scriptural teaching. of the word Easter, and also of the resurrection of Christ, but we don't pull in any of the pagan, idolatrous practices around this time of year. Last year, we were handing out tracts yesterday, but last year at this time, we were handing out tracts in a shopping center by La Batre, and two or three people asked me, said, what are you doing tomorrow? You know, tomorrow's Easter. What are you going to be doing tomorrow? I think I was asked this once yesterday. And I said, well, we'll be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection. Well, what do you have? I was asked last year. What do you have? I said, well, we have the Word of God. We're going to sing, and we're going to pray, and we're going to worship, and we're going to preach out of the Scriptures. Yeah, but what are you going to be doing during that day? I said, well, that night we'll be observing the Lord's table. Yes, but what do you have for the kids? I said, we have the Word of God for them. We have the songs of Zion for them. We get asked that a lot, you know. Well, when we come to this subject, we know that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead around this time of year. That's something we do know. We've been looking at His attributes. This is number six this morning, the love of God. I have my outline on the board. We're going to consider the fact that God's love is revealed to us in the Scripture. It is seen in His Son, and it is found in His saints. But when we consider the attributes of God, to know the Lord is the foundation of all blessing and truth and life. An unknown God can either be trusted, worshipped, or served. We all know that. And the more that we know about the Lord, the more that we can understand of the life in this world that we live. As a matter of fact, when you mention the love of God, we need to be renewed in our thoughts of the love of God and realize this is just not old news. His love, it's just not old news for us. We've lost sight of this and sometimes our problems in life our sicknesses, our disappointments in life, things that don't turn out, by the way, the way we expected. And that happens a lot in life. That's what life is all about. It's real easy to lose sight of His love. I mean, when we get disappointed, when problems come, sickness comes, financial issues come, or just the fact that things don't turn out the way that we expect. As a matter of fact, most things have not turned out the way that I'd expected it as I've lived my life. And so we should not let these things draw us away from the love of God. When we come to the Scriptures, and that's going to be our first point here, God's love is revealed to us in Scripture. Can we believe His Word? We feel sometimes, and it's easy to get to the place of feeling, well, God doesn't love me. And God doesn't give me everything I pray for. Well, good parents don't give their children everything they pray for. Good parents give their children exactly what the children need. But they don't give them everything they pray for. And God doesn't always give us everything that we pray for. And so we are not to allow disappointments in life and things to cause us to lose sight of the love of God, because this love is seen in the scripture from beginning to end. It's seen all through the scripture. Now Christianity is a religion of love, and I use that word religion as James 1.27 would use it. It's a good word, It can be used in a bad sense, but it's a good word. People say, well, I'm not very religious. Every time I hear that, I say, well, I am. Because, see, I know what they're trying to do. They're trying to downplay the truths of the Word of God. But Christianity is a religion of love. This is the very reason that God created us, is because He loved us. I mean, I want you to think about that. The fact that we're here today, the fact that He created us, It shows us that He loves us. It is the only religion that sets forth the supreme being of the universe as love. 1 John 4, God is love. We'll be reading that later on in the message. For most religions of men, Most man-made religions, their God is angry, and he's usually unknown, and he's usually at a distance, and he's usually very mysterious. I mean, you can go and look in the Hindu religion, and Buddhist, and Islam, and whatever, and again, God many times is always angry, and He is unknown, and He stands off at a distance, and there's that mystery that surrounds Him. Well, this is not true with the God of heaven. And when we come to the Scripture, we have 66 books that show us and reveal unto us who that God is and what that He's like. And the Bible says over and over that He is a loving God. and we are to never lose sight of that. When we lose sight of that, we can easily become bitter and despondent and fall out of the ranks of serving the Lord, as God has called us to do. Now notice, let's read verse 12 through 16. And notice we're going to start here this morning, and we're going to end up here this morning. We're going to come back here and close in this. But notice verse 12, and it says here, If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Verse 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So we see in these verses I've just read, we see the crucifixion, if he'd be lifted up. We see his resurrection, because he said, even the Son of Man, verse 13, which is in heaven. And again, verse 14, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. So we have his death, burial, and resurrection in these few verses that I've just read. Well, let's get into her outline, and I want you to turn with me to Jeremiah, and notice with me in Jeremiah chapter 9. Now, first of all, let's consider the fact that God's love is revealed in the Scripture. Notice in Jeremiah 9, and then we're going to go to Jeremiah chapter 31. In Jeremiah chapter 9, I'm going to read in verse 23 and verse 24. Now how can I know that God loves me? The Bible tells us that God loves us. In other words, God himself in his own words, if we can believe his word, and we can, he tells us in his word that he is a loving God. It speaks of his loving kindness. and we can believe His Word. So, first of all, we see His love revealed to us in Scripture, and then His actions throughout the Scriptures also reveal to us His love. Notice in verse 23, I'm going to be reading in verse 23 and verse 24. And he says here in verse 23, he said, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. So we see the importance of knowing God and understanding something about God. And he goes on to say that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness and judgment, righteousness in the earth for these things I delight, saith the Lord. Well, if we didn't have the Scriptures, we would not know the loving kindness of the Lord. He's not only loving, He's kind. Loving kindness. And it says here, in this, He says, He says, here's what we need to know in verse 24. I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. Now, there's circumstances that come into our life, and it's very easy for us to lose sight of this. Very easy for us to get our eyes off of this. Even when a parent has to chasten a son or don't give the son or daughter everything they want, they could easily become a little bitter with this. But God has said and promised to you and I that He loves us. Let's look at the children of Israel. Notice in Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. And when we think about the children of Israel, in Deuteronomy 7, verses 6, 7, and 8, We find that the Lord loved ancient Israel, and it says He kept His oath to them, not because they were more in number, but because they were fewer. And He says there that they were a holy people, they were chosen, they were a special people, and they were exalted in those verses. And so we find that the Lord loved ancient Israel. But did He always give ancient Israel everything they wanted? The answer is no. As a matter of fact, the Lord had to chasten them at times. The Lord had to teach them things. And so, we find, notice as we come here to Jeremiah, now chapter 31. If you're taking notes this morning, Romans 1-7, we are called the Beloved of God. Now, you think about that, the tenderness that God uses as the Apostle Paul is writing the letter to the church. In 2 Corinthians 13, 11, he is the God of love and peace. And then in Job 7 and verse 17, Job said, he has set his heart upon us. This is how much that the Lord loves us. One writer said one time, he said, love may not make the world go round, but it sure makes the trip worthwhile. And it does. So we see the love of God. And here's the question, do we believe God's word? I want you to think about this. Do we believe God's Word? If we doubt this, what we're reading here now, if we doubt these truths, then basically we're living as an atheist or an agnostic. I mean, we're really living like an atheist or agnostic if we ignore what God has said to us in His Word. And if we doubt His love in our lives, how do we even know that we're saved? I mean, listen, if you doubt all the verses that tell us that God loves us, His loving kindness, He keeps His covenant and His oaths and whatever, and He calls us beloved, if we doubt that, how can we believe John 3, 16, which has to do with salvation? So it's very important that we understand this. Notice with me in Jeremiah chapter 31. I want to read the first three verses and then skip down in the chapter and read one other verse here in this passage. Now notice this carefully as we come to this. And by the way, when we think, before I read, when we think of the love of God, There's three things about the nature of God that's clearly revealed to us in Scripture. One is in John 4.24 that God is a spirit. That means He's invisible and He's not limited to one place. Also, the second thing is God is light in 1 John 1.5. Light is the opposite of darkness. There's no evil in the Lord. There's no darkness. And then in 1 John 4, verse 8, it says, God is love. Love is the very nature of God. His every action is the outcome of love. Everything, now I want you to think about this, everything that God does in this world or in our lives as Christians, everything that He does is based upon His love, His very nature and essence, His very being is love. So everything that He does for us in life is based upon his love. Even when he chastens us, or even when he's teaching us things, the Lord's love is never taken away from us. And if we could wrap our minds around that, we would never become bitter toward God. Now notice as we read in Jeremiah chapter 31, He says here in this passage, verses 1, 2, and 3, at the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. Now in verse 3, he said, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. You ought to highlight those, underline them, write them down. And he said, I have loved thee. This is Israel. This is ancient Israel. And we're going to read that he's renewing in a moment a covenant. He's talking about a new covenant. But as he writes this letter, as Jeremiah writes this letter, Israel is going into bondage, captivity for seven years. They are being chastened of the Lord. And I want you to see that the very foundation of Israel's restoration after those 70 years is based upon the love of God and His faithfulness to His covenant. I mean, they're going into captivity all through the book of Jeremiah. The Babylonians are mentioned as destroying the city, the temple, and carrying them into captivity. And still yet God is saying, I love you. God had to chasten them. They had to go through some things. And still yet God is saying, I love you. I will restore you. And he did 70 years later. We read about that in many other books in the Bible, especially in Malachi and Habakkuk and places like that. So notice he said in verse 3, "...the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." And then he begins talking about building them again and restoring them and so forth. Now come down with me please to Jeremiah. chapter 31, and I want to read in verse 31. You see, Jeremiah is prophesying during the reign of the last kings of Judah, right before they go into captivity, and still yet God is saying, I love you with an everlasting love. I will restore you, but you must go through this chastening. Notice in verse 31. In verse 31, and he says here in this passage, he said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And he begins to elaborate on that. In verse 33, he says, I'm going to put my laws within your hearts. I'm going to put my spirit within you. I'm going to be your God. In verse 34, he said, I'm going to forgive your iniquities and your sins. But God is reassuring them that He loves them even though things are not necessarily working out for them the way that they wanted it to be. God's love is everlasting. Notice with me as we turn to Romans, now in chapter 5, back to the New Testament. If you're taking notes this morning, write down Psalms 36, verse 7 through 10, and also Psalms 107, verse 43, and then in Psalms 103, verses 4 and verse 13. In all of these passages, it mentions the loving kindness of God. And it says, he pitieth us as a father pitieth his children. God's love is upon us. We are referred to as the beloved. Now notice what we in Romans chapter 5, and I want to begin reading in Romans chapter 5, in about verse 5. Now, I'm coming to my second point. First point this morning, God's love is revealed in the Scripture. If I believe the Scripture, I have to believe that God loves me. Even when I'm going through hard times, even when I'm going through sickness, even when I'm going through trials, even when I'm going through financial difficulties or whatever, I have to believe that He loves me. If I believe John 3,16 and believe that I'm saved and I'm going to heaven one day, then I have to believe the other verses that God gave to me, that He loves me with an everlasting love, loving kindness. Amen? Somebody say amen, or oh me. All right, now notice with me as we come to Romans 5. I'm going to begin reading in verse 5. The second thing is that God's love is seen in His Son. In His Son. Not only His earthly ministry, but His death, His burial, and His resurrection, all of that was for you and I. Every bit of it. None of it was for Himself. It was all for you and I. Okay, now notice in Romans 5, I'm going to begin reading in verse 5. Just notice the words that are used as we read through this. In other words, we see God's love in sending His only begotten Son to redeem humanity. He says in verse 5, "...and hope maketh not a shame, because..." What's the next phrase? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet preadventure for a good man some would even dare to die. Now look at it again, verse 8. But God commended his what? His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. So even when we were ungodly sinners and enemies, we see in these verses that the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, God sent his son, and we see God's love in giving up his son, his only begotten son, and we see the love of Christ in him giving up his life. So the cross was the greatest display of the love of God and the love of Christ than you can find anywhere in this universe. Notice in Romans chapter 8. In Romans chapter 8, we begin reading in verse 31, we see again here the love of God and the love of Christ. Verse 31, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us. All rather, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. Now notice this, verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And he mentions several things. He says in the passage, "...shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long, we're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Now in all these things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us." There's a second time we've seen that God loves us. Now even though there will be distress, and tribulation, and persecution, and famine, and things of that nature, he's saying in this passage that God loves us. Now verse 38 and 39, while I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Verse 35, the love of Christ, nothing can separate us from that. And verse 39, the love of God, nothing can separate us from that. Promises that we have in Scripture. These are the same promises based upon the same Scripture that we base our salvation on. If I asked all of us this morning, do we know we're saved by the grace of God, most of us would say yes. But do we also know that God loves us as we live in this life day by day? He's not cast us aside. Notice we're in Ephesians, in the book of Ephesians in chapter 2. And I'm going to give you a list of other scriptures to write down. But in Ephesians 2, we're going to read verse 4, 5, and 6. And you might want to write these verses down. Galatians 2.20. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." God's love is seen in His Son. Hebrews 2.9, He tasted death for every man. 2 Corinthians 5.15, a part of that verse says, and that He died for all. Revelation 1.5, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Revelation 5, 9, and hath redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Revelation 13, 8, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I mean, these are only a few out of hundreds that we find over and over that God loves us. And by the way, let me say this, Christ was also beloved of the Father. We're called the beloved, okay? Romans 1, 7 and other places. 1 John, all through 1 John, referred to as little children, beloved, things of that nature. Well, Jesus Christ was the beloved of the Father, was He not? Was He exempt from poverty? Was he exempt from disgrace and persecution? No, he wasn't exempt from none of that. Was he exempt from hunger and thirst? No. We find that Satan continuously attacked him, he was spit on, he was afflicted, he was mocked, he was in court, he was crucified. I mean, he was the beloved of the Father, the only begotten Son of the Father, and still yet, he was not exempt from these things. Well, we're God's beloved today through faith in Jesus Christ, and we will not necessarily be exempt through some of these things as well. Now, notice with me, Notice with me as we come to Ephesians chapter two. I'm reading in verse four, but God who is rich in mercy for his great, there it is, his great love, great love wherein he loved us even when we were dead in sins that quickens us together with Christ, by grace you're saved and raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So again, we see God's love before the foundation of the world. God's love before we're saved. God's love after that we become Christian. We see this in Holy Scripture. Notice in the book of Ephesians in chapter 3. In the book of Ephesians in chapter 3. And if we ever get to the place that we doubt This, that is God's love and Christ's love for us. Consider the many times that the Lord Jesus Himself, like in Matthew 9, 36, when He looked upon the multitude, He says He had compassion upon them. The rich man, even though the rich man, I think it's in Matthew 19 or Luke 19, that had rejected Him, the Bible says that the Lord still loved him. It's actually in Mark 10, 21. He rejected him. The Lord knew he was going to reject him, and the Bible says that the Lord loved him. The Lord Jesus loved him. And even we find that when Lazarus had died, even though the Lord allowed that and was coming and raised him from the dead, we find the first verse that everybody memorizes in Scripture is John 11, 35, Jesus wept. You know, that's usually the first that many memorize, Jesus wept. Why did He weep? Because He loved Lazarus. He loved Lazarus. Notice with me, as we come to Ephesians chapter 3, right down to John 15, 13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That's exactly what the Lord Jesus did. So we see the love of God in the Son, and we have expressed, by the way, three times in the scripture, we have the expression, the love of Christ. It's here in Ephesians. It's also in 2 Corinthians. We'll turn there and read that a little bit in chapter 5. Three times that we have the love of Christ that's mentioned. Many times the love of God. Well, notice as we come here now, We're in Ephesians chapter 3. I'm going to begin reading in verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that it be to grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. Verse 19, and to know the love of Christ. Notice that. The love of Christ, in this passage, is revealed to us in the gospel. But the love, God's love, it passes all comprehension of humanity. In other words, the only way I can understand this, not by human intellect, but through the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit can I really understand God's love. Because he said, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. I mean, humanity can't get a hold of this. Only those who are saved and have the Spirit of God in them and believe the Word of God. So he says, he's praying from verse 14 to verse 19, and he's saying this prayer is that, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. So the Apostle Paul is praying for the church at Ephesus that they would know the love of God and the love of Christ which passes all human comprehension. Turn with me to chapter 5. In chapter 5 in the book of Ephesians in verse 2, he says, and walk in love as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us in offering the sacrifice of God for a sweet-smelling Savior. Notice in verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." Christ loved the church and gave himself for that church. So we see the love of God seen not only in the Scripture, but we see it revealed to us in His Son. This should not be old news for us. We should renew these thoughts in our minds daily. And we should not just say, well, I've heard that before. No, God loves us. He says He loves us. He proves it in His action. He proves it in His Son. Notice again in 1 John. I'm going to be in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. And I'm going to be reading one verse right now, verse 16, then we're going to go to chapter 4. Notice in verse 16, it says, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life, as in John 10, 18, He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I'm going to come back to the brethren part in a minute when we get to point number three. What we're talking about right now, we see God's love in His Son. It's revealed to us in His Son. His Son laid down His life for you and I. That's love. He didn't cast us aside, He didn't throw us aside, but He laid down His life that we might have life. Well, notice now in chapter four. In chapter 4, I'm reading from verse 7. He says here in verse 7, said, Beloved... See, there's that word again. We are the Beloved. Jesus was called the Beloved. He said, Beloved, let us love one another. For love, rather, is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God. Notice this, for God is love. His very nature, His very essence. Everything about God is simply love. When He created us, it was out of love. When He saved us, it was out of love. When He sent His Son to die on the cross, it was all out of love. Everything He does is out of love. Every action. You see, God can be nothing else. He is love. And so he says here that God is love. Now notice verse 9, he explains this. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love. Not that we love God. but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the perpetuation for our sins. That means He satisfied the judgment, the righteous judgment that the law demanded. Jesus Christ became our mercy seat. He satisfied the righteous demands of the law. And so he's our perpetuation. Verse 11, Beloved, if God so loved us, we are also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time if we love one another. God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we know and believe that the love of God hath to us, God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." In other words, he's bringing forth the point that God loved us and He proved it to us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, notice with me as we look at verse 19, and he says, we love Him because He first loved us. Okay? God not only created us, provided redemption for us, His love has always been upon us. Now, I want you to notice, come to a third point this morning, and that is God's love is not only revealed in Scripture, is not only seen in the Son, but it is found in the saints. And we've just been reading some verses that bear this out. But notice with me as we come to verse 19, 20 and verse 21. Verse 19, 20 and 21. He says, We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. This commandment was given in John chapter 13 in the upper room the night before the crucifixion. So God's love is found in his saints. Not only in his son, but in his saints. In other words, God's love is placed in us at conversion by the Holy Spirit, the new nature that dwells within us. We live in the world with wars and rumors of wars. We live in the world with a lot of hatred, and violence, and war, and a lot of wicked things. And still yet, we find that God is love, His Son was love, His people are love, if God's Spirit is within us, and we are to live in peace. We are to love as God loves. We're told that all through the Scripture. And here's our problem with humanity today. We hear people talking about falling in love. Well, human beings fall in love and fall out of love. As a matter of fact, we're always getting hurt because we're always falling around. Amen? You hear people, well, they fell in love and they fell out of love. Well, we get hurt. We're stumbling and falling all through life and whatever. Well, we find that God is love, and this love is seen in His Son, and when a person is saved and converted, the love is found in that individual. And we read several verses, I mean from verse In chapter 4 from verse 7 down, we read several verses that if a person has hatred in his heart for his brother, this don't mean that we condone everything everybody does, but if we have hatred and bitterness in our heart toward another brother or sister, then we need to check up on whether we're really saved or not. That's what the book said. Notice with me as we back up to chapter 3 again. In chapter 3, let's begin reading from verse 10. I hate to cut into the middle of that chapter, but he's going to compare those who are saved with those who are lost, okay? And by the way, write these verses down. Galatians 5.13, love is the fruit of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 13, verses 8, 9, and 10, love worketh no ill toward his neighbor, toward anyone. And in Romans 15, verse 2, love seeks the welfare of others. I want you to think about these verses. Love, and I'm not quoting these verbatim, love always seeks and promotes the welfare of somebody else. Love doesn't use somebody else for their own agenda. Okay? The love of God that God places in us, and love worketh no ill toward anyone else, toward their neighbor. In other words, we find that when we consider the issue of love, love does not ever take advantage of someone else. God doesn't do that, nor did Jesus Christ. Love does not manipulate a particular situation for their own benefit. Love never does that. That's always something else. Love does not use someone. Love does not lie to someone or lie on someone. Love does not abuse someone else. Or the friendship, the relationship, love does not abuse that. See, God has a lot to say about this. God is love, we see love in His Son, and love is to be found in His saints. I'll illustrate in just a moment. Notice in 1 John chapter 3 and beginning in verse 10. In this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. He's been talking about who's saved and who's not, and how to know it. So he said, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Well, this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. Not as Cain, he's going to use Cain and Abel as an example of what love is and what love is not. He said, Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and slew his brother, wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And ye know that no murder hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our life for the brethren. But whosoever hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his vows of compassion for him, how dwelleth the love of God in him, my little children? love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." All through this chapter, or this book, we see this kind of terminology. Notice in chapter 2, in chapter 2, By the way, 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on charity, love, love is the greatest thing in the world. We're not talking about compromise. We're not talking about condoning sin. And, you know, I have people say, well, you preach on repentance. You don't love people. Oh, yes, you do. That's the reason you preach on it is because you love people. You want to see them get saved. But love is the greatest thing in the universe. He mentions three things in 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 13. Hope, faith, and love. And love is the greatest. Charity is the greatest. Why? Because you won't need faith in the resurrected life, in the kingdom of God. You won't need hope once we receive our glorified bodies and live in new heavens and new earth, but you're going to need love. See, we're going to need that. And in that chapter, I'm going to summarize it for you in 1 Corinthians 13. Here's what charity does. It rejoices in truth, believes all things, beareth all things, seeketh not its own, never fails, not easily provoked, does not envy, and boasts not. That's what love does. That's true biblical charity, agape love. That's what we see in the Scripture. Now, what do we really love? Matthew 24, 12 says, The love of many shall wax coal. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 2, For men shall be lovers of their own selves. 2 Timothy 3, 4, that men should be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. 1 John 2, 16, love not the world. Revelation 2, we find in verses 1 through 7 that the church at Ephesus had left their first love. We see the issue of love, the love of God in His Son and also in the saints. Where did I tell you to turn? Chapter 2. Y'all awake with me this morning? Did I say chapter 2? Okay. All right. Which verse did I give you? I didn't, did I? Let's begin reading in verse 3. Notice with me in verse 3. I'm just making sure everybody's awake. Notice with me in verse 3. He says, And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keepeth his word in him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith, he abideth in him himself, also so to walk even as he walked. Where to walk is Christ's walk. Verse 7, here's the verse I'm really after. He said in verse 7, He said, Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye have from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. And again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true. in him and in you, because the darkness has passed, and it is if you're saved, and the true light now shineth, and it is if you're saved. Verse 9, he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whether he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." Can't hate and be a child of God. Now, let's do something real quickly before we go to 2 Corinthians. Turn with me to Luke, chapter 17. Let's kind of bring this into focus. Now, I said that we're to love, we can't hate, that's so true. Lover, brethren, things of that nature. But I want to read two verses that was brought to my attention again a few weeks ago. Now I want to read two verses, and what do you do when somebody sins against you and they're not willing to confess that or repent of that? I want to read two verses. I got a phone call about three weeks ago, and it's a family contentions, and don't try to figure out who it is, it's not even in this state. Family contentions. And I tried my best to give some biblical counsel and advice in this situation, but there was a son, a grown son, a married son, that had basically lied on his father more than once, and refused to repent of that and confess that, and just a lot of turmoil and contention. Well, we talked about many verses in the Bible that speaks of forgiveness. I mean, Ephesians 4.32, we're to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. Matthew 6, beginning in verse 9 through about verse 14, I think, the Lord's Prayer. We'll probably sing that tonight, the Lord's Prayer. The latter part of that is dealing with the subject of forgiving and forgiving others. That's a sign that we've been forgiven ourselves. And there's many other passages. But there's also passages that speak of the fact of repentance. Even our forgiveness is based with God upon repentance, is it not? Faith and repentance. Well, I want to read two verses in Luke 17, two verses that give us a clear warning that there is a danger of not forgiving others when we have been injured, but I want you to notice there's something else listed in this that many times we fail to see. Now, I'm reading from Luke 17, verse 3 and 4 in reference to forgiving others. He said, take heed. That's a warning. In other words, there's a danger of not forgiving others when we've been injured, and we've all been injured at times. He said, take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, what's the first thing he says? What's the first two words? Somebody help me out. I want to rebuke him. What's the next few words? And if he, what? Repent. And then he says, what's the next two words? Forgive him. So there is the rebuke him, if he repent, then forgive him. Well, what if he doesn't repent? What if we're sinned against and they do not... Well, we're not to make them an enemy. We are to pity them. We are to pray for them. We can love them, but do we have to be bosom buddies with them? I mean, according to this... There are three things mentioned here. Well, first of all, there's the warning about not forgiving, because when we don't forgive, we become bitter. We'll be bitter with God and with man as well. But what we find in the text is that he says, in this passage, he says, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. What if he doesn't repent? I speak into this father about his grown son. I said, if somebody refused it, now if he repents, he tells you in verse 4, if he trespasses against thee seven times a day and seven times in a day, turn again to thee and say, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Okay? Now, so there's a warning here of not being forgiving. But he's asking me, what do I do when the lies are there, and they continue, and there's no reconciliation, there's no repentance, there's no admitting or confession, and I told him, I gave him the advice, I said, well, if he repents, you must forgive him. according to this text. After he's rebuked, if he repents, then you forgive him. But how do you reconcile with somebody? They don't have to be an enemy. We can pity them, we can pray for them, but if they refuse to repent, there can't be reconciliation. You understand what I'm getting at? This came to my mind because this conversation was just three weeks ago. And by the way, I got a message on forgiving others where I used this text five years ago, 2012. We preached a message on that. But the thing is, is that How can you ever trust somebody again that injures you, that is not ever willing to confess it or repent of it? How can we be reconciled to someone like that? How can we approve of their sin and them just go on as if nothing ever happened? So, this is a good verse to bring a balance between all of this. No hatred, no bitterness and whatever, but if a person refuses... I mean, there's been many that's come through this church over the last 27 years that's actually caused harm here and have hurt the church. Well, I'm not bosom buddies with those. who have refused to repent of the sin that they sinned against not only the Lord but His people, I am not dear, close friends with them. And I'm a very forgiving person. My wife will tell you that I can forget things and move on. I can overlook things to the point that it's to my downfall sometimes. Thinking, well, it'll get better later on if you just leave it alone. I'd rather leave things alone. But they usually never get better when you just leave them alone. They've got to be dealt with. So here's the balance with all this, and this came to my mind the other day when I was preparing this because of this conversation. I mean, how can there be a relationship between this father and this son when this grown son, married son with children, that is lying on his father? There can be no friendship and fellowship when he has never confessed and repented of that sin. Can I get an amen? Okay? Now, let's move on. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We're going to turn here, and we're going to turn to one other place, back to John, and we're going to close. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now, watch this carefully as we come here. Now, in this passage, we have again the expression, the love of Christ. The love of Christ. He says here in chapter 5, I'm going to begin reading in verse 14 through 17. Wonderful passage. We find here, he says in verse 14, For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we are all dead. And they died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth, knowing no man after the flesh, yea, and though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, all things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. I'm concerned with verse 14, but I read all this because it's together. Verse 14, For the love of Christ constraineth us. The word constrained here has the ideal of compelling, motivating, urging, driving, to bear along. It carries the ideal of to press, to govern, or regulate our lives. So what is it that drives us? What is it that compels us? What is it that brought us here this morning? The love of Christ. Anytime we get our eyes off the love of God and the love of Christ, we will get in trouble. And we'll get to the place that we're not following the Lord and keeping His commandments. So we find here that love is a powerful force, but it also empowers us to serve. We don't have to be beat over the head. with the law or anything like that, what we need to see is the love of Christ. And if a person can't see the love of Christ and be motivated, maybe they need to get saved. Because this is the motivating factor. The Apostle Paul lived an extreme life of self-sacrifice and self-denial. I mean, all you've got to do is read the book of Acts and his 14 letters. I mean, he lived a life of self-denial and self-sacrificing because of one thing, and that's the love of Christ. Hudson Taylor on the mission field, he said the only one motive that will sustain you is the love of Christ. You can say, well, I love the people. And when the people do you wrong, it would be easy to say, well, I'll go somewhere else and minister. So this is the thing. The love of Christ is what compels us to serve God. And if you're not serving him and not faithful, then you're missing the love of Christ. And you could be beat over the head with the law and the commandments for the next year. That will not help unless you can really fall in love with what you see that took place at Calvary's cross. Why do missionaries do the things they do? I think about Brother Doss. He's having surgery. Thursday, got cancer deep in his ear. Got to do skin grafts. All these things got to be done. He had surgery once before. They got to go deep this time to get this. The man is 70 years of age. And he's lived on a mission field half, over half of his ministry. Matter of fact, he's been on a mission field as long as I've been here, about 27, 28 years. He's been on a mission field. When we first went there, Sister Joanna was with us. No electricity. For a number of years, lived without electricity. How many Americans are going to do that? Lived without electricity, hauling water, carrying water. Lived without a vehicle for a period of time, walking everywhere he went. I mean, why would a man do that? Why would anyone do that? Why would the man that came through here not too many years ago, work in Asia, Mongolia and everywhere in Asia with lepers. Eat with them. Hug them. Participate in it. Why would anybody do that? You think about that. I'm telling you, it's the love of God and the love of Jesus Christ. Why did people go to a martyr's death? I mean, you can't even get people to come to church in America anymore, hardly, that has automobiles, with electric windows, and air conditioning, and heaters, and whatever. And you have people that would not deny the faith. I mean, read the Fox's book, I mean, think about the people that could have compromised a little bit, or kept their mouth shut, and they're willing to die for their faith. I've done very little for the Lord, but I have done a little bit. My wife and I were talking, we've lived in states without any relatives for the last 34 and a half years. Pennsylvania, Alabama, and places like that. We've missed nearly 35 years of births and weddings and deaths and reunions and fellowship and the communion that you have with relatives and things like that. We sold a new home and left a good business and so forth. Why did we do that? I think for the love of Christ. I believe that was the motivating factor. I think that was what compelled us, and I've done so little compared to so many other missionaries and ministers and whatever, but I look at my own life, what is it that motivated me to do these things? It's one thing, it's the love of Christ. And this love is found in the people of God. Let's go back and close in John chapter 3. In John chapter 3, and notice here, John chapter 3, now the chapter begins, the chapter begins with Nicodemus coming to the Lord at night and speaking about the miracles of Jesus. And that's when the Lord Jesus began immediately to say to him in verse 3, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 5, except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He said in verse 7, marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. And then we find in verse 12 through 16 again, He said, if I told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Christ came from heaven's glory, and He was lifted up on that cross, died, was buried three days, and three nights, and arose from the grave victoriously, over a hundred references in the New Testament to his resurrection, and then he ascended back into heaven according to verse 14. Came from heaven, lifted up on the cross, as Moses lifted up that serpent where they could behold, look at that, and there was healing, and he ascended back into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. And that's why he said in verse 15, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, verse 16, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the verse that was preached from the night I first remember hearing the gospel, was John 3, 16. And I didn't believe it that night. But I believed it about a year later. And next month will be 45 years since I believed that. You'll notice in verse 17, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only Begotten of the Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come to the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Now I'm going to close in verse 36 this morning. As we come here this morning to reflect upon Christ, His resurrection and so forth, we can remember that His resurrection, His death, burial and resurrection is based upon the love of God. Christ's love for you and I. And that love is placed in His saints. The true Christians, we hear of wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, and I hear ignorant Christians say, yes, we should have sent the missiles into Syria and we ought to do this and yes, this humongous 23,600 pound Moab bomb that we dropped in Afghanistan the other day, that's just the most wonderful thing and we, America has come back and we're strong again and we're powerful. And we killed 1,000 civilians in the month of March. And I'll give you a total in April when we get through this month. One thousand. Air raids in Yemen and Syria. There's wars and rumors of wars. Now hear Christians stand up and wave the flag and praise this kind of stuff. God has called upon us. to be peacemakers, to live in peace, to preach the gospel of peace. And my patriotic sermon will be coming up either in June or July. Can't wait to preach it, titled, The Christian in War. Touch this again, one more time, as we have the last ten years or so. We find that We are to be speaking about it. The whole death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is to bring peace to humanity, to the hearts of men and women, and one day eternal peace in His kingdom. That's what the Lord is all about. Notice in verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. We can rejoice this morning in the resurrected Savior. He died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again the third day. And we can rejoice in that. We can thank God for that, because you think about this. God is love. Yes, God has to pour out His wrath. Yes, He has to chasten. But God is love. Not the God of the nations. or the heathens or the pagans, which is angry, mysterious, at a distance? No. The God of love, who sent His own Son, that you and I might have eternal life this morning. Would you stand with me? Father, we thank Thee this morning for Thy love, mercy, grace and kindness. Lord, we thank Thee for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ascension back into heaven, for our eternal life, our salvation, our eternity is based upon these truths and these principles. Father, help us to reflect upon that this day. Lord, we pray that Thy love would be manifest in our lives. We pray that the love of Christ would continue to compel us, to constrain us to serve Thee, to be faithful. Lord, we just ask now for the remaining of the service, Your blessings upon it, for it's in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen and amen.