Good morning, let's all stand
together and we'll sing hymn number 40, hymn number 40. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not Thy compassions
They fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever will be Great is
Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning
new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided. ♪ Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord, unto me ♪ Summer and winter and springtime and harvest Sun,
moon, and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in
manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin, and a peace that
endureth. Mine own dear presence to cheer
and to guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand
beside Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning
by morning new mercy I can be seated. Hymn number
67, number 67. O Savior, as my eyes behold the
wonders of thy might untold, the heavens in glorious light
arrayed, the vast creation thou hast made. And yet to think Thou lovest
me My heart cries out How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love her so like
me? Oh, how can it be? As at the cross I humbly bow
And gaze upon thy thorn-crowned brow And view the precious fleeting
form By cruel nails so bruised and torn Suffering was for me. In grief I cry. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like
me? Oh, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Was ever grace so full and free? From heights of bliss to depths
of woe In loving kindness Thou didst go from sin and shame to
rescue me. Oh, love divine, how can it be? How can it be? How That God should love a soul like
me Oh, how can it be? Let's open God's Word together. And I'd like us to read Psalm
27. Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired
of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of
trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of
his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a
rock. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with
my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer
me. When thou said, seek ye my face,
my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide
not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not. Neither forsake me, O God of
my salvation. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way,
O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the
will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against
me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage. and he shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Our kind and gracious, most gracious
and heavenly Father, we join our hearts together this morning
and praise thee in our hearts for thy great goodness and mercy. Thank you for your blessed word
that we just read. Thank you for the blessed promises
of your eternal, unchanging word. Thank you for the faith you've
given us to believe you, to believe your word, to trust in your son.
Help us to worship him this morning. Help us to honor him, to lift
him up, to set him forth. Give us eyes to see him more
clearly. Give us a fresh glimpse of our dear Savior. Oh, how beautiful is our Savior.
Thank you, you've given us a glimpse of him. We thank you that you've sent
him to be our substitute for sin. Thankful that he by himself purged
our sin is now set at our right hand. Making intercession for
us and in him is our hope. And it's a good hope. It's an
everlasting hope because it's in him who cannot fail. Thank you for the gathering of
your people. Thank you for this time of worship in this. Dreary
world that so Such a burden to us, we're a
burden to ourselves. And we can come and read your
word that we can believe what thou has said. For you're able to bring it to
pass what you've purposed. And how we take great comfort
in that. And it's never a fool's errand
to believe you, to believe your word. Thou must be believed, thou canst
be believed. You can be trusted fully. Trust you with our never-dying
souls, the souls of our children and our grandchildren, our loved
ones. Save them by your grace, we pray, those that we love,
those that we call out their names from time to time. Lord,
be with us in this service, come and speak through Cody as he
stands before us and opens your word. Make your word alive to
us. Send your spirit to enliven our
hearts and our minds and give us ears and eyes, spiritual ears,
spiritual eyes, and speak to us, Lord. We need you to speak
to us. We need to hear from you. We can't do nothing without you.
We look to you to supply our every need and you're fully able
and can supply every need of every soul and not be in the
least diminished. How great thou art. Thank you
for the throne of grace whereby we have access through Christ
our Lord. Honor him in this service. He
alone is worthy. Save your people. Keep us, guide
us, lead us, and leave us not to ourselves. We ask these things
in Christ's dear name. Amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing the hymn in the bulletin. A debtor to Jehovah's law, my
soul by And justice was about to draw
his sword to shed my blood. Sinner, stand forth, he sternly
cried. and pay me what you owe. Tis done, said Jesus, for I died
to lose Him and live. I am his surety, I the Lord. Behold my word. He spake and justice dropped
his sword and said, I'm satisfied. When first I heard I sure did,
boys and gays. It made my fainting heart rejoice
And made my songs awake. Take the praise of grace and
love so vast. Be Thou my surety all my days,
and clear Well, we're all thankful to have
Brother Cody with us again this morning. I'm pretty sure everybody
knows Cody. I sure have looked forward to
hearing the message this morning. So I'll get out of the way, Brother
Cody. You come on. Bring the message. Good morning. It's good to be
with you all again. Your brethren in Kingsport send
their love and greetings. I feel like I usually forget
to say that, but they always do. I invite your attention to
the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 31. Let me say this, it's always
a tremendous honor to be asked to come preach God's word, his
glorious gospel. I don't have anything new to
tell you, just the same old story that hopefully we all love to
hear. This isn't about me, it's not
about us, it's all about our Lord Jesus Christ and I pray
that he'll be glorified today. With me here in Jeremiah 31,
I want to Preach from this one verse, it's verse three. It's
from the first time God ever truly enabled me to rejoice in
his word. This is one of the earliest verses
I've memorized and come to truly love and adore. I find this verse
absolutely precious, and I hope you do too. Jeremiah 31, verse
three. Says, the Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. What a wonderful verse of scripture.
Now, as I read that verse, this question comes to my mind. Does
this apply to me? People often err assuming all
the scriptures pertain to all people. That's just not so. This is the title of my message,
Does God Love Me? This is a very important question. And it's a question we all need
to ask. Does God Almighty The Lord God,
Jehovah, does he love me? Now, it goes without saying there's
a very common misconception that we're just wasting our time asking
that question because of course God loves me. I had people all
my life growing up. I'd hang out with people and
they'd take me somewhere, drop me off at home and say, God loves
you. Smile, Jesus loves you. I heard that all the time. I
still hear it fairly often. Most people believe in a universal
love. It's just by default God has
extended his love to all. That's just not so. And here's the thing. I'm not
here to give you my opinion on the matter. My opinion and yours
don't mean squat. What matters is what God says.
I'm gonna show you that's what God said, all right? Now, if
we wanna go home, believe in ourselves or believe in some
hack of a preacher rather than believe in God, that's on us.
We're commanded to believe God and his word, and I pray he'll
enable us to be. The notion that God has extended
his love and now it's up to me to love him back, it's up to
me to accept his love. It's up to me to do something
with his love. It's up to me to now I'm going to earn his
love. I'm going to prove myself worthy of his love or vice versa. Who cares? I'm not interested
in God. I don't need his love. Listen, if God's love is not
powerful enough to save me, If God's love is not effectual enough
to cause me to love him back, if God's love and God's love
alone is not sufficient to keep me and everyone whom he loves
out of hell, then what kind of love is that? If God's love can't
keep me out of hell and eternal condemnation for sin, then what
kind of love is it? Seriously. Love that fails In accomplishing
its purpose, what kind of love would that be? I remind you,
this is God we're talking about. This is God's love we're talking
about. Now, I understand our love fails. It just does. It's no wonder divorce is so
common. And I'm not here to pick on someone who's been divorced.
That's not my business. Say you're not divorced. Do you
ever get angry at your spouse? I sure hope I'm not the only
one. I hope we're not the only ones. But isn't it sad that someone
we love, the person we love the most, we can find ourselves fuming
angry at them from time to time? Isn't that sad? Isn't that a
sad testament of our love? God's love isn't like that. God
doesn't change his mind, well, you see what they did? I'm not
gonna love him anymore. I just, I can't put up with this
anymore. That's not how God loves. Aren't
you thankful? Let's see what God's word has
to say about this. Verse three again, it says, the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me. That's a particular person. It's
not for everybody. Last time I was here, we looked
at when the Lord appeared unto Moses. The Lord appeared unto
Abraham. He appeared unto Isaac, unto
Jacob. He appears to His people and to His chosen people alone.
Verse 1 says, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee. It's just like, I love my spouse. You love your spouse. God loves
his. God loves it. His love is a distinguishing
love. It's a particular love. He said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. He doesn't love everybody.
He doesn't love everybody. He goes on to say right here,
he says, therefore, with love and kindness, have I drawn thee.
Thee. Not everybody's drawn, you know
that? You say God loves everybody,
well then why is not everybody drawn to love him back? Why is
everybody not drawn to him? We're gonna look at a few verses
today, turn to Psalm 65. And I'm not here just to hammer
home a doctrine, that's not my goal. That's not my goal at all. I pray that God might reveal
his love to us today. It's a loving message. It's a
loving, it's a hard saying to the flesh. Oh, but to God's people,
it's the most loving, wonderful thing we've ever heard. To hear
of his love for his own. Look here in Psalm 65, verse
four. Psalm 65, four. Our brother David learned this
by experience. He said, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may
dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Whom does God
love? He loves those whom he chose. The blessed man or the blessed
woman is the man or woman whom God from eternity chose. He chose to love, He set His
everlasting love upon them. And in time, He causes that man
or woman to approach unto Him. He draws them to Himself because
He loved them. Because He loved them. Look over
at Psalm 135. And I pray we'll see this. All
the scriptures are in complete agreement here. They don't contradict
each other, not at all. Look at Psalm 135, verse 4. Psalm 135 verse 4, For the Lord hath chosen Jacob
unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure, his purchased
possession. God chose to love Jacob, that
wretched sinner Jacob. Why? Because it pleased him to
do so. He didn't deserve it. If you
know, maybe someone, maybe someone here today has heard all their
life. God loves everyone. Of course, God loves me. Why
would he not love me? And now you're hearing me say
this that contradicts what you've heard all your life. Perhaps
it perhaps it angers you. Let me just ask you this question.
Why? Why? Why would it anger you that God
loves a particular people? Is it because you think that's
not fair? Makes sense, right? Well, how
could God love you and not you? Let me say this. God is God and
we're not. He's the potter, we're the clay.
Cannot the Lord do what he will with his own? Hath not the potter
power over the clay? We're not in the place of God.
Here's a better question. Why would God love me? Ask yourself
that question. You know, people like to use
the term soul searching. Do some soul searching. Let's
do some soul searching. Why would God love me? We just
sang a song. How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? That's a good question to ask.
That's a great question for us to ask ourselves. I've heard
this said, and I sure agree with this. I can see why God would
hate Esau, but it will never cease to amaze me how in the
world could God Almighty love Jacob. I see why God would hate me.
I see that crystal clear because God has shown me what I am. But
how in the world God could love me? I just, I can't. Why would God Almighty look my
way? What is man that thou art mindful
of him? How can it be? Look back in our text, Jeremiah
31. I want us to see the context here
of verse 3, look at verse 1, Jeremiah 31, verse 1. It's always
important to see the scriptures in their context. Jeremiah 31,
verse 1. At the same time, saith the Lord,
will I be the God of all the families of Israel. and they
shall be my people." God has a people and he tells us right
here who it is. All the families of Israel. Now
it's not talking about that country in the Middle East. It's not
talking about them. Israel And it starts with Jacob. God changed Jacob's name. He gave him a new name, Israel.
It's the same person, okay? And all through the scriptures,
Israel represents God's people, God's chosen, God's elect. Israel, spiritual Israel. And God right here declares His
everlasting love for them. Israel. In Romans 9, we're told
that, he tells us, it's not the country. They're not all Israel,
which are of Israel. He says, the children of the promise,
they're counted for the seed. In Isaac, shall thy seed be called.
It's talking about his elect people. The God of Israel, that
phrase is in the Bible 203 times. The God of Israel. He's the God
of Israel. Now I want to show you something.
Turn back the previous book, Isaiah chapter 54. shouldn't
be too far Isaiah 54 look right here verse 5 with me Isaiah 54
verse 5 for thy maker is thine husband
the Lord of hosts is his name and thy Redeemer the Holy One
of Israel the God of the whole earth shall he be called as maker
and Jehovah He's the God of the whole earth, but as husband and
redeemer, he's the God of Israel. He's the Savior of Israel. Turn back to our text. Jeremiah 31, verse 1 again. At
the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the
families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Why? Because I love them with
an everlasting love. Because what we're told in Romans
11 verse 26, all Israel shall be saved. They shall be. Anytime I get to a text where
God says, I will and they shall. God doesn't want to be your God.
He has a people, he said, I will be their God. God isn't hoping
that you'll wind up to be one of his people. He said, they
shall be my people, period. It's not up to us. It's not in
our hands. God loves whom he will. They're his people. He's
their God. And nothing can ever change that.
I can't change that. Look right here at verse 11.
This is wonderful too. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. You know what's stronger than us? Our sin. We're in bondage
to our sin. But He tells us right here, He
hath redeemed us. If we're within, if we can identify
with Jacob, conniving trickster, evil brother, sinner, He hath
redeemed us. Truly God is good to Israel,
is He not? Look right here at verse 2. Thus saith the Lord,
the people which were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
God's people are those who are left of the sword. I obviously
didn't know what we were going to sing today, but I want to
read a few words of that song we just sang in the bulletin. You think about the sword of
God's justice. And actually, we don't know anything
about that. We think we're good, fine people. We think God ought
to look our way. Why should he? Listen to this. As a debtor to Jehovah's law,
my soul by nature stood, and justice was about to draw his
sword to shed my blood. That's what we deserve. The soul
that sinneth it shall die. We're gonna stand before God.
We must stand and give an account. Okay? Sinners stand forth, he
sternly cried, and pay me what you owe. We didn't say a word. but someone
stood in our place. Someone is gonna stand in our
place, and listen. "'Tis done,' said Jesus, for
I died. Loose him and let him go. I am
his surety, I the Lord. Behold my wounded side.' He spake,
and justice dropped his sword and said, I'm satisfied." Do
you need that? That blessed my heart so much.
I knew I was mentioning a verse about the sword. Oh, that blessed
my heart. Do you need a surety? Do you
need a substitute to stand in your place? I love the way that's
worded right here. Those left of the sword, they
found grace in the wilderness. You know, we're living in a wilderness.
It's a wilderness. This world and myself, it's just
a desert, barren land. Hmm. Do you need God's grace? I thought
of our brother Noah. It tells us that he found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God, if you look at the account
back there in Genesis, he tells us that God looked down from
heaven and he saw every imagination of the thoughts and intent of
man's heart was nothing but evil continually. And then it tells
us, but Noah found grace. Well, Noah must have been an
exception. No, no. You know, there's just one vile,
sinful heart of man. We have the same heart. God says
it's desperately wicked, and He knows it. Deceitful, so deceitful
we convince ourselves there's something good in there, when
there ain't. Thank God for His grace. Noah
wasn't looking for God's grace. You know, you find something
when you're looking for it, don't you? God's ways aren't our ways. Noah wasn't
looking for it, neither was I. Grace found me. He's found of
them that sought him not, asked not for him. That's what he tells
us. You know, think about this. Grace, grace is not something
we merit. Grace is a gift. Grace is a sovereign
gift. God gives it to whom he will.
He gives it to those whom he loves. The gift of grace, aren't
you thankful for the gift of grace? It tells us there at the
end of verse two, he said, when I went to cause him to rest,
we don't have to go accomplish rest. People are living, trying
to earn eternal rest, trying to achieve this, trying to get
it. Christ already purchased it for
us. Christ came into this world.
He labored to give us rest. He said, come unto me. You quit
trying to save yourself. Come to me, all you that labor
in our heavenly land. I'll give you rest. He is our rest. People want to keep the Sabbath.
Christ is our Sabbath rest. Look to him. Rest in him and
him alone. Oh, God gives his people rest,
glorious rest. God's love for his own. It's
a particular, distinguishing, special, amazing, saving love. That's point one. I got two more
points, I'll try to be quick. God's everlasting love. You know,
first let me say this, it's his love. So many people like to
talk about how they love God, their love for God. Not me, I
have no interest in telling you about my love for God. I'm only
interested in thinking of and talking about his love for his
own. That's the only love worth mentioning. There's no other
love worth talking about. Just His. Just His love. If I'm going to stand here and
boast of my love for God, I clearly don't know God or a thing about
His love. Otherwise, I'd understand. Only
His. Not mine. Only His is worth mentioning.
I love this too. There's a hymn I like. It says
this. His love had no beginning, no cause in me was found, that
he should choose to save me, a sinner strongly bound. The
cause isn't found in us. And if we love him, it's because
he first loved us. We're not going to get the glory
for any of this. None of it. It's his love. His love alone. His love, he loved us freely. It's not that Well, you're not
a good spouse anymore. I think I'm just gonna, this
time I'll leave you. God said concerning his own, he said,
I'll never leave you, never. I'm never gonna forsake you.
You know, we just read the verse about father and mother forsaking
me, the Lord will take me up. It doesn't matter who leaves
us, our Lord won't. Our Lord will never leave us, never. Though we certainly don't deserve
him. I love thinking about this. We cannot earn God's love, but
we can't lose it either. Turn with me to the book of Romans.
Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, verse 8. Romans
5, 8. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
I want to comment on that word, commendeth. It means to show,
to prove, to establish, to exhibit. That's what it means. God showed
his love. God proved his love for his people. It tells us right here in verse
6, it's the ungodly, sinners, God proved his love for them
by sending Christ to die for them. You know, it's one thing
to say, I love you. It's another thing to prove it
by your actions. Well, our text, he said it, right? I've loved
you with an everlasting love. There in Romans 5, 8, he proved
it. He came and he died for us. Now, if God has loved me with
an everlasting love, if Christ, because of his eternal love for
me, came and died for me, Do you think it's even remotely
possible that I can somehow get myself out of his love? You know, if my hope is in my
decision, then yeah, I can see that. If my hope is in have I
done enough, yeah, it probably ain't gonna work out too well.
But if it all hinges on him and his love for me and what his
love has accomplished for my soul, I can't do anything to
mess that up. Neither can you, brother. Oh,
God's love is everlasting. It's continuous. It's never-ending.
Never-ending. While you're here in Romans,
turn over to chapter 8, familiar chapter. I want to read the last
two verses there. Let me say this about God's love.
God's love is in a person. You say His love is two people. There's one whom God loves. Look
here in Romans 8, 38. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now, nothing
can separate, I just told you, we can't lose the love God has
given us. Nothing. Not life, not death.
Nothing in between. Nothing can separate us from
God's love. But he tells us there at the end, God's love is in
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, God loves us for Christ's
sake. Not because of something good
about me. For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. If there's
something good in here, it's Christ in me. You want to see Cody outside
of Christ? There's nothing good in there. Nothing. Nothing. I mean, nothing. Think about
this. When it comes to who God loves,
think about what God loves. God loves righteousness. Do you
know what we are? Sin. Sin. That's all we are. From the top
to the bottom. Sin. God doesn't love that. God hates sin. God loves truth. You know what we are? Lies. We come forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. God is true. Every man's a liar. It's what
he says. God is light. And in him is no
darkness at all. You know what we are? Darkness. We are darkness. You know, darkness was upon the
face of the earth until God said, let there be light. Until God
saves us by his grace, there's nothing but darkness here. Christ
the light came into the world and men love darkness rather
than light because we're evil. Let me make the point here. We
are not lovable. We are not what God loves. If
God is going to love you or me, that must be in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must be in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and God's love to us can only be in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, why would God love me?
There's nothing lovable here, there's just not. Turn to the
book of John with me, John chapter three. Look at verse 35, John 3, 35. Oh, if we could learn this. John 3, 35 says, The father loveth
the son and hath given all things into his hand. Who does God love?
He loves his son. He loves his only begotten son
in whom he's well pleased. If we're not in Christ, God can't
love us. Oh, well God is love, of course
God loves you. I feel like I quote this verse every time I preach.
Psalm 5 verse 5 says that God hates all workers of iniquity. Not most, not some, all. Does that capture any of us?
Anybody here a worker of iniquity? That means someone who commits
sin. God's going to love us. We must
be in Christ. Otherwise, he can have nothing
to do with us but to cast us out forever. But in everlasting love, God
chose a people in his son. Scriptures plainly declare that.
Read Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1 verse 4, chosen in him. There in Romans 8 it also tells
us that the people he chose, he conformed to the image of
his son. Because here's the thing, unless
we're one with Christ, unless we're a spitting image of him,
we can't enter into God's eternal kingdom. And that's what God's
everlasting love has done for his people. It's made us to look
just like him. Eternally, vitally, perfectly,
inseparably, if that's a word, joined to him. One in him. You say, well, what about John
3.16? You're hearing John chapter 3. Let's read it. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You
see, there it is. God so loved the world. He loves
everybody without exception. Everybody in the world, God loves
them. You know, you can believe that if you want to. I pray God will give you a true
understanding of what it means. There is no fault with that verse
at all. I love that verse. I adore that
verse. But it's not declaring that God
loves everybody. That's not what it's saying.
Let's back up a minute. Based on our text, whom does
God love? Israel. Romans not. They're not all Israel,
which are of Israel. The verse that tells us, Colossians
3.11, that Christ is all and in all, it tells us there's no
difference between the Jew and Greek. Circumcision, uncircumcision,
bond, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free. What he's saying is
he has people all over this world from throughout every generation,
both Jew and Greek. It doesn't matter who we are.
It doesn't matter what we are. God has a people out of every
nation, kindred, tongue, people. That's what it's saying. That's
what it's saying. And because God so loved them,
he gave himself for them. Now, what about that whosoever? Whosoever will believe on him.
I love, you who believe on Christ know this to be true. The whosoever's
right there, whosoever believeth in him, I'll tell you who they
are. They are spiritual Israel. They
are all those whom God has loved with an everlasting love. They're
all the Jacobs, all the Israel. And because God has loved them
with an everlasting love in time, in our time of love, the Spirit
will come to us and move upon us and reveal Christ to us and
cause us to believe on Him. Look at verse 36 here. He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
If we live our whole life and we never believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him alone, that just evidences the fact that
we were not one of God's people. God did not love us. And I tell
you this too, we would die not loving Him either. Die loving self, hating God.
And that's where we'd all be but God. Because of God's everlasting
love, He gives faith in Christ. And the end of this faith is
everlasting life with Christ and in Christ. Look back at our
text with me. Jeremiah 31, 3. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. If God loves us, he will draw
us. Plain and simple. You know, when
you see a therefore in the scriptures, we'd be wise to back up and see
what it's there for. Is that not clearly what it's
declaring? If God loves us, he will appear to us and he will
draw us to himself. And I love thinking about this,
the word draw right there, it means drag. He will drag us. But it also means to lift out. What do you think about God dragging
you to himself? Does that mean or is that the
most loving thing he could do for you? What do you think about
being lifted out Lifted out from all your sin, all your shame,
all your reproach, your evil. What if God were to lift you
out of that? Would you be okay with that? You know, someone might say,
I love you, and then we're just gonna live in different states.
You live your life, I'll live my life. We'll just have nothing
to do with each other, but I love you. That's not love, is it? God's love won't leave us alone.
God's love will draw us to him. You know, don't you love to be
snuggled up next to the one you love? I do. You know, Christ prayed that
his people might be with him where he is. Why? Because he
loves them. Love wants to be together. Love wants to have
union and fellowship. And God's love does. Ours may
or may not, but his does. Oh, his does. He draws sinners
to himself with loving kindness. Loving kindness. David said,
how excellent is thy loving kindness, O God. That means the goodness
and kindness of God in redeeming us from all our enemies. You
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not the goodness
of God that has caused you to believe on him? Is that not what
has led you to repentance? Meaning seeing yourself for what
you are and seeing Christ as your all in all and trusting
in him and him alone. That's what repentance is. Is it not
the goodness of God that has brought you to that place? I'm going to end with something
you'll probably laugh, but before I get to that, let me say this.
God will see to it that all of his people, all whom he has loved
with an everlasting love, God will see to it that every single
one of them will fall helplessly in love with his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. It doesn't depend on us to, well,
I think I'm gonna believe on him now. I think I see him as
beautiful now. No, God will see to it, okay? Now, here's my silly
example. Many years ago, when I began
having romantic interests, I convinced myself, I'm in love with this
girl. usually didn't reciprocate. I
felt like I was in love, but she didn't feel the same way.
You know, people talk about God and His love like that. It's
that God loves you and He's just dying for you to love Him back.
What a pitiful God. What an awful, miserable, pathetic
love. That's not how God loves. That's
not how His love works at all. Is that the kind of God you want
to believe in? Seriously. If so, I feel so sorry for you.
No. If God loves us, He will have
us. In fact, He already does. He
already does. I didn't show you, but in John
3, it says in verse 29, He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. You know who the bridegroom is?
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. You know who it says He hath?
The bride. You know who that is? the people
God has loved with an everlasting love. He has her. He doesn't
hope to have her. He doesn't, well, let's see how
this ends. Let's see if she wants me. No,
he has her and he hath. That means he'll always have
her. Does that not make you rejoice? Oh, my soul. And not a single
person God has loved with an everlasting love can possibly
perish or be separated from that glorious love. I thought of this song. It says,
and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's love?
Died he for me who caused his pain, for me who him to death
pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me again? Who am I and what have
I done? I'm sinner. I crucified the Lord
of glory, wanted nothing to do with him. And yet in eternal love, mercy,
and grace, God purposed, God chose to save me. And in loving kindness, he came,
revealed himself to me, drew me to himself. And by that grace,
he continues to draw me right, right to his side again and again
and again. Is this so for you? Does God love me? Does God love
us? If we've been drawn to Christ,
he does. If we found him whom our soul
loveth, he does. Whereas we did not before, if
we find the Lord Jesus Christ to be altogether lovely, my friends,
clearly God loves us. Praise God. I pray that he would
be pleased to reveal himself, reveal his everlasting love in
Christ to us, and by that, loving kindness, draw us to himself
both now and forevermore for his glory and for our good. Amen. Let's have a word of prayer. Our merciful, loving, kind God,
we thank you so much for your love. Thank you for your everlasting
love that you've been pleased to bestow upon your people for
all eternity. We are so unworthy of you and
your love. By your grace, we know what we
deserve, and it's not pleasant to think about.
But we praise your holy name for sending your only begotten
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come trade places with us and
die for our sins. that we might be with him, that
we might be in your presence forever and ever. Thank you so
much, dear God. I thank you for the opportunity
to preach your gospel. Please bless it to the hearts
of those gathered here today. cause our minds to consider the
things we've heard, cause our hearts to look to Christ and
run to him without delay, to look nowhere else but to him
and him alone. Thank you for your word. It's
so glorious. Thank you for these dear brethren. I pray that you'd
be with them. Bless them continually. Pray for their pastor and his
wife. Pray that you bring them back home safely. Lord, be with
all your people. Pray for your will to be done
in all things and for your name to be glorified above every name.
Please forgive us of our sin. Please save us according to your
mercy. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you, Cody. Thankful for
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in him
alone. Let's stand and we'll sing a
closing hymn together, hymn number 118. Number 118. When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died My richest gain I count
but loss, And poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that
charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. Save from His head, His hands,
His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm
of nature mine That were a present far too small Love so amazing,
so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all. We'll meet again at six o'clock,
God willing. Dismissed.