WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 So we are nearing the end of our series on the 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:06.839 anthropomorphic traits of God as described in 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:08.820 Scripture, and the heart of God will be last. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.740 We have one more lesson in this series as we 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:14.480 will look at the whole of God, the whole thing 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:15.980 together, how it all works together, so we'll 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:19.780 go back. and we'll loop in the eyes and the hands 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.420 and the arms all together and see how it all 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:24.359 comes together. The truth is there are another 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:27.339 probably seven or eight terms. Each is a little 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:29.640 less common, but there are plenty of additional 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.640 terms in the Scripture that we could have lumped 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:34.859 on. We could have done this for another couple 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:37.399 months if we wanted to. But we tried to pick 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:39.899 all the most important and most prevalent ones, 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.299 and that's why we did these. Again, on this one, 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.399 too, you've heard the heart of God. You kind 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:47.759 of understand the concept a little bit. So don't 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:49.219 be surprised if I'm telling you something you 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:51.200 already know, but there are seven points. I'm 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:52.700 sure that not all of them will be like that. 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:55.380 So remember that God is spirit. For those of 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:57.600 you who haven't been, God is spirit. And so he 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.759 does not have a literal heart like you or I do. 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.799 Obviously, Jesus did. In fact, his heart was 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:05.140 pure from the spirit when he was hanging on the 00:01:05.140 --> 00:01:07.900 cross and was under great strain for 24 hours 00:01:07.900 --> 00:01:10.769 leading up to that. But when the Bible says, 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:12.750 for I know the plans I have for you declares 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:15.090 the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:17.750 to give you a future and a hope, that sort of 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:20.829 like shows how God feels about us. And then we're 00:01:20.829 --> 00:01:22.530 going to see as we go through the lesson a number 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:24.530 of times it refers specifically to God's heart. 00:01:24.629 --> 00:01:28.090 What we're really talking about is his will. 00:01:28.569 --> 00:01:30.790 His holiness, his compassion, his purpose, his 00:01:30.790 --> 00:01:32.989 desires, his affections, all of that, that's 00:01:32.989 --> 00:01:35.250 what your heart is. So if you think, for example, 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:37.349 the Bible says, where your treasure is, there 00:01:37.349 --> 00:01:39.549 is your heart. So you want your treasure in heaven 00:01:39.549 --> 00:01:42.549 with God, so that would be the case. So it's 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:44.450 what you care about. It's the center of your 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:46.409 being. It's what makes your important choices. 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:48.890 You make a lot of choices with your mind, but 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:50.549 you might find yourself sometimes internally 00:01:50.549 --> 00:01:52.989 feeling like, ah, this doesn't seem right. Your 00:01:52.989 --> 00:01:54.590 head's saying, go this way, go this way, and 00:01:54.590 --> 00:01:55.890 there's something inside you that's saying something 00:01:55.890 --> 00:01:58.209 different. That's your heart. the core of your 00:01:58.209 --> 00:02:01.129 being, making those decisions. So to understand 00:02:01.129 --> 00:02:03.930 the references, we have to remember that God's 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:06.890 heart has that picture. So we're going to get 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:09.909 two key overpoints that are there in that top 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:12.370 left box. This is going to talk about God's desires. 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:14.810 You can write desires in there if you want. God's 00:02:14.810 --> 00:02:19.490 purposes, his will, his compassion, which that 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:23.310 word is on the screen. Compassion is C -O -M 00:02:23.310 --> 00:02:25.870 -P -A -S -S -I -O -N. And then moral character. 00:02:26.189 --> 00:02:28.229 So when the Bible talks about God's heart, it's 00:02:28.229 --> 00:02:31.349 revealing to us what pleases him, what grieves 00:02:31.349 --> 00:02:34.009 him, what he values, and what he wants to do, 00:02:34.069 --> 00:02:35.629 what he wants to accomplish. That's what it's 00:02:35.629 --> 00:02:37.349 talking about. God's heart is never sinful. Yes, 00:02:37.349 --> 00:02:39.689 ma 'am. Moral. His judging between right and 00:02:39.689 --> 00:02:43.120 wrong. So he's never sinful, divided, selfish, 00:02:43.180 --> 00:02:46.199 or unstable like ours often is, certainly before 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:49.080 we're saved. And his affections are perfectly 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:51.439 consistent with his holiness. And that doesn't 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:53.599 necessarily work for us, right? You decide there's 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.599 something you like, and if you go after that 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:58.000 thing, it might be bad. It might not be holy 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.039 to you. You can go after some things a little 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:02.240 bit, and they're fine, right? But too much chocolate 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:04.460 cake, that's unholy, right? That's just the reality 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:06.659 of it. Too much of almost anything can become 00:03:06.659 --> 00:03:10.560 unholy. So God deeply loves his people. God desires... 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:13.319 righteousness, God grieves over sin, and God's 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:15.800 purposes never change. So, you might have heard 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:17.620 somebody say, my heart broke. They say, like, 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:19.759 my heart broke when I saw my child make that 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:21.060 decision. There are a couple people in this room 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:24.500 who have experienced that. So, my heart broke 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:26.900 when she said that to me, or when he said that 00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:28.960 to me, or when I saw what suffering made me want 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:30.780 to do that kind of thing. They're not talking 00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:32.800 about a medical condition. It's not something 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.379 you can take medicine for. They're expressing 00:03:34.379 --> 00:03:37.400 deep love, sorrow, and concern over the situation. 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:40.080 So, when we talk about God's heart, Similarly, 00:03:40.219 --> 00:03:41.800 if God's heart were breaking, it would be the 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:44.139 same way. It would be breaking his love, sorrow, 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:46.620 and concern for us. All right, so number one. 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:49.020 This is number one. God's heart. Delights in 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:52.120 obedience. The scripture is 1 Samuel 15, 22. 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:55.039 This is the same verse that talks about how rebellion 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.639 is like the sin of witchcraft. It's right in 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:00.500 there. Same speech of Samuel. But the actual, 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:02.319 what we're using it for is the part where it 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.879 says to obey is better than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.360 15, 22. Say that again. Teach under that. I haven't 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:12.259 said it yet. Under 1 Samuel 15, 22. Do that right 00:04:12.259 --> 00:04:15.229 now. Okay. So to obey is better than sacrifice, 00:04:15.469 --> 00:04:17.449 Samuel said, but he was saying it on behalf of 00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:21.430 God, right? So God values obedient hearts more 00:04:21.430 --> 00:04:23.889 than religious rituals. That's tricky to navigate 00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:26.750 because I might say things like, I know where 00:04:26.750 --> 00:04:29.810 I'll be at 1131 or 1135 on Sunday morning. I 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:31.910 know where I'll be, right? And I'm being obedient 00:04:31.910 --> 00:04:34.029 to God because that's what God wants me to do. 00:04:34.089 --> 00:04:36.490 But notice that someone else could do that for 00:04:36.490 --> 00:04:39.149 religious reasons. That make sense? So we're 00:04:39.149 --> 00:04:42.870 like, I do this, I do this. religiously because 00:04:42.870 --> 00:04:45.069 it makes me better, because people expect to 00:04:45.069 --> 00:04:47.209 see me there, because I want the prestige of 00:04:47.209 --> 00:04:49.009 it, whatever. There's a lot of reasons why you 00:04:49.009 --> 00:04:52.189 might do it other than obedience. God values 00:04:52.189 --> 00:04:55.230 or wants obedient hearts more than religious 00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:57.170 ritual. People will frequently say Christianity 00:04:57.170 --> 00:04:59.250 is not a religion, and I would agree with that. 00:04:59.449 --> 00:05:02.430 In the world class of religions, somebody might 00:05:02.430 --> 00:05:04.050 say Christianity is a religion, but the truth 00:05:04.050 --> 00:05:05.850 is Christianity is all about your relationship 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:08.540 with God. It's not about religion at all. Hence, 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:10.500 churches can have their worship service on Saturday 00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:12.699 night instead of Sunday and still be legit, right? 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:14.939 You can have your Sabbath Wednesday into Thursday. 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.259 As a result, when you take 24 -hour Sabbath, 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:19.259 you can do that on any day of the week and it 00:05:19.259 --> 00:05:21.519 would still be good. God values obedient hearts 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:23.579 more than religious riches. Then worship without 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:25.959 obedience does not please him. It's a pretty 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:28.860 big deal. If you are worshiping God on Sunday 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:30.899 mornings, Tuesday nights now, praise the Lord, 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:34.100 or whatever, and your heart is in the wrong place, 00:05:34.430 --> 00:05:35.970 And you understand that that worship isn't good 00:05:35.970 --> 00:05:37.970 for him. It's not saying anything about God saying, 00:05:38.029 --> 00:05:40.269 you're awesome, God. Well, everything you're 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:42.230 doing in your heart condition is saying God sucks. 00:05:42.490 --> 00:05:44.389 That's not how that works. So you need to be 00:05:44.389 --> 00:05:46.189 through and through in your truth. And then your 00:05:46.189 --> 00:05:48.810 worship really is an honor. And the last one 00:05:48.810 --> 00:05:52.589 is external religion cannot replace inward devotion. 00:05:52.730 --> 00:05:55.430 External religion, so religion on the outside, 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:59.149 cannot replace inward devotion. Your insides 00:05:59.149 --> 00:06:01.689 are looking for God. External religion, or outside, 00:06:01.889 --> 00:06:03.290 you can use that word, it's a little easier to 00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:05.949 spell. Outside religion cannot replace inward 00:06:05.949 --> 00:06:08.490 devotion. Inside. So your insides are what really 00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:10.050 matters, right? There's a whole bunch of places 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:12.129 in scripture where it says God looks upon the 00:06:12.129 --> 00:06:14.629 heart of a man. But your outsides are what determines 00:06:14.629 --> 00:06:17.750 what your insides can be like, right? So if you're 00:06:17.750 --> 00:06:20.709 cussing up the storm, your heart is dirty. There's 00:06:20.709 --> 00:06:22.790 a problem, right? Or if you're assassinating 00:06:22.790 --> 00:06:25.290 people with the words, you realize that your 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:27.529 heart's got a condition. It needs to be resolved. 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:30.699 So then the application is seek to obey God from 00:06:30.699 --> 00:06:33.079 the heart rather than merely performing religious 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:35.759 duties. So yes, you should go to worship. Yes, 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:37.699 you should spend time serving. Yes, you should 00:06:37.699 --> 00:06:40.220 give. All of those things. Yes, you should follow 00:06:40.220 --> 00:06:43.720 the rules. Submit to authority. All of those 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.449 things. But more importantly, you want to obey 00:06:46.449 --> 00:06:48.449 God from the heart. In fact, that's probably 00:06:48.449 --> 00:06:50.550 the whole thing. Remember he said, whosoever 00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:52.689 believeth in his heart, confess with his mouth 00:06:52.689 --> 00:06:55.209 that Jesus Christ is what? Lord, right? And a 00:06:55.209 --> 00:06:56.730 Lord is what? It's the person who tells you what 00:06:56.730 --> 00:06:58.149 to do when you do it. Jesus said, if you love 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:00.170 me, follow my commands. So the chief thing is 00:07:00.170 --> 00:07:02.689 to obey God from the heart rather than obeying 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:05.970 the religious duties. Okay, number two. God's 00:07:05.970 --> 00:07:08.709 heart loves his people. That's kind of a given. 00:07:08.829 --> 00:07:11.670 That's not really a surprise. God's heart loves 00:07:11.670 --> 00:07:13.730 his people. And the reference there is Jeremiah 00:07:13.730 --> 00:07:20.589 31 .3. Jeremiah 31 .3. It says, I have loved 00:07:20.589 --> 00:07:22.709 you with an everlasting love. You know what's 00:07:22.709 --> 00:07:25.269 cool about that? It means God loved you before 00:07:25.269 --> 00:07:27.050 you were born, and it means God will love you 00:07:27.050 --> 00:07:29.959 after you die. that God would love to do while 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:31.939 you're in hell, if you would choose to go there 00:07:31.939 --> 00:07:33.079 rather than heaven. I mean, it's heartbreaking 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:35.319 for him, but it's a reality. It's an everlasting 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:37.699 thing. And to the points under that one, the 00:07:37.699 --> 00:07:40.540 first one is God's love is eternal. Back forever, 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:44.220 forward forever. God's love never ends. His covenant 00:07:44.220 --> 00:07:47.759 love does not, big word, fluctuate or change 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:49.360 up and down. I just want to say that. It doesn't 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.779 go up and down. So his covenant love, the love 00:07:51.779 --> 00:07:54.339 that God has for his people, is not... different 00:07:54.339 --> 00:07:55.980 day to day. That was the problem they were making 00:07:55.980 --> 00:07:58.120 a lot in the Old Testament. Judges and like that, 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:00.639 they were like, oh, God has turned his back on 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.420 us while they were worshiping idols and sacrificing 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:05.060 their babies in the fire and all that stuff. 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:06.300 And they'd say, well, God has turned his back 00:08:06.300 --> 00:08:08.079 on us. But God had never turned his back on them. 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:10.139 He always loved them. But what they were doing 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:14.079 was having certain results. God's covenant love 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.980 does not fluctuate or change up now. The last 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:19.680 one is his love originates in his own character 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.519 rather than our worthiness. In other words, God's 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:26.060 love is based on who God is, not who you are. 00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:28.660 So when somebody says, I'm too bad for God to 00:08:28.660 --> 00:08:30.800 love me, for example, they're wrong. God loves 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.620 that person. God loves Adolf Hitler just as much 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:35.980 as he loves you or me. Mussolini, right? Jeffrey 00:08:35.980 --> 00:08:37.580 Dahmer, while he was killing people and eating, 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.200 he loves everybody. He loves just the same. It's 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:43.440 horrible. His heart is breaking. over what that 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:46.059 person is doing, and he will willingly let them 00:08:46.059 --> 00:08:48.139 go to hell when the time comes, and they'll pay 00:08:48.139 --> 00:08:50.820 a dear price for it. But the point is, he loves 00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:52.980 you because of who he is, not because of who 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:55.500 you are or whether you're worthy of that love. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:00.039 So then the application is, rest in God's unchanging 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:02.539 love during difficult seasons. So when times 00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:06.100 are tough, rest in his unchanging love. Look 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:10.789 at her go! So mobile. Getting mobile. All right, 00:09:10.789 --> 00:09:13.370 so we're going to go on. The sun continues shining 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:16.070 even when clouds hide it from view. You understand 00:09:16.070 --> 00:09:18.149 that, right? So if you go outside and it's a 00:09:18.149 --> 00:09:21.470 cloudy day, it's also a sunny day, right? Cloudy 00:09:21.470 --> 00:09:23.809 days are also sunny. That's what always makes 00:09:23.809 --> 00:09:25.429 me laugh when you see the forecast and see me 00:09:25.429 --> 00:09:29.169 partly cloudy. It's always sunny. So to say partly 00:09:29.169 --> 00:09:30.529 cloudy means we're going to have some clouds. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:32.720 That's what it means, right? And if you fill 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:34.840 the sky with clouds, it's just going to be cloudy. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.120 But it's also sunny because the sun is not shining 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.259 any less. It's just shining on the top of the 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:41.799 clouds instead of down here, right? So the clouds 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:43.679 can affect our ability to see the sun, but they 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:45.960 do not diminish the light of the sun. It's still 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:48.340 there, still just as bright. So difficult circumstances 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:50.940 can obscure our awareness of God. We might not 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:54.340 see God's love right now visibly because we're 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:56.399 struggling, thinking about something else, looking 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.940 somewhere else. But those circumstances never 00:09:58.940 --> 00:10:01.799 lessen his love. loves us the same. So you could 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:03.519 go out today or tomorrow and do something really 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:05.899 stupid and he'll still love you just the same 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:08.080 as he did for you back. Number three, God's heart 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:11.179 grieves over sin. God's heart grieves over sin. 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:15.419 Genesis 6 references Genesis 6, 5 to 6. Number 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:20.360 two, the number two application was rest in God's 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:23.919 unchanging love during difficulties. It's really 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:29.559 always. or stands out more during difficult seasons 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:32.200 because it seems counterintuitive. I don't think 00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:35.289 it's quite that. The scripture reference for 00:10:35.289 --> 00:10:38.389 number three then was Genesis 6, 5 -6, which 00:10:38.389 --> 00:10:40.649 says, The Lord was sorry that he had made man 00:10:40.649 --> 00:10:43.169 on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. 00:10:43.350 --> 00:10:45.710 It is a different thing to be sorry than it is 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:47.950 to be grieved in your heart. When the core of 00:10:47.950 --> 00:10:51.289 your being is fallen like a baby because something 00:10:51.289 --> 00:10:53.409 happened, that is a pretty bad thing. When you're 00:10:53.409 --> 00:10:55.049 sorry because you stubbed your toe, or you're 00:10:55.049 --> 00:10:56.309 sorry because you said something on your feelings, 00:10:56.509 --> 00:10:59.110 that is bad. But to be grieved in your heart, 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:02.379 that's terrible. And that's how God was feeling 00:11:02.379 --> 00:11:04.620 about the fact that he had made man on the earth. 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:06.100 Think about that. And out of that, a horse will 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:10.299 come flooding. So under that, human sin deeply 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:14.360 offends God's holy character. God really despises 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:17.740 sin. He hates what it does to people. He hates 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:20.139 the act. He hates what sin does to people. What 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:23.139 the sinner is causing to happen to another person. 00:11:23.259 --> 00:11:25.879 What the person is having happen to them. All 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:27.840 the way. Everybody's a victim. When you sin, 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:30.279 God hates your sin because it is messing with 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.779 you. Yes, ma 'am. Human sin deeply offends God's 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:37.600 holy character. God's grief reflects his holiness, 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:40.970 not weakness. In other words, God is not, we 00:11:40.970 --> 00:11:42.690 think of like when people are sad and they're 00:11:42.690 --> 00:11:44.110 upset because something went wrong. We think 00:11:44.110 --> 00:11:45.929 God's a sign of weakness for them. But that's 00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:47.769 God's grief. I was going to say it again. I'll 00:11:47.769 --> 00:11:49.330 say it a couple times each time. God's grief 00:11:49.330 --> 00:11:53.690 reflects his holiness, not weakness. So sometimes 00:11:53.690 --> 00:11:55.830 when people are in grief, we think, oh, that's 00:11:55.830 --> 00:11:57.730 sad for them. That's bad. They're weak because 00:11:57.730 --> 00:12:00.330 they're crying. They look weak, right? So grief 00:12:00.330 --> 00:12:02.909 sometimes looks like weakness. But with God, 00:12:02.909 --> 00:12:05.490 that's certainly never the case. God's grief 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:09.409 reflects his holiness, not weakness. His heart 00:12:09.409 --> 00:12:12.269 is able to grieve this because he is holy. He 00:12:12.269 --> 00:12:14.909 is different than he is. Okay? The last one's 00:12:14.909 --> 00:12:18.909 pretty easy. Sin destroys what God loves. Sin 00:12:18.909 --> 00:12:22.909 destroys what God loves. That might be you, or 00:12:22.909 --> 00:12:24.710 it might be me, right? It could be the persons 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:26.389 that we're hurting, whatever. There are lots 00:12:26.389 --> 00:12:28.070 of people in the world who are dying because 00:12:28.070 --> 00:12:30.559 of sin. They're dead in their trespasses and 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:32.600 sins. Sin destroys what God loves. That's not 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:34.980 good, right? And then the application then is 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:38.299 we need to, and frankly, we're not good at this, 00:12:38.419 --> 00:12:40.059 right? And we need to get better at it. We need 00:12:40.059 --> 00:12:43.850 to view sin as God views sin. sin. So no excuses. 00:12:44.289 --> 00:12:46.429 Don't play it off like it's not a big deal, right? 00:12:46.590 --> 00:12:48.889 It's not that you're getting away with something 00:12:48.889 --> 00:12:52.129 or it's not that God is upset, but he loves you. 00:12:52.149 --> 00:12:53.789 So he's still going to be nice to you, right? 00:12:53.929 --> 00:12:56.769 We can't do that. God, his heart is breaking 00:12:56.769 --> 00:12:59.669 over sin. You're destroying him in a sense. Not 00:12:59.669 --> 00:13:01.669 literally, he's not going to end, right? People 00:13:01.669 --> 00:13:03.289 have been doing it for all time. You can take 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:05.490 it. But the point is, if you love him, why would 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:07.169 you break his heart like that? You have to start 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:09.590 seeing it like he sees it. And by the way, that's 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:11.889 where the freedom is. The freedom to not sin 00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:14.870 is in recognizing just how bad it is. That little 00:13:14.870 --> 00:13:17.700 white lie, that's a sin. Put it in this scale. 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:20.879 One little white lie. If a person lived a perfectly 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.379 sinless life, never did anything wrong ever, 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:26.539 and once, at the age of like 30, they told one 00:13:26.539 --> 00:13:28.879 little white lie, then they lived to be 100. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:34.120 So for 99 years and 364 days and 23 hours and 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:37.940 50 minutes, they were perfect, sinless, and they 00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:40.480 lied that one time. That would be enough for 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.480 them to spend hell, eternity in hell. That's 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:45.059 how bad God feels about that. It's very serious. 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:47.059 And it isn't just because he would say, oh, that 00:13:47.059 --> 00:13:48.620 one little white lie, well, you deserve to burn 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:50.179 in hell for that. It's because he would say, 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:52.779 I want you to come be with me. And they would 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:55.639 say, I don't want to come be with you. I relish 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:57.899 my freedom. I want to be able to lie if I want 00:13:57.899 --> 00:13:59.980 to lie. I want to be able to be the kind of person 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:01.240 I want to be. I don't want to be the kind of 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:04.740 person you want me to be. God is a very big deal. 00:14:04.899 --> 00:14:09.120 Number four, God's heart is compassionate. That 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.860 has the word compassion in the beginning out 00:14:10.860 --> 00:14:13.580 of the struggling word spelling. Compassion 8. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:17.159 The reference there is Hosea, H -O -S -E -A, 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:21.460 Hosea 11 .8. He is speaking on behalf of God, 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:25.279 and he says, My heart is turned over within me, 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:29.720 which also sounds very bad. Hosea, H -O -S -E 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:35.250 -A, 11 .8. Hosea 11 .8. All right, so God's compassion 00:14:35.250 --> 00:14:38.490 is extraordinary. I know it's a big word. You 00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:40.029 can use different words if you want. But it means 00:14:40.029 --> 00:14:42.529 it is really outside our understanding. God is 00:14:42.529 --> 00:14:47.110 so moved by what he is experiencing. He's so 00:14:47.110 --> 00:14:49.370 moved by what he is experiencing that we have 00:14:49.370 --> 00:14:51.049 a hard time understanding it. I want you to think 00:14:51.049 --> 00:14:54.769 about the worst experience you've personally 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:57.210 ever had and how horrible you felt at that moment. 00:14:57.289 --> 00:14:58.769 The worst you've ever had and how horrible you 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:02.799 felt. And then realize that... God experiences 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:05.039 that kind of feeling probably every moment of 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:07.320 every day. It's constant. Somewhere in the world, 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:10.559 God is doing what would turn God's heart over. 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:15.919 Justice and mercy, then. Justice and mercy perfectly 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:19.320 coexist. I wrote a fiction story about one of 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:21.360 the characters in the fantasy world that I write 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.120 about. And that character is very much about 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.779 justice and mercy and matching them up. She's 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:28.919 trying to reconcile them. I've been writing this 00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:31.299 story, I spend a lot of time praying and thinking 00:15:31.299 --> 00:15:33.580 about justice and mercy. We think of them as 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:36.559 opposites. Because we think justice is, you get 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.500 what you deserve. That's the definition of justice. 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:40.740 You get what you deserve. Mercy is, you don't 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:42.299 get what you deserve. So that sounds like an 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:44.600 opposite, right? Except it isn't. Because in 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:47.539 the case of Jesus, for example, Jesus takes what 00:15:47.539 --> 00:15:50.340 we deserve. So it isn't that you get what you 00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:52.399 deserve. That's not justice. Justice is that 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:55.840 somebody who can take it, who can stand for you, 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:57.759 gets what you deserve. Which means technically, 00:15:57.899 --> 00:16:00.679 if you had two people and one of them both knew 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:02.779 that this guy committed a crime and this guy 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:04.919 confessed to the crime and he went to jail justice 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:06.919 has been served because this guy went to jail 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:08.899 for the crime now justice is not served between 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:10.899 the two of them but justice is served as far 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:12.159 as the law is concerned because somebody went 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:13.879 to jail for the crime right but between the two 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:15.980 of them justice is not served because this person 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:17.899 let this person go to jail for them so now there's 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:20.799 another problem justice and mercy perfectly coexist 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:24.730 in god and god's love does not compromise his 00:16:24.730 --> 00:16:27.509 holiness. So no matter how much God loves you, 00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:29.730 he's not going to change the rules for you. He's 00:16:29.730 --> 00:16:31.970 not going to do it. The rules are the rules. 00:16:32.230 --> 00:16:35.429 The promises are the promises. So it is what 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:38.129 it is. And we're going to go on to number five. 00:16:38.350 --> 00:16:42.049 God's heart seeks those who seek him. God is 00:16:42.049 --> 00:16:45.129 pursuing a certain group of people whose heart 00:16:45.129 --> 00:16:47.789 desires that people pretty much... More than 00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:51.269 anything. 1 Samuel 13, 14 is a reference. So 00:16:51.269 --> 00:16:55.769 1 Sam 13, 14. 1 Samuel 13, 14 says, The Lord 00:16:55.769 --> 00:16:58.649 has sought out for himself a man after his own 00:16:58.649 --> 00:17:00.409 heart. Samuel's talking about, do we know who? 00:17:00.509 --> 00:17:02.970 David, right? So he's talking about David. So 00:17:02.970 --> 00:17:06.650 God, the point is, God desires a man after his 00:17:06.650 --> 00:17:09.329 own heart. That's what he wants. People are going 00:17:09.329 --> 00:17:11.369 to think like he thinks about sin. They're going 00:17:11.369 --> 00:17:13.390 to be compassionate in an extraordinary sense. 00:17:14.609 --> 00:17:18.630 You're right. Oh, I'm... say it that's why x 00:17:18.630 --> 00:17:21.970 yeah you do extend compassion because you have 00:17:21.970 --> 00:17:25.789 received compassion thank you it wasn't that 00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:27.089 you weren't listening it's because i didn't say 00:17:27.089 --> 00:17:30.309 it extend compassion because you have received 00:17:30.309 --> 00:17:32.490 compassion so all those application points those 00:17:32.490 --> 00:17:36.599 are what we do about it right so So number one, 00:17:36.740 --> 00:17:39.039 because God's heart delights in obedience, what 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:41.559 do you do? Seek to obey him from the heart, right? 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:43.579 That's what you do. Not just performing religious 00:17:43.579 --> 00:17:45.339 duties, but actually seek to obey him. Number 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:47.500 two, God's heart loves his people. What do you 00:17:47.500 --> 00:17:49.180 do about that? If God loves you so much, what 00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:51.319 do you do about it? Well, you rest in God's unchanging 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:53.380 love during difficult times in your life, right? 00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:55.700 He's got you. Number three, God's heart grieves 00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:57.480 our sin. What do you do about that? You need 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:00.839 to try to view sin as God views it. Think about 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:04.180 sin the way God does. Number four was God's heart 00:18:04.180 --> 00:18:06.559 is compassionate. And so then extend compassion 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:09.460 because you have received passion. And also because 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:11.079 we're supposed to be like him as much as we can. 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:13.480 Because we're following Jesus. And Jesus is him 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:16.039 in the flesh. And Jesus certainly was compassionate. 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:19.099 There's lots of reasons. Number five. God's heart 00:18:19.099 --> 00:18:22.180 seeks those who seek him. 1 Samuel 13, 14. The 00:18:22.180 --> 00:18:24.480 Lord has sought out himself a man after his own 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.339 heart. The first point is God values surrendered 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:31.339 hearts. God values surrendered hearts. Between 00:18:31.339 --> 00:18:33.279 a married man and a married woman, the wedding 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:35.440 ring might mean a lot. It doesn't mean anything 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.740 compared to the devotion of that other person. 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:39.420 Lose your wedding ring. Burn your wedding ring 00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:41.579 by accident. But if you love your spouse the 00:18:41.579 --> 00:18:43.440 way you're supposed to, the wedding ring isn't 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.500 going to matter all that much. But if the wedding 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:48.980 ring is representative and you start nonchalantly 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:50.559 blowing it off or whatever, you're not wearing 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:53.339 it, or you've lost it a third time in five years 00:18:53.339 --> 00:18:54.960 or something, then you might be making a statement 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:58.619 about your commitment to your spouse. needs to 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:00.700 be to your spouse. It's the same way with God. 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.880 God wants our surrendered hearts. David was not 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:06.079 perfect. You don't know? David committed some 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.859 of the worst sins that were ever committed. Maybe 00:19:08.859 --> 00:19:11.119 not as much as the average person. We don't really 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.380 know. But he committed some pretty bad ones. 00:19:13.829 --> 00:19:15.710 He took multiple wives, which is not ordained 00:19:15.710 --> 00:19:17.569 in Scripture. One of the wives he took was already 00:19:17.569 --> 00:19:19.829 married to another man. He had that man killed 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:21.529 so that he could have her. That was not even 00:19:21.529 --> 00:19:23.190 the first time he did it. He had another woman 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:24.990 who was his wife, and he killed her husband. 00:19:25.089 --> 00:19:26.730 But he didn't do it to have a affair with her. 00:19:26.769 --> 00:19:28.549 He did it, and then afterwards, she didn't have 00:19:28.549 --> 00:19:29.670 a husband, and everybody would take care of her, 00:19:29.730 --> 00:19:31.829 so then he married her, supposedly out of mercy, 00:19:31.970 --> 00:19:33.829 taking care of her, right? But he killed her 00:19:33.829 --> 00:19:37.150 husband, who was a jerk, by the way. David was 00:19:37.150 --> 00:19:39.450 not perfect. In fact, at the end of his life, 00:19:39.549 --> 00:19:41.210 he was told he was not allowed to build the temple 00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:43.670 because his hands were too bloody. So God wanted 00:19:43.670 --> 00:19:45.710 a man after his own heart, not a perfect man, 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:47.029 which is probably a good thing because none of 00:19:47.029 --> 00:19:49.390 us are perfect, right? So just be after his heart. 00:19:49.490 --> 00:19:51.809 All right, so the third one there, he consistently 00:19:51.809 --> 00:19:55.029 desired God. That's what David did. He consistently 00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:57.329 desired God. When God was going to discipline 00:19:57.329 --> 00:19:59.460 him, David never... thought about running away. 00:19:59.619 --> 00:20:02.380 In fact, David wrote to Solomon and says, if 00:20:02.380 --> 00:20:04.359 I would run to the ends of the earth, you would 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:06.599 be there. Under the depths of the sea, you would 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:07.859 be there. On the highest mountain, you would 00:20:07.859 --> 00:20:08.960 be there. What am I going to do? You're God, 00:20:09.099 --> 00:20:12.940 right? Consistently desired God. And the application 00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:15.579 then is, God desires your heart more than your 00:20:15.579 --> 00:20:18.779 achievements. Does God want you to win people 00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:22.410 to Christ? Absolutely. without emotion in your 00:20:22.410 --> 00:20:24.990 heart, which is sort of impossible, right? Billy 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:27.190 Graham, most of us know who Billy Graham is, 00:20:27.230 --> 00:20:29.569 at least in some sense. He's an old guy, fairly 00:20:29.569 --> 00:20:31.769 recently passed away, last five years or so. 00:20:32.460 --> 00:20:34.200 He had shared the gospel all over the world. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.500 He had crusades all over the United States, won 00:20:36.500 --> 00:20:38.319 tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:40.339 of people in Christ. His right -hand man who 00:20:40.339 --> 00:20:43.240 served with him during all of those things, right, 00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:45.599 eventually came out and said that he was an atheist. 00:20:45.859 --> 00:20:47.319 He had claimed to be a Christian the whole time 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:49.059 he was working for Billy Graham, but in the end 00:20:49.059 --> 00:20:50.640 he came out and said he was an atheist. He was 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.980 part of winning all those people, but he did 00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:57.180 not know the Lord. So God desires your heart 00:20:57.180 --> 00:20:59.000 more than your achievements. Give him your heart. 00:20:59.660 --> 00:21:00.819 Okay, we're on number six. Did everybody get 00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:03.519 everything? David was not perfect. It's like 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:06.640 the most important one, too. Dan is not perfect. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:13.819 And you are not. I know. All right. Number six. 00:21:14.220 --> 00:21:17.319 God's heart never changes. Yay. It's a good thing. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:22.299 Malachi 3 .6. Malachi. M -A -L -A -C -H -I. It's 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:25.539 like Malachi. M -A -L -A -C -H -I. Like Malachi. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:28.799 And it's 3, 6. Chapter 3, verse 6. Now, there's 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:31.140 a bunch of these. This is one. And he says, For 00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:34.720 I, the Lord, do not change. That's what Malachi 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:38.660 3 .6 says. God's character is immutable. I chose 00:21:38.660 --> 00:21:40.539 that word very specifically. Immutable means 00:21:40.539 --> 00:21:44.079 nothing can change. It's I -M -M -U -T -A -B 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.420 -L -E. Immutable. I -M -M -U -T -A -B -L -E. 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:51.119 Immutable. So you can put acid with it, that 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:53.279 won't change. You can put fire to it, that won't 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:55.640 change. You can put sin to it, that won't change. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.460 Gravity won't change. Nothing will change God's 00:21:58.460 --> 00:22:02.920 character. His love remains constant. I already 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:05.000 covered that when we talked about love before. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:08.920 His love remains constant. And last, his promises 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:12.079 never fail. So it's God's character, it's immutable. 00:22:12.660 --> 00:22:15.480 His love remains constant, and his promises never 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:18.640 fail. So then the application, what do you think 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:21.319 the application is? Without me telling you, do 00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:22.980 you want to take a stab at it? So based on the 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:26.480 fact that God's heart never changes, what could 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:30.579 we do? Okay, kind of. You could change it to 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:33.200 be like it is, right? So you want to anchor your 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:35.980 heart, your life. You want to make it solid in 00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:38.779 God's unchanging curve. Easy ways to do that. 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:40.400 What does God want me to do? As soon as I know, 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:42.519 what do I do? I do it. Whatever that is. What 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:44.099 does God want me to do? I don't say, well, God 00:22:44.099 --> 00:22:46.299 wants me to do this, but maybe he's okay if I 00:22:46.299 --> 00:22:48.359 do that. If God wants me to do this, that's what 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:49.839 I'm going to do. It's kind of simple, right? 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:53.819 The Bible says, don't do this. What am I going 00:22:53.819 --> 00:22:56.519 to do? I'm not going to do it. The Bible says, 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.900 do this. What am I going to do? You've got to 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:01.180 do that. What am I talking about? We're following 00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:04.099 directions. So the easy way, God is gracious 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:06.299 to give us direction so we can follow the direction 00:23:06.299 --> 00:23:08.400 that we've been given. And in the world you'll 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.480 find all kinds of reasons because the world, 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:13.279 if anything has a changing character, it's the 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:15.339 world. Not because the world gets to be sometimes 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:17.079 not wicked, right? The world is always pretty 00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:18.980 wicked. But because it's all over the place. 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:23.220 So right now, in Toledo, Ohio, if you got caught 00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:25.680 with a five -pound bag of marijuana in your car, 00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:27.579 probably pretty much nothing would happen because 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:29.960 there's no punishment for it now in the city 00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:32.059 of Toledo. But 20 years ago, guys went to jail. 00:23:32.589 --> 00:23:34.829 Because the world's character is constantly changing. 00:23:34.829 --> 00:23:36.549 You can't even change the definition of words. 00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:39.329 The target is constantly moving. If you're after 00:23:39.329 --> 00:23:41.089 the target that is the way the world wants you 00:23:41.089 --> 00:23:43.089 to live, you'll never line up perfectly because 00:23:43.089 --> 00:23:45.230 you'll never get there. As soon as you try to 00:23:45.230 --> 00:23:47.089 get there, it'll move on. But God is not like 00:23:47.089 --> 00:23:49.109 that. You can learn God's heart. You can base 00:23:49.109 --> 00:23:51.890 your life on God's heart. So anchor or base your 00:23:51.890 --> 00:23:54.329 life in God's unchanging character. Number seven. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:58.079 God's heart is fully, completely, absolutely 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.960 and totally, fully revealed in Christ. It's all 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:03.099 there. He did it. He showed it completely. And 00:24:03.099 --> 00:24:05.960 the reference is Matthew, Matthew, M -A -T -T 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:10.700 -Q -H -E -W, Matthew 11, 28 to 30. Matthew 11, 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:13.480 28 to 30. We're not going to read the whole thing, 00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:16.299 but we could. It'd be awesome. Yes, yeah. Please 00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:18.420 do take these things and read the verses and 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:22.099 read the whole chapters. I am gentle and humble 00:24:22.099 --> 00:24:26.040 in heart. So then we're saying Jesus. perfectly 00:24:26.040 --> 00:24:28.140 reveals the Father's heart. So when you think 00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:30.259 about the way Jesus behaved, and you say, well, 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:32.259 why would he do that? The answer is because he 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:34.319 was, that's the way God is. He said, I don't 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:35.839 do anything except what I see the Father doing. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.220 So when you see him doing something in the Bible, 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:40.779 say, why would he do that? Because that's a picture 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:42.579 of God's heart. So if you could, has anybody 00:24:42.579 --> 00:24:47.200 seen the movie, it's called The Map of Incredible 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:49.779 Things? I think it's called. It's a highly recommended 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:52.460 romantic comedy, highly recommended movie. It's 00:24:52.460 --> 00:24:54.599 probably rated PG. I think kids will find this. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.859 see it um and it's called the map of it's incredible 00:24:57.859 --> 00:25:00.980 things i'm missing the adjective google i'll 00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:03.380 come right up anyway the idea it's a groundhog 00:25:03.380 --> 00:25:05.039 day movie if you know what i mean by that it's 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:06.940 a day that repeats over and over and over again 00:25:06.940 --> 00:25:09.140 and this kid is stuck in it the day repeats over 00:25:09.140 --> 00:25:11.059 and over and over again and there's another girl 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:13.079 she's stuck in there too and they meet each other 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:15.319 and that's where the romantic comedy part comes 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.359 in right and they begin to hunt down these incredible 00:25:18.359 --> 00:25:21.660 things these powerful moments right and they're 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:23.460 trying to find essentially all it becomes like 00:25:23.460 --> 00:25:25.470 a game for them to try to find all of the moments. 00:25:25.509 --> 00:25:26.230 I'm not going to tell you any more than that 00:25:26.230 --> 00:25:27.309 because I don't want to ruin the movie for you. 00:25:27.710 --> 00:25:30.430 But the point is, these moments were like, there 00:25:30.430 --> 00:25:33.329 was a guy walking down the sidewalk and a bird 00:25:33.329 --> 00:25:35.490 pooped on his shoulder. There was a guy who sat 00:25:35.490 --> 00:25:38.130 down on the park bench and just then a bus came 00:25:38.130 --> 00:25:39.710 by that had a pair of wings on it and it looked 00:25:39.710 --> 00:25:42.069 like he had wings. And it was really neat, just 00:25:42.069 --> 00:25:43.789 little neat little things. They just saw an eagle 00:25:43.789 --> 00:25:46.250 swoop down and pick a fish out of the water in 00:25:46.250 --> 00:25:49.269 the lake. It's really neat moments that you wouldn't 00:25:49.269 --> 00:25:51.029 normally get to see and they start collecting. 00:25:51.130 --> 00:25:53.430 It's like that with Jesus. Jesus is... moments. 00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:56.089 We get parables, we get stories, we get commands, 00:25:56.269 --> 00:25:58.730 things like that. But if you could draw like 00:25:58.730 --> 00:26:01.589 a dot to dot out of all of the incredible moments 00:26:01.589 --> 00:26:04.430 that Jesus showed us about himself, guess what 00:26:04.430 --> 00:26:06.289 you would see? You would see God's heart. You 00:26:06.289 --> 00:26:09.329 would see an idea of who God is and what he was 00:26:09.329 --> 00:26:11.549 all about. That's what Jesus was showing us. 00:26:12.130 --> 00:26:16.390 Number two there is God's love is seen most clearly 00:26:16.390 --> 00:26:18.609 at, can somebody finish it? Where is God's love 00:26:18.609 --> 00:26:20.890 seen most clearly? It's the crucifixion. I just 00:26:20.890 --> 00:26:22.950 put it at the cross. Yep. That's where it's most 00:26:22.950 --> 00:26:25.109 clear. We already know God's heart is breaking 00:26:25.109 --> 00:26:27.910 over sin every day, not just at the cross, right? 00:26:27.990 --> 00:26:30.250 Every day, God's heart is turning. It says, we 00:26:30.250 --> 00:26:32.470 read, my heart turns over. It's terrible. God 00:26:32.470 --> 00:26:34.569 is suffering because of our sin because he cares 00:26:34.569 --> 00:26:37.980 that much. At the cross, the sin was being paid 00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:40.339 for. So all the while, he was horrible seeing 00:26:40.339 --> 00:26:41.839 his son be crucified. He was horrible seeing 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.460 what he's been through. In some sense, people 00:26:43.460 --> 00:26:45.319 say that God kind of looked away at that moment. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.099 I'm not sure I believe that. Jesus said, my God, 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:50.279 my God, why has thou forsaken me? And that's 00:26:50.279 --> 00:26:51.839 the beginning of Psalm 22. And if you read Psalm 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:53.940 22, it's everything about the crucifixion. So 00:26:53.940 --> 00:26:56.220 Jesus was really quoting Psalm 22. I'm not sure 00:26:56.220 --> 00:26:57.660 I believe that God looked away at the cross. 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:01.160 It's definitely not clearly the case, but nonetheless, 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:03.200 he was definitely suffering for what Jesus was 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:07.460 going through, and does every day. As Jesus knew 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:09.420 that once that was done and sin was paid for 00:27:09.420 --> 00:27:11.319 or not, people could be saved. And the people 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:13.180 that were saved before were being saved by what 00:27:13.180 --> 00:27:15.299 was happening right then. God's love and seed 00:27:15.299 --> 00:27:18.000 was growing at the cross. The last one there, 00:27:18.019 --> 00:27:21.420 Christ embodies, kind of a big word, God's compassion, 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:24.940 his mercy, his holiness, and his grace. They're 00:27:24.940 --> 00:27:26.680 all big Bible words. I'm going to tell you what 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:29.259 they mean. So to embody something, is to show 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:30.799 it in its fullness. That's what we're talking 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.759 about. God's heart revealing Christ. And then 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.019 Jesus was revealing God's compassion. How deeply 00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:38.980 he cares for us. How much he does not stop caring 00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:40.859 for us. He never quit caring for us, even in 00:27:40.859 --> 00:27:43.059 the worst of it. So God embodies, Christ embodies 00:27:43.059 --> 00:27:45.720 God's compassion. His mercy, which means he really 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:48.319 does not want to give you or me what we deserve. 00:27:48.579 --> 00:27:50.740 God really doesn't want to do that. So Christ 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:53.579 embodies God's compassion. His mercy. His holiness, 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:56.160 which means somebody needs to pay for all the 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.380 stuff that people is doing. And the dirtiness 00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:01.019 of hearts and the disrespect that God is receiving, 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:02.859 somebody's got to pay for that. There is justice. 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:05.380 The wages of sin is death. God set it up that 00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:07.019 way before he made Adam and Eve. And he told 00:28:07.019 --> 00:28:08.920 them, in the day that you eat of the tree, the 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:10.319 knowledge of the people, you will surely die. 00:28:10.579 --> 00:28:12.619 And then they ate of the tree anyway. From that 00:28:12.619 --> 00:28:14.420 point on, it was guaranteed that people would 00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:16.500 always die and always be separated from God, 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:18.140 essentially, in their relationship. But if you 00:28:18.140 --> 00:28:20.339 trust God to make a way, then you'd be saved. 00:28:20.539 --> 00:28:24.359 And Jesus is that way, which is also God is Jesus 00:28:24.359 --> 00:28:28.680 embodies God's grace. Yes. Tiny, perfect things. 00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:31.920 Keep on. Are you fine? It's okay, you're fine. 00:28:32.099 --> 00:28:34.420 A map of tiny, perfect things. Highly recommend 00:28:34.420 --> 00:28:49.880 it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. Right. 00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:52.220 So his point was, if you look at the end of Psalm 00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:55.240 22, it does not say that God has turned away 00:28:55.240 --> 00:28:57.200 or abandoned. It actually says the opposite. 00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:00.000 He's absolutely right. That's true. Okay. So 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:01.900 the application on number seven, if you want 00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:04.319 to know God's heart, what? God's heart is fully 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:06.759 revealed in Jesus Christ. If you want to know 00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:09.700 God's heart, what do you do? Study Jesus. Look 00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:12.960 at his life. Listen to what he says. Pursue following 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:15.700 him and so on. So we've completed the seven. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:17.799 We are going to do this. We will do a round of 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:20.839 trivia, time permitting. And I have prizes. So 00:29:20.839 --> 00:29:23.819 we'll do that. I didn't do stunts today because 00:29:23.819 --> 00:29:26.309 we have a little schedule. Sometimes I'll do 00:29:26.309 --> 00:29:27.930 stunts and sometimes I'll do trivia. We'll mix 00:29:27.930 --> 00:29:31.029 it up. So we're into the summary. The heart of 00:29:31.029 --> 00:29:33.809 God teaches. First one, his love. You can see 00:29:33.809 --> 00:29:35.490 that. He eternally loves his people. The heart 00:29:35.490 --> 00:29:39.130 of God teaches his holiness. He grieves over 00:29:39.130 --> 00:29:41.430 sin. His compassion. There's that word again. 00:29:41.509 --> 00:29:42.750 By now you should know how to spell it a little 00:29:42.750 --> 00:29:45.170 bit. His compassion. We put C -O -M -D period. 00:29:45.369 --> 00:29:48.230 He delights in mercy. God really wants to forgive 00:29:48.230 --> 00:29:50.549 you. He really wants to forgive me. That's what 00:29:50.549 --> 00:29:52.430 he's trying to do. That's what it's all about. 00:29:54.840 --> 00:29:57.640 His will. He desires obedience. You've got to 00:29:57.640 --> 00:29:59.700 do what God wants. You've got to stop doing what 00:29:59.700 --> 00:30:02.180 God doesn't want you to do. And yes, it's a journey. 00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:04.460 Day in, day out, there may be mistakes. I think 00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:07.400 God fully understands mistakes and ignorance, 00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:10.579 sin, that kind of thing. I think God is a lot 00:30:10.579 --> 00:30:12.140 more concerned about what you're going to act 00:30:12.140 --> 00:30:14.890 when you sin on earth. Wickedness. The difference 00:30:14.890 --> 00:30:16.410 between iniquity, where you go, oh, I made a 00:30:16.410 --> 00:30:18.250 mistake. Oh, I wish I hadn't done that. Oh, I 00:30:18.250 --> 00:30:19.809 know I shouldn't do this, but I can't stop myself. 00:30:19.910 --> 00:30:21.849 That's one thing. That's different from, he wants 00:30:21.849 --> 00:30:24.170 me to do this, but I'm not going to do it. Or 00:30:24.170 --> 00:30:25.730 he doesn't want me to do this, but I'm going 00:30:25.730 --> 00:30:27.410 to do it anyway. That's willfully disobedient. 00:30:27.430 --> 00:30:30.690 His faithfulness. That's faithfulness. He never 00:30:30.690 --> 00:30:33.490 changes. No breakdown up there. No breakdown 00:30:33.490 --> 00:30:35.470 in here. He'll let him in. His faithfulness. 00:30:35.529 --> 00:30:41.190 He never changes. His purpose. He seeks devoted 00:30:41.190 --> 00:30:43.829 hearts. That's what God wants. Jesus said it 00:30:43.829 --> 00:30:46.789 himself. He says, my father desires worshipers 00:30:46.789 --> 00:30:49.049 in spirit and in truth. That's what he wants. 00:30:49.210 --> 00:30:51.769 He wants you to be real about your care for him, 00:30:51.829 --> 00:30:54.789 real about who you are in him. And the last one 00:30:54.789 --> 00:30:58.329 is grace. He is perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ. 00:30:58.839 --> 00:31:00.859 Now some practical applications. You can pick 00:31:00.859 --> 00:31:02.960 and choose or come up with some of your own if 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:05.380 you want for that little box down there. You 00:31:05.380 --> 00:31:08.279 might say, love God with your whole heart. I'll 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:10.599 say this much too, and I wrote this in one of 00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:12.119 the books I wrote many years ago. This is probably 00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:13.500 the first one I wrote. This is the first book. 00:31:13.700 --> 00:31:15.720 And that is that if your heart, the more your 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:18.480 heart can love God, the more your heart can steer. 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:20.460 And a regenerated heart is a brand new heart, 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:22.799 right? So if you had a heart and it was failing 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:24.819 or you had a bad heartbeat or one of your bowels 00:31:24.819 --> 00:31:26.240 was bad or whatever, and you went to the hospital, 00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:28.400 they're not going to put a broken heart. in there. 00:31:28.460 --> 00:31:29.279 They're not going to put a heart in there that 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:30.440 doesn't work very good. They're going to give 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:31.799 you a new heart, but they're not going to give 00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:32.839 you a heart at all. They're not going to go, 00:31:32.900 --> 00:31:34.880 oh, this guy died. He's got heart disease from 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.200 smoking for 50 years. We're going to put him 00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:37.420 in there because he's the better one you got. 00:31:37.819 --> 00:31:38.940 That's not how it works. They're going to give 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:40.240 you a good heart, but they're not going to give 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:42.019 you a heart. Well, God doesn't take your bad 00:31:42.019 --> 00:31:44.160 heart out and give you a bad heart, right? So 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:46.019 when you got saved, you regenerate your heart. 00:31:46.099 --> 00:31:48.000 You've been born again. All old things pass away. 00:31:48.039 --> 00:31:50.200 All things come to you, right? And so the heart 00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:52.460 you have now can guide your whole life. It can 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:54.380 do everything for you. And that's what you need 00:31:54.380 --> 00:31:58.740 to let it do. Pursue obedience over empty ritual. 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:00.859 So if you go like, well, I don't think I want 00:32:00.859 --> 00:32:03.059 to, but it's what God wants me to do, do it anyway. 00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:04.980 Not because it's an empty ritual, but make sure 00:32:04.980 --> 00:32:06.319 you understand you're doing it because it's what 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:08.799 God wants. It's okay to do something you don't 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:10.700 want to do for God. Just make sure you're doing 00:32:10.700 --> 00:32:12.440 it because it's what God wants. If you're just 00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:15.380 doing it because somebody else thinks you should 00:32:15.380 --> 00:32:16.859 or somebody else is going to give reputation 00:32:16.859 --> 00:32:19.220 or whatever, then that's not going to honor God 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:23.009 at all. Trust God's unchanging love. That's kind 00:32:23.009 --> 00:32:25.849 of our best safe net. After you've screwed up, 00:32:25.869 --> 00:32:27.190 you don't feel like you're good enough to come 00:32:27.190 --> 00:32:28.950 back and confess to God and beg Him for forgiveness 00:32:28.950 --> 00:32:30.730 again or whatever like that, trust Him. He is 00:32:30.730 --> 00:32:32.390 faithful and just. He will forgive you and He 00:32:32.390 --> 00:32:34.750 will cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Hate 00:32:34.750 --> 00:32:38.109 sin because it grieves God. Stop hating sin because 00:32:38.109 --> 00:32:40.269 it bothers you. Stop hating sin because it hurts 00:32:40.269 --> 00:32:43.430 you. But hate it because it grieves you. If there's 00:32:43.430 --> 00:32:45.509 something that really gets under the skin of 00:32:45.509 --> 00:32:48.410 your friend or your spouse or your pastor, you 00:32:48.410 --> 00:32:51.210 should not want that for them. You should want 00:32:51.210 --> 00:32:52.950 to cut it out. You don't want to talk a way that's 00:32:52.950 --> 00:32:54.670 going to hurt your wife or your husband or your 00:32:54.670 --> 00:32:56.509 kids. As a kid, you don't want to talk a way 00:32:56.509 --> 00:32:57.670 that's going to hurt your parents. You don't 00:32:57.670 --> 00:32:58.089 want to do that.