All Things Together For Good: Chap. 4 Pt. 2

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December 10, 2021

The Puritan Thomas Watson's book, All Things For Good, walks through Romans 8:28 showing us how all of God's attributes work for our good. This does not mean that difficulties, trials, and affliction will be avoided, but however will work for our benefit. Join us as we go through the second chapter on God's affliction.

All Things Together For Good: Chap. 5 Pt. 3

00:16: So, we are still in Chapter 4, we started last week, and we will finish
00:22: Chapter 4 this week. It's a smaller chapter compared to some of the other ones that we took a few weeks to get through.
00:30: And while we were talking about the things regarding all things working for good, this fourth chapter talks about of love to God, and so it's talking about the people who are interested in this privilege, the people who actually love
00:44: God. And so last week we talked about the nature of love to God, and the ground of love to God, talking about knowledge, talked about the kinds of love, and we started talking about the properties of love.
00:56: And so we said how love must be entire with our whole heart, it must be sincere, it must be fervent, and it must be active.
01:08: And so this week we'll be picking up from there, we have a couple more properties to talk about, and so we'll read together.
01:16: So number four, the properties of love, we were on the fifth property. Love to God must be liberal.
01:24: It has love tokens to bestow. Love is kind. Love has not only a smooth tongue, but a kind heart.
01:31: David's heart was fired with love to God, and he would not offer that to God, which cost him nothing. Love is not only full of benevolence, but beneficence.
01:42: Love which enlarges the heart never straightens the hand. He who loves Christ will be liberal to his members.
01:48: He will be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. The backs and bellies of the poor shall be the furrows where he sows the golden seeds of liberality.
01:57: Some say they love God, but their love is lame of one hand. They give nothing to good uses.
02:04: Indeed, faith deals with invisibles, but God hates that love which is invisible.
02:10: Love is like new wine which will have vent. It vents itself in good works. The apostles speak it in honor of the
02:17: Macedonians that they gave to the poor saints, not only up to, but beyond their power.
02:23: Love is bread at court. It is a noble, unificent grace. Right. So, liberal.
02:31: What does he mean? What is he saying? Bountiful. Bountiful. Abundant.
02:40: Yes. Freely given. Freely given. Right. He's saying love is kind.
02:47: It's not just words. Right. But disposition. It's not only disposition, but it's the actual act of love.
02:54: Actual actions. Benevolence and benefit, just all tongue -tied tonight, beneficence.
03:04: Those words are very similar, but benevolence tends more towards the attitude and disposition and the willingness, and then the other one is to the actual actions and the good works that happen.
03:17: So, if our heart is full, our hand is not restrained from helping others. If you love
03:24: Christ, he says you're liberal to his members, generous in sharing the resources that you have.
03:30: And so, we talked about that, well, Scripture talks about that in regards to saying you love your brother, but if you say, be warm and be filled, and then you leave them go with nothing, these are dead works.
03:45: So, if we have a true love for God, we will have love for the body.
03:50: It's going to be our joy and our pleasure to give what God has given us to others who have need.
03:57: You know, he talks about the backs and bellies of the poor, right, where we're pouring out our help to them.
04:05: Any other comments or questions before we go on to the next one? No? Love to God must be special.
04:16: He who is a lover of God gives him such a love as he bestows upon none else. As God gives his children such a love as he does not bestow upon the wicked, electing, adopting love, so a gracious heart gives to God such a distinguishing, a special distinguishing love as none else can share in.
04:35: I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ. A wife espoused to one husband gives him such a love as she has for none else.
04:44: She does not part with her marital love to any but her husband. So a saint espoused to Christ gives him a special love, a love incommunicable to any other, namely a love joined with adoration.
04:57: Not only the love is given to God, but the soul. A garden enclosed is my sister and my spouse.
05:05: The heart of a believer is Christ's garden. The flower growing in it is love mixed with divine worship, and this flower is for the use of Christ alone.
05:14: The spouse keeps the key to the garden, that none may come there but Christ.
05:22: What does that mean? That's a mouthful, right? No one?
05:34: Pastor Anthony? We should love God and the elves that we love in the world, but that's a specific, special love of God that every other love that we have for anything else pales in comparison.
05:50: This is a particular love that we can get into. The love God has for us is a particular love.
05:55: The love we have for God should be particular in that nothing should compare to it.
06:01: Right. That's it. Jerry? To piggyback off what
06:06: Pastor Anthony just said, because God's love is unique and abundant more of any other.
06:15: Our reaction to that, or our, not reaction, but the results of how we put forth our love toward Him has got to be equally as unique and special.
06:29: And so it should be, because if we look around us, there's not anybody that could even come close to the love that God has shown to us.
06:38: So if we really, truly look at what He has done for us and understand that, then the love should be automatic.
06:50: Indeed. Yeah. I mean, as Thomas Watson points out, we know that God loves the world, right?
07:01: We know that there's a common grace and a kindness that the Creator shows to all of His creation.
07:08: And yet for those who are His redeemed, that special electing, adopting love, it's not the same love that everyone on the face of the planet gets.
07:19: And so it is a special kind of love. And so he uses the example of the wife with the husband, as in, that's a love that is only meant for one other person.
07:33: You know, if you are married, that's the only kind of, you know, that one person is the only person who gets that kind of love from you, that sort of heart attitude, that sort of commitment.
07:46: It's unlike anything else, even with your children or others. We're called to love everyone, right?
07:52: Love your neighbor. Fervently love the brethren we talked about on Sunday. Love your children. But the love that you have for your spouse is a special kind of love because you're one.
08:03: But even here, our love for God is something more special than we have for our spouse.
08:13: You know, he talks about that the heart of the believer is Christ's garden. The flower growing in it is love mixed with divine worship.
08:21: That's something no one else gets, right? We have a love for our spouse. We have a love for children, family, friends, neighbors.
08:30: But only God gets worship from us. And we can't love in that manner unless he has changed us.
08:38: Right. That's correct. Right? Yeah, we love him because he first loved us, right?
08:45: Exactly right. So it is a special love, a love that he actually instills in us, even the ability to do so.
08:51: But we must be careful to make sure that only he gets that love, that worship, because to love anyone else the same way that you would put them before God is idolatry.
09:06: You know, that's where you go from obeying God and having love to disobeying
09:11: God by putting someone above him. Any questions or comments, additions to that?
09:17: Does that make sense? On the same page we're tracking? All right.
09:26: The last property here is love to God must be permanent. It is like the fire the
09:32: Vestal Virgins kept at Rome. It does not go out. True love boils over but does not give over.
09:39: Love to God, as it is sincere without hypocrisy, so it is constant without apostasy.
09:45: Love is like the pulse of the body, always beating. Weakened men are constant in love to their sins.
09:51: Neither shame nor sickness nor fear of hell will make them give over their sins. Just so, nothing can hinder a
09:58: Christian's love to God. Nothing can conquer love, not any difficulties or oppositions. Love is as strong as the grave.
10:06: The grave swallows up the strongest bodies. So love swallows up the strongest difficulties.
10:12: Many waters cannot quench love. Neither the sweet waters of pleasure nor the bitter waters of persecution.
10:18: Love to God abides firm to death, being rooted and grounded in love. Light things as chaff and feathers are quickly blown away.
10:28: But a tree that is rooted abides the storm. He who is rooted in love endures.
10:34: True love never ends but with the life. Just read his stuff for a while.
10:43: Okay, so what is he saying there? Feel free to repeat back in your own words.
10:51: Yeah, I mean, the first thing that comes to my mind, and it's not the only thing that he's saying, but again, the idea that the elect, their hearts have changed, the love that they're emanating is the love that God gave them to emanate, and that love is a permanent love, it doesn't change.
11:11: God doesn't change, he doesn't change what he's done in the sense that if he saved the people, he saved the people.
11:18: Our election is short. So I think that's one of the things that's being said here.
11:25: But then also the aspect, I don't know that it's exactly saying it here, but it echoes back to what he said previous, where there's got to be fruit from that love.
11:38: That love is something that isn't just within oneself, it shines out.
11:46: Right, so he talked about last week, that love being fervent, love being active, that a cold love is no love at all.
11:57: Other comments, questions? I think it is noting that there's a difference between permanent love and perfect love.
12:05: Although our hearts are inclined towards God, we grow in love towards God, and that comes by feeding on his word, fellowshipping with his people, worshipping him by the means of grace.
12:20: So the more we plug into the means of grace, the more we learn about God, the more we love
12:25: God. So it's a permanent love, but it should be a love that continues to grow over time, because none of us are perfect.
12:33: Right, right. I mean, the greatest commandment is to what? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
12:39: Do any of us do that perfectly? No, so we're all in need of growth and of sanctification in that area.
12:46: Christ loved the Father perfectly, and we're to be conformed to his image, and so until we cross the veil and are made perfect, when we see him, we will be like him.
12:57: But until that time, it should be a love that is growing. Go ahead.
13:03: Well, the other thing I was going to add is the phrase toward the bottom there, being rooted and grounded in love.
13:11: That says to me, that's all part of sanctification as well. And the love that you're rooted and grounded in is evident throughout
13:20: Scripture. So that's one of the means of being rooted in that love is understanding the love.
13:26: The only way you're going to understand the love and understand who God is is by reading his Word. And the
13:33: Word is what's going to also force us to, again, grow.
13:38: Yeah, providentially preached on having a fervent love for one another last week, and then this week coming up, we're continuing, and so there'll be more to say about it.
13:52: But the point was made by Peter that we are born not of perishable seed, but imperishable seed.
14:00: And that imperishable seed is the living and enduring Word of God. And so we should have a fervent love for one another.
14:07: Why? Because we're reflecting the love that has saved us, the love of the
14:14: Father. And so, you know, we're of his seed. So we are to start looking like him.
14:19: And so our love should be enduring. It should be permanent. He says, you know, without apostasy, like the pulse always beating, like the wicked, constant in their sin, we should be constant in our love for God.
14:32: This is not something where, you know, nowadays relationships come and go.
14:38: You know, oh, I'm madly in love, and then like Romeo and Juliet, like, well, you know, whatever that girl's name was in the beginning,
14:45: Rosalie or something, and then it's on to the next girl. Did I get it right? Rosaline.
14:50: Close. That was pretty close. All right. You know, it's not just so our love for God is a passing fad, you know.
15:00: It's just something that we had for a while and then we kind of moved on. No, it should be permanent. Any other questions or comments?
15:07: I kind of have a question. I don't know how much you were talking about sanctification, so I don't know if it makes sense.
15:14: So let's say you're in the process of sanctification and then you sin, like kind of knowingly, does that set you back?
15:24: It doesn't set you forward, yeah. Yeah, the reality is we are going to sin every day.
15:33: I mean, when we consider we're not comparing ourselves to each other, we're comparing ourselves to Christ, who is perfect.
15:40: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. To love your neighbor as yourself.
15:46: Jesus says all the law and the prophets are in these. And we fail to do that every day, we fail to.
15:54: And there's times where it's just it's almost passive, we're not trying to, and then there's other times like I'm walking across the room and punching that guy in the face, right?
16:03: So there's one thing where you're kind of like a curse slips out, but nothing comes out of your mouth that wasn't in your heart to begin with, right?
16:10: And so some things it happens so quick, you're not consciously planning on it or thinking about it and then there's others where, like, you know what, that's what
16:20: I want to do and that's what I'm going to do. These things do they are hindrances to our sanctification, they're not that's not us growing in conformity to Christ and the command is always the same repent, repent, you know make it right.
16:36: And by doing that, then you're growing, then you're back in step of growing in your sanctification is looking to be more like Christ by agreeing with God and going his way.
16:47: Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. Any follow up question or comment or that's good for now.
16:54: Yeah, I mean yeah. That's alright. I don't know. Selling myself out.
17:02: No, no, no it's alright. It's a process. It's a process. Sanctification from the moment you are saved to the moment you die is the process of sanctification.
17:14: Even if it's like you just give in to temptation, like you know you know you're going to do it, you know it's wrong you say sorry in advance.
17:20: Yeah that's... you're going to need to say sorry again for presuming.
17:26: I did but like it feels wrong and it almost feels like kind of like I felt disconnected, like I feel kind of like more disconnected than I did before.
17:36: Good. You know, if that makes any sense. No, it makes perfect sense. It really does because you know sin separates us from God.
17:44: I mean that's what death is is separation and from the moment Adam and Eve sinned, went willingly against what he told them to do, chose to believe and do something else, they were separated from God and so our sin does separate us.
17:55: It puts us at a step with Him and so Christ has come and His blood has been shed to wipe away those sins but when you sin, just like if you you're in a relationship, you said something very unkind to your sister, you're at a relationship with her, you know you got to go and make it right.
18:14: You got to ask for forgiveness you know if you've done wrong where there's something else you can do besides just apologizing and asking for forgiveness you know you stole something, you return it you know you pay back what it's what you owe, that's how you make it right that's how you get back into step.
18:29: So it's good that you feel out of step that's a sign of the Holy Spirit is convicting you and working on you so while it's bad it's good.
18:40: There's a mercy there that God is still working in you that you feel disconnected does that make sense?
18:47: I saw a hand, anyone want to add to anything? ... ...
19:26: ... ... ...
19:33: ... ... ... ... ...
19:38: ... ... ... ...
19:48: ... ...
19:54: ... ... ...
20:00: ... Pilgrims Progress is a good example of where we're walking the path to the Celestial City, that's our life, that's the walk and there's times where we go off, sometimes it's a mistake or we're mislead
20:12: And there's other times where we're like, I think I'll be able to get that and get back on. And he shows you the consequences that go along with it.
20:19: Spiritual depression almost for sure does because it's referring to what sort of things could cause spiritual depression.
20:26: Even in here in this book with Thomas Watson, he talks about desertion. And like we don't feel the presence of God anymore.
20:33: And he goes, he hasn't deserted you, you've deserted him first. But he says this even works for your good.
20:39: It even works for your good because it gets you set back. I wanna get right, I wanna get back to where I was.
20:45: And so there's the mercy of God, even in our sin, even when we fall away, he's still calling us and bringing us back to himself.
20:55: So no, that's a good question. It's an important question. It's an ever present reality for believers in the walk.
21:02: So no, that's good to bring up. All right, so now we've gone from the properties of love to the degree of love.
21:12: We must love God above all other objects. There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
21:18: God is the quintessence of all good things. He is superlatively good. The soul seeing a super eminency in God and admiring in him that constellation of all excellencies is carried out in love to him in the highest degree.
21:33: The measure of our love to God says Bernard must be to love him without measure. God, who is the chief of our happiness must have the chief of our affections.
21:43: The creature may have the milk of our love, but God must have the cream. Love to God must be above all other things as the oil swims above the water.
21:53: So I got a couple of those references. No, I mean, he's talking.
22:01: Well, let me ask you your thoughts before I share my thoughts. Makes it more interesting that way. Not all at once.
22:11: The degree of love. Pretty straightforward in the first sentence there, right?
22:17: We must love God above all other objects. What's the degree of our love to God compared to anything else, everything else?
22:30: Well, like you said before, any love that is taken away from God's love or is above the love we give to God is an idol.
22:41: Is an idolatry. Those are the objects. Yeah, sometimes they are things, sometimes they are people.
22:48: Go ahead, Maria. Can we just explore though if it's not impeding your relationship?
23:04: Right, well, I mean, we're told to love others, right? And we are told that God blesses us.
23:16: Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. So we can love things and we can enjoy things.
23:24: Is idolatry just to a carved image right there that we go when we pray to?
23:30: Or is idolatry anything that supplants God in terms of who's getting more affection, right?
23:40: Who do we sacrifice and give glory to? And is it, you look at scripture to give you the guidelines of what's appropriate versus what's not appropriate.
23:51: Jerry? Idolatry can even be your thoughts. So there's a whole gambit. Oh, yeah.
23:57: So anything that causes you to sin is an idol.
24:05: Anything. Right. Yeah, I mean, the heart is an idol making factory, right?
24:12: We can make an idol out of just about anything. It's worth to making hot dogs here.
24:19: It's everything and anything can be made into an idol. I mean, even hot dogs have limitations on what you can throw into that machine to make a hot dog.
24:30: No offense if you like hot dogs. Favorite health food. Yeah, should
24:36: I have one of Joel's carrot dogs? That's a treat. You don't want to talk about it, all right.
24:43: That's for the vegans. I wouldn't admit to that. It's as close to a hot dog and it's better for you.
24:50: It might be the same thing. Okay. I see whispering going on about the carrot dogs.
25:02: Did you have a follow -up question? Did that answer your question? You want to explore it more?
25:07: Did we explore? I agree with the whole idea. If it causes you to sin, ambiguous still in terms of like, because Jerry said, you know, your thoughts can be sinful.
25:22: But I guess it's very hard to distinguish maybe between just natural desires or things in life or love and affections.
25:34: And I guess to then identify as like, oh, this is actually like adulterous.
25:42: Mothers, when they have newborns, they have to attend to that newborn before seven.
25:49: But their thoughts are going to be on the newborn, doesn't mean it's not on God. Absolutely.
25:57: A mother attending to a newborn is not idolatry.
26:03: But take that mother 10 years down the road and how is she treating that child versus, you know, what is her thoughts about God?
26:12: You know, is that child her world in a way that supplants
26:17: God? Is she willing to obey God when it comes to making sure that child is happy and cared for?
26:26: Is she thinking about it in her standard for what she thinks is acceptable?
26:31: Or is she looking at what does the word of God say? There are parents who will never discipline their child because they were abused growing up or they love their child so much.
26:43: I would never, never lay a hand on my child. But don't lay a hand, the Bible says use a rod. You want them, the hands are to be embracing.
26:52: So they only have to know there's trouble coming if there's a rod in your hand. But there are some who won't even do that out of a mistaken idea of this is love, right?
27:03: They will spoil them, they'll give them whatever they need. If someone says, your child did this, not my child, never.
27:12: And so they can show that their love for their child is an idol in their heart.
27:18: They would give up the world for their child when they should only give up the world for their
27:23: Lord. And so how do you know if that love for the child is normal and acceptable and a
27:28: God -given, God -ordained love compared to idolatry? You wanna look at the word of God, that'll give you the guidelines to have a clearer picture of what's right and what's wrong.
27:43: And you can also pray about it and ask. But the
27:49: Holy Spirit, when convicting us of sin, I mean, we're image bearers of God. And so we have the laws written on our heart to a degree.
27:59: Any unbeliever off the street knows there's such a thing as right and wrong, good and evil, but where they draw the line might differ.
28:07: But there are certain things that are just, we get it. You can't kill people, you can't steal. Most people get those basic concepts, but where do you draw the line on how far you can go without being a sinner or a criminal?
28:20: So I would say, if you're gonna pray and ask God, show me if I'm being, am I making an idol out of my child?
28:29: Consider the word of God, because the Holy Spirit brings to mind the scriptures. I got three people. I'm gonna go,
28:36: Ashley had her hand up first, then Pastor Anthony, and then Joelle. I was gonna say, this reminds me of Matt verse 37, where Jesus says, whoever loves me more than he is worthy.
28:55: There you go. That's actually coming up, because he's gonna talk about, we must love God after objects would be relations.
29:00: But no, you're right there. That shows us that we can have an inordinate love for people who we are supposed to love.
29:11: I mean, God tells us to honor father and mother. I mean, you are supposed to love them, but the degree of love, do you love them more than God?
29:20: Will you give up God for them, or are you willing to give up them for God?
29:27: That's the question. I don't think all sin is idolatry. I think idolatry identifies when we're dependent on something else.
29:38: What we should be depending on God for is depending on someone else for. So another time I lie, that's a sin, but it's not idolatry.
29:46: Now, what I lie about may be idolatry. Let's say I'm lying to someone so that they like me.
29:55: Well, I'm dependent on this, my happiness is dependent on this person liking me, so I lie.
30:02: That lie is a sin, but me depending on this person's acceptance of me is idolatry.
30:11: So we're supposed to idolize God in the sense that we are dependent on him for everything.
30:17: Think about how many people are dependent on the government. It's idolatry. It's sin, but it's idolatry because everything that God is supposed to provide, they're dependent on the government to provide.
30:28: So not all sin is idolatry. Makes sense? Do you mean dependent morally on the government, like by the standard of which they contribute?
30:38: Some people are dependent on the state morally and financially, you know, a lot of different people.
30:46: And again, I think you have to identify what it is that you're depending on, that you should be depending on God for.
30:56: Does that make you look confused? No, I was thinking of that. Joelle?
31:02: No, I was just thinking about the mother with the child, you know, caring for, obviously,
31:10: I'm kind of in the throes of that right now, caring for someone completely, who's completely dependent on you, but that's a matter of heart, you know?
31:21: That's your, you're actually, it's your God -given call as a mother to be caring for the needs of this child.
31:29: So again, it's, you don't have to wait 10 years down the road, you know? That's true, true enough.
31:35: I just figured it was an easier picture, but you're right, you're right. No, and I know what you meant by that. But it's something, it's a mindset, it's a heart, you know, where's your heart at?
31:47: Right. Where's your mind at? Right. Are you, you know, exactly, you're a thriving lawyer, you're joy and pleasure from this,
31:54: I mean, children do give us pleasure, but that's, you know, a blessing and a proof.
32:00: But are we looking to them? It's God, we do it for God. We're worshiping Him in our work.
32:07: This is the job that God has given me to do. I'm gonna glorify Him in it. This is the child, the blessing
32:13: He's given me. Thank you, Lord. It's a hard attitude. Yeah.
32:19: I don't know if I explained that right. No. I thought that was explained excellent.
32:26: It's the heart, and I was gonna say, in Romans 1, after it says that man suppress the truth through unrighteousness, that they fail to glorify
32:37: God and give thanks. So are you giving thanks to God for the child? Mm -hmm.
32:42: And, you know, that was great what Joelle said. Yeah. Worship through your work and glorify
32:50: God because He's our Lord. He's the pinnacle.
32:55: He's who we're doing it for. And it's definitely a hard issue.
33:02: Okay. I think Abraham and Isaac is perfectly exact. Yeah, yeah.
33:08: You know, the Lord gave him specific instructions. And if he had made an idol out of having a child, which someone, after waiting that long, was like, are you out of your mind?
33:20: You know? And you think, well, who would talk back to God? Cain, several others along the way.
33:26: All of us given the chance without the grace of God in our life. Yeah, that's a perfect example of not making an idol because,
33:35: I guess Joelle said, even as the baby, you don't have to wait until later on. How do you view the calling?
33:42: How do you view the child? How do you view God? Where is your mindset? There's all sorts of things that you can do to kind of show there's some idolatry going on there.
33:52: But you want to know what does the word of God say and pray about it. I mean, but here,
33:58: God is the superlative. He is the highest of the highest of the highest.
34:05: And do we love him above all other things? Could I just say one other thing? Sure. I'm not suggesting anyone's thinking this, but it did come to my mind.
34:15: When we talk about reading the word and studying the word, there's more to that than just philastics.
34:24: Oh, yes. It's relational. And so that's where that, it's more than just getting the information we need to do the right thing.
34:35: It actually changes us. Right. Looking at my notes for this sermon.
34:41: Can I answer that? Yes. And actually, yeah, it is relational.
34:47: It's actually in our obedience that we're growing in our sanctification. So yes, not just reading for the head knowledge, which is lots of fun, but actually obeying and applying it is where we grow in our sanctification and we grow in our love of God.
35:04: Amen. Amen. Thought we were gonna fly through this. So. You want it, you get it.
35:10: That's right. Yeah. Degree of love. We must love God more than relations.
35:16: So we're already there. Cause I think over objects, we weren't thinking about the new car, the house or the vacation. We went straight to what do we think of with people?
35:24: You know, people have the most, it seems like, you know, how many people, oh, you know, they got married or something or they're dating someone because what?
35:36: Abraham. There we go. Let's read. We must love God more than relations. As in the case of Abraham's offering up of Isaac, Isaac being the son of his old age, no question he loved him entirely and doted on him.
35:49: But when God said, Abraham, offer up your son, though it were a thing which might seem not only to oppose his reason, but his faith for the
35:57: Messiah was to come of Isaac. And if he be cut off, where shall the world have a mediator?
36:03: Yet such was the strength of Abraham's faith and ardency of his love to God that he will take the sacrificing knife and let out
36:12: Isaac's blood. Our blessed savior speaks of hating father and mother. Christ would not have us to be unnatural.
36:19: But if our dearest relations stand in our way and would keep us from Christ, either we must step over them or know them not.
36:28: Though some drops of love may run besides to our kindred and friends, yet the full torrent must run out after Christ.
36:37: Relations may lie on the bosom, but Christ must lie in the heart. And so, yeah,
36:43: Abraham and the child, the parent, that is something that normally comes to us, right?
36:53: And yet we should have more love for God than for even the people he's put in our life.
36:58: And again, not to be unnatural, we are to love them. We are to sacrifice ourselves for them at times, right?
37:06: I mean, Jesus says, thank you. I'm like, where do
37:12: I start? No greater love than this, that man laid down his life for his friends. So the idea of even sacrificing yourself for those you love is natural and good and Christ -honoring.
37:29: But what's our mindset? Where is our heart attitude? So no one has to come between us and our faithfulness to Christ.
37:38: That's the point. And so whether it be objects, things, people get their hearts set on materialistic things, but we live in a world where it's all about our stuff and we will work hours upon hours upon hours to have our stuff, even if it means sacrificing, going to church, reading the
38:00: Bible, praying, being with our family, whatever. We were so focused on what we want.
38:07: It's become an idol for us and we're not certainly loving God the way we should. And while no one thought about that here, we think, well, you know, relationships.
38:17: And that's an easy one because we are called to love, but like, where do we draw that line?
38:25: So I think we explored that. So we'll look at the last one before we move on to the next point.
38:32: Estate, we must love God more than our estate. You took joyfully the confiscation of your goods.
38:38: They were glad that they had anything to lose for Christ. If the world be laid in one scale in Christ and the other, he must weigh heaviest.
38:45: And is it thus? Has God the highest room in our affections? Plutarch says, when the love of God bears sway in the heart, all other love is as nothing in comparison of this love.
38:56: And so basically everything else, you know, the people in the times of the
39:04: Hebrews, they were losing possessions, you know, being plundered because of their faith and they were being oppressed and persecuted and everything.
39:12: And how many believers do we know or have we heard of? We might not know personally, but we're starting to get there.
39:18: People are losing their jobs, have a desire to be faithful and to stand on their convictions. People in Canada being put in jail, people in Cuba, I mean,
39:26: China and Korea and all that. How many people have lost everything for the sake of Christ because they would not renounce him?
39:34: They could not help but to proclaim him. That's the degree of love that we ought to have.
39:41: You know, God may never ask us to lay down everything, but if he does, will we be willing? Will we love him enough?
39:48: Does Job fit into this? Does Job fit in? Yeah, everything, right? Though he slay me.
39:55: Yeah, he took away everything, all of those. He took away objects, estate, relations, and he's still blessed in the name of the
40:02: Lord. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. And he used to be our example, especially early on, you know, and even when he struggles, he never gets the answers that he was looking for.
40:11: God corrects him and he repents, he humbles himself. So that should certainly be our attitude.
40:18: Do we love him? Do we love him more than anything, anyone, everything, questions or comments before I try to hurry up through the last three slides?
40:30: Yes, I was like, how many slides? Use, the use of this, a sharp reproof to those who do not love
40:37: God. This may serve for a sharp reproof to such as have not a grain of love to God in their hearts.
40:44: And are there such reprobates alive? He who does not love God is a beast with a man's head.
40:49: How's that for a description? Oh, wretch, do you live upon God's bounty every day yet not love him?
40:56: If one had a friend that supplied him continually with money and gave him all his allowance, were he not worse than a barbarian if he did not respect and honor that friend?
41:07: Such a friend is God. He gives you your breath. He bestows a livelihood upon you.
41:12: And will you not love him? A beast with a man's head.
41:20: This is the example of someone who supports you. If you had a friend who gave you everything you needed, all right, and we sort of see that.
41:27: I don't know how many friends do that for each other today. Like, here, give you all I have, give you whatever you need, and then you treat me like dirt.
41:36: Maybe there's some out there. We won't talk about those relationships. You think almost more of the spoiled child, though, that the parent gives them everything they need and they have no respect for them.
41:46: I would blame that, in that part, on the parent for not disciplining them correctly. So it's not a good correlation for the
41:53: Lord. We get our every breath from God. We have the ability to work from God.
41:59: He has created us for everything and given us everything we need, and we don't love him, for those who don't love him.
42:06: Beast with men's heads. The next one.
42:11: You will love your prince if he saves your life. And will you not love God who gives you your life? What lodestone so powerful to draw love as a blessed deity?
42:20: He is blind whom beauty does not tempt. He is saddish, that means drunk, who is not drawn with the cords of love.
42:28: When the body is cold and has no heat in it, it is a sign of death. That man is dead who has, that man is dead, who has no heat of love in his soul to God.
42:39: How can he expect love from God who shows no love to him? Will God ever lay such a viper in his bosom as cast forth the poison of malice and enmity against him?
42:51: And so he says, if a prince saves your life, you would love him. And nowadays, if you were a police officer or a firefighter, an
42:57: EMT, or even a stranger who saved a life, we'd see the heartwarming story on the news, right, about this person who saved a life, and then every year they're getting together for Christmas and Thanksgiving, and they're part of the family now, and they saved my life and we're best friends, and, you know, two days before, we didn't know each other.
43:14: And then now you have this bond because someone saved your life. And praise God, that's a wonderful thing.
43:21: But what about the one who gives you life in the first place? God has given us life, he's made us alive, and yet people don't love him.
43:31: Blind who can't see beauty, the cold body dead, no warmth towards God. And what should such a person expect from God?
43:40: People want to say, where was God, where was God? But they have no love for him when there is time.
43:47: Last paragraph here. This reproof falls heavy upon the infidels of this age, who are so far from loving
43:56: God that they do all they can to show their hatred of him. They declare their sin as Sodom.
44:01: They set their mouth against the heavens in pride and blasphemy and bid open defiance to God.
44:08: These are monsters in nature. Devils in the shape of men. Let them read their doom.
44:15: If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. That is, let him be a curse from God until Christ's coming to judgment.
44:23: Let him be heir to a curse while he lives. And at the dreadful day of the Lord, let him hear that heart -rending sentence pronounced against him, depart you who are cursed.
44:34: So he says, not only do they not love
44:40: God, they are far in the opposite direction. He says they declare their sin as Sodom.
44:46: And this is Thomas Watson speaking how long ago, before there were pride parades and everything else, where they literally are declaring their sin as Sodom.
44:57: Pride, blasphemy, open defiance against God, mockery of the
45:02: Almighty. And that's what we face today. Devils in the shape of men, monsters in nature.
45:09: Go ahead, Zach. I don't know if love
45:17: God or curse. Why does it seem like people that don't love God seem to do pretty well?
45:23: Yeah, read the Psalms. Right, why do the wicked prosper? It's judgment against them.
45:32: Because in the case, I mean, if you read through the Psalms and the
45:37: Psalmist makes some of those same observations, I see these people, they seem to be prospering. They seem to have everything.
45:43: But he remembers, you know, he went to the house of the Lord and he remembers their end.
45:51: In talking about all things for good, Thomas Watson has made the point earlier on that while the worst things work for the good of those who love
46:01: God for his saints, and he turns them around, desertion and sin and affliction and all that, the best things work to the hurt of those who hate
46:11: God. Because God is showing them kindness, but as it says in Romans 1, just being in creation and recognizing as an image bearer that there must be a creator and not giving him honor, not giving him thanks.
46:28: And then there's people who have blessings upon blessings and they're prospering material in all these different ways.
46:34: And in their arrogance and their pride, they say, I've done this. Yeah, well, so why does
46:39: God allow it? Why does God allow it? Yeah, it's gonna vary.
46:44: There's many different reasons why God allows those things. Sometimes he allows them to get to prosper because the church is gonna benefit from the prosperous.
46:52: Plundering the Egyptians, it's called. Right, from the prosperity of the wicked. Think about how many unbelieving people have invented and created some incredible things that we benefit from.
47:03: Okay, that's one reason. Another reason is God gives them over to the desires of their heart. Ultimately, he's giving them what they want.
47:10: Sometimes it's an identifier for us because you look at the people in Hollywood and they supposedly have everything they want and they're miserable.
47:20: They can't stay married for more than three straight weeks. Right? And then they lecture us on world peace and how we can't get along in another country.
47:29: You can't get along with one person for three weeks, but you're gonna lecture me on how to get along with people. So it's an identifier to us that as they pursue the things of the world and as they get to the things of the world, they're a little miserable.
47:42: I don't need the things of the world on half price. So there's various reasons.
47:48: Yeah, there's various reasons. And the promise of the Lord is that he will repay each one according to their deeds.
47:57: And Jesus says, to whom much is given, much is required. Those who know more will receive a stricter judgment.
48:07: Those who had more blessings and more benefits and didn't do what they should have with it, they will be punished for that.
48:14: So they look like they're prospering now. And the reality is what's coming for them at the end is far, far worse.
48:21: For all the good stuff they had, it would be that much worse for them. But yeah, I mean, all the things
48:27: Anthony shared is there's various reasons and why does God allow each one that he has his purposes and he's working it out.
48:37: But we know that he's working for our good, ultimately, one way or another.
48:42: So that brings us to the last part of chapter four.
48:48: Just a smidge over time. But any questions? Some good conversation here, some good things, some important things that were discussed.
48:58: And so hopefully we'll have a better appreciation for some of those topics. But questions or comments?
49:04: Comments, comments too, if you see any. There it goes, a shooting star, okay.