There is no doubt that the world
is on fire. The old church used to sing,
oh, my loving brother, when the world's on fire, don't you want
God's pillar? I think many of you are experiencing
fear. I don't want you to have to experience
that. I'm not afraid because I know
this world is not a runaway. It is well with my soul. And I know the cure for fear.
If you are a person who's just so very, very frightful, I mean,
you know the Lord, but you have this element of tremendous fear. You read about our president
giving $400 million over to get four people released, and you're
thinking, what on earth is going to happen? God holds the reins,
that's one thing. It's important that you know
that, that this world is not a runaway, that our God is sovereign
and that He's in control. I read to you last week from
1 John where perfect love, and the word perfect there means
mature love, casteth out fear. Many of God's little children
today are in churches where they don't hear about God's mature
love. God's perfect love. You have
to know somewhat of the depth of amazing grace and to lay hold
upon the grace of God to know this mature love. See, you and
I know love. Like I said, I think last week,
you send me a Christmas card, I send you one. I keep your name
and address because you sent me one this year and I forgot
to send you one. So next year, because you sent
me one, I'm gonna send you one. You remembered my birthday, so
I'm gonna remember your birthday. Most of us in here have had people
tell us they love us. And then they failed us. They
left us. They deserted us. And because of that, you can't
even receive love. You don't know love. You haven't
entered into love. And then God's love is so far
above any type of human love. So in order to get rid of this
fear, you have to be mature in the love of God. It could very
well be that the world is coming to an end. Just so you know,
the righteous won't be here. Let me just tell you right off.
The Bible is very clear that there's going to come a day when
the Holy Spirit will step out of the way, the Holy Spirit who's
holding things back. Even those of you who are so
evil in here and hate God and don't know Christ, you're not
as evil as you could be because you're being held back. Just
think, if the Holy Spirit steps out of the way, and one day he
will, and he will let every man do that which is right in his
own eyes. What chaos. You ladies wouldn't be safe walking
across the street, or down the street. Chaos, sin. In my pastor's heart, I have
both a desire to admonish you, and at the same time to give
you hope and assurance that all is well. that God is in control. The admonition is, if you're
not registered to vote, vote. I ran for precinct delegate.
I want to go to the Republican convention. I won. It's OK to say amen to that.
Say, well, what's a precinct delegate? Maybe you don't know.
But I was the second vote getter. Say, you bragging or complaining?
I don't know yet. I'm just saying I'm not going
to tell you, admonish you to do something about what's happening
in this nation and then not do something myself. I'm trying
to find out how I can be a hindrance to Antichrist, where there can
be some revival and awakening here in America. It's not too
late for God to do something. I don't know whether he's going
to be pleased to do it. He may send judgment upon America
by giving us a president that is out of their minds. You know, God puts the king on
the throne, takes the king off the throne, is that right? My
hope is not in Hillary at all, and it's certainly not in that
other guy. My hope is in the Lord. That's where my hope is. Well, it's really past time for
the church to be up in arms. And by that, I mean doing something
about what's going on. Say, well, pastor, you know,
we believe in predestination, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Predestination is not fatalism. Do all that your hands find to
do. Get busy. Pray. Register to vote. Big difference between fatalism
and predestination. Big, big difference. The Lord
God is for you. You know, one of the greatest
reasons for relapse is people live in the past. and people
take the accusations that are brought against them. You know,
you're a drug addict, you're never gonna be any better. I
remember 29 years ago when I came to Grace Centers of Hope, one
of our counselors, who hasn't been with us for about 28 years,
he said, the cure for the drug addict is lock them up and don't
let them out. You know, if we all got what
we deserve, we'd all be locked up. The Lord is for you. You're a
child of the King. You're a joint heir with Jesus
Christ. You have a robe of righteousness.
You have a mansion and a crown. God is not going to take you
out of the will. It's well with your soul. There's
no condemnation. There's no judgment. And not only that, but you can
do all things through Christ that strengtheneth you. Hey,
how about this one? You, child of God, are more than
a conqueror. Say, Pastor, would you explain
that to me? I really can't. I don't know
how you can be more than a winner. I guess you could say, I win,
I win, I win, I win, I win, I win, I win. I'm a winner, winner,
winner. More than a conqueror. Because you have a God who's
able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you ask or even
think. And last week in our text, it
said, herein is love, not that we loved God. Thank God he's
not counting on me. God's counting on your love.
No, no, your love is fickle and so is mine. But he is love. Sodom and Gomorrah, I couldn't
even find ten righteous, but here's what the Lord said if
there is ten I'm gonna save them I won't destroy If there's five
I won't destroy He has not appointed us to wrap anything in Christianity
that causes you to fear and shake is not of God and because perfect
love casteth out fear." So in these days, in these days, it
just looks crazy. I mean, if you watch the news,
it is just insane, insane what is happening. But our God, our
God reigns, and He's sovereign. And so in 1 John, here's what
we're told. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us, right? Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. Aren't you glad about that? I'm
glad about that. You didn't first find God, God
first found you. God has never been lost. Right? He knows what he's doing. He
has a plan, and he has a purpose, and that's good to know. But
I think those verses in 1 John, which says, perfect love casteth
out fear, directly address this fact that in the day of judgment,
we have boldness. Are you fearing standing before
God? Are you thinking like this as
a Christian? You know, I've done so much mess,
even since I've been converted, even since I've been saved, I
had a knowledge of salvation. I've done so much, I just don't
want to face God. In the old church, I used to
hear that a lot. You're going to stand before
God and you're going to give an account of everything you've
ever done that was wrong since you've been saved. Well, I'm
telling you, my brother, I don't want to stand before God giving
an account of things I've done since I've been saved. And you're
a liar if you do. Somebody ought to say amen louder
than that. Now, I know perfect people in
here. So that you might have boldness in the day of judgment. Boldness in the day of judgment?
Yes, because of God's love. And I want to talk to you a little
bit about that. This perfect love that casteth out fear. I think there are many of God's
little children who are in a state of perplexity. And it's my great
desire as your pastor to actually comfort you. Actually, my purpose
this morning and last Sunday was to comfort the little child
of God who comes in here. Hey, there's a lot of mess in
this place. We don't want to bring up the
past here. Two of you said amen. You know, if things are brought
up, there's all kinds of things that has been in your life. Please remember that I'm not
talking about human love, because you'll never enter into this
if you compare God's love with your love. I like the song, Oh, How I Love
Jesus, but I even like this more, He Loved Me When I Didn't Love
Him. God's love is a holy, righteous,
undefiled love, and God is always faithful. He's not like your
former husband or former wife who promised to love and to cherish
in sickness or in health, in poverty or in wealth, and then
walked out on you. God's love is not that kind of
love. You had a mom and dad who walked
out on you. Maybe you were abused. I don't
know what the problem is, but don't compare God's love to human
love. They're not comparable. In fact,
God's love says, this is what's said about God's love. A mother,
this is insane, a mother may forsake her suckling child. Think
about that. And we have read in my lifetime,
I've read of instances in the paper where a mom actually gave
birth and put her baby under a car tire, threw her baby in
the garbage. That might happen, but it doesn't
happen much. And that's what God said. A mother
may forsake her suckling child, but I will never leave you nor
forsake you. That's an awesome truth. Herein is love, not that we love
God. Think about that. All of you
here, God looked down from heaven in Psalm 14 to see if he could
find a good person. And the Bible says he couldn't
find a good person. He drew out his big telescope
and looked down through the ages. He's looking for a good man,
a good woman. And here's the declaration. There's
none good. There's none that seeketh after
God. Then how is it that you know
God? Oh, here's the wonder of it. When you didn't seek him,
he sought you. When you didn't want to find
him, he found you. That's the love of God. This
is called amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a
wretch like me. And Greg has read those scripture
to us. Everlasting love. See if you can get a hold of
this. This is mature love. If you can enter into this, you're
growing in this love of God, in this gospel of free grace. There never has been a time when
God didn't love you. everlasting love. See, most of
us are married to people that we have not known everlasting,
that we have not known from our birth, right? God has loved us
with an everlasting love. You go back as far as you can
go back, and God loves you. Go forward as far as you can
go forward, God loves you. That's to the elect of God. That's
to the little child of God. That's to those that God has
saved by his grace. He's always loved you. So I know
you're about to get off on that predestination and election and
all of that stuff. And I've been a Christian all
my life and I just don't believe that. I feel sorry for you because
you have not got into the perfect love that casts out fear. You get into that, and now you
got some weight to it. It wasn't like this, that God
looked down from heaven and saw you doing a lot of good things.
Oh, look at John. I think I love him. It wasn't that way at all. He
saw all of your mess and loved you in spite of it. That's what's
so amazing. Everlasting love. Yea, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
Ephesians 1, 4. Chose you. Think about what you've
done. Think about where you've been.
Think about how long you didn't know him. And yet you were chosen
before he ever said, let there be light. But pastor, pastor, you shouldn't
tell people that. Until the day I die, I will scream
here in His love, not that we love God, but that He first loved
us. Do what you will with this. I
find great comfort in Romans 8, 29. For whom He did for love
intimately, He did predestinate. Let me say it again, for whom
he did for love, for no. He said, well, God knows everybody. Yeah, but God didn't love everybody. I don't believe that. I don't
believe that at all. You don't have to believe that. I believe
this. According to the scripture, he
for loved some people. And those he for loved didn't
deserve it. You eliminate that element in
itself, and the wonder of it all really goes away. Here's
what I hear most preachers say, God gave us all a free will.
Jesus came to give everybody a chance. I want to tell you
this, my salvation is not chance salvation. And I want to tell
you this too, what's happening here at Grace Gospel Fellowship,
That flat parking lot out there, every big roller that rolls that
thing down, I think about the $500,000 to do that that came
in from nowhere as a gift. I mean, God did that. We didn't
deserve that. Here we are, a little inner city
church, and we bought a bar. No, we didn't buy it. Somebody
bought it for us. Here we are. A new women and children shelter
up the street, $5 million. We didn't do that. Look at us. Just look what a motley crew
we are. God has done great things for
us. 49 houses, blocks of houses, people getting their life back.
It's an awesome thing. It's an awesome thing, this love
of God. And let me tell you how he loved
you. He loved you intimately. You know that word foreknown
in Romans 8, 29, the word for whom he did foreknow, that's
a Greek word, but it's brother, it's twin brother in Genesis
in the Hebrew is found in Genesis where it says, and Adam knew
his wife. and she conceived. That doesn't
mean Adam said to mother Eve, me Adam, you Eve. It wasn't an
introduction. They were intimate and a child
was conceived for whom God foreloved intimately. Now just ponder that for a few
minutes. I'll know you get it if your hand goes up. Well, a
couple of you. Two hands, some of you. Love
me intimately? That ought to be enough to blow
your mind. I just don't feel like that stuff
you're talking about is fair. We're not talking about being
fair. You don't want God to be fair. You don't want what you
deserve. The amazing thing is God doesn't
give us what we deserve. Hallelujah! Praise God! Get this. God's been thinking
about you for a mighty long time. I know my thoughts toward you.
That's what God said. They're good and not evil. I'm
going to bring you to an expected end. Hope. I have a good hope, and
it's not a hope, a hope, a hope. Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand." So God's thoughts toward you
are ancient. His love for you is ancient. His love for you is good, and
he has good things planned for you. He's got it. When you see
this world on fire, I don't know what's going to happen next.
I really don't. I know something's going to happen.
Either there's going to be a turning or a burning. You can count on
that. Just remember those two words.
Either this nation turns or we burn. It's going to happen. It's
going to happen. Now, I'm going to do all I can
because of accountability and responsibility. I'm going to
vote. I'm going to register. I'm going
to hammer you every Sunday about, you are accountable. You are
a child of God. Do what's right. Vote God. Get
involved. Run for office. I'll get to that in a minute.
God's thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace. Peace, isn't
that a good word? Peace. That you may have boldness
in the day of judgment. God is not angry at you. Some
of you who have been recently converted here and come to know
the love of God, you don't completely get it, but you've had some crazy
thoughts this week, maybe even about relapsing. I don't know. And so the devil throws that
in your face. God's going to get you for that.
You're going to be punished for that. God speaks peace to you
through the blood of Christ. Do you know this? That the blood
has paid for every sin that you've ever thought, done, committed. Sometimes we talk about sin being
you know sins that we do but what about the things we're supposed
to do that we don't do Jesus paid it all all the dead. I owe
sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow Could I say this Even if you
say no, I will say it but could I say this You are the favorite
of heaven Who me? You're one of God's favorites,
but not because of what you've done. Not because of any goodness
in you. And this'll blow your head. This
is maturity in the love of God. He loves you because he loves
you. It was his will. Say, well, I
don't understand that. I know, neither do I. I don't
understand, but he chose us according to the good pleasure of his will. So I'm a little child of God's going
to get it here and you're going to go home from here happy. And
let me say this to you too. There are no accidental blessings.
God says, I know the thoughts I have toward you. You didn't
stumble into some blessing. This place is not being accidentally
blessed. The higher we lift Him up, the
more glory we give to Him, the more the blessings come down. Let me quote a passage for you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath, past tense, blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Every blessing that comes your
way, he bought and paid for. Do you know that right now there
are blessings out there you haven't received yet? Do you know that
right now in front of you are blessings already paid for? It's true. This is the mature. When you
get to the place where you are mature in God's love, you'll
find out the fear decreases. But when you think this, well,
we all got a free will, and it's all up to us, and God's counting
on us, and nobody's in real control, and there's a crazy, Washington
has gone crazy. I wouldn't advise anybody to
move to Washington anyway. Probably the craziest spot on
the face of the earth. But anyway, anyway, when you
look up there, you don't find help in the time of need. you
look to a mighty God, that's right. You know, our God is a God who
declares the end from the beginning. He's already told us what's gonna
happen. I already know what's gonna happen. Like I said, turn
or burn, it's gonna happen. I'm all, listen, I'm all packed. I'm packed up. Those of you who
play the trumpet, don't play the trumpet around me because
I think maybe this is it. For the trump of God shall sound,
and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible, undefiled,
that fadeth not away. And here's what God has said,
my counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure. That's what he said. And all of his thoughts toward
us are working for a perfect end. He's the one who said, Lazarus
is dead, you know, he says something, let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Hey, let me tell you something, in my father's house are many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to
prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be
also. Death shall come if Lord doesn't
come first for many of us here. And Jeremiah talked about, God
talked about that. He said, it's the expected end. I have such a good hope. In the book of Romans, the apostle
Paul said that we have a good hope. It's not, I hope, I hope,
I hope. It's a sure and a steadfast hope.
And that God's love will not put us to shame in the day of
judgment. You're not gonna stand before
God and say, oh, I was hoping you would forgive me. I was hoping
you didn't see that. I hoped you would look over that.
You have a good and sure hope. Isn't that exciting? Man, I wouldn't
watch the news if I thought this was it. I wouldn't watch the
news, I wouldn't read the newspaper if I thought that God was not
in control. But my God reigns, he's king,
he's sovereign. I know many in here love this
passage, so I'll quote it again. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, them he
also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Now watch this. Whom he justified,
them he also glorified. Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Just a moment. I don't see anything about death
in there because it's no concern for the child of God. Whom he
justified, he glorified. There's no ifs, no ands, no buts. It's a sure thing. If you're
justified, you're going to be glorified. And justification
is a legal term which means not guilty. And you're not guilty
because of the blood of Jesus Christ, not because of self-effort. This is the old gospel, the good
news, the glad tidings. Where did God find us? I don't
know whether you skipped over this, but you know the Bible
to me. Oh, let me back up just a minute. Before I formed you in your mother's
belly, I loved you. That's what he told Jeremiah.
And he said, Jeremiah, don't be afraid. How come don't be
afraid, Jeremiah? Because I'm in control here.
Before I formed you in your mother's belly, I loved you and predestinated
you to be a prophet. Okay, I missed that, so I want
to go back. My question was this, where did
God find you? I want you to tell me that and
say that in your own mind. Just think about where did God
find you? Now in the book of Jeremiah,
I don't know whether you missed this, but I was, as always, reading
passages again. And yes, in Jeremiah 31, You know, we quote this verse
so often. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea,
I have loved you with an everlasting love, and in tender kindness
have I drawn thee. He loved you, and in time you
were born, and he drew you. By the power of the Holy Spirit,
you were drawn to Jesus Christ. But the verse above it says this.
Thus saith the Lord, the people which were left of the sword
found grace in the wilderness. Oh, I'm about to get happy now.
Where did God find you? Well, it wasn't in the, you know,
God didn't find you in the goody places of your life. God found you in the wilderness.
God found me in the wilderness. It might've been the wilderness
of drug addiction. Maybe God found you in the crack
house. Some of you think God had been saved out of the church
house. Amen. Always like to throw in
you religious folks who may be here, but you don't know the
Lord in the free pardon of sin. There's not really any difference
between a drug addict and a churchy self-righteous Pharisee. Oh,
thank you. Who said that? Who said that? Okay. Okay. Some of you were
pretty quiet. Being religious is not knowing
the love of God. I wrote in my notes, down there
in the hood, that's where God found you. Six mile and Woodward. I got the streets right, didn't
I? Six mile and Woodward. Or maybe God found you in the
church wilderness, down there in the spooky organ music. down there in the rituals. God
found you in the wilderness down there in Lodibar, like Mephibosheth,
the dead dog by the side of the road. Jesus came by and laid
hands on you. God found you in the wilderness.
God found you in the valley of dry bones. In the valley of dry
bones that were very parched. And the fresh wind of the Holy
Spirit blew and gave life into those dry bones. God found some
of you in the open field. You were a babe just born. You
were not swaddled. Your navel was not cut. And God
came walking by and saw you in the field, defenseless, without
strength, hopeless, and helpless, and said, live! And God gave
you spiritual life. That's what's happened here in
his love. Not that we love God, but that
he first loved us. You were in the wilderness of
sexual perversion. You were an unfaithful gomer,
but the great lover of your soul tracked you down and provided
for you all of those days you were in your craziness. Say, well, you know, I should
have been dead long ago. No. That protective angel that God
sent to watch over you kept you alive to the appointed day. That's
what happened. How about this one? The great
shepherd of the sheep. 99. I had 100 sheep. Okay, you
99 stay here. I'm going after the one that's
out of the fold. And there he tracked you over
the mountains of vanity. You see your blood mark. He'll
know when he finds you because he knows his sheep. He knows
them by name. He tracked you over the mountains
of vanity, through the slew of sin, and there he began to see
you. He saw you. And finally, he caught
up with you because you were a real runner. You ought to have
been in the Olympics. And he ran faster than you. and caught up with you, and then
said, gotcha! He lay hold on you, but he didn't
turn you loose. He put you on his shoulders,
because you'd have never found your way back, stupid sheep. Sheep are the dumbest animals
in all of the world. They can go just a block away
from home and can't find their way back. They can find their
way out, but they can't find their way back. So the shepherd
came and found you. He laid you on his shoulders,
and he brought you back to the fold. And now 100% one day will
be presented to God the Father, lo, I and the children which
thou hast given me. Any missing? No, they're all
here. A number that no man can number.
You see, when I talk about election and predestination, I'm not talking
about somebody said, well, you only believe a handful of people
are going to be saved. Well, that is true. That is true. But I'm not talking about your
hands. I'm talking about God's hands. It depends on how big
your God is as to how many is going to be saved. And so because
God is such a big God, one day he decided to walk out wherever
he walked out of and said, let there be light. And there was
light. This is my belief. I believe
there's going to be more people in heaven than hell. You know
why? Because God never loses. God never loses. And one of the
things we're going to praise him for is his power to save. the mightiness of his grace.
You want fear to go away? Lose control yourself. Oh, I'm
preaching to myself now. You know, I'm a controller. I
just am. But a lot of times fear comes
because I try to control things. Let go and trust Christ, right? That's where you find peace. Well, I wish I could lift him
higher and do it better. Let's stand together and praise
our God.