The Lord direct your heart into the love of God. Quality: Very good

[0:00] If the Lord will help me for a few moments, I will speak from the second epistle to the Thessalonians, the third chapter, the fifth verse.

[0:13] And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.

[0:30] The second epistle to the Thessalonians, the third chapter, the fifth verse. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.

[0:50] And what a blessing it would be this evening if the Lord would do exactly that.

[1:05] Direct our hearts into the love of God. Now I've no doubt that you've been occupied in many things today. In the ordinary callings and duties of life necessarily.

[1:20] But now how good it would be if the Lord would gather our hearts from all other things and direct them into this rich and full and holy word.

[1:39] The love of God. I would just say before I attempt to expound the text. That it does appear that the second epistle to the Thessalonians was written to or partly to correct a wrong impression.

[1:59] That the Thessalonian believers appear to have been under that the day of the Lord was at hand. As the apostle signifies in the opening of the second chapter.

[2:16] Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor letters from us, that the day of Christ is at hand.

[2:38] By the day of Christ we must understand, of course, the day of his glorious appearing. When he will come again, as we are assured in the word that he will do, with power and with great glory.

[2:57] And that will be a very blessed day indeed to the church of God. For then, that word in Isaiah will be fulfilled.

[3:08] That day they shall say, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for him and he will save us. They will lift up their heads with joy at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:23] But to the ungodly and the unbelievers it will be a day of dreadful destruction to them, for they will be destroyed from the presence of the Lord.

[3:34] Well now, it's very desirable, dear friends, that every revealed truth should have a right effect upon our hearts.

[3:51] And the right effect will be according to the truth itself. For every branch of divine truth, if the Holy Spirit makes it to have effect, will have that effect upon us that is necessary and that it pertains to that particular truth to have.

[4:17] Well now, I've said that, perhaps I ought to be a little more explicit. There are three main branches of divine truth with regard to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[4:32] There is first, his atoning sacrifice and death at Calvary. That one sacrifice that he has offered for sins once for all when he shed his most precious blood for the redemption of transgressors.

[4:52] There is secondly, that blessed truth concerning him that he is now at the Father's right hand, highly exalted, wonderfully glorified, but that he ever lived to make intercession for those who have come unto God by him.

[5:12] That is another blessed branch of truth concerning Jesus Christ. Then, there is the third branch of truth which we give very little attention to, and that is, his coming again the second time with power and glory to gather together his elect from the four corners of the earth into a blessed union with himself.

[5:44] Now, each of these branches of truth have an effect upon the heart which pertains to them to have. For instance, the effect of the first branch of truth, the atoning sacrifice and precious blood of Jesus Christ, the effect of that is to bring pardon into the conscience, cleansing into the heart, and peace into the soul, as we have been singing, as he has made peace by the blood of his cross, and peace can only come from the blood of his cross.

[6:27] Now, if anyone is under conviction of sin and conscious of their guilt and condemnation, it's no use directing them to the second coming of Jesus Christ because that will only add terror to their distress.

[6:46] Now, may they look to the Christ on the cross, to Christ on the cross. That's where they will find peace, relief, and pardon, and reconciliation with God.

[7:03] God, that is the way. May the Holy Spirit make that truth, have that effect constantly in us. But now, when the Apostle Paul would exhort believers who were in the state of grace to set their affections on things above, he sets the truth before them, where Christ sitteth, at the right hand of the majesty beyond high.

[7:32] Now, the effect of that branch of truth, as made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit, is to direct upwards our affections and our desires to those things which are above.

[7:47] and if we felt more of that effect, we should be more for those things that are heavenly. Our affections would be set upon them and why?

[7:59] Because Jesus Christ is there and he's the great attraction to the faith and desires and affections of his redeemed people.

[8:11] Well then, what is the effect of the third branch of truth? That is, the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory.

[8:25] Well, it is to stimulate a solemn concern in our hearts that we might be ready when that day will come. And the Lord Jesus plainly indicated that himself in the case of those who said the Lord delayeth his coming.

[8:46] What then? Let us eat and drink and enjoy ourselves. You see? Now, the right and profitable effect of the Lord's second coming is not to set us puzzling our minds over all the prophecies relating to it because that can be very unprofitable and can divert our hearts and minds from spiritual truths that are more profitable.

[9:18] I mean, you take this verse for instance. The Lord directs your hearts into the love of God. Now, whatever diverts their hearts from that direction is unprofitable to us.

[9:33] Christ on the cross is a source of peace and pardon to our guilty souls.

[9:45] Christ in heaven is the attraction for heavenly affections in our hearts. Christ coming again causes a solemn and prayerful searching of ourselves that we shall be by his grace ready at that day.

[10:06] If the five foolish virgins had been more concerned about the bridegrooms coming and whether they had oil in their vessels they would not have come into such confusion.

[10:20] Well now this is just an introduction because as I say it appears that the Thessalonians were under the impression that the day of Christ was just at hand and it seemed not to have had a very good effect upon them for some were troubled in mind about it and it was seen that others under the impression that the Lord was at hand neglected their ordinary duties in life and so on as though they felt well there's no purpose in their attending to anything like that now for the Lord is just at hand.

[11:06] Now the apostle writes to correct this but I've said enough on that point this evening. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ not the impatient waiting nor into a careless unconcern but into the patient waiting for Christ and with regard to this of course it will amount to the same thing whether our end comes by the hand of death or whether the Lord will return and we shall be alive and remain at that time.

[11:53] The concern is the same to be prepared for his appearing. Well now may the Lord help me to open up this word a little and the Lord make it instruction to our minds and food to our hearts.

[12:09] the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. I would just mention this for it pertains to the subject that there is a clear indication of the most holy and blessed doctrine of the divine trinity in the text.

[12:38] And to a spiritual mind with understanding this doctrine permeates the scriptures even where it is not expressly stated in doctrinal terms.

[12:55] Now if you look at the text the Trinity is in it. Now by the Lord we must understand the Holy Spirit. By the love of God we must understand the love of God the Father.

[13:11] By the patient waiting for Christ of course we must understand the person of Jesus Christ. Now it is not unscriptural to speak of the Holy Spirit under this designation the Lord.

[13:29] Because for one thing you read elsewhere that now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

[13:48] But apart from that that which is here ascribed to the Lord plainly means the Holy Spirit because to direct the heart in spiritual things to guide into the truth to enlighten the understanding to instruct is the express work of the Holy Spirit as Jesus said of the Holy Spirit that when he should come he would guide you into all truth and amongst all truth of course the love of God and he would take of the things of Jesus and show them unto you well now my friends here we have a plain indication the Lord is that spirit because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to direct our hearts and it is our hearts that the

[14:51] Holy Spirit directs and I put it in this clear way heart work is Holy Ghost work and Holy Ghost work is heart work it is in the heart the Holy Spirit exercises his gracious operations quickening convincing delivering teaching guiding revealing it's all in the heart what is not in the heart is superficial even if it may be correct it's still superficial we need a religion that is in our hearts knowledge that is heart knowledge faith that is heart faith with the heart man believeth unto righteousness if they believe it with all thine heart thou mayest we want love in our hearts not just on our tongues but in our hearts so it is in the heart the

[16:03] Holy Spirit directs the heart the Holy Spirit directs into the love of God first then let us consider this divine and blessed objective of the Holy Spirit directing the love of God and what a subject really that is the love of God now we read that God is love that is his very nature is in the nature of love love is of God that is pure spiritual holy heavenly love is of God the very fullness of that love is of God and every communication of it is of

[17:04] God love is of God for God is love now mention if I may be able one or two features of this wonderful word the love of God now may the Lord direct our hearts into the greatness of that love how little I feel we seem to be able to get into the depths beneath where the word of God is concerned we're so familiar with its terms but how little familiar we are with its real meaning and truth the apostle writing of the love of God said his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins his great love and then you remember of course in the epistle to the

[18:16] Ephesians the apostle goes into that somewhat more fully that she may know what is the height and depth and length and breadth and to know the love of God which passeth knowledge that she might be filled with all the fullness of God it has height but beyond our being able to reach high above us high above our comprehension high as heaven high as the glory of God and it has depth we can ever fathom and it has a length from eternity to eternity we cannot measure and it has a breadth to embrace in one infinite love the whole election of grace of every age and every generation to the end of time love so broad none of them outside of its reach well we need the

[19:35] Lord to direct our hearts into the greatness of God's love and especially as I want to say in a few minutes in a way of contemplation of pondering on such love my soul still ponders I tell you how it is my friends we never get more into these things than we do when we feel we can't really get into them I much appreciate the feeling of the apostle when he said oh the death oh the death I remember once after I'd been endeavouring to set forth the things of God and of Jesus Christ and their precious nature and fullness a good friend of mine spoke to me at the bottom of the pulpit stairs he was a long friend of mine and he shook my hands and he said

[20:43] Stanley we can sense the depth but we can never fathom it now that's as far as we can go we can sense it oh the depth we can never fathom it well it's wonderful don't you feel if the Lord would direct our hearts into this deep love of God then consider further the Lord direct your hearts into the eternity and unchangeable nature of God's love that is another aspect that is wonderful from everlasting to everlasting there were God and from everlasting to everlasting there are love and what a beautiful word and how often that word has been made a help and a comfort and a blessing and I wonder whether it has been to anyone listening to me now the

[21:49] Lord has appeared of old unto me saying I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee everlasting love and because everlasting unchangeable never more warm because it is infinite love nevertheless how apt we are although we know it isn't so but still how apt we are to measure things by our own feelings and their own state of heart and mind it's good when we can feel the influence of that everlasting love drawing us warming us humbling us but how when we feel so dry and cold and hard and barren well we have to feel something's wrong but it's unchangeable love clouds hide the sun but don't change it don't quench its beams don't call it warm it's still the same sun and the clouds part and it shines again as bright as ever so it is clouds come over us hide the sun we seem not to feel the influences of his love but is unchangeable love sweet when we can feel it but if the

[23:35] Lord direct us into the love of God we shall trust it when we cannot experience it my soul through many changes goes his love no alteration knows what a comfort my friends it is if the Holy Spirit directs our hearts into this unchangeable nature of God's love then again the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God now the Lord directs your hearts into the sovereignty of God's love for there is a sovereignty in God's love there must be not only because it is plainly stated in sundry places in the scripture but because it is obvious does that everlasting love draw everyone well now we know it doesn't draw everyone why then does that love draw some why does it not draw others well it's because of the sovereignty of

[24:49] God's love all divine perfections blend you see all his wisdom his grace his love and his sovereignty and his knowledge but when we speak of the sovereignty of God and the sovereignty of his love we do need the Lord to direct our hearts into this because hard things can be spoken with regard to the sovereignty of God's love and have been we may take quite wrong impressions with regard to the sovereignty of God's love unless the Lord direct us into it if the Lord direct us into this depth of sovereignty then we shall see that it's perfect right perfectly right perfectly just perfectly honouring to God that is injurious to no one the

[25:54] Lord direct your hearts into that then there will be a submission to the sovereignty of God's love as well as a strong desire to experience it no one can claim a right to God's love no one if it has come to me it's because God has willed that it should if it has come to you God has willed that it should it isn't with any right or claim in the matter at all it's loving sovereignty and it's sovereign love then another consideration the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God in the manifestation of that love now as I've been saying God is love that is his very nature doesn't belittle his holiness or justice at all but the emphasis in this word is upon his love but

[27:08] God has manifested his love as we read in this was manifested the love of God toward us that he gave his only begotten son that we should live through him and again God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us oh here is something to be directed into the manifestation of God's love in Jesus Christ for the fullness of God is in Christ in him dwelleth all the fullness of divine love and he came into this world when Jesus Christ came into this world love came into it as it had never come into this world before but it wasn't only that love came into this world when

[28:10] Jesus Christ came into it but that love flowed out when Jesus Christ died for sinners God commended his love toward us not in words descriptions and the like but in this he gave his only begotten son to die divine love will never appear more glorious never flow out more richly never affect us more deeply than as it flows to us through Jesus Christ and his suffering death for sinners we need the Lord to direct our hearts into the manifestation of God's love otherwise we shall only see the very surface of it all to be directed into the richness of it or if

[29:14] God had not commended his love toward us in this way that he gave his only begotten son that we might live through his death how could it have benefited us how could it have benefited us because sin has put a barrier between our condition and God's holiness there is no approach other divine perfections enter into it and if we were conscious of this I mean even to believe in the love of God and yet to have no faith in Jesus Christ all we could say is it's very wonderful but where that pure heavenly God of love is I shall never be sin will forever exclude me but now brethren

[30:17] God has shown his love in a way that receives sinners forgives sinners welcomes sinners embraces sinners the Lord directs your heart into the love of God as it is manifested in his dear son now for a few minutes left this evening I'll take the text in another point of view and the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God now the sundry things I feel enter into this direction the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God in these ways first in a way of spiritual understanding I know that perhaps we often apply understanding to the mind but that is not always so in the scripture use of the term there's the understanding of the heart now the

[31:33] Lord directs your hearts into the love of God in a way of understanding and spiritual discernment I feel that this operation of the Holy Spirit is most necessary and it is most profitable for if there's no understanding there's no entrance into anything we need that our understanding should be enlightened as the apostle puts it that your understanding being enlightened that she may know that is that she may have a spiritual understanding knowledge knowledge now there's a great deal of difference between understanding spiritual things naturally as regards the meaning of the terms and understanding spiritual things spiritually now we read the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of

[32:45] God neither can he know them and why not because they're spiritually discerned no matter how clever a natural man is as regards his intelligence he simply cannot understand these things because they need spiritual discernment now spiritual discernment belongs to spiritual life in the soul it's the eye of the soul now we need the Holy Spirit to direct our discernment into the lover God oh what shall we discern if the Holy Spirit would only do that it would appear to us to be so wonderful amazing attractive desirable oh if the

[33:46] Holy Spirit did but direct our hearts into the love of God that we should sing this hymn from their very hearts oh love divine how great thou art when shall I find my willing heart all taken up by thee that's the feeling brethren when the Holy Spirit enlightens the understanding we see that in the love of God that attracts our desires most sweetly to it that's one thing then again the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God in a way of meditation and contemplation now this is really a very spiritual and a very necessary exercise in spiritual things to meditate I think we lose a great deal for want of meditation we may hear a good deal and approve and read a good deal and approve and yet gather very little for want of meditation meditation is not just thinking it's certainly not just something the nature of day dreaming as we say is a spiritual pondering my meditation of him shall be sweet the point of meditation is not to gather knowledge so much but to ponder on what we do know now we need the

[35:32] Holy Spirit in meditation to direct our hearts in pondering and contemplating upon these holy things you know my friends it's as if it's not a crude illustration but meditation to the soul is very much like digestion to the body now we may eat a great deal but we really are nourished by what we digest now we may hear a great deal and it may be very well to hear but we really only profit by what we ponder over meditation makes the word to nourish us really if we could reach to the ideal I think it would be something like this that we should come to the ministry to receive instruction and truth then we should ponder over it to feed upon it we lose a great deal for want of meditation no doubt about it

[36:49] I know of course it might be said well we we haven't time for this I know we live in a very busy day that the stress and strain of life one would think is much more exacting than it was with our forebearers but still it isn't all that I don't think I think it's sometimes want of mind and when we've got the mind want of meditation here is the answer the Lord direct your hearts in meditation may the Holy Spirit engage our thought and feeling to ponder on such love on such love my soul still ponder that's meditation pondering there's just one word more and I must close the

[37:53] Lord directs your hearts into the love of God in the sweetness of communion communion now there's communion in love oh I wish I wasn't such a stranger to it but I know there is there's communion in love and I don't know within the range of my understanding and experience how there can be any communion without love God is love if there's no love in our hearts there can be no communion communion is two hearts you know blending together and communion is the love of God in its greatness and our love in its littleness I was going to say still blending and in the whole book of God there isn't a more blessed exposition of this than the song of

[38:55] Solomon throughout that pure and holy book you'll find there's a communion of love but there's no communion in love unless the Holy Spirit direct our heart into it we can never bring this to pass in our experience we can't sit down and say well now I will have communion with the Lord unless the Holy Spirit direct us well now I've said enough tonight surely and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ Amenlls and and the hope and