The Divine Sovereignty of God

hi Pastor Matt listen thank you for downloading or streaming this sermon pray that it blesses your heart two quick things that I want to lay before you before we get started in the proclamation of God's Word the first is and I love that you're dialing in to hear what the Lord's put on our heart here at TVC but I ask that you would only consume these messages as supplemental and in no way replacing your commitment and your listening to your local church pastor these are good gifts of God's grace for the people of God to grow in and yet they are not to replace ever meant to replace our belonging to a covenant community of faith where we are the the second thing want to lay before you is is that there are a lot of man-hours that men and women here at the village church put behind not just the creation of this but the creation of all kinds of resources that are meant to help you grow and develop as a disciple of Jesus Christ and so if this blesses you or the other resources that have been created have blessed you would you consider giving back to the village church to support not just these things with the creation of even more resources for you and really for anyone who wants to indulge in them now I pray that God stirs your affections for Jesus Christ as you listen now to the proclamation of God's Word hey my name is Rachel and I serve here at the farm on campus in the high-school ministry about five years ago I was a lost broken high school student and I met a girl I could tell that she really loved Jesus and over the course of the next six months had a lot of conversations with her about where I was at and began to share things that I had never told anybody and at the end of those six months I asked her if I could go to a church service with her and so it was during worship at the end of the service that Bleeker asked everybody to just stop for a moment and look at the cross he just simply laid out the gospel that all of our sin all of our past sin and all of our presents and all her future sin was paid for on the cross by Jesus and that for me it was just really really good news over the next couple weeks just saw the Lord transforming my life and my desires and wasn't looking to find my identity and others but really desired to see the Lord glorified and the the gospel proclaimed that people who are far off from him would find life and hope enjoy him [Music] yeah amen if you have your Bibles why don't you grab those were gonna be in Romans chapter a last weekend our Fall Series March took a turn away from our kind of statement that defines what we're up to and who we are and and then move to what we're calling our distinctive so let me explain distinctives real quick and then we're gonna dive into the distinctive that we're gonna cover this week if you're thinking about Christian theology that there's kind of two buckets in which I you should be thinking one would be kind of a close of a closed bucket or a closed hand which is kind of Orthodox Christian belief which means if you don't believe these things you're not a Christian and then there's another bucket or another hand that they would be called the open hand of theology and this is where Christians will differ on what we believe about what the Word of God teaches in a particular subject and so what we've done now is we have made a turn and we are covering the villages distinctives and so what we want to do with distinctives is we want to inform you where we land and then we want to show charity to others and so last week that started with baptism and the Lord's Supper and so what we were saying last week what what Trevor said so effectively last week is this is this is what we believe the Word of God says about baptism we believe in believers baptism we think that's what the Bible teaches and we're gonna surrender to the Bible's teaching on this but that's not what Presbyterians believe and that's not what Methodists believe and that's not what Anglicans believed and we're not saying they're not Christians right we're not saying they're not our brothers and sisters in fact we would healthily affirm they are our brothers and sisters we land differently on this issue we're gonna show each other charity even as we perceive one another to be wrong right we do like I don't know why you're giggling we do I think they're wrong they think I'm wrong and I love them and praise God for them we just disagree on this distinctive and and one of the things that you and I must learn and grow in in this kind of hyper angry day is to show charity to our brothers and sisters people who disagree with us on secondary matters are not heretics look at me people who disagree with us on secondary issues are not heretics and so last week we started with baptism and communion - we're gonna talk about divine sovereignty today or I'll call it the electing love of God next weekend is the inerrancy of Scripture we just believe that here that the Word of God is inerrant it is sufficient from there we'll talk about complementarianism or the role of man and woman in the flourishing of the church the home and the world and then we'll end out our kind of distinctives on talking about the weird gifts of the Holy Spirit about the sign gifts and so what the reason I said it that way is because every gift that we have is from the Holy Spirit right you've got the gift of administration Holy Spirit gave you that right you got the gift of hospitality Holy Spirit gave you that but what I want to address in that last sermon is the strange ones right the the weird ones the the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit so that that that's our series so today let me start by talking about the electing love of God now here's what I know I know that this subject makes people anxious but but I'll tell you this it makes your pastor like nearly explode with joy and and so you just got to know I'm not anxious now on February 6th 2003 our alarm went off in our bedroom earlier than normal we had pre packed a bag and we grab that bag and Lauren and I got in the car and we drove to a hospital about 25 minutes from here we had not been pastor here I think for three months at this point maybe four months and we checked in and and we had we had we'd scheduled the birth of our firstborn now look I contact real quick if you want to have your baby in a bathtub in your living room I'm cool with that right you should just do that you should just go ahead and learn the breathing techniques and and just go for it I'm for you Lauren has a built out theology of epidurals she she would point to the fact that pain and childbirth is a result of the fall and then in the coming Jesus Christ he has redeemed not just in salvation but via gifts of common grace all right see you can see what's happening right now right like even Lauren just started worshipping her hand came up I maybe heard a tongue but that's several weeks from now we'll talk about that then and so now now in this space we we sign up we get there and then we're all in and there's drugs being pumped into her system Audrey's 14 she seems to be doing fine as it seemed to cause any long-term damage or anything like that and and hours and hours and hours later Audrey was born and and here's the first time you're in that room and I know not all of us have been well all of us have been in that room not all of us have been in that room as adults the the first thing that kind of sticks out to you when you hadn't been out of them is how rough the nurse is with your baby I mean the baby's like 10 seconds old they're not scrubbing it suction and it's face out and I felt like I felt this kind of compulsion to step in and handle some things but that I was like ah do you want to get arrested on your first child's birthday no back off and then they wrapped up Audrey and they put her in my arms and and I nearly exploded and or crumbled I had never felt love like that and if you're like well what about your wife no no I am crazy about my bride right you get around people who know I love my wife she is a gift of God's grace but the way you love your child is different it's just different and so I held that little girl and then man Bleeker came and medicine the hospital we drove her home like he was flanking my back I think we were going like 35 miles an hour on the freeway going slow down right then we get her home and like I still can't believe they let us leave the hospital with her like that anybody else feel that we're like okay you can go home you're like wait what no I mean go no I quit what no no no no no are you coming because if you're not coming we're not leaving and so you get you get the child and then several years later on November 4th I walk in our door at like 9 o'clock at night after an epically long day I just finished a wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and I walk in the to Lauren saying a it's time we need to go now this one was was not necessarily certainly wasn't scheduled for ten o'clock at night and so man we head to the hospital in here's if you're a second-born the answer is yes I don't want to cause any stress or trigger anything in you but there is a question when you're having your second whether or not you have the same capacity to love the second like you did the first I mean you'll up that first is I mean you're just so like crazy oh my gosh this is incredible that the questions is there what do I have the capacity to love this second baby like I love to the first and there's this there's this real wrestle about that and then Reid was born and then now I knew I knew that that nurse is cool I don't need to say anything we're and they ramped up reading they handed me read and when they handed me read I knew I knew not only could i but there was more in me and then man gosh when they when they put him in a little carton they let me kind of roll him down to the nursery I nearly broke like just ugly sobbed oh my god I have a son and and then we had two miscarriages and and and then got pregnant again with Nora and so Nora was a lot of mental innervate or constantly like she moving let's try to make her move okay everything's good in there and then and then there's the question again do I have the capacity to do I have more in me to give I don't some you got like seven kids you like Oh bro shut up we're all three okay so strong so so we had to we head to the hospital and then Nora's born and and then they clean up nor and they wrap nor out in the hander Tameka and then there it is it's like I mean it just expanded and I just got to be a teary mass I was like oh my gosh and and could hardly any and here's what I've learned now after 14 years of being a parent I know I'm something you just roll your eyes at that here's here's what I've learned I've learned that parenting is a process and that in every season because that's what's parenting like you you go in season and out of season that in every season there are things about my children that I love and I get excited about and there are things about my children that make me anxious or maybe make me angry no Amen on that okay okay let's just be real here today all right like you can just put that fake I'm a perfect parent nonsense somewhere else cuz I see you out there all right losing your mind and target I saw it now in that in that space here's what never changed and something I noticed a couple of years ago that regardless of the season I love my kids and here's what here's what I picked up on when they choose poorly my love seems to be inside it almost more than it is when they're doing everything I hope they would do you notice that like I can feel my love get incited it can flame up far more often when I see them choosing what will ultimately harm them destroy them or break them so my love is just ever-present regardless of the season and here's like man I just always have just had this weight on my heart for us like what would it would it be like to believe that God loves us like this what would it be I mean what would it honestly be like because here's what so what Jesus says about my love for Audrey and Reed and Nora here's what Jesus says if you who are a good father or evil father know how to give good gifts to your children how much more does your heavenly father know how to give you what is good so Jesus would look at my affection for my children my love my hope for my children he like bro it's thin its thin it lacks breadth and depth and width and and he says that because of his love for his children so on the electing love of God four points here's the first one the first one is that God sees us as children let's look at this Romans 8:14 through 17 for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God ladies look at me look at me ladies we have to be the Bride of Christ you get to be the sons of God let's just all deal with it all right let's just all deal with it for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him so look at me you're not a project you're not a pond you're not something that God is just dealing with you're not a necessary evil you are sons of God in fact I love in first John 3:1 one of my favorite passage in the Bible see what kind of love the father has given to us so you want to see what kind of love the father is given to us that we have been called children of God heirs of God co-heirs with Christ they were lavished upon us in eternity and throughout eternity the incomprehensible riches of His grace you're not a project you're not a pawn you're a child of God and in the affection that we can have for our children God would look at that and say if you who are evil know how to do good how much more so let's talk about in the selecting love that how much more so so let me give you the other three points are around this kind of how much more our Heavenly Father has for us than our earthly father's even had the capacity to have for us even if you had a great one right and I and I know a lot of us didn't have great ones all right so so here would be the first one that one of the reasons that Jesus can look at us and say if you evil Father's know how to do good how much more will your heavenly Father is that the fact that God loved us before we were born God loved us before we were born let me read this to you Fijians 1 3 through 8 I'll put it on the screen stay there in Rome and say we're gonna verse there in here in a second blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he briefed destined us don't let that word scare you it just means to determine beforehand in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will and to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which he has lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight now this this is where I get filled with joy in an environment and a day and age in which achievement and performance are the rule in order for me to feel loved and accepted the Bible says no no no I loved you before you were able to perform my love is not predicated upon or built on your behavior your ability to conform but on my grace my power my purpose my will now look gosh that should make you just go oh thank god thank God and then look at Romans 8 then we're going to talk about you before you were born here in a second but let's look at Romans 8 now here's here's what's interesting I picked up on this about Romans 8 like almost every Christian I know they love Romans 8:28 I mean they love it it might be on a coffee cup it might be on some kind of neat kind of thing hanging on their wall might be there live verse all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose as we love that verse and then we love love love verse 31 what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us right we love those two verses and yet what holds those two verses together are verses 29 and 30 what makes them true is actually 29 and 30 so you can't love 28 and love 31 and ignore 29 and 30 29 and 30 pull them together and help us be confident in their truths so here we go let's let's look at it verse 29 and those whom he foreknew to know beforehand although I would argue if I had more time to love beforehand those he loved beforehand he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified now okay let's chat let's talk about you before you were like before you were around in your physical human form like when the foundation of the earth was being laid what skillset did you have that made God pick you for his team like it's God's looking out at the expanse of eternity like what are you bringing to the table like you're you're not because you're not there and so I'm telling you the reason that for me this is the most freeing beautiful thing imaginable I am secure in the love of the Father because it existed before I failed him and it was out of that love that he saved me when I was at my worst right this is good news it's not bad news like for all of the conflict that this doctrine causes I think it's most often mischaracterized a straw man is built and caught on fire this is not about exclusivity this is about our safety in the love of God like you feel this every time you fail every time you stumble you feel I need to run from God you feel it and the Bible is going to know you're secure in his love because his love rested on you before the foundation of the earth was laying like this cause is worship this causes us to run to him not from him and any Calvinist who gets crusty and mean is in theological puberty and should be locked up for a few years until they learn nuance grace right you find those morons trying to convert everyone to the five points you just think to yourself theological puberty voice is crackin filled with theological hormones I just don't want to let him out of the house for a while just shut up until you learn some nuance I'm telling you this happens all the time so don't look at me please for the rest of your life don't let theological morons rob you of theological truth don't hate a doctrine just because you come across a preaching that gospel or preaching that doctrine don't do that to yourselves mine for truth rest in the beauty of what God's saying here look at me you are loved that's crazy before before and in full view of all of your failures God put his love on you you know that thing in your past that just chews away at your gut and if you could get in a time machine and go back and change it you would that thing you know who knew that when the foundation of the earth was late God knew it you know who still lavished his love and grace on you despite it God did gosh what what fuels the praises of God's people like this thing God's love for you present before you were born gosh I love it now but that's not the only thing like I get hype about that I getting more how about this the day that you became a Christian pleased the heart of God so this is Galatians 1 15 through 17 all the pieces that we just covered her actually in this text also but when he who had set me apart before I was what born all right so Saul of Tarsus set apart before he was born for what and who called me by His grace was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles and then he goes on and talks about how he was discipled now here's what I want to point out in this text I want to point out really the sanity and death of God's love if you don't know the the background of the Apostle Paul let me fill you in quickly Saul of Tarsus was a hebrew of hebrews a Pharisee of Pharisees circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of benjamin when it came to the law he was faultless spotless he obeyed the law in fullness at least as it goes for people's perspective of him and saul of tarsus hated jesus christ and he hated the church the first Christian martyr Stephen who stone did have pelted with rocks until he dies the Bible says that the cloaks of those men who stoned him were laid at the feet of Saul and Saul was and hearty approval of his execution the Bible goes on to say that that Saul began to ravage right read sets from the next he began to ravage the Church of Jesus Christ that he would publicly humiliate them that he would imprison them that he would murder them that he would abused them he was a blasphemer and a violent man this was Saul of Tarsus longing to eradicate this cult that stood in opposition to the God as he understood him so the Bible tells us that Saul of Tarsus goes to the officials of the day and said hey I heard they just planted a church in Damascus I would like papers to go to Damascus and any one I find belonging to the way to drag them back in Chains to Jerusalem why to publicly shame them right let's strip him naked let's chain them let's parade them through the streets of Jerusalem so that anyone even thinking about this Jesus would see that no no no I'm not doing that and and so let's just use our sanctified imagination here so Saul of Tarsus he gets his horse out right and I mean in your imaginary that horse can look like whatever you want it to look like that's not really the point he saddles it up and what are you gonna need what are you gonna need I mean you're gonna need some chain some if you're gonna chain a bunch of people and drag them back to Jerusalem you gonna have to pack some chains and so he gets those chains and he puts them on the horse and then men you you need some weapon of timid Asian you need some sort of weapon in order to kick open a door and drag people into the street and so maybe it's a club maybe it's a sword maybe it's spear there's some sort of intimidating weapon there and so it gets that and he puts it in the saddle and then he gets on the horse and he starts to head to Damascus with the intent of kicking open doors dragging people into the street stripping him naked beating them chaining them and dragging them behind horses to Jerusalem or parade them in shame through the streets of Jerusalem and so they make camp night one and then he saddles up the horse where's the club I'm just gonna say Club he puts the club in he puts the chains back on fast and some gets a drink eat some breakfast and hops on his horse to head on into Damascus to kick open doors but what the Bible says is that on that morning when saul of tarsus got up and he put that saddle on his horse he's looking for where he put his club that the God of the Bible is like all right come on hop on that horse bro okay I'm gonna meet you in about three months so come on towards Damascus and that there was this pleasure in the heart of God to reveal Jesus to Saul of Tarsus now look right at me for a second I'm not naive man I've been in pastoral ministry for twenty years what this is about right now is you becoming convinced that you have not out send the grace of God how does God respond to a man like Saul of Tarsus utter destruction let me tell you this he has certainly earned it tell you what my flesh wants to do right like my flesh would want to see kind of profit of bail stuff right like fire fall down from heaven in the slaughter of those who oppose God Almighty you know what God responds with this is crazy love he responded to Saul of Tarsus with love like this thing where Jesus says love your enemies he's embodying it in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul and it pleased the heart of God like listen I think this is some of you here today like some of the weekends been long and you've been wrangling things and you're just maybe you're gonna go to church maybe you're not your weirdo neighbor keeps asking your or you've been coming here and there and maybe you're gonna come and maybe you're not and you jammed everybody into the car and you screamed why can't you keep your shoes where they go and you're driving and this whole time gods it's like come on 950 s coming 9:00 that can't wait for 9:00 for 950 I'm gonna open this person's hard to believe and Trust in the name of Jesus and so here's what I want to call you to listen if you're in this room and you're not a Christian this is what you're being invited into this love that that predates your existence it's the fruit mat longing to be loved that forces so many of us to project an image of being all together so that we might receive some hollow thin weak version of this kind of love you don't need to carry that this is such great news you get to just rest in the love the eternal love of God for you in Jesus Christ I'm inviting if you're like well what if I'm not one of those listen you're here you're hearing the gospel I think there's a lot of objective evidence now that you're being invited in right that's a straw man that I think those who don't like this doctrine like to light well what about the people who know you're here you're hearing I'm inviting you per the commands of God in the Bible to come into this love like come into this love it transcends human love and makes all human love thin I'm not dogging human love it's a beautiful powerful force I'm just saying the Bible says God's love man its width and breadth and height it'll just blow your mind if you who are evil know how to be good how much more than your father in heaven listen unbeliever you know God has sent Christ into the world to save you from condemnation not to condemn you so I'm here I am heralding the electing love of God come into this love step into this love repent of your sins join the household of faith and let's pursue him together the invitation goes out to all men and women and so I'm extending it coming to the love of the Father it's here it's right here just come in just come in and and then as though this is not extravagant enough god loves you in the crossroads of your life when you choose disobedience over obedience now look right at me because I it's very important that you hear what I'm saying God hates sin any disciplines disobedience alright don't you hear me saying sin doesn't matter do whatever you want that's not what I'm saying I'm saying God hates sin and when you choose disobedience instead of obedience God will discipline that the Bible is clear on that Hebrews chapter 12 he disciplines all those who are his and he scourges his sons right we are disciplined why what's the motivation of that discipline love is why do you discipline your kids because you love them right remember earlier when I'm saying I can feel my love provoked when my children choose what is wrong choose what will harm them choose what ultimately robs them from deep beautiful life it incites my love and it can make me angry but it's love that's driving that it's not hate it's not I'm not taking those things personally god I'm just so crazy by just one of and I'm 43 so I can see some things they can't see I've been following the Lord for a while now I could see the lies that are being laid before them on a daily basis I just want to plead with them don't if you go down that path there's death down that path maybe not this year maybe not five years in a me not ten years from now but when this gets full-grown it will kill you choose life so I want to show you that anytime I feel discouraged they in my own ability to be as obedient as I want to be and following Jesus Christ I just simply turn and read a little bit about the Apostle Peter just one of my favorite guys in the Bible like like his his gosh there's something disconnected in his brain and and God just continues to use them and that's so encouraging to me so before we read John 21 15 through 25 together here's let me give you background Jesus is telling the disciples hey I'm gonna be arrested I'm gonna be given over to the Pharisees they're gonna crucify me and and then I'm gonna raise geta and Peter rebukes him right that's not true would you like you've already said this is Messiah this is the son of God Jesus your Co eternal with the father yeah I'm gonna give my life no you're not no I am no Peter I am so so then in this moment they're up they head up and and Jesus like hey that you're gonna do somebody's gonna betray me and you're all going to flee and what does Peter say not me so then Jesus says no no especially you you're you're going to deny me three times before the alarm goes off tomorrow morning this isn't like a denial over the next month this is not a slow drift away from me brother very aggressively in the next seven eight hours you are going to with a lot of bad language deny that you know me Peters response to that even if I must die I would never betray you okay you know what all right okay whatever so then Jesus is arrested Peter now let's give him some some credit here Peter's like no I told you they ain't happening pulls his sword saw cuts off the servant of the high priest ear rights bloods coming I was here and Jesus rebukes him Peter put away your sword do you not know that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword Plus don't you know that at any moment I could call out to my father and have it and have at my disposal thousands of angelic beings then he picks up the dudes ear and he puts it back on and that guy continues to arrest him all you ever thought about that like that just feels at that moment like oh gosh you know I'm out guys I gotta be out of there so you guys go ahead I'm that wig me I don't know what just happened but my ears back on I need to be out and and then what happens and it's important that you know this is that the scene shifts to the Courtyard and I think when we read about the denials of Peter we need to do a better job of reading across the four Gospels sound like Jesus it's like a quarter mile away in another room when Peter denies him they're in the same courtyard and so they're in this courtyard Jesus is being held he's already been beaten severely and now a woman comes up to Peter who who's now trying to hide out just to see what would happen I'm guessing motivated by some guilt and shame and and then a woman walks up and says hey aren't aren't you one of the disciples no I'm not one of the disciples what are you talking about yeah I mean yeah I just I think I saw you with Jesus no I don't know this man and and Jesus doesn't glance over Peter probably looking at the dirt she comes back again he's like ah man I mean I hate to bother you and who you're trying to get a drink here by the fire but I I think I saw you with him I did not do not know this man now he's agitated right you can feet you've been there why you keep asking me that right now he's a little bit more animated about I don't know this man and then the Bible says a third time she comes back around she says no no surely you're one of his disciples for your Galilean and Peter loses his mind right he starts cursing I don't know this man I don't know why you keep asking me this I want nothing to do with this man and the alarm goes off and Jesus looks over at Peter they make eye contact and Peter runs out of the courtyard and according to the bottle weeps bitterly Jesus has been crucified he is resurrected and what we're about to read is Jesus restoring the foolishness of Peter look at this John 21 we're gonna start in verse 15 when they had finished breakfast jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of John do you love me more than these he said to him yes Lord you know that I love you and he said to him feed my lambs he said to him a second time Simon son of John do you love me and he said to him yes Lord you know that I love you and he said to him tend my sheep he said to him a third time Simon son of John do you love me and Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time do you love me and he said him Lord you know everything you know that I love you and Jesus said to him feed my sheep truly truly I say to you when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God church tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down that they were gonna crucify Peter and Peter didn't think he was worthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus and so they hung him upside down and that's how he was to die so that he was dressed and led to his execution and after saying this he said to him follow me so you got this beautiful restoration occurring three times Peter denies three times Jesus speaks life back in them do you love me okay obey me feed my lambs do you love me okay obey me feed my sheep do you love me okay obey me feed my children right this is he's he's reestablished and he's building Peter up and all his guilt and shame Jesus is leaning and notice that that process is painful and then it grieved him to hear Jesus ask a third time but then here's what I want to point out that that so I think one of the reasons why I like I just he's so encouraging to me right here's what happens next we'll look at this verse 23 so the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die yet Jesus oh no I missed my spot sorry look at 20 verse 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them that's John the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said Lord who is it that's going to betray you 21 when Peter saw him he said to Jesus Lord what about this man now here's what I'm talk about Jesus will discipline those he loves look at 22 jesus said to him if it is my will that he remain until I come what is that to you you follow me so so now I love this moment where Peter has been re-established he's being set up by the grace of God and rather than being emboldened simply to follow Jesus he looks at John and is wondering is John gonna get a greater portion than I am and so he asked hey what about John and what's Jesus's response are you serious are you kidding me right now Peter what is he bro you are such a train wreck why you worried about him like you got enough issues of your own why don't you let me handle John you worry about yourself now if you're like I don't see that in the text yeah I'm kind of putting it in our imagination but here's what happens from the time you became a Christian to the time you die you're gonna come to these crossroads the crossroads of obedience the crossroads of waiting on the Lord the the crossroads of suffering the crossroads of stepping out in faith that the crossroads being bold or being coward that the crossroads and and what I want to let you see in this text is that even when you choose to go left instead of right even when you choose disobedience over obedience the love of God remains ever-present that does not mean that there won't be discipline that does not mean that there won't be scourging but it doesn't mean that his love has wavered in fact if we just keep following Peter it's at the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit of God falls it fills and Peter I'm just gonna give this to him preaches and ethic sermon but I like depending on we will never know the actual numbers until glory but but what what most kind of historical theologians would argue is that on the day of Pentecost 1012 thousand men and women and children became Christians look at me that's a great sermon I like you you preach and twelve thousand people become acrylic even Billy Graham's like dang right I mean that this is Peter and then in Acts chapter 10 God uses Peter to break Christianity out of simply being a Jewish experience and the gospel goes to the Gentiles through through Peter and and then men we're not out of the woods late yet because it's not going to be long until Peter acts like a racist against the very Gentiles that he proclaimed the gospel to and came and he refused to eat with him and Paul actually calls him out for being a racist and then we get to first and second Peter and we see a mature godly man who through a lot of process was loved by his father and transformed from one degree of glory to the next when we're talking about election we're talking about the love of God tell him that the love of God not wavering over his children being ever-present even as they stumble and fall it's this truth that pushes us to him and not from him it's this truth that emboldened us and enables us to worship Him in the most difficult of days it is this truth that roots us in hope even as we suffer and and so I I think in order for many of us to kind of get this and experience this and understand this I this isn't my illustration it's an illustration that I read about a month ago and a book called soul care but he he talked about a suitcase and and so I'll just kind of make it my own I've got a travel cordovan so I've got a bag and when I leave my stuff is meticulously packed alright just I'm weird about that I'm wee bit weird about wrinkles I don't know why but it's just meticulously packed I've got this kind of packing system and it all goes in that is not the way it comes home because once I wear it I don't care anymore so I get that like that bag in the closet of the hotel the white and then I just throw my stuff in there and then jam it in there and put the shoes on and zip it up and come home now as soon as I can I got to take all of that dirty stuff out of the bag I can't just leave it in there and then open it up at the next trip and try to meticulously put my gear back in no you got to take stuff out of the bag to put the stuff into the bag and I'm just wondering if that many of us can't experience the love of God like we're reading it here because we just got a lot of dirty stuff in the bag so if I could kind of tease that out for just a moment I think any time you're carrying resentment and unforgiveness and your heart I think any time you're dominated by fear anger I think if you're walking in secret sin I mean God has given you the weapon of confession oh gosh if you could ever understand that that's a sword you wield not a shield you want to fight darkness confess drag stuff into the light see this as throwing hands with the enemy and so if you're a Christian and earlier said if you're not a Christian come into this love if you are a Christian and you experience out like that you can think back maybe three years ago maybe a year ago maybe five years meant for somebody maybe twenty years ago you had this moment where Christ's love became real in your and you were overwhelmed by his goodness and grace and over a period of time you have repeatedly gone left gone left gone left and now you're in this season of your life with Jesus where avoidance marks your relationship with him you want to stay at a distance between you and the Lord I want to remind you of this love and ask you to come home Michael Bleeker about every other week will mention Luke 15 to you right he never mentions Luke 15 he just tells you the story of the prodigal son which is found in Luke 15 and rightly what he points out is that the son who had devoured the father's property with prostitutes and drunkenness that the father sits on the porch and he's looking at the horizon waiting for the prodigal to come home and when he sees him he gets up any runs out to meet him not to beat him not in fact the Bible says suni he embraces him and he kisses him and he throws a ring on his finger saying you're my son I haven't forgot that and he clothes him in righteousness a garb of the Father and he slays a fatted calf and they celebrate like I you get this you come home it's celebration time and glory won't you come home you come back into this unwavering love of God for you so I'm gonna just insane this I'm gonna pray you can walk out of here without stepping into leaning into or surrendering to this love look at me but that'll be your choice you'll be the one that says no thank you you will not say God does not love me I am here telling you he loves you you will choose to leave here without it or you will choose to surrender to it the invitation has been given yeah I mean all week long I have asked the Lord for you brother sister hardened towards the things of the Lord nominal in your seriousness about Jesus Christ I just try to imagine in my thin love for my children what it would be like if my kids were indifferent to me if they avoided me if as I sought to heap affection upon them they rejected that affection as I longed to bless them they rejected that blessing so I was eager just to be near them and comfort them and cut them and have them want nothing to do with that I would think about just how how that would grieve my own heart listen that the love of the father it's just here made available in Jesus Christ via the holy spirit you you can leave without it but you'll be choosing to leave without it let's pray spirit help us we want to see and savor and be blown away by and encouraged by and built up by this love help us not harden our hearts against you in this moment help us even as the Apostle Paul wrote help us really grasp the depth and the width and the breadth of your love pray that this kindness and our understanding of this kindness would lead to repentance today your gracious and good help us love you with everything in us and it's for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 41,459

Rating: 4.8709679 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, Marked, The Divine Sovereignty of God

Id: nKPEYGbOhhA

Length: 47min 22sec (2842 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 22 2017