Hello, everyone. Let me read from this great text again. John chapter 3, verse 16 through 18. 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 is not condemned, But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now this is such a great text that we couldn't speak enough about it last week. And we were encouraged, so many people thought it made a great Christmas message. And indeed, because it centers on the love of God. And not just the love of God for us, but the love of God the father for his son. And we made much of this term only begotten son of God. It's a term that is not just numerical and saying there's only one. It's a term of endearment. How precious to have an only child. And the preciousness of the belovedness that the father feels towards his son makes the gift of his son, the sacrifice of his son even more precious to us, more valuable. This great theme of how much God loved his son then how much he loved us to give him up for us We've had to have a part two and I hope this will find itself a very useful New Year's message Focus In a world that is full of conflicted forms of love and many battles of words and many false affections and promises and so forth, there's nothing better than to focus on the love of God as we approach 2023. If we don't get centered on that, We won't have the base from which we can face this world and respond correctly to it. And if we don't respond correctly to it, we're going to react to it. And that's kind of like the new driver. I hate to pick on the teenagers, but the new drivers, if they start to go to one ditch, they over-crack and they head towards the other ditch. And that's what reactions are like. We want to respond, and we need to be in full understanding of the love God has for us, and we need to be fully participating in that love that's a part of us. Okay, let's look at some things we ended last time With the thought from 1st John chapter 3 verse 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God or the children of God Okay, we're going to behold that we're gonna like take that more deeply and to study it, to examine it, to look for some detail, to not just say, oh, that's nice. You know, that's maybe a problem some old people have. They've been married for a bunch of years, and one says, I love you to the other, and they'll just more or less think, that's nice. Or they'll say, I know. And it's lost its vitality. It's lost its preciousness. Let's get back to some preciousness here. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us He has declared to the universe that he loves us even as he loves his own son. That's huge I Need to take you to a very special place in Scripture now all scriptures sacred and holy and and You know, it's it's hard to pick a favorite one. I come to John 17. I really I Really think that's holy ground like like when Moses was told to take his shoes off at the burning bush when the son of God speaks to his father about his earthly mission and about his climax of that mission by going to the cross. This is very, very sacred moment. I read to you as Jesus is praying here towards the end of his prayer, John chapter 17 and verse 22 to 26, Jesus said, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be as one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Now that's a passage I've learned not to read too quickly. It can sound like, I don't know, some kind of a circular statement. I in them, and they in me, and I with them, and I love them, and you love them. If you go too fast, it might seem trite. Take it slowly. In this prayer, Jesus has declared some wonderful things. The oneness between the Father and the Son is also with us now. I imagine what we're learning is that we will be closer to God than the angels when we are in our glorified state. Now that's a big deal. To be brought back from sin is tremendous grace. To be brought into the family of God is tremendous grace. To be considered one in love, in spirit, with the Father and with the Son, for Him to say that He loves us as He loves His own Son. The unity of that, the glory of that, It's more than my human imagination can take in. I cannot imagine what this all will look like one day. But it's got to be a great thing. Jesus was willing to go to the cross and suffer the punishment of hell-like judgment for our sins so that we could have this, share this with Him. He didn't have to share, but the Father asked Him to and He was willing. The Father did not have to give His Son. But he wanted to. And to be loved that much, when I know what I am, and I know what I'd be without the grace of God, this is truly amazing. How much he loved the Son, and how much he loved us. Loves us. Okay, now my problem is, I try to prepare a lot of scripture that fortifies a subject of thought. Something I just learned years ago, that if you just pull one verse out, there's somebody going to say, well, why aren't you using other scriptures and is this out of context? And I kind of learned to back up scripture statements with more scripture statements. But I know there's only so much a mind can bear. And so I offer notes that you can get. If you're watching this video, there's a way to get those notes. And I'm just trusting that maybe somebody out there would like to go more deep, more deeply into these things. And I provided more scripture for meditation. And if you have a good study Bible, commentaries, or just read them and pray about them, you should get a lot more substance than all the things that I am unable to say in one sitting. Okay, so the privileges we have because we have repented of our sins and believed on God's only begotten son. The father loves us just as he loves his son. The believer enters into the realms of this wonderful, endearing, enduring love. And the effect of this, it has a preserving power, It will preserve us just like people that can vegetables and fruits and they preserve it from the outward environment and those vegetables can stay preserved and good so they're edible at a later time. We are preserved by the love of God but we're also transformed by it. We become something else. as we seek to grasp this love. As I said, there's a lot of scripture on this, and I put more in here than I can read tonight, but I'm gonna take us to 1 John chapter four. It was very hard to decide what few passages I might give us tonight. But in 1 John chapter four, starting with verse 14, Okay, first John 4 14 and we have seen and do testify That the father sent the son to be the savior of the world Now when he says we have seen and do testify You go right back to the beginning of this book and he says our eyes have seen our ears have heard our hands have handled of the word of life and these things that we have from the father and the son now we Declare to you that you can have fellowship with us, too He can be like partners in this truth and experience it as a reality. So we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. We have seen what Jesus said and did. We have seen what the scriptures predicted He would do. We have identified Him through the testimony God documented ahead of time. So we've seen it. And we saw Him die and we saw Him risen from the dead and with many infallible proofs. That's why we're sticking our necks out to make sure you know about it, too. How this has lovingly come down to you and me over many centuries, it's such a gift. But verse 15, 1 John 4, 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. You enter into another realm. Physically, you're still here, and for the most part, you'll look the same. But you are now in a new kingdom. You've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. And we confess, which means we speak the same thing. We agree with God. We agree with his testimony from the Old Testament. We agree with the testimony of the apostles. And we agree with God himself, because God has revealed it to our minds and our hearts. It's not just an academic conclusion you make. This has to be revealed to you by his spirit, which is mentioned earlier in the chapter. and he goes on to say in verse 16 of 1st John 4, and we have known and believed the love that God has to us. Now he didn't just say we saw, he says now we have known. We have known and believed. Before he said we have seen and testified, now we have known and believed. There is something here about love that is beyond mere words. They have experienced this love. They have seen it incarnate, but it's had a transforming power. These people after, I should say before Pentecost were much different afterwards. And they've been transformed, they are brave, they are ready to share with the world and pay the price. Because when you confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you are taking sides with God, and you've crossed the line, in the sense the world drew a line that says, don't you dare. Don't you dare make this exclusive one God, one Savior, one gospel thing. We have all kinds of religions, and we're all good, and I'm okay, and you're okay, as long as you keep telling me I'm okay. But when you crossed the line the world has made, you have also crossed the line that God has made, and now you're on his side, you're with him, and he has taken you in. His love now will preserve you and transform you. And it goes on to say, in verse 16, God is love. And he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. Now if you confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God, God is in you and you are in God. Now it's telling us that you have entered into a world of love. This is God's love. The love that he had before the foundation of the world, John 17 said, the love that he had for his son is extended now to those who love his son. who received his son. They have repented of their sins, they believed on the gospel truth of Jesus Christ, and they're following him, and now they are in this world of love, this protective love, this preserving love, this transforming love. Okay, I'll just mention one more thing that needs to be mentioned here, verse 19, jumping over. We love him because he first loved us. We're not talking about some love I conjured up and offered to God we're talking about the preservation power the Transformation power of the love that God had for us My first experience that he loved me first I Okay, then comes Jude's statement just before Revelation after Third John there's a little book of Jude and I'm looking at verses 20 and 21. There's really only one chapter here. There's 20 and 21, but you beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith Praying in the Holy Spirit Keep yourselves in the love of God Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ on the eternal life Just highlight a few things here. You are beloved. John never got tired of using that term. If I talk to a bunch of men like that, they probably think there's something wrong. I'm too gushy or mushy or sentimental. But John had no problem with this. He kept using this term as a term of endearment. You are beloved. If I have more time to study 1 John, we find out that when God has loved you, you then learn how to love the brethren. That's gonna come up in our next point. But right here, you're beloved, and you are to build yourself up on your most holy faith. Here we're not talking about the act of belief. We're talking about that which you believe, okay? We're talking about the truth that you believe, the faith. Build yourself up on it. The faith is full of fortification. You need to gird up the loins of your mind. You need to strengthen your heart with truth. Build yourself up on your most holy faith. The fact that I believe, that's a holy thing, but the fact that I have this object to believe, which is Jesus Christ and his gospel, that is most holy. and I'm gonna keep myself refreshed and going through the steady nutrition of it. And then it says that you are to keep yourselves in the love of God. I'm always afraid people will misunderstand. This doesn't mean that you can keep God loving you because you can't make God love you. You can't stop him from loving you. You're not in charge of this. God's love is initiative. He initiates this love. Other kinds of loves are imitations, they're fake, they won't make it. But this love of God, he initiated it, we love him because he first loved us, but it says here that you are to keep yourselves in it. In other words, preserve yourself. Stay in that environment of love. Don't wander off into legalism. Don't wander off into mysticism and strange, weird doctrines and traditions of man. And there's a whole list of the things that Colossians 2 talks about in Colossians 2, 6 through 10. You preserve yourself. Stay in this environment of love. And what you're doing is you're looking for the mercy. You're looking forward to it. You're looking at it. You're projecting yourself into this, which has been promised you. And by faith, you're living it out and looking forward to more of it. This mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ all the way unto eternal life. Eternal life begins now when you believe, but it's gonna get better. When you get a new body to go with it, and a new heaven and a new earth to go with it, which is things we've talked about a lot lately in our other series that's going on at Northland, The King is Coming. And most of you who are listening to this will have access to those messages too. And if not, if anybody on YouTube, they don't have the other messages there, just go to our website or go to sermonaudio.com and look for Northland Bible Church. And there's a series called The King is Coming. You have so much to look forward to and in an environment not just of love now It'll be an environment that is totally righteous and peaceful full of perfection and no sin no temptation I'm savoring that that series of messages. I just got done teaching so Because this same enduring love the same It's supposed to carry over from within us to wards others who were in the Brotherhood of Christ Okay We've been looking at first John's not far away. I'm gonna go back to first John chapter 4 starting with verse 9 It was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him Here in his love not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be Propitiation for our sins. He was the means of obtaining mercy satisfying God's demands Now verse 11 says this beloved if God so loved us We are also to love one another The Father who has paid the same price for you and me and the next person absolutely expects us to fall in line and be at peace with one another in the bonds of God's love. What a reason to unite. We may not have anything else in common. We may be different cultures. We may have different tastes. We may have all kinds of different things based on this world. But if we base it on the other world, we have the most important thing in common that will never be changed. That's the love of God. So let me say verse 11 again. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Chapter four is full of this. And chapter five, the first three verses, more of it. But I gotta keep moving. This love from God and from Christ is supposed to carry over also. from within us towards those who do not know Christ. People who have not believed the gospel, they are not born again, they are lost. They might be earthly family, they might be a friend, they might be a neighbor, they might be a stranger, they might be an enemy, doesn't matter. We owe the gospel with our love and prayers to all people. Now that really changes the equation. If we get caught up in all of this earthly struggle right now, whether you're thinking about business, economics, or politics, If we get caught up in that and start hating people, and reviling people, and speaking evil of people, we gotta watch out. A big failure amongst Christians is to get so caught up with the personalities that we abhor them, we react about them. We gotta stay talking about ideas. What is truth? What is right, what is wrong? Because every person whatever side they are on this issue or that issue. They are a soul and The potential for them to be a brother or sister in Christ Makes them special because we have been left in this world to love and pray for the lost Now that's a tough one You know, Mark 16, 15. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now, King James, New King James maintains the word creature. The other translations today seem to go towards creation. Okay, preach the gospel to all creation, but they don't mean None of them mean preach to bunny rabbits or deer or elephant or whatever else. All the people that are in creation. I think it's important to think of a creature as one who has been created. You see, it's a very humbling thing. We're all creatures. Now, we're more than the animals in that God gave us a soul. He made us in his image. I get that. But on the other hand, it's humbling that we are just created people and we can't really control our lives and we can't control our destinies. We try, but because we were created, we also are finite and we can die. We're mortal. And this humbles us, or it's supposed to humble us. And then the word of the gospel becomes so great. He who is ever living, all powerful, all knowing, holy, he is also so gracious that he would bring us into his realm and make us immortal. What an invitation. Nobody else offers a better thing than this. Completely paid for for the father sent his son to be the savior of the world Now I'm gonna walk on to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Verses 14 and 15 because we want to remember this is about our focus on God's love behold what manner of love It says here in 2 Corinthians 5.14, for the love of Christ constrains us, it controls us. Some translations say it compels us. Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, spiritually dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. What a beautiful, consuming thought. We were, spiritually speaking, zombies, walking dead men. But Jesus died, rose from the dead, and he said, because I live, you shall live also. Now we're living beings. We have taken on immortality. Not physically yet, but the inner person, the soul has taken on immortality. We have everlasting life. Now, this life we have is not to be wasted and squandered on just ourselves. We owe everything to him who gave himself for us that we might have that eternal life. Now we go down to verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature or creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Verse 18 says, and all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry Reconciliation We have been transformed And we've been given a job It's called the ministry of reconciliation helping others to become friends with God We're just sinners we're enemies and We don't care what he says. We don't care what he wants. We do what we want. We don't like to hear what he wants. We don't want him interfering with our lives. We're acting like enemies. Some are nicer about it than others, but nonetheless. Reconciliation means two who were enemies are now friends. In human relationships, usually both parties have to reconcile. They have to both give in. admit something, be sorry. God doesn't have to be sorry. God doesn't have to repent. It is we who went astray. And God has done that which he didn't have to do. He's offered a way that we can all be reconciled. And now that we are, we're supposed to grab somebody else and bring them along. Others should be reconciled through the gospel. Now, I got to be careful because each one of these passages just absolutely grabs me and makes me want to talk more. But I'm going to give you two things that Paul said to Timothy to consider about how this love, which has been given to us, is in us, now needs to come from us to others, first to the brotherhood in Christ, fellow Christians, but also to the non-believers. We're out here to find lost sheep, lost people, bring them in so they can be reconciled. Now, Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2, verses one through six. I'll see if I can not over-comment here, but 1 Timothy 2, verse one, I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, and recessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Now keep in mind that you can't verbally name every person in the whole world, but all here I think has the idea of all kinds, all types of people, great, small, wealthy, poor, but it will emphasize leadership here a lot. How we look at those who are in authority. for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men, that is, all kinds of men, to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. You think about this the Son of God has set things up so that and whosoever will may come It's it's it's not limited to certain classes of people whether the religious ethnic or or anything else you can think of all kinds all kinds We should be praying for them Because Christ died for them and so We want them to come to the knowledge of the truth, so we pray. And I promise you, if you can pray sincerely for a political opponent, you will find it much easier to not hate them and revile them. But this is what he's told us to do. I don't have time to go to Matthew chapter five, verses 44 through, I think, 46 it is, or 48, about loving your enemies. But when we keep treating each other as enemies, and I get it, there's some dangerous people out there and there's some dangerous things happening, and I don't wanna sound trivial, but somehow we have to find that love that God had for his son that God has for us. We have to have that kind of love to go out into this world and be loving people, inviting people to the only mercy they'll ever be able to have through Jesus Christ. The second thing I want to point out that Paul told Timothy is in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 24 to 26. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. I have seen great examples of this, when people have stood before accusers and people who want to do wicked things, and they have maintained a composure, a calmness, and not just a calmness, but a certain winsomeness in which they were reasoning. with those who were accusing them, or threatening them, or tormenting them. I've seen it. I think the Apostle Paul did a great job of it in the book of Acts. But if you can see Jesus before Pilate, you can see a man who is in total possession of himself, and he never reviled. Peter reminds us, when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. And I know how awful can be when our very lives are being threatened and the way of life that we Things are happening and we're suffering the loss. I know it's not easy. But then again look what they did to the Son of God and And let's have a little pity. Instead of fearing people or hating people, we need to pity them. We need to have mercy for them. Because it will not go well for those who despise and reject God's love. It will not go well for those who despise and reject God's only begotten Son. It will not go well for those who despise and reject the children of God. It will not go well for those who are despising and rejecting the message of God's love through the gospel. Now, what I'm gonna try to take a moment and do, I have no idea how long I've been talking, but there's something here in Luke that is very important. Chapter 10 is a very simple statement Jesus said to his disciples as he was sending them out to minister to others and the different reactions they were going to get from people but in Luke 10 16 he says he that hears you hears me and He that despises you despises me and he that despises me despises him that sent me That's what it's going to be one day people will stand before God and and who have to deal with their hatred for God that they demonstrated by their despising Christ and the gospel, and by their despising the messengers of the gospel. I go to Luke chapter 20, and time will not allow me to elaborate here. I hope it will be as plain to you as it was plain to the people that heard this teaching. This parable, the Jesus set forth. Luke 20 verse 9, then began he to speak to the people this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard and let it forth. In other words, he rented it out to husbandmen, to gardeners, caretakers of the vineyard. and he went into a far country for a long time. And at the season, he sent a servant to the husbandman that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard. Okay, they've worked it, they've been renting it, they owe him something. But the husbandman beat him and sent him away empty. And again, he sent another servant, and they beat him also, and then treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third, and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, this is the heir. This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid. Something was getting through here. It isn't just a story about a vineyard, is it? But it's about their nation. It's about the people of Israel that claim the covenant with God. And they're saying, oh may God not let this happen. And he beheld them and said, what is it, this then, that is written? And he quotes from the Psalms. The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder That's quite a statement. The people fighting Jesus is like they pounce on a stone. That's gonna hurt. But one day that stone's gonna be this great thing that's gonna crush and destroy all enemies. And verse 19 says, the chief priests and the scribes of the same hour sought to lay hands on him, and they feared the people, for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. Many religious people, many people think they're doing God's service, are actually fighting God as they destroy and kill his people. As we speak, there are people suffering somewhere in this world. for naming the name of Christ and preaching his gospel, ministering to others, they're being treated as evil. And you know what? Even now as they breathe, if they repent, they'll be forgiven. But one day, the King of Kings is coming. And all of the time will now be passed when they could repent. We need to fear for others who are blinded by their passions and things they're ignorant of. The way they've been lied to and they believe those lies and love those lies. We need to have pity. Because but by the grace of God it will be us. So the only begotten Son has taught us about a marvelous love that's eternal, endearing, it's preserving, and it's transforming, and it's been given to us, and we share it with others on this earth right now that are fellow believers. I hope we do. But we also to offer it and share it with those who do not believe. And that's why we're supposed to go to every creature, every member, every human member of creation, and give them that opportunity to know the love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me pray. Father, thank you for this time. I pray that you'll bless what's been said. Please use it. Give us the faith we need to receive it and use it. And I ask, Lord, that you'll give us faith we need for 2023. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you very much.