Loving One Another in Truth and Love Part 2: The Joy of It - 2 John 1:4-6

0:44I'm entitled this series, Loving One Another in Truth and Love. Last time we looked at the theology of it, and this time we're looking at the joy of it. Next time we'll look at the threat to it. Just read to you the whole letter, and then we'll focus in on verses 4 through 6. 2 John. The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth. For the sake of the truth, which abides in us and will be with us forever, grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son. Of the Father in truth and love. I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

2:26If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting. For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face so that your joy may be full. The children of your chosen sister greet you. Well, there was a problem. Many false teachers had gone out. At this particular time, they were relying upon Christian hospitality.

3:01So, in order to propagate their error, people had to welcome them into their homes and give them lodging. This letter is written sometime around 90 to 95. And what John wants to do is he wants people to love each other in truth and in love. Loving one another in truth and love. Sounds a little redundant, right? Loving one another in truth and love. But there's a kind of love that the world knows nothing about. And so we must love each other in a manner that is consistent with both truth and love. John's theology, verses one through three, of loving one another and truth and love comes out of this idea that you cannot separate truth and love. They are connected together. And the source of that love, that truth and love, finds its origin in that eternal well of love between the Father and the Son. It is a love in truth. It is a love in purity, and it is a love that does not end.

4:13Well, today, as we look into the passage before us, we'll get a glimpse into the heart of the pastor here. We'll get a glimpse into the heart of the pastor John. We'll see what his joy is. So, this morning, I want to hear the joy. To look at loving one another in truth and love, the joy of it, the joy of it, specifically looking at verses four through six. Let me read those verses so that they will be fresh on your mind.

4:47As I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father, now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it.

5:15Well, I want you to see this joy that the pastor has. I want you to see the joy that the pastor wants all of his congregants and every church to have. And I want you to see this joy so that we too will love one another with that same kind of love. I think one of the things tragically missing in the church is the joy of loving one another. Like was present in John's heart and the early church. We need to, again, Christians, we need to find. This joy again, the joy of loving one another in truth.

6:09Got a big week ahead of us, and we could easily be troubled, right, because of the political events that surround us. We can even be moved to anger with those that we don't agree with. We can even be frustrated with each other. And we could very easily get distracted from the one commandment that our Lord has given us, regardless of what political entity takes over. There is a fundamental command that should occupy us the rest of our lives, and that is the command to love one another. But you're not going to love one another unless you really experience the joy of it. And so this morning, I want you to get a glimpse into John's joy so that you will understand that no matter what form of government takes over, there's room for you in this society and there's a commandment for you, and that's to be loving one another. That is never going to go out of style because the church is never going to go out of style.

7:19So let's just jump right in and look at the joy of loving one another in truth and love. First of all, there's joy in truth. There's joy in truth. Look back at verse 4 and observe John's joy. Verse 4: I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth. I was very glad. I was, you could translate it like this: I was caused to rejoice exceedingly. Something caused John to rejoice. What was that? He found, that is, maybe, maybe somebody came and told him, maybe he witnessed this on a visit, but he found some of this lady's children walking in truth, living, conducting themselves according to the truth. Some of this congregation walking in truth, and it moved John to joy.

8:25Now, why? Well, John himself had experienced joy, and he loved to watch others experience that. He experienced truth and the joy of living in truth, and he rejoices to see others who are experiencing truth and experiencing the joy of it. This isn't some religious, supremist, sickly kind of love. He's not happy to see them walking in truth. Because it gives him some sort of control over the masses there or the little congregations. It's nothing like that at all. It's not a sickly joy, but a pure joy. He is joyful because there's something worth being joyful over. That's why he's joyful.

9:22And what he's joyful over is seeing other people walk in truth. It moved him. John received truth. He experienced its life-giving benefits. Remember, this is what, really, one of the main things in John's gospel. Pilate asked the question in 1838: what is truth? Jesus provided the answer in 1717, your word is truth. And so to walk in truth, you know what walking in truth means? If you're going to walk in truth, what does it mean? It means that you are to live your life in accordance with God's written revelation. That's what walking in truth means. Orienting your life around the revelation of God in Scripture, around the revelation of yourself in Scripture, the revelation of sin, the revelation of the sacrifice for sin, all of that. Walking in truth is living in accordance with all that God. God has revealed.

10:34And specifically, the truth that is revealed in Jesus Christ. Do you want to see God? Look upon Jesus. Of course, God has a son. Of course, he sent him in the world. Of course, he took upon flesh to give him a clear revelation of himself. Listen, I don't know if you've ever had trouble being understood over text or over emails. Something's lost, right? A tone is lost. Sometimes I've seen the text autocorrect and use curse words. Oh, no, that's not what I was saying at all. You can easily get things.

11:28That's not a perfect communication, right? Of course, he has a son. Of course, he took upon flesh. Of course, he walked among us so that we would have a living, breathing revelation of God himself, so that we would know him. Not just text on a page, but a living, breathing word. Yeah, so to walk in truth involves belief in. And conformity to the realities of God as he has revealed them. That's what walking in truth is about. And when you take out the realities that God has revealed, you cannot walk in truth.

12:15Oh, and truth is wonderful. Truth proceeds from the Father. The person of truth proceeds from the Father. Truth comes from the Father. Truth draws us. Listen, if it wasn't for the truth revealed in the cross, I would not approach God at all. Right? We would flee. But truth draws us, it awakens us, it sanctifies us. Truth connects us to God. You remember John 14:6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. I am the truth. You don't get to the Father. You don't connect to the Father except through me.

13:06Truth connects us to God. Lies separate us from God. That's the history of humanity. Separate from God, dead to God. And it was lies that brought that about. Listen, truth illumines. Truth clears things up. Lies confuse, befuddles us. It turns our thoughts astray. It turns our feelings in the wrong direction and causes us to act unbecomingly. That's what lies, but truth clears things up. Truth frees a person. John 8:32, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Truth frees us, it liberates us. When you see things as they really are, it liberates.

14:08You know what lies do? They bind us, they enslave us, they incarcerate us to the small world of ourself. Our desires, our wisdom, our strength. Truth satisfies. Truth satisfies. John 7:37, Jesus said, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Truth satisfies. Lies leave a person empty, don't they? Ask anyone. Ask anyone. Attic, any alcoholic. Ask anyone who's been given over to the lust of their own flesh.

15:10What promises satisfaction leaves empty, doesn't it? But truth satisfies, it becomes a living well. Truth is wonderful. Nothing else provides so much. And John found his joy in walking in truth and seeing others walk in truth. But notice, look back. Walking in truth is not just something good. It is something commanded by our Heavenly Father. Look back. John says in verse 4, I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.

15:59It is ultimately the Father, not John, not even Jesus who wants his people to live in truth, though they do. But ultimately, it is the Heavenly Father that wants his people to walk in truth. And that is why he sent his Son. That is why he gave revelation about himself. And listen, it is good to command that which is good, right? God is. Isn't some dysfunctional overlord that needs to have control over something. No, he commands what is good because it is good to do so, as any loving parent would do. We want to command our children in a way that is good for them because we know there are some things. If you do that, that's not going to be good for you. We command our kids in the way of good, not because we're overloads, but because good is good for good's sake.

17:02It is bad to be indifferent to that which is good. Oh, yeah, son, daughter, go do it. Yeah, you're going to get run over out there, but it's not to turn away from not to command the good when you know the good and to be indifferent to the good is not good, it's evil. So, our heavenly father commands what is good because it is good. He commands because it is good to command. I love what Stott had to say about this passage. He said, God has not revealed His truth in such a way as to leave us free at our own pleasure to believe or disbelieve it, to obey it or disobey it. Revelation carries with it responsibility, and the clearer the revelation, the greater the responsibility to believe and obey it.

18:02See, there's joy in truth. So walk in truth. This is how our Heavenly Father wants us to live. But before we leave this verse, I want you to look back and notice in verse 4: even though there were some children that were walking in truth, John's words imply that there were others that were not. And that's going to be part of the exhortation that we'll come to in another time. So we're looking at the threat to loving one another against, or loving one another in the truth. There's a threat to it. What attacks the truth attacks the joy.

18:53Second, not only is there joy in the truth, but there's joy in loving one another. There's just simply joy in the truth, and there's simply joy in loving one another. Look at verse 5 and observe John's appeal. He appeals to this lady. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. Notice the we. John is addressing her, and perhaps the church, addressing the Church, and he wants people to live up to the same standard that he has been given. He's not trying to strap a burden on somebody that he himself is above.

19:51Notice also the words from the beginning. It's a commandment given from the beginning. This is given from the very beginning of the gospel proclamation itself, given by the Lord Himself. And it's a fundamental commandment of Christianity: loving one another. Jesus said in John 15:12, this is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than one lay down his life for his friends. And you are my friends if you do what I command.

20:29You see, there are several kinds of love. John uses that word agape for love here, that rugged kind of love that I call it. It's rugged. Agape love is different from the other kinds of loves. There's a love that we speak about affection. Affection. We might love a writing pen. We might have a certain affection. Affection for certain kinds of food or certain kinds of clothes. We might have affection. We might have affection for a cat, the way it purrs, a dog, the way he wags his tail when he sees you. There's the things that we have affection for.

21:20There's another kind of love that speaks of friendship, philosophy, that kind of love that speaks about company that you enjoy to be around. Then there's that romantic love called Eros, which seeks an exclusive oneness. And all of these can be perverted, of course. You can have the affection for the wrong thing. You can be friends with the wrong thing. You can pursue oneness in wrong ways. And over against all these kinds of loves, there is that agape love. And you can agape the wrong things as well. But it's that rugged devotion, it's devoted goodwill, it's loyalty to the well-being of somebody else, no matter the cost. That is agape love. It is rugged, it overcomes obstacles, it loves in spite of failures. It is rugged, it endures.

22:24And this is the kind of love that Jesus found joy in laying. Down his life for. His was a rugged love, a rugged love. So walk in love. There's joy in truth, so walk in truth. There's joy in loving one another, so walk in love. Those are John's exhortations. This is his appeal. Now, why? Yes, there's joy in truth. There's joy in loving one another. Why? You know, that's a big theologic question, right? Why? Inquisitive minds ask the question, why? And then they go in deeper. And sometimes they wish they had never asked that question. But here we shall be satisfied with the answer. Why is there joy in truth? Why is there joy in loving one another? It's because there's joy in the nature of God's love. There's something that just the very nature of God's love itself is an occasion for joy.

23:44And since love can be understood in different senses, John not only uses the word agape for that rugged kind of love, but he goes on and he defines. It's even more precisely of the kind of love he's talking about. He doesn't want you or I or any of his readers to not understand the kind of love that God expects us to walk in. It's God's kind of love, it's that love that's defined by truth. There's a lot of loves out there, but they're not defined by truth.

24:25And so he gets very specific. Look at John's definition of love here. Look back at verse 6. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it. John gives a definition of love right there. But look at it, you need to make sure you get a few things clear in your mind, or this verse isn't going to make sense to you. When he's talking about love, what kind of love is what's the direction of that? Is it love to God, or is it love toward one another? He's talking about love toward one another, and that's very clear. Look back at verse 5, the very end. We have had from the beginning that we love one another, and this is love. He's talking about love to one another.

25:24But also, notice his. Notice the word his. Is love that we walk according to his commandment. Whose commandments? Jesus or God's, or Jesus God's or the Father. Who is the His referring to? Look back. Verse 4. I was glad to find some of your children walking in truth just as we received commandment to do from the Father. This His is a reference to the Father. So it's, and this is love toward one another that we walk according to the Father's commandments.

26:03And notice this. Notice that there's commandments, plural, and a commandment, singular. He wants us to walk, the Father wants us to walk according to his commandments, and this is his commandment. So now, let's jump in and see if you can, let's look at this definition of what love is. And this is love. Equal signs. You're the mathematician, right? This is, or the scientist, or the physicist, or anyone that has to do anything with equations, right? Love is equals. Love is walking according to the Father's commandments. Love for one another is walking according to the Father's commandments. And this seems strange. This is not what we would expect him to say right here, right? We might expect Him to say, this is love for God that you walk according to his commandments, right? If you love God, you'll walk according to his commandments. That's a truth. Jesus Himself said that, right? But that's not what John says right here.

27:15Love for one another is walking according to the Father's commandments. Interesting, huh? So the question is: how? How does obeying the Father's commandments express love for one another? Very good question. And I'm very pleased that you are astute enough to ask that question. How? How is loving each other connected to obeying the Father's commandments? Well, let's look at it, think about it this way. Let's focus on the word commandments, his commandments, according to his commandments. You know, it's impossible to truly love someone without obeying his commandments. Love itself has a definition. Like, you remember the second half of the Ten Commandments, right? His commandments.

28:27You've heard these before, Exodus 13. Exodus 20, verse 13 through 17, you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. So think about this. You shall not murder. Yeah, you can't murder somebody or be growing, as Jesus made it very clear, you cannot be growing in a direction of hostility towards somebody or a growing contentment with separation between somebody if you love the person. Right?

29:15If you murder someone, guess what? You don't love that person. If you commit adultery, if you look, if you use your eyes to look upon, whether live, print, digital, if you look upon someone with lust in your heart, guess what? You're not loving that person. You're using that person. Forbidden. God forbids that. Why? Because he wants you loving and serving one another. Now, oftentimes, we hear the difference or the opposite of love is hate. Well, you know, it's really.

30:01In a very real way, the opposite of love is using. Love is about serving, and the opposite of that is using, using someone. You shall not steal. Guess what? If you're taking something from somebody, you're not loving them. Pretty self-evident, right? If you take from somebody else, you're not loving them. You're using them. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. How many of you say things that are untrue? How many of you put somebody in the wrong light?

30:48You can become masters at turning each other against somebody else, to champion yourself. That's not loving somebody. You shall not covet your neighbor's anything. Look, you're supposed to serve. You're supposed to give. You're supposed to seek their well-being. You're not supposed to see what you can extract from them or get from them or long for to take from them. The purpose of all of these commandments was to promote love for one another. That was the purpose of the law. Leviticus 19:18 says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

31:31And Jesus affirmed this. You want to know what the whole law is about? Listen, Matthew 22 and verse 35, a lawyer comes up to him and says, What is the greatest commandment? And Jesus said, Well, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. Like it, foremost, like it in importance.

32:00You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Think about that for a moment. Profound. All of Revelation hinges upon promoting a love for God and a love for each other. Everything is written to promote these two fundamentals. One of the reasons I want to host a seminary here is I want to be active in the lives of the students. I want to promote, I want every systematic theology class, every biblical theology class, every class we offer in the study of God's Word is aimed at these two principles: loving God, loving each other. And when your studies don't take you there, something's really, really off.

33:03Paul affirmed this. He affirmed our Lord's words in Romans 13:10, and Paul knew the law. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Love fulfills the law. And he's talking about love to one another. That fulfills the law. If you truly love one another, according to the kind of love that is required of you, you have fulfilled the law. Incredibly simple, but incredibly impossible for somebody who has not been born from above. It takes a new heart and a new spirit to love like this. But just think about it. If you covet anything that belongs to somebody else, guess what you have done? Or if you murder somebody, if you adultery, steal, or do anything, or covet, guess what you've already done? You've already violated the first couple of the commandments, the first of the big ten, right?

34:08You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or anything likeness of what is in heaven, above, or earth, beneath, and water, under. You are to do what I say. You are not God, and you are to honor me as God. And the moment you start coveting or murdering or stealing, guess what you're doing? You're Setting yourself up as the ultimate authority, as the one to be pleased, and you have set yourself above God's throne.

34:38So, listen, love is impossible unless you walk according to God's commandments. At least the kind of love that is consistent with God's love. The kind of love that John is talking about is consistent with the Father's love. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 5:14. For the whole law, the whole law is fulfilled in one word, one saying. What is that saying? You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Well, I thought it was loving God. I thought there was two. It's interesting how Paul says: if you will learn to love each other as yourself, you will have to have a right relationship with God already, a right love towards God already, a right disposition towards his truth. You will have assumed this posture of a disciple. You will have heard his words. You would have received his words. You would be bearing the fruit of righteousness that those words produce. The whole thing.

36:04And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment. Look back now. Look at that second. Look at his commandment. This is his commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. As a side note, you know, in verse 5, he speaks to the lady. Notice that he says, lady, now I ask you, lady, singular. And then he says at the end of verse 6, plural, that y'all walk in it. This is one reason why I believe that the lady is a reference to the church, to a church, a specific church. Y'all, y'all, you use that language when you're talking to a collective. And yes, it could be a reference to her and her children, but I think it's a reference to a group of people. It's clear this is going to a church. It's clear that he's involving this, and this is going to be circulated. Obviously, it wouldn't be in our scripture if it had a church-wide audience in view.

37:18But the question, moving on, look at which commandment is John referring to? This is the commandment. What commandment? Well, there's one commandment. That's been with them since the very beginning of the gospel proclamation. John 13:34, Jesus says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Now, that's not all that new, right? That you love one another, you love your neighbor as yourself. That doesn't appear to be all that new. It's as old as the law itself. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even now. Here it comes, as I have loved you.

38:02Whoa, Jesus laid down his life, and not just at the end of the road did he lay it down, he laid his life down all the time, every day. He loved, he went out of his way to love and serve and to be patient with. And he loved, even as I have loved you, John 13:34, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

38:39That's how the world's going to know. We've been called to showcase God's love for humanity. How do we showcase God's love for humanity by loving one another with the same rugged kind of love? That Christ has for his people. Sometimes we maybe we don't have as much affection for each other. Sometimes we don't like hanging around each other. Maybe there's some oil and water personalities. Maybe there's some of that, you know, going on. But the one thing that is commanded is that rugged agape love. The other loves will come in time.

39:30But the one thing that is commanded is this rugged kind of love. 1 John 3:16, John says this: We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Love the church all the way to death. Not love them to death. Love the church until your death. That's what we're to love. That's the calling. The church is essential, and on a much more profound level than our governor may even recognize. I appreciate our governor calling the church essential. Few were bold enough to do that. But the church is essential on a much more profound level than maybe any of Have ever really imagined how is the world really going to know how to interact with each other by the church showing, demonstrating what love looks like. You are called to a high purpose simply by loving the person next to you in the pews.

40:58Profound what God has called you to do as a church, what he has called us to do as a church. The world will know what God's love is like on them by watching how we interact with each other. And what does love do? It issues forth actions consistent with God's commandments. It doesn't steal, kill, destroy. It builds, it gives, it serves, it sacrifices. Now, coming back to the context in which John wrote these words, you see, a traveling prophet that doesn't love like Christ is not born of him.

41:55A traveling prophet that doesn't pay attention to God's commands. Isn't paying attention to God himself. And so he's going to tell this lady, don't invite such a one into your home. This is a good test to tell whether a traveling prophet is a true or false one. It's a good test for us as well. Are we true or false Christians? What does your love life tell? The only real proof of our love for God is our love for each other.

42:34And that's what John is hitting home. And it's a kind of love that Christ has for his church. So, what is John's exhortation? Walk in truth, walk in love. Specifically, walk in the kind of love that is defined by truth. Because there's joy in the truth, there's joy in loving one another because there is joy in the very nature of God's love itself. Well, today we got a glimpse into the heart of the Apostle John. He found joy in loving the people that God had placed in his life in truth and love. And he also rejoiced to see others doing the same.

43:26And yet, we, as we're looking into John's heart, we're seeing. The heart of his master, aren't we? We're seeing a glimpse of the very heart of our Lord Jesus Himself. John's joy is a reflection of Jesus' joy. Remember that night that Jesus was betrayed? Something very memorable happened that night that forever marked John. The very night Jesus was betrayed, and knowing the crucifixion was ahead, it was a night of joy. John 15:11, Jesus said, These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. With the cross in front of him, Jesus can talk about joy. He says, I'm accomplishing something here. You don't see that yet. And though I see the agonies of the cross before me, I'm looking beyond, and there is something worth going through the cross for. There is something that I am joyful to go through the cross for.

44:51John 16, 21, again, the theme of joy. That very night, Jesus says, when a woman is in labor, she has pain. Because her hour has come. But when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore, you too have grief now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. Jesus, looking beyond, he says, I know you're going through grief right now. But you don't see this right now, but you will in a few days. You're going to see that I am going to go through, and what's going to happen is I am going to plant a joy so deep in you that it will never be taken away.

45:44You see, when I come out of the grave, you will know for certain, without a doubt, that the highest in heaven loves you to the deepest degree. You're going to get that truth. And when you do, a joy is going to settle in your heart that can never be shaken, never be removed. That is what I am coming to do. That's what Jesus, looking at the cross, it's all about sowing a joy in the hearts of Christ's people. The same joy that was in his heart.

46:27This was the good news that Jesus came. To proclaim. And so to see the Son or to see John's joy is to see Christ's joy, but guess what? To see Christ's joy is to see the Father's joy. As we have looked, as we began our look into John's joy, guess whose joy we're really witnessing? Our Heavenly Father's joy. He wants you to know that you are loved by the highest to the deepest degree. It's the best way to live, isn't it?

47:17That's why he commands it. Look at our world today. It needs this kind of love, doesn't it? God has given the church to show the nations what love is like, to teach them how to love one another in truth. And he does that in the church. There's no other place they're going to learn it. There is no other institution that God has established to teach the world how to love each other in truth. And it begins with us. What a high calling for you to love those around you in truth.

48:09We need to rekindle this love, don't we? We need to rekindle the joy of loving each other like this. If you do not know Christ, you can know him today. Say, Lord, I come. I confess my sins. I believe. I now believe the cross. I understand your joy. And your joy involved me being reconciled to you. If you'll ask him to enter your heart, you'll make that confession and ask him to come into your heart. He'll save you in an instant.

48:54Let's pray. Lord, we come before you, just recognizing the great love that you have for us. Thank you for the Apostle John. We thank you for all that you put him through. We thank you for the record that gives us a glimpse into your heart. Father, and the good news is that the highest in heaven loves us to the deepest degree. We recognize that your ways are good. It is only our sin that shuns such love and chooses our own way. Please forgive us and thank you for this vivid reminder that you love us to this level.

49:53Help us experience the joy of loving one another in the same way that you love us, and showcasing that to a watching world in Jesus' name.