God Loves You
Key Passage: Psalm 91
Date: June 7, 2024
I have been dwelling on Psalm 91 lately, and at the end of that chapter, it says that the Lord knows our name. He hath known our name.
There is comfort in that, and praise the Lord for that. He knows exactly where we are, what we are doing. He knows exactly what is going on. He has always been in control, and I praise Him for that. That is comforting.
The previous singers did a great, great job for us—a great song, a powerful song. I appreciate all the people around here making things happen. I appreciate Brother Marlin back in the PA booth, Brother Antrimicator, Sarah playing on the piano today for us. Brother Fontaine here and Brother John singing, and my wife and daughter playing and daughter and [unclear word] singing. What a blessing. I am a blessed man for sure, and I thank God for it.
It is going to be a tough place to find in your Bible. We are going to turn over to Genesis chapter number one. I know you might be looking for a long time there, wondering, “Where is that at?” It is one of the minor books, a little bit after the book of Revelation. You will find it. Of course, I am joking. Genesis chapter number one in God’s Word.
I am just thrilled everybody is tuned in. Make sure you stay in there. Do not get out of sync. Do not get out of habit. Sunday morning is the Lord’s Day, and we do not change the Lord’s Day. We are going to keep with the Lord’s Day. Whether coronavirus is going around or not, it is the Lord’s Day. Amen. We just want to keep it that way. So make sure you are faithful to the Lord during this time.
A friend of mine texted me this morning. I have not talked to him in years or heard from him much. He said something like, “Praying for you,” and I appreciate that. I texted back, I said, “Brother Fields is his name. Isn’t it a great time to shine for the Lord?” I am just praying the Lord to shine through you today. And it is. That is a great time for all of us, wherever you are, just to shine for the Lord. I believe God is using this, and I praise God for that part of it. I hope you do also.
Genesis chapter number one. We are going to read a couple of verses and just note something. I have just felt for the last couple of days that God wants us to go this way as far as the subject. I am so inadequate to preach on this subject of “God loves you.” It is a subject I cannot—I cannot come close to touching how much God loves you. I am praying, and you pray, that God will somehow make it real and personal to you. Satan is so good at getting us to lose and not know, not comprehend, and not feel the love of God. Pray that God will work in your heart along that line this morning. Would you do so?
Wherever you are, let us stand if you are able. If you woke up and have been reading, watching on your bed in your bedroom, you have got to wake up and stand on your bed and read the Bible, amen. I cannot get you too comfortable; you will be sleeping on me. Brother Fontaine is in church here, but he is not sleeping, you know. So let us stay tuned in, if you would, and we are going to read God’s Word. Genesis 1, and we are in verse number 3. God—it is the first day—He just created light. We just read it: verse number 3. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Somebody said, “Do you believe in the Big Bang theory?” I sure do. Jesus said it, and bang, it happened, amen. I believe in that.
Look at verse number four. God saw the light that it was, what is the next word? Good. God divided the light from the darkness. Look down in verse number 10. God had just divided the land and the sea here, verse number 10: “And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas.” And God saw that it was, what is the next word? Good.
Look down in verse number 12. He just made plant life, verse number 12: “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind.” And God saw that it was good.
Just a little side note. You know, as preachers, we go down a lot of rabbit trails, but while we are there, we might as well shoot the rabbit, amen. Someone will say, “Well, he created in 6,000 years, every day, date of the year theory and all that.” No, no, no. The Bible says the evening and the morning were the first day. The evening and the morning were the second day. It is six literal days and 24-hour periods. He created the earth, and then He rested on the seventh day. But let us keep going.
We are in verse number 18. Verse number 18, He just created the sun, the moon, the stars. Verse number 18: “And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.” And God saw that it was good. Look down in verse number 21. Verse number 21: “And God created great wells [or whales], and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind.” And God saw that it was good. So far, every day He said it was good. It is good. It is good.
Verse number 25. Verse number 20 just made land animals: “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind.” And God saw that it was… Good.
Now, notice things change here. Look in verse number 26. We will get God’s description of it. And God said, “Let us”—notice that plural—“let us,” God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, “let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him: male and female created he. By the way, that is very significant. God said, “Male,” that is the way He created him. Do not change that. He is the one that makes that differently, by the way.
Look in verse number 31: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was,” what are the next two words? Very good. After He made all creation, all these different things, and He said, “It is good, it is good, it is good, it is good, it is good.” But He made mankind in His own image, His own likeness. It is all done. He says, “It is very good.” It was not until after He made mankind—you, if you will—He formed you, He created you. And after He created mankind, Adam and Eve specifically, it is very…
And friend, I say that because the Bible says here, you are the only creation that God made in His own image and His own likeness. You bear the image and the likeness of God in a unique way that nobody else in all the universe can bear. And God Almighty says, right down there, “Mankind, that is My crowning creation. That is My special creation,” if you will. God says that. They bear the image of My hand. They are made in My image, My likeness. They are a triune being, and they are a little bit, if you will—and I am not saying we are God, no, no—but we bear the image, the likeness of God. I am saying God loves you like He loves no other part of His creation. God is endeared to you. He loves you. He thinks about you. He dwells on you. Someone said, “God has a picture of you in His wallet.” You bear the image, the likeness of God in a unique way. And God’s heart is for you, my friend.
Let me say this about when He made mankind and He said, “Hey, it is good,” it is good, it is good—how? It is very good. And after that, what would God do? He would come in the cool of the day. Some say the morning time, some say the evening time, some even say He came twice a day. We do not know. We let them argue about all that. But He would come and He would walk with mankind. He said, “I made a creation that is like Me. They bear My image, My likeness.” And God said, “I like to be able to come down, and I can just commune with them. I can talk. We share feelings and emotions. We can actually think and dialogue and logic together.” And God Almighty said, “I made mankind. I like to come down in fellowship with you.”
In fact, He told the children of Israel, “I want you to make the tabernacle wise.” Why? He says, “So I can dwell among them.” That is the purpose of the tabernacle, God said, over in Exodus, I believe it is chapter 25. Friend, God likes the fact that when you become a born-again Christian, God Almighty moves inside of you. He is just living inside of you. Why? He loves you. He longs to fellowship with you. You are loved by God. He wants to be with you. Just like that mommy, when she pulled up in that line of cars to pick up Susie, she was looking forward to Susie coming, and she wanted to be with Susie, and she wanted to see the handprints of Susie. She liked all that. She loved that little girl. And that is what God loves you, friend. You bear the image of God, and God likes to spend time with you. He enjoys that.
You see, we are made in His image like this. We have emotions. You say, “Why do we have emotions?” Well, because we are made in His image like this. The Bible says Jesus—that is God—Jesus wept. God has emotions. You have emotions, and God said, “I have a mankind that I can share emotions with. These people can relate to Me a little bit,” if you will. Oh, His ways are high above our ways, as high as heaven is above the earth. Yes, yes, yes. But we are made in His image like this, and we have emotions because He has emotions. And He longs to—He loves—He longs to be with you and share with you. We think because He thinks. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord.” And here is the thing: God thinks; we think. We can use logic; we can debate; we can think things through. Why? God can. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” saith the Lord. And I am made in the image and the likeness of God, and God loves it. He said, “I want to come down in fellowship with someone that just does not have instincts. They have that much more. They think they are made like Me somewhat, and they have emotions, and they can think and dialogue and talk about things.”
In fact, the Bible says, Proverbs 15:8, “But the prayer of the upright.” Now listen, the prayer of the upright, not someone perfect—there is only one perfect one, Jesus—but they are upright. They are trying to live for the Lord, and they are honest about it. They are sincere. “I am far from where I ought to be, but I am trying to live for God.” But the prayer of the upright, listen to what it says: “But the prayer of the upright is his delight.” He delights in that. When you go to Him, you say, “Lord, I am down today. I need to get close to You, and I need to know You. I need some answers here.” Maybe you are going through a hard time when you are praying that, “God, Lord, help me out during this tough time”—all those things. God Almighty says, “I delight in that.” He said, “Does God ever get tired of me?” Friend, if you are coming to Him honestly, sincerely, and you are trying to seek Him and serve Him, God says, “I delight in that.”
I have heard—and I do not want to be mean toward someone, I cannot think of any person in particular—I have heard someone make foolish statements, “Well, God does not care about those little things. You cannot pray to God about those things.” Friend, God loves to hear from His children. He loves it. It is like a dad or a mom that loves to hear from their children, and God loves it when we come to Him as little children and say, “Hey, Dad, I have got to talk to You about something,” and God’s heart swells and says, “Hey, I love—I delight to hear from My children.” It is His delight. He loves you, friend. Did you ever think about it? One third of the angels fell—Satan, the cherubim, the angel, the fallen angel—my Bible calls him a cherubim, but the fallen Lucifer. And it took one third of the angels, and he led them astray, and they became demons, where we get demons from. Friend, here is what I am getting at, by the way. We have studied that when we studied demonology on Wednesday night for a while. Millions and millions and millions—it was amazing. We do not know exactly, but we know there are many hundreds of thousands of angels and one-third demons. Hell is created for the devil and his demons. But God never provided a way for them to get back. He said, “No, no, you have gone against Me, and it is done. Their destiny is determined. It is over.” He has never provided a way for those angels to get back to Him. And yet mankind fell. You fell, I fell. And God said, “You know, this creation, I so loved them, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Speaking to mankind.
Look, friend, and then after that, God went down in the garden again in the cool of the day, and He said, “Hey, Adam, where art thou?” You know the story. Adam and Eve had taken some fig leaves and sewed them together, tried to cover their nakedness, their shame. See? And God said, “No, no.” By the way, God went after them, praise the Lord, like He has gone after you and me. God Almighty left the portals of heaven, if you will, and He came down, and He went after mankind, and He said, “Look, hey, the works you can do—you are taking your little things you can make out of this or your good works, whether it be your sacraments or whatever it may be here, the best you can do, and you sew it all together in some religious form, and you try to cover up your nakedness before Almighty God, your shame, your sin.” And God said, “No, Adam and Eve, that won’t work.” God went over and took an animal, I believe, a lamb. And God Almighty shed the blood of that lamb. From that animal, that lamb, God said, “Let Me take the skins of that.” And God said, “Out of that, I will make a coat. I will make something for you to wear.” And Adam and Eve—this is a thing that will cover your sin. By the way, it was temporary until the true Lamb of God came, Jesus Christ. That is why John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
I am saying when angels fell, God said, “Hey, it is over.” But God loved you so much. God said, “You have fallen, but I love you. You are My crowning creation. You are in My image and My likeness. I love you. I will give you a way back.” From day one, God said, “I want to give you a resemblance of the true Lamb one day.” From day one, Jesus walked on the road to Emmaus. He said, “All the scriptures from the beginning to the end testify of Jesus, of Him.” He said, “Hey, we have always known how to get back to God, to heaven, through Jesus, the Lamb.” Why did God do that? Because He loves you. Oh, friend, He loves you so much. He said, “I will not leave you just doomed, condemned to hell. I want to give you a way back to heaven with Me and fellowshiping with Me and enjoying our closeness for all eternity.”
So much God loves you. God said, when it comes to Mine, My crowning creation, I will get My way back. And by the way, that is for the whole world. That is for everyone. So I am saying, no, no, that is just for the selected ones. “He only draws certain ones to Him,” they will say. But friend, the Bible says—we will go by the Bible, not what they say—but the Bible says over in John 12:32, Jesus says, “And I, if I be lifted up”—He told them He lifted up on the cross, suspended—“and I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me.”
Hey, I am not trying to be mean, but if you have fallen for this false doctrine of Calvinism, toss it out the window because Jesus was lifted up on the cross at Calvary, and He said, “If I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me.” Jesus has drawn every man. He wants him to get saved. He wants him to come to the cross at Calvary because He loves him. “For God so loved the world,” the Bible says. Yes, that is available for every man. Friend, I do not care where you are, what you have done, where you have been. He loves you. He loves you. It is available for you. He sent His Spirit out drawing you.
You say, preachers, some have asked this, and I understand this question. They said, “Well, why? Why did God make it that Jesus had to die?” I understand in the economy system, if you know, that God made it so Jesus had to die. There is no other way. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That is Bible for it. But God is God. Surely God could have created a different system where mankind could be redeemed. He is God, and I believe that. You say, “Well, preacher, why did God make it so that the only way that mankind can be redeemed back is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ’s only begotten Son?” The Bible answers that question. It is 1 John 4:19. This is what the Bible says: “In this was manifested”—proven, shown—“in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.” God said, “I wanted a system where I had to give My very, very best.” In one aspect, God came down Himself and walked on the shores of Galilee, and He knows what it is to be tempted and tried, and He bore the burden of our sin. On the other aspect, God gave His only begotten Son. By the way, I think—I do not know, never been there—I think I could die for someone much, much quicker than give up one of my children, my son and my daughter. I think God did them both. You say, “Why did God make a system where He had to give His only begotten Son and allow Him to bleed and die and suffer and be punished?” Why did God allow that? He did all that to prove to you and to me. He loves you. That is the reason why He did that. In fact, the Bible says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
Oh, it is so important, so important for you and I to get there saying He loves you. I am simply saying you are special to God. God cares about you. God says you are not just an animal if you live. God says, “No, you are My crowning creation. You are unique. You bear the image of My hand.” And God loves your soul. He loves the fellowship; He loves to be close to you. You said, “Preacher, I have got all kinds of scars and wounds and problems.” And God says, “I know. I love you like that. I want you just like you are.” And that while we were yet sinners—I mean, if He had died for us on our best day, that would be saying something—but if you will, it was on our worst day. God said, “I love you so much to give Him a Son for you on that day.” “And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Now, can I say this? Satan is always very busy, very busy trying to convince you and I that God really does not love you. Or we have heard it so much it has just kind of become redundant, and it does not mean that much to me. When I go through circumstances and issues and problems down here, if I am not careful, Satan will just—I might know it logically, but I do not know in my heart that He loves me. I do not feel it. I do not comprehend it. Satan loves that. You see, Satan knows God’s Word. Satan knows that verse I just quoted: 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Satan knows that. So he knows if he can steal it away in your heart and maybe put bitterness in your heart so you do not feel the love of God, you are not going to love God back much. Satan knows that. He is busy working. Here is the thing: Then Jesus turned around there in John and said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Satan knows that.
You see, Christianity, in a nutshell, was this: I realized God loves me. I am a sinner. I am condemned. God sent His Spirit looking for me, and He drew me. I praise God; as a boy, the Spirit of God was convicting me during that time of my life. I used to think, “If I go to bed in my little bunk bed and I do not wake up, will I wake up in hell or in heaven?” I went through that period. There was the Spirit of God convicting, drawing me. Now, I am so thankful for that time because, through the conviction of God, it drew me to Jesus Christ, and in the backseat of that car, I went to Christ, “Oh, would You save me?” That is God, because He loved me. And He loves you the same.
Now, friend, here is the thing: When I began to realize He is the one that went after me and loved me so much—Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost—and I comprehend He saved me, and now I have messed up about 20 million times since I have been saved. I mess up day after day, and He still loves me. I am still saved. I am going to heaven. Nothing can change it. I am still on my way to heaven. The more I comprehend His love for me, the more I love Him back. Nobody beats me over the head and says, “Ah, you cannot do that. You have to do this. You have to do this.” Now, the preacher will yell at you every once in a while in preaching, but the Spirit of God conviction—it is not a matter of somebody making you do right. You say, “I want to serve Him.” When you backslide and you are not what you ought to be, you do not pray, you do not read your Bible—you know what you are not: the Christian He wants you to be. It bothers me now. I am so convicted. I have disappointed the Lord, and I have not been His son like I ought to be. If God is disappointed in me, that bothers me because I know He loves me, and I love Him back. I like to please Him. That is what Jesus said: “You keep My commandments.” You love Me. The greatest command in all the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. It is true. God knows if you comprehend His love, you love Him back. You will love Him. You will keep His commandments.
Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher of years gone by, used to say, “I want to tell God, ‘God, I love Him.’” And he said, “I want the Lord to be able to look down and say, ‘Charles, I know it’” by the way he is living. Show Him my love by living for Him. Keep His commandments, Jesus said. Friend, I am saying that the vital importance of you knowing how much God loves you, and you dwelling on that, getting that in your heart—Satan is busy trying to defeat you from knowing the feeling and comprehending the love of God.
The child is growing up; those developmental years are so vital, so very important. Satan is very much working at that time frame. Those are important years. Now, praise the Lord, the grace that God has can overcome all this, but it was just natural. Those are years when that tree is being formed in a certain way. When it gets big and strong and tall, it is hard to change that tree when it is young and small. You can change it a little bit. Those developmental years are so important. So here is what I am getting at: Satan will use that. Friend, maybe you had a parent that did not love you like they ought to. By the way, there are no perfect parents in the world. Maybe you had a parent leave you due to divorce or just abandonment. Maybe you have been abused, maybe you have been an adult—not a parent, but maybe abuse, whether it be physical or sexual or emotional. Satan will use these things to get you to a place where you do not know, feel, and comprehend the love of God. Because in those developmental years, you were not used to being loved very well. So you have a hard time really grasping, really receiving. The receptors have been wounded, if you will, of understanding God’s love. It is so vital that you let the Spirit of God work in your heart. And you, as Jude says, “keep yourselves in the love of God.” That does not mean that you keep yourselves lovely, friend. God does not love us because we are lovely; God loves us because He is loving. It means you keep yourself in the love of God. You dwell on it, you think on it, you meditate on it. You keep yourself there.
Friend, if you were to ask most people what the theme of the book of Jude is, they would say, “Earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.” And boy, that is a great truth. If you are going to keep the faith that was once delivered to the saints—New Testament Christianity—you are going to have to contend for that and fight for that. If you are not careful, you will get hard-hearted and cold and robot-like, if you will. God said to Jude, regarding that penmanship, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” You are going to have battles, you are going to have heartaches, you are going to have tough times and problems, and you are going to have to earnestly contend for that old-fashioned Christianity that Jesus delivered to the saints, but in the midst of it all, keep yourself in the love of God. Oh, friend, if you are going to be a Christian that is in love with God and walking with God and fellowshipping with God—look, you are going to fall, and we are all going to fall—if you are going to stay just tenderhearted for God, you are going to have to remind yourself often: God loves you. He loves you. He cares for you. Satan will do all he can to try to convince you, “Yeah, God really does not love you that much.” He tries to hinder you from knowing and comprehending the love of God. He will remind you of every bad thing in your life. He will just always be trying to bring it up, bring it up, bring it up. By the way, Satan can put falsehoods in your mind. Acts 5:3: “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” He will try to just remind you of every bad thing.
If you get your emotions stuck during hard times—you say, “Preacher, it’s a hard time, COVID-19, and I just got laid off from a job, and a relative is sick, or whatever may be, and everything’s out of whack”—you say, “Maybe it’s just the fact that the kids are home all the time, and I’m working from home; it’s about to drive me crazy.” Now, I do not know what it is for you, friend, but here is what Satan will do when you are going through a phase of life where it is just tough: Satan will try to get your emotions stuck there. You will not feel loved by God. Job—Satan was trying to get him stuck there.
But friend, can I say this about Job? Job went through his tough time for about a year, a year and a half. There is a debate there; somewhere along that, it took a while. But friend, for all eternity, Job is with the Lord. For all eternity, Job is with his children—twenty, ten, and ten. For all eternity, Job has good health. For all eternity, Job has good finances. For all eternity, Job has a brand new body, amen. Man, he is walking on streets of gold up in heaven. But I am saying we know that about Job. We read that; it is one of the oldest books in the Bible. All these thousands of years and for all eternity. But if you were Job, stuck right in that moment of time, it would be very easy to not feel the love of God. Sometimes, by the Spirit and the grace of God, you must lift yourself out of that moment in time and say, “Oh, I do not doubt His love. I know He loves me. He manifested it. He gave a Son. I have all eternity to experience the joy and the love and the peace of God. Sure, maybe my finances are a little rough right now, but bless God, I am going to be walking on gold up in heaven one day because He loves me.” You must work at that. Maybe that is why Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writing about his prayer for the Ephesians Church in Ephesians 3:19, says, “And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Sometimes you have got to work at it.
Can I tell you sometimes—and you will probably do it much different than I and probably better than I—it is an individual, personalized thing. But sometimes, not all the time, sometimes my prayer closes, I just think about God Almighty. Would you do this wherever you are? Would you do this? I want you just think about God looking down from heaven, and He is looking down right now on you. I want you to look down. I want you to think about God looking down from heaven. You are looking at you, right where you are at. Just kind of single yourself out there. And God is looking down. I want you to put your name in it. I will picture God saying, “Paul, I love you. Paul, I love you.” Would you put your name in there? Would you picture God looking down on you right now, wherever you are? Would you picture God looking out on you right now? I am saying, “I love you.” Oh, friend, He does. He does.
Sometimes I will go through this. I will say, “You know, if I were to backslide, get out of church, never preach another message again, wreck my life, ruin my life, maybe end up in prison somewhere, and all my name is used for is just a byword, and just a sad thing, and I am in a prison cell somewhere, and because I’m a morning [unclear word] Christian, I’m saved—the love of God will reach down to that jail cell. Maybe I am an alcoholic. Maybe I am a drug addict. I just wrecked my life. And God reached down in that jail and say, ‘Paul, I love you. I love you. You’re My son. I care about you. I still love you. I want to help you.’” Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Still a child of God. I cannot be unborn. You say, “Well, preacher, does that give you the right to go out and mess your life up and ruin your life and wreck your life?” No, that shows me His love to me, and that makes me love Him back more. And now I want to serve Him. I want to keep going for Him because I know He loves me. Friend, you have got to work at that thing in dark times and problems around.
Somebody said, “It just seems like everything’s changed. The whole world’s changed right now. Everything’s crazy. Everything’s wacky. And everything’s out of sync right now.” Friend, now is the time you need to realize God’s love has not changed. He still loves you and cares for you and watching over you. He doesn’t slumber. He doesn’t sleep. He watches you all night long. And He reaches out with His hand of love saying, “Hey, I care about everything in your life. You’re My crowning creation. You bear the image of My hand. You’re the image that I came down and said, ‘Hey, I want a fellowship with you.’ And I’ll shed the blood of My only begotten Son for you one day.” He loves you. You must. You must. You must.
Sometimes I will do this. I will picture Jesus on the cross. He has already been spit upon. His beard has already been plucked out. He has the crown of thorns. He is bleeding from that. He has the nails in His hands and His feet. Psalm 22 says how His body has been filleted; the bones stare out, and that kind of nine tails has whipped across Him 39 times, and it is just kind of filleted like you—what a piece of meat—and He is hanging there on the cross. He looks down and He sees me and says, “Paul, I am here on the cross for you because I love you.” Would you, wherever you are, would you just picture Jesus on the cross and would you picture Him looking down at you? I am saying, “I am here on this cross because I love you.” I could call twelve legions of angels. I do not have to be here. I am here, but what is Galatians 2:20? “Because He loved us,” He did the will of the Father, and He loves you. Would you picture Christ on the cross right now looking down at you saying, “I am doing this because I love you”? He is. Oh, we will never comprehend. I do not have time to get into it. I think if we talk about Him through all the ages, we will comprehend more and more His love and the riches of His mercy. It is beyond our human comprehension. He loves you. He created this vast universe for you, friend. Sunrises every morning because He loves you. It is springtime. It is so beautiful. I hope you are out there to see the flowers and the greenness and the blooms and all. Just remember, that is God saying, “Hey, I have given you a beautiful world to live in because I love you.” He loves you, friend. Oh, to know the depths and the love and the heights of His love. Romans 8 says nothing separates you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus—nothing.
Then let me say this. We have got to hurry along because you have got to go home. No, you are not going to go home. You are there already because Mommy is there, you know, sitting there watching the video. We will not have to go up and turn the oven off. We want to be done. Amen. That ham will be ready to go, whatever it might be. We will be at your house to eat it with you, amen. But one more fault—we are done. Just some faults—but God loves you uniquely.
Let us go back to little Susie’s handprints. If somehow that handprint she put on there, if somehow it was detailed enough, they would be able to signal that Susie’s hand out of almost seven and a half billion people in the world—if it was a good enough imprint and they could go to the fingerprints and the thumbprint—that is how unique you are. These phones nowadays, my phone, you can put your finger on that and enter your fingerprint, you know, and so most of them are like that nowadays, and they tell it to you. Or they can do the face recognition. It is interesting. Brother Michael McNeill said his daughters, Addy and Abby, they are twins, and he says they can trick their phone. The phone does not know well enough which one it is. They can both open each other’s phones, you know, so they are not perfect. But they can do voice recognition. They can read your eye, and all of that bears the truth that you are uniquely made. And God loves you as an individual. Nobody else like you in all the world. God, when He formed you, He wanted you just like you are. God did not make an accident. God did not say, “Oh, I messed up there. My goodness.” No, God wanted someone just like you. You are unique. And God loves you like He loves no one else. And you can love God like no one else can love God.
Good parents, they love each child just as much, but it is different. They love this one like this and like this. They do not favor. That is always the closest problem in the Bible, but just a unique love for each one of their children. Someone asked me, “Pastor, do you want a boy or girl as a grandchild?” Well, at first, I was kind of a little bit inside. Girls are so sweet. Man, they wrap you around your finger. They get you good. They can get anything out of you, you know. My daughter yesterday got ice cream out of me and Wendy’s out of me, and she is trying for a new car—I mean, she did not get that—but no. But there is just something about a girl. They are so sweet and special, and they can just warm your heart like nothing else. Then Stephen and Lindsay came over about a month or two ago, and I met them Saturday night at Culver’s. They brought their boy, Knox, I think. And Knox, boy, he is just going to be a strong man. And Knox, he was out there, and I had such a ball playing with him. We played “If you can get the penny out of my hand” and all that good stuff. He is just, oh boy, 110% compliant. His mom said something, he would do it, just wide open. Man, I had such a ball playing with that boy and teased him a little bit there at Culver’s, and I just enjoyed it. I thought, “I want a boy now.” I like a boy. I do not know. It does not matter if it is a boy or girl; they are both unique in their own right, and precious and sweet and wonderful. They all have unique ways that you just love about them. And that is how God loves you. Something unique and different about you. He loves you like you are. Nobody else like you. And God loves you like you are. Oh, friend, do not say, “Well, I wish I was like so and so.” God said, “No, I do not want anybody else like so and so. I want you just like you are.” He loves you uniquely. It is amazing.
Sometimes these larger families, that mom, she just loves each child in a unique way. That is what God loves you. Oh, you are loved by God. Friday night, we had all the family over at their house, and we had Zach and the [unclear name/word] and my mom over too, and John McKin—all of us over there. They were practicing a little bit for the song they sang this morning. I was teasing with Zach. We were teasing, “Come on, Zach, why don’t you sing?” And Zach was like, “Uh-uh, I ain’t singing,” you know. Notice they did not ask me to sing. Do you notice that? I tell you what, I am a little bitter over that, I tell you for sure. But I was outside, and Zach came outside—I think he helped Mom bring some dishes out first as she was leaving—and Zach came out on the front porch. When nobody else was listening—they were all inside singing—he came out on the front porch and sang a little bit. I thought, “Wow, Zach has never done that.” It did not sound too bad. I mean, just because the dogs in the neighborhood started howling, you know, it was not too bad. Three birds died at the moment, but no. Here is the thing: Zach is singing, and I thought, that is not too bad. But, you know, God loves to hear Zach sing. And however you sing—like me, always off key—however, just issues, problems—God wants to hear you sing.
I heard a preacher talk about it. He said, as a man he knew who traveled—he was a preacher who traveled a lot—he said he would travel with me a lot. He said this man always sang super loud; he just liked to sing to God. But he was always a half note off. Just a half—always a half note off. He said, “I have literally seen song leaders saying, ‘All right,’” and he would sing so loud he would get the whole congregation to follow him a half note off, you know. And the song leader said, “All right, all right, let’s change a half note there.” He would get the piano player to change, and he would change, you know. And he said, sure enough, they would change. And then that fellow would sing another half note off, you know. And sure enough, the congregation starts following this loud-singing guy. He said he ruined a whole lot of song services. But God likes to hear that fellow singing a half note off. I am saying you can love God, you can worship God, you can pray to God like I cannot. You can give God just a certain type of love I can never give. God loves you uniquely, and you can love Him uniquely.
Now, let us just kind of close it out with this thought. I have been asked—you have probably been asked—how can God, a loving God, send anyone to hell? Hell, by the way, is not just annihilation. You go there and burn up, and it is done with all. The Bible says, “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever.” I cannot help when I think about just the length of hell. We do not know. My grandfather on my dad’s side got saved. If Grandpa did not get saved—I witnessed to him many times—if he never got saved, it has been years since he died. And all these thirty-plus years, he is still burning in hell. Oh, that is tragic. Somebody said, “Preacher, how can a loving God send anyone to hell?” My answer, God’s answer, is always the same: God does not. You see, He has provided everything for you to go to heaven. 1 John 2:2: He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Do not fall for that unlimited, limited atonement. It is for everybody. He has provided for their salvation. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men.” He has drawn every man to Him. He has drawn you. He has provided it; it is a gift. The choice is up to you. If someone dies and goes to hell, they made that choice. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. First Timothy chapter two says, “Who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” Old friend, He leaves a choice up to you. It is your choice. In fact, if I go to hell, it is because I did not accept Jesus as my only way to heaven. I put my belief on Him alone. I am stepping across the will of God. Now, He knows the choice you will make and I will make, but I am stepping across what He would like. I am choosing my desire. I want to reject Jesus. That is my way to heaven. I will choose my own way. I will do my own thing. God desires for you to be saved. He has provided it as possible. The choice is up to you.
Would you bow your heads wherever you are? You are there. You said, “Preacher, God has spoken to me. I need to focus on how much He loves me. In our day and time with all the problems and issues, I need to think and dwell on it so much, and I’ve lost it in my heart. I know it in my head. I’ve heard it, but I’ve lost it in my heart. I’m going to think and dwell. I’m going to try to obey the word as you said, ‘Keep yourself in the love of God.’” Prayer—God spoke in my heart about that. I’m going to be dwelling and thinking and focusing on how much God loves me in the coming days and weeks. If that is you wherever you are, just lift your hand. “Preacher, if that’s me.” That’s right. Everywhere you are, maybe physically, maybe in your heart, just say, “Hey, Lord, I need to dwell on this thing. I know You love me. I want to get it into my heart because I want to love You back. Now I want to serve You. I want You to know that I love You by the way I’m living my life.”
Second question—three questions, we’re done. Second question, we just mentioned it: I need to change some things out of my love to and for God. I need to change some things. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” I need to keep the commandments. I want to be like Spurgeon when he said, “Hey, Lord, I love You.” I want the Lord to look down and say, “Charles, I know it.” And God spoke to my heart. I need to live a better Christian life for Him. I know He loves me. I love Him. I want to be a better Christian for Him. God spoke to my heart about that. If that is you, just lift your hand, wherever you are. “Oh, I want to serve You better. I want to serve You better. I want to please You. I want to keep Your commandments better.” My hand is up too. God bless you. God bless you.
Maybe you are there this morning wherever you are at. You say, “Preacher, I’ve never accepted the love of God. I’ve never accepted salvation through Jesus Christ. There’s never been a time in my life that I went to Jesus and said, ‘Jesus, You’re the only way to heaven. I’m trusting in You and You alone. Would You save me?’” Wherever you are, you’re there and you said, “Preacher, I admit it. I’m a sinner. I understand there’s a penalty of death and hell, but Jesus, I believe You died for me personally. And right now I want to receive You. Right now, Jesus, I want to ask You to trust in You to be my Savior.” Right there, wherever you are, would you bow your heads and pray? If you believe that, you mean that in your heart, would you tell Him, “Dear Lord Jesus, oh, be merciful to me, a sinner. And pay for my sin debt. Come into my heart and be my Savior. Make me Your child. Give me a home in heaven. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You for loving me enough to give me everlasting life.” You just asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior, never had before. You just asked Him to be your Savior. Would you just email us, write us, come by the church, text me if you have my number, let us know? We’d be glad to be a help, but we’ll send some literature to you to help you on your journey for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The rest of us, wherever you are, let’s just draw near to Him. All of us do that. I’m going to have a word of prayer, and then our instruments will play while they are praying. Wherever you are, just make an old-fashioned altar right there. Would you get along, dwell on how much He loves you? You love Him back. Let us serve Him. Let us praise Him.
Father, thank You for Your love. Lord, help us to comprehend it just a little more today of Your love. Lord, wherever our people are, help them just draw nigh to You and feel and know Your love. Lord, I pray, help them to love You back. Help us, Father, to please You with our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Wherever you are, would you make an altar right there, get close to God? Right there where we are. Would you do it again? Would you picture God looking down from heaven and saying, “I love you”? No matter where you’ve been, where you’re going, would you picture God reaching down in that lowest part of your life saying, “I love you”? Would you picture Jesus on the cross, beaten, bad, and bloody, looking down, saying, “I love you”? He loves you.
Amen, amen. I appreciate you being in church this morning wherever you are. And we’re thrilled you’re tuned in. Keep tuned in tonight, six o’clock. “How to be happy.” “How to be happy.” It will be from the Word of God. And yes, I’m using that word, right: happy. How to be happy. We’ll preach on that tonight from God’s Word. And once you will be in you play six o’clock, six o’clock, be ready to go. And here’s a thought: maybe you take some of these things and just share them with someone else, whether it be YouTube, Facebook, and share that out. Let’s just try to get the love of God and the truth of God out to others. And praise God for you. We love you. Enjoy this beautiful day and get along with the Lord for a little while today. We’re thrilled you’re here. Brother Anthony, can I get you to come up here? He will dismiss us in order of prayer. And we’ll see you tonight, 6 o’clock. We love you, my friend. See you then.
Original File: God Loves You - Pastor Paul Chisgar 32920