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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you I do recommend, if you want to, you can listen while you're you're reading and looking at the Bible that oftentimes will help you not to daydream or whatever when you're reading. And I also just mentioned this I should mention this morning. As with all Bible reading, it's more important to read with understanding than it is to speed read. If you feel like you're not really digesting or understanding what you're reading because you're only trying to complete the challenge, it's not really going to benefit you. OK, I mean, yeah, you may win the prize, but that's that's not what it's about. We ought to have integrity when reading the word of God. So read at a pace, however fast that may be, a pace where you can absorb what you're reading. And some people are very adept at reading quickly and being able to absorb, and that's great, but not everybody can. So don't just try to plow through the nine chapters if it comes at the expense of understanding. Read with the understanding, whatever pace that may be, and dedicate as much time as needed if you want to do this challenge to being able to do that. I would much I'd much rather have a person do only four chapters every day in the month of January with good understanding, then do all nine and really get nothing out of it. So just please consider that. Now, you know, so listening to the Bible is great, but that doesn't count for the challenge unless you are of the age or unable to to read for some reason. So that's how we're going to do that. But I would I would be great for kids to participate, the ones that can read to to to get through this. So. And the ones that have are struggling, you know, maybe they're younger readers. Encourage them to listen while they while they read. It'll help them to to to do the the words that are a little bit harder to to sound out or whatever. And then they could keep going at a good pace. That'll that'll get them through the the Bible. So if there's any more questions, you can let me know. But again, you know, I put these rules because, you know, we want things being done right. But. I'm not like this isn't hard core stuff. We're doing everything on the honor system. I just want you to get in the spirit of the of the challenges to to complete them as appropriate. So. All right. Continuing on here, new church plans, of course, we've talked about this quite a bit. It's a very exciting point in our church's existence. So please, please, please be in prayer. We really want to get this up and going as soon as possible. But we just it's just a matter of space. We want somewhere to be able to to get this thing off the ground. And it appears that we're going to have more people even than would be appropriate for like somebody's house. Right. We started to start churches and houses, and that's great and that's fine. But once you start getting over a certain number, it's kind of hard to have a church in a house. Right. So. We're trying to find a space that's going to work for us and be able to handle the amount of people that we will probably have there right off the bat from day one. So just be in prayer about that. Hebrews Chapter 10. We're halfway through a little more than halfway through this passage. So if you're working on that, try to get this wrapped up within the deadline. You got about a month left to complete this latter portion of Hebrews 10. In order to get the prize, upcoming birthdays and anniversaries are listed down there through the month of January. Well, not completely through the month of January. Excuse me, because I said to fit them all on one page. And then down at the back, we've got the other upcoming events. So Christmas cookie exchange was this afternoon and it looks like there's some cookies left out there. So this is what I was talking about before. For those of us who didn't bring cookies, if there are some just left out for everybody have at it. Right. Everyone's done exchanging. So now it's fair game on the cookie tables. If you haven't already rated the cookies, like I said before, man, they're good. I only had one and it was fantastic. And well, one that wasn't from my household. So I got I don't want I don't want to be caught up here lying. Of course, I had cookies from my household, just not today. So, yeah, it'd be great for not to have any of those left either, because they're not going to be good just sitting out here for the next week. So go ahead and have at it with those. So many marathon mentioned that watch night service. So I already got a list of names this morning of the people who are interested in preaching. I will speak with you directly if I haven't already about the specifics on that, and we will probably have. Everybody that raised their hand preach, so that's that's the way I'm leaning on that, but I will talk to you directly about that. So that should be a lot of fun. That's the evening service at the watch night service. So that should be a lot of fun. And then immediately following up some dinner and just hang out and fellowship in games and and just enjoy each other's company. You should a lot of fun bringing in a new year right here. January 19th, homeschool field trip in the day before the pizza and movie night. And then the both of those events will be taking place right here. And then May 13th, of course, is our church camp. So please register for that if you haven't already, because the beginning of the year, I'm going to be trying to finalize all the details on the campground and who's getting what. And it's going to be also a time where I'm going to start talking to those who signed up for the cottages to being prepared to take over that obligation to to have the reservation under your name and not under the church's name. So that will be taking place early next year. And I think that's it for announcements and I'm missing anything. Don't believe so. All right. With that, I'm going to ask brother Peter, come up and lead us in our next song. All right, church. If you can open up your home over four hundred and twenty seven. OK. So four hundred twenty seven, we three kings of Oregon are. So four twenty seven. Let's sing this up the first. Or in Belgium, all of the others are. Sire, one of the star of the. Yes, we're still. For the king. King, for ever, he's never over us all to play. Shire, one star. Yes, we're leading still. We're. The. Yes, we're leading still. Oh, star of wonder, star of light, star of joy, you're really right, rest for me, still proceeding, kindness to thy perfect light. Oh, star of wonder, star of joy, you're really right, rest for me, still proceeding, kindness to thy perfect light. On the last. Glory is now, behold him arise, king and god and sacrifice. Hallelujah, hallelujah, the earth has died. Oh, star of wonder, star of light, star of joy, you're really right, rest for me, still proceeding, kindness to thy perfect light. Amen. Right this time I'd like to ask the ushers to be set up for our Sunday evening offering. Church, will the orphan place be passed around in the book of the Bibles and the book of John, chapter three. John, chapter three. I ask that you do customary the answer all back this church. I want you to read the entire chapter. I ask that you like the title. Can you please do that. Amen, church. Once again, that is the book of John. John, chapter three. John, chapter three. The Bible reads, there was a man of the faith, and there was a man of the faith. John, chapter three. John, chapter three. The Bible reads, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I have said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goest. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel, and know it's not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized. And John also was baptized in Aenon near in Salim because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. But John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same baptizers that all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. And he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard that he testified, and no man received his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the works or the words of God, for God given not the spirit by measure unto him. The father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the son have everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this amazing passage. We also thank you for the scripture that everybody knows of John 3.16, God. We thank you for all of your word. And God, we thank you for salvation in general. We thank you for being able to be with you in heaven. And God, we just thank you for all of the souls that have been saved today, the future souls that we will save. God, we thank you for salvation and for just being our father. Thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ as we celebrate him today. God, feel past the birds with your spirit and allow for him to preach a bonus. Let us take home a message that we need that we can hold dear to our heart. And let's be attentive to your word and take notes and be able to meditate on the words that are given today. God, we praise you and thank you. We say this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So this evening, I want to preach another sermon just in the spirit of Christmas. And as we look to celebrate the birth of Christ tomorrow, you know, of course, this morning I preached on the man, Christ Jesus. And this evening I want to gear the sermon a little bit more towards the father. And the title of my sermon is A Father's Sacrifice. And it's another aspect of the gospel that is absolutely worthy of recognition and respect and honor and reverence. And even going to our most famous passage in the entire Bible here, look at John Chapter three, verse number 16, where the Bible says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So when it's talking when they're obviously the generic God, it's talking about the father because the father gave his only begotten son. And of course, we focus on Jesus and we preach salvation through Jesus. And Jesus is the central figure with which we are communicating about the gospel. And we're celebrating the birth of Christ coming into this world. But I want to look at some scripture just to do reverence and honor to the father and his part of the gospel and sending his son Jesus Christ. And I heard something a few years ago from a modalist heretic that I just blew my mind that someone could stand behind a pulpit and mock really John three sixteen as they did. Now, they weren't reading John three sixteen or they might even if they're referencing or not. Maybe they were. Maybe they weren't. I can't recall now if this is the passage they were recalling. But they're trying to teach their oneness heresy, which teaches that Jesus is the father. Yes, you know who it is. I wasn't going to give him the benefit of getting anyone to look at his stuff because it's garbage. But yeah, he he'd made a comment that said that was those mocking. You know, the father sending his son to to, you know, die on the cross and pay for our sins and stuff. And I wish I could remember the words. It wasn't even worth going back. I'd never want to hear that again. It was so blasphemous, but it was like he was just mocking like, oh, yeah, I just love you so much. Here you do it. You go do the hard. You know, it's like that just speaks of a man who doesn't love his children. Because if you can't see the sacrifice, if you can't see if you're going to you're going to mock and make fun of. A verse like John three sixteen that's expressing, hey, God so loved the world that he gave his only for a father being willing to give not just a son, but his only begotten son. To go and die and suffer and go through everything that Christ went through. You don't know the love of a father if you don't see how that is a big deal. If you don't see the extent of the love to have for a lost world that you'd be willing to sacrifice your only begotten son in order to do it, in order to love them, in order to save them. Like you have no idea. This is such a profound statement of love for the world to be willing to make such a sacrifice of your own. Of course, Jesus made the sacrifice of himself, right? He willingly offered up himself as a sacrifice. But the father is a different perspective of the Godhead that was offering up his son. And he did it for a good reason. You know, of course, about for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And we're going to find many passages here and we're not going to go through too many of them, but it's clear the father sent the son. And he sent him to do this job and he sent him to do this work and he prepared him to do this work. And we're going to see many verses that show the honor and respect that Jesus had for the father. And while we absolutely owe a gratitude in our lives to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we also do to God the father. And we also do to the Holy Ghost. But the sermon is not about the Holy Ghost as much. So I'm going to do it from the perspective of a father because it's also relatable, humanly speaking, with fathers and sons as well. And it's something that we can relate to and kind of gain that extra sense of appreciation and gratitude for a father that is willing to offer up his son for other people. Turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. So many, I mean, I've got so many verses just going off in my head right now outside of what I even prepared for this evening. Romans chapter 5, very commonly used out so many, but let's get this into context. We're going to look at Romans 5, 8, but let's look and start reading in verse number 6. The Bible says, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended his peace toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And that statement there, that verse about God commending his love toward us, it is an exaltation of the love of God. It's, you know, when it says he commended, it's not just showing his love, he's commending his love. You think about like a letter of commendation, right? If someone's being commended, they're being lifted up or exalted or kind of put out there and put up there. This is how God is lifting up his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So, you know, I oftentimes, sometimes occasionally I'll talk to people even outsold about this to express the amount of love that God has for people. Because when you really think about it, it's a lot of love. And it's more love than we human beings probably could even really have if when you really break it down and think about it. I mean, let's say you only have one son in your family. You've got one child, one child. And this is why that, you know, it's also what Abraham did was amazing, too. But he had the promises of faith to be able to rely on knowing that God would be able to raise him up even from the dead is what Hebrews 11 tells us about with Abraham. And of course, the father knows that as well about Christ. But when you have the situation where you've got one son, one child, one son, to be willing to allow your son to then be put to death, executed. For someone else. For someone else who is not your son. Someone else who is not your relative, not your family. Just someone else. And then not only just for someone else, like the Bible says here in Romans 5 that says, you know, scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Like this is just someone deciding to be like, you know, take the bullet for someone, so to speak. Right? So when you've got someone who's right, and I don't know where like the Secret Service guys these days can offer to put themselves up. Because, you know, there's not very many righteous men that get these bodyguards that are there to defend their lives. But it is scarce that you'd find someone who'd be willing to exchange their life for someone else. Now, for a righteous man, you could find that. Right? Hey, this is a great guy. I'm willing to take the sacrifice and allow my life to go for his. And it says, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God's, the commendation of God's love is so great that it's even while we were yet sinners. So there's a difference between talking about the righteous man and someone who is unrighteous. And when you think about it, think about all the sinners in this world. And the blasphemous things people have said and mocked and ridiculed about God, about the Bible, about his word. And the horrible things that people have done in general with their sin, sinning against man, sinning against other people, sinning against God. And for God still, despite all of that, be willing to make the sacrifice that needed to be made in order to provide salvation. I mean, I just think back in my own life of some of the horrible things that I've said that have come out of my mouth about God. And God still chose to love and to say, OK, you know, they say all of these things, yet I'm still going to give the ultimate sacrifice. And obviously, from Christ's perspective, the ultimate sacrifice was himself. But from the father's perspective, it's his only begotten son. And I say it like this, you know, imagine, you know, it's hard enough to think of a situation where I'd be willing to sacrifice any one of my six children, let alone if I only had one. You know, it's like if I get rid of one, it's like, well, I got five more, right? No. But you love all of them so much. I mean, of course, they're not expendable. They're not just disposable. It's not like, yeah, we can just do without this one. No way. No way. And to think of a situation that could come up where you'd want to be or you'd even be able to say, like, OK, I'm willing to send off this son to die for that person. That's hard enough as it is. But then to do that for people who despise you, say like, OK, well, you have to give up your son and it's going to pay for this, this, this person. And here's all the things that they've done that are bad. Be like, OK, my son isn't perfect, but. I couldn't I don't have the love of God in that regard. I don't. I'm just being honest. I mean, that's that's a hard that's a that's. That's a that's a tremendous commendation of God's love to be able to do that. And thank God. Right. Because we're the benefactors of this love. We love him because he first loved us. And to be able to provide that that salvation for us at such a high cost. So what a high price. And, you know, these these idiots out there that want to criticize the free gift of salvation. They call it cheap grace. You're the ones making it cheap when you think that you could you have to add your works to it. The price paid was high. Christ's blood. That's that's very precious. That's very costly. But it's a free gift, so it doesn't cost us anything. And you know who gets all the credit then for that? The glory, the honor goes to God. Doesn't go to man. Man gets no credit and shouldn't get any credit. When you start trying to force these extra rules on getting saved, these other criteria of your own works and this and that, now you're just taking away, you're stealing God's glory as if what Christ did and his payment isn't sufficient to save you. No, God's love is commended. It's exalted because of the sacrifice that was made. Because not only did he allow for his his only begotten son to be put to death, he allowed it to be in such a way that was humiliating, shameful, disgraceful. He had to suffer the beating, the torture, the crucifixion. And then on top of that, when all of that was over, the descent into hell. Many of us could probably figure out a way to get past some of these other things that maybe your child would have to go through. But spending any amount of time in hell is horrific. I mean, that ought that ought to scare you to death, the thought of one of your children being in that place for any amount of time, even like a minute. God allowed for that. Because it was necessary to save you. What a sacrifice the father put out there. Turn, if you would, please, to John chapter eight. Another aspect to consider about the sacrifice of God, sending his only begotten son. Not only is he only begotten son, but think about the virtue of that son and what he's offering up and what the father is giving. You know, the sacrifice becomes that much greater when you think about how great Jesus was. Right? So, for example, every child is going to have value to their parents 100 percent, no doubt, right? But we all know that there's some people out there that when they pass, their parents are relieved. Right? And look, I'm not trying to be funny about it. Those people exist because they cause all manner of problems. And I'm not saying the parents aren't sad, but like they're leaving something to be desired. And it's like where the Bible would talk about like when certain kings would die and like no one made any big deal about it. Right. They just like some guys would die. And it's like this big thing, big event all this mourning. Right. When Israel died, for example, and Egypt, you know, Pharaoh and they're like mourning 40 days and all this stuff, like all of Egypt is mourning over this. And it's a big deal. But like you read some of the kings in the book of, you know, the kings of Israel, especially just kind of like, yeah, they died. And it was like they didn't even get buried in the sepulchres with their fathers. They're just like buried somewhere else. Right. But that's not Jesus. Look at John eight, verse 21. The Bible says, Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Wherever I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? Because he says, Wherever I go, you cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath. I am from above. Ye are of this world. I am not of this world. I said, therefore, unto you that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning, I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And I speak to the world those things which I heard of him. And I just want to real quickly, before I get to the main point, just highlight he's being sent. He's being sent by the father and he's speaking the things that he heard. So when we think about the sacrifice made of the father, the father is instructing the son and sending and giving the instructions and giving the word and saying, this is what you need to do and here's what you have to do. Like it's the involvement of the father sending the son is very high. It wasn't. You know, and again, when we're talking about God, because we're human, you know, we try to relate to God humanly. But God, you know, so forgive me if I if, you know, I'm not trying to just give God human attributes, but we are made in the image of God. Right. So there is there is some similarity there. And we know that God has emotion. We know that God gets angry. God gets pleased and happy. You know, like God has these things. We know his attributes about him. But God wasn't just begrudgingly sending Christ to do this work, to do this job. He was he was fully involved and fully invested in this work that he's preparing a son to do and full well knowing what needs to be done. That's not easy. I mean, imagine trying to prepare your son to go through the hardest thing in their life. And that hard thing was going to be like what Jesus went through. This is this is a sacrifice. That's, again, just to give that much more glory and honor to God and to, you know, to the father for sending Christ to do what he did. But let's keep reading here. Verse number 27. They understood not that he spake to them of the father. Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself. But as my father taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And this is the point I want to drive. Jesus wasn't the derelict son, the son that no one's going to be concerned about when they're gone or like maybe a little bit relieved when they're gone. He did always those things that please the father. He's the good son. He's the best son. He's the son that's just always there. I mean, a son you would never want to lose ever. Because they are just always there, always faithful, always doing right, always being pleasing to the father every single moment. Now, look, we know that Christ is God and we know that God is one, right? But we know that there is the Bible clearly teaches the three personhood of the Trinity. That there's, you know, the father, the son, the Holy Ghost. Yes, these three are one, but these three have the attributes of like persons while they are still unified as one God. And there's a hierarchy and it's very clear and without contradiction that Christ is receiving the commandment from the father. And that he is being sent and he is doing the will of the father and he is doing everything that the father is telling him to do. And we even see the will, though, of the son when he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, essentially asking, look, if there's any other way to do this, can we do that? Can we still accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished, your will, salvation? Is there any other way to do this? Because if there's another way to do it, I want to do it the other way. But, hey, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Indicative of a personhood, not to mention that the Bible says that he is the express image of his person. So it's not that we're just making this stuff up either. But again, I don't want to get too deep into the Trinity tonight because I just want to highlight these passages. Turn to John, Chapter five, highlight these passages about the sacrifice that the father made. Because we rightfully so focus a lot on the sacrifice that Jesus Christ himself made because he was willing to give of himself and give his life. But think about this from the father's perspective of teaching and training and now having a son that's perfectly obedient, perfectly in line with your will, doing everything always that pleases you and then still looking to put him through what he had to go through. John, Chapter five, verse number 16, the Bible reads, And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the father do. For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the son likewise. For the father loveth the son and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. Again, it's illustrating how much involvement the father has with the son and the preparation and just the son can't do anything of himself. The father is guiding him and giving him all that he needs. Flip over to John, Chapter 17. John, Chapter 17, verse number one. The Bible reads, These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And, you know, another doctrine we believe in, and I'm not going to just go in depth in this, is the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ. He wasn't just a son when he was born into this world. He was with the Father before he was born into this world, and he was with the Father as the Son of God, still. Like the Bible says, like Proverbs said, Pray or kiss the son, lest he be angry with thee. That's, you know, that's Old Testament, and that's talking about the Son of God. And we see, you know, even in Daniel, the Son of God appearing in Scripture. He's always been the Son of God. It wasn't just when he was born of the Virgin Mary that he became the Son of God. He's always been the Son. And think about this. The Father knew this before he sent his Son. So Jesus Christ had glory and honor with the Father in heaven, right? And then the Father is sending his Son and saying, okay, now you're going to be humbled. You're going to have to leave our home. You're going to have to leave this space. You're going to have to go and take on all these limitations and take on all this burden to go and do this. And again, we think about it, we think about it humanly speaking as a father, you know, most loving fathers will want to do everything. Like if anyone's going to get hurt, you know, I'm going to want to get hurt. If, you know, taking the brunt of everything so that because you're trying to lift up your children as much as possible. But this is the way that it had to be. And God, the Father, it's not, this isn't diminishing God's love. It's showing how much love he had to have for people, for the world, because this had to be done this way in order for him to then send his Son to go do these things, right? So it takes a lot of love for the others to have to then send your own Son when you wouldn't want them to have to leave their glory. You wouldn't want them to have to go through these things, right? But that's the only way around it. It's the only way it could be done. I think that exalts the love of the Father, whereas the heretics can't see that and mock and ridicule that thinking that that's some joke or something. No, it's not. When, like, for example, the Bible says that God is love. You know, God is love. There's love between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, right? More love than we have. And then still being able to, I mean, that's hard. Nothing's too hard for the Lord, but man, that speaks volumes. Look at verse number six. Let's keep reading here. Turn to 1 John chapter number four. Again, just a few references. There's so many more references about the Father sending the Son and instructing Him and giving Him the words and everything. But because we continue to see the faithfulness of Christ, just always saying, look, I did this. You told me to do this. I did it. You told me to give Him these words. I gave Him these words. You instructed me. I did. I'm doing always those things that please the Father. What a perfect son. To be willing to offer Him up as a sacrifice is just, is a great sacrifice that the Father has made. 1 John chapter four, look at verse number seven. The Bible reads, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. So it's not just John 3 16. We're seeing this reiterated. Look, God is love. And in this was manifested the love of God toward us. This is how we know. This is how God made His love known to us because God sent His only begotten Son. That is a loving act to send your only begotten Son. I mean, it's it's reiterated. That's exactly what it means. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. We see the example of the sacrifices made for others. Jesus self sacrificed for the world. The Father sacrificing His only begotten Son for the world. For people who don't deserve it. For people who won't always reciprocate that love. I mean, even us believers, we don't always reciprocate the love that God has shown us. We ought to. We strive to. But absolutely without doubt, we don't always do that because every time we find ourself in sin, we are not. We're absolutely not showing our love for God. And as we honor and respect and look to the great sacrifices, the sacrifice of Christ, the sacrifice of the Father that was made, let's take this and take this commandment and say, hey, look, that's how we also ought to love one another and be able to show that love and demonstrate that love to other people. And look, we can never do it as perfectly as God does. But that's the example. And it's a self sacrificial love. Real love is going to come at a price at some point of something. It doesn't necessarily have to be financial. It always comes at a cost, though. We see the love of God. What did He do? He had to give His only begotten Son. We see the Son. What did He do? He had to give His life. So to show this love and where the rubber meets the road on love, it's not just lip service. It has to come through deed and it has to come through action and it has to come through sacrifice. So in order to love people, if nothing else, it's going to take your time. You have to sacrifice your time. You have to invest that. You have to give up something else in order to help others and in order to love others. And we have to remember the level to which the degree to which God loved us who didn't deserve it at all. And when you're thinking about helping people out and be like, I don't want to help that person. I don't like that person. What if God said that about you? I mean, really? You know, I don't really like that guy. Here's what he's done. Here's what he said. Let's not lose sight of what we're supposed to do. Flesh makes it hard, but the example is clear. No man exceed God at any time. Verse 12. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And of course, we look at all the things that Christ had to go to. And we're going to turn there again one more time this evening, Isaiah 53. We're not going to read the whole chapter. We're going to read all that. You see how bad it was for Christ, what He had to go through. But there was a purpose behind it, right? It's because Christ needed to be the Savior of the world. So what a greater calling, right? This is how you can see then how God is willing to give His only begotten Son because it's to do the greatest thing possible. To be the Savior of the world. Only thing can only be done through His only begotten Son and was willing out of love for the world to give His Son to die for the world. In fact, just go ahead and turn to Isaiah 53. I'm going to read for you from Mark 15. Of course, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Mark 15 while you're turning to Isaiah 53. Mark 15 verse 33. The Bible says when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why is thou forsaken me? So at the sacrifice made of the Father, He had to actually forsake His only begotten, perfect Son at this time when He took on the sins of the whole world. Had to be forsaken. Now, it's hard to put yourself in that position. And to, like, man, because, I mean, you're there for your children, right? You want your children to know just like Jesus has promised, hey, I'm never going to leave you or forsake you. Sacrifice. There's a purpose to it, right? It wasn't just for no reason, of course. It had to be done. But that can't be easy. And to, look, Jesus Christ literally said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? I can't imagine how that feels. Your Son, your only, your perfect only begotten Son to say that. Why? That's a big sacrifice. It's a lot of love and a lot of strength to allow this to continue instead of stopping that and going, okay, know what, Son, know. Your suffering's done. God, the Father didn't do that. He allowed it to continue even past that. Isaiah 53, we see the death that the Father had to sentence the Son to because He was burying the sins of all the world. It had to be done. The sin had to be paid for. God is a just God. God is a judge. He has to have the penalty. It has to be paid. It has to be paid. The sins have to be paid. Transgressions can't just go unpaid. Can't. Can't just look the other way. Can't just ignore it. It's got to be settled. It's got to be taken care of. One way to do that. Look at verse number 8, Isaiah 53. The Bible says He was taken from prison and from judgment. Who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of My people was He stricken. It wasn't for His own transgression. It was the transgression of the people. That's why He was stricken. That's why He was afflicted. That's why these things happen. Look at verse 9, and He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death because He had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in His mouth. He was perfect. He didn't do anything wrong. Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. The only way the Father is going to have pleasure out of bruising His only begotten perfect Son that was not guilty of anything is out of love for you. Out of love for the world. The only way it can be done. That's a lot of love. It's a lot of love. It pleased Him not because His Son was suffering, but because His Son was doing something so great to save the world, to offer life, to bring salvation to the whole world. Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He has poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. It doesn't end just with this horrible death and with this great sacrifice, but then it brings a big victory. His name gets exalted above every name, which is why there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And now has the glory and the honor and the victory and talk about being able to make the Father proud of the Son because He followed everything through and did everything like He was supposed to. And in the time, it's hard. And in the time, that's the sacrifice. But it's the big picture in the end that demonstrates the whole big picture of the love. And take away for us, keep the big picture in mind. Parents, especially, keep the big picture in mind for your children. Your children are going to have to suffer if you're going to live a Christian life. As Christ had to suffer, who lived a better Christian life than Christ, right? He defines the Christian life. We see the evidence. He was prepared. He was prepared of the Father. The Father gave him the words. The Father gave him the instruction. The Father told him everything that he needed to do and everything he needed to carry out. Jesus knew in advance before He was going to be crucified what was going to happen. He knew it. And as it got closer to that time, it was, you know, became, you call it more real, right? But he started to experience that, oh, man, this is about to happen. We lead all the way up to Garden of Gethsemane, praying there and sweating, as it were, drops of blood and, you know, this great grief and anxiety over what's about to happen, essentially. But he was prepared. And parents, you know, we want to, on the one hand, try to take away all the pain and all the discomfort and everything from our kids. But you can't just always take away that stuff because it's going to happen. So, more importantly, we need to prepare them. We need to prepare them. We need to teach them. You need to instruct them. You need to give them the word. And there's no better word than the word that the Father gave the Son to instruct the children, hey, this is, these things happen. Look at what happened to our Savior, Jesus Christ. But you know what? He did that out of love. You may have to experience some really bad things. And who knows? We know that as things enter towards end times, which may or may not happen in our lifetime, but if it does, things are going to get really bad. I mean, people will be martyred. People will be killed for the cause of Christ. People will go through some very terrible things and very hard times. But we stay through and we endure. And if we're doing it out of love, what do you mean out of love? Who, you know, the other people that will witness this, the other people, the testimony of the martyr is magnified beyond measure. That's the demonstration. That is the exaltation of the love when it carries all the way through those things. The devotion to the true, to the word, to the Lord. Unwavering. People need to be prepared for that. And understand that at the end, there's great reward. There is. You don't just suffer and never get any benefit afterwards. There's absolutely a benefit. And it will be way, way, way, way worth it. At the judgment seat of Christ, if you are allowed to suffer for the name of Christ, as the apostles counted it great joy that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the cause of Christ, you will have those great rewards and it will be worth it in the end. The temporary short-term affliction that this world can bring to you is nothing compared to the joy and the greatness of what God has in store for you. Invest in your children. Teach your children. Instruct your children. And at the end of the day, whatever may be, be willing for the cause of Christ, if the cause of Christ be so, be willing to even part with your children. Right? They want to serve God somewhere else. They want to move away or whatever. As a parent, you've got to be able to make that sacrifice. Now, thankfully, Jesus Christ died once for all. We don't have to offer up our children on a cross. I mean, that would be blasphemous anyways, but for us to try to offer up our children. But, you know, that just shows us the extended level of love that God has. We don't have to do that. But, hey, let's prepare because it's not a bed of roses on this earth. It's not a cakewalk. It's not just some easy thing, the Christian life. Instruct. Do the diligence. Watch over and protect and love them. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you so much. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your only begotten son for us sinners, for loving us so much to allow for that to happen and to not just allow for it to happen, but to make the plans and send him and do all of these things for us. It really is. That love is not lost on us, dear Lord. We're truly thankful and appreciative of what you've done and still probably can't even fully grasp the extent of the love that you have for us, dear Lord. But please help us to bring that to others and to show other people and that we could just bring that much more honor and glory to the name of you and your son, Jesus Christ, by bringing that free gift to the world and to the community around us, dear Lord. And I pray that all that we do would bring honor and glory in your name. We love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to sing one last song before we are dismissed. Brother Peter, will you... Alright church, you can grab your hymnals and open up to song number 429. Song 429, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Church, I just want you to take a quick look at this hymn. This hymn has so much doctrine packed in the hymn. Jesus came to give us second birth. Amen. Amen for that. And this is one of these hymns that these modalists don't sing either. It talks about the three and one. Alright church, let's sing out song 429. Let's sing this out on the verse. Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled Joyful all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic host proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Twice by eyes and adored, twice the everlasting Lord May in time behold him come Offspring of a virgin's womb Hail in flesh the Godhead see Hail incarn in deity May his men with men too dwell Jesus our Emmanuel Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace Hail the Son of righteousness Light and light to all he brings Risen with healing in his peace While he lays his glory by For men, men no more may die For to raise the sons of earth For to give the second birth Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Upon the last of these iron nations come Faced in us thy humble home Ties the law in concrete steel Rudes with us the serpent's fin At us likeness now it pays Set thine image in its place Take banana from the bud Read it, stain us in thy life Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Amen church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming. .