e another passage more wonderful still in John xvii. 23. "I in
them, and thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that
the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, _and hast loved them as
Thou hast loved Me_." I think that is one of the most remarkable
sayings that ever fell from the lips of Jesus Christ. There is no
reason why the Father should not love him. He was obedient unto
death; He never transgressed the Father's law, or turned aside from
the path of perfect obedience by one hair's breadth. It is very
different with us; and yet, notwithstanding all our rebellion and
foolishness, He says that if we are trusting in Christ, the Father
loves us as He loves the Son. Marvellous love! Wonderful love! That
God can possibly love us as He loves His own Son seems too good to be
true. Yet that is the teaching of Jesus Christ.

It is hard to make a sinner believe in this unchangeable love of God.
When a man has wandered away from God he thinks that God hates him.
We must make a distinction between sin and the sinner. God loves the
sinner; but He hates the sin. He hates sin, because it mars human
life. It is just because God loves the sinner that He hates sin.

God's love is not only unchangeable, but _unfailing_. In Isaiah xlix.
15, 16 we read: "Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should
not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget; yet
will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of
My hands; thy walls are continually before Me."

Now the strongest human love that we know of is a _mother's love_.
Many things will separate a man from his wife. A father may turn his
back on his child; brothers and sisters may become inveterate
enemies; husbands may desert their wives; wives, their husbands. But
a mother's love endures through all. In good repute, in bad repute,
in the face of the world's condemnation, a mother loves on, and hopes
that her child may turn from his evil ways and repent. She remembers
the infant smiles, the merry laugh of childhood, the promise of
youth; and she can never be brought to think him unworthy. Death
cannot quench a mother's love; it is stronger than death.

You have seen a mother watching over her sick child. How willingly
she would take the disease into her own body if she could thus
relieve her child! Week after week she will keep watch; she will let
no one else take care of that sick child.

A friend of mine, some time ago, was visit