Which Love?

[0:00] I want to tell you about two loves, two kinds of loves and challenge you to make a choice! One or the other. Which love? As I say there's a lot of talk about love and it's mostly Hollywood! Love these days isn't it? People know Hollywood love so called. It's as fake and as fleshly as most of the actors who acted out.

[0:19] And not to mention how it's spiritually destructive. The Bible tells us much about love. It tells us two loves. A love not to have and a love to have. The Bible tells us about relationships, about loves, about two loves.

[0:36] So some loves are a curse, some are a blessing. Finding the right kind of love is really important and can make life so much richer. The ultimate love and relationship we can know of course is to know God. Amen.

[0:53] That is the ultimate love relationship. God wants to bless the friendship of a man and a woman as they make a lifelong commitment in marriage. Marriage is God's design, a covenant of love. The two become one. One plus one equals one.

[1:07] But we know for some people there's a love that will bring them hurt. Then they refuse to listen to godly truth. They know a love that will bring ruin and loss. We're talking about loving the world. Loving the world is the first kind of love.

[1:21] The love that consumes some. That they have a love of the world. And the Bible warns us about this kind of love. That it's a love not to have. It's a love not to have. As we read in 1 John 2 15.

[1:34] Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Verse 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

[1:53] And it says, verse 17, and the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. So this word world in these verses here, it means the system of life, of the way of life that is led by Satan.

[2:10] And Satan is called the God, small g, of this world. So we read, the next verse, we read about this one, public enemy number one. Who's that? Satan, the devil.

[2:23] And how he works in the people who are lost, who do not know God. As we read here, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. It tells of him in whom the God, the lost is speaking of in the context, in whom, in the lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.

[2:44] Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Satan, the devil, is a busy bee. He's leading many astray.

[2:55] And the world is in his clutches. Now notice that John does not say, don't love the world too much. He doesn't say, don't love the world too much.

[3:06] He says, do not love the world. Not at all. Not at all. And John describes this love as we read, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.

[3:19] That's what the love of this world looks like. The love of the world. What this world loves. It's a loving that is filled with fleshly pride and attitudes that are ungodly.

[3:30] It's ugly, selfish, prideful. God says that this whole wide world is in the power, in the clutches, in the grip of the evil one. Next verse 1 John 5, 19 it says, and we know that we, the saved, are of God, but the whole world lieth in wickedness.

[3:49] So there's this contrast here of darkness and light. And we see that of darkness, of the wickedness of this world, we see that that is in contrast with the life and hope that is in Christ.

[4:03] And so the word urges us, urges God's people to wise up to the influence of this world. Elsewhere it talks about being unspotted from the world. Imagine if you got some nice clothes on and there's splashing dirt and oil or muck and you don't want to be spotted by that.

[4:22] And that's the kind of picture of it. The world is like a spotting, soiling, contaminating effect. It makes people dirty. It makes minds dirty. It makes lives dirty. It fouls you up.

[4:33] It makes you smell. It's the world. It stinks, right? And that's the sense of it. We get spotted by it. And the Bible speaks about the world as like an evil world system.

[4:45] And at the heart of it really is selfishness and pride. Now we could think of things that are worldly and Christians of different persuasions and different continents would say such and such a thing is worldly.

[4:56] Others might differ and say that's not worldly. It's not so much about the things we do. It's about what's going on inside the headspace. It's about the pride that's in the heart. It's about the selfishness that contaminates.

[5:07] It's that wanting of sin, that refusing of God. That's worldliness. That's at the heart what it is. It's not so much the things that might be maybe fruits of that or signs of that.

[5:19] But the world is what appeals to the flesh and it works against God. And God hates that. And he wants us to hate that. The world hates Christ and real Christians. The Lord Jesus says the world is going to hate you.

[5:31] So don't be surprised if you have that happen. And even so, despite all the bad stuff of the world, some people still love it. They still love it. They still want it. The things of the world.

[5:42] It draws them like a magnet. And they're hooked on this like a bait. They're trapped in this like prison cage that is the world. And people chase after it. They chase after their ungodly influences and the sinful ways that ultimately will bring them hurt and shame.

[6:00] Friends, to love the world and its things, I put to you, it is an empty love. Empty. This world and its toys, it cannot help you. This world and its toys cannot bring you true joy.

[6:13] They only offer short-lived pleasures. Like someone has said, they've defined worldliness as an attitude that is motivated by wrong desires and the wrongful promotion of self.

[6:27] The quote goes on to say, a poor man who does not have many possessions may still be very worldly. Because he desires those things as the key to happiness.

[6:39] And yet, even a wealthy man who may not be worldly, in that he uses his possessions as a steward of God and as a means of promoting God's purpose and glory. So it's not this dichotomy between a wealthy and poor.

[6:52] A poor man can be just as worldly, if not more worldly than a wealthy person. It's about what your purpose is. It's about what's driving you. What's motivating you. What your focus is.

[7:03] That's worldliness. It's what you're focusing on. It's what motivates you. So Moses was one we could see as an example. He saw what the love of the world looked like.

[7:15] Moses. We see that next verse, Hebrews 11, where we see of Moses, here he was. He was raised in Pharaoh's house. He could have had all the treasures of Egypt. And you can imagine, if you can see the beauty of the pyramids and the glory of Egypt as it was.

[7:32] The treasures, the pleasures of Egypt. We can't imagine what that would have looked like. And Moses had it all at his disposal. He had all of that that he wanted. He could have had it. But he saw it, the Egypt.

[7:44] He saw the world and its pleasures and treasures for what it was. And Moses chose a different love. You see that Hebrews 11 verse 24. It reads, By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

[8:00] Of course, we know the story that he was a Hebrew that was saved in the basket in the Nile and was retrieved by Pharaoh's daughter and brought up in the Pharaoh's household.

[8:13] But yet, he chose not to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He could have been known as royalty, but he chose not that path. And it goes on, verse 25, of Moses, that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

[8:30] It reads on, Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. So Moses saw the reward.

[8:41] He saw the true value, not the pleasures of sin for a season, but the riches in Christ, greater riches. He saw the value of Christ that even if it meant reproach, as in it was going to be hurtful and harmful and difficult.

[8:57] As a believer, you can experience that. When you stand for Christ, you might find that actually it's going to be tough going. But the reproach is better than the treasures and pleasures of Egypt, the pleasures of sin.

[9:10] Moses refused that. So here was one. Moses is a good example for us that know the Lord. He knew what the world was. He knew all of its empty pleasures. He had it right at his fingertips.

[9:21] But it was no match for the blessing of knowing God and of the lasting reward, the treasure of knowing Christ, of salvation. There's no comparison. It's chalk and cheese really, isn't it?

[9:32] And John contrasts the same thing. The love of the world and the love of the Father. The love of the world and the love of God the Father. What a contrast. The love of the Lord and the love of the Lord and the love of the Lord and the love of the Lord.

[9:48] There's much greater value in knowing Christ than all the treasures of this passing world that we might be attracted to and love. The Bible reads on in 2 Timothy 3 verse 4, it tells us some who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

[10:06] Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Some people are like that. The pleasure, the pursuit of riches, of vanities is their God for some. And the world in its ways, truly I put to you, it cannot address the need of the soul.

[10:21] It's empty and vain and it will leave you feeling empty. The Word of God warns us not to be conformed to the world. There's many occasions where we challenge such.

[10:33] For example, Romans 12 verse 2, where it talks about the context of yielding yourselves as a living sacrifice. Verse 2 of Romans 12, it says, And be not conformed to, not kind of squeezed into the shape of, not made after this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

[10:58] Rather that, not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by Christ. Amen? To know his converting power. Paul tells of a man called Demas, who's another example, who was drawn away by this magnet that is the world.

[11:14] It's got a drawing effect, hasn't it? The world and the things of the world. Look, we're all, let's be honest, we all have that. There's an inclination. And it's easy to fall prey to that magnetic power that is the world.

[11:27] And Demas was such a one, it reads of him that he loved this present world. He's forsaken me. He deserted Paul. Here was Demas. He was one of the workers. There's other verses that talk about Demas as being one of the workers in the church.

[11:42] He was looked up to. He was a man that was in a role. He had work to do. He had a ministry. And it says, yet Demas loved the world. He loved this present world.

[11:55] That he was one who loved the world system with its sin, with its human wisdom. The satanic deceptions, the drawing power. He loved that more than God's kingdom.

[12:06] And there's a warning for us there to be careful, to watch out. How sad. Don't be a Demas today. Men, women, here today. The love of the world will only bring disappointment and loss.

[12:17] Demas is in the word of God. His name is there in black and white. And it's a reproach. It would be nice to have your name in the Bible, wouldn't it? But don't have your name like Demas had his name. What Demas was known for, what he came to be known for, was a shameful thing.

[12:32] And we don't know his eternal standing, but it was a reproach that he loved this present world. He left Paul in the lurch. He didn't serve. He walked away.

[12:43] He walked off. He didn't put his hand to the plow. He just shirked and disappeared. What a sad thing to be a worker and then to be a shirker.

[12:54] Demas was such a one. The love of the world only brings disappointment and loss. We read of another example in the word of God of Lot. Lot is a man who was called righteous.

[13:08] He was called just. And the final remarks about Lot are favourable. Something happened. Maybe he saw the light, ultimately.

[13:19] But we read here in Genesis 13 of how Abraham and Lot were there and they had a choice where to go, where to settle. And Lot chose the world. He chose Sodom.

[13:30] He pitched his tent towards Sodom. He got his tent pegs out and hammered them there so that his tent was looking over, looking the lovely valley, the lovely green valley of Sodom and Gomorrah.

[13:42] And he pitched his tent towards it. And Genesis 14, 12, it shows that he finally moved into Sodom. He became one of the citizens of Sodom. Even one of the leaders of Sodom.

[13:53] Yet, we know his righteous soul was troubled. He was vexed. He realised he was in the wrong place. Ultimately, he started to see that. Why did Lot do this? A righteous man.

[14:04] Why did Lot go to pitch his tent towards Sodom? Why did Lot make this choice? The problem was his heart was there. His heart was there in Sodom. And his wife also, she lingered. It tells of her, she looked back.

[14:17] As they were drawn out by the angels, she looked back. She hankered after it. She lingered. She looked back and God's judgement fell upon her. Remember Lot's wife. Another example of having your name in the Bible.

[14:30] But it's for a shameful thing. Lot's wife. Remember her. Thankfully, Lot was still a saved man. The Bible calls him righteous. The point is that even God's people, as God's people, we can make mistakes.

[14:43] We can be lured into that love of the world. It's around us. It's on us. It's attracting. It's influencing us all of the time. And even God's people can be lured into the love of the world.

[14:56] And it will do us no good. The love of the world is dangerous to your soul. John says, the world and its lust, its love, will pass away. What the world calls love, the love of the world, think of it.

[15:09] Again, as I talked earlier, it's often fake and fickle. What the world calls love, oh, I'm in love. Oh, the heart's all aflutter. And the way the world loves is self-centered.

[15:21] It's non-committal. There's no stickability. And just look at the ones the world looks up to. The ones the world looks to and looks up to. The ones the world loves. They put them on a pedestal.

[15:32] The Hollywood stars. And you read the Goss magazines and you hear about their lifestyles. You hear about what they're up to. You know, hopping here, hopping there.

[15:45] They show by their lifestyle what this kind of love looks like. There's no commitment. It's a sham. They go from one passing relationship on to another. That's Hollywood love. That's what the world calls love.

[15:57] That's the love of the world. That's loving like the world. And for some, the love of the things of the world and the way that the world loves is all that they know of love. They think that, oh, I'm in love one minute with this one and then I'm in love another minute with another one, with the next and the next.

[16:14] They end up going for one tragic relationship to another. That's what the love of the world is, people. That's what the love of the world looks like. That's what it is. Love for some people seems to be this kind of fake, hollow Hollywood love.

[16:26] Well, that's based on their feelings and emotional senses. It's a kind of love that says and gets to a point of saying one day to the one they pledge their love to, I don't love you anymore. That's not love.

[16:37] That's not what the Bible calls love. Friends, that's not real love. That's the kind of love people supposedly fall into and then they fall out of. It's like the saying goes of puppy love. Someone has said that they've got puppy love.

[16:50] This woman, she writes, I get rid of puppies as soon as they stop being cute puppies. You know, that's what the dog cat just has to put up with, isn't it? When people get their last little puppy as a birthday present or whatever and, oh, so little cute, little patty, cute little cuddly little puppy.

[17:09] And when they start to get bigger and a bit more work and there's a bit more to do to look after the puppy, all of that love evaporates. And there's no true commitment there. It's puppy love.

[17:20] It's empty. It's flimsy. It's temporary. There's no substance to it. It's based on fickle emotions and feelings. That's the love of the world, people. That's what it is. That's what it looks like. And because God actually is the true definition of love, he's the opposite of that.

[17:37] Think of it, of God. As the next verse says, it says, He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. 1 John 4 verse 8. The Bible says God is love.

[17:50] It's his very nature. God is love. Love truly defined. The true definition of God. In contrast to that supposed love that is the world's temporary kind of love, God's kind of love is a true definition of love.

[18:04] It's God's kind of love. It says, as someone has termed it, love is a commitment with a beginning and no end. That's God's kind of love. When he loves you, he loves you forever.

[18:16] When you're loved by God, it's a forever love. It's a love that never stops. Is this the love that we have? What is it that will set our thoughts and our affections on, our hearts?

[18:27] Will it be what pleases God? To love God? Or not? Will it be that which is right and pure and wholesome? God's word calls us to build ourselves up in faith.

[18:41] And even though we, that love God, we live in this sin sick world, there's a love that we can know that changes everything. Changes everything. This love, this relationship we can know is the love of God.

[18:55] It's the opposite of the love of the world. The love of the world, the love of the things of the world. So firstly, we've seen all that. The love of the world is a love not to have.

[19:07] Point number one, alright? And we'll go to point number two shortly. This is only a two point sermon, so. Now let's hear about another love. Another love this morning, which John writes about.

[19:19] Which love will you choose? Is the question. One or the other, right? We have a choice to make. Which love? The love of the world or the love of the Father? The love of God.

[19:31] The love of the world, the ways of the world, the things of the world, the way that this world loves, is a love that we don't want to have. It falls short. Secondly, let's consider the love that we should look to.

[19:43] The love that we should want to have. Consider this alternative now. The love, the love of God. Who wants that? Every hand should be up. We can actually come to know this love.

[19:55] The love of God. Amen? That's the love we want. We want to know his love. We want to be loved of him and to love him. To come to love him. 1 John 3 verse 1 reads, John says, John says, Behold this.

[20:24] He says, Take a serious look at this. Open your eyes and see the love. What manner of love? What kind of love? This love. God's tender love. Consider it today. His tender love for us.

[20:35] You are loved. So loved. John uses the term, and it occurs in the next verse after this, to describe God's people. You are beloved.

[20:46] Beloved. Now don't you just love that? Beloved. You know, they say that at weddings and funerals, don't they? Dearly beloved.

[20:57] Dearly beloved. You are dearly beloved, people. You are the dearly beloved people of God. You that know him. And what a blessing to be called beloved of God. Peter, James and Paul also use this word.

[21:10] Beloved. Beloved. Beloved. To describe the people of God. Truly you are beloved. Now, on a serious note, just this last week, I got a phone call from someone in the middle of committing suicide.

[21:25] I was shocked. And I said, well what's happening? I've already taken them. He took the overdose. He'd already overdosed on the pills. So, naturally I made contact with Triple Zero to get him some help.

[21:42] Practical help. And I talked through him. With him. The situation. This was serious. You know, the first time I've ever had this happen. And I was shocked.

[21:53] That someone would actually talk about suicide and actually be in the middle of the act. Friends, some people feel that they are unloved. That's this man. He thought that.

[22:04] He thought he had nothing to live for. Friends, that's the devil's lie. The devil's lie. He's still with us. Thank God. Still trying to help him. Thank God. There is someone who loves you.

[22:15] There is someone who loves you. You are loved. So loved. So loved. Yet some don't realize that. And then they throw their hands up in despair.

[22:26] I've got nothing to live for. That's a lie from the devil. See how much God has loved you. Behold what manner of love. Behold. That you can be born of God. Adopted into God's very family.

[22:38] Wow. That's something special, isn't it? You see the adoption agencies or the child sponsor agencies. And now the children can pick which one they want.

[22:49] I think that's kind of cute, isn't it? I want this one. Wouldn't you think? If you got a choice between the God of this world and the Father God, which one would you choose? I want you to be my daddy.

[23:01] I want you to adopt me. And that's what you can do. You can ask God to adopt you into his family. Amen. What a blessing. Behold.

[23:12] What manner of love. That God should call you his children. Yes. Into his very family. Called the sons of God. Behold that. God so loved that he gave.

[23:23] It was selfless, sacrificial, redeeming love. Look at the love he so freely gives to you. If you would but receive it. What a joy that you can know him. Know the Father.

[23:34] The love of the Father. That you can know him. Truly know the love of God. And once you receive it, it's forever. You can never lose his love.

[23:46] It's not some passing, oh I love you. And then, oh I don't love you anymore. God doesn't say that to you. He says, I've loved you with an everlasting love. Ever lasting love.

[23:59] It's forever. This love is forever. It's forever. It's lasting. It's not passing. It's not based on feelings or emotions. It's committed. It's eternal. It's assured.

[24:10] It's firm and sure. And hear this one. Jeremiah 31.3. As I referred to. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. That's what God says to you.

[24:21] That know him. His love is forever. And he's loved you forever. And he will love you forever. It's everlasting. Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. This is a love you can personally know.

[24:33] It's the love of Jesus. It's the love of God. It's a truly wonderful love. Now some might know that your familiar old children's song that goes, the love of Jesus is so wonderful.

[24:44] So high you can't get over it. So low you can't get under it. So wide you can't get around it. That's his love. That's his love.

[24:55] That's the love of God. The love of Jesus. Do you know the love of Christ? Romans 8.35 it reads, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Or tribulation.

[25:06] Or distress. Or persecution. Or famine. Or nakedness. Or peril. Or sword. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

[25:17] Nay, in all these things. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him. That love does. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come.

[25:33] Nor height nor depth nor any other creatures shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you know the love of Christ?

[25:45] Behold what manner of love. There was a renowned theologian, a great big name theologian, you know, a big scholar of the Bible, of doctrine.

[25:57] And he lectured one day at a top university. He had written many huge works. Thousands of pages of Bible doctrine. Big huge chunky books full of doctrine, of meaty substance teaching about the Bible.

[26:10] And one day this student posed to him, Oh, Doctor. He posed an impossible question to answer. He said, Doctor, you have written extensively on every aspect of theology, of church doctrine, of history.

[26:23] I'm wondering if you could sum it all up in just a short sentence or two. And the room fell silent. How would you capture that in just, you know, how would you do that?

[26:34] And here was the man who just stood there for a moment. He carefully considered the question of how to respond. And some of the professors and the students were feeling really awkward at such a trifling question. Whether he asked of such a brilliant scholar.

[26:47] And finally the theologian turned towards the student and replied, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. That's it. That's it in a nutshell.

[26:58] That's what it is. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. The love of God is the greatest truth of all time. It's the greatest theological doctrine of matter, of consequence for the soul of man.

[27:15] And what's more, we can be communicators of his love. Think of that. God loves us and he loves us such he's made us recipients of his love, but also transmitters of his love.

[27:26] We can be communicators of the love of God. That's the message that we have to share. The gospel message, God's love. God's love, once we've received it, we want to show it.

[27:38] We want to tell our world, don't we? We want to share the great gospel news, the good things God has done for our soul. Romans 5 verse 5 it says, And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which God has given us.

[27:55] It's saying the love of God is shed abroad. Some people are a bit like, they're taking it in like a vessel that's all taking it in, but there's nothing coming out. God wants us to be overflowing vessels.

[28:07] God wants to fill you, for you to know his love, and he wants you to overflow the love. He wants you to shed it abroad. He wants you to share it. He wants you to be communicators of his love.

[28:19] And when we come to know God, we want to tell our world, don't we? We want to tell our world about this love. We want to exercise this love to others too.

[28:30] All the people we meet, even the difficult ones. Such that Jesus, our Lord says, love your enemies. If we've got to love our enemies, then really there's nobody out of the scope, is there?

[28:43] It's easy to love the people that aren't your enemies, but God says love even your enemies. So there's no one out of scope that we should be loving people and to exercise his love.

[28:54] And we read the next one, John 3, 18. John writes, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

[29:06] He's saying, don't just be talking about it, blah, blah, blah, all talk, no action. But that our love, our faith, will live it out. We'll walk it out.

[29:18] We'll show it. We'll walk it out in our shoe leather. That God's love will be taken by us to others. We'll demonstrate his love. That's why we care about telling people about the gospel in this church.

[29:31] That's why we care about getting the truth out by whatever means, whatever ways we can. That we can be channels of his love. Channels of his love to others.

[29:42] Next verse, 1 John 4, 11, it says, beloved, there's that word again. That's you and me. 1 John has got five chapters. Five times it says, beloved.

[29:53] Five times, beloved, beloved, beloved, beloved, beloved, beloved. Beloved. If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

[30:04] So most importantly, we reject really the love of the world, what the world calls love. It's phony in faith. It's phony in faith. But we want the love of God. And that love is shed abroad in our hearts.

[30:16] This is the true love of God. Because God is love. We've got his message of love. The gospel message of God's great love given for us. And we want to not only be talking about it, but living it in deed and in truth.

[30:28] Putting it into action. Living it out. Walking it in our lives. And loving one another. That we will be channels of his love. It's a great privilege that we have.

[30:40] Truly. So even the people that get under your skin, love them. Love them. Love them still. Love them. Love them no matter what. And most importantly, truly the first and best relationship.

[30:52] Friends. I'm preaching really to the converted, I believe. But if there's a chance someone might not know this love. Friends, it's the first and most important relationship, isn't it?

[31:03] The Bible talks about relationships. The world talks about relationships. But the best and first and absolute relationship is how is your relationship with God?

[31:16] Could it be improved? I know mine could be. A relationship with God. It's the greatest privilege we have, isn't it? Here's what someone said. God is the creator behind all creation.

[31:28] The lawmaker behind all law. He is the supreme fact of history. He is the supreme fact of science, of philosophy, of life, of death, of time, of eternity.

[31:40] God is the great need of the human heart. To miss God is to miss everything. To live a life without him is to miss everything. The point of life. Do you love him?

[31:52] He's the maker of this magnificent creation that is astonishing and is all around us. The marvelous works of his hands. This maker, this one, your maker, truly, he deserves to be your master, doesn't he?

[32:05] To be your master. That your maker can be your master. That you can know him. And you can know his love because of the cross. It says, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

[32:17] That whosoever. Wow. That's as wide as you can get. Believe it in here. Sure. Not perish, but have everlasting life. Friends, God's love for sinful man is so great, so awesome, that he's made salvation possible through Christ's death on the cross.

[32:34] This is redeeming love. A love that brings rescue and deliverance. Spurgeon said, Jesus loved you so much that he would sooner die than have you perish. Think of that. Behold what manner of love.

[32:46] Behold what manner of love. Ephesians 3, 17, it reads that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able with all the saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and the height.

[33:03] And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. You know, it's every dimension. Isn't it? See how much. Behold what manner of love.

[33:14] See how much he loves you today. People of God. His love is so big hearted. So high, you can't get over it. So low, you can't get under it. So wide, you can't get around it.

[33:27] You can see the perfect expression of his love, of God's love for you in the dimensions of the cross. The breadth, the wideness of his mercy, the length, the extremity that he would go to the extremity of the cross.

[33:39] The depth that he reaches to the very lowliest. And the height. His love is out of this world. I like to say that he reaches to the gutter most. Doesn't he?

[33:50] There's no one too far away from God. No one too sinful that his hand cannot be extended. That his outstretched arm cannot reach. By his grace, if you'd only trust him.

[34:01] Behold what manner of love. Behold his love. The love that he has bestowed, he's freely given it. It's the love of the Father. The Father. Not the Father of lies.

[34:12] Not the Father who was our Father, the devil. But the true loving Father. God the Father. Behold what manner of love the Father.

[34:23] He looks upon you with love. He looks upon you. And more than that, he took action. He took the very action. The sacrificial love took him to the very point that he spared not his son.

[34:34] He spared not. He didn't hold nothing back. He gave him for us. So friends, think of the love. Behold the love. Behold the love. Behold what manner of love.

[34:45] This love is redeeming love. It's the Father's love. The true Father. The Father who loves you. Not the Father of the devil. But the Father God.

[34:57] And his love is everlasting. From everlasting to everlasting. Everlasting love. It's unconditional love. You didn't deserve it. I know I certainly didn't deserve it.

[35:10] It's unconditional. It's unmerited. Yet he gave it. He lavished it. He demonstrated it. He commended it to us. It's relentless love. Can you behold it?

[35:21] Behold what manner of love. Behold that love today. That so great love that made so great salvation possible. The reaching out of the arms of God extends wider and wider still.

[35:32] To embrace you. That would just trust him. To save you. And this is no pretend temporary love. Like the world's love. God's love is for you. It will not disappoint. He won't change his mind about loving you.

[35:45] His love is forever. It's forever and ever and ever. Receive his love. Receive his love. Nothing can separate you from it. Once you have it. And you can know it. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

[35:58] How can we grasp it? How can we comprehend it? How can we put it into human words? It's beyond our limited knowledge. The love of God. It passeth knowledge, doesn't it? It started off.

[36:09] I started off by saying. And we'll go to the last slide now. I started off by saying. I want to tell you about two loves. I challenge you to make a choice.

[36:20] You've got the love of the world. Friends, it's hollow. It's empty. It's temporary. It's fleeting. It's fickle. You can't count on it.

[36:32] It's Hollywood love. And the things the world loves. It's nothing. It leads nowhere. Well, it leads to hell.

[36:44] But thank God there's a love you can know. The love of the Father. Behold what manner of love. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon you that believe. The love of God. The love of God.

[36:55] Don't fall for this lie, the world and its vanities. There's something much more for you. The one who truly loves you. He loved you so. So loved. So loved. So great. Salvation.

[37:06] Behold what manner of love he shows. He has bestowed on you that trust him that you can become his children. God the Father so loves. Will you receive his love?

[37:18] It's up to you. The choice is clear. It's one or the other, isn't it? You can go living willy-nilly your own way. Your own empty, futile, directionless life without God.

[37:31] Or you can know the love that he's meant for you. That he's wanting you to receive, to have, to trust him, his gift. A friend's receiving it as simple as saying, yes Lord, I believe.

[37:43] I believe. I believe. It's your choice. Will you love and know his love? The love that took him to the cross, that held him there. It wasn't the nails.

[37:54] It was his love that held him there. And you can know that love today. Behold that love. The love of the Father. That wonderful love relationship with God. I pray that you'd answer that by faith. Today, if you haven't already, let us pray.

[38:07] Our God and King, we thank you, Lord. What manner of love you showed, you bestowed it, you gave it. As a gift, you gifted it.

[38:18] Lord, as we simply have opened our hands and received it. Lord, we pray each one might have that trust too. Lord, to let our hand open and drop the things of this world and the things of this world.

[38:31] To drop that out of our hand and to open our hand and receive the love that you've bestowed, that you've gifted. To receive that gift of salvation with an open hand, an open heart.

[38:43] Lord, we pray each one might know that trust that Christ died for sinners. That while we were your enemies, you made us such that we could become your friends. Lord, we thank you for that great love, that great salvation.

[38:54] Lord, guide us and lead us that we might walk in that love and love one another. Lord, to show that love to others too. To not keep it to ourselves, but take this message of love to those that we can share it with.

[39:07] Lord, minister, we ask in Jesus' name to every soul that is here and hearing this, that each one might receive something from heaven. A new impartation of a new zeal, a new fervour, a new inspiration to think, behold what manner of love.

[39:25] And Lord, to let it create an action in us that will want to walk in that love day by day and grow in that love. In Jesus' name we pray.

[39:36] Amen. Let's pray.