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191 one 9/1.
Seems to.
It would be kind of wrong to abandon John 3 before we even get to 1516 and that area.
Is that OK to continue on a little bit?
It's going to be good.
Should we start?
Why don't we start at?
3012.
And and get through 21.
To keep up our pace.
Stop breathing in 20 women. Yeah, OK.
John, chapter 3, verse 12.
If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath to send it 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 servant in the wilderness, Even so must the other man be lifted up. And whosoever believeth in him should not perish and have eternal life. 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. 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 who is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil he gets polite. Neither cometh through the light, lest his deed should be reproved. But he that doeth truth come up to the light, that a disease may be made manifest, that they are wrought and gone.
Her old brother.
Harold Krauss some here knew years ago in vessel and took this chapter up and.
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At verse 12, the question how should he believe? If I tell you of heavenly things, he says the rest is grace. Is it going to stop there?
How she didn't believe I tell you heavenly things. But he said he went on to tell him heavenly things, so that's great.
No.
There's no mention of faith or believing for the 1St 11 verses in the chapter.
I think that's been stressed in the first couple readings that the work of God in a soul begins with his work by the Spirit and by the water.
And communicates life in a way that is inscrutable to us. As someone read an Ecclesiastes, we don't even know how life you know for everything man has figured out.
Even natural life is a puzzle to man.
More and more they're digging inside of cells and they're they're just fascinating themselves that a cell is just, it's like the most complex factory.
No man has ever built a factory the way God has built one human self.
And the mysteries of life, natural life are beyond men. And I think someone read in Ecclesiastes about and how unknowable it is, the way the body forms in the womb. And of course, it's, it's the same in the spiritual life. So we, we went through that already how the the wind blows where it lists and we see the outward effect of it. But what really takes place for God to produce life, you know, soul is inscrutable to us.
But one of the aspects of life is that it is faith. And so we have the word in verse 12. We have this word for the first time in the chapter.
Earthly things, heavenly things. And how shall you believe I tell you of heaven and things?
People can get all twisted up theologically.
And.
Some think well.
You have life, then you get faith and some say, well, you have faith and you need faith to get life. But in the word of God, life and faith, faith is one of the aspects of life. And so we have to see from Scripture that they are, they are united there together. It's just like a baby comes out of the womb and it breathes. That's what it does. No one is speaking. And so the life that we have.
A life that believes.
So we start to see the proof of it here in chapter in verse 11 and 12.
But the words of Lord Jesus spoke for his Spirit and truth, weren't they? They need the Spirit of God to disturb the spiritual things. Without that, someone can have Bibles and textbook and study at university and come up with theological solutions to what they think that what represents miss the thought entirely mixed with faith as you mentioned, and then we need the Spirit of God.
The Lord Jesus said departure that was going to come was going to show us.
Revealing to us no matter we have no need. That man teaches.
Experience the diet of some of our troops.
John's Gospel furnishes us with a beautiful picture of.
The the truth that progress is just brought out.
You know, cable companies like to sell you what they call a bundle package. You know, you get your Internet, you get your phone and.
Whatever else.
Is a bundled package, and in a certain sense life from God comes as a bundle package.
It comes with a ear to hear of faith, to believe where there was nothing before, and that example is given to us in the account of Lazarus and Chapter 11. Just turning to that.
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In Chapter 11 of this Gospel.
Verse 43.
And when he had the spoken, he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus come forth, and he that was dead came forth, found hand and foot with grave clothes. His face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith of Islam, loose him and let him go. He was dead, says he that was dead came forth. How? When did he come forth? When he heard what the Lord said.
How did a dead man hear?
The hours coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that here shall live. It's a bundled package. When he works, he gives life. He gives a hearing here, and he gives faith to believe. And it's really seen in the raising of Lazarus. The dead heard and he came forth.
Mind following along in the first part of the chapter?
Understanding that he has received new life.
That in itself doesn't say the soul and that's where we're starting to get into in this chapter as as I think we referred to briefly in the readings in first John, this is he that came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood. And so because of what we were and because of the the massive offense of sin before God, the blood had to be shed for God.
Interesting, and I know people.
Scratch their heads a lot about propitiation, but it's a wonderful and not that complicated truth to get hold of. But it's a wonderful truth. It's and Simply put, it's God's side of the cross. Speaking of Elijah.
You remember when he showed up at the widow woman?
And is that is that the same chapter we were in with you 17 I just want to read a passage out of that.
So he arrives in verse 10, first king 17 to the widow woman.
Gathering sticks. And he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread. And I have. And she said, as the Lord let God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful.
Of meal in a barrel, and a little oil and a cruise. And behold, I am gathering 2 sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my sons, that we may eat it and die.
Dire situation. And Elijah says unto her, You're not go and do us. Thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake 1St and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. Now you have to conclude just on a human level. This is the most self occupied, selfish, disconnected human that he would run into this woman that's about to prepare. She's down to the very bottom.
She's about to prepare her last meal for her and her child. And he says, yeah, go do that. Indifference, it seems like. Make me a little cake first. What is that all about? I believe it's about this, that God's side comes first. And Elijah is a picture of God there. Make me a little cake 1St. And that's what the Lord Jesus has done on Calvary's cross, because he has addressed the outrage of sin before God. And this is, this is the foundation.
When you preach the gospel, take this side up primarily and 1St, or I should say 1St and primarily because it's the foundation of all the blessing that can flow from it.
Essence of propitiation is he is as as John writes in his epistle, he is not. He was. That's interesting too. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, not for the whole world.
So it's for appreciation has nothing to do with the transfer of guilt.
It is God's side.
And God has God is the one against whom all sin has been committed. And when the Lord Jesus shed his blood from Calvary's cross, Gods and Majesty was vindicated. God has been horrified by that. And God is now free in righteousness to be the justifier of the Sinner.
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And so when you preach that, then you can follow up and say to the Sinner, all things are ready.
God is now free to come out and bless you, no matter who you are or what you have done, because He's been satisfied, vindicated by the work of the Lord Jesus.
This of course leads us to verse 14 and not to jump ahead if others have comments on 13, but.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Even so, must the Son of Man be lifted?
So we realize it's not just a question of giving me new life and sending me on my merry way.
That's water, but that the blood has to be there too. And in John 19 it's blood and water, and then the effect of it is the opposite. It's water. We've had that already in the readings, and now it's the blood. 21 is that the, you might say, the timing or the sense of our experience? The other course is historical in John 19, blood and water.
Two aspects of the wonderful work of Christ to vindicate God.
Glorify Him, and also glorify Him in the blessing of the city.
Back a little bit rather as you were missing there about the woman.
And that was, uh, gathering sticks. It's interesting that God wants to give us something better.
In the in the heavenly things that's only mentioned three times in scripture.
It's mentioned here, and then it's mentioned twice in Hebrews.
Where it it calls it better things.
And and it it says that meant Moses was to.
To make be sure that he made the the the articles of the Tabernacle after the pattern of heavenly things used to.
To make it exactly after that so heavenly things are better things. Heavenly things are life and I it just strikes me that that it says here that you read there in in first King 17 it says.
This is the little woman in verse 12 and she said, as the Lord thy God liveth I I have not a case but a handful of me on a girl and a little oil in a cruise and behold I am gathering 2 sticks.
That I may go in and dress it for me and my son. Now wouldn't you think she would have said that we may eat and sustain our lives?
But she doesn't say that. She says that we may eat it and die. I don't. I don't know if you eat to die, but we eat to sustain our lives. But even in fact that it, it makes an emphasis there is to let us know that Elijah was going to give her something better.
Some better things, something that would surpass.
What she was.
Gathered for just a little bit deep and as she as it burned her heart and mind, it was good and dust. That was it.
The lysis says the lychee says to her.
Fear not, go and do as Alice said.
And then of course, you know the rest of the story and she comes into a portion that doesn't waste, it just keeps going.
In pattern. So I I just wanted to bring out the thought of heavenly things. You get into Hebrews 8 and and five and then you get even 9 and 23 and it might be helpful to recall versus.
Equally, 85 is.
Well, if I start with first three, for every high creases or danger you also give some sacrifices. Wherefore it is necessary that this man is to have something somewhat also to offer, for if he were on earth, he should not be a precede. There are priests that offer gifts according to law we.
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Served onto an example of shadow heavenly things as Moses was admonished.
This is 8.
85 Osmosis was admonished of God when he makes the Tabernacle.
For foresee sanity that thou make all these things according to the pattern shown me in the mouth, but now happy of being the more excellent ministry.
But how much also is he in the media of a better covenant, which was established on better promises? So it's it's really encouraging to our hearts to realize that there's a heavenly things are better things. And that's what God wants to bring us into is the better things.
How thankful we can be for the Old Testament.
Some perhaps would not place importance on the Old Testament, saying that the New Testament you have the revelation of God, the person of Christ.
But I do believe that your testing is written. The 4th kind is written for our learning. And so we have this account of Elijah and Little woman.
I believe the oil is Speaking of the spirit of God. That's the meal and speak of Christ and these were available to this woman this loyalist meal and they told God send rain upon the earth. And so how wonderful that you and I we can.
Enjoy person's birth of our Lord Jesus Christ through the power.
And thank you, thank God, this goodness provide for us as we hope the rapture. But now we have also account from the Old Testament about how Moses scripted up the serpent.
In the wilderness.
And so we can look back at the, I believe it's Numbers 21, but we find there that the people state against God, against Moses.
That was sin. As a result, there were these fiery serpents that.
Slithered about among the people and they did the people much people died. It was a toxic fight and they prayed to Moses that you know, Moses would pray and ask God to remove these serpents, but actually God, he did something far more wonderful.
Not only did we move the surface, but he healed the snake bite.
And how could a person be healed? Just look.
They're always so simple.
What were they to look at?
Raisin, serpent and Hope.
And I agree to set up in a position in the camp that was easy to see.
So if one had been bitten, all they needed to look.
Look and live.
And how often we see that him, you know, there's life in a book that they crucified.
And it's a look of faith.
And that's what counts. I I believe here in this gospel, we get records to faith and believing about 100 times.
His faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation.
I just appreciate the fact that we have another.
Lesson in the Old Testament the Old Testament in all this revealed in the new and helps us to understand that.
The work of Christ is required for your salvation and money.
So the importance of new birth that we had.
Without that man has no faith, would have no faith to look at the lifted up Son of God and believe. Without that new life there is no capacity to believe.
Man is totally bankrupt. Who's not over that? There's no capacity for it. He can't. He can't come to God. He can't produce anything for God. He can't have faith. And what's being presented now is the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross as the object of faith.
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And in believing.
Then the possession of eternal life. So there has to be new birth first for there to be a life that would believe God's testimony and have faith in the Son of man lifted up in Calvary's cross, his finished work. So that's why that has to come first in the chapter.
And then we come to this part that shows what faith does, or that faith has an object, and that object is the Son of Man lifted up. I if I be lifted up, he said in chapter 12, we'll draw all men unto me. He's the object of faith in that way, saving faith.
And so.
All that believe on him will not perish.
You know, it's an interesting word, isn't it? Perish.
We have foods we call perishables. They get spoiled and they're no longer any good for what they were intended for.
What a horrible thing.
For man to go into a waste eternity and never.
Never fulfill the place that God had intended him to fulfill.
Paris ruined eternally.
So those who believe.
Not only received eternal life, they'll never perish. They're going to fill the place that God intended them to fill in half.
We tend to fill in details, don't we, of in passages because we know other passages and we in our minds we pull them in.
So there's really not too much here about the work of Christ on Calvary's cross. It's just kind of suddenly implied lift it up. Well, does that mean raised up like I raised up Pharaoh or I raised up this king? No, it's lifted up and then over in John, I think it's the 8th chapter, the Lord said when ye hath lifted up the son of God. And so again, who did it did it? Man did it in responsibility. And these things are always woven together, but it's it's.
Yes, it's the work of Christ prefigured as Wally has quit before us in Moses lifting up the serpent, but the direction of faith is to the person.
Whosoever believeth in him and in verse 16, whosoever believeth in him, verse 18, he that believeth on him and it's it's just such good. It's good advice for us to when passing on the gospel to others to point them to a person and all the value. I, I read this years ago and it's I just, I just have enjoyed it ever since.
There's only maybe two times.
Where we're told in the New Testament to believe on his work for every 100 times we're told to believe on himself and the brother that was putting that out in a in in a book I was reading, he made this comment. He said all the value of his work is made good to the believer when he believes on his person because he knows what he did. It's wonderful. You don't even have to understand reconciliation to be reconciled.
You don't have to understand hardly anything, but you believe on God's Son and you're not going to believe on a dead person. And that's why resurrection is connected with believing in his person as we know from many gospel verses. But we point a soul and I know my neighbor who led me to the Lord who pointed me to Christ. And then as time went on after I would say I learned what he had done for me. So it's it's amazing that.
There's a little detail in Hebrews that said says almost all things in the law are purged by blood.
Because a really poor person could just bring some meals. That's just looking at Leviticus 5 and go ahead and read it. And that was the sin offering. And I'm one of that. That's how I came there. I came in with meals and I learned about the blood later on. Go ahead.
Because 511 But if you be not able to bring 2 turtles out, which is just the very least of the animal sacrifice offerings.
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Or two young pigeons. Then he that sin shall bring for his offering the 10th part of an Ethel fine flower for sin offering.
So it's it's the minimum, but it if it's the person of Christ and the fine flower, it's his personal.
Just as a textual note, this King James switching back and forth between eternal and everlasting, Just go with eternal. I think there's only two places in the New Testament where it's a different word, kind of a on forever everlasting ones in Jude. I can't remember what the other one is, but you can go with eternal all the way through here. It's the quality of the life that existed.
Before the world was in the sun himself.
He was that eternal life and I thought it was well explained by a couple of the brothers, the difference between the Holy Spirit quickening giving life new birth and Old Testament times to have life. But now we're talking about a different thing here because we're looking forward to the whole to the effect of the Son of God himself offering himself taking a new place on the other side of death and.
Communicates now the character of life that men never had before, and the Word of God calls it eternal life.
So verse 16 would would show us how God loved the world.
This is how God knows the world. He gave His only begotten Son.
You know God so loved the world.
Well, how? How do you still love it? He loved it in giving the dearest off because he caught his son.
And and as the previous verses.
He's the one that would lift it up. No man took his life from him. He laid it down with himself.
He gave his life and that's.
The emphasis.
God, that's how God what you know to give yourself.
So God loves.
And she did as a result of that love.
Yes, the first part of the verse I believe is about God, but the last part of the verse is about you and Lee. When we believe, then we have.
And that's wonderful. But right in the center of this verse, believe in King James Version is 25 words.
Have the word son, son, and that just speaks my own heart that God's desire is that our thoughts might indeed centered in his son. It's like yes, UN is at the center of the solar system. Yes, ON is at the center of God's voice.
You would have us.
Taking this thoughts about this son.
But I also enjoyed that.
I was listening to you again.
Podcast I think it was Sandy down he was bringing out that this verse John 316.
Was what the Lord spoke at the beginning of his ministry. 3 1/2 years of ministry and it's as though the Lord Jesus couldn't wait to reveal what was in the heart of His Father. He's talking about the love of God and he want to make it known. And I just really enjoyed that thought.
Put a a magnanimous subject.
Considered the love of God.
Sleeping.
So let's ask a question.
If new birth is life from God.
And the Old Testament Saints were born of God and they had that life. And they're surely because as I already had the basis of God giving life to begin with, even in new birth is the cross. And they're going to be in heaven. They're going to be caught up.
With New Testament Saints, why does God give eternal life?
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Now why isn't that life that he imparts at new birth in US?
What's the point?
John 17, verse 3.
New life doesn't bring us into fellowship with.
Father and the Son.
Internalized is what is the enjoyment of that fellowship, and so he wants far more than.
Those who are safe, who wants those that are in relationship with himself to enjoy that community of John 17, three, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And that's really what He wants is communion with the Father and the Son, and also refine us by the power of the Holy Spirit that we communion of the Holy Ghost, that we enjoy it. And that's been his plan.
That's not a backup plan, that's that's the original.
Titus, I think Bruce, you mentioned this verse acknowledging Titus chapter one and verse.
To and hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, but half in due times manifested his word through preaching and.
Give it again in a second, Timothy one.
Fallen apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.
A promise made between the Father and the Son in a past eternity. They enjoyed that communion, a holy loving.
Sweet communion for all eternity and a promise was made in that inter trinitarian communion. We're going to bring others into this. Let's share this.
Now you get into the stratosphere. We're beyond, yeah.
Beautiful.
So we have.
Some titles here.
We have Son of Man in verse 13.
So the man lifted up first. Fourteen months.
We have God in verse 16 giving his only begotten Son.
That's I think something we only hear from John, that title only begotten Son.
We have we move on to verse 17. God sent his son.
Then in verse 18.
He that believeth not is condemned already, because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
When you're a school boy or a school girl and you're writing a little essay.
And you tend to use the same word for the same concept.
And then your mom or your dad or your editor of the Internet or whatever you do these days, oh, you just, well, we'll just change that word to me. You know, we'll get the thesaurus out and we'll switch to word. So it's not tedious, right? So I'll say stop saying the word BUI bye bye. You use the word purchase and you just change it up just to make it read better, right? Not the way the word of God is. These titles mean things.
And I'll let somebody else.
Only begotten is.
I believe this might be wrong, but I believe the only other person in the New Testament.
That is called The only begotten is Isaac and Hebrews 11. By faith, Abraham offered up his only begotten son.
And we will look back in Genesis to find that God tells them to offer his only son. I'm only Isaac. Was it his only son?
No, yeah, wasn't his only son the way we would talk, but it was his only son. It was his only Isaac.
And so it was the one who occupied the chief place in his heart.
And so when you get the term only begotten, it speaks of the place that that one occupies, and the Father part.
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It's it's a term of wonderful affection. First begotten is a term of preeminence. He's the first begotten as well. That's a term of preeminence. But only begotten is the term of the place he has in the Father's affections. He's the only begotten.
Why was there no other way?
Because what was forfeited?
Was man's life.
And the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
So man forfeited his life and sin.
No animal could give its life for a man's life.
It's not a mess.
Only a man can give his life for another man's life. What man could give his life for my forfeited life you couldn't do. Yours is forfeited too, not yours to give.
Only one.
Spotless, Perfect, holy.
Man, but there's more.
A mere man could not bear.
The judgment that must fall to vindicate the throne of God. He must be God to be able to bear it.
He must be a man to give his life for a man. He must be the God man.
Eternal Son Incarnate.
So you have the the the title husband.
These some of these young brothers married. You weren't a husband until you got a wife. Husband and wife are terms that go together.
And the term.
Son goes with father.
And the sun was the sun from all eternity.
There is an ancient heresy that resurfaces and gets recycled every once in a while.
That the sun only became the sun in time.
And.
I it was an older brother that Steve and I kind of grew up spiritually under.
He left fellowship, you know.
Difficulty. I heard he was taken up with a fellowship characterized by this error. I couldn't believe it.
He was on his deathbed. I went to see him.
I stood at the foot of his bed in Connecticut.
And I said you are in this such and such a fellowship from the city. Yes, I am.
He called it a different name than I did.
I said I've heard that there are two, two heresies connected with that.
One is the the fact that.
You hold that the sun was not the sun from all eternity, that he became the sun in time.
And I said the other is that the believer doesn't possess presently eternal life.
He started to give you. I was astonished. He started to give me scriptures to support both those ideas.
And I looked to the Lord, and I said quickly, you know, and.
I said it says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. How do you give something you don't have?
How does that happen?
There are other verses I'm sure you might think of different ones, but some sober.
But these verses meanwhile, he has been preaching the gospel in a simple manner to children for decades. Probably uses this verse all the time.
And it can be grasped by a little child. And yet these things are so deep with that.
We could take this up every night for the rest of the year and we still have. You'd still be looking down deeper, yet the coin would still be going down, as John Kemp said. And so we have the Father and the Son both in eternal existence even before the world. But then there's the term the Son of God.
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That seems to me.
1000% positive on this, but when it says Son of God, it says a man who's the son of God.
And of course, Son of Mine is a different title that has to do with the place that God has now assigned him. Because remember, there's that ancient question, what is that?
And could have taken this up the other day, but when, when Joe Bretton, what raises the question, what is man? He starts to talk about man and his weakness and in his depravity drinks iniquity like water, et cetera. And he goes through that in the subsequent chapters. But then when you read it in Psalm 8 and you read it in Hebrews too.
It takes on an entirely different character. What is man now?
Like they hint at him we have I think it's 216 takes on a totally different character because it's the man after God's counsel is Christ. It's the last Adam, the 2nd man, the Lord out of heaven.
So that title, Son of Man, and I know I've heard you comment on Steven helpfully.
He seems to like to refer to himself in that way in light of the imminent rejection that was that was darkening around him.
There's a sense in which God raised the Lord Jesus up from amongst the rest of the dead in defiance of man.
He raised him up for his own glory.
And because it was the righteous thing to do.
What the world world said, but you know.
Heathen rage and the people imagined the vain thing they were against the Lord and against his anointing. God said no that's not I'm going to raise him in spite of war. Your rejection of him instead of that one. That's a beautiful side of things to the renewed heart we we love to think of the reward that God has already given the Lord Jesus and So what is man is the one who's.
You see, already crowned with glory and honor, seated on the right hand of the majesty. So there's connected that two sides of that coin, rejection as as God's man, and exalted is God's man.
So in a sense, there's only two men. You say what about me, what about us? You're hidden away in that second time.
Your life is it with Christ and God. You're all set. You're in that second man.
There's a lot in the slog that might be saved is easier.
Lord our God sent sent his son. There was there was no other way. It was it was the only thing that he could do in in sending the son to send this one.
To pay the price to clear the debt.
But it says.
In verse 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.
Didn't want to condemn the world, but there was only one way, one thing to do in sending the sun that.
The world through him might be saved.
Might be saved and, and I think it's wonderful to think, brother, just take a little time sometime just to think of the wonderfulness of being safe.
So you're safe. This there's what's coming upon this scene is undescribable.
Sometimes we get a little, a little smoke of the pit, you know, and it comes before.
We see things in there in a in a horrible state of things, but it is it hasn't even begun when the Saints were taken home.
It's going to be horrible. It's a wonderful thing that God sent his son, that the world might be saved. So think about it sometimes, what it is to be saved, to be saved.
That's AI think you brought up a four brother that.
Verse 16 shows how much God loved the world. That's what that little word. So it's a qualifier. In other words, here's the measure of how much God's love to this world is.
What is the measure he gave his only begotten Son? Can you measure it? It's infinite.
Nonetheless, that little word so as a qualifier.
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Those are the end of the chapter and you get the love of God again.
There's the Father, verse 35.
The Father loveth the son.
Doesn't say the father so loved the son.
As infinite as the love of God is, and giving his only begotten Son, and has a qualifier.
But when the Father's love to the Son is brought up, there is no soul, there is no qualifier. It's like it's beyond infinite nothing to qualify it. The Father love of the Son. There is a parallel way of taking that up on another side of things in Ephesians 3 when it comes to the truth of the mystery and the prayer of the apostle.
He prays that verse 17 Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, and 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, all qualifiers of what?
The mystery.
Jew and Gentile, joint heirs, joint partakers in Christ by the Gospel. So on Mystery length, Brett Jensen height. And it just trails off into Infinity.
But they're qualifiers. Length, breadth, depth and height are dimensions, the word. So it's a dimension. What's the next verse? It's a separate thought. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, No dimension.
No dementia. As wonderful as the mystery is the truth of Christ and the Church.
The love of Christ has no dimension comes to you and I, and it's the same with the love of God to this world. It has a dimension infinite as it is. So when it comes to love of the Father to the Son, there is no qualifying.
You can't put dementia on it.
As to the character that that love takes?
It takes on a different character that it's the same word as John 316 as it is in John 335I think it's both agape, but in John 316 it's the love of compassion. I think we were talking about this the other day. It's the love of compassion. But when it's the Father in love with the Son or the when the Lord Jesus says to you and me as believers, the Father himself loves you.
It's the love of complacency.
It's a love of of enjoyed relationship. That's a different thing.
It doesn't say that I am aware of, even though we sing it. Jesus loves all the little children. He says suffer the children to come unto me, and he does love them, love them because he's God. But the love of Jesus of Christ is the love of relationship with you and me, but it's God in his fullness of his entire.
Multiple personhood, if I could put it that way, for lack of good words, that has come out in compassion to Mass. He loves math.
He loves man Man is his masterpiece.
Not even angels are as glorious to God as men. They have power. But none of this is masterpiece.
This word condemned I.
I I misunderstood that for many years.
Told my dear father before he was saved and we had a lot of heart to heart conversations.
Said.
Dad here. It's not that you're waiting for condemnation. You're condemned already.
You know I was wrong really, and it wasn't till I started to.
Recently to look up words more with this little tool here, you know, you can look up words so easily rather than the old concordance which I still have, but and I learned something from J&D and that is that.
When it's the word crema K in in English letters for Greek words KRINA prima.
Which is like our word crime. It's an it's like an indictment. You are indicted. I properly should have said to my dad, you've been indicted and and the record of your indictment exists because condemnation is fine.
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And so in some verses like enrollments, you don't have both in there. It'll have indicted, you'll have prima, and then it'll say judgment may lead to condemnation of the Sinner. That's fine. There's no appeal in that court. It's Kata Karima, and you can look them up on your little phone there if you have a, you know, have strongs on it and it's very helpful. And so you see those things together. So in that hymn where it says once we stood in condemnation.
We're not really accurate.
It it sounds, it's poetic, it's properly speaking, once we stood in judgment or indictment. And so J&D uses the word judgment for crema for indictment and and condemnation for the final thing.
It's just helpful to see that that little difference.
A condemned criminal is just waiting The execution of the sentence. He's condemned the trials taking place. It's done.
Just back to that thought of eternal life and communion and.
Godhead in that circle of fellowship we've been brought into.
Umm, it's been touched on in the meetings earlier. The place God is bringing us into a communion and fellowship is one of being a worshipper.
And as we go on in John's gospel, we find then in chapter 4 that there's the water that the Lord offers that woman be a well of water in her springing up into eternal life. And he takes up the subject of worship, this eternal life we have.
It's it's a similar thought. And in this way with due birth, there's a capacity there.
Oh well, a spring. Let me put it this way. A spring. You know what a spring is? A spring of water. A springs power.
Is not measured in its capacity.
It's measured in its power to overflow, because if it can't overflow, it doesn't give you anything. It's not a well can't overflow, it doesn't give you anything.
What the Lord was offering that woman was not another well.
He was offering her what was really going to be future the Spirit of God that would be given to those who put believed in him who possessed the eternal life of the Spirit of God would be the power for that spring to overflow and worship. May that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's the power of overflow and worship and so.
We have eternal life and then we get the thought of the Spirit of God as the overflow. The object is that it brings us into the place of worshippers. I want to connect that with a verse in Mark. I've got this from someone else and I still enjoyed it. March 14.
We know the account of the woman that anointed the Lord's anointment.
Verse eight. She has done what she could. She has come before him to anoint my body to the very end. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she have done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. What had she done? It was worship. Wherever this gospel is this wonderful.
This story is going to be told of a worshiper because that is the true object and end of the gospel.
Is to take.
Lost sinners.
And bring them into that circle of communion, the Father and the Son, in the enjoyment of the life eternal, and the power of the Spirit of God to be worshippers for the joy of His own heart, His.
The object of the Gospel. So the Lord forever links this worshippers.
With wherever the gospel will be told, and because she is an example of its true object.
And when we're all there worshippers in His presence, the full object of the gospel will be realized and the full satisfaction of the heart of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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But he wants that from us now.
It's a present possession of eternal life.
The Father seeketh such to worship Him not later on down the road.
So there are. Let's see, our time is up. But.
Getting back to the brother's comment at the very beginning of the meeting about the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God as a divine person.
Brings new life to us, we read in in Ephesians 2.
That were dead have been quickened together with him.
And there are verses like we could read 2nd Thessalonians 2. I'm not sure I read this the other day.
2nd Thessalonians 213 and there are verses of similar character in Peter.
That expresses the work of the Spirit of God to bring life.
Verse 13 of 2nd Thessalonians 2 We are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you who spoke about that to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereas we called you by our gospel to you obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those two verses kind of link up with Romans 828 through 31 or two where you have the whole, the whole carrying out the the actualization of what God has chosen us for, chosen us. He's picked out a destiny that he has chosen us for. He calls us, he justified. He sanctifies us, justifies us.
Process.
But the work of the Spirit of God, as we read earlier in John 3, is that wind that blows where it lists it. It produces life by the water and the Spirit. But now believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, since the work of Calvary is completed, beholden the Lord Jesus is glorified. When you believe to the saving on him, to the saving of your soul, there's something else the Holy Spirit does. He indwells you.
You have a divine person dwelling. That's something different.
And that is the source of our union with Christ as our head in heaven. Union we have with one another. And He is the source of understanding, discernment of holiness and worship, and understanding and being guided into all things. Yes.
Privilege that testament sense did not happen.
And the proof of that is in John 7.
Fact that it's exclusive. Tim was using that word today. Exclusive. This is exclusive.
Verse John 7 and 38 he that believeth on me as the Scripture have said out of his belly shall flow as Steven was saying this is the spring type action flow rivers of living water and then we have the exposition of Scripture by Scripture which is.
Extremely helpful.
But this big key of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, was that Jesus was not yet glorified.
We've taken up.
What what we could call the Gospel, Wally.
And the gospel is.
We have, we sometimes have, while he doesn't have this adventure, but we sometimes have the attitude that the gospel is like Christianity 101 like when you go to college and they give you these entry level courses, 101 and then you move on to other things. And so if we have gospel meetings in the, in the, in the room and in the meeting room, all this, this young brother, he got saved last year. Let's have him take the gospel. I'm not a fan of that.
This is just me personally.
The gospel is not Christianity 101 and the gospel #1 There's a gift associated with telling it out publicly. That's one side of it, but also the gospel we spend.
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I don't know. How many years have you been studying the truth of the Gospel, Wally? 50 years. 60 years.
60 years and for me it was only 45 or so, but it's I still I, I'm fast, I I'm fascinated with it, the aspects of it. Justification. What does that mean? My dear brother friend Nick Simon wrote a beautiful paper on it. I can see the 80 sanctification.
We could go on appreciation subsequent to all these things, aspects of the gospel.
So if you're in a little meeting and you feel like you're being starved and not enjoying the gospel, just to hold a night a week to taking up the gospel in a reading, we we did that during COVID. It was really edifying.
Started with Genesis 22 and went to Exodus 12. We went to Leviticus.
16 and we moved on through there.
Went to all the offerings. The gospel is not 101 it's it can be, but it's just a profoundly deep and edifying subject and it it.
Increase your appreciation of the love of God and.
Ability to bring a Bullock instead of, like I first did, a couple handfuls of flour.
Call number 93.