Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to Heavenly Harmonies. 1 John 4:10 says, herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation, or the atoning sacrifice, for our sins. By sending his Son to die for us, God showed us what true love is. The matchless love of God is the basis for freedom of conscience, the foundation of well-being for communities, states, and nations. We explore this theme more deeply in our hymn for today, My Jesus, I Love Thee. Stay with me to discover heavenly harmonies that will keep you near to the heart of God. In this season, we have been following the everlasting gospel from its beginning in eternity past through centuries of dark persecution. We're now tracing the restoration of the sanctuary truth, which was cast down during that time. As the Bible was restored to the people through the Reformation, its great truths began to be rediscovered, including the great truths that relate to the sanctuary. And so we saw that through heartfelt prayer and the power of the Word of God, our lives can be changed So that we reflect the character of Christ. We become, in this way, the light of the world. And of course, that's represented by the beautiful 7-branched candlestick in that first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. So today we consider more of the implications of what it actually means to be the light of the world. So Christ is the rightful King. of the universe, both by creation and redemption. He also wants to be King of our hearts. And so let's consider what our spiritual song for today, My Jesus, I Love Thee, has to say about this. My Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine. For Thee all the follies of sin I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior Thou art. If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree. I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow. If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. I loved Thee in life, I will love Thee till death, and praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath, and say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow, if ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, 'tis now! In mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright. I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow, if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now! This is a simple hymn, but it's beautiful in its simplicity. And this hymn uses repetition. It has the same line repeated at the end of every stanza, which is the theme of the song, you know, and that's where the title comes from. If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. And so, yeah, the theme of this hymn is really evident, and it is our response to the love of God. And so this hymn teaches a vital truth that true religion is not just cold and formal. True religion is not just a round of ceremonies in an attempt to earn God's favor. True religion flows from a heart that throbs with deep love for Christ. But where does our love for Christ and our devotion to him come from? Now, we began to explore this question in a previous program. Well, we've probably looked at it in multiple programs. But we focused on it in the hymn, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. And so this hymn was written by Charles Wesley, of course, as we've said. And it reveals to us the great truths that were discovered by Charles and his brother John. So we'd love to say more about this. I totally ran out of time to say it in the previous program. So I'm just gonna I'm gonna give a quick overview now. So Charles Wesley lived from 1707 to 1788. So we are obviously 3ABN Australia. So I'm recording from Australia. I'm sure my accent gives that away. So 1788 was actually the date that the Europeans arrived in Australia. So just to sort of put it in the context of history, if there's Australians watching it, or even if you're watching it from other places in the world. There's a lot more, there was actually a lot happening in the world at this time. That was also the time the United States had been settled earlier, but this was the time that the United States, sort of around that time that it gained its independence. I think that was 1776. I hope that I've got that right. Yes, I can see my American-born—
Speaker B
00:06:34 - 00:06:35
Yes.
Speaker A
00:06:35 - 00:09:17
Radio director is nodding his head, so I did get that one right. So, so this was the time when America gained their independence, and so America as an independent nation was rising to power at this time. And so, so that was the year in which Charles died. And his brother John, his older brother John, was born in 1703. So yeah, like what, 4 3 or 4 years older. And he passed away in 1791. So he lived a little longer than Charles. Now, this was about 2 centuries after Martin Luther that we have spent a fair bit of time speaking about. Now, at this time, so during the 1700s in England, true spirituality had really declined. And, you know, there had been English Reformers like Wycliffe, Tyndale, and others. They were earlier Reformers. And they had discovered the great truths of righteousness by faith. But those truths had almost been completely lost sight of. And so both John and Charles had been convicted of their need to live a holy life. And they tried to do all that they could to live a religious, to live an upright life. And but their mindset was to do this to earn God's favor. And yet, when these men were faced with death, even though they were doing many, many things, you know, many good works and, you know, living what looked like upright lives, they still felt unsure of their salvation. But through contact with some Moravian believers, Which is a whole story in itself. But they were led to discover that works are not the root, but they are the fruit of faith. And that's what's brought to view actually in our hymn for today. So that's why I've backtracked a little bit and spoken about John and Charles Wesley, even though this hymn is not written by Charles Wesley. It was written by Featherstone. It was written during the 1800s. Which really expresses The beliefs at that time that true religion, there is a heart experience, is not just a round of ceremonies. This was something that really came to the fore towards the end of the 1700s. So yeah, probably, I'm sure, significantly brought about by the influence of Charles and John Wesley because they did have a huge, huge influence on—
Speaker B
00:09:17 - 00:09:17
Yeah.
Speaker A
00:09:18 - 00:15:25
on religion and on spirituality in England. And it's also significant, I believe— I'm not saying that my forefathers did everything right. You know, there are many, many sad things in Australian history that just bring grief to my heart as I think about them. But the fact that Australia was settled by the English rather than by other European nations, which it could have been very easily settled by. The influence of Charles and John Wesley, I think actually we can see that it had a tremendous influence on religion and on spirituality in Australia. So, but yeah, that's beyond our topic for today. Maybe we'll talk about that more another time. But anyway, so let's look at some Bible verses about how True religion springs from the heart and the works that we do. As I've said, they're not the root, but they're the fruit of faith. They are the result of faith. And so John 3:16, of course, there's such this famous Bible verse. It tells us that it was love that led God to send— God the Father— to send Jesus, who is described as the Son, to earth. Now, John 15:13. This is also a very famous verse. John 15:13. Jesus Himself speaking. He says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So, Jesus loved us so much that He laid down His life for us. And John 12:32. John 12:32. We've looked at this verse before. Yes, that's it. I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. So when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, we saw most fully the wondrous love of God. And it's this love that draws us to Him. And that brings us to 1 John 4:19, which I think is really an underlying verse in the hymn, My Jesus, I Love Thee. So which comes out really in the second verse. So, 1 John 4:19. 1 John, not John. We were looking in John. We're now looking in 1 John. 1 John 4:19, it says, we love Him because He first loved us. And yeah, that's brought out in the second verse. I love thee because thou hast first loved me. So that's recorded in there. So we love God because of His great love for us, shown especially when Jesus died on Calvary. And let's look at another verse, really the end of a verse, Romans 2:4, which says, the goodness of God leads thee to repentance. And so, so we see that it's actually the love of God that leads us to repentance. We don't actually have to work up repentance. In fact, the Bible says repentance is a gift. That's in, I think it's Acts 5:31. Repentance is actually a gift that comes from God. We do not have to work up repentance or go on long and weary pilgrimages or pay money or anything like this to make God love us. God loves us. He loved us first. And it's because of that, it's our heart response to Him that forms the basis of true, spirituality, true religion, and actually to our repentance, which, you know, we can't have a changed life if we don't genuinely repent of the things that we have done wrong. So it is the goodness. It is the love of God that leads us to true repentance. And we saw this order, as I mentioned in that hymn, in Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. It goes from the love of God. The love of God is a key theme of that song, and that is what leads us to worship God. And as we've been saying, that is what results in a changed life. And so today, with our hymn that we're looking at for today, we could say so much about this hymn and what the love of God leads us to do, but I want to extend These points further to what this means in terms of freedom of conscience, and and a few other things as well. But primarily freedom of conscience. So looking at verse one, my Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine. For thee, all the follies of sin I resign. So this first verse is really about wholehearted devotion. It's about wholehearted. dedication to Christ. And, you know, the love of God changes our whole life. The things that we once loved, we now hate. The things we once hated, we now love. Duty becomes a delight and sacrifice becomes a pleasure. We don't ask how little we can do for Christ. We see instead the depth of His love. We long to do all that we can for Him. We long to breathe His Spirit, Spirit, Bear His image, do His will, and please Him in all things. And in fact, giving all to Him means giving Him our sin-polluted hearts for Him to transform. So, you know, it's like it's not even a sacrifice. How can it be considered a sacrifice for us to give up our sin-polluted heart so that we can receive His righteousness? God is the one that, you know, really ultimately is bearing the cost.
Speaker B
00:15:25 - 00:15:26
Yeah. of sin.
Speaker A
00:15:26 - 00:17:26
Now, so, okay, brings us to verse 2. And so we have said really the theme of verse 2 is that it is the love of God that draws us to Him. And so God is a God of love. And I've spoken about this many times in many, many programs. Because God is a God of love, He takes no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires us to love Him because we appreciate His character and because He is worthy of love. And as we've been saying, the cross shows that the wages of sin is death. And that's, that's brought out in the 3rd line of the 2nd verse. I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow. And yeah, it's, you know, the cross shows us the cost of our sins. And when we think that those sins have nailed Christ to the cross, you know, how can we bear to live in sin any longer? And as love for God and realization of the price paid for our redemption awakens in our hearts, this arouses our conscience, which is the voice of God to our soul. Now, our conscience is actually the Holy Spirit that convicts us of things that displease God. And it's vital for us to remember that God does not ask us to do things arbitrarily. You know, He doesn't ask us to give up anything that's not for our best good or ultimate happiness. All of His commands, His law, in other words, they are intended only for our good, to keep us safe from things that would harm us and finally bring death. Now, I wanna speak a little more about salvation as a personal experience. That's obviously the key theme.
Speaker B
00:17:26 - 00:17:27
Yeah.
Speaker A
00:17:27 - 00:24:33
of our program today, and about freedom of conscience. And I've written down the thoughts that I have about this because this is a vital, vital point. Freedom of conscience is so, so central. It is just— I mean, God is love. That's a central principle of His government. And it's from love that we have this principle of freedom of conscience. So it's absolutely essential. absolutely fundamental to the character and to the government of God, this freedom of choice. So, look, I've written down my understanding of it because this is a vital principle, but it's quite nuanced. And I'm not sure that my explanation is, you know, I mean, words just always fail us when it comes to these kinds of things. But I've tried to write out the best explanation of my understanding of this at this point. But maybe I can improve it in future. Maybe you have some suggestions how I can improve it. prove it, in which case you can write to us at
[email protected]. And yes, I would— we would love to hear from you. And if— and this is such an important topic, we'd love to hear from you on this point, or speak to me personally if you know me personally. So I've written down my thoughts at them at this point, but yeah, I mean, maybe I can express them better in the future, but this is what I've Put down for the time being. That, as we've been saying, My Jesus I Love Thee emphasizes that salvation is a personal experience. God saves us personally, individually, and the outward forms of religion, such as church attendance, are only of value when a person chooses of his or her own free will to surrender his or her heart Mind, and conscience to God. God speaks to us as individuals through his Word. The Bible was inspired by God and specifically by the Holy Spirit. So prayer-guided Bible study is the Holy Spirit speaking to us directly. We then have the choice whether or not we will do what the Bible reveals Is God's will for us. And Joshua 24:15 says, choose you this day whom ye will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. God gives us freedom to make the individual choice about whether or not we will follow him. That is a God-given privilege. Our worship and service to him cannot and should not be dictated by laws of human government. It is the role of governments to protect individual freedom of conscience insofar as to allow a person to worship God or even not to worship God as they choose. So freedom of conscience is not only for those who practice religion, it's for everyone because, you know, choosing not to have a faith, not to subscribe to any faith, That's a choice of spirituality. That's a choice of freedom of conscience. Now, so we've mentioned already in this program Luther. And so Luther was one of the earliest, although he did not see this fully, but he was one of the earliest to see that personal conviction, a heart response to Christ, and freedom of conscience is the basis for true religion. And Luther saw that this would lead— there's so much we could say about this, but Luther saw that this would lead to 3 things. He saw that it would lead people to remain true to Christ even in the face of terrible persecution, torture, and martyrdom. On the other hand, Luther also saw that it leads to respect for the freedom of others, you know, to allow others to also make their own choice. And so though he was opposed by dignitaries of church and state, Luther himself refused to violate his conscience. He remained true to his conscience, and he famously said, here I stand, I can do no other. But I've got other quotes, but I'm really running out of time. But, you know, when there were those that were trying to lead people to accept the beliefs of Luther by force, and so they were going in and, you know, I think, you know, sort of physically trying to prevent people from worshipping and getting very violent, Luther pleaded with these people. He said, you know, let no one torn from these things by force. We must leave the matter in God's hands. His Word must act and not we. And I think he also said, you know, God lays hold upon the heart. And when the heart is taken, all is won. So, the heart is the center of true religion. And now, somebody that saw this truth later on and that had a greater opportunity in terms of a government system to institute this church was actually Roger Williams. Now, he was the first person to institute civil government on the broad principle of freedom of conscience. And Williams felt that to compel— he settled in the United States, by the way. He arrived there 11 years after the planting of the first colony in the United States. And Williams felt that to compel men to unite in worship with those of a different creed was an open violation of their natural rights. To drag to public worship the irreligious and the unwilling seemed only like requiring hypocrisy. He said no one should be bound to worship, or he added, to maintain a worship against his own consent. And so the principles of the colony that he founded became the basis for some of the most significant parts of the American Constitution that guarantee separation of church and state and freedom to worship God according to the dictates of personal conscience. So just before we do listen to this song sung by Fountain View, My Jesus, I Love Thee, let's just do a quick recap, a quick summary of the 4 verses of this song. The first verse is about complete and total devotion to Christ. The second verse is about the reason for our love for Christ. Why is it that we love Christ? And it's because of His great love for us. The third verse is about remembering remaining faithful to Christ no matter what, remaining true to our conscience. And then the final verse talks about the final eternal results. If we remain faithful to Christ, we will be able to enjoy those mansions of glory forever. So let's now listen to Fountain View singing this beautiful song, My Jesus, I Love Thee.
Speaker B
00:24:33 - 00:25:28
My Jesus, I love thee. As I love thee, I know thou art mine. For thee, all the follies of sin I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art thou. If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
Speaker C
00:25:40 - 00:26:26
I love thee because thou hast first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvary. I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow. If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
Speaker B
00:26:26 - 00:27:30
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Mansions of glory and endless delight. I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright. I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow. If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. Amen.
Speaker A
00:27:31 - 00:28:29
1 John 4:11 says, beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Do you desire to love others with the love that God has shown us? Let's ask God to change our hearts so that we can do this. Dear God, we're just so grateful for the love that Jesus showed for us, especially on Calvary. Please help us, dear God, to be faithful, to have a heart that remains faithful to you, and help us, dear Lord, to be true to our conscience. I pray a conscience guided by the Word of God. In Jesus' name, amen. So thank you so much for joining me today on Heavenly Harmonies. I would love for you to join me again next time for the final episode in our saga, Historical Foundations of Present Truth. But until then, may your soul be filled with heavenly harmonies that will hold you near to the heart of God.
