Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCharles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from John: 47 JOH 15:25 Hatred Without Cause
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from John (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 47 JOH 15:25 Hatred Without Cause
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Hatred Without Cause
June 29, 1856
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"They hated me without a cause."- Joh_15:25.
It is usually understood, that the quotation our Saviour here refers to is to
be found in the 35th Psalm, at the 19th verse, where David says, speaking of
himself immediately and of the Saviour prophetically, "Let not them who are
mine enemies rejoice over me, neither let them wink with the eye that hate me
without a cause." Our Saviour refers to that as being applicable to himself,
and thus he really tells us, in effect, that many of the Psalms are
Messianic, or refer to the Messiah; and, therefore, Dr. Hawker did not err,
when he said he believed the Psalms referred to the Saviour, though he may
have carried the truth too far. But it will be a good plan, in reading the
Psalms, if we continually look at them as alluding not so much to David, as
to the man of whom Dave was the type, Jesus Christ, David's Lord.
No being was ever more lovely than the Saviour; it would seem almost
impossible not to have affection for him. Certainly at first sight it would
seem far more difficult to hate him than to love him. And yet, loveable as he
was, yea, "altogether lovely," no being so early met with hatred, and no
creature ever endured such a continual persecution as he had to suffer. He is
no sooner ushered into the world, than the sword of Herod is ready to cut him
off, and the innocents of Bethlehem, by their dreadful massacre, gave a sad
foretaste of the sufferings which Christ would endure, and of the hatred that
men would pour upon his devoted head. From his first moment to the cross,
save the temporary lull while he was a child, it seemed as if all the world
were in league against him, and all men sought to destroy him. In different
ways that hatred displayed itself, sometimes in overt deed, as when they took
him to the brow of the hill, and would have cast him down headlong, or when
they took up stones again to stone him, because he said that Abraham desired
to see his day, and saw it, and was glad. At other times that hatred showed
itself in words of slander, such as these,-"He is a drunken man and a wine-
bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners;" or in looks of contempt, as when
they looked suspiciously at him, because he did eat with publicans and
sinners, and sat down to table with unwashed hands. At other times that
hatred dwelt entirely in their thoughts, and they thought within themselves,
"This man blasphemeth," because he said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." But at
almost every time there was a hatred towards Christ; and when they took him,
and would have made him king, and a shallow fleeting flood of popular
applause would have watted him on to an unsteady throne, even then there was
a latent hatred towards him, only kept under by loaves and fishes, which only
wanted an equal quantity of loaves and fishes offered by the priests, to
develop it itself in the cry of "Crucify him, crucify him," instead of the
shout of "Hosannah! blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." All
grades of men hated him. Most men have to meet with some opposition; but then
it is frequently a class opposition, and there are other classes who look at
them with respect. The demagogue, who is admired by the poor, must expect to
be despised by the rich; and he who labours for the aristocracy, of course
meets with the contempt of the many. But here was a man who walked among the
people, who loved them, who spoke to rich and poor as though they were (as
indeed they are) on one level in his blessed sight: and yet all classes
conspired to hate him; the priests cried him down because he spoiled their
dogmas; the nobles would put him to death because he spoke of being a king;
while the poor, for some reasons best known to themselves, though they
admired his eloquence, and frequently would have fallen prostrate in worship
before him, on account of the wondrous deeds he did, even these, led by men
who ought to have guided them better, conspired to put him to death, and to
consummate their guilt by nailing him to the tree, and then wagging their
heads, bade him, if he could build a temple in three days, to save himself
and come down from the cross. Christ was the hated one, the slandered and
scorned; he was "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief."
Now, we shall try this morning, first, to justify the Saviour's remarks, that
he was hated without a cause; and secondly, to dwell upon the sin of men-that
men hated him without a cause; in the third place, to give a lesson or two to
Christ's own people, which they may well learn from the fact, that their
Saviour was hated without a cause.
I. First, then, beloved, let us JUSTIFY WHAT THE SAVIOUR SAID,-"They hated me
without a cause." And we remark, that, apart from the consideration of man's
sinfulness, and Christ's purity, there certainly is not cause, whatever to be
discovered why the world should have hated him.
First let us regard Christ in his person. Was there anything in Christ's
person as a man, when he lived in this world, which had a natural tendency to
make any person hate him? Let us remark, that there was an absence of almost
everything which excites hatred between man and man. In the first place there
was no great rank in Christ to excite envy. It is a well known fact that let
a man be ever so good, if he be at all lifted above his fellow-creatures by
riches, or by title, though one by one men will respect him, yet the many
often speak against him, not so much for what he is, as for his rank and his
title. It seems to be natural to men in the mass to despise nobles; each man,
individually, thinks it a wonderful fine thing to know a lord; but put men
together, and they will despise lords and bishops, and speak very lightly of
principalities and powers. Now Christ had none of the outward circumstances
of rank, he had no chariot, no long sleeves, no elevation above his fellows;
when he walked abroad there were no heralds to attend him, there was no pomp
to do him honor. In fact, one would think that Christ's appearance would
naturally have engendered pity. Instead of being lifted above men, he did, in
some sense, seem to be below them, for foxes had holes, and the birds of the
air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. Many a
democrat has railed against the archbishop when he has gone by Lambeth
palace; but would he curse or despise him if he were told, the archbishop had
not where to lay his head, but simply toiled for the truth's sake, and had no
reward? The envy naturally excited by rank, station, and such-like, could not
have operated in Christ's case; there was nothing in his garb to attract
attention; it was the garb of the peasant of Galilee-"of one piece, woven
from the top throughout." Nor was there anything in his rank. He might have
been the son of an ancient royal family, but its royalty was apparently
extinct, and he was only known as the Son of the carpenter. The hated him,
then, in that sense, "without a cause."
Many persons seem to have envy excited in them against those who exercise
rule or government over them. The very fact of a man having authority over me
stirs up my evil passions, and I begin to look at him with suspicion, because
he is invested with that authority. Some men naturally fall into the groove,
and obey simply because the ruled is made; principalities and powers are
established, and they submit themselves for the Lord's sake; but the many,
especially in these republican times, seem to have a natural tendency to kick
against authority, simply because it is authority. But if authorities and
governments were changed every month, I believe that in some countries, in
France for instance, there would be revolutions as much under one government
as under another; in fact, they hate all government there, and wish to be
without law, that each man may do what is right in his own eyes. But this did
not operate in Christ's case, he was not a king; he did not assume sway over
the multitude. It is true he was Lord over tempests and seas; it is true he
could command demons, and, if he pleased, men must have been his obedient
servants; but he did not assume power over them. He marshalled no armies, he
promulgated no laws, he made himself no great one in the land; the people did
just as they liked, for all the authority he exercised over them. In fact,
instead of binding laws upon them which were severe, he seemed to have
loosened the rigidity of their system; for when the adulterous woman, who,
otherwise, would have been put to death, was brought before him, he said,
"Neither do I condemn thee." And he relaxed, to a certain extent, the
rigidity of the Sabbatical ordinance, which was in some respects too
burthensome, saying, "The Sabbath was made for man." Surely, then, they hated
him "without a cause."
Some men make others dislike them because they are proud. I know some men
that I should have liked very well if the starch had been left out of them; I
should really sympathize with them and admire them if they had the least
degree of condescension, but they seem to walk about the world with such a
style of pride! They may not be proud-very likely they are not; but, as an
old divine said, "When we see a fox's tail sticking out of a hole, we
naturally expect the fox is there." And, somehow or other, the human mind
cannot bear pride; we always kick against it. But there was nothing of that
in our Saviour. How humble he was! Why he stooped to anything. He would wash
his disciples' feet; and when he walked about among men, there was no parade
about him, as if he would say to them, "See my talent, see my power, see my
rank, see my dignity, stand by, I am greater than you." No, he takes his seat
there. There is Matthew, the publican, sitting beside him, and he does not
think he is hurt by the publican, although he is the worst of sinners; and
there is a harlot, he speaks to her; there is another with seven devils, and
he casts the devils out of her, and another, who has the leprosy, and he even
touches the leper, to show how humble he was, and that there was nothing of
pride about him. Oh! could you have seen the Saviour; he was the very paragon
of humility! There were none of your forms of etiquette and politeness about
him; he had that true politeness which makes itself affable to all men,
because it is kind and loving to all. There was no pride in the Saviour, and
consequently there was nothing to excite men's anger on that account.
Therefore, they hated him "without a cause."
There are others that you cannot help disliking, because they are so
snappish, and waspish, and angry; they look as if they were born on some
terribly dark stormy day, and as if, in the mixture of their body, no small
quantity of vinegar was employed. You could not sit long with them, without
feeling that you have to keep your tongue in pretty tight chain; you must not
talk freely, or there would be a quarrel, for they would make you an offender
for a word. You may say, "Such an one is, no doubt a good man; but really,
that temper of his I cannot bear it. And when a man stands prominently before
the public, with a nasty sour disposition, one feels inclined to dislike him.
But there was nothing of this about our Saviour. "When he was reviled, he
reviled not again;" if men spat in his face he said nothing to them; and when
they smote him, he did not curse them; he sat still and bore their scorn. He
walked through the world, with contempt and infamy constantly poured upon
him; but "he answered not a word;" he was never angry. You cannot find, in
reading the Saviour's life, that he spake one angry word, save those words of
holy wrath which he poured, like scalding oil, upon the head of Pharisaic
pride; then, indeed, his wrath did boil, but it was holy wrath. With such a
loving, kind, gentle spirit, one would have thought that he would have gone
through the world as easily as possible. But, notwithstanding all that, they
hated him. Truly, we can say, "they hated him without a cause."
There is another set of people you can scarcely help disliking; they are
selfish people. Now, we know some persons who are very excellent in temper,
who are extremely honest and upright, but they are so selfish! When you are
with them, you feel that they are just friends to you for what they can get
out of you; and when you have served their turn, they will just lay you
aside, and endeavour to find another. In trying to do good, their good deed
has an ulterior object, but, somehow or other, they are always found out; and
no man in the world gets a greater share of public odium than the man who
lives a selfish life. Among the most miserable men in the universe, kicked
about the world like a football, is the selfish miser. But in Christ there
was nothing selfish; whatever he did, he did for others. He had a marvellous
power of working miracles, but he would not even change a stone into bread
for himself; he reserved his miraculous power for others; he did not seem to
have a particle of self in his whole nature. In fact, the description of his
life might be written very briefly: "he saved others, himself he did not
save." He walked about; he touched the poorest, the meanest, and those who
were the most sick; he cared not what men might say of him; he seemed to have
no regard for fame, or dignity, or ease, or honor. Neither his bodily nor his
mental comforts were in the least regarded by him. Self-sacrifice was the
life of Christ; but he did it with such an ease that it seemed no sacrifice.
Ah! beloved, in that sense certainly they hated Christ without a cause; for
there was nothing in Christ to excite their hatred-in fact, there was
everything, on the other hand, to bind the whole world to love and reverence
a character so eminently unselfish.
Another sort of people there are that I do not like, viz., the hypocritical;
nay, I think I could even live with the selfish man, if I knew him to be
selfish; but the hypocrite, do not let him come anywhere near where I am. Let
a public man be a hypocrite once, and the world will scarcely trust him
again; they will hate him. But Christ was, in this particular, free from any
blame; and if they hated him, they hated him not for that, for there never
was a more unvarnished man than Christ. He was called, you know, the child
Jesus; because as a child speaks itself out, and has no reserve, and no
craftiness, even so was it with Jesus; he had no affectation, no deceit.
There was no change about him; he was "without variableness or shadow of
turning." Whatever the world may say of Christ, they never said they believed
he was a hypocrite; and among all the slanders they brought against him, they
never disputed his sincerity. Had they been able to show that he really had
been imposing upon them, they might have had some grounds for hating him; but
he lived in the sunlight of sincerity and walked on the very mountain-top of
continual observation. He could not be a hypocrite, and men knew he could
not; and yet men hated him. Verily, my friends, if you survey the character
of Christ, in all its loveliness, in all its benevolence, in all its
sincerity, in all its self-devotion, in all intense eagerness to benefit man,
you must say, indeed, "They hated him without a cause." there was nothing in
Christ's person to lead men to hate him.
In the next place, was there anything in Christ's errand which could make
people hate him? If they had asked him, for what reason have you come from
heaven? would there have been anything in his answer likely to excite their
indignation and hatred? I trow not. For what purpose did he come? He came,
first of all, to explain mysteries-to tell them what was meant by the
sacrificial lamb, what was the significance of the scape-goat, what was
intended by the ark, the brazen serpent, and the pot of manna; he came to
rend the veil of the holy of holies, and to show men secrets they had never
seen before. Should they have hated one who lifted the veil of mystery, and
made dark things light, and expounded riddles? Should they have hated him who
taught them what Abraham desired to see, and what prophets and kings had
longed to know, but died without a knowledge of? Was there anything in that
to make them hate him? What else did he come for? He came on earth to reclaim
the wanderer; and is there anything in that that should make men hate Christ?
If he came to reform the drunkard, to reclaim the harlot, and gather in the
publicans and sinners, and bring prodigals to their father's house again,
sure that is an object with which every philanthropist should agree; it is
that for which our governments are formed and fashioned, to bring men to a
better state; and if Christ came for that purpose, was there anything in that
to make men hate him? For what else did he come? He came to heal the diseases
of the body; is that a legitimate object of hatred? Shall I hate the
physician who goes about gratuitously healing all manner of diseases? Are
deaf ears unstopped, are mouths opened, are the dead raised, are the blind
made to see, and widows blest with their sons? Are these causes why a man
should be obnoxious? Surely, he might well say, "For which of these works do
ye stone me? If I have done good works wherefore speak ye against me?" But
none of these works were the cause of men's hatred; they hated him without a
cause. And he came on earth to die, that sinners might not die? Was that a
cause of hatred? Ought I to hate the Saviour, because he came to quench the
flames of hell for me? Should I despise him who allowed his father's flaming
sword to be quenched in his own vital blood? Shall I look with indignation
upon the substitute who takes my sin and griefs upon him, and carries my
sorrows? Shall I hate and despise the man who loved me better than he loved
himself-who loved me so much that he visited the gloomy grave for my
salvation? Are these the causes of hatred? Surely his errand was one that
ought to have made us sing his praise for ever, and join the harps of angels
in their rapturous songs. "They hated me without a cause."
But once more: was there anything in Christ's doctrine that should have made
us hate him? No, we answer; there was nothing in his doctrine that should
have excited men's hatred. Take his preceptive doctrines. Did he not teach us
to do to others as we would they should to us? Was he not also the exponent
of everything lovely and honorable, and of good report? And was not his
teaching the very essence of virtue, so that if virtue's self had written it,
it could not have written such a perfect code of lovely morals, and excellent
virtues. Was it the ethical part of his doctrines that men hated? He taught
that rich and poor must stand on one level; he taught that his gospel was not
to be confined to one particular nation, but was to be gloriously expansive,
so as to cover the world? This perhaps, was one principal reason of their
hating him; but surely there was no justifiable cause for their indignation
in this. There was nothing in Christ to lead men to hate him. "They hated him
without a cause."
II. And now, in the second place, I come to dwell on MAN'S SIN, that he
should have hated the Saviour without a cause. Ah! beloved, I will not tell
you of man's adulteries, and fornications, and murders, and poisonings, and
sodomies. I will not tell you of man's wars, and bloodsheds, and cruelties,
and rebellions; If I want to tell you man's sin, I must tell you that man is
a decide-that he put to death his God, and slew his Saviour; and when I have
told you that, I have given you the essence of all sin, the master-piece of
crime, the very pinnacle and climax of the terrific pyramid of mortal guilt.
Man outdid himself when he put his Saviour to death, and sin did out-Herod
Herod when it slew the Lord of the universe, the lover of the race of man,
who came on earth to die. Never does sin appear so exceedingly sinful as when
we see it pointed at the person of Christ, whom it hated without a cause. In
every other case, when man has hated goodness, there have always been some
extenuating circumstances. We never do see goodness in this world without
alloy; however great may be any man's goodness, there is always some peg
whereon we may hang a censure; however excellent a man may be, there is
always some fault which may diminish our admiration of our love. But in the
Saviour there was nothing of this. There was nothing that could blot the
picture; holiness stood out to the very life; there was holiness-only
holiness. Let a man hate Whitfield, one of the holiest men that ever lived,
he would tell you, he did not hate his goodness, but he hated his ranting
preaching, and the extraordinary anecdotes he told; or he would pull out
something that dropped from his lips, and hold it up to derision. But in
Christ's case men could not do that; for though they sought for false
witnesses, yet their witnesses agreed not together. There was nothing in him
but holiness: and any person with half an eye can see, that the thing men
hated was simply that Christ was perfect; they could not have hated him for
anything else. And thus you see the abominable, detestable evil of the human
heart-that man hates goodness simply because it is such. It is not true that
we Christian people are hated because of our infirmities; men make our
infirmities a nail whereon to hang their laughter; but if we were not
Christians they would not hate our infirmities. They hold our inconsistencies
up to ridicule; but I do not believe our inconsistencies are what they care
about; we might be as inconsistent as all the rest of the world if we did not
profess religion, of if they did not think we had any. But because the
Saviour had no inconsistencies or infirmities, men were stripped of all their
excuses for hating him, and it came out that man naturally hates goodness,
because he is so evil that he cannot but detest it.
And now let me appeal to every sinner present, and ask him whether he ever
had any cause for hating Christ. But some one says, "I do not hate him; if he
were to come to my house I would love him very much." But it is very
remarkable that Christ lives next door to you, in the person of poor Betty
there. She goes to such-and-such a chapel, and you say she is nothing but a
poor canting Methodist. Why don't you like Betty? She is one of Christ's
members, and "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye
have done it unto me." You say you do not hate Christ. Now, look across the
chapel. Don't you know a man, a member of this place, a very holy man, but
somehow or other you cannot bear him, because he told you of your faults
once. Ah! sir, if you loved Christ you would love his members. What! tell me
you love my head, but you do not love my hands? My dear fellow, you cannot
cut my head off and let me be the same person. If you love Christ the head,
you must love his members. But you say, "I do love his people." Very well,
then you have passed from death unto life, if you love the brethren. But you
say, "I am not sure that I am a changed character, still, I am not aware that
there is any opposition in my heart to Christ and his gospel." You may not be
aware of it, but it is your not being aware of it that makes you case all the
more sad. Perhaps if you knew it, and wept over it, you would come to Christ;
but since you do not know it and do not feel it, that is a proof of your
hostility. Now come! I must suppose you to be hostile to Christ, unless you
love him; for I know there are only two opinions of him. You must either hate
him or love him. As for indifference with regard to Christ, it is just a
clear impossibility. A man might as well say, "I am indifferent towards
honesty." Why, then he is dishonest, is he not? You are indifferent to
Christ? Then you hate him. And why is it that you hate him? Many a time you
have been wooed by the gospel; you have resisted appeals, many of them; come,
now, for which of Christ's works do you hate him? Have I a persecutor here?
Sinner! for what dost thou hate Christ? Dost thou curse him? Tell me what he
has done, that thou shouldst be angry with him. Point to a single fault of
his in his carriage towards thee. has Christ ever hurt thee? "Oh!" says one,
"he has taken my wife and made her one of his children, and she has been
baptized and comes to chapel, and I cannot bear that." Ah! sinner, is that
why thou hatest Christ? Wouldst thou have hated Christ if he had snatched thy
wife from the flames, if he had saved her from going down to death. No, thou
wouldst love him. And he has saved thy wife's soul. Ah! if he never saves
thee; if thou lovest thy wife, thou wilt have enough cause to love him, to
think he has been so good to thee. I tell thee, if thou hatest Christ, thou
not only hatest him without a cause, but thou hatest him when thou hast
simple cause to love him. Come, poor sinner, what hast thou got by hating
Christ? Thou hast stings of conscience. Many a sinner, by hating Christ, has
been locked up in jail, has a ragged coat, a diseased body, a nasty filthy
house, with broken windows, a poor wife, nearly beaten to death, and children
that scamper out of the way as soon as father comes home. What hast thou got
by hating Christ? Oh! if thou wert to estimate thy gains, thou wouldst find
that getting Christ would be a gain, but that hating him is a dead loss to
thee. Now, if you hate Christ and Christ's religion, I tell you that you hate
Christ without a cause; and let me give you one solemn warning, which is
this, that if you keep on hating Christ till you die, you will not hurt
Christ by it, but you will hurt yourself most awfully. Oh! may God deliver
you from being haters of Christ! There is nothing to get by it, but
everything to lose by it. For what cause do you hate Christ, sinner? For what
cause do you hate Christ, persecutor? For what cause do you hate Christ, ye
carnal, ungodly men? What do you hate Christ's gospel for? His ministers-what
hurt have they done you? What hurt can they do you, when they long to do you
all the good in the world? Why is it you hate Christ? AH! it is only because
you are so desperately set on mischief-because the poison of asps is under
your lips, and your throat is an open sepulchre. Otherwise, ye would love
Christ. They hated him "without a cause."
And now, Christian men, I must preach at you for just a moment. Sure ye have
great reason to love Christ now, for ye once hated him without a cause. Did
ye ever treat a friend ill, and did not know it? It has been the misfortune
of most of us to do it sometimes. We had some suspicion that a friend had
done us an injury; we quarrelled with him for weeks, and he had not done it
at all. What he had done was only to warn us. AH! there are never tears like
those we shed when we have injured a friend. And should we not weep when we
have injured the Saviour? Did he not come to my door one cold damp night, and
I shut my door against him? Oh! I have done what I cannot undo; I have
slighted my Lord, I have insulted my friend, I have thrown dishonors upon him
whom I admire. Shall I not weep for him? Oh! shall I not spend my very life
for him? for my sins, my own treachery spilled his blood. Monuments, ah!
monuments I will build; where'er I live, where'er I go. I'll pile up
monuments of praise, that his name may be spread; and where'er I wander, I'll
tell what he did, with many a tear, that I so long have ill-treated him and
so fearfully misunderstood him. We hated him without a cause; therefore, let
us love him.
III. TWO LESSONS TO THE SAINTS.
In the first place, if your Master was hated without a cause, do not you
expect to get off very easily in this world. If your Master was subject to
all this contempt and all this pain, do you suppose you will always ride
through this world in a chariot? If you do, you will be marvellously
mistaken. As your Master was persecuted, you must expect to be the same. Some
of you pity us when we are persecuted and despised. Ah! save your pity, keep
it for those of whom the world speaks well; keep it for those against whom
the woe is pronounced. "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you."
Save your pity for earth's favorites; save your pity for this world's lords,
that are applauded by all men. We ask not for your pity; nay, sirs, in all
these things we rejoice, and "glory in tribulations also, knowing that the
things which happen unto us, happen for the furtherance of the gospel;" and
we count it all joy when we fall into manifold temptations, for we rejoice
that the name of Christ is known and his kingdom extended.
The other lesson is, take care, if the world does hate you, that it hates you
without a cause. If the world is to oppose you, it is of no use making the
world oppose you. This world is bitter enough, without my putting vinegar in
it. Some people seem to fancy the world will persecute them; therefore, they
put themselves into a fighting posture, as if they invited persecutions. Now,
I do not see any good in doing that. Do not try and make other people dislike
you. Really, the opposition some people meet with is not for righteousness'
sake, but for their own sin's sake, or their own nasty temper's sake. Many a
Christian lives in a house-a Christian servant girl perhaps; she says she is
persecuted for righteousness' sake. But she is of a bad disposition; she
sometimes speaks sharp, and then her mistress reproves her. That is not being
persecuted for righteousness' sake. There is another, a merchant in the city,
perhaps; he is not looked upon with much esteem. He says he is persecuted for
righteousness' sake; whereas, it is because he did not keep a bargain
sometime ago. Another man says he is persecuted for righteousness' sake; but
he goes about assuming authority over everybody, and now and then persons
turn round and upbraid him. Look to it, Christian people, that if you are
persecuted, it is for righteousness' sake; for if you get any persecution
yourself you must keep it yourself. The persecutions you bring on yourself
for your own sins, Christ has nothing to do with them; they are chastisements
on you. They hated Christ without a cause; then fear not to be hated. They
hated Christ without a cause; then court not to be hated, and give the world
no cause for it.
And now may you who hate Christ love him; Oh! that he would bring himself to
you now! Oh! that he would show himself to you! And then sure you must love
him at once. He that believeth on the Lord Jesus will be sure to love him and
he that loveth him shall be saved. Oh! that God would give you faith, and
give you love, for Christ Jesus' sake! Amen.
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, NJ, USA 08022
Internet: hyperlink