Thank you. Thank you, John. Go back with me to 1 John 4 that
Brother Sammy read. 1 John 4, and read verse 16 again. 1 John 4, verse 16 says, We know, we have
known and believed the love that God hath to us. John is writing to believers.
He calls them beloved several times. He calls them little children. The question, the title of this
message is, Does God Love Me? That seems like a strange question
to most people in the world, because nearly everyone assumes
and believes that God loves everyone, because preachers have preached
that for so long, quoting John 3.16 almost exclusively. And I've told everyone for so
long that God loves every single person. But that is not so. False preachers all say that. Now, I want to say some things
that everyone in here has heard many times before. I thought
there might be a visitor or two in here, but there's not. Nevertheless,
these things need to be repeated. God does not love everyone. Scripture says, so many scriptures
that say this. Psalm 5, 5, God hateth all workers
of iniquity. Psalm 7, 11 says God is angry
with the wicked every day. Proverbs 6 lists several types
of persons, not sins, but persons that God hates. He that soweth
discord, he says, his soul hated. Malachi 1, Romans 9, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Not loved less, hated, hated. And any man who stands up before
everyone, and declares that God loves you, everyone without exception,
is a false preacher, a false prophet. He's a liar. There's a reason why this chapter
begins with false prophets. Many have gone out, and this
is their message. Like Jeremiah 23, where the Lord
said to Jeremiah, they say unto them that hate me, No evil shall
befall you. Peace, peace. In other words,
false prophets stand up and tell everyone without exception, God
loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That's what
false prophets say. No prophet ever stood up publicly
in all the Old Testament and told everyone, God loves you.
Not one. No apostle ever did that. All
the recorded sermons by the apostles are written in the book of Acts.
All of them. All the recorded ones. The only
ones we need to hear. The word love is nowhere to be
found in the book of Acts. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was
a preacher, never, ever stood up and told everyone, God loves
you and I came to die for you. Never. Never. That's clear, isn't it? That's
clear. So, why am I saying this? Just to
confirm to you that God has not left himself without a witness.
There are a few. There are a few, and it's so
rare. This is strange doctrine. To stand up and say, does God
love me? That's a strange question to
most. Well, of course he loves me. No. That's not so. That's not so. And our Lord, when he came and
preached, he preached, what was the first thing he preached?
Repent. See, perfect love casts out fear. If God loves you, if God loves
you, you have nothing to worry about. If God loves you, you're saved. Nothing can stop that. All right,
now let's talk about God's love a little bit. And I have 30,
40 minutes at the most to talk about the love of God. That's why Paul said, who is
sufficient for these things. All men and women are not the
children of God. All men and women are not loved
by God. But God does love many. God does love some. Thank God. God loves some. His love, number
one, is sovereign. He chose whom He would love.
He set His love upon them. There's nothing lovely. We love
those that love us. We love those that are lovely,
mostly, but not God, because there's none lovely, none good,
not one, no righteousness. And God set his love upon some
of these unloved, yet many. God purposed to love them. Look
at 1 John 4, verse 16. We have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. God is love. God is love. God must love. He must. And he
does. But he must not love everyone. There's nothing that says he
must love everyone. Right? Verse 19 says, We love
him because he first loved us. He first loved us. He set his
love upon us. Now, we're going to say us. all
through here. And all the way through this
book, it says things like this. They are of the world, therefore
the world here at them. We are of God. They and we. Them and us. Learn a lesson in
the English grammar language. It's them, all the way through
here, them. And us. The us here is talking
about God's people. Those that God loved. Those that
Christ died for. Those that God chose. The elect
of God. The chosen of God. Us. Whoever
they are. Us. Them. It says things like
this. They went out from us. But they
were not of us. If they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out from
us that it might be made manifest. They are not all of us. You see that? False preachers will stand up
and tell everybody, this is for you. God committed his love toward
us. Who's us? You see? Who's the us? When our Lord prayed
in John 17, He said, I pray not for the world. Didn't He? Why wouldn't He pray for everyone
He loved? He did. All that God gave Him, He loved.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me. For they are thine, and thou
art mine. Well, here's what I want us to
find out, and I hope that when this is over, we'll believe that
you'll believe that you're one of us, that God loves you. All right? God's love is sovereign. He first loved us, or we wouldn't
have loved Him. You love Him because He first
loved you. Verse 19 says this, we love Him. And verse 10, verse 10, herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loves us. God's love is sovereign. All
whom God loves knows. They know. But if God loves me,
He didn't love me because I loved Him. No, no, no, I was an enemy. I was an enemy when I heard about
this. Enemy, my own mind, my wicked
work. And he had to set his love on
me, because there's nothing loving about me. If we love God, it's
because he loved us and called us. And if we come, it's because
he They caused us to come. If we believe, it's because He
gave us the faith. We're talking about sovereign
grace. We're talking about sovereign mercy. We're talking about salvation
that's of the Lord. And it all begins with His love.
The love of God is what set in motion salvation. This is why
God chose to save a people. He loved them. But He chose whom
He would love. None worth loving. The love of
God is eternal and unchanging. The love of God is eternal and
unchanging. He said in Jeremiah 31, verse
3, Yea, I have loved thee, speaking to Jeremiah and all of God's
people. Not all the people in the world,
but all of God's people. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. An eternal love. Before the world
began, and it will have no end after the world is gone. An everlasting,
eternal love. Something that's eternal is unchanging. Unchanging. I am the Lord, I
change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
whom he says, Jacob have I loved. Nothing can change this. If God
loves me, he'll always love me. He'll always love me. Having
loved his own, John 13 says, how long do you love him? To
the end. To the end. Whoever God loves
will always be loved by him. Love and love never fails. Never fails. Verse 18, that's
why there's no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.
Fear has torment. If you don't believe that God
loves you, you're afraid He's going to cast you out. This is
why I'm asking this question. This is why I need to know. This
is why you need to know. If we can find out that God loves
us, we're one of His own and we'll always be one of His own.
And no matter what we do, no matter what happens, nothing
can change that because God doesn't change. His love doesn't change. If he loves you, you'll always
be loved. And he doesn't send people to hell that he loves.
Isn't that ridiculous? Would you cause people to suffer
forever that you love? God doesn't do that. It's certain
that God doesn't love everyone because there's a place called
hell. Which brings me to my next point.
God's love is effectual. God's love is saving love. God's
love is all-powerful love. Let me quote it to you again.
I have loved thee. Yay! It starts out that way. Yay! Yes! Not maybe, but yay
and amen. I have loved thee, like Ezekiel,
that child in a field. It wasn't capable of loving the
Lord, but the Lord said His love. He said, when I passed by you,
I saw you polluted. cast out, and it was a time of
love. And I said, Leah, I loved you,
and you're going to love me for loving you. But he said, therefore,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. You're coming. That's what God
says to all He loves. He doesn't stand back and say,
I hope you'll come. Try to woo them. He doesn't stand
back and try to convince them. Ask them if they'll accept Him.
Oh, no. It says they're drawn with cords. Cords of love. Cords of a man. Jesus Christ comes to all His
own. And He says like He said of that
wild ass's coat. Go and bring him to me." He's
coming. He's coming. Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. Draws
them. You're coming. Now, the irresistible
power of the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel,
everyone whom God loved, everyone whom God chose will come to Him. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall come unto me, drawn by the Spirit of God. There's no possibility that they
won't come. They'll all come. And Him that
cometh, no one escapes Him. Why? He loves them. That's why he
drew them. Not because they're lovely, but
because he is. Because he is love. Why do you
love me? Because God is love. And this
is love, greater love hath no man than this. And God didn't
commend the love toward us while we were righteous, but while
we were yet sinners. All right? So God's love is effectual. God's love is saving. God's love
is all-powerful. Whoever He loves, He saves, wouldn't
you? Do you love your children? If you could save them eternally,
would you? Would you? Oh, come on now. Sure you would. God can, and God does. If He doesn't, what good is His
love? What good is it? That's no love
at all, is it? What kind of love is it? My daughter
runs out in the street. My granddaughter. She runs out
in the street. She's in harm's way. And I just
stand by and hope for the best. That's no love at all, is it?
Here's the love of God. He sent His Son. That's my next
point. He sent His Son down here to
be a propitiation for them. See, they're under the law. All
of the people of God are under the curse of the law. They're condemned to die. And
they're going to die. They are dead. But Christ came
to take their sin, to take their punishment, not to ask them.
They're dead. They're like Lazarus. They're
dead in sin, trespassing in sin. And Christ came to be made sin
for them. They're in harm's way, all right.
They're damned and doomed. But Christ came, and He was damned
for them. He took their place, substitution.
Oh, God can save, all right, and He did. His name is Jesus
Christ. This is our God. He'll save us,
and He did. Came down here. And the love
of God is in Christ. That's what Romans 8, the last
verse, tells us plainly. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? And nothing. He goes on to mention
all these things. Death, life, angels, principality. You can't even do it. Your sins
won't do it. Because this love of God is in
Christ Jesus, our Lord. The love of God is in Christ. in Christ. It's by Christ. It's
through Christ. It's for His glory. Listen, here's
what it means to be in Christ. The love of God is in Christ.
God sent His death angel through Egypt. All right? There are sinners
in Egypt and there are sinners in Israel. Is Israel better than
Egypt? No. We've proved that they're
all under sin. No better than them. But God
loved Israel. Didn't he? God chose Israel. So what did God do? He revealed
a lamb. He revealed the Passover lamb.
And He told the elders to put the blood over the doorposts
and the lentils of every house wherein the people of God dwell,
the chosen of God, the elect of God. Put the blood on their
doorposts. And when I see the blood, these
are the ones I've chosen, these are the ones I love. Everyone
that was in the houses where the blood was over the doorpost,
God had mercy on them. He passed by them. Passed over. Lamb. Why did God have mercy
on them? The blood. And that started with
love. God loved Israel. Jacob, have
I loved, changed his name to Israel. Sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Why? I love them and I shall not love
them. Look at verse 10. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. The word propitiation actually
means atonement. It actually means covering. That
pitch. The same word that Noah put on
the ark, inside and out, where one drop of water couldn't touch
them. It's the same word as propitiation. Yes, it is. Pitch. Here's what it means to be in
Christ, be under the blood. Here's what it means to be in
Christ. There were eight souls saved. at the flood, when the
overflowing scourge of God's wrath, when the wrath of God
was revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, there were sinners that were saved. Eight of them. Only
eight. Few. Why were they saved? They were in the ark. That ark is Jesus Christ. That
ark bore the rain, that ark bore the wrath. When that flood destroyed
all flesh, one thing was lifted up, nothing on earth, no fleshly
thing was seen but the ark. That ark is Jesus Christ. He
said, if I be lifted up, if I be declared My people are going
to look to me, and they'll find out. They'll know that God has
loved them as He loved me and sent me to be their ark. Why
were eight souls in the ark? Why were eight people in the
ark? Did God go out and say, Would you come? Would you? We
sure hope you will. Here, I'll give you ten dollars
if you come, or I'll make you rich if you come. No, everybody's
going to lose everything. They went in the ark because
God brought them in the ark. God didn't. God said, come thou
in my house into the ark. And when they came into that
ark, God shut them in. Shut the door. And the Lord Jesus
Christ took the pitch and pitched that door shut that they can't
come out. That's what it means to be in
Christ. All that the Father giveth not
shall come to them. Of God are you in Christ. Who of God is
made unto us. Pinch. In Christ. The love of God is
in Christ. That's what it means. I couldn't
make it any plainer. It means to be in the Ark. And that Ark
bore the wrath of God. That Ark is Jesus Christ. We
know that the Son of God has come, John wrote, the next to
the last birth, and has given us an understanding. that we
may know Him that is true and we're in Him that is true, even
in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is the true God and
this is eternal life. But now, does God love me? Can I know that God loves me? I understand what you're saying,
preacher, that God loves His people and God chose His people.
gave them to Christ, and God put them in Christ's ark, and
Christ died for them and put away their sin. He's made unto
them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
All their salvation is in Him, and if you're in Christ, you're
one of God. You're saved. Nothing can separate
you from the love of God that's in Christ, but does He love me? Can I know that I'm in Christ? Can I know that God loves me? It's not a feeling. You can't
say, well, I feel it, God. Oh, no, don't you get it. Feelings
come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. All right, now let's
look at it. Verse 14 says, we have seen the
New Testament, verse 16, we have known, verse 16, and believed
the love that God hath to us. All right, first of all, if you, if God loves you, you
know, I've already said that. I'm going to repeat it. That's all preachers do anyway,
just keep repeating what God says until finally we say, oh, I see, like we do our children. Do you love everything you've
heard so far? Do you love, in other words,
that God is sovereign? That God is eternal and unchanging and all-powerful? That God does as he will with
whom he will. His right to be God. His will. You see, Romans 8, 28 says, All
things work together for good to them that love God, who are
the called according to His purpose. Everyone that God loves, loves
God. Meaning, they love God as God. They love that He's Everybody
doesn't like that. If you stand up and declare,
if I stood up and preached everything I preached to you thus far in
a public place, there would be people gnashing their teeth.
There are people that hate this. While you're sitting there, Brother
John, nodding your head and smiling and loving this. Loving to hear
God exalted. Loving to hear of God's sovereignty.
Who makes you to differ, John? Who makes God different? Why
do you love that God is God and they hate that God reigns over
them? Why? God loves you. You love Him because He first
loved you. All that God loves, love God
as God. Everybody says that, don't they?
Everybody says, I love God. And they like to brag about it,
don't they? They put bumper stickers on their car, I love God, I love
Jesus. No, they love themselves. That's
why they did that, to show everybody their love. But God's people
do love God as God. They love that He's holy. They
love that He's righteous. They love that He's sovereign.
They love that He's just. They love his name, and they
don't take it in vain. They fear his name. They fear
his name. They're zealous for the glory
of his name. This is how you know who God
loves. He puts the love of His name in them. He puts the fear
of God in them, and they dare not. I love my Father. I respect
my Father, Henry Mahan. I don't drag His name around.
I don't use it flippantly or carelessly. I don't use it in
any way but in reverence and respect to Him. That's the sons
of God. Those that God loves, He puts
the fear of God in them. He puts there the love of His
name in them. Don't bring my Father's name
down. Anybody that uses his name in
vain doesn't know God. God doesn't love them. All who God loves, they love
His Word. They love His Word. They love
His truth. Those that God doesn't love,
they turn away their ears from the truth. But everyone that
God loves, they love His truth. They love His Word. They say
to a man, to a person, they all say, let God be true. Every man
a liar. Every single one of them. Our
Lord in His prayer, John 17, He says, I've given them. Who? His disciples, His chosen, those
that God loved, those that God gave to Him. I've given them
Thy Word and they've received it. They've believed it. And
they love it. They love the truth. The truth
about God. The truth about man. You can
call them what you will. You can call them worm. You can
call them dog. You can call them unworthy. You
can say they're unlovely. You can say they're ring-straight. They don't care. They love it. They love the truth. They love
His salvation. Let such as love thy salvation. All whom God loves, they love
His salvation. They love the salvations of the
Lord. They love that He gets all the
glory. Those that love thy salvation
say, let the Lord be magnified. And they hate when man gets any
of the glory. They hate when man stands up
and gets any credit. They hate that because they love
God's name. They love His glory. They love
His Son. All that God loves, they love. Look at this. In John,
let's see, 14. Look at this. John 14. Go over
there. I've got it written down here. be calm. But I hope the zeal of God's
house keeps me up. The love of God for his glory,
I want to know, because I want to know that he loves me. Boy, you know love is consuming,
isn't it? Love is consuming. Love is zealous. Love is active. Love is fervent. You don't just, yeah, yeah, well,
do you love me? Well, I guess. If your love is truth, you try
this sometime. Stand up here. If it gets a hold
of you, it's hard to be calm. Honestly. I was dating my wife,
and it consumed. John 14 verse 21 says, He that
hath my commandments, and keepeth them. His Word. He it is that
loveth me. Lays hold of the truth. He loves me. And he'll be loved
of my Father, and I will love him. Judas said, How, Lord? How
will you manifest thyself unto us? Not scary, Judas. The Lord answered, If a man love
me, he'll keep my words. He'll lay hold of what I say.
Words of life. And my Father will love him.
That's why He loves the Word. My Father loves Him. And we'll
love Him. We'll always love Him. And come
unto Him and make our abode with Him. He that loveth me not keepeth
not my sayings. Verse 24. He doesn't keep my
sayings. He doesn't love this. And all that God loves, they
love His Word. They love His truth. They love
His salvation. They love His worship. They love
His worship. If you love somebody, you want
to be with them. If you love somebody, you're proud of them.
You brag on them. You extol them. You honor them.
Don't you? If you love somebody... Those that love God, they love
to worship God. They love to hear about Him.
They love Christ. They want to be with Him. They
love to hear His Word. They love to sing of His praises.
That's how you know who God loves. When our Lord said this, he said
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me will be in them
when he prayed. That the love that you've loved
me might be in them. In other words, God loved his
son so much, that he never spoke with a couple of times, and when
he started thinking about his son, He spoke out loud for all
heaven and earth to hear, this is my beloved Son, I'm well pleased. And the love that the Father
loves for the Son, all of God's people, we love Him too. And they all get together. We're going to get together and
worship the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm coming too. Why? I love Him. You're going to talk about my
Lord? You're going to honor my Lord?
It's just the marriage supper of the Lamb. Yes, we're all honoring
the Lamb. I want to come. Why? I love Him. Oh, do you? Why? Because He first
loved me. And to Him that loved us and
washed us from our sin. Everybody in heaven is there
because they love Christ. Why do they love Christ? Because
He first loved them. They love His worship. And I
got a hurt. Those that God loves. Hate themselves. They hate themselves. In Ezekiel 36, where the Lord
said, I will, this is salvation. He said, I'll take them from
the heathen. He said, I'll gather them from I'll wash them. I'll cleanse them. I'll give
them a new heart. I'll cause them to walk. I will
save them. The Lord did it all. Chose them, loved them, called
them, washed them, bought them, taught them, brought them. Okay? And then He says, and you shall
know yourself. Every one of them will hate themselves. All that God loves hate themselves. The natural man doesn't hate
himself. The religious man doesn't hate himself. He loves himself.
He loves his righteousness. He's self-righteous. Self-love. All of God's people, they hate
themselves. They hate themselves. All that
God loves, they love Christ. They love Him, His righteousness.
And they say of their own, it's a filthy rag, They know why they're saved. The blood of Christ. The righteousness
of Christ. Every one of them. No mistake. No mistake. They shall all be taught of God.
Every one of them know that God loves them. They are taught of
God the Holy Spirit. That if righteousness comes by
the law, Christ didn't need to come. And they all know to a
man that we're under the curse and the only way that God could
save us is for Christ to be made a curse for us. The only way,
that's it. One way. One way. Not me and Christ, no. Christ
alone. Christ alone. All that God loves, they love
the brethren. Look at chapter 3, verse 14. And you know this is all the
way through 1 John. 1 John 3.14 says, We know we
have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Now, he's not
talking about your flesh and blood brother. He's talking about
brethren in Christ. Because our Lord said, He that
hateth not his father and mother, sister, brother, and so forth,
cannot be my disciple. He that loveth father, mother,
son or daughter more than me, cannot be much sad, is not much
sad. This is supernatural. This is something that only the
love of God could produce in a human being, is that they love
the brethren like a brother. Our Lord said, if you love them
that love you, what thank have you? There's nothing. Heathen
love their own children. They love their own. Now, this
is supernatural. This is where the love of God
sheds abroad in their heart. They begin to love God's people
like their own flesh and blood. In fact, they prefer them over
their flesh and blood, provided that their flesh and blood are
unbelievers. But if your flesh and blood is
a believer, what a double blessing you have. Your husband or your
wife, what a blessing that is. Sister is a believer, what a
blessing that is. But you don't love them more.
This is how you know. The love of God put in his people. David said, I'm a companion.
David had lots of siblings, didn't he? He had lots of brothers,
didn't he? David said that I'm a companion
of them that feared him. They're my people. That's what
Ruth said, didn't he? When the Lord brought her out,
Ruth said, you're people. my people. What was the name
of her sister that stayed back? Anyway, I forget. Who's that
woman, famous woman? Orpah, not Oprah. Orpah was Ruth's sister. She stayed back with her gods.
Ruth said, I'm not. These are my people now. This
is my family now. The ones that love Christ. That's
my family. Who can do that but God? Everyone
God loves. They love the brethren. Brother Henry and I are so different.
Our upbringing, everything about us is completely different. Completely
different. But that's my dear brethren.
My dear older brothers, no one I'd rather be with than Henry
Soar. That's right. Even over my flesh and blood,
brother. I mean it. Now, that's not, that's of God.
That's of God. Those that God loves, they love
their brethren. Those that God loves, and I quit.
So they are called of God by the gospel, every one of them.
He called you by our gospel, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you. by our Gospel. You've heard the
Gospel. What does that make you do? Call
on the Lord. You wouldn't call if He didn't
call you. And you keep calling. All that God loves, He calls.
And all that God loves, they call on Him. They call on Him. And they keep calling. And they
keep calling. And they'll never quit calling.
They'll never quit calling. What for? The same thing they
call on the Lord. The Lord save me, or I perish. All that God loves, He leads
them. He sends His Holy Spirit. Our
Lord said this, He said, I go away, but I'll send another couple
to you. Our Father loves you like He
loves me. And the Holy Spirit ministered
to Christ all His days as He lived by faith, ministered to
Him. And Christ is leaving. And Christ said, I'll pray to
the Father. And He'll send you a Comforter. He's going to lead
you and guide you and protect you and minister to you and do
all things for you. I'm not leaving you comfortless.
I'm not leaving you alone because the Father loves you like He
loves me. He didn't leave me alone. He sends the Holy Spirit
to lead, to guide, to convict all that God This message was
really born, and this verse came to my mind, when one of our ladies
said this at the dinner table the other day. We were all sitting,
several couples after service last Sunday. And one of the ladies
said to me, I just feel like if anybody's left out, it's going
to be me. She said, I look around, I see
all these people, and I just feel like I'll be the only one
left out. Only one left out. In other words,
she felt like such a terrible sinner, so unworthy, that if
anybody is left out, it's going to be me. Well, sister, I've
got good news for you. I've got really good news for
you. You can bank your soul on this. This is a faithful Savior. This is a true Savior. And it
cannot be altered that Christ came into this world to save
sinners. The chance that if you feel yourself to be the worst,
you can mark it down. God be it. You can mark it down. God loves you. Do you hear me
now? Somebody. I just heard that like
the first time. If God loves me, He's convincing
me by the Holy Spirit, you're the chief of sinners. He that's
forgiven much will what? Love much. Why? We love Him because
He first loved us. Mark it down. If you feel like
the last left, that you'll be the last, you'll be left out,
you're going to be the first. If you feel like the chief of
sinners, you'll have the chief seat of glory next to Christ,
like Mephibosheth. Isn't that good news? You can write it down with a
pin of iron and a rock, that if you feel less than the least,
you are absolutely loved by God. And all whom God loves, he chastens. Whom the Father loves, he chastens.
Chasten means many things. It means to convict. Why would you chasten a child?
Because they've done something wrong. Right? You're going to correct them.
It's not punishment. No, God doesn't punish His people. He punished Jesus Christ. He
punished His Son. He doesn't punish His people.
But nevertheless, they are chastened with a rod. He doesn't spare
the rod. What is his rod? What is the
cheap rod that God uses to chasten his people? Right here. Thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort men. It should be a great comfort
to you if God's Word convinces you of your sin. If God's Word
convinces you of your guilt, it should be a great comfort
that God takes his rod and he chastens you. Not punished. The rod of God's wrath fell down
on Jesus Christ. The rod, the sword of His justice
pierced the heart and the soul of Jesus Christ so that yours
would not be. But nevertheless, the rod of
God's Word convicts and breaks the heart. But the same rod,
the same sword that breaks the heart heals it. Thy rod and thy
staff. They comfort me. The rod that
says, you ought to be cast out. Look at you, you're guilty. It's
the staff that says, no, you're coming to me. You ought to be
cast out. You sorry sinner you, but no,
you're coming in. Now I know why it's cast you
out. By rod and by staff. God chastens. He corrects. He corrects. These trials and these troubles
are not proof that God's against you. It's just the opposite. Trials and trouble are proof
that God loves you. Do you hear that? Why is this happening to me?
If it doesn't, God doesn't love you. But if it does, Job. I always come back to Job, don't
I? Because God put that there, the
oldest book, to show us something. Who did God love? Who did God
say, I accept this person, him? Job. Who had everything taken
from him? Who went through all these troubles?
Who had all this sorrow? Who was so convicted and so? Job. He's my servant. I love him. And this chastening
is correcting. It's taking away the dross. It's putting us, giving us an understanding We're
not of this world, the things of this world. He's weaning us
from this world. In this world, you shall have
tribulation. It's a good thing and we wouldn't want to leave
it. Wouldn't want to leave it. And the world doesn't have the
troubles. Some do, but not like God's people. And God's weaning because He
loves them. He's weaning them from this world,
setting their affection on things above, not on things of the earth,
and weaning them. And if God loves you, He puts
you in His fold. He puts you in His body. He puts
you in His church. He makes you a member of His
body, a member one of another, joined together like a toe and
a foot and a foot and a leg, finger and a hand. A hand and
an arm puts you in a member of that body. And one's not less
than another. They're all members of that body. And they all glorify the head,
which is Christ. Does God love me? Does God love
me? I want to know. Well, do you
love God? Do you love His Word? Do you
love His truth? Do you love His Son? Do you hate
yourself? Do you love His salvation? He
loved the salvations of the Lord. He loved His people. He loved
His worship. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of
God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the
things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of
God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved
the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of
God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He
loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved
the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He
loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God.
He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He
loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved the things of God. He loved
That's not it. What number is it? Sixty-seven. Sixty-seven is a
good number. How can it be? Number sixty-seven. Let's stand.