The love of God (1 John 4)

… Der Sinn Love is not just love of another, but love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and loveth God. He that loveth not, loveth not God, for God is love. And this was manifested, the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Here it is now, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. He sent His Son to be Christian and to love us. And now that God so loved us, we also will love one another. No man has seen God before himself. We love one another. God loveth us, and His love is perfectly in us. I make no attempt to break any boundaries, or to say anything new. As one grows older, one delights not in holding exactly into doctrine, although one will desire that what is said might be otherwise contradict any doctrine of the Word. One is tending to rejoice more and more in one's later years in that which abides, in that which is profoundly simple, but simply profound, the love of God. I want to speak to you tonight, as the Lord may help me, the love of God. It may be spoken of in many aspects, but I desire to speak of it tonight, as being centred in Christ, and being enjoyed by those who are prepared to control themselves and take a small place. I believe God rejoices in that which is small. He is infinitely great, but He rejoices in that which is small. He rejoices in Christ. Christ took that small place. He is referred to over and over again in the Gospels as the little child. And yet how great He is, because contrary to Jewish culture, He is always put before His parent. It never says the mother and the little child, but always the little child and His mother. How wonderful the love of God is. How wonderful it comes to us, how wonderfully it comes to us, in the person of our Lord Jesus. Herein is love. Not that we love God, thank God we do now, but we have a cause to love. The love of God is causeless. He loves because He is love. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that He loves us. You say, very simple indeed. But in this day of corruption, and the increase of the cults and the occult, and that which is conjured of Christ, or delights in that which abides, for love abides, and it's ageless. Throughout all eternity we are going to breathe an atmosphere of unmitigated love. The love of God in a scene where God is all and in all. And beloved, if God is all and in all, then eternity must be one vast scene of uninterrupted love, for God is love. I rejoice in it. God is love. To all centers, it is below itself. There is a verse in the, there is a chapter in the book of Exodus, which contains for the first time three words. The first is the manna, and it says of the manna, it was small, it was small. Men looked at it and said, what is it? Men loathed it. Men turned from it, men sickened at it. We thought at this time that it was one who had come to redeem Israel, to take some great place. Small, lowly, rejected, but the very center of all the thoughts, the eternal thoughts of the heart of God. The manna is in that chapter, Exodus 16, for the first time. The Sabbath is there for the first time. I grant you that the influence of the Sabbath is there where it says God rested on the seventh day, but the word Sabbath comes for the first time in Exodus 16. God rests in that blessed manna. He looks upon that manna whom men have rejected. The smallness of a man who had no where to lay his head, who had to say, show me any. A blessed, glorious man, whose voice was not heard shouting in the streets. About whom so much was said contrary to himself. God looked upon him. He found his rest in Christ. The Sabbath might have become the Jew's Sabbath, indeed it had. God's Sabbath is rested in the one who is the manna. The lowly, blessed Savior who was here, who might know to expand before men the eternal greatness of the heart of God. Who made himself of no reputation in order that he might do so. And in that same chapter we get the word testimony for the first time. Beloved notice it has a capital T, it refers to Christ. And if the love of God has come to us in the lowliness of Christ. It has come to us in one whom God rests in and will rest in eternally. It has come to us in one who is the testimony of God to the whole creation. And whose name and testimony will last forever. The glorious Christ. The rejected Jesus of the great I am. The manna. The Sabbath. The testimony. All beloved God rejoices in that which is small. And as we come in contact with that which is opposing God. The way to meet it is to be so in the enjoyment of the love of God that we are prepared to take a low place. Have you noticed that it was when Elias the magician provoked Saul. Where in the greatness of his power over people he brought in the miracles of opposition to God. And opposed all that Saul was saying. It's at that moment that it says Saul is also poor. The little one. Poor means little. And he meets the opposition in the power of smallness. But in the power and enjoyment of the eternal greatness of the love of God in Christ. This is nothing new I know. But it's something that my heart is welling in at this time. What one looks forward to soon is to be in that scene of uninterrupted joy and love. But to be in the power of it now. Resting where God rests. In Christ. Giving testimony to men in what God gives testimony and that is in Christ. The love of God I know in all his loveliness in Christ. God resting there. Oh beloved think of it. That God gives you and me the blessed opportunity of resting in the same blessed person that he rests in. Even in Christ. And our testimony is not to an ology or to an ism or even to a doctrine. Our testimony is to a blessed man. Who was brought to me. Brought to you. Brought to the world. A testimony that God loves. The law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And grace simply means love and activity. Volume of love in all its ocean character and greatness dwells in the heart of God eternally. For God is love. He never began to love. He always was love. But we should have known nothing about it at all. Jesus having brought the love of God to us. In all his loneliness. In all his gentleness. Grace and truth. Came by Jesus Christ. Blessed glorious man. The man of God's purpose. God delights I say again in that which is small. And one has noticed you know that over and over again in the later epistles when everything is going to be so well today. The Holy Spirit by the writers of the epistles uses the word beloved more than anywhere else in scripture. In Peter's epistle. In James' epistle. In Jude's epistle. In John's epistle. Saints are addressed as beloved. Giving us the impression you know in the last days when corruption has come in. When the love of many is watching cold. God would give us to understand that in his view the saints are beloved. Oh beloved brethren especially you young people. Get into your heart that you're one of the beloved of God. He loves you. In spite of all the breakdown that has come in. God loves. There are two words used in the scriptures for little children. One is Pareia which means in growth. When John is writing in relation to the family of God. He speaks of the fathers, the young men and the little children. And that word little children is a word which indicates the possibility of growth. Growth in the knowledge of God and in his love. But there's another word used. Technia. It's a beautiful word. It really means my wee little one, my dear little one. Beloved brethren it's used once on the lips of Christ in the gospels. It was at the darkest moment in John's gospel. When Judas had betrayed him. One who had accompanied with him for three and a half years or so. He'd gone out and it was night. And the blessed saviour looked at those who remained. And he says Technia, little children, my dear little children. I'm with you yet for a little while. And in the face of the betrayal, in the face of the departure. In the face of the breakdown, in the face of the corruption. In the face of the fallacy of hatred and malice. He looked at those disciples and he said my dear little children. I'm with you for a little while. It's the only time that that word is used in the gospels. And it was on the lips of Jesus. Or when he was betrayed. My own familiar friend lifted up his heel against me. Had it been anyone else he said I could have stood it. But there in the sorrow of his spirit. One of his disciples had left him and sold him for thirty pieces of silver. He turns round to the disciples who had left and he says my dear little children. I'm with you for a little while. Beloved we are in the midst of that which betrays Christ today. We're in the midst of that which hates him. We're in the midst of that which would sell him for less than thirty pieces of silver. We would have nothing to do with him at all. He looks down upon every born again soul in this room tonight. And he says my little child, my little children. I'm with you. I'm with you. Are you going to be with us to the end? I am with you he says. I am with you. To the end of the age. That can't be properly translated into English. The Greek loses all its value in that translation. It's I with you am. I with you am. The great I am puts us in between all that he is in his greatness. It's not I am with you but I with you am. The great I am encloses us in the greatness of his love. Oh beloved take it to heart. Respond to him. My dear little children he says. He's saying it to you tonight. He's saying it to me, you're old as I am. Saying my wee little barn, my dear little child. That's the real translation of the Greek. The Scots word is much better than the English. When the Scots mother looks at their children she says my barn is. And that's the word that's used. My dear little children I'm still with you. Beloved in spite of all that you might put up with in the office. All that you might put up with in the works. All that you might put up with in the home. All the opposition you might get from men. All the breakdown in the meetings. My little children I am with you. I am with you. Oh blessed be his name. Paul uses that word once. And he uses it to announce rebellious of his children. He's writing to the Galatians. He doesn't use the same affection and greetings for them as he does for other apostles. But as he looks at them. And all their tendency to go back to the law instead of the enjoyment of Christ. His heart is moved towards them. Oh he approximates very nearly to his master. And he says take care. My dear little children I will travel again in birth for you. That Christ might be formed in you. And that's the language of every true servant of Christ tonight. Whatever may be the defection. Whatever may be the sorrow. Whatever may be the breakdown in our hearts. The true servant of Christ. The best mother in scripture is Paul. He's prepared to go through the pangs of childbirth twice. For his children. Take care he says. My dear wee children. In spite of all your faults. In spite of all your turning away. In spite of stopping running well. You are still my dear little children. Now I'm prepared to travel in birth what for. Now I'm prepared to travel in birth what for. That they might honour Paul. Know that Christ might be formed in them. Christ might be formed in them. John the Apostle. He uses the word seven times. Of course you'd expect that wouldn't you from a man who lay in the bosom of Jesus. He could feel the heartbeat of Christ for his own. Having loved his own but you're in the world is love unto the end. Yes that word end you know. Has two meanings in English. The end is the finish. The end also is a point in view. You say that's the end of the matter. Yes that's the finish. But you say I'm going on in relation to this matter to the end. You've got a point in view. That's the word that's used here. In the Greek it's the word that's used for a tunnel not a cul-de-sac. We're not up against a brick wall in Christianity brethren. We're going right through the tunnel into the light of the love of God for eternity. And that's the end that he's got in mind. It's the first words that he uses in the upper chamber. And the last words are these. That the love which is in you, which is in me might be in them. The love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them. And that's the last words of the upper chamber. He loved the end. He loved the dear little children. Seven times Paul uses that word. Dear little children. God loves them. Here in his love. Not that we love God. But that God has loved these dear little children. And he's going to love us to the end. All the love he keeps more. Don't go into the brightness of this world. You've got something infinitely brighter. You've got that which abides. That which can never be corrupted. There isn't a single institution in this country that has not gone under corruption and failure. But thank God the love of God abides in all its purity. In all its greatness. In all its blessedness. In all its eternal satisfying portion. The love of God made known in Christ. Pardon me if I exuberate a little bit. But I rejoice in this. Christ's love. God's love. Made known in Christ. Of his fullness that we all receive. Love upon love. Grace upon grace. The word there, fullness, in Greek means the ocean. And the mighty flood comes in. The tide comes in. And wave after wave comes in on the shore. And before the effects of one wave has gone, another comes in. And that's the meaning of the word grace upon grace, grace upon grace, grace upon grace. Whatever circumstance we're in. Whatever difficulty, whatever frustration. From the mighty ocean of the love of God which existed in his heart eternally. Was brought to me in Christ, brought to you in Christ. The tide is coming in. And every frustration and every difficulty is being obliterated. Covered in the power and the love of God in Christ. Ought to be small. So the king. He was small enough once in spite of his mighty stature to hide himself behind the baggage. But when he was small enough, God said he was pleased with him. And he allowed something of his love to come into his heart. But when he came out from the baggage and became a great man, he forgot all about the love of God. And he fell under the John Gospel Jews, the Philistines. The Jews in God and John's Gospel were Philistines of the old and they had no appreciation for the love of Christ at all. Beloved, if you will have the greatness of this word to get into your heart. It is the one thing that will rob you of the love of God. The enjoyment of it. If God will rob you of his love, it will be a mistake. But it will rob you of the enjoyment of it. For he will still love you. I love to think of Anna in the Old Testament. I'm digressing right now. The second chapter of the first book of Samuel is called the Prayer of Anna. And you will read all down that prayer and you can't manage to ever ask for a single thing. Did you ever pray a prayer like that? The whole of that prayer, all down that chapter, she never asked for one single thing for herself. Or for anybody else. She goes right through. And she reaches the objective in her last word. The last word in Anna's prayer is Christ. The last word in Anna's prayer is Christ. Thou hast exalted thy king and made high the horn of thine anointed. And the word anointed is the same word in one language as Christ and Messiah in other languages. She reaches Christ. She reaches Christ. And she wants her boy to be kept so small that he might ever rejoice in the anointed. And he was kept small. So much so that she was able to bring him a little coat every year. It doesn't say she brought him a bigger coat. I expect actually it was a bit bigger of course. But the scripture insists upon the fact that she brought him a little coat each year. Normally he was kept in smallness. In the enjoyment of the love that his mother had found in reaching the anointed. And what was the result? Not a word that he said was allowed to drop to the ground. If you want to minister amongst the brethren, dear brethren, fellow of you who minister. If you want to go on with the truth. If you want to help the brethren. Be small. Keep the love of Christ in your heart. Enjoy the love of God. Not a word will drop to the ground. He will see to it that every word spoken by one whose heart is filled with his own love made known in Christ will be productive, will fruit himself, amongst the brethren. The little maid. Only mentioned once in scripture, but what a testimony. Why else can you God? Why, she's completely left out of the picture. Even when the Lord recounts the fact that only man was cleansed, he never mentioned the little girl. She'd done her work, she kept small. She brought in salvation through the prophet, the prophet of the Lord. And the little lad who brought the loaves and fishes. Matthew, Mark and Luke entirely ignore him, they never mention him. They just say we've got five loaves here. Don't mention the little boy at all, but John does. John loves that which is small as Christ did. There's a little lad here and he's got enough to feed the whole company. Oh, beloved, I would like more of it to be before you tonight, not as an old man, but as a little lad, seeking to bring to you that which will nourish your heart's affections after Christ. There'll be plenty left for others. Plenty left. I'll refer just briefly to a few scriptures in John's Gospel. In the first chapter, the Lord is presented as the Lamb of God. Again, the sheep of the slaughter. The lamb opened not her mouth, for as she re-opened it, he opened not his mouth. Smallness, gentleness, preciousness of Christ. Teacher, they said, where do you live? Where abidest thou? And you know, the thought of the teacher is expressed three times in John's Gospel, and the answer in each time is an exhibition of the eternal love of the Holy Ghost. He doesn't expound doctrine. Don't misunderstand me, brethren, there's no one more careful about doctrine than I would think to be. But when they say, teacher, where dwellest thou? Come and see, come and see. And he invites them into that place where he ever dwelt, into the enjoyment of the love of God in God's own womb. Come and see. And this is the atmosphere in which doctrine can fructify. This is the atmosphere in which what is suitable and helpful to the brethren can grow. In nearness to Christ, in the enjoyment of the love that he enjoys in the Father's womb. Come and see. Oh, don't be content with just reading about it in the Bible. Come and see, he says. Come and enjoy with me the love that I've enjoyed for all eternity in the bosom of the Father. Ah, beloved, it's the result of this simple, of this very simple word, isn't that? Let the brethren make up their minds to draw a little closer to Christ and to enjoy with him the place that he has in the Father's bosom. The love wherewith thou hast loved me might be in them. It might be in the enjoyment of the same love that Jesus enjoyed in humanity in the bosom of the Father and for eternity. Yes. And in the next chapter the great man comes. A teacher among the Jews. Nicodemus. And he begins to question the Lord. And the Lord says, Nicodemus, all your greatness has got to go. If you want to enjoy the love of God which I'm going to express to you through the apostle, we have it. If you're going to enjoy that love, all your greatness has got to go, Nicodemus. You've got to be born again. You've got to come with a little child. Nicodemus took it physically, which of course is impossible but the Lord was dealing with moral matters. You must be born again, he says. You've got to become as a little child and I'll show you the way in which it can be done, Nicodemus. As long as he's lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. The basis upon which you can be born again is in the death of Christ. And there in the death of Christ is expressed the way in which we can leave all our greatness and become as little children to enjoy eternal life. For he goes on to say, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, who shall ever believe, that men shall not age but have everlasting life. Don't think that's just an ordinary verse that everybody knows because I've come to the conclusion that very few people do know it. But the Lord Jesus says to Nicodemus, here's the basis for you to come into the knowledge of the love of God, the death of Christ upon the cross. Ah, beloved, the love of God is flowing in all its fullness because the Lord Jesus is precious life in order that that love might reach you and reach me. Since I know, I'll make no apology for it. It's enjoyable to me. The love of God in Christ. For God so loved, so loved, that he gave his unique Son. That's the French translation. He gave his unique Son. No one like Christ. No one else could express the love of God as Christ could. He gave thy blessed Son in all the uniqueness of his nearness to his love eternally. He gave him an order to love. To be brought everlastingly. Not only delivered from our sins and from guilt, but brought into the region now and eternally. The love of God for all boys. Love of boys. Love. The knowledge of love. The knowledge of God's love will reduce all our greatness. We won't want to be at our atrophies amongst the brethren if we're in the enjoyment of the love of God. The way in which we can overcome all the difficulties is by love. Think of the difficulty that we've brought into this world through sin. How has God overcome it? By love. Not at the expense of righteousness, for Christ has died. But it's the love of God. And it's love today that covers a multitude of sins. And we, beloved, if we're in the enjoyment of love, as this epistle reads as I read to you, that if God has so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And if a brother is exhorting himself, or if a sister is taking a place that she shouldn't take, it's not a question of rebuke, but it's a question of bringing the truth home in love. For grace and truth are one word. If you look in Mr. Darby's translation, you'll find that he uses what is, to the scholar, a piece of bad grammar. He says grace and truth subsists. He uses a singular verb. We should say, well, you ought to have said grace and truth subsist. Oh no, subsist is one thing. No love at the expense of, no grace at the expense of truth. No truth at the expense of grace. Grace and truth subsist in Jesus Christ. And if you think of the woman in the fourth chapter, all the love that shines out. If love can reduce a great person and bring him into a disciple, wounding in fellowship with Joseph, if love can do that, love can satisfy a full-blown heart. Is there an unsatisfied heart in this room? Some of us know what bereavement is. Sixty-two years I've spent with my beloved wife, and she's in the glory now. Have I felt it? Indeed. I had 165 letters from the brethren. I thank God for their affection and love. But you know, even those letters couldn't fill the blank. And the love of Christ, it made known to me. The love of God in Christ. It filled the blank and satisfied the heart. And that's to be a woman in the fourth of John. An unsatisfied heart. The Lord brings the truth home to her. But he brings home to her the love too. If thou knewest the gift of God, what's the gift of God? Love! For God so loved that he gave. If thou knewest the gift of God, yes, there's something more to that. And who it is, it brings it to you. Oh, beloved, don't let the love of God be a theory to us, really. The love of God has been brought in a person. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is, then settle to me. There was the last of him. Have you ever asked the blessed Saviour to give you that which will satisfy your heart? And lift you above every expectation from this world? You've got to make it a personal matter, you know. You say, we read about the love of God in the meetings, and we hear about it, and address it, yes. But have you married the one who brought it to you, a personal matter? Look at this woman. We know that when Messiah is called, which is called Christ, he will tell us all things. Yes. Don't go any deeper than that. She goes to the men of Samaria, and she says, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? One who knew the very depths of our heart, and yet would pour into it the gift of God. The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, given to us. The word used there is the same word that's used for the club in Genesis. It's deluged into our hearts. The love of God, deluged into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, given to us. And she went away with a satisfied heart. In chapter 6, chapter 9, I must be brief. But in chapter 9, you get a man set free from all the trammelings, and all the wars, bondage, and Judaism, brought him to the liberty of the children of God. The children of God. A man called Jesus, yes. A prophet, yes. While the woman in the fourth of John knew more than the Pharisee in the seventh of Luke. The Pharisee in the seventh of Luke said, if this man were a prophet, the woman in the fourth of John said, sir, I'll receive thou of the prophet. The man in the ninth of John, Jesus, a prophet, the Son of God. He reaches the Son of God. The Son of God, the Son of the Father, the Son of God. The one who can bring to the knowledge of your heart and mine all the blessedness, all the sweetness, all the power, all the liberating effect of the love of God. A reducing effect. With Nicodemus. A satisfying effect. With the woman. A liberating effect. With the man in the ninth chapter. And so we may go right through the gospel. We come to chapter 11. What can the love of Christ do in chapter 11? I'll tell you what it can do, darlings. It can lift the soul of the heart. Light out. Light out. Of the darkness. And misery of death itself. Bring hearts into the enjoyment of an endless life in himself. Bring hearts that knew the words of scripture, but didn't know the person who lay behind them. I know, says Martha, that my brother will rise again at the last day. The biggest sinner in the world will do that. Rise again at the last day. But he says, I am the resurrection and the life. And if you come to Christ, you not only come to words of scripture precious as they are, but you come to a person. A person who can not only lift you out of your own greatness, satisfy your heart, liberate you from everything else that holds you. It can give you to live in a life that is beyond death and which death cannot touch. Oh, beloved, do you know, do I know? The power and blessedness of a love that can do these things for me. Set me free from greatness. Satisfy my heart. Bring me out from all that would hold me in bondage around, from all the cults and ideas and religions and men. Even the differences amongst the brethren. Bring me into the liberty of that one foe of which he is the shepherd. Of that one foe of which he is the shepherd. And then to lift from my spirit the very shadow of death itself. Have you noticed, brethren, that we never stop in valleys, we go through them. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I prefer no evil. All along on this path I've known a place, but what rejoices me in that place is this. For it outlives me. No thought can make it a worse thing than to pass through it. We go through valleys. We don't stop in them. Because we've got the company and the power and the love of the one who has been through the deepest valley of all, the valley of the shadows. The valley of death, for you and for me. Triumph in the power of God. So Paul says, why death your servant? And I've often said, and I say it again, all that death can do for me is to take me into the presence of my Saviour, that's all. Can't do anything else. Take me into the presence of the one who loves me. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Paul looks round for the various things that might separate. And he starts with the greatest of them all and he says, neither death. The greatest separator there is in the world. Separates families, separates husbands and wives, separates colleagues. The shadow of death lies on this district at the moment. And that dear young man is going to be with Christ. But nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. All the love of God in all its blessings. And I must say one thing more before I close. There's got to be a response to all this. Oh, don't just sit and listen feebly as it might be expressed to what the love of God can do for you and for me. Great things indeed can happen. So there's to be a response. There was a response in chapter 12. There was a response there. A savour and fragrance was brought in, which has never faded. Wherever the gospel shall be preached, what this woman has done shall be told. The actual words are not told in every preaching. But the savour and atmosphere of what she did. Held every true representation of the glory of Christ. I think I said when I was here last year, if not here, it was in Denmark Street. That there again you get a unique word. She brought a pure nod. And you can search all through the Old Testament or the New Testament and you won't find that word pure anywhere else. You'll find the same word in English. But you won't find that same word in the original language. If the love of Christ in itself is unique, then, beloved, our response should be unique. We should love nobody like the love of Christ. There should be such a response to the heart of Christ and the savour of it. You may forget every word that I've said tonight. But all my savour and atmosphere of the love of God in Christ. Reminder every one of us, in every heart. I should have done this against the day I was buried. Yes. Why was Lazarus raised from the dead? I went to a meeting some time ago. I couldn't connect myself there. One of what they call the outs. And they were reading the text of William to John. And they came to the words where it says, loosen and let him go. No things are to make or mark. I said, where was he to go? Where was he to go? After a long while, I said, we don't know. Well, of course, they hadn't read the Bible. I'm not saying no more Lazarus. Here they are. Where was he to go? Look at chapter 12. He's sitting at a table with Christ. Why will the love of God separate you from the grip of death? Why will the love of God exceed every thought that death can bring into your life or thoughts? Lord, that you might be in the company of Christ. That you might be drawn to the one who has made known the love of God. So we come to the last chapter. And there he is. His love is filled in the blank. And when they saw the blank filled with all the excess was there. One exclamation drawn from John. It is the Lord, he said. It is the Lord. I think that's the expression that I would like to leave with you tonight. The one who can fill the blank with the power of his own love and the provision of his love. Not the speaker. Not even a printed page as important as that is. It is the Lord. And his final word to Peter is. It is the Lord. It is the Lord. And his final word to Peter is. Go to my dear little lands. They are near. It's the only time the word is used in the gospels. My dear little lands. My dear little lands. Oh you say they have rejected you. Yes but they are my dear little lands. Go to them. Feed them. Feed my dear little lands. They are still my dear little lands. The only other time the word is used in the revelation to Christ himself in the revelation. Every time the word land is used it's the word on you. A dear little land. That's what a dear land he is. A precious glorious man who made himself of no reputation. But he could open the book. And he could give effect to the whole will of God for the whole universe for eternity. He's my little land yes. But he's the liar of the tribe of Judah. He's the great I am. Go to my little lands. My dear little lands. The only time the word is used in scripture it says go to my dear little sheep. Make a look upon the bread with me. And all our service. Has been precious. The dear little lands of Christ. Beloved let your position remind tonight. Whatever gift you may have. Whatever position you may hold in the affections and the esteem of the brethren. In the eyes of Christ. Your only dear little lands. And his last word to you and to me is follow me. Follow me. May the Lord bless his word. …