August 26, 2012 – Pastor Tim – “No Matter What!” – Click to download
No matter what we have done before we accepted Jesus as our Savior, God loves us!) Hebrews 10:14 (CEV) says, “By His one sacrifice He has forever set free from sin the people He brings to God.” Now I realize that there’s a sense in which we’re imperfect. We still error. We still stumble. We still do exactly what we don’t want to do. But when it comes to our position before God, we’re perfect. When He sees each of us, He sees one who has been made perfect through the One who is perfect – Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:17 says, “Their sins and the evil things they do – I will not remember anymore.” Even if we messed up after we accepted Jesus, God still loves us because we are His child! When we are sorry for our sin and confess (repent) them to our Heavenly Father, He will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Bible says that God’s ways are higher than our ways. Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts…” Our Heavenly Father’s ways are higher than our natural, earthly father or mother. We have all heard or read news stories about young men who have committed horrible crimes, yet their mothers would say, “He’s still my son, and I love him no matter what he’s done.”
Although it is hard to comprehend with our limited minds, God loves us infinitely more than that! He loves us with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3, The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.”
He sent His Son to die on the Cross because He loves us. We need to know and understand the fact that we are loved by God.
I don’t think we have even come close to understanding the depth of God’s love. I like reading 1 Corinthians13, commonly referred to as “the love chapter.”
The Amplified translation is especially good, yet even that translation does not come close to fully explaining the depth of God’s love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (Amplified)
4 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]….
You see, our finite, human minds can’t figure out how God could love us unconditionally. But if we want to get to know God and enjoy a full life in Him, we must simply accept the Word of God as true and never doubt His love for us.
So first, we need to know that God loves us! Second, in order to get acquainted with God and enjoy a full life in Him, we need to realize that God knows all about you and me.
God is all-knowing. He searches our hearts and knows our thoughts. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told the disciples that there is nothing that happens that God doesn’t know about. God even knows about the small things that happen in our everyday lives.
Matthew 10:29-30, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
God has numbered the hairs on our heads! He knows everything—our thoughts, our disappointments, our joys. He knows things we’ve never told another living soul!
There are some things our pastor, our friends, our parents, our spouse, or our children may not know about us. But there is nothing that God doesn’t know about you and me! God is omniscient (om-ni-shent) or all-knowing.
The psalmist David talked about this all-knowing God in Psalm 139:1-4, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
This passage tells us that God knows about every aspect of our lives. God knows when we sit down, He knows when we sleep, and He knows the way we think and feel about things. Before we can speak a word, God already knows what we’re going to say. He knows everything, yet He loves us and chooses to forget our iniquities when we confess we’ve missed it and sinned. Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.”
The Bible says that when we go to God and ask for forgiveness, our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus, and God does not see them anymore! So if you’ve asked God for forgiveness, don’t let the devil bring mistakes of the past to your mind to hound you with them. God, who is love, keeps no record of wrongs. Once you’ve asked for forgiveness, God does not remember what you did that was wrong.
I have encountered many people in life who felt that nobody cared about them. But God cares!
Some people have been hurt in life by others who have wronged them in some way. But when we really understand how much God loves and cares for us, the things others may do or say will roll off him like water off a duck’s back!
Have you ever heard that expression, “like water off a duck’s back”? (I’m sure you have.) You see, a duck’s feathers are naturally coated with an oily substance so that when water gets on its feathers, the water rolls right off. You could pour water on a duck’s back, rub your hands on the duck’s feathers, and the feathers wouldn’t even be wet! Similarly, when you truly understand that God cares about you, and you’ve oiled yourself –up in the Holy Spirit (the Comforter), it doesn’t matter what anybody says about you—negative comments will roll off you, too, and you will not be affected!
Sometimes we pay too much attention to what people say about us. Don’t focus on the opinions of others. Forget about what people say and concentrate on what God says. God says cast your cares on Him. 1 Peter 5:7 (Amp), “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
God cares enough about us to carry our burdens for us. Peter wrote this to the Early Church, but it applies to the Church today. There are many Christians who needlessly carry their burdens through life. Many people take their burdens to the Lord, but right after they pray, they pick up their burdens and put them back on, so to speak, like putting on a backpack.
If we are carrying burdens, we need to take them to the Lord and leave them there! If we don’t, it’s not the Lord’s fault that we are stilling carry our burdens. He won’t come and strip them from us. But He will gladly take them if we’ll give them to Him. He will carry your burdens so that you don’t have to!
When the devil brings us a burden and dump it at our front door, we don’t have to be afraid, because we don’t have to carry the burden! The enemy will tell us, “This is your lot in life, and you’re just going to have to learn to live with this circumstance. This is just your burden to bear.”
But if God was in the business of putting burdens on us, why did Jesus tell us to bring our burdens to Him?
Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Now if you’re weary and weighed down by a burden, the only way to get rest and relief is to remove the burden. That’s what Jesus wants us to do. He wants to give us perfect peace and rest as we come to Him with our burdens and give them to Him. He will take care of us if we will trust Him.
When we believe that God is taking care of us, we are at peace and rest. Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;”
Even in the midst of the greatest storm or trial we’ve ever experienced in our lives, we can go to sleep peacefully at night instead of lying awake, and staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to do.
A person who doesn’t understand that God cares for them can sometimes be like the person who prays, “Lord, I know You’re taking care of my problem.” But then can’t stop talking about it and trying to figure it out, instead of thanking God for taking care of the problem, they stays awake at night wondering, What am I going to do? How am I going to take care of this?
The Bible says that God is watching over us and will not take His loving-kindness away from us. Psalm 89:33, “Nevertheless My loving-kindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. So stop worrying and let God take care of you! He Cares!! Remember 1 Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Psalm 103:1-5, “Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
God loves you, He knows you, and He cares for you!
Scripture verses are quoted in New King James Version unless other wise noted