We Have Known and Believed the Love — Hans R. Waldvogel

The Holy Spirit Reveals Our Need and God's Provision

I had to notice by testimonies that we're learning precious, precious, precious lessons, wonderful lessons. And we're learning them by the Holy Ghost, this great teacher that enlightens us by himself, which none of the princes of this world knew, is communicating to us a heavenly wisdom.

Some have expressed their great desire for Jesus. Some have expressed the fact that they've awakened to their great need. You ain't seen nothing yet. When we begin to see our need, then God begins to show us our great Savior, because we don't want him when we don't see that we need him.

But as God makes us sink into oblivion, makes us sink down in our own inability, and gives us a sight of our utter hopelessness, then he also shows us the great and wonderful provision he has made in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is salvation. And what a marvelous subject is this love of God. We have known and believed the love that God has to us. Now, we don't likely believe until we know. But, oh, to get a sight of that love that God has to us, that is absolutely unspeakable, because that love finds its expression in the Lord Jesus Christ, in this unspeakable gift.

Paul says, the unsearchable riches of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and ye are complete in him. The wonderful thing is that all these unsearchable treasures and riches are provided for me, for you.

And until God gets us to accept these unsearchable riches, we're not going to be filled with all the fullness of God. We're not going to be pleasing in the sight of the Father. In order to present us spotless before the presence of his glory, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, God had to give the unsearchable riches for us to acquire.

God's Love Transforms Those Who Receive It

Oh, this marvelous love of God. And when God begins to show it to us, then we're beginning to see our great nothingness, and then we're going to see the great love of our God. Oh, this unsearchable, unspeakable love of God that gave his Son and that gives him to me now.

No wonder he says, perfect love. He that feareth has not been made perfect in love. When that love, that perfect love, is revealed to me, and that perfect love is not my love for God, but it's his love for me.

And when I make room for that love of God for me, why, then my heart will become a fountain of love. It will send forth the rivers of the same love that flows from the Father and the Son into my heart, and there is the harmony.

You've known when you were in love, I suppose some of you have had that experience, how inventive love becomes. I've seen it, I've seen it objectively, young men that were in love, how they thought of everything, everything.

I was telling Sister Wally the other day about a young chap who never washed himself. Really, you could have raised a crop of peas on top of his head, there was enough soil there. And he never cleaned his fingernails or he'd bite them, but he'd never file them or shine his shoes, never think of such a thing.

He was always unkempt until one day, one day I saw him, he came to me. I didn't know him, I hadn't looked under his hat. He had a brand new hat cocked over his left eye, and his pants were pressed, and he had nice cuffs on his pants, and he was washed, and his fingernails were neatly manicured.

And then he came to me and he had kid gloves, they were a little bit too small for him. And even the movements when he put those kid gloves over his fingers were so elegant. It was just marvelous. Why, he said he was going to take a trip to Philadelphia.

Asked my permission, he happened to be living with me at the time. Said, well, if it's all right with me. And I just, I just stood there and gazed. What a transformation. Well, he went to Philadelphia to see a girl.

Oh, that made all the difference. That made him so inventive. Now, all the books on etiquette by Emily Post, he'd spit at. And all the instructions I gave him about not putting his elbows on the table, and washing himself, and cleaning his fingernails, and shining his shoes, meant absolutely nothing to the fellow.

He couldn't grasp it. He just couldn't grasp the idea why he shouldn't be perfectly comfortable. Why, to put water on his face might make him sick, you know. But what a transformation. Where did he get all that education from?

All at once. Really, he looked like a dude. Well, there's only one explanation, love. Love makes the world go round. But isn't it wonderful that the gospel is the holiest love affair? Oh, this wonderful love affair.

And oh, what inventive genius God shows when everything works together for good to them that love God. Just think how many things God has to think of in order to make every item, every moment, every occurrence of every moment work for your good.

But he does. He says he does. His love makes it. Praise God. And only my fear takes me out of that wonderful communion with God that makes it impossible for God to work toward me. Where's your faith? These disciples would have drowned like rats if Jesus hadn't been there.

Faith in Christ's Presence During the Storm

But because Jesus was there, he inspired their faith. He said, how much more shall your heavenly Father poise? He says, where's your faith? Yeah, but look at the storm. Never saw anything like it. We never experienced anything like it.

Can't you see that we perish? Why, sure, Jesus saw all that, but he saw the Father. Oh, beloved, God wants you and me to see that great heart that beats all together for us. Not a human heart, but a divine heart.

The Almighty is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Madame Guyon says we only perish for lack of trusting him. They that wholly trust him find him wholly true. When the Bible says that all things, we know that all things work together for good.

Listen, God thought of all things before this world was created. And God Almighty harnessed the, the very constellations in the sky, and everything that pertains to your life and to your well-being and to your eternal happiness, harnessed all these powers, and he makes them work together for good to everyone that loves God, because those whom he did foreknow, the Bible says, before the foundation of the world, then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Predestination, Calling, and the Love of God

And it is for those that he pours out his heart of love. It wasn't only on Calvary that the love of God was poured out, but from the very beginning of creation, before creation, God saw that church of his.

God saw that bride of his. God saw that in this mass of humanity, this tremendous mass of which he says it's grass, it's like the flower of the field, it perishes, but God saw in this mass of humanity a group of people that would bow to his loving call.

And then he did predestinate, thank God, to be conformed to the image of his Son. And if God predestinated you like that and called you and justified you, he certainly will glorify you. That's why Paul said, I'm persuaded.

Beloved, we need to be persuaded. And we will be persuaded once we know and believe the love that God has to us. That'll change your outlook. That will change your whole heart. It'll take all fear out of your heart.

How many people are fearful this morning because they've seen their great need. I've heard people weep and groan and lament and cry. And like the apostle Paul say, who shall deliver me? There's no hope.

And right for people like that, the love of God is manifested. This is the love of God, not that we loved him. That'll never lift you one inch. But that he loved us and gave himself for us. Thank God.

Faith, Healing, and the Gift of Grace

And once you know that love, you know how much depends on my knowing how many people haven't known about divine healing. And they've been sick and they've dragged their sick bodies for years and years and years.

And they've tried everything under the sun to get better until they knew and were fully persuaded that by his stripes healing has been purchased for them. And that knowledge creates faith and drives the devil out.

They're healed. They're delivered. Beloved, faith comes by hearing the word of God, by recognizing and believing what God says. And everything depends on my knowing how greatly God loves me. And we don't know, beloved, we don't know how much we depend upon our love for God.

And sometimes God has to remove it all from us and make us see that our love is nothing. Our righteousness is filthy rags. And then people go down in a heap and they give up altogether. Instead of rising up then like the beggar from the dunghill to sit among princes.

Instead of coming boldly onto the throne of grace. Beloved, we're saved by grace and not of yourself. It is the gift of God and you'll never have salvation until you receive it as a gift. That publican received it.

He smote upon his bosom. He saw his deep need and he said, God be merciful to me a sinner. And immediately he was justified. He received the gift of God while the Pharisee went down to his house as black as he was before.

Because he tried to present to God his own righteousness. And he had some. He had what Dr. Hall tries to stuff down your throat. Fasting 40 days. And where do people land? They land in the insane asylum.

But you'll land in the arms of God when your eyes open to the wonder of Jesus. Glory to God. And you accept that gift of God. Glory to God. Glory to God. It's the spirit of God that teaches us Jesus. That's the one lesson.

The Fruit of the Spirit and Fullness of Joy

And the fruit of the spirit is love. And everything else follows. You ever noticed how the Lord Jesus talking to his disciples says, these words have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and your joy might be full.

Now this morning, if we're going to please God, we're going to have fullness of joy. We're going to be happy. We're going to rejoice exceedingly. Not because we're good or perfect. No. Far from it. But because God loved us so deeply.

Thank God. Hallelujah. And praise the Lord. We take a leap into this ocean of God's love and drown in it. Thank God. You're gone. You're no more. Deny yourself. Praise God. Looking unto Jesus. He is the author of your faith.

He makes you believe him. He, Jesus Christ, makes you believe every promise of God. Every promise of God. And he is the finisher of your faith. He is the one that will give you those things and fulfill in you all that he has purposed to do.

Thank God. Oh, to know the love of God and to believe it. And so when he says that your joy might be full, he says these words. Do you know what words he hinges that promise to? He says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

And who is he talking to? Men and women like you and I. They weren't one bit better. And maybe they weren't worse either. We don't know that. They might have been pretty bad. But as the rabbi, as the Father has loved me.

How did that love of the Father express itself in Jesus? Why the Father gave himself so fully to his son that his son didn't have to live, didn't have to think, didn't have to speak, didn't have to do anything.

Christ's Union With the Father and the Unsearchable Riches

When he died on the cross, it was God in Christ that reconciled the world unto himself. All that Jesus needed to do was to walk by the faith of God and abandon himself to the Father and be united to him.

Hallelujah. Now he says, so have I loved you. That same life-giving love that pulsates in the son so that he can say, the son can do nothing of himself, the Father that dwelleth in me, that same river of love is waiting to pour into you and through you.

Glory to God. No wonder the apostle Paul says, to me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. If Paul was here, we'd be greatly surprised, surprised at his utter simplicity, at his lack of eloquence and showmanship.

We'd be surprised. There was nothing coming forth out of the apostle Paul that was Paul or Pharisee or self, nothing. It was just Christ. Glory to God. Beloved, that same river is for you and for me, the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And the wonderful thing is that God begins every Christian life with that wonderful beginning. God who has loved us, he hath loved me. Oh, to meditate upon that love. We need the Bible. We need the promises of God.

Abiding in Christ's Love and Resisting False Teaching

It is so surprising to me to see the church of Jesus Christ, all the churches gone astray so far. Oh, how far have we gone astray when we have a Bible with such simplicity of teaching, such simplicity of words.

I was telling the other day how the apostle Paul talks about strong delusion that will flood the world. False prophets, apostles of the devil that will come in the name of Jesus Christ, that will even preach the gospel out of contention.

He says, God sendeth them strong delusion that they all should believe a lie who received not the love of the truth, but ye brethren, he says, have been chosen from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.

And now he says, abide in the traditions which you have received of us, the apostles. Now, if you read these traditions, they're so simple that a child can understand. They tell of this wonderful river of life, this wonderful union with God.

They tell of the life that was manifested unto us. Glory to God. And show us the simple way of entering into that life. What is it but to abide in his love? Jesus, if you love me, certainly that love is going to be manifested somewhere along the way.

Certainly. And how will it be manifested? Why, he pours his love into my own heart and makes me love him again. And that's my whole duty upon this earth, is just to be devoted to Jesus, just to love him, just to let all that I do in word or deed be done in the name of Jesus Christ.

And that perfect love will bring me into that harmony where all things work together for good. I have marveled sometimes at the minutest details that the Lord thinks of. The other day again, I lost something that I needed very badly.

And I'd had so much paper and I'd taken a lot of paper and thrown it in the fire and burned it up. And I thought, aha, that's where it went. It was a very important document, but I thought, sure, that's where it went.

And then on second thought, I said, dear Lord, I could trust my foolishness to burn up. That check or whatever it was. But I can trust you. I know you love me enough and you're interested enough and you wouldn't allow me to do that.

I knew that. And very wonderful, you know, the Holy Spirit is so true. Time and time and time again, presently he directs me to the right corner, to the right place. And there it was. There it was. It is marvelous to discover that the hairs on your head are all numbered.

God's Care, Scripture, and Freedom From Condemnation

It's right to wash your head. It's right to think a lot of your hair too. Don't singe it, but anyway, the hairs of your head are all numbered. My father, what does he mean by that? Does that matter? Well, God hides a wonderful promise.

He means that all things that concern you are important to God. And oh, this love of God, that you might know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Friends, we need to know. We need to meditate thereupon.

We need to search the scriptures. We need to read such Bible texts until we get them into our heart. Why, when I open the Bible, God the Father opens his heart to me. And oh, how it grieves him when I don't believe his love.

I found in Germany a lot of people that are in a perpetual dump because prophets tell them, you got to confess all your sins and they'll go way back over their lives. And you remember when you were three years old, you swallowed a pin that didn't belong to you.

And you bit the nipple off the bottle and, and your mother had to buy another one. And they'll bring a whole string and they'll just fill people's hearts with condemnation. Sometimes they remember faintly and sometimes they don't remember, but here they're under condemnation.

And you know, I was grown up to be like that. And one time I said to the Lord about something. I remember Lord, when I was a little boy, I came to this country and I had an aunt who was very rich. And you know, rich people get rich because they know how to take care of their pennies.

They can squeeze a penny until Abraham Lincoln yells. And she was taking care of me. And she told me now, when you go to the street car, of course you're, I was 14 years old. She says, just don't say nothing.

Just hand the conductor three cents. I was supposed to pay five cents after 12. I got away with it sometimes. One time I gave him three cents and he handed me a ticket, a transfer. He says, how old are you?

You know, I'd just come from the old country and I didn't know what he was saying. I says, what? He says, how old are you? I said, what? Until I had all the people in the street car roaring with delight.

Well, he let me go finally. But after I got saved, you know, that thing weighed heavily on my heart and I thought, goodness. Now I did that innocently. I was told to do that. And yet the devil tried to condemn me for that, although I'd been saved and baptized with the Holy Ghost.

But I had at that time a wonderful, wonderful access to the Lord. I went to the Lord and I said, what shall I do? And this was the answer. He said, son, do me this favor and forget about it. He says, those things have been blotted out in my blood long ago.

Why people try by making confession and by doing this and that and the other to appease God, to bribe him somehow after it's been forgiven. I know we ought to confess our sins. I know we ought to forsake it.

I know we ought to repent of our sins and thoroughly, deeply until we know they're blotted out. But our sins are not forgiven because we confess them only, but for his name's sake. And when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, your sins are all blotted out.

He says there's a thick cloud. He remembers them no more forever. Why should I let somebody else dig up some skeletons and and say here, beloved, we have known and believe the love that God has to us.

Repentance, Salvation, and Rejoicing in God's Love

Nothing will rouse faith within your heart, but a sight of the eternal love of God toward you. And you can repent of your sins with great rejoicing. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. That's what the jailer at Philippi did.

Why he rejoiced with all his house. Praise God. And you can rejoice with all your house. Even the canary bird will join you in praising the Lord. Oh, the love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me.

Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. Wondrous grace. The love of God so rich and pure, so magnificent.