The Love of God is Only in Christ Jesus

What is it like, family, as we go through the week? The difference, one of the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is that in the Old Covenant it was just Word. In the New Covenant the Word became Life. John 1 tells us the Word became Flesh.

So, Psalm 116, when you faced that situation this past week or recently where suddenly you were woken up in your soul from some turmoil, some news, some fear, some temptation to be anxious or worried, some other situation that suddenly woke you up, did you actually say, go back to sleep, my soul, the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. That's what return to your rest is, go back to sleep. What do you think, you know, we alternate between promises and commands.

Is that a promise or a command this last week? I think it's both, yeah, but it's listed as a command. See your spirit should be the one that's in control of the choices you make, not your body and not your soul. That is, you don't just, if your body wants to eat something, your body wants to look at something, your body wants to say something, do something, go somewhere, you don't just let your body do it.

Likewise, when your soul wants to feel a particular way, up or down, you don't just let your soul feel however it wants to feel. Your spirit is in control because your spirit has been made alive in Christ Jesus. And so who is it that says, return to your rest, oh my soul.

If your spirit's not alive, if your spirit is not being fed on the Word of God, and if your spirit isn't full of the Holy Spirit of God, then there's nobody there to tell your soul go back to sleep and your soul just is kind of thrown up and down and back and forth and that's an old covenant life. But, dear brothers, dear sisters, the Comforter has come, the Holy Spirit has come to fill you, to give you a power in your spirit that says to your soul, go back to sleep. Don't be worried.

Don't be anxious. Let's turn to Psalm 116. It's one of my favorite psalms, I love to read this psalm often, I like to sing it.

I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my supplication. Again, as we read it, don't let it just be words on a paper. Say, Lord, you look back on the last week, the last few weeks, the last month, last year.

Is this true? You know that God hears your voice? I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He's inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. Brother, sister, child, if you are alive today, there's just one thing you need to remember, call on Him.

Whatever. If things are going well, call on Him. If things are going difficult, call on Him.

This week, make it your goal, call on Him. As long as I live, I shall call upon Him. Just pick up the phone and call Him.

Verse 6, the Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and He saved me. As I was meditating on this this week, David says, when he was brought low, God saved him.

And I thought about this, that among us, let's say, just our church family, it's possible that the one who was defeated this week, this past week, because they were low as a result of their defeat, may have actually experienced more salvation than somebody who didn't fall in the same way. Let me say that again and carefully. Please listen to what I'm saying.

It's possible that somebody received the salvation, He saved me. The last part of verse 6. It's possible that somebody who received the salvation was the one who fell the most this week. Why? Because they were low.

See, God's salvation is not based on, oh, you've done it so well, you asked hard enough, or you read your Bible and things like that. These are all good things. Ask the Lord, read your Bible.

But it's the one who's low who gets salvation. And that's why I said it's possible. In fact, I think it's quite likely that somebody sitting here or listening to this message fell horribly this past week.

Didn't want to fall, but fell. And fell into the same sin that has defeated them for many years. Impatience, irritability, anger, outbursts of anger, lust, whatever it might be.

Please know sin is horrible. Sin will send you to hell. You know we preach against sin in this church.

But it's possible that somebody who sins so badly was brought so low that they got the salvation of the Lord. Meanwhile, somebody else who somehow by their own strength or by their own willpower didn't fall and felt good about themselves. And so wasn't low, wasn't saved, and didn't receive the salvation of the Lord.

It's very clear, when I was brought low, He saved me. Now, you don't have to sin to be brought low. Because there was somebody who never sinned, was always saved.

Hebrews chapter 5, let's turn there for a moment and I'll come back to Psalm 116. Jesus was always saved. He didn't save himself, you know that, right? If He could save himself, then I have no hope.

Because He's not my example. I can't save myself. Jesus had to be made like us in all things so that He too needed a salvation as it were.

What is that salvation? Not salvation from sin, because He never sinned. Jesus never sinned in His entire life. But He needed to be saved.

And that's why He had shown us a way of lowliness. Jesus also could say, I was low, I was brought low, and therefore my Father saved me. Do you believe that? Please think about what I'm saying.

Do you believe with all of your heart that Jesus also was brought low? And that's why the Father saved Him. If Jesus as the Son of God, I'm saying this reverentially, carefully, Father help me that I don't speak anything wrong. If Jesus as the Son of God was not lowly, He would have sinned, He would have fallen.

We don't want to dig too much into that because we know He didn't fall, He was the Son of God, He was perfect. He never sinned, there was no sin in His flesh. But He had to be low.

And that's our example. It's when we're low, when we're lowly. Are you looking for the salvation of God, brother? Have you been looking for it up here? And that's why you've been missing it? It's down low.

It's in a lowly place that God will finally set you free from those things. Bad moods, irritability, lust, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness. Hebrews 5, it says in verse 7, In the days of His flesh He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears.

This is a mark of lowliness. Jesus who had never sinned. I've thought about this often.

I know what loud crying and tears is after I've sinned. And then God saves me. I say, Lord, I fell into that again, I'm so sorry.

I had loud crying and tears. It's in my heart, loud crying and tears. And then God saves me.

That's how He has set me free from so many things. And will continue to set me free from the many more things that are still there. But I said, Lord, how have you prayed with loud crying and tears when you never sinned? Jesus wasn't praying with loud crying and tears because He did something wrong.

He said, Lord, Father, I've got to remain lowly so that, He goes on to say, He was heard to the one who was able to save Him from death. Jesus also needed that Savior, as it were, His Father, to save Him from that death. And He was heard because of His piety, because of His godly fear.

And that godly fear, I believe, came from a lowliness. Jesus was low, brought low. He lowered Himself.

Read that in Philippians 2. Step down, step down, step down, step down, step down, step down. And even to the point of death. Even death on a cross.

Therefore, He was exalted. Now, dear brother, dear sister, do you want exaltation over your enemy? Over your lusts? Over those bad habits and bad moods that plagued you? Come down. Back to Psalm 116.

So the secret is not sinning. The secret is being lowly. And God can even use sin to bring you low.

He's done that in my life. I'm sure all of you can testify. He's used your failure, your falling into sin, to bring you lowly.

Now, say, Lord, help me to learn lowliness without sinning. That's the example we follow. Help me to learn lowliness where I remain low and experience your salvation.

So, I was brought low and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul. Verse 7. For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

Skip down to verse 12. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me? God asks you for something today. He asks you for an offering.

It's not money. It's not 10%. It's not even 100% of your money.

He says, lift up your cup. That's a picture of your body, your life. Lift up your cup and let Him save you.

I will lift up the cup of salvation. Verse 12. Verse 13.

I shall lift up the cup. How full is your cup? Have you had a 50% victory? Lift it up and say, Lord, save me fully. Is it a zero? Is your cup completely empty? Didn't overcome even once this last week.

Lift it up. I will lift up the cup of salvation. And I will call upon the name of the Lord.

Fill my cup, Lord. Give me your life. Make me like you.

I shall pay my vows to the Lord. Oh, may it be in the presence of all His people. Let me come up here, Lord, and sing.

As you were singing, say, once it was the blessing. Everything for Jesus. All in all, forever, Jesus will I sing.

Lord, it hasn't been true. You can say, perhaps. I asked you for this.

I asked you for that. Once I wanted power. Now I want you, the mighty one, a person.

I lift up my cup and say, Lord, fill me. Verse 17. To you I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

And call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord. Oh, may it be in the presence of all His people.

In the courts of the Lord's house. In the midst of you, oh Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Indeed. I thought about what our crown will be when we stand there.

If you'll turn with me, please, to Hebrews chapter 2. What do you think it is that brings God the greatest glory? It's not even that He forgives your sin. That glorifies Christ. Because the blood of Jesus Christ is powerful.

To cleanse us from all sin. But here's what brings God the greatest glory. Hebrews 2, it says in verse 10.

For it was fitting for Him, that is the Father. For whom are all things. And through whom are all things.

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory. That's what brings God the greatest glory. It was fitting for Him to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

It's talking about Jesus. How the Father perfected Jesus through sufferings. For what purpose? So that there would be many who have Christ in them.

That is what brings God the greatest glory. That His nature that existed only in the Godhead. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That divine nature has only existed in them you can say. Or Him. One God.

Three persons. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The divine nature since the beginning of time has only existed in the triune Godhead.

But what brings God the greatest glory is that that divine nature can now be in many sons and daughters. In you, in me, in our children. That nature as it were is multiplied.

And you see more of the divine nature and more of the divine nature and more of the divine nature. This is what brings God's glory. Brings God glory.

This is what glorifies Him the most. His nature which is so marvelous, so plenteous is magnified, multiplied in many sons to glory. That's why we preach the new covenant.

We preach partaking of His divine nature. And don't let the devil rob you. The devil will actually rather... The devil doesn't want to see God glorified.

That's his goal to bring down God and bring Himself up. His journey in becoming the devil started with that. I want to lift myself up.

And in a sense bring God down. Make myself equal with God. I don't want God to get more glory.

I want me to get more glory. And since then that has been His goal. That's why the final temptation you read about in the wilderness with Jesus was, I will give you everything you want.

All the money, all the security. Just bow down and worship me. And Jesus said, get away from here Satan.

God has said, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only will you serve. So the devil doesn't want to see God's glory multiplied as it were, in your marriage and in your home and in this church. He would rather you just be with Him for all eternity in hell.

But if you're going to go to heaven, He would rather you just have the forgiveness of sins. And remain defeated without partaking of Christ's divine nature. Because that will bring down God's glory a little bit.

No, you can't really bring down God's glory. But He doesn't want you to be a partaker of it. And that's why He's hindering you and constantly trying to get you to pursue other things here on this earth.

Don't let Him steal that from you. So what will it be? What will my crown be in eternity if you turn to Revelation 4? I believe we'll get a crown. Paul said in 2nd Timothy 4, the last words of his that are recorded in scripture.

The last chapter of 2nd Timothy 4. It says, there awaits for me a crown of righteousness where the Lord will give me and to all of those who have loved His appearing. 2nd Timothy 4. He says that. There's a crown waiting for you.

What is that crown? I've come to see it this way. It will be my cup full of the life of Christ in it. And God will show everybody.

Look at Santos's cup. So what will you think when people see that wonderful juice inside of that cup? Would you say, oh, what a nice cup. Don't you say, really? This ugly cup was filled with the life of Christ? This wretched sinner? This horrible person that Santos really was? Trust me, when you see, when Jesus Christ comes, you'll realize I was a lot more horrible than you thought I was.

Now that's going to be true for all of us. We'll realize, you'll realize, Santos was actually not as good as I thought he was. But then you'll see all of Christ in me, and you'll give Christ glory.

You will see I was much worse than I was, and it will cause Christ to be even more magnified in your eyes, and you will give Christ glory. And so will all of the world. The world may have a good opinion of you.

Oh, yeah, he's a nice guy. He's pretty well behaved. He seems to have his life together.

His marriage is going well. His kids are doing well. And then they'll realize, actually, he was pretty bad.

Oh, wow, I didn't realize he was such a bad guy. And yet he, too, became like Jesus. She, too, became like Jesus.

Jesus must be awesome. This is the crown. The crown that exalts Jesus above all else.

That's why it says here in Revelation 4, verse 10, The twenty-four elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne, and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne. They will take that cup of salvation which was filthy and dirty, that was cleansed and filled with the righteousness of Jesus, and put it in front of him and says, It has nothing to do with me. Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, verse 11, to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created all things. And because of your good pleasure, we are created. You made this cup simply so that your life could be in it, and you would get pleasure out of it.

And you would look at your nature in Santos, that filthy person, and get a smile on your face. There, look devil, Santos has some of my nature in him, a little bit more today than yesterday. Look devil, put your name there brother, sister, child.

This is our hope, that God can say to the devil, Have you seen, that that filthy wretch, devil, you know what he was like, I know what he was like, Jesus will say. But you see him, my nature in him. Oh, does this excite your heart? Does this give you hope? That no matter what it's been like, even until this very moment in time, if you will really say, Lord I want to know you, this is eternal life.

That they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Lord I want to know you, partake of your eternal life. And you see God, pointing you out to Satan.

See I think that many people, haven't actually come near to Jesus, the person. And I hope in this message, to try to make Jesus, a little bit more glorious. He's becoming more glorious to me, in my eyes, the person of Jesus.

You'll hear in every evangelistic message, in every gospel message, tent revival, whatever it might be, come to Jesus, come to Jesus. And for many people, I know this, because this was a testimony of my life, for many years, and I see it, as I interact with Christians. Not in a judgmental way, but recognizing how the devil robbed me of that.

That in the invitation to come to Jesus, it was come and let him, kind of throw down from heaven something, that you can take and go away with. Here come, here's Jesus, he's kind of going to throw some forgiveness to you. Here, take some forgiveness.

Here, go ahead. Like you know, like you might throw to the dogs, or throw to, you know, nobody would even do that. Think about somebody, a homeless person asking for something, and you just kind of throw something at him, throw some food.

Nobody would treat a homeless person like that. Even the dogs, our dogs at home, we feed them carefully. We don't just throw food at them, and say, here, take it.

Can you imagine God himself saying, here, take some forgiveness. I don't want you to come close to me. And yet, sadly, the reality of life for many Christians, I think, is this is God from heaven, has sort of thrown down some forgiveness for them, and they take it, and sure, their sins are forgiven, but haven't really come near to Jesus.

And I'll tell you why. If you turn with me to Romans chapter 8, and this is coming from examining my own heart, brothers and sisters, and children, and seeing, Lord, why were there times when, I look back now, and my honest testimony is, I'm very close to Jesus. Now, I don't want to say that, let me take that back.

I'm closer to Jesus than I've ever been. That's my honest testimony. I still have a long way to go, so that's why I take back what I said, that I'm very close to Jesus.

I don't want to be proud to admit, think that I am. I'm definitely closer than I've ever been. And I'm thankful for that.

But I look back on how long it's taken me. I'm older than most of you in this room, I think. And yet, it's taken me so long, despite hearing the new covenant truth from the time I was born, practically.

And so, I'm lonely about it. I'm humble, and don't have high thoughts about myself. But I look back at why it took me so long to come to a place where I actually came to Jesus, the person.

Instead of this far away Jesus who kind of tossed out some things at me. Here, have my Holy Spirit. Here, take a little bit.

A little bit more purity. Here, take it. I didn't come closer to the person of Jesus.

And I say, Lord, if somebody else can learn from my bad experience and the meandering journey it took me, and be saved from some of that, and actually come to know Jesus, the person, and come close to Him, then you've used my example, Lord, to be a blessing to others. Romans 8, if you were really close to Jesus, your life would have been like this. See, it says in verse 35, the last thing it says there, is in verse 39, it says, the love of God is in Christ Jesus.

I think for many Christians, they think of the love of God, it's kind of like the sun shining down. You get some brightness from the sun. But the sun is millions of miles away.

Very, very far away. And is that how Jesus is? I see the love of God, but it's kind of like the sun shining down, but the sun is way over there. And I'm getting the benefit of His love.

You know, that's not how our walk with Jesus ought to be. The love of God is actually found in Christ Jesus. Imagine what the brightness would be like if you were actually in the sun.

I mean, so bright, it would blow you away. And it would never be night. It would be always brightness.

This is the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Which means if you've actually come close to Jesus, if you found the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, not the love of God that Christ is sending you. Here's some love, go take it and go.

No. You found the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Then here's what the testimony of your life would be like.

Let's back up, verse 35. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation. You can have tribulation.

And you're at rest. Because you're in the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Distress.

Go through some distressing circumstance. But you're at rest. Because you found the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Not some love of God, which is during, you know, 12 hours in the day, it's love of God, 12 hours, or I don't know, whatever. Some portion of it. Is the love of God sometimes turned off for you? That means you're far away from the sun.

That you're in the darkness for a few hours. You're waiting till the morning for the sun to shine again. That's not the Christian life.

If you've come to see the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Think of this picture of being in the sun, where there is no night. Then it could be tribulation.

It could be distress. Persecution. It's coming.

It's coming. Famine. You know, I think about it for us, men and women, parents.

Imagine if you had no food to put on the table for your children. No food. No jobs.

No food to put in front of your table. None of us has ever experienced that. Famine.

And your child is sitting there hungry and saying, I don't have any food. Just give me one piece of bread. Just a small piece of bread.

Sorry, son, daughter, I don't have any. What if that was your life? The love of God shining in your heart, 24-7, the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. That's why I say, as I read this, I thought, Lord, I haven't been in you.

I haven't been close to you. I heard the call, come to Jesus, from the time I was a little boy. And I thought I came to Jesus because I got some things from him.

But this is a coming to Jesus that was so much deeper than I'd ever known. Nakedness. What if you're in the cold, negative degree temperature that we had, and there's no heat in the house, and your little baby is saying, I'm cold, and you see them crying, and they're shivering, and they're shaking, and you have nothing to put on there.

The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Even that shouldn't separate you from it. Wow.

Peril. Sword. Or today's language, gun.

Somebody pointing a gun in your head. You cannot shake me, devil. I found Jesus.

I've come close to him. For your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered a sheep to be slaughtered.

But look at that. This is what it means to have found the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

See how when you come to know this love of God, you overwhelmingly conquer. Are you trying to conquer, brother, sister, through trial, through difficulty, without the love of God? You'll never overcome. But, when you come to see the love of God, in Christ Jesus, you overwhelmingly conquer.

And God won't allow you to be tested beyond what you're able to bear. He knows that you haven't experienced his love in Christ Jesus to such an extent that he can allow you to go through famine and nakedness yet. I'll just be honest by myself.

I think God knows that I haven't experienced the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus to that extent that he can allow me to go through nakedness and famine. That's why he hasn't yet allowed it in my life. But if he should, would it be? And I'll tell you, brothers and sisters, the goal of my life is, Lord, let me press in to know your love so deeply that one day it could even be famine.

It could even be nakedness. It could be the threat of a gun to my head. Say, deny Jesus or die.

And I'll say, Lord, you can have my life because I've come to know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other thing, nor any other person, your boss, the president, the military powers, whatever it might be, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God. Where is that love of God, brothers and sisters? Where has it been for you? If all you had is a love of God from a distant Jesus, it won't last.

It's no wonder that when something little, like, oh, they said something about me, so now I'm upset. I'm all disturbed. They're talking about me behind my back.

Oh, I'm all disturbed. How are you going to stand nakedness and peril if the little thing like somebody speaking evil of you bothers you? Come to know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. In increasing measure, increasing measure, people get offended often.

And some stay in the church, some leave the church, no matter what. As elders, we constantly have to deal with that sort of thing. We have to correct some things people write to us, and then we have to correct it, and they get offended, and they send long emails to us.

Okay. Think about how different it would be if such a person would just know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. That's the secret.

You'll never get offended, no matter what happens, what correction you receive, whatever it might be, you will never get offended, I'll tell you that, if you come to know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. I think, you know, sometimes I listen to Christian radio music a little bit here and there, just out of curiosity to see what's on. Most of the songs sing about the love of God.

Most of them. It's like, sometimes it's just the same words with a different tune, and they're twisted this, twisted that. They rewrite all hymns in different tune, make it up.

Love of God, love of God, it'll chase you here up the mountains, and all that stuff. But it's frothy, and I don't find that it's freeing people from the love of money. It's freeing them from divorcing their wives, their husbands, and all these things, or getting offended, and seeking the things of this earth, and singing, and looking like people in the world.

And yet, this is the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. The other love of God, maybe makes you feel good for a little while, but you'll go back to your defeated Christian life. So the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, and the devil would love for you to be taken up with anything else.

He did that for the Pharisees. For example, in John 5, the Pharisees wanted to know God. I have no doubt in my mind about it.

I believe they really wanted to know God. But when Christ Jesus Himself came, they didn't want to get to know Him after all. You see how this is, they want to know about the love of God.

I mean, the first command in the law was, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So they preached about the love of God. But when the actual love of God came in the person of Christ Jesus, they said, no, no, no, we don't want that.

And the same is happening today. That love of God, they'd rather sing about it, speak about it, do everything else about it, but not actually come to Christ. So it was true about the Pharisees as well.

John 5 verse 39, you search the scriptures. The devil would rather you chase and do the Bible reading plan and use the concordance and read it in this translation and the other translation, all of these good things. But the devil would rather you search the scriptures as long as you don't actually come to Jesus.

You search the scriptures because you think that in them you'll find the love of God, you could say, eternal life. It is these things that testify about me. The whole point of the scriptures was that you would actually come to Jesus, the person.

And you are unwilling to come to me. You see how the Pharisees never experienced the love of God? Because they love to read about it, sing about it. I'm sure they wrote plenty of Hebrew hymns about the love of God.

Read the Psalms. You love me. You love me.

You dealt bound. They probably sang Psalm 116. But when the love of God actually came in Christ Jesus, they didn't want that.

You are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. What about this? So the devil would rather, Luke chapter 11, the devil would rather you read the Bible and read it back and forth and all of that as long as you don't really come to know this love of God which is in the person of Jesus that will set you free. Luke 11.

The devil would even rather you be exact in your show of righteousness. There's many people who are very exact in their show of righteousness. Make sure your modesty is exactly like this.

Make sure you don't do anything like that. They are very exact. Righteousness, righteousness, righteousness, righteousness.

Very particular. Very, very particular. And yet, they don't know Jesus.

It was true with the Pharisees. You know, the Pharisees were very exact. When they read tithe, you must tithe all that you have.

Somebody came up with like, tithe, Lord, the salt. I need to give you a little bit, 10% of my salt, 10% of my pepper, 10% of this. It's exactly what they did.

Luke 11.42 You Pharisees, woe to you Pharisees, for you paid tithe of mint. So you look in your spice jar and you see you got mint. And suddenly you realize, Oh man, God said 10%.

I got to measure out 10% of my mint and give it to him and keep the rest for myself. Okay. Then, garden herbs.

Oh, I've got some parsley and some rosemary and all that stuff. I didn't tithe that. Okay, God tithe that.

And they were so exact. And very showy in how they bringing there. See, I brought 10% of everything.

Oh, you brought your mint. I'm going to bring my parsley. I'm going to bring this.

I'm going to bring that. And the devil would rather you focus on minute righteousness. Oh, you got to be righteous like this.

Oh, that's too worldly. Yes, be exact, exact, exact. As long as you don't know the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

And the proof of that is that as you're exact in that, you will judge somebody else who's not as exact in you in that. Oh, they allow their kids to do that. Oh, they must be worldly.

You've not seen the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. No wonder you focus on the exactness, legalism. You tithe mint and rue.

I don't even know what rue is. And every kind of garden herb. And you disregard justice and the love of God.

That was the whole purpose of the tithe is that you come to know the love of God. My brother, my sister, my dear children, what are you tithing today? You know in our church, we don't even preach about tithe because it's not a new covenant word. You'll never find God teaching give your tithe in the new covenant.

It's an old covenant word. That's why we don't say tithe. Give whatever you feel God wants you to give.

Cheerfully. Whatever you can give cheerfully, give that. That's it.

God, that might be less. Might be only two cents. But you gave it cheerfully.

And somebody else gave $2,000. Not cheerfully. God says, nah, you should have kept the $2,000.

Think of all the things you could have bought with your $2,000. That two cents that that poor widow put because she did it cheerfully. That's what I want.

God doesn't want your tithe. But he wants you to know his love which is in Christ Jesus and the Pharisees. So the devil led astray the Pharisees through all these other things.

Bible studies, prayer meetings, other things like, oh you got tithe and they're searching the scriptures. Oh, the love of God. See, the love of God is like this.

Oh, he showed his love like that. And there's Jesus sitting in their midst. And he missed it.

And are we singing about the love of God and speaking about the love of God? And the person who embodies the love of God is right there in our midst and we missed it. Or he's far away. We don't want to come near him.

Come near to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Have you come near to Jesus? Maybe that would be the subject of my message this morning.

Have you really come near to Jesus? The proof will be what it was like last week. Let's not fool ourselves, brothers, sisters. Let's not allow the devil to put a veil over our heads.

Let's go back to Romans 8. When we come near to Jesus, we see, like I was saying earlier, his tremendous love that can cause me to be at rest, Paul said, in peril, persecution, tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, sword. Overwhelmingly conquering in those situations. Why? Let's go back.

It says earlier, Romans 8 verse 28. Because when I actually came... Romans 8 verse 28, I think, is one of the most memorized verses in the Bible. Probably in competition with Jeremiah 29 verse 11.

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Probably the two verses that more... Everybody probably has memorized or knows. You'll see it on a plaque.

But is it just word? Is it just a plaque on a wall? We know that God causes all things to work together. And I try to convince myself, Romans 8 verse 28, Lord, Romans 8 verse 28, Romans 8 verse 28. I tell you, brothers, sisters, come to Jesus.

Come to know Christ. And you'll know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And then Romans 8 verse 28 will be written on your heart.

It won't just be in your mind. I'm pretty sure everybody in this church knows Romans 8 verse 28 by heart. No, by mind.

By heart is a different thing. That means, Lord... I mean, if it was really true, Lord, in the last month, there should never have been a circumstance where I was at unrest, or shaken, or disturbed, or angry, or fidgety, or anything like that. Why? Because Romans 8 verse 28 is not just here, it's here.

We know that God causes all things. This is knowing the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, versus Romans 8 verse 28 being a verse. And what I'm on a journey on, brothers and sisters, is that Romans 8 verse 28 doesn't become something that I read and memorize, but it comes here, into my heart.

Romans 8 verse 28 is planted on my heart, and I know it by the fact that when God allows some distress, or some tribulation, I'm not shaken anymore. It's real. And I don't even have to say it, but it's a foundation, and I can't be shaken from it, because God is causing everything to work out for my good.

For good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. There it is again. The multiplied glory of God.

The multiplied divine nature of God, in each of us. The firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called, and those whom He called, He justified.

And those whom He justified, He also glorified. By what? Putting His nature in them. This is our glory, brothers and sisters.

It's not anything else. It's not that we'll sit on thrones, or have some crown on our head, or anything like that. It's simply that my cup, my filthy cup, has been cleansed, and filled with the nature of Jesus.

Glorified. Jesus glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, God is for you, brother, sister, child.

God is for you. Who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? That's a verse that again, I know, but when you come to Christ Jesus, when you actually come to Jesus, what do you see? What do you see when you come close to Jesus? I'll tell you what I saw in the last few weeks. I came closer to Jesus, and I saw Him whom I had pierced.

Zechariah 12, I think it says, they will behold Him whom they pierced. I came close enough to Jesus, and I saw where I poked Him. Not where the soldier poked Him.

I saw where I poked Him. And that other place where I put my knife into Him, and stabbed Him with my sword, and stuck another spear here, and hit the nail into His hand. I came close enough to Jesus to see that.

I wept. I said, Lord, I'm sorry. I know I've already repented of it, but I didn't realize it was that bad.

I came close to Jesus, because I wanted to know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And I saw how filthy that gossip was. How filthy that despising attitude towards somebody else was.

How filthy that proud thinking, I'm better than you attitude was. Oh, I can't believe you said that. You really think that? And I despise you because of that? I saw how filthy it was, because I came close to Jesus.

And I saw Him whom I had pierced. But you know what it did for me? It also did Romans 8 verse 32. I thought, Lord, that when I pierced you, I was your enemy.

And I was your enemy, and I stuck that knife into you. And now you made me your son. If He did not spare His own son, but allowed him to be stabbed by Santos, the father could have easily... Here I was getting ready with my spear to poke Jesus, and the father could have easily just cast me out into hell.

What do you mean sticking your knife into my son? But He allowed me to pierce Him. He did not spare His own son from my piercing. If He didn't spare His own son Jesus when I pierced Him, and allowed Him to be pierced by me, and now He has made me His son, how much more will He not freely give me all things? How much more does He not love me today, His son? And I got this picture.

Imagine that there was this man who was constantly being robbed. And terrorized by this robber or this criminal. And constantly coming and harassing and bullying me, bullying this man.

And the man says, I got to solve this problem somehow. This guy keeps coming and threatening me, and pointing his gun at me, and hurting me, and stealing from me. I know what I'll do.

I'll make him my son. This is God. Here's this neighbor, evil person, running you down off the road, cutting you off, writing bad things about you, breaking your windows, damaging you, and hurting you, and all that.

And this man says, I got to figure out a way to stop this person from hurting me. Let me make him my son. This is what God did.

When you were hurting him, when you were his enemy, and you poked the knife, and poked the knife, and poked the knife. He says, I got to find a way for Santos to stop hurting me. I'm going to make him my son.

And shower him with such love. Now let's read Romans 8.32 again. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him feeling of us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? The devil will try, but the Father will say, you dare not.

He's my son. God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, is he who died? Yes, rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who every time the devil comes and points his finger at you, and accuses you, he says, no, devil.

You know I died for him. You know I died for her. She's my daughter.

He's my son. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Have you come close enough to see the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus like this? Come near. Come near.

Turn back a few chapters to chapter 5. He says similar things. Romans 5, verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith. You have to understand this in the context of him speaking in chapter 4 about forgiveness.

And then justification. Forgiveness by the blood of Jesus, and justification by his blood and by his resurrection. We have peace with God.

You see the progression here? Forgiveness, justification, he builds up to that. We have peace with God. Did you live that? Was that your testimony, brother, sister, this week? When you experienced the forgiveness and the justification of Christ, did you come close enough to see that you have peace with God? Rest.

Let's say you fell in some area this past week. And you repented of it. And you believed in the justification of Christ.

Was there a peace in your heart? If not, then I say come close to Jesus. Come close enough to see he is our peace. I think so many Christians, because I was that for many years as well, I would get forgiveness and I would try to think, yeah, I'm justified just as if I'm never sinned and all this stuff, and it's just intellectual language.

And I didn't actually come to Jesus where it brought peace into my heart. The proof that you've really come to Jesus Christ, close enough to receive forgiveness and justification, truly come is that you have peace. Just seconds after you fell, perhaps.

Please understand, I'm not here to condone sin. I'm not here to preach that you can continue to live a defeated life. God wants to bring you to victory.

But he wants you to know that when you come and you have forgiveness and justification, you have peace. If you have peace, you can never be discouraged. You can never condemn yourself.

As my dad often says, no entry roads, no self-condemnation, no discouragement. Why? Because you have peace. Has the devil robbed you of peace? After you got forgiveness and after you got justification, that means you got a faraway Jesus who kind of throws you some forgiveness and throws you some justification, but he's over there like the sun shining.

And after about 12 hours, when it starts to get a little bit dark, the devil will come back and say, I know you're forgiven, but you still did that bad thing. This is the faraway Jesus. And the nearby Jesus, when you come in to Christ Jesus, and you know the love of God, you have peace.

And you know it's only been an hour since you said that thing to your spouse. But you repented of it. Jesus Christ's blood has cleansed you of it.

You know you're justified and you have peace. Peace after you've sinned. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through whom also we obtained our introduction by faith into this grace by which we stand. Then after that, as you come into Christ, you find not only forgiveness, justification, peace, now your grace and your standing. Sure you fell down 10 minutes ago, but now where are you? Are you standing? Are you still sort of wallowing in the pit of discouragement? I can't believe I did that.

It's been 5 years. It's been 10 years. Oh, I fell into the same thing again.

I still seem to be irritable and speak like that. I'm sorry, Lord. Well, stand up, brother.

Stand up. Because you come into Christ and you're seeing the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And we exult in the hope of the glory of God.

You say, Santosh, I thought you just fell into sin 10 minutes ago. Yes, you're right, brother, I did. But I hate it.

I've been cleansed of it. I'm justified. God counts me as righteous.

I have peace with God. I'm standing and I'm rejoicing. I'm singing because I exult in the hope of God.

I'm just reading scripture. It's in your Bible, isn't it? I hope it is. Let it become flesh.

Let it become life in you, brothers and sisters. Okay, it doesn't stop there. He goes on to say in verse 3, not only this, we also exult in our tribulations.

See, I came to a point where I reached, I think, God allowed me to reach verse 2. Forgiveness, justification, peace, grace by which I stand, exulting in the hope, that one day I will be freed from this thing, this life, and the tribulations and trials that I face on this earth. But then when the tribulation actually comes, oh, then I'm down. Then I'm just like, oh, I'm holding on.

Lord, when's this tribulation going to end? When's this trial going to end? Come in to Jesus. Come a little closer to Jesus. And what you'll find is you can exult in your trial.

To be honest, brothers, I'm not there yet. I don't want you to imagine that God is taking me through trials, and I'm just like, wow, it's amazing. But I want it.

It's a little better than it used to be. But this is in God's Word. It's a promise.

Like we were saying this morning, and I'm laying holding on that promise. Lord, I want to come and know you so intimately. I want to come in and experience the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, so that now when you take me through a tribulation, I can exult in it.

Exulting in your tribulation, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. Now, I'm not excited about the difficult thing that I'm going through. But I know that God, you've allowed this trial in my life now.

You're allowing this person to treat me this way. You're allowing me to experience that hardship. But at the end of it, you're going to give me perseverance.

And you're going to give me proven character. And that proven character is hope. A hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through Christ Jesus.

This is a deeper love of God, perhaps, than you've heard of before. A deeper love of God than one that you can just easily sing about. But a love of God that you've pressed in to know.

Come to Jesus. Come to know Him. It's in the person of Jesus.

It's not a concept. It's not a theory. It's not something you can just sing about and write about.

It's in the person of Jesus. And if you've been thinking about love, and looking for a feeling of love, and an intellectual understanding of love that has disappointed you after some time, where you're at some stage of this journey of forgiveness, justification, peace, grace, exalting in hope. But somewhere there.

But when the trial comes, you can't exalt. You can't remain full of peace and full of joy in the midst of the trial. Then come to Jesus, the person.

Perhaps you've been far away from Him this whole time. When you actually come to know Jesus, and you're in Christ Jesus, you know the true love of God. Wonderful.

Exalting in tribulations. I'll just close with this thought. 2 Thessalonians 3. There's a beautiful phrase here that has been going through my mind.

2 Thessalonians 3, verse 5. I think it's in 2 Corinthians 4, I think it says, The Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. So sometimes the Holy Spirit is called the Lord.

I personally believe, and I don't want to make this a theological explanation. I believe that the Lord that he's talking about here in verse 5 is the Holy Spirit. Because he says, verse 5, May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

Who is it that directs our hearts? Today it's the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. So I personally believe it's the Holy Spirit. So you say, Lord, I want to come to know you.

You've been far away, you've been like the sun. Which in the summer time, what do we get? About 18 hours, 16 hours of sunlight, something like that. Lord, I've come to the point where it's no longer winter, where it's mostly dark and it gets dark by 4 o'clock in the evening.

You feel like your day is like that? Already by 4 o'clock it's starting to get dark. You run out of grace. You're reaching the end of your day and you're like, Lord, I'm starting to not lose my confidence in your love.

And it's starting to get dark early. Spiritually I'm talking about. The love of God is growing dark in your life.

And you're waiting for the sun to come up. And you're like, man, it's 6 o'clock, it's still dark in the morning. 6 in the morning, the sun hasn't come up.

Boy, where's your love? 7 o'clock, finally, okay. That's because you're on earth and the sun's over there. Now he says, come to Christ.

Come and be in Christ. And look at the beautiful promise here. It says that the Holy Spirit directs our hearts into the love of God.

The Holy Spirit will take you, as it were, on this journey from earth, a little bit closer into the sun of God's love. So that one day you'll be in His love and it's 24-7 love. 24-7 rest.

24-7 peace. 24-7 joy. The Holy Spirit directs your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ, where His love never changes.

It doesn't even grow dim. There's no cloud hiding the sun from you, because you are in Christ Jesus. And the story came to my mind of Rebecca.

Sometimes you can meditate on it, but you'll turn with me to Genesis 24. I'll show you one verse that has got a powerful word in it. Genesis 24.

You know the story. Abraham was looking for a wife for Isaac. And he said, don't take from one of these people here.

He tells his servant Eliezer, it's a picture of the Holy Spirit, sends him to the far country, like the Father sending the Holy Spirit into the far country, into earth. I want you, Holy Spirit. It's an imaginary conversation, I say.

Why did the Father send the Holy Spirit? The Father and the Son say, Jesus said, if I ascend, the Father will send the Holy Spirit. For what purpose? It's like they said, Holy Spirit, you have one mission. Go and get me some people to be in Christ Jesus.

Direct them into the love of my love, which is in Christ Jesus, Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost. For what purpose? Not so that you could speak in tongues and prophesy, healing, miracles, all these things that a lot of people are chasing after.

One purpose only. That you would know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Romans 5.5, we just read it.

The love of God, shed abroad through the Holy Spirit, so that you come in and experience Christ Jesus in a way that it's a steadfast love. And so, it's like that. Eliezer goes into the far country.

You know the story? He says, he prays to his God. He says, God, you've got to lead me. I don't know who it is.

But there's one person and one person only who's supposed to marry Isaac. And dear brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is looking for one person and one person only, the bride of Christ. Not converts.

He's not just looking for people who want to go to heaven. He's looking for one person, the bride. Do you want to be a part of that? Or do you just want to be in the congregation, the multitude that's in heaven? I hope you've heard enough in this church that your ambition is to be a part of that one person, the bride of Christ, married to him, seated with him at the banquet table, not just in the audience watching the fun.

Oh Lord, that's my cry. Make me part of that one new body that you are creating. There's only one.

It must fit his conditions. Eliezer goes. You know the story? God leads him supernaturally to Rebecca because she's the one who draws the water.

And then, they start to go. You know, her father tries to keep him. And then her brother Laban is there too.

You know, he would cause problems for her son Jacob later on. He's trying to keep Rebecca. All these friends are trying to keep her, keep her, keep her.

And finally, Eliezer says, it's time. The Holy Spirit says, it's time brother, time sister for you to give up the love of the things of this world. Perhaps that's the word you need to hear this morning.

The Holy Spirit saying, it's time to go. You can't love the things of this world anymore. Not your job, not your savings, not your future that you want to build for your children.

You can't, you have to give up all of that. It's time to go. And she says, yes, I'm ready to go.

Even to the last minute they were trying to keep her. How about half this, half that? Half love of the world, half there. Let Isaac come and visit or no, no, no.

You got to go. And Eliezer says, okay, it's time to go. And then he starts this journey.

It's a long journey. It's a picture of that journey. Now until Christ comes, until we see him face to face.

And along the way there were difficulties. There were probably robbers that they were at risk for. And the Holy Spirit is, Eliezer is guiding Rebecca like the Holy Spirit's leading you.

And every time something happened and Rebecca's like, really, it's been like six days, we're still going? Eliezer says, hold on, come, there's man who loves you. You will experience such love when you meet Isaac that you'll forget everything else. All the hardship that you've been through.

Stay with me, stay with me, Rebecca. Don't turn back, don't turn back. We're going to see him, we're going to see him.

Press on, keep, let's go, let's go. I imagine Eliezer waking up Rebecca one morning, six o'clock, we got to go, we got to go. We got to get closer to Isaac.

One more hour of sleep. No, no, we got to go, we got to go. Wake up, you who are sleeping.

The bridegroom is near. We're getting a little bit closer to him. And all he could tell her was, there's a man who loves you.

You haven't seen him yet, but he loves you. And you will experience such love. It will take you through whatever trial you go through.

And the story finally finishes in verse 67. Read it sometime, I didn't have time to. But meditate on Genesis 24, verse 67 it says, Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and he took Rebecca and she became his love and he loved her.

Until then it was theory. It was Eliezer telling her, Isaac loves you, Isaac loves you, Isaac loves you, Isaac loves you. What a difference it was when Rebecca came into his tent and Isaac loved her.

This is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. He wants you to know it, not just when you get to heaven, now. Come in, brother, sister, to Jesus.

May you know him, may we know him as a church. Individually, we can't do it corporately. RLCF as a whole cannot know Christ Jesus.

Individually each of you, each of us, must know the love of God which is only in one place, it's in Christ Jesus. Are you looking for the love of God, a steadfast love? It's only in one place, it's in the person of Jesus Christ himself. Amen.