A Loving God

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Extend Christian greetings to everyone. We're thankful and grateful that the gospel is of such a nature that wherever in the world we go, why there are people there that can respond to the gospel and find the blessings of salvation [00:00:35] and find victory in this life. We're thankful for that. And we have seen that. I'm sure you have too. A gospel is powerful and can do much for people and I'm thankful and grateful that the Lord doesn't just save us but he provides for everything in our life and he has cared for us and I want to turn to John, the gospel of John chapter 14 for a word this morning. [00:01:05] One of the things, I believe I want to read the chapter before we go into it, but one of the things that I see in Christ is the loving concern that he had for his disciples. and reaching down to us, that kind of loving concern from our Savior is unusual for people to believe about their God. [00:01:40] I know how the Hindus look at things and how the Muslims look at things. And they don't know a God who cares about them like this chapter will show us. A loving God who cares for every aspect of their life and has thought of us down through the ages though we live in the year 2010. He still has made provision for us in our time so that we can have our needs taken care of. That kind of loving concern does not exist outside of Christianity. [00:02:14] Believe my words. Many, many people today are, they know there is a spirit world, but they're afraid of it and do all kinds of things to try to at least satisfy the spirits so they won't be bothered and to ask favors of them. But let's see how the picture we get of God from this here passage. I'm going to read all of the chapter at this time, then we want to look at a few points. [00:02:49] Gospel of John, chapter 14. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? [00:03:24] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. [00:03:55] And how sayest thou then, showeth the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. [00:04:30] and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask anything in my name I will do it if you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it see of him not neither know of him but ye He know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more. But ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. [00:05:23] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. [00:05:57] He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. [00:06:28] Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto my Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. [00:07:09] Now Jesus, I've entitled my message, What Jesus is Doing for Us Now. Now Jesus has done much for us already. His work on the cross probably is what we think of first. To think that God would come and die for the sins of his creation is a thought that goes beyond my ability to even imagine. [00:07:42] But this is the truth, that God has loved us to such an extent that he was willing to become one of us and to come down on this world and live among his created beings, be rejected by them. And God knew ahead that it would happen. And finally being nailed and having to die one of the most painful deaths that man has ever come to man's imagination. [00:08:14] The death on the cross is one of the most cruel deaths that have ever been. But God was willing to come down and provide salvation at tremendous cost. But then Jesus also gave us his teaching. And what wonderful teaching that is. It is said that Mahatma Gandhi, and I know you know history, you know that Mahatma Gandhi was one of the main men that enabled India to get its independence. [00:08:50] He was a very strong Hindu. But he said, my favorite reading is the Sermon on the Mount. There's nothing like it anywhere. And that's the truth. That's the truth. There's nothing like the teaching of Jesus. Nothing like it anywhere else. It is one of its kind. The teaching of Jesus. And he has given that to us. and the Holy Spirit has taken and helped the apostles to remember his teaching [00:09:24] and to give it in the epistles that follow in the New Testament. We cannot compare it with anything else in this world. The teaching that he gave us and the effect of the teaching of the Bible cannot be measured. Can you think? Just think of all the good things around you and see if they're not there in some way by the influence of the Bible, teachings of Jesus Christ. [00:09:55] You know, I have to think of history. Why was slavery abolished? It was the influence of the gospel. Why can you read and write today? Why is it so generally, in America, in North America, anyhow, why can so many people read and write? It's the influence of the gospel. Why do we have order? Why do we have the laws, and why do we live in a land where, relatively speaking, people don't steal? [00:10:30] I mean, they do sometimes, but we live in a very, very good land that way. Which one of those blessings didn't come from the principles of God's word? Absolutely none of them. They came by the principles of God's word. If you know and see how people live who have not been affected by the gospel, it stands in stark contrast. And that's not all. Jesus Christ's example. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, something that nobody has even been able to write and make in fiction. [00:11:11] A number of people have tried to write the story of a perfect person and have failed, not been able to. But Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. And so he has done much for us. One thing that was future at the time of this writing, but is the past now, is that he sent his comforter, the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit can dwell within his people, that we have comfort, of course, as he's called here, but also that we have direction in no matter where we go, while we have someone inside us to give us words. [00:11:48] Many times we've come into situations where we have said things which we did not plan ahead to say, but which were the very words for the hour. It was the Holy Spirit that worked in us. And so the Lord has done very much for us. But the point of the message this morning is Jesus didn't stop there. He's still doing things for us. And we want to look at that. First of all, we notice that one of the things that we see that he is doing for us now, [00:12:20] in verse 2 it says, I go, in my Father's house are many mansions, and then he says, I go to prepare a place for you. That is one thing that Jesus is doing, preparing a place for us. Now, this word mansions here does not carry with it the idea stones and bricks and mortar and lumber and beams. Those thoughts are not in this word mansion. This word mansion is used again in this passage in verse 23, where it says, the last phrase in the verse, and make our abode with him. [00:13:00] That's the same word. This word mansion means a home. It says, we could very well read, I go to, in my father's house are many homes. And it's written mansions because it's not just a temporary home. People live in tents sometimes or cabins or cottages. For a few months of a year, we live in a cottage country. And many people have houses up in that area, cottages they call them, where they live for a few months of the year. [00:13:35] Maybe during holiday season they live there. No, that wouldn't fit into here. This is home. Permanent residence. And Jesus said, I'm going and preparing a home for you. And part of preparing a home for us is preparing us for that home. You know, the Lord can, our God is omniscient. He can do all things. And as we look around in the creation around us, and as man learns more and more and more, [00:14:11] there is just simply more amazement at how God in his wisdom made all these things. So, it would seem to me the hardest work is not preparing a wonderful place. It seems to me the hardest work is getting us ready for that place. When he says, I go to prepare a place for you, part of that is getting us ready for that place. And so, the Lord is working to get that home in heaven and us together. [00:14:45] And sometimes when there's problems and there's things in this life that we have to go through, then let's not forget that maybe this is part of God's plan and program in getting us ready for that home. Getting us ready for that home. But that's one thing that the Lord is doing. He is actively preparing that home for us in heaven. and how it's going to be, we don't know. [00:15:16] We have some glimpses in Revelation. But beyond that, it's going to be somewhat of a surprise. I just recently was Mother's Day and children make little gifts for their mother. But they wrap them and they hide them until Mother's Day, you see. Why do they do that? Because they want it to be a surprise. Why does he want it to be special on Mother's Day? I think one reason we don't know more about heaven is because God wants it to be a surprise for us. [00:15:51] He wants to have it as a gift for us. And so we are glad to leave it in his hands. So that's the first thing. Another thing that he says in verse 6, and remember this is present tense, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And that means to me that Jesus is providing a way to the Father. Present tense. [00:16:24] Present tense, he's doing that. Now, just some thoughts here. We, more and more in our vocabulary, we hear the word used, journey. Somebody is having a struggle, and then we call it a journey. He's going, it's their journey. Or maybe even grief, you know. It's their journey. We hear that, and I don't think that's wrong. But you know, Jesus is saying, I am the way. [00:16:57] Make your journey me. Make me your journey. Jesus is the way. Okay, there are many religions on this world. And people define satisfaction in life or what they are seeking for, I'm not sure that they know for sure. But I know of people that will, I remember being in a shopkeeper's shop one time, and he had just come back from a pilgrimage up into Tibet. And so he sat me down and gave me tea and showed me pictures and, you know, whether I had time or not, that didn't matter. [00:17:35] I still, you have to take time to talk with him. And he showed me pictures and how they had trekked up to this very difficult high mountain area in Tibet. And up there there's a lake and I don't know why it's such an important lake. And possibly it's the beginning of one of the rivers. I'm not, I didn't ask him that, why it's such an important lake. But it's a very important pilgrimage for Hindus to go to. And that lake has ice in it, ice water. And they go and take most of their clothes off and take a dip in that water and feel they have done a wonderful thing. [00:18:15] They had a journey that they went on. And you know, people are on journeys today. People are seeking. Some people are on the journey of pleasure. Others are on the journey of riches or fame. Others are doing everything they can for acceptance. But Jesus says, no, I am the way. Follow? In the way of Jesus, why, in India we sometimes had a little problem knowing how we should really call ourselves as believers. [00:18:54] And so we said, we started saying, talking about people who are in Jesus' way. Jesus' way. Believers. Because so many people, there were people that called themselves Christians that didn't follow the Bible in any way, it seems. So we talked about those that are on Jesus' way. And so Jesus says, forsake all and follow me. And what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. Follow Jesus. [00:19:26] And as we follow the way of the Lord, we'll become ambassadors. It is true that we as a Christian, the Christian way is a way of self-denial and persecution that cannot be denied. Christians down through the ages have been people who have labored and given their lives. It's not an easy way. But you know, brethren and sisters, is the easy way a satisfying way? [00:20:02] Is the way of pleasure satisfying? No, it's not. People come to the end of their life after a life like that, and they have an empty life. But when a person, I have to think in the stories in the Martyrs Mirror about those that gave their life. There they were. They had only a few more minutes or maybe an hour left of their life. They knew it. But they were at peace with God and they were happy. [00:20:36] Why was it? Because they were in Jesus' road. They were following Jesus and it was people like that that we have the reason. People like that stood for the truth that we today have the blessings we have. And wouldn't it be much better to give your life for the good of others than to keep your life, selfish life, for yourself? Now the other thing is truth. [00:21:07] Satan has filled this life, this world with lies. And this world is full of problems. But men are trying to find solutions to the problems. And almost every book is an attempt to find a solution to some problem. But you know, many times it's just more of Satan's befuddlement. I wish, brethren and sisters, we'd come and just read a good deal more of this book. It would solve a lot of problems, brethren and sisters. [00:21:41] People read books, and there are sometimes people that are just the same as the last book they read. and those people are all over the map. This book has never changed and I think we need to be encouraged to spend more time here because in here we find the answers to our needs. And God gave us the truth. Isn't it amazing? We can translate this Bible into whatever language. We used Hindi in India. [00:22:15] And I thoroughly enjoyed the Hindi Bible. Have you ever considered the amazing thing that you can take the Bible and you can translate it into another language where the culture is different and why the truths are fresh as ever? To me, that's amazing. That's not the way it is with the Koran. [00:22:46] If you read an English Koran, that's the Islamic holy book. It's not very impressive. But people say the Arabic Koran is very beautiful. And there have been people that have become Muslims just from reading the Arabic Koran because of its beauty and its poetry. I can't say. I can't read Arabic. But when I read the English one, I'm not very impressed. But the Bible, when I read my Hindi Bible, my heart is just filled again with truth, the love of God. It's so translatable. So translatable. [00:23:25] God's truth. It's a marvel. And God has left it with us. And many times when men are in the middle of problems and don't know what to do, when we open the Bible and read the scriptures and read what God has to say, we find an answer. We find an answer. So he has left that Jesus is the truth and did you ever notice that the word, word, logos, refers sometimes to the Bible and sometimes to Jesus. [00:23:56] And we have to look in the context to know whether the passage is talking of Jesus himself or whether it's talking about the Bible. Well, I think that's that way for a reason because this is the word of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ, the life of Jesus Christ. and we need to point people to Jesus Christ and his word because that is the answer in 2010 and ever will be. Then we have, he says here, I am the life [00:24:27] and we look in the book of Revelation and we see the water of life and the tree of life and the book of life and the spirit of life and the crown of life Life, and eternal life, and the word of life, and there are many things, many words that are fastened with life. But Jesus says, I am the life, life from which comes. Now I, Jesus said one time, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundant. [00:25:02] It seems to me the word life here means existence as a pleasurable experience. Existence as a, you know, there are some people that are living, many, many, many people living lives that they just feel, I might just as well be dead. You know, their life, their life is that empty. Many people in this world are living that way. Many, many people [00:25:32] They see no point in their life They're facing hardships They have nowhere to go They feel I had just as well be dead And the devil works in a very deceptive way He works, he says, oh if you do this and if you do that And if you do that and if you do that You'll have life, this is life The advertisements say And finally, when a person goes around the whole gamut of things, then the Satan says, your life is worth nothing. [00:26:04] You might as well take it. But what is life? Jesus is. I am the way, the truth, and the life. And a person who truly gives his heart to Jesus Christ and follows the Jesus way, follows the word of God, gives his life to Jesus Christ, Though he may suffer hardship and give his life, though he may labor long and hard, and work night and day for the kingdom. He says, this is living. This is living. [00:26:39] The Apostle Paul said, I have fought a good fight. And can you imagine the Apostle Paul fleeing from town and city to city with sworn enemies after him. And the Lord gave him a weakness, I believe, of eyesight. And going from, as he went over those hills from one city to the next over, they had hills there. I flew over Turkey one time and saw how hilly that is. He flew over the hills and his companions said, oh, look at the beautiful scenery. [00:27:11] Well, Paul said, I can't see it. My eyes aren't good enough. And so he knew that he needed that, so he stayed humble. So he accepted that, and he went on and talked in the next city, and there was a response, and then there was the opposition, and the people came from maybe the previous city, and Paul had to flee again, and you had thought, this is really quite a life. But Paul said this is living. This is living. I fought a good fight. I've kept the faith. Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. [00:27:46] And I believe giving our lives for the service of the Master, that is life. That's living. And Jesus Christ is the life. So let's remember those things. Jesus Christ is doing that now for us. Third thing, he promises to answer prayer. Verse 13 and 14. Whichever you shall ask in my name, that will I do. The Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. It's a little bit like giving us signed checks, isn't it? [00:28:19] Now, sometimes some customers trust us enough. I work at a sawmill, and they don't know for sure what the bill is, so they sign a check and give it. Not many people do that. It's not a very wise thing to do. but sometimes some people do that and seems like the Lord gave us a whole book full of signed checks and he has all power and all riches seems like that's what the Lord did for us and he did do that for us too [00:28:50] but there are some things that we need to consider there are in verse 12 it says verily verily I say unto you he that believeth Believe on me. Believing on him, I believe, is one of the things. And in verse 13 it says, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name. Sometimes this question of the prayer, this is not the only promise of prayer that we have in the New Testament. [00:29:22] And we say, well, why don't we all just pray for a million dollars, pray for this, pray for that, and we should all get it, because God promised it to us, Jesus promised it to us. But I feel that if a person goes out and asks the Lord for a million dollars, that person, I don't believe, knows the Lord. Don't believe that person believes the Lord like they should. [00:29:55] Because, just think a little bit. If you suddenly got a check through the mail of a million dollars, do you think your life would go on like it was before? Things would change. All at once. When I was young, we went out on a... I was part of a crew that put in farm drainage. So we got to meet a lot of farmers and work with a lot of farmers. And do you know who were the ones that were hard to get along with? [00:30:31] They were worried about every last cent. And you could hardly please them and were glad to get away from those places. Guess who they were? And who were the ones that were so nice to work for? You know, it doesn't always work like our human eyes make it seem like. Many times life is a lot different than what we might first think of with our eyes. And if we believe in God, like the Apostle Paul did. [00:31:08] Now, we believe that the Apostle Paul was a powerful warrior for Jesus Christ. and there's a song that says if you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul and we've seen, we see some of Paul's prayers and what does he pray for? He prays that the saints would be strong and edified and they would be more bold in the gospel and for the upbuilding of the kingdom, those are the things he prays for and when people send offerings to him [00:31:42] He said, well, I'm sure, I'm glad you said, because I'm glad there's fruits coming to your account. He said, I really didn't. I'm not asking. I'm well satisfied, but I'm sure glad you're getting fruit to your account. He said to the Philippians when they gave. He was concerned about other people. And I believe that this prayer, power of prayer that we are given, It is intended to be used for the work of the kingdom. [00:32:14] Think of Jesus Christ. All power was in his hand. Think of all the miracles he did. Now can you tell me one miracle he did for his own pleasure? One time when he hadn't eaten for 40 days. And Satan tempted him. Now you do a miracle. Now you make stones into bread. Jesus didn't do it. That was typical. The power that he had in his hand, he used to help other people. [00:32:47] He used it in the work of God's kingdom. And once we get to that kind of a place in our Christian life, where we will use the resources of the gospel for the sake of others, and for the kingdom of God, then I believe the checkbook is free to use. Checkbook of God's power and prayer. But when we are selfish and are thinking about the things that I would like to have and the more of the world's goods that I would like to have [00:33:19] and more of the pleasure of the world that I would like to have and more of the world's security that I would like to have then I believe that maybe we come under the classification that it says in James You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your own lusts. I think we should use the, now sometimes, you know, we get into a fix. And I think, I just think it's right to pray to the Lord about every last thing, even about our own selfish requests. [00:33:54] As long as we, after we make them, we say, Lord, just cleanse me. Make me pure. And if it's not a good thing I'm asking for, then by all means, don't give it. I think we should open our hearts to the Lord. But I believe when the Lord, when we really believe in Jesus Christ and see how few days we have on this earth, And we see the souls around us dying and going to eternal hell fire. [00:34:26] We see this all happening all around us and we have just a few more days to do it. Did you ever think of it? That once you get to heaven, you won't be able to witness for Christ. You won't be able to visit the sick in the hospitals. You won't be able to hand out tracts to the lost. Many things you won't be able to do anymore like that. Now is the time to do them. And I think our burden and our urgency should be for those things in life, things we cannot do after this life. And this world is a sinking ship and we're out there with the boats there, saving as many lives as we can. [00:35:07] Then we have this open checkbook of prayer to help us in our work. I believe, I trust if our faith in Jesus Christ is the way it should be then I believe that Jesus says you have my, I am with you, you have this power with you I'm not going to put you out on your own you have the power of heaven and earth on your side and we have often seen that The next thing he says here in verse 3 and verse 18, I will come to you. [00:35:45] Now, he may be talking about his return, his official return, and that's also a fact. He promises to do for us, but I think he also is referring to he will be with us personally. He will be with us. I will come to you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And you know, there are many times when we might be in a valley of difficulty, hardships, and what Christian doesn't experience many hardships? [00:36:21] It seems to me, if we're not facing hardships, we better look at our Christian life. On the other hand, if all we see is hardships, we better look too. But we face things. We go through some valleys sometimes. And Jesus promises that I will come to you. He will be with us. He's at our side. We don't see him physically, but we certainly know he's there. We certainly know he's there. And so that is a real blessing. [00:36:54] And I know from personal testimonies from people who have been seeking and seeking and seeking the Lord, And finally one day Jesus came to them and they believed on him. So Jesus comes to us and helps us. Personally, he comes to us in a personal way and he's with us and lives in us. Now another point in verse 27 that he promises to do for us. [00:37:26] He says, I will give peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Do not, as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. The peace that comes as we give our lives to Jesus Christ and to his direction is a peace that is pretty hard to explain to somebody who hasn't experienced it. Peace, there's one kind of peace that comes that people think no more battles, but we still have battles. [00:38:09] But there's a peace of knowing that my commander knows it all. He has control of my life and I don't have to worry. It says in Philippians 4 The peace of God that path is understanding shall fill your hearts And that is one of the outstanding things about Christians is that they have peace in their lives And I'll tell you this much, brethren and sisters No one else does [00:38:39] No one else does I know a man that had lived a pretty good life, he thought He was a Jane I met him on the train, a nice man I would have trusted him with my baggage or anything I'm sure he was an honorable man but he said I've been in business so many years I forget how much it was I'm going to retire next year and he said after that I'm going to go up into the temple [00:39:12] the Jain temple He said, I'm going to sit there in lotus type, and I'm going to stop thinking, and I'm going to just turn everything off, and breathe just enough to survive. Just sit there. He said, what's going to happen is my deeds are going to start leaving my body. just one by just they start because I'm not doing anything that I'm not doing any deeds you see so my deeds will slowly get away from my body and he figured he did enough good deeds that [00:39:47] eventually a time will come well all the bad deeds will be gone he'll just have good deeds and it could be one with God but you know that kind of peace is still not the peace of the heart We have peace that passeth understanding, and it comes from trusting the Lord. Now, a few minutes I have left. I just want to look over our responsibilities. First of all is believing. [00:40:19] Believing is mentioned a number of times in this chapter. I did want to say this on relation to believing. Verse 11, Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Believe me, or believe me for the very work's sake. Believe. If you can't believe me from the doctrinal side of it, believe me from the evidence side of it, but believe. Every person has walls in his life. It's a protection system that we have. We build a protection system around ourselves. When things happen to us, we protect ourselves. [00:41:00] People from, maybe from homes that weren't ideal, from bad home life, they have a very strong protection system built around themselves. And we all have some protection system built around ourselves. It's the way the Lord made us. But I believe what believing is, is allowing the Lord inside that protection, trusting Him. How can I illustrate this? [00:41:38] You know, those walls that we've built around our life, those protections that we have in place, Jesus is saying, let me in. Let me inside there. Trust me. Just let me inside those gates. Let me get right to you. I believe that's what it's talking about when it talks about believing. Opening our hearts and letting Jesus in. Now that's not an easy thing to do always. [00:42:10] Because our walls are there to protect us. And we have to, we let only those things into our intimate life that we believe, that we trust. Jesus says, trust me. Let me into that life. Let me control your life. Give me your allegiance. And that's what we need to do. There needs to be no wall between us and Jesus Christ. But we need to let him right into the innermost recesses of our life. [00:42:47] I can illustrate a little bit with computers, operating systems. Many times, the operating system is a kernel that controls the processor. But then they have a lot of device drivers around it, the keyboard and all of these things. But the operating system protects itself. But there are some things that need to access the processor directly. We call that running at ring zero. [00:43:19] That means you get right in, they can actually run the processor. I don't know if that meant much to you, but you know where we let somebody right in at the controls, you know that if they could, they could spoil our life, but we trust them, you know, we let them have the controls, we give them our heart, that's what believing is, Jesus says do that for me, give me my heart, [00:43:52] Give me thy heart. Another thing he says in verse 6, he says to come. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's something we need to do, and that's to come. First of all is to open that heart and believe in him, let him in. Secondly is to come to him. It involves a decision on our part to come to him. Then verse 15 to 20, it talks about keeping the commandments. I was going to spend a little more time on that, but our time has run out. [00:44:24] Commandments, somehow or another, we have imbibed too much the Protestant idea that works are not, works are sometimes against the grace and so on. But that's not at all the case. Jesus said, if a man loves me, he will keep my commandments. If a man doesn't keep my commandments, he doesn't love me. Why? The commandments are not something that God gave to make life hard for us. The commandments are given by God to help us to be victors over the devil. [00:45:00] We're in the devil's territory. We're on his turf. But by keeping the commandments, we can have the victory. By believing on him and by coming and by keeping the commandments and most of all by loving him. We can have victory. And that's one of the most distressing things I believe to the devil yet today. Is when us weak, mortal creatures that we are, by God's grace are able to have victory over him on his own turf. [00:45:37] May the Lord help each one of us to be victors in our, while we are living here on this earth, and good ambassadors for the King while we are stationed in this place. Shall we come before the Lord in prayer? Shall we kneel? Our loving Heavenly Father, we're so thankful and grateful for Thy loving and tender care over us and for providing so many things for us, Lord, everything we need. [00:46:07] O Father, we're so thankful. We just can't understand this kind of concern for us, especially when we think of Thy greatness and Thy power and Thy omniscience. And when we think of how little we are, and yet that tender care that comes to us. Father, we're so thankful and grateful for that. And we pray for everybody here, and not only here, we pray for the people around the world, wherever there are people that want to serve thee and want to do thy will, and have been willing to believe on thee, and have come unto thee, O Father, provide for them what they need. [00:46:54] and help them to understand and accept the goodness of God to them. That they would also be ambassadors. Yet in these few minutes yet, before the trumpet blows, that we can help more people into the arc of safety. Oh Father, we just pray that Thou wouldst be with each one. Guide and direct us, Lord, is our prayer and our burden. And be with each one here. May the blessing of God rest in each one. We ask this in Jesus' precious name. Amen