Keep Yourselves in the Love of God (Ref)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Connection:
How do I enjoy the love of God? How do I grow as a Christian? How do I become more like Jesus?
These are all questions that you certainly ask and feel, if you are a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ! If you have the lifeblood of the Spirit within you, then you have growing pains and a desire to increase in glorifying God and enjoying him forever. But the big question remains: how do I do this? How do I mature in the faith? How do I increase in godliness? How do I strengthen my love?
The answer: By keeping yourself in the love of your God, through Jesus Christ our LORD, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. By communion with God.
But you might still be asking: how do I do that? Well, you’re in the right place because our text and subject from Scripture this morning directly answer such questions! This morning we’re going to see three ways in which we can keep ourselves in the steadfast love of God which is better than life! The love of God which endures forever.
Theme:
Keep Yourselves in the Love of God
Purpose:
To stir the saints in Christ Jesus to keep themselves actively in the enjoyment and blessedness of the love of God in Christ, through the Spirit working in the holy means of grace!
Turn to & Read from Text: Jude 20-21 ESV
PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY
(I) Brief Prelude to our Text:
(I) Brief Prelude to our Text:
Before we unpack each point, I want you to notice two things: Firstly, the Trinity in our text, and secondly, the Main Verb of our text…
Each of the Three Persons is named our text, and with such joy and majesty! God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all present, co-equal in power and glory—and are working together for the precious preservation of believers. The Trinity is not somewhere up there…. He is present with us!
RHB: “Knowing God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is extremely practical in Christian spirituality” (Eph. 2:18; 3:14–17).
And as we adore our Triune God in this text, in the original Greek it is evident that there is one main verb and three participles or verbals.
In our text the main verbal phrase is: keep yourselves in the love of God. And the three participles or verbals are: building, praying, and waiting. And in my study of the original, I’m interpreting these three participles or verbals as the means by which we keep ourselves in the enjoyment and blessedness of God’s love, which is in Christ and by the Spirit! We must abide in Him.
EBC: Christians are to keep themselves in God’s love (v. 21; cf. vv. 1–2). The realm of God’s love is in Jesus Christ!
So, before the Triune God of love—we who are in Christ must abide in that love. This sets us up for the unpacking our text. There is one main verb and three means of obedience. In other words… how do you keep yourself in the realm of enjoying the love of God? By doing X, Y, and Z—by building, by praying, and by waiting!
But before we go any farther we must notice firstly that in our text those who are being addressed are the beloved ones. They are those who are loved with the everlasting love of God, as Jeremiah says. They are those who are chosen in Christ unto eternal salvation. They are Christians indeed! Just as Jude opened his letter, addressing us as:
those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
This is where everything begins. You cannot obey these verses, or keep the exhortations in this sermon if you are not effectually called by the Holy Spirit, as one who is loved eternally by God the Father, united to Jesus Christ in saving grace, and being preserved by the almighty power of God! This is a Word that is primarily for the saints—for the beloved people of God in Jesus Christ—for those who are recipients of this ἀγάπη love, which flows through the Fountainhead of Jesus Christ to his Church. Therefore, you cannot keep yourself in God’s love, if you have not received this love of God. You cannot persevere in Christ, and if you are not in Christ, and being kept by God the Father for Christ! This text is primarily addressed to believers within the communion of the saints.
Thus, if you are here this morning, and you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, if you are unbaptized, outside of membership in the visible church, without faith in God and love for Jesus—devoid of the Holy Spirit—then you must realize that your first responsibility is not to try and keep yourself in the love of God—but (as it were) to get yourself into the love of God! That is, to come to the One in whom the love of God overflows. You must come to Jesus Christ, in whom God’s love is displayed and poured forth upon poor and needy sinners. Come to Jesus. Cast your sins upon his cross. Reject your own selfish efforts and pride. See him who is risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and who is coming again in judgment and salvation. Come to Him by faith and repentance, trusting in Him for forgiveness, and turning to Him in new obedience—and you can know that you are indeed called, beloved in God the Father, born of the Spirit, and that you will be kept for Jesus Christ unto life everlasting. This is God’s call to you even now—so come and welcome to Jesus Christ! Just as Peter proclaims so beautifully about Jesus:
God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
So for those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, we come now to heed God’s commandments and will for our lives, as we are slaves of the Lord Jesus—who is our Prince and Saviour. We have received God’s love, and so we must abide in God’s love. Just as Christ has taught us:
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
To enjoy God’s love we must keep in it through the obedience of faith! So firstly, brothers and sisters, we see this exhortation in Jude:
(1) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Building.
(1) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Building.
But you, beloved, [keep yourselves in the love of God] by building yourselves up in your most holy faith.
(1) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Building.
(1) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Building.
This is the first means to keeping ourselves in the enjoyment and blessedness of God’s love—building!
The Greek participle for building is : ἐποικοδομέω. And it has a particular meaning. It doesn’t mean to build something new! It means to build on to something that is already built (BDAG)! It means to build up something that already exists! To edify. To strengthen. To pile up.
And thus we must note that the Christian life is a life of construction—of building upon the firm foundation of Jesus Christ, and the Apostolic words of Scripture—it’s not one of re-laying foundations or ascending into new truths or revelations. We must build upon the one Rock who is Jesus. Everything that is not built upon this Cornerstone, will be burnt up on the last day!
But what is it that we are to be building up, and edifying or strengthening? Jude says: our most holy faith! But the question arises: is this our own personal faith and act of trust in the LORD? Or is it the doctrines of our faith, the objective truths of the LORD? Perhaps it’s both. But I believe that Jude is speaking about the doctrines of our faith, just as he did in the opening of his epistle in verse 3:
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
HDK: [Jude] begins and ends his letter with the subject [of] faith. This faith is the body of Christian doctrines which the apostles taught (see Acts 2:42). The reference here is not to subjective faith, the personal trust the believer places in Jesus Christ, but rather to objective faith (Christian beliefs), which is the foundation for the body of Christ.
Jude is writing to contend for THE FAITH … not primarily personal faith (although it’s surely included) … but he is contending for THE FAITH that was doctrinally delivered and deposited through the Apostles and Prophets, and which was then inscripturated in the infallible and inerrant Word of God in Holy Scripture!
And notice that it’s not just our plain faith that we must be built up in—it’s the dogmas of our MOST HOLY FAITH! This is the sacred deposit of God’s revelation! This is the testimony of the living Lord! It must be consecrated unto our hearts, and our hearts must be consecrated unto it! We must not master it, it must master us.
And thus we note: that our personal faith is built upon the Christian faith, and her most holy doctrines and dogmas. There is no personal faith without holy doctrine. We must know the doctrines and teachings of Christ, before we can put our personal faith and trust in Christ. In Christianity—the mind is the way to the heart. Doctrine precedes Devotion! As Paul instructed Timothy and the Church at Ephesus:
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Jude is exhorting us to build upon our understanding of our holy religion—of the doctrines of Scripture—of our knowledge of the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (as contained in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds for example)!
He is not telling us to whip up mystical faith, by emptying our minds. He is telling us to nurture Christian faith, by filling our minds. Study Scripture. Study God’s Word. Study our creeds, confessions, and catechisms. Study systematic theology. Study biblical theology. As Paul charged Timothy, and especially all ministers today:
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
And as you do this, beloved, as you follow the sound words of biblical doctrine, and as you guard that good deposit of biblical doctrine, then Jude says that you will be built up in your understanding of all that God is FOR YOU! If you want to enjoy the blessed love of God—you need to employ your mind to a diligent study of the Word of God and the doctrines that are extracted from Holy Scripture! So beloved, firstly:
(1) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Building.
This is the first way to enjoy God’s love—as we glory in God’s grace and wonderful works toward the children of men! But secondly, brothers and sisters:
(2) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Praying.
(2) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Praying.
But you, beloved, [keep yourselves in the love of God] by praying in the Holy Spirit.
(2) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Praying.
(2) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Praying.
Secondly we see that it’s not enough to simply be filling the mind with Scriptural truth and doctrinal teaching—we must join to this a warm heart of Spirit-empowered prayer.
How often is this the downfall of so many—and I’m most definitely tempted in this area as a preacher. It is so easy to soak yourself in reading Scripture, reading systematic theology, reading Christian books, and even to meditate on them and to employ your strength to understand them and glory in the truth of them…… but to fail to do this all in the spirit of prayer, in communion with God, in praise to God the Father, while abiding in Christ, and praying in the Holy Spirit. In Christianity—the mind is the way to the heart—but also—the mind without the heart is not the way! As Calvin says: “God is not known where he is not loved!” And we love him through praise and prayer!
And so Jude exhorts us: do you want to enjoy the blessed love of God for you, dear one? Then you must meditate on God’s truth, AND pray in God’s Spirit!
But how do we pray in the Holy Spirit? How do we know that we are praying in the Holy Ghost? By what and how we are praying. By the fact that we are praying God’s will, as it is revealed to us in Scripture. And by the manner of our prayers, with love, reverence, joy, and adoration! As it is written:
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Calvin: The way of persevering is [by being] endued with the power of God. Hence … we must flee to prayer. And as we commonly pray in a formal manner, he adds, in the Spirit; as though he had said, that such is our sloth, and that such is the coldness of our flesh, that no one can pray aright except he be roused by the Spirit of God.
Praise be to God that he hasn’t left us to pray devoid of the Spirit, but to pray in the Spirit of adoption:
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
We must not only pray truthfully—we must pray in the Spirit, fervently! That our prayers would have an unction to them. That we would be marked by a fervent wrestling with God for his blessing. That we would be confessing our sins, forsaking them, clinging to Christ’s mercy, and pleading for power to obey. That we would be praying God’s promises back to him! That we would pray as our Lord taught us to pray, even missionally: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven!
Brothers and sisters, the best evidence of praying in the Spirit, is not tongues—but the reciting of the Scripture that the Spirit himself inspired, and praying it back to God our Father through Christ our Lord!
Oh that our praying would have the light and heat of the Holy Spirit. Lord, teach us to pray! That our prayer closets, our family devotions, our public worship, and our prayer meetings would be marked by a praying in the Spirit! This, according to Jude, is how we keep ourselves in the enjoyment of the blessed love of God! Brethren:
(2) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Praying.
A studious mind and a warm heart—will lead us to stay within the realm of God’s love in Christ. But there’s one more means of grace that Jude mentions, to help us obey. So thirdly, saints:
(3) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Waiting.
(3) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Waiting.
[But you, beloved], keep yourselves in the love of God, by waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
(3) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Waiting.
(3) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Waiting.
The third way in which we huddle around the fire of God’s love, is by patiently and earnestly waiting for the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, and the life everlasting that shall dawn when he returns!
Not only must we study the doctrines of our most holy faith that were given in the past—and not only must we engage in prayerful communion with God in the present—we must also look to the eternal blessings of God to come in the future! This, according to Jude, is how we remain in God’s love!
Your translation might say: be looking, not waiting! And that’s absolutely legitimate. The Greek word, προσδέχομαι in this context can mean both to look forward to and to wait for (BDAG). We wait for something, by looking earnestly for it! Like those people who wait at airports for their loved ones who are going to walk down the isle with their luggage. You are earnest waiting to see and embrace them, as you are looking for them and the light of their face!
And we either wait for things, or for persons. But here it’s both that we are waiting for! It’s a thing: mercy, but that mercy only comes through a person: Jesus! We are to fix our minds and hearts and souls and beings upon an inexpressible desire for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will lavish us with mercy that triumphs over judgment, as he welcomes us into our eternal home in the inheritance of the new heavens and the new earth as all things are made new, and we shall reign with Him forever and ever in resurrection life, freed from sin, with our God, and with his people, in his perfected world, life without end! How could we not long for, look to, and wait for this mercy of eternal life in Jesus? As it is written:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
And because of this blessed hope—we are to purify ourselves in blessed holiness!
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
And oh what a comfort it is to know that we are waiting for mercy, compassion, and pity! Not judgment, not wrath, not fury, not condemnation…. but mercy! Blessed mercy and grace! Christ bore our sins, Christ took the judgment, Christ satisfied the wrath, Christ drank the fury, Christ was condemned—so that we who believe might receive mercy, even to the chiefest of sinners! Praise be to God for the mercy of Jesus Christ! Effectual mercy that not only offers, but secures eternal life for all believers, for the elect of God! And it’s all in Jesus! It’s the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. It belongs to him, is found in him, and is only dispensed through him—to those who are united with Him in saving grace:
We are not simply waiting for a thing, as though our salvation consists in a package that God gives to us—no—we are waiting for Jesus himself, for all of the mercy we receive is nothing but Christ to us.
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Gill: Eternal life is in him, and is given through him, and to his mercy should men look for it. Christ himself is to be looked for, who will certainly come a second time; and eternal life is to be looked for by him; and this is only to be expected through his grace and mercy; and this is to be looked for by faith, in the love of it, with delight and pleasure, and cheerfulness, with eagerness, and yet with patience.
So brothers and sisters, look forward to, and earnestly wait for—the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, as the trump resounds to bring us into the kingdom of glory and majesty—which kingdom shall never end…. because this Kingdom is ruled by a King who ever lives, a King of mercy and truth, a King of everlasting life for all who believe! Oh to see this King in all of his beauty, to behold his lovely face, and to fall before him in worship. Let us never fail to wait for that blessed day! Oh Church of Christ:
(3) Keep Yourselves in the Love of God … by Waiting.
Do you want to feel the warmth of God’s love, more and more, in your own experience and walk with the LORD, and in the communion of the saints and the worship of God? Well, according to Jude—our minds must build in study, our hearts must pray in the Spirit, and our souls must wait for Jesus Christ—this is how we keep ourselves in the joy of the smile and favour and love of God shining upon us in Jesus Christ our Saviour!
And let me remind you, that the YOU in our text is PLURAL! This is not a privatized pursuit—but a corporate program within the church and kingdom of Christ! So as we who are members of the household of God do such things, and exhort one another in these things, we will be like the early church and disciples in God’s grace:
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
But before our concluding thought, let’s think through some more particular and practical applications to our lives today as Christians:
(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:
(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:
(i) Instruction; (ii) Refutation; (iii) Consolation; and (iv) Exhortation.
(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:
(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:
(i) Instruction in the doctrines of our most holy faith and of our duties in the Christian life.
If you ask the average Christian what’s more important—doctrine or godliness, you’re going to get a lot of different answers. Most will probably say godliness, but some will say doctrine. However, they’re both wrong! Because both are equally important. In fact, so much so, that the Apostle Paul writes of the:
doctrine which accords with godliness.
True doctrine, faithful to Scripture, in the bounds of Christian orthodoxy, and received by the saints—accords with godliness, it lends itself to godliness, it transforms the mind and heart, and it causes us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices! You can’t rest content with doctrine without godliness, or godliness without doctrine—because we need doctrine that accords with godliness! And as we are building ourselves in our most holy faith, we will find strength to love God and to love each other.
So, how can do grow in this? I think the best place to begin is to be saturated in the Scriptures, of course, as your primary textbook of theology—but also to glean from the godly teachers of bygone eras! Especially in the reformation tradition.
Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
Read the Apostles & Nicene Creeds, read our Westminster Confession of Faith, read our Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Soak yourself in the doctrines that are drawn from the Word of God. Buy a systematic theology. Read good Christian books! Read the Reformers and Puritans.
Read the Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck. Read Holiness by JC Ryle. Read the Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan!
Soak yourself in sound doctrine—and build yourself up in your most holy faith. For you will never understand and glory in that which you don’t apply yourself to read, understand, and meditate upon!
(ii) Refutation of a passive mentality in the Christian life, namely, that we just drift into holiness.
There is no such thing as a drifting into holiness, but there is such a thing as a drifting into sin.
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Brothers and sisters, if we are drifting, then it means that we’ve stopped rowing our boats. We’re being passively taken down the stream—and at the end of the stream is a waterfall leading to eternal death and utter gloom. We must row! We must fight! We must labour! We must put on the armour of God, put sin under our feet, and strive for the heavenly prize that is in Christ alone! We must fight the good fight of the faith!
JC Ryle says: “There can be no holiness without a continual warfare. The true Christian is one who not only has peace of conscience, but war within.”
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Is your life marked by peace with God because of the Gospel of Christ? And is your life marked by a devoted fight against sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil? Are you a saint, a child of God striving after holiness? If not, then be warned! You won’t get into heaven without any battle scars. If you keep in sin, you won’t keep in God’s love! Because those who truly belong to Jesus, are being kept for Jesus Christ in the way of faith and love. Don’t expect heavenly glory, without earthly battle!
(iii) Consolation to those who are active in their faith and are savingly united to the LORD our God.
But if this is you—if you are active in the obedience of faith—if you are building yourself up in the faith, if you are praying in the Spirit, and if you are waiting for the mercy of Jesus Christ—then you are a saint indeed, saved by grace alone, loved by God, united to Christ, and indwelt by the Spirit.
Remember, you build yourself up because Christ is building His Church! You pray in the Spirit, because the Spirit helps you in your weakness. You wait for the mercy of Jesus, because God waits to show mercy unto you! All your fruits comes from his sovereign grace. So you can take heart! As you are keeping in God’s love, you are being kept for Jesus Christ! And you can sing with the bride in Song 6:
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine!
You can take heart that he has given you himself, and you have given him yourself. He takes your sin and guilt and shame, and bears it on your behalf—and He gives you His righteousness, forgives your sin, and grants you all the rights and privileges of the children of God! Loved by God the Father, redeemed by Christ the Son, and sealed with the Holy Spirit—you are being preserved by the power of God for a salvation ready to be revealed on the last day! Eternal life for you has already begun—because Jesus is eternal life—and you are in him!
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
So rest in Him, beloved ones. Rest in your Saviour. Rest in your eternal life. Rest in the mercy that will be yours on the day of judgment, by grace alone. And Rest in your unshakeable hope! But let us remember that after Jesus told us to rest in Him, he told us to take his yoke upon us. As we rest in him by faith, we are to follow him in love. As we take comfort in His preservation—we are to take pain in our perseverance! What God has joined together, let no man separate. In this we shall know his love that surpasses knowledge indeed!
(iv) Exhortation to keep in God’s love by a diligent pursuit and use of the means of grace.
So brothers and sisters, you who have received the everlasting love of God in Christ—unshakeable and true—keep yourselves in that love, as you keep yourselves in the sunlight of God’s smile. Don’t go off and hide in the shelter of your sin—come into the light, and glory in the warmth of your God who in Christ loves you and gave himself for you, and who is sanctifying you day by day—as you build, pray, and wait for His glory. Resolve this day to fulfill the words of our text by the Holy Spirit:
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Train yourself for godliness. Be disciplined. Get up early to be in the Word through meditation and prayer! Sing Psalms unto the LORD! Men, lead your families in daily-family-worship. Commit to reading Scripture and godly books. Commit to praying for holiness and missions. Commit to meditating on the glories of heaven, the horrors of hell, and our only refuge in the Rock of Ages. Commit yourself to attending the fellowship of the saints on the Lord’s Day, AM & PM! Commit yourself to preparing your heart for the Word, Sacraments, and Prayers of the House of God! Commit to the mid-week prayer meeting, as your life line in the Lord!
Commit yourself to keeping in the love of God. For in the light of His face, you can sing with the Psalmist and walk in Christ’s blessings, which resound for God’s glory!
Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face!
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
And all of this is by the grace of our Triune God—who is keeping us—and who will bring us all the way home to glory, when we shall dwell with Him, and He will be our God, forevermore! Let heaven be in you, before you are in heaven. Let God’s face shine upon you—so you can let your light shine before men! Let us be holy even as He is holy.
(A) Uses and Applications from our Text:
And again, the YOU in our text is PLURAL! So fellow saints of the household of God, let us encourage one another daily, to build, to pray, and to wait—as we abide in the sunlight of God’s love! So at last, let’s hear a final conclusion for this AM:
(C) Beloved Christians: Keep Yourselves in the Love of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit and in the Living Hope of Jesus Christ!
(C) Beloved Christians: Keep Yourselves in the Love of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit and in the Living Hope of Jesus Christ!
Praise be to God that his love in Christ has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit!
O love of God, how strong and true,
Eternal and yet ever new;
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all knowledge and all thought.
O love of God, our shield and stay
Through all the perils of our way!
Eternal love, in Thee we rest,
Forever safe, forever blest.
So let our lives sing a doxology to our Triune God, whose unbounded love has set us free, free indeed:
(C) Beloved Christians: Keep Yourselves in the Love of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit and in the Living Hope of Jesus Christ!
(C) Beloved Christians: Keep Yourselves in the Love of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit and in the Living Hope of Jesus Christ!
Amen? Let’s pray.
