1 00:00:00,930 --> 00:00:04,290 Speaker: They say that they love me, but I have no clue if they just 2 00:00:04,290 --> 00:00:07,380 love me because they're supposed to, or if they actually like me, right? 3 00:00:07,770 --> 00:00:12,570 There's some people that I know that are like that, um, I'm like, not really 4 00:00:12,570 --> 00:00:16,200 sure if they actually, like, I, I know you love me because like, you know, 5 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,200 you're a Christian, you're supposed to love me and whatever, but like, 6 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,590 do you actually like, like me, right? 7 00:00:22,590 --> 00:00:23,940 There's, there's those people. 8 00:00:24,420 --> 00:00:29,010 Um, sometimes I think I felt that way about God, right? 9 00:00:29,865 --> 00:00:32,925 I felt that way where I'm like, I know God loves me, but does 10 00:00:32,925 --> 00:00:35,475 God actually like love me? 11 00:00:35,505 --> 00:00:36,315 Like does he like me? 12 00:00:36,465 --> 00:00:39,885 You know, does I know he like, loves me in the sense of like, he sent Jesus 13 00:00:39,885 --> 00:00:41,385 to die for me and he cares about me. 14 00:00:41,565 --> 00:00:45,375 But like, does he actually, is he actually like happy or is he just like, yeah, I 15 00:00:45,375 --> 00:00:47,115 guess I'm just putting up with you, right. 16 00:00:47,475 --> 00:00:54,435 Um, today in our passage, we're gonna be seeing that you can be 100% 17 00:00:54,435 --> 00:00:57,135 confident that God actually loves you. 18 00:00:58,095 --> 00:00:59,235 Actually loves you. 19 00:00:59,295 --> 00:01:05,175 Like, is excited about the fact that he, he loves you. 20 00:01:05,535 --> 00:01:09,825 He's not just doing it because he has to, he is not just doing it 'cause 21 00:01:09,825 --> 00:01:14,205 he's obligated to that, that God loves you because he, he really does, 22 00:01:14,595 --> 00:01:16,305 he actually does care about you. 23 00:01:16,335 --> 00:01:21,075 He actually does enjoy the fact that he loves people. 24 00:01:21,495 --> 00:01:21,854 Um. 25 00:01:22,635 --> 00:01:27,255 And that that doesn't fluctuate based on how your week's been. 26 00:01:27,495 --> 00:01:29,835 And it doesn't fluctuate based on the circumstances that 27 00:01:29,835 --> 00:01:30,585 are happening in your life. 28 00:01:30,825 --> 00:01:32,205 And it doesn't go up and down. 29 00:01:32,295 --> 00:01:36,255 It doesn't get bigger or smaller depending on how you're doing or, or 30 00:01:36,255 --> 00:01:37,875 how much you know about the Bible. 31 00:01:38,265 --> 00:01:43,840 Um, God's love for you is actually not dependent on you at all. 32 00:01:44,340 --> 00:01:48,615 Um, and we're gonna see tonight why you can be confident of that. 33 00:01:48,615 --> 00:01:49,005 So. 34 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,470 Head on over to Romans five if you're not already there. 35 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:58,200 Um, we're gonna be looking at verses three through eight, okay? 36 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,740 And remember all this started with verse one, where it says, since we 37 00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:03,510 have been justified by faith, right? 38 00:02:03,750 --> 00:02:07,050 Since we have been justified by faith because of that, because we've 39 00:02:07,050 --> 00:02:11,070 been made righteous, not because of anything we did, but by receiving 40 00:02:11,340 --> 00:02:12,990 Jesus righteousness by faith. 41 00:02:13,020 --> 00:02:13,230 Right? 42 00:02:13,230 --> 00:02:15,180 Which that might not be true about you, right? 43 00:02:15,180 --> 00:02:16,380 You might not have done that. 44 00:02:16,890 --> 00:02:18,030 Um, so. 45 00:02:18,630 --> 00:02:23,040 Don't assume that I'm talking about you when I, when we talk about these things. 46 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,030 Um, but because of that, last week we talked about how we 47 00:02:27,030 --> 00:02:28,380 have peace with God, right? 48 00:02:28,380 --> 00:02:30,780 We that God, we're not his enemy anymore. 49 00:02:30,780 --> 00:02:34,230 If you trust Jesus, but you're actually, he's actually for you. 50 00:02:34,530 --> 00:02:35,610 He's not against you anymore. 51 00:02:35,610 --> 00:02:36,660 You're not under his wrath. 52 00:02:36,660 --> 00:02:41,070 You've gone from the, the wrath room and you've gone into the grace room, right? 53 00:02:41,550 --> 00:02:41,940 Um. 54 00:02:42,990 --> 00:02:45,510 And you have access to God. 55 00:02:45,570 --> 00:02:49,829 You get to one day, know that you're gonna have all of the joy 56 00:02:49,829 --> 00:02:52,050 of seeing God and being with God. 57 00:02:52,410 --> 00:02:54,120 And so that's why he said, we rejoice. 58 00:02:54,150 --> 00:02:55,050 We're excited about that. 59 00:02:55,050 --> 00:02:56,310 We, we are happy about that. 60 00:02:56,579 --> 00:02:59,460 So then he says, not only that, we don't only rejoice, we're not 61 00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:04,080 only happy about that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings. 62 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,450 That's really weird, right? 63 00:03:07,410 --> 00:03:09,480 Don't let the Bible get so old to you. 64 00:03:09,510 --> 00:03:10,020 And so. 65 00:03:10,709 --> 00:03:15,060 Familiar to you that that's not weird Stuff in the Bible should be 66 00:03:15,060 --> 00:03:17,579 like, whoa, that doesn't make sense. 67 00:03:18,090 --> 00:03:21,000 Let me see what is actually happening here. 68 00:03:21,269 --> 00:03:22,019 'cause this is weird. 69 00:03:22,079 --> 00:03:24,720 Why would you be happy when you're suffering? 70 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:26,339 Right? 71 00:03:26,339 --> 00:03:30,600 Why would you be happy when your relative dies? 72 00:03:31,079 --> 00:03:35,940 Why would you be happy when your parents get sick or get cancer? 73 00:03:36,149 --> 00:03:39,239 Why would you be happy when you get really hurt? 74 00:03:39,239 --> 00:03:39,549 Really bad? 75 00:03:40,214 --> 00:03:43,304 Why would you be happy when someone breaks up with you? 76 00:03:43,484 --> 00:03:46,935 Why would you be happy when your life doesn't go the way you wanted it to? 77 00:03:47,505 --> 00:03:47,804 Right? 78 00:03:48,765 --> 00:03:50,595 We rejoice in our sufferings. 79 00:03:50,595 --> 00:03:52,875 We can be happy even in our sufferings. 80 00:03:53,625 --> 00:03:54,165 Why? 81 00:03:54,315 --> 00:03:56,355 Well, he's gonna give us a few reasons. 82 00:03:56,774 --> 00:03:59,834 He's gonna give us a few reasons, but the main reason that we're 83 00:03:59,834 --> 00:04:08,894 looking at is that our sufferings don't mean that God doesn't love. 84 00:04:09,435 --> 00:04:10,035 His people. 85 00:04:10,274 --> 00:04:13,424 When Christians suffer, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love them, and 86 00:04:13,424 --> 00:04:14,415 it's easy to feel that way, right? 87 00:04:14,415 --> 00:04:17,055 If you're a Christian, you're think, oh, I'm a Christian, God save me. 88 00:04:17,235 --> 00:04:19,485 Well, then why does all this stuff keep happening to me? 89 00:04:19,755 --> 00:04:20,774 Why is my life so hard? 90 00:04:21,015 --> 00:04:22,515 Why do bad things keep happening to me? 91 00:04:24,854 --> 00:04:29,355 We rejoice in our sufferings, and the primary reason is because our 92 00:04:29,355 --> 00:04:32,505 sufferings don't take away God's love. 93 00:04:33,525 --> 00:04:35,445 We still have God's love. 94 00:04:35,445 --> 00:04:37,935 Christians do, even in hard time. 95 00:04:38,295 --> 00:04:40,665 Even when things don't go the way you want them to. 96 00:04:41,835 --> 00:04:46,425 So our first point tonight, don't let suffering cloud God's love for you. 97 00:04:47,385 --> 00:04:47,534 Right? 98 00:04:47,534 --> 00:04:50,445 When bad things happen to you, your first reaction should not be, I 99 00:04:50,445 --> 00:04:51,615 guess God doesn't love me anymore. 100 00:04:53,055 --> 00:04:58,034 When something terrible happens to your family, your first reaction 101 00:04:58,034 --> 00:05:01,905 shouldn't be, oh, well, I guess God doesn't love me that much. 102 00:05:07,710 --> 00:05:11,160 In fact, suffering is actually an opportunity for you to 103 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,080 see God's love in action. 104 00:05:13,950 --> 00:05:18,900 Suffering is actually a way that God shows in the midst of it that he still does 105 00:05:18,900 --> 00:05:24,540 love you and he still is for you If you are connected to Jesus by faith, right? 106 00:05:24,540 --> 00:05:27,870 If you are, if you've trusted Jesus, you've gone from being 107 00:05:27,870 --> 00:05:31,770 God's enemy to being God's friend, suffering is actually a time for 108 00:05:31,770 --> 00:05:33,210 you to see God still does love me. 109 00:05:33,780 --> 00:05:40,710 He shows that based on what he does in suffering, the first thing 110 00:05:40,740 --> 00:05:45,150 that we see about suffering is that you can rejoice in suffering. 111 00:05:45,150 --> 00:05:48,750 You can be happy even when you're suffering because of its effects. 112 00:05:48,780 --> 00:05:49,140 Okay. 113 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:54,690 I like rearranging the verses so they visually follow a structure. 114 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,510 Okay, so this is the same verses that we saw earlier, three through 115 00:05:57,510 --> 00:06:01,590 five, the first half of five, but I just kind of indented it so you can 116 00:06:01,590 --> 00:06:02,880 kind of see the progression, right? 117 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:03,300 This is like. 118 00:06:03,690 --> 00:06:07,200 One of those things that like a, it's like a chain reaction, right? 119 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:08,190 Like dominoes falling. 120 00:06:08,340 --> 00:06:09,180 That's what's happening here. 121 00:06:09,419 --> 00:06:10,620 So we rejoice in our sufferings. 122 00:06:10,620 --> 00:06:10,979 Why? 123 00:06:11,099 --> 00:06:13,620 Well, we know that suffering produces endurance. 124 00:06:14,190 --> 00:06:19,469 So we know that suffering can actually help us persevere. 125 00:06:19,469 --> 00:06:25,049 It makes us more resilient, and then that endurance makes us more 126 00:06:25,049 --> 00:06:29,760 like Jesus, and then that makes us more excited about being with Jesus. 127 00:06:30,090 --> 00:06:31,049 That's what hope is, right. 128 00:06:32,190 --> 00:06:33,540 Hope doesn't put us to shame. 129 00:06:33,540 --> 00:06:36,030 We're never gonna be embarrassed about any of that. 130 00:06:36,810 --> 00:06:40,560 So this is almost like dominoes falling, that there's a bunch of 131 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:42,870 effects that come down from suffering. 132 00:06:43,140 --> 00:06:43,620 You see that? 133 00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:47,820 So we rejoice in suffering because of its effects, right? 134 00:06:47,820 --> 00:06:50,835 And if you've ever done something hard, you understand this idea, right? 135 00:06:51,270 --> 00:06:56,190 I may not be excited that I am suffering, but I can be happy about 136 00:06:56,190 --> 00:06:59,220 the downstream effects of suffering. 137 00:07:00,435 --> 00:07:00,675 Right. 138 00:07:00,675 --> 00:07:04,365 I was in the closest thing I've ever been into bootcamp, which 139 00:07:04,365 --> 00:07:05,805 was band camp in high school. 140 00:07:06,315 --> 00:07:08,955 And uh, band camp was actually really hard. 141 00:07:08,955 --> 00:07:10,755 So we had, I don't know if you've told you this story. 142 00:07:10,755 --> 00:07:14,895 We had a guy from the, I think it was from the Marines, and he came and did 143 00:07:14,895 --> 00:07:16,575 our conditioning for our marching band. 144 00:07:16,995 --> 00:07:21,195 So he used to train people that jump outta helicopters, and he came 145 00:07:21,195 --> 00:07:23,235 to spend his lunch breaks with. 146 00:07:23,805 --> 00:07:26,295 So we'd condition from one to two, it'd be like a hundred degrees out 147 00:07:26,595 --> 00:07:30,015 and we'd go down to the, the turf and we'd run around and do crazy stuff. 148 00:07:30,525 --> 00:07:33,435 Um, we like dog bear crawled. 149 00:07:34,065 --> 00:07:37,245 Um, and like I didn't know marching band was as hard anyway. 150 00:07:37,605 --> 00:07:43,875 Um, band camp wasn't fun, but there were a lot of things, a lot of 151 00:07:43,875 --> 00:07:45,915 results of band camp that I enjoyed. 152 00:07:46,515 --> 00:07:49,155 I got really tan 'cause I was outside from eight to five. 153 00:07:50,099 --> 00:07:53,280 It's funny if you see all the band kids, like school ID photos, they're 154 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,909 all super tan because it's in the middle of band camp when they take the photos. 155 00:07:57,300 --> 00:07:58,469 Um, I got really tan. 156 00:07:58,469 --> 00:08:01,680 I was in pretty good shape 'cause I was outside moving around doing stuff all day. 157 00:08:01,860 --> 00:08:04,740 I got really good at my instrument 'cause I was playing all the time. 158 00:08:05,070 --> 00:08:05,400 Right. 159 00:08:05,490 --> 00:08:08,370 There were a lot of good effects from band camp even though it was really hard. 160 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:09,570 It was, it was really hard. 161 00:08:09,570 --> 00:08:14,130 It's eight to five people are yelling at you with a megaphone for a lot of it. 162 00:08:14,550 --> 00:08:15,990 Um, and. 163 00:08:17,130 --> 00:08:18,090 It was right. 164 00:08:18,095 --> 00:08:20,310 Painful in a lot of ways, suffering, right? 165 00:08:20,820 --> 00:08:24,360 Uh, I didn't enjoy having, you know, those little like rubber turf balls 166 00:08:25,380 --> 00:08:29,610 when you're in the stadium for all those hours all week, those find 167 00:08:29,610 --> 00:08:31,260 their way all over your house, right? 168 00:08:31,260 --> 00:08:32,820 They're in your shoes, they're in your bed. 169 00:08:33,030 --> 00:08:34,169 They're everywhere, right? 170 00:08:34,169 --> 00:08:35,789 Because you just can't get rid of 'em. 171 00:08:35,789 --> 00:08:36,809 They get stuck in your socks. 172 00:08:36,809 --> 00:08:37,350 They get, you know? 173 00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:38,340 Anyway, so. 174 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,110 Yeah, you smell like sunscreen perpetually for like the next month because 175 00:08:43,110 --> 00:08:44,310 you've been wearing so much sunscreen. 176 00:08:44,370 --> 00:08:46,680 Probably if you're one of those, people probably think that I'm 177 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:48,660 gonna have skin cancer because of all the sunscreen I put on. 178 00:08:49,319 --> 00:08:54,000 Um, but anyway, there's a lot of suffering, right? 179 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:54,540 That happened. 180 00:08:54,750 --> 00:09:01,890 But I still was happy because of all the effects of all the suffering. 181 00:09:01,949 --> 00:09:02,189 Right. 182 00:09:02,189 --> 00:09:05,189 And I'm sure you've, maybe it's your sport, maybe it's whatever 183 00:09:05,189 --> 00:09:07,439 you, you work really hard at, there's some suffering involved. 184 00:09:08,025 --> 00:09:10,305 But it, or maybe it's your job, you're like, I hate my job, but 185 00:09:10,305 --> 00:09:11,655 I get money so it's worth it. 186 00:09:11,835 --> 00:09:12,075 Right? 187 00:09:12,075 --> 00:09:16,485 There's effects of your suffering that can be good for you. 188 00:09:16,605 --> 00:09:20,535 And so these are the kind of three effects of suffering that 189 00:09:20,535 --> 00:09:24,645 hopefully, um, can show you that God is actually using it for good. 190 00:09:24,765 --> 00:09:24,885 Right? 191 00:09:24,885 --> 00:09:25,365 It's the point. 192 00:09:25,485 --> 00:09:26,085 The point is, right. 193 00:09:26,115 --> 00:09:30,375 Even though Bandcamp was hard, even though I suffered, it was actually good for me. 194 00:09:31,065 --> 00:09:33,975 It helped me do the things that I really wanted to do. 195 00:09:34,330 --> 00:09:34,550 It. 196 00:09:34,555 --> 00:09:37,150 It helped me do the things that actually I really enjoyed. 197 00:09:37,725 --> 00:09:40,575 So your suffering, God is actually gonna use it to give you what you 198 00:09:40,575 --> 00:09:42,195 really want, which is him, right? 199 00:09:42,195 --> 00:09:44,865 If you're a Christian, what you really want is more of God, just 200 00:09:44,865 --> 00:09:46,575 like we talked about last week, if you're a Christian, what you 201 00:09:46,575 --> 00:09:48,135 really want is to be closer to God. 202 00:09:48,135 --> 00:09:48,915 You wanna trust God more. 203 00:09:48,915 --> 00:09:50,325 You wanna be more like Jesus. 204 00:09:50,385 --> 00:09:52,845 And so God's gonna use the suffering to love you and give 205 00:09:52,845 --> 00:09:53,655 you what you actually want. 206 00:09:53,655 --> 00:09:55,305 So you see endurance, right? 207 00:09:56,415 --> 00:10:00,645 Something that God does in suffering when hard things happen to you, he shows you 208 00:10:00,645 --> 00:10:01,655 whether you're a real Christian or not. 209 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:03,240 Have you ever thought about it like that? 210 00:10:03,900 --> 00:10:07,620 Maybe God is giving you this really hard circumstance you're in because he wants 211 00:10:07,620 --> 00:10:09,540 you to know whether your faith is real. 212 00:10:10,140 --> 00:10:12,180 He wants you to know whether you trust him for real. 213 00:10:13,589 --> 00:10:14,849 God already knows, right? 214 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:16,949 God already knows whether you're a Christian or not, 215 00:10:17,550 --> 00:10:18,599 but maybe you're not sure. 216 00:10:19,740 --> 00:10:20,939 You're like, I don't know if I'm a Christian. 217 00:10:20,939 --> 00:10:21,900 Did I really repent? 218 00:10:22,410 --> 00:10:24,120 I don't know if I really trust God. 219 00:10:24,630 --> 00:10:26,729 Well, maybe God's gonna bring something hard into your 220 00:10:26,729 --> 00:10:27,660 life and it's gonna show you. 221 00:10:28,275 --> 00:10:31,665 I actually do trust God because even though all this bad stuff happened 222 00:10:31,665 --> 00:10:34,064 to me, I came back to Jesus, right? 223 00:10:34,064 --> 00:10:36,464 I prayed to God and I relied on him. 224 00:10:36,735 --> 00:10:41,354 I put my hope in him and not in my circumstances that'll show you, 225 00:10:41,354 --> 00:10:42,584 oh, maybe I am a real Christian. 226 00:10:43,665 --> 00:10:46,814 Whereas if you get really anxious and really scared all the time 227 00:10:46,875 --> 00:10:49,005 and you don't trust God and you stop showing up to church and you 228 00:10:49,005 --> 00:10:50,655 don't reach out for help, right? 229 00:10:51,375 --> 00:10:52,694 Maybe then you weren't a real Christian. 230 00:10:53,265 --> 00:10:56,415 So sometimes God uses these hard situations to show you. 231 00:10:57,194 --> 00:10:59,175 Whether you're a Christian or not, right? 232 00:10:59,175 --> 00:11:01,755 Kinda like, you know, the four soils, there's that one that gets 233 00:11:01,755 --> 00:11:05,954 choked out by the cares and the, and the anxieties of the world, right? 234 00:11:07,635 --> 00:11:12,915 Um, so he shows you your faith is real and he makes you more resilient, right? 235 00:11:12,915 --> 00:11:14,265 That's the second part with your character. 236 00:11:14,265 --> 00:11:16,214 God sanctifies you during suffering. 237 00:11:16,425 --> 00:11:19,875 There's so many things that you can only learn the hard way, right? 238 00:11:19,875 --> 00:11:23,475 The, the best lessons you've learned are the lessons you've learned. 239 00:11:23,969 --> 00:11:24,479 The hard way. 240 00:11:24,510 --> 00:11:24,719 Right. 241 00:11:24,870 --> 00:11:28,829 Today, um, at the office, sun was telling me about one of their kids, um, 242 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:30,930 used to pick up their cat by its tail. 243 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,430 Um, and she kept telling him, don't do that. 244 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:37,829 That's gonna be, it's gonna be really bad for you. 245 00:11:37,829 --> 00:11:39,209 Don't pick up the cat by the tail. 246 00:11:39,630 --> 00:11:40,500 And they kept doing it. 247 00:11:40,500 --> 00:11:44,550 And then one day the cat didn't wanna get picked up by its tail anymore and 248 00:11:44,550 --> 00:11:45,810 so the cat did something about it. 249 00:11:46,380 --> 00:11:48,030 Um Right. 250 00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:50,939 I bet they learned that lesson. 251 00:11:51,825 --> 00:11:57,585 Much better than the obedient kid who just said, okay, I'm not gonna do that. 252 00:11:58,095 --> 00:11:58,455 Right. 253 00:11:58,875 --> 00:12:01,695 Because that other person that, that was picking up the cat by tail, they've got 254 00:12:01,695 --> 00:12:04,875 the scars to remind them what happens when you pick up a cat by its tail. 255 00:12:04,905 --> 00:12:05,145 Right? 256 00:12:05,145 --> 00:12:09,555 So sometimes your suffering helps you learn things that you wouldn't 257 00:12:09,555 --> 00:12:10,995 have learned any other way, right? 258 00:12:11,205 --> 00:12:14,715 It helps you learn, you know, God really was faithful because 259 00:12:14,715 --> 00:12:16,395 not just, he wasn't just faithful with me during the good times. 260 00:12:16,395 --> 00:12:17,775 He was faithful with me during the bad times. 261 00:12:18,735 --> 00:12:20,475 God really is compassionate 'cause. 262 00:12:20,850 --> 00:12:22,890 Even when it was, life was really hard. 263 00:12:22,890 --> 00:12:27,510 God met me in those times and he sustained me and he showed me how 264 00:12:27,510 --> 00:12:29,340 to find joy even in hard times. 265 00:12:31,290 --> 00:12:35,460 So God grows you during suffering, right? 266 00:12:35,460 --> 00:12:38,970 He, he grows who you are in ways that you can be happy about because 267 00:12:38,970 --> 00:12:39,960 you're like, man, I'm growing. 268 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,910 That's something I can rejoice in, even if my circumstances aren't good. 269 00:12:45,090 --> 00:12:46,510 And that's where we go with hope here. 270 00:12:47,265 --> 00:12:53,564 God uses suffering to almost untangle you from your idols. 271 00:12:54,765 --> 00:12:59,745 God uses suffering to, to help you let things go that you're holding onto. 272 00:13:01,605 --> 00:13:05,564 So it's almost, I heard one person describe it like this. 273 00:13:05,564 --> 00:13:09,915 It's like you're a, you're a plant and you love to let you know how those, 274 00:13:09,915 --> 00:13:12,915 like, there's those vines that like they wrap themselves around things. 275 00:13:14,490 --> 00:13:19,200 We're all like plants and we love to wrap ourselves like around the world. 276 00:13:19,650 --> 00:13:21,120 We love to hold onto the world. 277 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,090 We love to hold on to the things that the world can offer us, right? 278 00:13:24,090 --> 00:13:27,480 Whether it's money or pleasure or power or control. 279 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,430 We love to grab onto those things. 280 00:13:30,150 --> 00:13:33,840 And so God, he's a good gardener and he has to come and, and 281 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:35,340 chop off those branches, right? 282 00:13:35,340 --> 00:13:36,810 Because they're grabbing onto things that are bad. 283 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:38,940 Um, 284 00:13:40,950 --> 00:13:42,780 you can rejoice in suffering. 285 00:13:43,170 --> 00:13:45,690 Because your suffering untangles you from the world. 286 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,400 You're, it detaches you from loving the world so much, and it makes you love God 287 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:51,810 more because you realize, you know what? 288 00:13:52,020 --> 00:13:53,520 This world isn't gonna make me happy. 289 00:13:53,580 --> 00:13:53,760 Right? 290 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:56,880 I could have all the worldly things I want, right? 291 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,400 I could, I could be accepted by all the right people. 292 00:13:59,460 --> 00:14:00,930 I could be friends with all the right people. 293 00:14:00,930 --> 00:14:03,540 All the right people could like me, and I still wouldn't be happy 294 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:05,190 the way God can make me happy. 295 00:14:05,820 --> 00:14:06,120 Right? 296 00:14:06,510 --> 00:14:08,940 I could have all the, the pleasure I want, right? 297 00:14:08,940 --> 00:14:11,520 I could go after all the things that I've always wanted to do. 298 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:12,300 My parents wouldn't let me. 299 00:14:13,155 --> 00:14:14,475 And that won't make you happy. 300 00:14:15,105 --> 00:14:18,525 Like God can, and sometimes God uses suffering to show you that. 301 00:14:19,965 --> 00:14:21,195 Or maybe, right? 302 00:14:21,195 --> 00:14:24,885 It's you, you want the, the control or the status or the power, right? 303 00:14:25,065 --> 00:14:26,895 And God uses the suffering to show, you know what? 304 00:14:27,465 --> 00:14:30,615 Those things are temporary, but what I give you, what 305 00:14:30,615 --> 00:14:32,535 God gives you lasts forever. 306 00:14:33,735 --> 00:14:38,445 And so you get this confidence that one day. 307 00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:41,700 I'm gonna be really happy forever, right? 308 00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:44,970 God says, um, at my right hand, our pleasures for evermore. 309 00:14:45,060 --> 00:14:47,280 God gives you the most amount of joy for the longest amount of time. 310 00:14:48,090 --> 00:14:51,420 And so he helps you to, to put your hope, your confidence in, 311 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:57,540 in him, and not in what the world offers to make you happy, right? 312 00:14:57,540 --> 00:15:00,965 And that's kind of what that means here, when hope does not put you to shame. 313 00:15:02,459 --> 00:15:05,670 If you are putting all of your eggs in God's basket, right? 314 00:15:05,969 --> 00:15:08,430 You're putting all of your confidence in, you know what, I'm 315 00:15:08,430 --> 00:15:10,199 gonna trust God to make me happy. 316 00:15:10,199 --> 00:15:13,140 I'm gonna live God's way because his way is better. 317 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,890 I'm gonna, I'm gonna do the things that God wants me to do, because what 318 00:15:16,890 --> 00:15:19,199 he has for me, he's, he's really wise. 319 00:15:19,199 --> 00:15:21,120 He knows what's best for me, right? 320 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,610 I'm gonna lay aside the things that I want and, and do what 321 00:15:23,610 --> 00:15:25,980 God wants because God loves me. 322 00:15:25,980 --> 00:15:27,900 You're not, you're never gonna be embarrassed about that. 323 00:15:27,900 --> 00:15:27,959 Yeah. 324 00:15:29,970 --> 00:15:35,490 But if you pursue yourself and you pursue what you want, you're gonna one day, 325 00:15:35,490 --> 00:15:38,880 either think you've wasted your life or you're gonna be really embarrassed. 326 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:41,610 'cause you're gonna stand before God and he's gonna expose you. 327 00:15:44,790 --> 00:15:49,260 It'd be kind of like if you put all your, your, let's say you were dating someone. 328 00:15:49,829 --> 00:15:52,800 Um, some of you imagine really hard, some of you not as much, right? 329 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,970 But let's say you were dating someone and you. 330 00:15:57,975 --> 00:15:59,505 Put all your hope into marrying someone. 331 00:15:59,505 --> 00:16:00,795 You're like, I'm gonna marry this person. 332 00:16:00,855 --> 00:16:01,875 I'm gonna marry that guy. 333 00:16:02,415 --> 00:16:03,255 I'm gonna marry that girl. 334 00:16:03,255 --> 00:16:03,435 Right? 335 00:16:03,435 --> 00:16:06,615 And so you're, you're thinking about what it's like when you're gonna be married. 336 00:16:06,615 --> 00:16:08,955 You're, you're planning your wedding, you've got girls, you got your 337 00:16:08,985 --> 00:16:10,365 Pinterest board already set up, right? 338 00:16:10,365 --> 00:16:12,795 You, you know, you got your ring picked out, you know, your wedding 339 00:16:12,795 --> 00:16:14,535 colors, you got your baby names right? 340 00:16:14,745 --> 00:16:17,985 Or guys, you, you're planning for this future together. 341 00:16:17,985 --> 00:16:19,035 You're like, oh, we're gonna move here. 342 00:16:19,035 --> 00:16:21,375 We're gonna do this, or I'm gonna have this job and this is what 343 00:16:21,375 --> 00:16:22,185 our marriage is gonna look like. 344 00:16:22,185 --> 00:16:22,814 It's gonna be great. 345 00:16:24,735 --> 00:16:27,585 And you're, let's say you're engaged and you're planning the wedding. 346 00:16:27,615 --> 00:16:29,235 You, you've already sent out the invites. 347 00:16:29,535 --> 00:16:32,235 You've got your photographer, you've, you've spent your thousands of 348 00:16:32,235 --> 00:16:33,765 dollars on, on all the people, right? 349 00:16:33,765 --> 00:16:37,185 Your food and your, your videographer, and your flowers and all this stuff. 350 00:16:37,455 --> 00:16:39,555 And you've written out your vows already. 351 00:16:39,555 --> 00:16:42,615 You, you already know the commitments that you're gonna stand and, and 352 00:16:42,615 --> 00:16:44,325 before God and say to this person. 353 00:16:44,730 --> 00:16:46,200 And you've planned this whole wedding. 354 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,360 You, you've, all your relatives are gonna come in town. 355 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,510 All your friends, you've got your, you know, you've, you've got your groomsmen, 356 00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:56,160 you've got your bridesmaids, you're all ready to go for this date, and that 357 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:57,450 person doesn't show up to the wedding. 358 00:17:00,540 --> 00:17:02,670 That would be so embarrassing, right? 359 00:17:02,790 --> 00:17:06,329 All like, think about standing up there and looking at all the people 360 00:17:06,329 --> 00:17:10,530 that you invited to the wedding and they're like, where is this person? 361 00:17:12,150 --> 00:17:12,690 Where are they? 362 00:17:13,290 --> 00:17:14,190 They're, they didn't show up. 363 00:17:15,223 --> 00:17:15,915 If they left you, 364 00:17:19,304 --> 00:17:24,733 if you don't put your hope in Jesus, that's gonna be you. 365 00:17:24,794 --> 00:17:25,935 When you stand before God, 366 00:17:27,944 --> 00:17:32,504 you're gonna look back at all of the things that you wanted in life, all the 367 00:17:32,534 --> 00:17:37,245 success, all the, the happiness, all the stuff that you put your hope in. 368 00:17:38,294 --> 00:17:40,550 And it's gonna, they're gonna be like that person that left you at the altar. 369 00:17:41,835 --> 00:17:47,205 You're just gonna, you're gonna be so ashamed and so embarrassed because 370 00:17:47,205 --> 00:17:52,515 they, they let you down and you built your whole life on this thing. 371 00:17:52,995 --> 00:17:57,045 You built your whole life on yourself, or you built your whole life on your, the way 372 00:17:57,045 --> 00:18:00,315 that, the way that people perceive you, you built your whole life on whatever it 373 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:01,935 is that you're pursuing instead of God. 374 00:18:02,205 --> 00:18:04,995 And you're just, you're gonna be so embarrassed 'cause it's gonna, 375 00:18:05,055 --> 00:18:06,050 it's gonna leave you high and dry. 376 00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:10,860 That's what it's like to put your hope in something that's, that's not God. 377 00:18:11,639 --> 00:18:14,340 When you put your hope in God, it's exactly the opposite. 378 00:18:14,340 --> 00:18:16,770 You'll never be embarrassed, right? 379 00:18:16,770 --> 00:18:24,240 God offers a hope, a future confidence that is always worth it, right? 380 00:18:24,540 --> 00:18:26,699 Heaven is never gonna be underwhelming. 381 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,210 It's never, it's not even gonna be a little bit underwhelming, right? 382 00:18:30,210 --> 00:18:32,159 Like sometimes you go do something really cool and you're like, oh, 383 00:18:32,159 --> 00:18:35,129 that was cool, but like it was like 90% of what you thought it would be. 384 00:18:36,045 --> 00:18:38,115 Heaven's not gonna be 90% of what you thought it was gonna be. 385 00:18:38,475 --> 00:18:42,285 It's gonna be like a million percent of what you thought it was gonna be, right? 386 00:18:43,035 --> 00:18:46,635 You won't need to, to hide anything or cover anything up anymore 'cause 387 00:18:46,635 --> 00:18:50,235 you're, you're gonna be free from, from all your sin, from all your shame. 388 00:18:51,765 --> 00:18:54,765 Also, nothing you do for God is ever gonna be wasted, right? 389 00:18:54,765 --> 00:18:57,495 No second that you spend praying is ever a waste of time. 390 00:18:58,275 --> 00:19:00,945 Nothing you learn about God's word is ever a waste of time. 391 00:19:01,785 --> 00:19:04,000 No way that you love someone is ever a waste of time. 392 00:19:05,550 --> 00:19:06,540 No time. 393 00:19:06,540 --> 00:19:09,450 You withhold something 'cause you're patient. 394 00:19:10,020 --> 00:19:10,500 No money. 395 00:19:10,500 --> 00:19:13,230 You spend being generous for God is ever gonna be a waste of time. 396 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,290 All this stuff is, you're never gonna look back and be like, I wish I didn't do that. 397 00:19:18,150 --> 00:19:19,500 I really wish I didn't love that person. 398 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,370 You're never gonna say that, but you might say, I wish I did love that person. 399 00:19:23,850 --> 00:19:25,500 I wish I did share the gospel with that person. 400 00:19:25,770 --> 00:19:27,900 I wish I did get closer to God. 401 00:19:27,900 --> 00:19:30,900 I wish I did do more of what God asked me to do, rather than focusing on myself. 402 00:19:31,290 --> 00:19:31,470 Right? 403 00:19:31,470 --> 00:19:34,110 Nothing you do for God is ever gonna be an embarrassment. 404 00:19:34,980 --> 00:19:35,790 On the final day. 405 00:19:35,820 --> 00:19:39,450 It might be embarrassing now, but one day guess who's gonna be embarrassed? 406 00:19:40,230 --> 00:19:40,740 Not you. 407 00:19:41,670 --> 00:19:41,970 Right? 408 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,750 So, and this, this is all related to being made right? 409 00:19:48,750 --> 00:19:52,950 With God, being righteous by faith through Jesus. 410 00:19:52,950 --> 00:19:58,020 That's what all of this is tied to, because that's what gets you God, right? 411 00:20:00,270 --> 00:20:03,570 And because of your made righteous by Jesus. 412 00:20:04,125 --> 00:20:08,325 By a real person who, who really came and really lived and, and really died. 413 00:20:08,745 --> 00:20:13,875 Your experience of God's love, like we talked about, God's favor 414 00:20:14,745 --> 00:20:19,275 is tied to an objective thing that really happened, right? 415 00:20:19,455 --> 00:20:24,315 The fact that God loves you is tied to a, a real thing that really happened. 416 00:20:24,885 --> 00:20:27,015 It's not tied to your feelings. 417 00:20:27,165 --> 00:20:30,675 It's not tied to how great the worship was at your church. 418 00:20:30,855 --> 00:20:33,150 It's not tied to how recently you went to camp. 419 00:20:33,899 --> 00:20:34,350 Right. 420 00:20:34,530 --> 00:20:36,690 It's tied to something that really happened. 421 00:20:37,770 --> 00:20:43,200 God really came down as a man to die for you. 422 00:20:44,550 --> 00:20:48,030 And that's kind of what this, where this goes, right? 423 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:50,760 We rejoicing our sufferings knowing that suffering produces 424 00:20:51,270 --> 00:20:53,460 all those things resulting in hope. 425 00:20:53,730 --> 00:20:57,149 And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured 426 00:20:57,149 --> 00:20:59,790 into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 427 00:20:59,850 --> 00:21:02,220 So the reason that we don't have to be embarrassed. 428 00:21:02,565 --> 00:21:03,615 About anything as a Christian. 429 00:21:03,615 --> 00:21:07,815 The reason that that one day you're, you're never gonna be ashamed of anything 430 00:21:07,815 --> 00:21:10,875 you did for God and all the stuff you did for God is always gonna be worth, 431 00:21:10,875 --> 00:21:14,415 it has to do with God's love, right? 432 00:21:14,415 --> 00:21:19,035 You can be happy in the hardest of times because you have a fu, you have 433 00:21:19,035 --> 00:21:24,705 a confidence in the future that is never gonna, never gonna leave you 434 00:21:24,705 --> 00:21:30,585 embarrassed because currently, right, actually, God's love has already. 435 00:21:31,004 --> 00:21:33,465 Been poured into the hearts of Christians. 436 00:21:33,585 --> 00:21:36,705 That's who our is through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 437 00:21:36,915 --> 00:21:40,365 So this is really confusing, right? 438 00:21:40,605 --> 00:21:44,504 Because it's future hope about something that already happened. 439 00:21:45,014 --> 00:21:49,725 God's love has been poured into our hearts, so we've, there's this experience 440 00:21:49,725 --> 00:21:54,075 of God's love, whatever that is, and it comes through the Holy Spirit. 441 00:21:55,065 --> 00:21:55,785 Now, how does that work? 442 00:21:55,785 --> 00:21:56,175 Well. 443 00:21:57,105 --> 00:22:00,105 The best way I could put it, and I didn't come up with this sentence. 444 00:22:00,105 --> 00:22:03,945 This is, um, someone else said this to me and this is the 445 00:22:03,945 --> 00:22:04,935 best way I could describe it. 446 00:22:05,235 --> 00:22:07,305 So what happens here is the Holy Spirit 447 00:22:09,345 --> 00:22:11,445 are actually, let's go to this next verse. 448 00:22:12,705 --> 00:22:14,745 This is why the connecting words in the Bible are so important. 449 00:22:15,435 --> 00:22:15,975 Four. 450 00:22:16,395 --> 00:22:22,395 That means that four, like, that's because, so this thing, God's 451 00:22:22,395 --> 00:22:23,475 love poured into our hearts. 452 00:22:24,150 --> 00:22:25,800 Has to do with this next verse. 453 00:22:25,980 --> 00:22:27,780 That's why those connecting words matter. 454 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,490 So it has to do with the fact that Christ died. 455 00:22:32,850 --> 00:22:38,760 Jesus died for me before I deserved it, right? 456 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,240 I was a sinner, ungodly, right? 457 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:43,860 That's me. 458 00:22:43,980 --> 00:22:48,535 Christ died for me, and that is why I can know that God loves me. 459 00:22:49,845 --> 00:22:50,505 So how does that work? 460 00:22:50,505 --> 00:22:53,265 Well, the idea here is there's a historical fact. 461 00:22:53,265 --> 00:22:55,575 Christ died for me before I even asked him to die for me. 462 00:22:55,815 --> 00:22:57,165 Christ died for me while I was his sinner. 463 00:22:57,195 --> 00:23:00,555 Christ died for me while I was ungodly, when I deserved to go to hell under 464 00:23:00,555 --> 00:23:02,265 God's wrath, apart from God, God's enemy. 465 00:23:02,265 --> 00:23:02,925 I hated God. 466 00:23:03,045 --> 00:23:03,675 I rejected him. 467 00:23:03,675 --> 00:23:04,365 I worshiped myself. 468 00:23:04,365 --> 00:23:06,585 I lived for, for myself rather than God. 469 00:23:08,265 --> 00:23:09,315 Jesus died for me then. 470 00:23:10,935 --> 00:23:15,795 So I know that God, if God loved me, then he will surely still love me now. 471 00:23:17,699 --> 00:23:19,199 God loved me at my worst. 472 00:23:19,980 --> 00:23:22,290 How much more will he love me now that he's adopted me? 473 00:23:23,370 --> 00:23:26,429 Now that he's justified me, he's made me righteous, right? 474 00:23:26,909 --> 00:23:31,409 If he loved me before I deserved it, of course he'll love me now that he's adopted 475 00:23:31,409 --> 00:23:35,220 me, now that I'm his his child, right? 476 00:23:35,310 --> 00:23:39,629 So what happens is the Holy Spirit takes this fact, this, this thing 477 00:23:39,629 --> 00:23:41,610 that really happened in history. 478 00:23:42,209 --> 00:23:43,564 You could go to the place this happened. 479 00:23:45,375 --> 00:23:48,705 The people who saw this would tell you it happened, right? 480 00:23:48,705 --> 00:23:49,545 Those people. 481 00:23:49,875 --> 00:23:53,475 Alright, this, this event that really happened, this thing that really 482 00:23:53,475 --> 00:24:00,015 happened, the Holy Spirit takes those facts and it shows you right? 483 00:24:00,015 --> 00:24:00,585 The Holy Spirit. 484 00:24:00,615 --> 00:24:04,485 He shows you God's love in that, right? 485 00:24:04,485 --> 00:24:06,915 And you can really experience that. 486 00:24:06,915 --> 00:24:08,565 God's love isn't just a fact. 487 00:24:08,895 --> 00:24:12,075 To know God's love is. 488 00:24:12,899 --> 00:24:15,780 Experience that Christians really have. 489 00:24:16,679 --> 00:24:20,489 Christians really experience being loved by God, right? 490 00:24:20,489 --> 00:24:22,320 This isn't just something you do on a test. 491 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,899 This isn't just two plus two is four on paper. 492 00:24:25,050 --> 00:24:28,050 This is two plus two is four in real life, right? 493 00:24:28,050 --> 00:24:29,129 This is, I have two things. 494 00:24:29,129 --> 00:24:31,800 I have two things and I put 'em together and I have four things, right? 495 00:24:32,610 --> 00:24:33,719 That's two plus two in real. 496 00:24:34,905 --> 00:24:36,615 This is God's love in real life. 497 00:24:36,615 --> 00:24:38,055 It's this thing that really happened. 498 00:24:38,355 --> 00:24:41,295 And then if you be, if you become a Christian, you trust Jesus to 499 00:24:41,295 --> 00:24:44,205 take away your sin and give you his righteousness and and be raised from 500 00:24:44,205 --> 00:24:50,025 the dead, then you can really experience that the fact that God loves you, 501 00:24:50,505 --> 00:24:56,085 and it really gives you real joy, a real feeling that God loves me. 502 00:25:00,659 --> 00:25:01,740 We talked about a wedding earlier. 503 00:25:01,740 --> 00:25:05,459 It's kind of like how the you, when you propose, or Well, if 504 00:25:05,459 --> 00:25:06,600 you're a guy, you propose, right? 505 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:08,970 Don't, don't propose to anyone, ladies. 506 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:09,300 Okay. 507 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,830 Let your fiance to be propose to you. 508 00:25:14,250 --> 00:25:19,620 Um, when someone proposes, they give their, their, their, 509 00:25:19,620 --> 00:25:21,750 uh, fiance a ring, right? 510 00:25:21,899 --> 00:25:27,270 That ring is a tangible expression of a subjective reality, 511 00:25:27,270 --> 00:25:28,205 right, of, of their love. 512 00:25:30,300 --> 00:25:34,440 Like when I proposed to Shea, she didn't have like a thermometer 513 00:25:34,470 --> 00:25:35,910 to see how much I loved her. 514 00:25:37,500 --> 00:25:40,830 She couldn't tell like, how much does Lewis really love me right now? 515 00:25:41,790 --> 00:25:42,899 She couldn't measure it. 516 00:25:43,230 --> 00:25:45,840 She didn't have like a thermometer or a radar gun to be like, 517 00:25:46,230 --> 00:25:47,460 how much does Lewis love me? 518 00:25:48,090 --> 00:25:54,300 But the point is that the ring gives you an expression of that love, right? 519 00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:57,415 So if she's ever not sure if I really love her enough to marry her. 520 00:25:58,260 --> 00:26:02,580 She can look at her hand and say, oh yeah, he does, right? 521 00:26:02,580 --> 00:26:07,440 Because he spent all this money on this ring and he told me when he 522 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,400 gave me this ring that he wanted to marry me and that he loved me a lot. 523 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,010 That's an oversimplification of what I said, but there you go. 524 00:26:14,130 --> 00:26:16,800 That's the Cliff Notes version, right? 525 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:21,360 The the ring is a tangible expression of how I feel about Shea. 526 00:26:22,710 --> 00:26:23,070 Right. 527 00:26:23,970 --> 00:26:28,500 Christ's death is a tangible expression of how God feels about Christians. 528 00:26:29,550 --> 00:26:30,270 Does that make sense? 529 00:26:30,810 --> 00:26:33,930 Because you don't have a thermometer in the morning or a radar gun. 530 00:26:33,930 --> 00:26:36,420 You can't be like, oh, how much does God love me today? 531 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:37,440 Right. 532 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:44,130 You don't have a, a way of, of knowing that apart from what God does. 533 00:26:44,940 --> 00:26:47,070 God has to show you that, right? 534 00:26:47,820 --> 00:26:49,770 You can't just assume that God loves you. 535 00:26:49,770 --> 00:26:50,295 'cause what if he doesn't? 536 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:53,670 Then you're gonna be put to shame, right? 537 00:26:54,330 --> 00:26:56,280 If you lived your whole life thinking God loved you and you 538 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,290 show up to heaven, and he's like, depart from me, I never knew you. 539 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,130 That's gonna happen to some people and they're gonna be put to shame 'cause 540 00:27:02,130 --> 00:27:05,790 they're gonna walk up to heaven and assume that God's God loves them and 541 00:27:05,790 --> 00:27:07,350 they're gonna be really disappointed. 542 00:27:07,645 --> 00:27:07,865 So 543 00:27:10,410 --> 00:27:14,490 if you are a Christian, you can be 100% confident about how God feels. 544 00:27:16,785 --> 00:27:22,725 Because how God feels about you is determined by Jesus, not by you because 545 00:27:22,725 --> 00:27:25,635 Jesus died when you were unlovable. 546 00:27:27,465 --> 00:27:27,675 Right? 547 00:27:27,675 --> 00:27:29,415 Raise your hand if you ask Jesus to die for you. 548 00:27:31,935 --> 00:27:32,295 Right? 549 00:27:32,655 --> 00:27:34,245 No one asked Jesus to die for them. 550 00:27:36,165 --> 00:27:38,475 Jesus died for you before you actually even. 551 00:27:38,909 --> 00:27:40,139 Existed, right? 552 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,899 God loved you before you existed, right? 553 00:27:42,899 --> 00:27:46,169 If you're a Christian, God actually made you so he could love you. 554 00:27:46,860 --> 00:27:47,550 Isn't that crazy? 555 00:27:49,889 --> 00:27:56,250 So the way you measure God's love for you is you look backward at what Jesus 556 00:27:56,250 --> 00:27:57,720 did, and that's our second point. 557 00:27:57,899 --> 00:28:01,050 Look to Christ to see God's love. 558 00:28:09,375 --> 00:28:09,554 Right. 559 00:28:09,554 --> 00:28:13,695 You don't determine how much God loves you by how much you prayed this week. 560 00:28:15,254 --> 00:28:16,995 That's not how you measure God's love for you. 561 00:28:17,925 --> 00:28:23,774 You don't measure God's love for you by how you felt at 562 00:28:23,774 --> 00:28:24,764 worship night at camp, right? 563 00:28:26,340 --> 00:28:32,024 You don't measure God's love for you based on what your parents say about you. 564 00:28:33,915 --> 00:28:34,965 You measure God's love for you. 565 00:28:36,510 --> 00:28:42,659 By what he's done to show his love for his people. 566 00:28:44,490 --> 00:28:50,310 And that's why you can rejoice even in really hard times because does 567 00:28:50,970 --> 00:28:54,330 the, the hard time you're going through change what Christ did? 568 00:28:55,830 --> 00:28:56,280 No. 569 00:28:56,610 --> 00:28:57,030 Right? 570 00:28:58,500 --> 00:28:58,740 Right. 571 00:28:58,740 --> 00:29:01,260 When you get sick, it doesn't change what Jesus did. 572 00:29:01,770 --> 00:29:03,360 So God's love for you doesn't change either. 573 00:29:04,485 --> 00:29:08,415 When if your parents got divorced, it doesn't change God's love for you. 574 00:29:09,165 --> 00:29:10,395 'cause it doesn't change what Jesus did. 575 00:29:10,785 --> 00:29:14,025 God's love for you has to do with what Jesus did, not with what 576 00:29:14,025 --> 00:29:15,465 you do or how your life's going 577 00:29:17,985 --> 00:29:22,005 because God's love comes from him, not from you. 578 00:29:22,845 --> 00:29:24,135 And that's what we see in the rest of these verses. 579 00:29:24,135 --> 00:29:27,405 Verses 68, while still weak at the right time. 580 00:29:27,405 --> 00:29:28,665 Christ died for the ungodly. 581 00:29:29,610 --> 00:29:30,840 Then we explain this more. 582 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:31,140 Right? 583 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,320 For no one will scar, scarcely die for a righteous person. 584 00:29:35,130 --> 00:29:37,350 Oh, perhaps for a good person one would dare even die, right? 585 00:29:37,380 --> 00:29:39,840 Maybe if you really thought that person was worth it, maybe 586 00:29:39,845 --> 00:29:41,370 you'd die for them, right? 587 00:29:41,370 --> 00:29:43,170 Maybe a parent would die for their kid, right? 588 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:44,970 Maybe a kid would die for their parent. 589 00:29:44,970 --> 00:29:48,570 Maybe you die for, you know, your, your favorite, you know, your 590 00:29:48,570 --> 00:29:50,220 favorite athlete or whatever, right? 591 00:29:50,430 --> 00:29:51,150 Probably not. 592 00:29:51,180 --> 00:29:54,840 I wouldn't recommend that, but maybe you would, but God. 593 00:29:55,425 --> 00:29:57,165 Which I love sentences to start with, but God, right? 594 00:29:57,165 --> 00:29:58,935 Those are like some of the best sentences in the Bible. 595 00:29:59,504 --> 00:30:03,014 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still 596 00:30:03,014 --> 00:30:04,784 sinners, Christ died for us. 597 00:30:05,745 --> 00:30:11,325 And remember this us is if you've been justified by faith, right? 598 00:30:11,325 --> 00:30:15,105 The US is the people who've trusted God to take away their sin, right? 599 00:30:15,105 --> 00:30:17,835 So if that's not you, this isn't for you. 600 00:30:18,615 --> 00:30:21,014 It could be, you could change that. 601 00:30:21,045 --> 00:30:24,435 If you trust Jesus tonight, you, you could be part of this us. 602 00:30:26,085 --> 00:30:30,195 But if you're holding God at arm's length and not trusting him, then that's not you. 603 00:30:30,375 --> 00:30:31,665 You're not included in this, right? 604 00:30:31,935 --> 00:30:34,605 What I'm talking about with God's love doesn't apply to 605 00:30:34,605 --> 00:30:36,284 you until you trust Jesus. 606 00:30:39,524 --> 00:30:42,794 So God shows his love for for Christians, and that while we are 607 00:30:42,794 --> 00:30:45,254 still sinners, Christ died for us. 608 00:30:46,215 --> 00:30:51,075 Which again, when we talk about being a Christian, it starts with 609 00:30:51,524 --> 00:30:53,024 admitting this part right here. 610 00:30:54,780 --> 00:30:58,379 Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. 611 00:30:58,590 --> 00:31:02,040 So if you're out there saying, I'm a good person, I'm not that bad. 612 00:31:03,149 --> 00:31:05,189 You're disqualified from being someone. 613 00:31:05,189 --> 00:31:05,909 Christ died for. 614 00:31:07,139 --> 00:31:15,060 Christ died for the ungodly, the ticket to entering the US here. 615 00:31:15,210 --> 00:31:17,189 Part of that is admitting, I'm one of those people. 616 00:31:17,250 --> 00:31:19,919 I'm one of those ungodly people, those sinful people. 617 00:31:21,090 --> 00:31:24,060 Those not good people that Christ died for, right? 618 00:31:24,060 --> 00:31:26,730 There's nothing about me that 619 00:31:28,830 --> 00:31:30,270 attracted God's love, 620 00:31:33,930 --> 00:31:37,860 and that honestly is really, really comforting when you think about it, right? 621 00:31:39,660 --> 00:31:44,400 Like you think about some people, they get married, and then when 622 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,190 that person isn't attracted to them anymore, they divorced them. 623 00:31:47,564 --> 00:31:48,584 And they say, sorry, I'm done. 624 00:31:48,705 --> 00:31:49,125 I'm no long. 625 00:31:49,125 --> 00:31:51,854 I don't love you anymore because there's nothing about you 626 00:31:51,854 --> 00:31:53,294 that I want to love anymore. 627 00:31:54,195 --> 00:31:54,495 Right? 628 00:31:54,705 --> 00:31:56,955 That's the opposite of how it works with God. 629 00:31:58,725 --> 00:32:01,754 God said, there's nothing about you that makes me wanna love you, but 630 00:32:01,784 --> 00:32:04,155 I love you, so I'm gonna love you, and I'm actually gonna make you more 631 00:32:04,155 --> 00:32:07,004 lovable because I'm gonna sanctify you and I'm gonna grow you, and one day 632 00:32:07,064 --> 00:32:08,625 I'm gonna actually make you perfect. 633 00:32:10,365 --> 00:32:14,145 So God's love for you isn't because you attracted God's love. 634 00:32:14,145 --> 00:32:16,544 It's actually because God decided I, I'm gonna love you. 635 00:32:17,490 --> 00:32:20,040 I'm gonna choose this person and I'm gonna love them. 636 00:32:22,860 --> 00:32:27,090 And so the more honest you are about your sin, the more amazing God's love is, which 637 00:32:27,090 --> 00:32:29,429 actually should make you happier, right? 638 00:32:29,550 --> 00:32:33,870 The more the, the bigger god's love is to you, the the more amazing that 639 00:32:33,870 --> 00:32:35,129 is and the more happy you'll be. 640 00:32:35,129 --> 00:32:35,429 Right? 641 00:32:35,429 --> 00:32:37,740 God loves me so much, right? 642 00:32:37,740 --> 00:32:39,899 If you think God only loves you a little bit, you're only 643 00:32:39,899 --> 00:32:40,800 gonna be a little bit happy. 644 00:32:41,129 --> 00:32:44,700 But if you realize God loves me so much, you're actually gonna 645 00:32:44,700 --> 00:32:46,020 be able to rejoice even more. 646 00:32:49,605 --> 00:32:54,945 So Christ's death is a right certain and unchangeable 647 00:32:54,945 --> 00:32:58,305 expression of God's love, right? 648 00:32:58,425 --> 00:33:00,675 If I know there's times where you'll probably feel like you, 649 00:33:00,675 --> 00:33:02,625 you feel more loved by God, right? 650 00:33:02,895 --> 00:33:06,135 Maybe you, you just had a, a, a great week of Bible reading, or you, you had 651 00:33:06,135 --> 00:33:10,515 a really great experience singing the God, or you spent time around Christians, 652 00:33:10,515 --> 00:33:13,755 or you just went to this Bible study, you feel like, man, I, I feel so, 653 00:33:13,815 --> 00:33:15,495 I feel God's love more right now. 654 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:17,010 And that's okay. 655 00:33:17,010 --> 00:33:19,230 There's nothing wrong with that, but 656 00:33:21,750 --> 00:33:24,870 you have an objective place to look to when you aren't 657 00:33:24,870 --> 00:33:26,760 sure about God's love, right? 658 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:31,260 If you're a Christian, you can always go to this verse. 659 00:33:32,190 --> 00:33:38,610 This verse is always true no matter how bad you messed up, right? 660 00:33:38,610 --> 00:33:39,960 This verse is always true. 661 00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:44,100 No matter how your life's going, no matter what kind of bad things happen to you. 662 00:33:46,230 --> 00:33:48,030 And that, and that's the best part, right? 663 00:33:48,030 --> 00:33:50,520 And that's the best part of the gospel is that it's, it's 664 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:54,180 not about you, it's about God. 665 00:33:55,290 --> 00:34:00,030 God sent Jesus because he loved people, right? 666 00:34:00,030 --> 00:34:03,389 John three 16, for God so loved the world, this is how God loved the world. 667 00:34:03,570 --> 00:34:07,050 He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him, anyone can do this. 668 00:34:07,830 --> 00:34:09,989 Whoever believes in him shall not perish. 669 00:34:09,989 --> 00:34:10,080 Right? 670 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,750 That's certain will not, shall not. 671 00:34:13,754 --> 00:34:14,475 It's not gonna happen. 672 00:34:14,475 --> 00:34:15,134 Not a chance. 673 00:34:16,034 --> 00:34:17,415 They'll have eternal life, right? 674 00:34:17,895 --> 00:34:20,745 You can be with God, the most amount of happiness for the longest amount 675 00:34:20,745 --> 00:34:22,094 of time, what you were made for. 676 00:34:22,784 --> 00:34:28,125 And so if you're recognizing tonight, you know what, I, I'm not part of that. 677 00:34:29,864 --> 00:34:30,043 Right? 678 00:34:30,043 --> 00:34:32,955 Maybe you're thinking, I, I, I'm, God can't love me. 679 00:34:33,524 --> 00:34:34,364 I've done too many. 680 00:34:34,364 --> 00:34:35,205 You don't know what I've said. 681 00:34:35,205 --> 00:34:35,955 You don't know what I've seen. 682 00:34:35,955 --> 00:34:36,793 You don't know what I've done. 683 00:34:38,114 --> 00:34:38,679 You don't know what I've thought. 684 00:34:43,155 --> 00:34:43,784 Join the club. 685 00:34:44,985 --> 00:34:45,315 Right. 686 00:34:45,465 --> 00:34:47,175 We're all, we're all sinners. 687 00:34:47,655 --> 00:34:48,315 Some of us. 688 00:34:48,675 --> 00:34:49,065 Sure. 689 00:34:50,205 --> 00:34:50,355 Right? 690 00:34:50,355 --> 00:34:52,034 You can say, oh, I'm the worst sinner than that person. 691 00:34:54,315 --> 00:34:54,645 Great. 692 00:34:56,145 --> 00:34:58,155 God shows his love for sinners. 693 00:34:58,215 --> 00:34:59,625 Doesn't matter how big of a sinner 694 00:35:02,535 --> 00:35:04,755 you Yeah, God. 695 00:35:04,935 --> 00:35:07,335 God shows his love for sinner. 696 00:35:08,370 --> 00:35:12,689 And so if you're a sinner, you qualify for God's love. 697 00:35:13,529 --> 00:35:16,140 And so if you're out there and you're saying, man, I'm so unlovable 698 00:35:16,140 --> 00:35:21,000 by God, I just, I, I really want you to see that God loves sinners. 699 00:35:21,149 --> 00:35:23,879 That's the qual, the qualification of being loved by God is being a sinner. 700 00:35:24,899 --> 00:35:28,109 And if you recognize your sin, you say, you know, I, I am unlovable. 701 00:35:29,370 --> 00:35:32,070 There's nothing about me that deserves to go to heaven. 702 00:35:32,070 --> 00:35:35,040 There's nothing about me that deserves God's love for me, but Jesus, you 703 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,320 said that you can take away my sin. 704 00:35:37,530 --> 00:35:39,450 You can take away God's wrath against my sin. 705 00:35:39,540 --> 00:35:40,620 I trust you to do that. 706 00:35:40,770 --> 00:35:42,210 Jesus, you're the only reason I can go to heaven. 707 00:35:42,210 --> 00:35:43,350 I need your perfect life. 708 00:35:43,380 --> 00:35:44,490 I need your righteousness. 709 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,820 And one day you're gonna rescue me from death. 710 00:35:47,910 --> 00:35:49,290 Just 'cause, 'cause you rose from the dead. 711 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,260 And so I, I trust that you can help me live forever too. 712 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,740 And you turn from your sin because you love Jesus and you trust him. 713 00:35:57,750 --> 00:36:03,120 You can experience God's love and be the happiest you've ever been, even 714 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:04,380 when life gets really, really hard. 715 00:36:05,610 --> 00:36:07,230 Let's pray and we'll go to small groups. 716 00:36:09,570 --> 00:36:11,370 God, your love is amazing. 717 00:36:12,060 --> 00:36:15,030 We don't understand your love sometimes, 718 00:36:17,100 --> 00:36:19,345 but that's okay. 719 00:36:20,010 --> 00:36:25,830 Um, in one of his prayers, the apostle Paul asks to. 720 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,620 He asked for help to understand your love. 721 00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:32,940 So I pray for all of us right now in this room, that you give us the strength to 722 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,950 comprehend your amazing love that for even the people that in this room that 723 00:36:37,950 --> 00:36:41,430 have been a Christian for a long time, who know the Bible really well, who maybe 724 00:36:41,490 --> 00:36:45,720 none of this was new for them, I pray that you help them just to, to be more 725 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:49,680 confident in your love, to be more amazed by your love and more satisfied, more 726 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,740 excited about the fact that you love them. 727 00:36:53,370 --> 00:36:55,200 And I pray for, um. 728 00:36:56,145 --> 00:36:59,475 People here who feel unlovable by God or who don't want God's love. 729 00:36:59,475 --> 00:37:03,765 I pray God that you show them that um, you are better than anything 730 00:37:03,765 --> 00:37:05,595 else they could ever pursue. 731 00:37:05,655 --> 00:37:06,825 Anything else they could ever want. 732 00:37:06,825 --> 00:37:10,125 You are always gonna be worth it and always gonna be, um, 733 00:37:10,425 --> 00:37:12,135 what we're made to, to love. 734 00:37:12,735 --> 00:37:13,785 Pray all this in Jesus' name. 735 00:37:14,265 --> 00:37:14,535 Amen.