Transcription downloaded from https://sermonarchive.gfcbremen.com/sermons/77639/the-happiest-way-to-live/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, good evening. I miss all of you. And if you haven't been coming to the prayer meetings on Zoom, it's a really great way to see each other and just get to chat a little bit.

[0:14] So I want to encourage you to do that. It's really, it is an encouraging time, even if it's not ideal. So I need to think about that. If you have your Bibles, I hope you do.

[0:29] Take them and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And we're going to read this chapter one more time. I think this is going to be the last sermon on 1 Corinthians 13.

[0:44] So 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

[0:57] If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

[1:09] If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy and does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered.

[1:32] It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

[1:45] Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

[1:58] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child.

[2:14] When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face.

[2:25] Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain. Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

[2:38] Follow the way of love. And eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. Follow the way of love.

[2:50] Well, let's pray and ask for God's blessing on his word as it's preached. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God of love.

[3:04] A God of overflowing love. Loving the Son, loving the Holy Spirit, and being loved. And we thank you that through Jesus Christ, we can be brought into that fellowship of love.

[3:21] Where we love you and know that we are loved by you. And we love our brothers and sisters. So thank you for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that through his sacrifice, his pain, we have been brought into that circle of love.

[3:41] And so we want to follow love. We want to pursue love. We want to live in it. And your word shows us how. It teaches us what that looks like. And it encourages us to do that.

[3:52] And so I pray that today, this evening, as the word is preached, that Holy Spirit, you would come. And you would teach. And you would encourage.

[4:04] That you would inspire. That you would really encourage us toward love and good deeds. That we might be a people that love one another.

[4:14] That we might have families that love each other. And enjoy the fruit of love. And so do your people good. Help me as I preach.

[4:26] And help everyone else as they listen. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Junker George was hiding away in a castle.

[4:37] Now, Junker was not his first name. That's a title. It's sort of like a knight. So Junker George was hiding in a castle. And why was he there? Well, he was a wanted man.

[4:52] The emperor wanted him dead. The pope wanted him dead. And so there he was. Hiding for over a year. And then finally he had to leave.

[5:04] He had to get out of there. And it wasn't the isolation. It wasn't being cooped up in this castle. He wasn't experiencing that. It wasn't the social distancing that was the problem.

[5:16] The churches in his hometown, in Wittenberg, were being vandalized. Pictures of Mary were being ruined.

[5:26] And paintings of the saints were being slashed and thrown away. And the mass was being overturned. Well, was that good? Well, Junker George didn't think so.

[5:40] Things were getting out of hand in Wittenberg. And so he had to go. He had to get out of there. So Junker George shaved off his beard.

[5:51] He took off his borrowed aristocratic clothing. And he put back on his monk's clothing. And he left for Wittenberg.

[6:03] So Martin Luther was coming out of hiding. And he was coming back to Wittenberg to preach. And the reason was some good Christians, some good Christians in Wittenberg needed to remember something.

[6:20] They needed to remember the main thing. And so that first Sunday when he got up into the pulpit in the church to pray, to preach, after being gone for over a year, a year and a half, he started off with a bang.

[6:38] We have the record of that first sermon that he preached to his people after being gone for a year and a half or so. And in the light of everything that had happened in the city.

[6:51] And this is how it started. It was with a bang. And just imagine what it was like as he got up to preach. And this is how it began. The summons of death come to all and no one can die for another.

[7:07] The summons of death come to all and no one can die for another. We can all shout into one another's ears, but everyone must individually be prepared for the time of death.

[7:19] For I will not be with you and there, nor you with me. Therefore, each person must personally know and be armed with the chief things that concern a Christian.

[7:34] Now think about how much has changed in 500 years since Martin Luther preached that sermon. But some things are the same. The summons of death come to all. That was then.

[7:45] That's now. And you individually have to be prepared to meet it. You need to know the chief things that concern a Christian. And so this is what he preached.

[7:57] First, you must know that you are born children of wrath. And our works and our intentions and our thoughts are nothing at all. Our works can't save us.

[8:09] That was the gospel back then. That's the gospel today. Second, you must know that God has sent his only begotten son that we may believe in him so that whoever trusts in him shall be free from sin and a child of God.

[8:24] That's the gospel then. And that's the gospel now. And then third. And here was the main point of Luther's sermon. Third, we must also have love.

[8:37] And through love, we must do to one another as God has done to us through faith. For without love, faith is nothing.

[8:48] If I had the tongues of angels and could speak of the highest things in faith and have not love, I am nothing. And here he lowers the boom on this congregation and the city, his own city, his own friends.

[9:05] And here, dear friends, have you not grievously, grievously failed? I see no signs of love among you.

[9:21] Some good people weren't ready for what you did. Wrecking things, throwing the mass away.

[9:33] Just like that. They could still be one. They still could have been one to our side. They still could have been one to the truth if you would have just slowed down and acted in love.

[9:46] And he went on to say, yes, the thing that you did was good in and of itself. He said, I'll defend you to the Pope and to all those blockheads. But I don't know if I could defend you to the devil.

[10:02] Mothers don't give their children food right away, solid food right away. First it's milk. And then it's baby food. And then it's eggs and soft food. If you give solid food to babies right away, that's not love.

[10:15] That's how you kill them. And so we should deal with our brothers and sisters in the same way. Love.

[10:26] That's what Martin Luther felt compelled to come out of hiding, to risk his life, to preach. So in their zeal, they had forgotten love.

[10:40] In their faith and in their freedom, they had forgotten love. And so truth without love is a dull knife. It doesn't get through to the people.

[10:52] It doesn't get through to people. And zeal without love is not good. It quickly turns into terror. However, the Christian life is faith toward God and love toward people.

[11:10] Now we saw this last time. The kind of love that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13 is agape love. It's loving.

[11:21] It's the love of God put into the hearts of men. It's the life of God and the soul of man. It's the Trinitarian love of God filling the soul.

[11:33] And so the spirit of God, the spirit of Jesus and his love now is put into a man. And we love people not because they are lovely, but because there is something in us now that wants to do them good, that wants to love them.

[11:49] It's an overflow of God's heart into our hearts. And so through the whole New Testament, through the whole Bible, but through the whole New Testament, that is the word.

[12:01] That's the direction that Christians are to to go live a life of love, just as Christ loved us. Ephesians 5.1 over all these virtues put on love, be devoted to each other in brotherly love.

[12:18] As for brotherly love, we do not need to say anything for you. You yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And Paul only says, do so more and more.

[12:31] And that's first Corinthians 13. Now this evening, what I want to do is give you motivation to love.

[12:42] I want to fight for love in your heart and in my heart. So we've seen what love is. And first Corinthians 13, just in the passage itself is full of motivation to love.

[13:00] But I want to add more. And this evening, I don't want to threaten you. I don't want really so much to warn you. I want to woo you.

[13:15] There's threats and there's warnings in 1 Corinthians 13. There's going to be some threats and warnings in my own sermon here. But overall, I want to woo you.

[13:28] I want you to think of your own best interests. I want you to think of your own happiness. Your long-term happiness.

[13:40] The Bible is full of that kind of motivation. Proverbs is full of that kind of motivation. He's saying, do this for your own sake.

[13:52] For your own success. Your own prosperity. Your own joy. And it's in that spirit that I want to woo you. That I want to fight for love. Not just in your heart, but in my own heart.

[14:04] Because loving is not always easy. Not at all. Love sometimes is costly.

[14:19] Sometimes it means death. And so I need motivation. You need motivation. And so here's where I want to fight for you.

[14:32] Here's where I want to woo you. I want you to think, do you want to be happy? Do you want to have joy in your life? And I hope you do.

[14:46] I hope you do. It'd be crazy if you didn't. If God gave you sense, and he did, then you want to be happy. You want to have joy.

[14:58] And what I am saying is love is the best way to experience long-term and eventually eternal joy.

[15:11] Happiness. And I have five lines of argument. I have five supporting things that I want to bring to the table. Five reasons. Five lines of argument to get to this.

[15:22] To show you. To prove to you. To fight for this kind of love. So why is it that if you want to be happy, you should do what 1 Corinthians 14.1 says, which is follow the way of love or pursue love.

[15:39] Five lines of argument. And here's the first argument. God's commands are all for our joy. God's commands end in our joy.

[15:53] Charles Spurgeon himself, he said this. Holiness is the royal road to happiness. Holiness is the royal road to happiness. The death of sin is the life of joy.

[16:08] Now, we've been seeing in Sunday mornings that God is good. He's good and everything he does is good. And so all of his commands are good.

[16:19] They are an overflow of his goodness and they do us good. So this is the way it works in the world.

[16:31] Bad kings make bad laws and they bring misery and sadness to people by those laws. But good kings make their people happy, prosperous with good laws.

[16:47] Proverbs 29.2. When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. And when the wicked rule, the people groan. Proverbs 28.12.

[16:58] When the righteous triumph, that is they come to power, there is great glory. But when the wicked rise, men hide themselves. So do you see the connection here?

[17:13] It's true in the earthly realm and it's true in the heavenly realm. Good kings, good laws bring joy. And so if that is true, then God's royal law, his greatest commandment, which James says is love your neighbor as yourself.

[17:36] Then surely that is for our greatest joy and our greatest peace. God has connected joy to our love.

[17:49] And that's the order of the universe. That's the way God's creation and God's kingdom work. The more we love, the more we're going to experience joy.

[18:03] The more joy we'll have. Now, that's not always easy to see. That's not always immediate. That's not always right away. That's not always the simplest thing to believe. It's not always the easiest thing to believe.

[18:13] But that is the truth because God is good and God's commands are good. And so his commands are good for us. That's the underlying fabric of God's creation and God's kingdom.

[18:27] And so when we pursue love with our brothers and sisters, when we pursue love with our family, when we pursue love with our neighbors, we are in the groove.

[18:37] We are in the warp and the woof of God's good design for the world and for us. I hope that makes sense. We are in God's appointed way to experience joy, goodness.

[18:54] God's command to love is not a death sentence. So much as it's a door to life, to joy, to happiness.

[19:09] And I wonder if you believe that. Are God's commands for your good, for your joy?

[19:20] Does God, in commanding you to do certain things, does he have your good in mind? Psalm 119, the psalmist there says, I believe your commands.

[19:35] Not I believe your promises. I believe in the goodness of your commands. And so I'm careful to obey them. I wonder, do you believe that? When we sin, we say our happiness, my happiness is really over there.

[19:50] My happiness is not loving. My happiness is actually being selfish. Protecting myself.

[20:02] Doing what's good just for me. And, you know, that never works out. It's this deceitfulness of sin.

[20:12] No. No. In keeping God's royal law, there is a great reward. There's a great reward.

[20:24] And so the more you believe in the goodness of God's commands, the more you will obey them. And the more you believe in God's, the goodness of God's royal law, to love your neighbor as yourself, then the more joy you'll experience.

[20:39] And that is the way it is. That's the way creation is. That's the way God's kingdom is. That's the way it is. Because God is good. Now, second argument.

[20:50] Second line of reasoning. Second way I want to support what I'm trying to say. That if you want to be happy, long term, now and in eternity, then pursue love.

[21:02] I want you to think about what miserable sins love saves you from. What kind of miserable, misery-inducing, misery-producing sin love saves you from.

[21:15] So you have 1 Corinthians 13 open there. Look at the joy-sapping sins that love saves you from.

[21:26] Verse 4. Love does not envy. Doesn't envy suck the joy out of your life? There are fewer, bigger love or joy-sucking sins than envy.

[21:46] Have you ever, ever met a happy, envious person? No, because everybody and every day and everything is just another reason for an envious person to be unhappy.

[22:02] So I go to work and I'm not happy. I'm unhappy with my job and I want your job. You got promoted and I'm unhappy. You have a better assignment than I do and so I'm unhappy.

[22:14] Your paycheck is bigger than mine and so I am unhappy. And I go for a walk and your house and your yard and your car is nicer than mine and so I am unhappy. And I'm not happy with what I have and I am not happy with what you have.

[22:29] Their children, their spouse, their family, their blessing. Envy turns their blessings into my unhappiness.

[22:40] What a sad factory envy is. You put blessings in on one side and out comes unhappiness on the other.

[22:52] So I'm unhappy with what I have and I am unhappy with what you have. So my good things don't make me happy.

[23:06] But, and your good things don't make me happy. But love is the exact opposite. Love is a happiness factory. I put my good things in and I'm happy.

[23:19] And I put your good things into, into the, the factory. And I'm happy because of those too. My good things make me happy and your good things make me happy.

[23:30] So love invites the whole world to bring joy to my doorstep. Love invites all my neighbors and all my friends and all my brothers and sisters to bring me joy.

[23:40] Whereas envy shuts the whole world off and dries up every channel of joy into my heart. And so love saves us from so much misery.

[23:52] And it opens us up to so much joy. Love saves us from holding grudges. It keeps no record of wrongs. Now, isn't that a miserable way to live?

[24:04] Going through your whole life, remembering and carrying along on your heart all the bad things that people have done. Other people's wrongs. And so my sister did this.

[24:16] My brother did that. My son did this. This person did this to me. And that person did that to me. And so there they are with all their historical record of wrongs.

[24:28] And I'm carrying them all along with me. Is that a happy way to live? Well, love doesn't keep a record of wrongs. Love doesn't have ten volumes of historical bad things going on, carrying around on your back.

[24:46] Love saves you from keeping a record of wrongs, from that misery. Love saves you from being short-tempered. Angry people, short-tempered people are not happy people.

[24:57] Love is not proud. Again, proud people are not happy people. They're always getting their feet stepped on. They're never getting the attention they want.

[25:09] There's always this relentless, continuous measuring of yourself against others. You're always either looking up in envy or looking down in disdain.

[25:19] But you're never looking at others and being happy. Pride turns people away. Pride turns people off from you.

[25:32] Because who wants to have a relationship with someone who thinks they're better than you? Who's self-righteous? Who knows it all?

[25:42] So pride and self-seeking, only seeking your own personal good, seeking all your joy and getting for yourself, is the most miserable way to live.

[25:57] It's just building a coffin from the inside out. It's putting up the boards and driving the nails until relationships and every kind of light and every kind of joy can no longer get in.

[26:14] Because I am so bent in on myself, I'm effectively building a coffin to live in. Love saves us from cynicism.

[26:25] It always believes and always hopes. What are cynics like? They're sarcastic. They see through people.

[26:36] They see the bad in every good. They're so self-protective. I think that's why cynics do what they do and think like they think.

[26:47] It's because they are afraid to put themselves out there. And so they end up cutting themselves off from real people and from real joy.

[27:02] She's going to let me down. All he cares about is himself. They're always asking, what's their angle? Why is this not true?

[27:13] And it's all protect, protect, protect. The cynic is a miserable person. Well, love isn't cynical about people. It's not naive.

[27:26] It's not stupid. But it isn't cynical. So love gives us the wisdom to discern people and what they're doing.

[27:38] But it doesn't make us cynical about them. Well, we could go on. I hope you get the point. Living in love saves us from a lot of misery-producing sins.

[27:50] So if you want to be happy, then pursue love. Third line of reasoning. Third argument. Just think of all the virtues that produce happiness, that love produces.

[28:04] So think of all the joyful virtues love produces. So love is patience. Patient people are happy people. So two people are in the same drive-thru line at Chick-fil-A.

[28:19] And that drive-thru line is really long. So who has more joy? The impatient person sitting there in the Chick-fil-A drive-thru line or the patient person?

[28:31] They're both waiting for the same sandwich. They're both going to get the same sandwich. But one is far happier than the other. One is far more pleasant than the other.

[28:45] Love is kind. Kind people are happy people. Love is generous. And Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. Selfish people slowly shut themselves off from others and from all the joy that friendship and kindness and patience would bring to them.

[29:04] But patient, kind, generous people open themselves up and they live more in those relationships that bring joy.

[29:16] Hasn't this whole situation with the coronavirus shown us that we are made for relationships?

[29:29] I know for a fact that some people are really, they're wrestling with sadness, with depression, with loneliness because of all of everything that is going on here.

[29:43] And we are really seeing that our life is not measured by the things that we have. It's measured by our relationships.

[29:53] And so in the Christian life, Jesus said, you're going to have persecutions. You're going to have trials. You're going to have difficulties. But Jesus said, even in this life, you're going to have a hundred fathers and mothers, a hundred brothers and sisters.

[30:10] That is the blessing of the Christian life. That's the blessing of living in love. And again, I could go on and on, but I want you to think for yourselves.

[30:25] Think of the misery that love saves you from and think of all the joy that love brings to us. So if you want to be happy, if you want to experience more happiness, then pursue love.

[30:41] Now, here's the fourth argument. And it comes right out of 1 Corinthians 13, because how does 1 Corinthians 13 end? It ends with this idea that all these spiritual gifts are going to go away, but love is going to remain forever.

[30:57] So here's the fourth argument. The joy of heaven is the joy of love. The joy of heaven is the joy of love.

[31:09] It's not the waters and the trees and the birds. It's not the golden streets and the ivory and the pearly gates or anything like that. All of that will be so great.

[31:20] But the supreme joy of heaven is living in love. It's love. The supreme joy of heaven is love.

[31:33] God's overflowing love boundlessly coming to us and our souls and our bodies transformed in order that we could receive more of that love than we could handle.

[31:46] Now, these old bodies, they can't handle it. They don't have the physical, the emotional, spiritual capacity. But they will then. And so we will see the sun of God's love shining and we will be able to take it in and live.

[32:03] And every bit of that love or every bit of us will be filled to the fullness of God's love. And what I am saying is we will experience it and we will know that he loves us.

[32:18] And that will bring us great joy. But it's not just God's love. The love of every angel and saint will be there and will bring us joy.

[32:33] Everyone in heaven will be perfectly lovely, lovable and perfectly loving. Every angel that we meet shining in all of their holy joy will love us.

[32:53] And we will know that they love us. And we will love them in return. And every saint that we meet, now they're perfected.

[33:05] Now they're full of glory and immortality will love us. And we will love them in return. We'll know their love and they'll know our love.

[33:18] There'll be no shade. There'll be no doubt. There'll be no sin. There'll be no weakness. There'll be no distance or questioning or imperfections in them or in us to mar that joy.

[33:29] Every angelic heart and every human heart will perfectly reflect God's love. So God will be the sun. And there will be countless moons perfectly reflecting his love.

[33:47] And so we will see angels drinking in the love of God. And we will rejoice in their joy. And we will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all of the saints drinking in God's love.

[34:03] And we will rejoice in their joy. So we will love the greatest for their holiness. And we will love the least for their humility.

[34:17] And their joy will increase our joy. Because we will love them. And we will be happy for them. We'll be bound together in love.

[34:30] And so the love that is just beginning here below will blossom above. That the mustard seed of love that we're experiencing now will grow to the full tree there.

[34:47] And so I will love and I will sing and rejoice over my brothers and sisters. And they will sing over me. And God will sing over all in love.

[35:00] Love will be the joy of heaven. But hatred. Hatred. Is the misery of hell.

[35:15] So we've gone. We've thought about heaven. We've thought about the glory of heaven. Just something of it. We've gone up to the fairest and the highest places.

[35:26] But let's now. Let's go down to the darkest places. The deepest places. What is hell? Well hell.

[35:38] In hell there's nothing but hatred. There's nothing but selfishness and cruelty and meanness and anger and wrath. God shows no love.

[35:51] In hell. He pours out. His perfect dislike. His perfect distaste and disillusionment. His. And indignation.

[36:04] On the objects of his wrath. God doesn't. Smile on them in the least. He pours out his hatred upon them. And in hell.

[36:15] Every person. And being. Heavenly. Or human. And. And demonic. Will go on hating. And biting.

[36:27] And devouring. And devouring. And devouring each other. Demons hate. Men. Now. And they will go on hating men. And men and demons.

[36:39] Will be forever locked. In this eternal. Hatred. Unable to escape. Each other. So do you see two sisters.

[36:51] Or two brothers. Fighting. In bitterness. In hatred. In selfishness. In not forgiving. In each other. That.

[37:03] Is a foretaste. Of hell. So the bliss of heaven. The bliss of heaven. The joy of heaven. Is God.

[37:13] And others. And the misery of hell. Is God. And others. So some people have asked. Why. Must hell. Go on forever.

[37:26] People have asked that. Some of you have asked me that. Why must hell be forever. Well. One reason. Not the only reason. But one reason. Is. Sin doesn't stop in hell.

[37:39] It's not like people go there. And they. Become saints. They're still sinners. And sinful man. Goes on hating. God.

[37:49] More than ever. Here in hell. And a man. Goes on hating man. More in hell. Than anywhere else. Hell's not the. End of all sinning.

[38:00] It is the punishment. Of sin. And so. Sin. And misery. Go together. In this life. And sin. And misery. Will be locked together.

[38:12] In. That place. And so. The deeper. In hatred. Men go. The deeper. Into misery.

[38:23] They go. Hell. Will not get better. It will not. It will get worse. It will not become tolerable. Over time. It will just become more intolerable. And the higher.

[38:34] In love. Men go. The higher. In joy. They go. Heaven won't get old. It won't get boring. We won't get used to it. It will just get better. And better.

[38:45] As we go. Now. If that is all true. Isn't that a reason. To pursue. To pursue. Love. Loving.

[38:59] Loving. Now. Is heaven preparation. Hating now. Is hell preparation. Loving now.

[39:11] Is a foretaste of heaven. Hating now. Is a foretaste of hell. Then pursue. Love. Pursue love. That is the fourth reason. Do you want to be happy. Pursue love.

[39:23] Now finally. Fifth. Maybe. Maybe I should have started. With this one. But I wanted to end with it. Maybe you are thinking. All this talk. About.

[39:33] About doing this. For our own joy. For our own happiness. Isn't that selfish. Isn't that just wrong. Well here is my answer.

[39:45] Here is my answer. For the joy. Set before him. Jesus endured the cross. Scorning its shame. And sat down at the right hand.

[39:56] At the throne of God. For the sake of joy. For the sake of experiencing. Joy. Jesus. Endured.

[40:07] The cross. Jesus. Chose. Love. Jesus. Put his joy. At the end. Of loving. Us.

[40:19] And he took his joy. From loving us. He took his joy. From doing. Us. Good. And so. Why will any of us. Ever. Make it to heaven.

[40:31] And enter into that world. Of pure. And perfect love. Why will any of us. Ever escape. That nightmare of hell. Why do any of us.

[40:42] Ever enter into love here. And escape the fighting. And the biting. And the devouring. That goes on among sinners here. It's only because. Jesus chose. The joy.

[40:53] Of love. He said. My gladness. Will be their good. My gladness. Will be their good. I will endure the cross.

[41:05] I will love them. Even though it kills me. And love is costly. Sometimes. Love is deadly. Sometimes. None of this.

[41:15] Is making love. Something easy. Or superficial. That's not what this is doing. At all. Sometimes love. Is taking up. A hundred. Arrows.

[41:26] Into your heart. And it's painful. And it's bitter. It's gall. But at the end. Of deadly. Love. Is glorious.

[41:38] Joy. At the end. Of deadly. Love. Is glorious. Joy. Jesus knew it. And it was that. Joy. That was set before him. That happiness. Before him. That kept him.

[41:50] In the pain. That made him. That made him. Scorn. The shame. Of it all. That said. No. I'll keep going. I'll endure this. It kept him there. He wanted to be. Exalted on high.

[42:01] He wanted to be seated. At the right hand of God. The father. So that he could. Save us. That so that he could. Be there. Forever. With us. Loving his own. He loved them.

[42:15] To the uttermost. To the very end. And so it was that. Joyous thought. Of being. Our salvation. Of being. Our savior. Of being. The one that could be.

[42:25] The author. And perfecter. Of our faith. The one that could be. Better than Joshua. And give us. Eternal rest. The one that could be. Better than. Any. King. Or. David.

[42:36] Or any. Prophet. Or priest. The one that he could be. Our forever savior. It was that joy. Of loving us. That kept him. To the end.

[42:49] And it's that kind of joy. I want to do them good. And when they experience that good. It will make me happy.

[42:59] It's what keeps us. Loving. People. Jesus. Chose.

[43:12] The joy. The joy. Of loving us. And so. I wonder. Have you. Have you. Believed him.

[43:23] Do you believe that Jesus. Would love you. Like that. And that is the gospel. That's the goodness. Of the gospel. Jesus chose.

[43:34] His joy. At the end. Of loving us. Our good. Our good. Was going to be his happiness. And he was saying.

[43:45] I will only be happy. If I can love them. I will only be forever happy. If I can finally save them. Save my people. And be with them forever.

[43:57] And that's his heart. That's his. That was his heart then. And that is his heart. Now. Do you believe it. God has tied.

[44:11] Joy. And love. Together. And so. First Corinthians 14. One. Pursue. Love. Why.

[44:22] Pursue it for all the joy. That it will bring you. Now. Yes. Hopefully growing. In this life. And forever.

[44:34] There. Joy. Our joy. Our goodness. Our happiness. And our love. Go together. So for all the joy.

[44:45] It will bring you. Pursue. Love. Let's pray. Heavenly Father.

[45:00] Thank you for. The way you have loved us. Thank you for your good commands. That show us the best way to live. Thank you for the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who.

[45:11] Chose his joy. In doing us good. And I pray that we would. Follow in his footsteps. And live a life of joy. Or live a life of love. Just as Christ has loved us.

[45:24] That in receiving. We would now be equipped. And that we would be ready to give. And that we would enter into. The joy of our master.

[45:35] That we would start here. And then we would finally enter into that perfect joy. In heaven. Lord this is not.

[45:46] Easy sometimes. It's hard to believe. It's hard to understand. Or see it. But open up our eyes. Give us faith. When we can't see.

[45:59] To believe. And to believe in what we do not see. That we would obey. And experience the joy. Of obedience. And for those who.

[46:10] Think of Jesus. That he has a hard heart. That all of this is. To ruin their happiness. I pray that you would open their eyes.

[46:22] And show them. Just the love. And the generosity. And the willingness to save. The willingness to bless. That is in your heart.

[46:32] That is in the Savior's heart. And that you would break in. And deliver them. That no one would have. Evil.

[46:43] Hard thoughts of you. So I pray that you would help us to pursue love. Help us to pursue love. In these difficult circumstances. These circumstances where we're cut off from each other.

[46:55] And we're. Cooped up in our family. With our families. Please help us to love. Those around us. And love those who are away from us.

[47:07]  And so. Bring blessing into our lives. I pray. In Jesus name. Amen.