In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the compassionate nature of God towards those who are wounded and broken. He quotes the scripture from Isaiah 42:3, which speaks of God not breaking a bruised reed or quenching a smoking flax. The preacher explains that God's plan involved sending His Son, Jesus, to walk on earth for 33 years, showing love and speaking truth. The purpose of the church, according to the preacher, is to be a living demonstration of God's love to a sin-darkened world. The sermon concludes with a prayer for understanding and a recognition of the preacher's dependence on God.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. John Chapter 3, if you'll go there with me in the New Testament. John Chapter 3, for God so loved the world. John Chapter 3, one verse of scripture today, verse 16. Now Father, I stand before you and Jesus, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I thank you for your presence. I thank you for your power that's here today. But more than this, I thank you for the overwhelming sense of your love. I ask you today to open our hearts and our minds to be able to understand things that are hidden from those who don't know God. But Lord, you said by the Holy Spirit, you reveal them to us. We ask you, Holy Spirit, to give us revelation knowledge of what the truth we're about to hear. God, empower me to be able to present this clearly. I ask you for the grace to speak simply, that everyone may understand. And Lord, I acknowledge that I am about to speak on the topic that I've only scratched the surface of. And so I'm utterly dependent on you. We all are utterly dependent. And Father, I thank you, God, for what you're going to accomplish in this house today. In Jesus' mighty name. John chapter 3, verse 16, one verse of Scripture. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God so loved the world. I will confess to you that this is a concept of God's love that I don't think anybody ever on this side of eternity is going to be able to fully explain. But God has shown me some things over the years and some elements of the depth of his love. I remember when I was about 25, I was saved for a year at that time. I remember in bed one night, I was lying there weeping and my wife asked me, she said, what's wrong? And I said, I'm reading about this love of God. I'm seeing it all over the New Testament, but I don't understand it. My mind is, my whole experience has somehow brought me to a place where this concept is locked out. I can't understand this unconditional love. I can't understand this constant love. And so I just began to pray, I said, God, you're going to have to show me this. You're going to have to help me to understand it because I really don't understand it. It's a theological concept, and it's a wonderful theological concept. The love of God. God is love. He who dwells in love dwells in God. For God is love. I mean, I'm reading all of this, but how do I understand it? How can I apply this to my life? And when will this revelation ever fully come to me? Now, I don't think it ever will fully come until the day we stand before the throne. That's why we sing that song, and there seems to be such an anointing on it. That's going to be a day of shouting. When finally one of the writers in the New Testament says, we see in a glass darkly, but then we're going to know just as we are known, we're going to understand our minds are going to be given light in a moment of time. I read a gospel writer at one time who said, coming into the presence of the living God, the only illustration, he said, that even remotely touches this. He said, if you took a deaf, dumb and blind man who never had no sense of smell or hearing or taste or touch and put him on the top of the highest building in New York City and then in a moment of time, just snap your fingers and all of his senses were opened to see and smell and experience things in the sensory realm as it is that he'd never seen before. He said, that's only one. That's that doesn't even begin to scratch what it's going to be like when we awaken from this in the presence of God one day. And we know as we are known, we understand mysteries. Our minds are illuminated and we begin to understand this incredible depth of God's love. No wonder we will gather with the heavenly creation and say, holy, holy, holy. What else can you say? How else can you express it? How about a holy God could bridge such an infinite gap between God's holiness and fallen man? Who but a loving God, a love so far beyond our present day comprehension that we have to experience it by faith. There's no other way. We have to ask the Holy Ghost to just make it a reality to us. How do we understand this? The word for God so loved the world is agapeo in the Greek, and it means finding a direction of the will or finding one's joy in something. So let me insert that then into this passage of scripture. For God so found his joy in that which he created in the world that he gave his only begotten son. He found his joy. It was the direction of his will. That was something God was moving towards even before the foundation of the world. The best way you can explain it, I suppose, is in Genesis 29, 20, where the Bible says that Jacob, who, of course, became Israel, served for seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days for the love that he had to her. In other words, Jacob had such a consuming love for this bride that was not his yet but going to be his that the seven years, as it is, seemed but a moment. And this is only a type. It's only a scratch on the surface of the incredible depth of God's love for his creation, for you, for me, for all that have ever breathed the breath of God's life and become a living soul. Now, God fell in love with you even before he created you. That's an incredible thing. Look at Psalm 139 with me. Keep a marker in John chapter 3, Psalm 139. You see, David was given this revelation of God's love, and he writes it down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And it's amazing when we begin to understand it. Psalm 139, verse 13. David says, For thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. In other words, David said, Your tender hand, as it is, was on me even in my mother's womb. There was something that you were claiming that you had created me. And David says, I am aware. Of course, this can only be by the Holy Spirit. But David says, I'm aware of the tenderness of your of your thoughts and your touch towards me, even in my mother's womb. Verse 14, he says, I will praise thee for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made and marvelous are thy works and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Verse 16 says, Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy book, all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Now, some translation says all my days. Another King James says all of my all that the totality, as it is of all that I was to be was written about by you before it even began. God, you knew me before I was conceived in my mother's womb. That's incredible. You see, God knows everything. God is all powerful. Folks, I want to tell you something this morning. You are not just a fluke of creation. You are not just a happenstance, irrespective of what your circumstance was that surrounded your birth. I want to tell you something. God knew you were going to be born and God allowed you to be born and he allowed you to be born because he loved you before you were even created. His desire was toward you. He had a writing about you. He had your days in his hand. He touched you in your mother's womb, even if it was a bad circumstance or situation. He knew you were there and he loved you even before you were born. That's an incredible revelation of God, the incredible depth of his love. And David says in How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. If I could count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I am awake, when I awake, I am still with thee. That's an incredible thing. God says, David says, God, you knew me before I was formed. You loved me before I was formed. You had a plan for my life before I was conceived. And as I was developing in my mother's womb, your hand came upon me. God, you had thoughts in your mind about me. Isn't that an incredible thing? God, you had thoughts about me. And he said, you had so many thoughts about me. In the context, of course, is his thoughts of God's purpose and plan for my life, that they're more in number than the sand. Oh, and David knew his failings. And God and David is saying to God that even though I have failed, even when I awake, God, your thoughts are still here. You've not changed your mind about me in spite of my weakness, in spite of my frailty. You've not changed your mind. You have thoughts for me. You have a plan for my life. You want to draw me into the depths of your love and reveal to me how great that love is and then reveal it through my life to others that are around me. Before I even knew you were there, he loved you. I can prove it to you. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 3, God speaking to Jeremiah and he says, The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, He said, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Now, of course, you remember, the Lord said to Jeremiah, I appointed you a prophet when you were in the womb. The word everlasting in the original Hebrew text means time immemorial from creation until now. I've loved you from creation. I've loved you from time. I've loved you from a point that cannot be. There is no beginning to it. God is infinite. He never had a beginning. He will never have an end. And God says, I loved you from time immemorial. I loved you as a billion, 10, 15 billion years ago. I loved you. I loved you. I loved you before you were created. I loved you before the universe was cast into the heavens by the word of God. I loved you. I loved you. I had determined in my heart to create you and I had loved you with an everlasting love. John 3, 16, again, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The second meaning of the word love is benevolent love. And it's a love that's not shown by by doing what the person loved desires, but by the one who loves. But what the one who loves deems as needed by the one loved. It's a benevolent love. It's a giving love. But God is an all knowing God. And there are certain things that we think that we should get from someone who loves us. But God says, no, my love is beyond that. I don't give you just what you want. I give you what I know that you need, because you see, I have the blueprints for you. I designed you before you were conceived. I loved you way back then. My love goes so far beyond your understanding. I will give you exactly what you need. I will not give you necessarily what you want. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You see, God knows everything. He knew before the creation of the world that those he created to share in his love and fellowship would fall and fail through sin. He knew it. It didn't catch him by surprise. God was not caught off guard in the Garden of Eden. He knew that if he created man as a free moral agent, as it is to make choice, he created us for fellowship. He created us because he wanted a bride for eternity. He created us. We see the purpose of his creation in the Garden of Eden when he brought to Adam all of the animals that he created. And he allowed Adam to begin to be part of the work that he was doing. Adam became a friend. God could come down in the cool of the day and converse with Adam and with Eve and say, what do you want to call this animal, Adam? What do you want to call this? And he began to bring Adam into the work of his hands as a friend. But he knew that given a free will, that man would fall. He was not taken by surprise. And he had prepared in his love a covering for them so that they might be fully restored to relationship with him again. You see, the plan of salvation was formed before the foundation of the world. It was not an afterthought in God's mind after man fell. He knew exactly what was going to happen. But God so loved the world from time past. He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Look at the book of Isaiah, please. Chapter 42, if you will, with me. Isaiah chapter 42. Now, Isaiah, this passage of scripture is indisputably about Jesus Christ. There have been those that have tried to refute that, but they've failed miserably because there is no possible interpretation apart from Christ. And you'll find it's virtually unanimous among all the scholars of the Bible. This is God's plan. Isaiah 42, he said, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighted. I put my spirit upon him and he shall bring forth judgment. That's verse one to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God, the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spreads forth the earth and that which comes out of it, and he that gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, the Lord, I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and I will hold thine hand and keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes and to bring the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. God had a plan and that plan involved the sending of his son, God Almighty himself, coming down in the form of a man. It is a mystery. The Bible says there are three persons in one God, but yet it is one God. It's an amazing mystery and we will fully comprehend that the day that we get to heaven. But God Almighty himself came down in the form of a man and said, here's the plan. I'm going to God. The father said, I'm going to send my son and my son is going to walk for 33 years in this world. He will not hurt a bruised reed. In other words, he will not hurt those that are wounded. He will not put out those that have perhaps a little flicker of love left in their heart for God. He will not put them out. He will speak truth and he will not be discouraged. His presence, his life will set a standard of truth and error in the earth. This is what my son is going to do. I call him in righteousness and God the father says, I'm going to hold your hand and I'm going to keep you and give you a covenant of the people and the light to the Gentiles. God said, I'm going to hold your hand, son. I'm going to send you down because my creation is going to fail. But I love them so much I love them so much that I cannot let them be separated from me for all of eternity. I've got to make a way back. I will make a way back for those who truly desire me with all of their heart and son. I'm going to hold your hand. You're going to have to trust me. You're going to walk 33 years through this world. You're going to be bruised and spit on. You're going to be despised by those that I love and have created and they're going to pour out their wrath and I'm going to pour out my wrath on you. You're going to pay the price for their sin. You're going to have to trust me because you're going to die on a cross on a hill called Calvary. And on the third day, you're going to rise again from the dead. When you see the devil tempting Christ in the wilderness, he went after that confidence that Christ had in his father with everything. If you look at the arguments, clearly of the temptation, they're going after the trust that was in the heart of Christ for the word of God, his father. And if he could have taken that word out of his heart, he would have had the victory over him on the cross. No, but Christ went to the cross and Christ said before the foundation of the world, yes, father, I will go. I agree. But there's another part to the covenant. You see, the covenant was not made between God and you or me because we're bankrupt. We couldn't keep it. The law was a type of that. God sent the law to prove once and for all, as Paul said, it was our schoolmaster that none of us can obey the commands of God. It is absolutely impossible. That's why Isaiah said, well, all of our righteousness is our filthy rags. There's not one of us. It's righteous. No, not even one. All of our religious works are nothing because we cannot change the evil that's in our own heart. There's no power. We have no power to walk with God. And so God sent his son and the covenant was between the father and the son. We the covenant was no longer with us because we're bankrupt. We cannot fulfill the promises of God. God gave the covenant with his son and the son said, father, if you want to read it in John, you'll see it so clearly. Father, I agree to go. I agree to walk among fallen men. I agree to completely fulfill every righteous requirement of the law. I agree to go to Calvary, a sinless and an absolute perfected sacrifice that the price that all of your creation owe you for the sin they've committed could be paid for fully paid for on Calvary. Christ said, yes, I will go. And I believe that you will raise me from the dead. You will set me at the right hand of all authority and power. You'll give me dominion over the whole world. You'll give me a future. You will cause me to rule and reign for all of eternity. But father, there's one other thing that has to happen. This is my part of the covenant. Now this is yours. Your part of the covenant is those that trust in me. They get everything that I get. They get to be raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Ghost. They get to be forgiven all of their sin. They get to triumph over the powers of darkness. They get to fulfill the scripture that you spoke to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, that there's coming a child of a seed. There's coming a child of a woman, which is Israel. There's coming a child, the children of a Messiah. And they're going to bruise the head of the serpent. They're going to step on all the power of the enemy. They're going to rule and reign. Christ said, everything I get, father, they get as I am one with you. They're going to be one with me. And through me, they're going to be one with you. And they're going to be redeemed. They're going to be raised from the dead. They're going to be given new life. They're going to be forgiven their sin. They're going to become a beloved bride of the Lamb, the beloved bride of almighty God for all eternity. That's just time. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Reign with Christ forever to stand as trophies of the grace of God forever to shout into eternity, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. I believed in him. I believed in him. And because of it, I didn't perish. But I now have everlasting life. Jesus said in John chapter 17, when he was praying with the father, he said these particular words in John chapter 17, verse 23. He said, I and them and thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me for thou loved me. Thou has loved me before the foundation of the world. And Christ is saying it this way is the best way I can I can explain it to you. He's saying, I've come that they might be fully restored by the power of your great love for them. And I will I wish, Father, I pray that they be with me where I am. You see, where was he now? Of course, he was in a place of perfect obedience to the will of his father. But it's beyond that. He was saying, God almighty, my father, you loved me before the foundation of the world. And I'm aware of it. I'm aware of your great love for me. Go on. He says, all righteous father, verse twenty five, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee and these have known that thou has sent me and I've declared unto them thy name and will declare it that thy love were in thou has loved me. They be in them and I in them. I wish I will, God, that they may be with me where I am because you love me before the foundation of the world. Father, I pray that they might have the security of trusting you. I pray that they might know the blessing of obeying you. I pray they may understand the promise of your never failing love being made known to those who turn to you. I pray they may be completed your love. I pray they may understand that this was the prayer of Christ. He said, Father, I've so known your love. I've known that you cannot fail me. I've known that you've loved me before the creation of the world. I've walked with you. I've seen you. I've understood you. And now I'm going to go to the cross. But I know that your love is going to raise me from the dead. And I know that your love is going to raise everyone who confesses their sin and trust in me. You're going to also raise them from the dead. But Christ was praying, Father, I don't I don't want this body being in some kind of a religious legalistic bondage, thinking somehow that that the blessing of heaven comes just by obedience and drudgery and trudgery. I want them established in the love of God. I want them to live and move and have their being in the love of God, as I do. Paul says in Romans five. Verses eight and nine, that God commended his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And much more than being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Paul says this is how we know his love. We were yet sinners. We were not even seeking him. We're not even looking for him. I wasn't even looking for God. I remember being in my 20s and I was living a very, very sinful life. I wasn't even looking. God wasn't even in my thoughts. If he was, it was just fleeting, usually in situations of danger. Oh, God. And then when the danger was over, that's that's that's the end of God. That's enough of God. But I remember being a young policeman and all of a sudden just I could not get God out of my mind. And I began to, as I was walking the beat at that time, I began to drop into churches and different types. It didn't really matter to me what type of a building it was or what. I didn't know much about denominations, but I began to just drop in and talk to God. God loved me. I'm aware of his love because he pursued me when I wasn't even looking for him. He initiated my salvation. It wasn't me who initiated it. He did. He began to draw me. Those who don't know Christ today, do you think you're here by chance? Is it just a happenstance in the scope of time and eternity that you wind up at Times Square Church in the education annex, an overflow room, the balcony downstairs? You just end up here? No, you didn't just end up here. God in his love is drawing you. God in his love is making it known to you that he had a plan for you. God in his love is helping you to understand that he allowed you to be created and he allowed you to be created for a purpose. Firstly, of course, that you might spend eternity with him, that you might fellowship with him. And the Bible says rule and reign with him for all of eternity. We can't even begin to understand that we we scratch the surface of it in the sense that when we sing songs like when we all get to heaven, there is this this joy, this inward witness of the Holy Ghost. But it's only a grain of sand as compared to an entire seashore of what it's really going to be like in the presence of God. The joy, it almost makes you want to die when you become aware of it. Now, I'm not morbid, folks, but it's an incredible thing, the joy that's going to be there, the joy. The Bible says there's joy in heaven over one sinner that repents because all the created beings, all that are around the throne of God right now understand, first of all, the heart of God, but secondly, the joy that awaits those that are going to spend eternity in the love of God. I believe what makes hell hell. The Bible says that the unrighteous dead are going to be raised as well as the righteous dead and the unrighteous dead are going to stand before the judgment seat of almighty God. And for a moment, they're going to become aware of the love of God. They're going to perhaps have their minds open and begin to understand what could have been theirs. They're going to see Christ in his fullness just for a moment of time. And then from that position of of experiencing or understanding this, this incredible and unconditional love of God, even for the unrighteous dead, they're going to be cast out of God's presence for eternity. And that, folks, is going to be hell in itself, as bad as hell might be. And all of the things that the Bible says about it picture now being in darkness for the rest of eternity in a place where there is no hope, there is no kindness, there's no way out. The Bible says the darkness is so thick it can be touched. It can be felt for all of eternity. I've heard one preacher said that the God simply is going to take those who made a choice to reject him. It's a choice, folks. Today, you're here hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have a choice to make. You have a choice. I'm going to spend eternity in heaven with God. I'm going to spend eternity in hell without God. God's love allows you to make the choice because he created you for fellowship. If he created us just to be robotic beings, we'd be no different than the pigeons out on the sidewalk in New York City. But he created us to have a choice because he wants a bride. He doesn't want a robot. He wants a bride that chooses him freely and will walk with him. He gave us a choice. And today you are making a choice. You're making a choice to say, yes, I will bend my knee. Yes, I'll confess with my tongue that Jesus Christ is my Lord or no, I will reject him forever. The scripture says one preacher said that he envisions God just taking those who had rejected him and just hurling them as it is from his presence. And as much as heaven is an increasing revelation, increasing joy and increasing understanding, hell is an increasing darkness and increasing pain and increasing awareness. The Bible says in hell the worm never dies. That's the conscience never dies. The people who especially those who had an opportunity and rejected the love of God who heard the grace of almighty God and said, no, maybe that's for some other time. I'm young. I've got a lot of days ahead of me. You're not guaranteed of tomorrow. You don't know that you have tomorrow. This could be your last day. You could walk out of this church and get struck by a car and be dead on Broadway and fifty first. I don't say that lightly. It could happen to some. And that's it. The book is closed. The next time you will be aware, you're going to stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. If you imagine having sat in Times Square Church and heard the word of God, heard of this incredible great love and having rejected it and being cast out of God's presence. You see, God is not unmerciful. He gives us the choice. I heard a man say, I don't believe that that a holy God or a merciful God will will cause people to go to hell. Well, folks, I don't believe a merciful God will cause them to go to heaven. They wanted nothing to do with him here on this side of eternity. They made their choice. He revealed his grace and God will never force you to go where you don't want to go. You don't want to go. He will not force you to go. And it's oh, folks, I don't know how else to say it. If I could today, if I could divide myself into 3000 pieces, I'd go to everyone in this sanctuary and make sure that, you know, Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. I'd seek you and grab you and not let you leave this house until I knew that you had surrendered your life to Christ as your Lord and Savior. Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God shall love the world. Romans chapter 10, if you'll go there with me. Romans chapter 10, verse eight. Paul says it this way. But what sayeth it? The word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart, which is the word of faith which we preach. Now, here it is, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him shall not be ashamed, or that means put to shame or disappointed. There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever, whosoever. It doesn't matter your background. It doesn't matter what you've done, how deep and dark your life has been. This is a conclusive verse of scripture. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Yes, God knows what you've done and even knows more than you do about your life. But still he became a man and he took the smiting on his face and the scars on his back and the crowns on his head and all the beatings and ridicule and mocking to pay the price for all the wrong things that you've done, all the wrong things. Oh, folks, this is the greatest miracle of all. You pray today and say, Jesus Christ, I believe you're the son of God. I believe you came to this world and died on a cross to pay the price for my sins. God, I am a sinner. All you have to do is tell one lie to be a liar and you're a liar for the rest of your life. You tell one lie, you're a liar. You only have to commit one murder to be a murderer. You only have to tell one lie to be a liar. You only have to steal five cents to be a thief. And you are that that sin is marked against you. There's no way of getting around it. You can't get out of it. The only way that can be forgiven is calling on the Lord and say, Jesus Christ, son of God, I believe you took my place on the cross. You died and the wrath of God came on you for all the wrong things that I've done. I confess that I'm a sinner. And today, Jesus, I bend my knee before you and I ask you to come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior. I give you my life. Then the Bible says, not only will your sins be washed away when you do that, it's not a long process. It's instantaneous if your heart is right. Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ, when he rose from the dead, blots out all of our transgressions, covers them over. There's a record in heaven of all the wrong things that you have done if you're without Christ here today. But when you trust him as your Lord and Savior, his blood that was shed on Calvary is poured on that record. And when God the Father looks at the record of your life up to the point where you receive Christ, he sees nothing. He said to the prophet Isaiah, your sins and iniquities, I will remember no more. God says, I will cause myself to forget. If you want to tell me about it when you get to the throne, I will have to take your word for it, says Almighty God, for I will have no memory of it. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. That's amazing grace. It's amazing grace. Hallelujah. Thanks be to God. It's amazing grace. It's amazing grace. It's incredible grace. How could we ever turn it down? How could we ever turn a deaf ear to it? How could we ever say, God, no, I don't want this. Considering that Almighty God came to this earth. What more could he do? How could he better express his love for a fallen generation? How could he tell us more than he loved us than to go to Calvary and pay the price for our sins? Tell me how? What more could he do? And not only that, he forgives us, but then the Holy Spirit comes and the Holy Spirit is God again. It's all God. It's God the Father who sends the Son. It's God the Son who sends the Holy Spirit. But it's all God. It's all God. Everything is God. He comes back to those who know Christ and have confessed him as Savior and then he indwells you. That is the miracle of your salvation. That is the supernatural rebirth that the Bible speaks about. It is a supernatural experience, not a religious experience. It is a supernatural experience. The Holy Spirit comes upon you. The Holy Spirit is God coming and living within your life. The same God that created the universe with a spoken word now has given us a myriad of spoken words. And by these promises, says Peter, we become partakers of the divine nature of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Every promise in this book is mine and the Holy Spirit makes it a reality. The evidence of salvation is not religion. It's not even attending church as good as that is. The evidence of salvation is a transformed life. It's a changed life that never stops changing. That's the evidence that God is in your life. You can say like the hymn writer, morning by morning, new mercies I see. Every day I get up. Every day I can say this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Every day something new of God has been created in me. Every day old things are passing away and all things are becoming new. Every day this heart of stone is being rolled away and new life in Christ is coming out of the grave. Every day. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Every day I thank God. When I came to Christ, the chain of hell and darkness was broken over my life and my home. I thank God for a new generation, a new house, a new future. God so loved the world. So loved me. So loved you that he gave his son. Everything I'll ever need is in him. Everything I'll ever want is in his son. Everything I'll ever be is through his son. Everything that God desires for me will be fulfilled through his son. How shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? Romans 10 14. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except to be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. For God so loved the world that he gave them his church. That whosoever believes in their testimony of God's love through Jesus Christ should not perish, but have everlasting life. He so loves the world that he left the church here. His son walked for 33 years and he said to the disciples, it's expedient for you that I go. In other words, it's better for you that when I'm gone, the Holy Spirit is going to come. He said to the church, you're going to do greater works than I do. And I see the inference of that being simply I'm one man in one place, only able to touch those at this present time within my immediate surroundings. But soon I'm coming back and I'm going to have a body, a multiplied body as it is. And through this church, I'm going to touch the world with my love. The love that you felt for me, he said to his disciples, the love that I have walked in with the father is now going to be in you. And God so loves the world that he's going to leave his church. If it was all just about having a certain people, we would be long gone. The world would be dying and spinning out of control. But God so loves the world that he left you. He left me, those that know him. Our testimony is a testimony of love. It's a story of love. It's a story of God's love for us and our love for God and our love for one another. It's a story of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. Our mission is to be a living demonstration of the love of God to a very sin darkened generation. This is why we're here, the purpose of the church. Think about this when you leave today. If you are a Christian today, you walk out with that verse to say, God so loved the world that he left me here. That whoever believes in my testimony of God's love through Jesus Christ should not perish, but have everlasting life. I am left here as the final demonstration of God's love to a sin sick and rebellious world. That's why I'm here. There's no other reason. I'm not left here to be happy. I'm not left here to squander my love on the things of this life. I'm left here to be a testimony of God's love to my generation. There's no other reason that I'm here. Song of Solomon, this will be my last scripture just before the book of Isaiah. Song of Solomon chapter seven. If you go there with me just very briefly, just go to Isaiah and go back one book and you're in Song of Solomon chapter seven, verse 10. This is the testimony of the church, the bride. Here's what she says. Here's what you say. And I say, I am my beloved's and his desire is towards me. He loves me. In other words, I am his and he loves me. I hope you can say that if you're part of the church today. I hope your relationship is not legalism. I hope your relationship is not based on what you do. I am his and his desire is towards me. And then he says something. He says, verse 11, come, my beloved. Let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. I want you to come with me. I want you to walk with me. I want you to be secure in my love. And I want that love to be manifested through you to people who really need to understand about the love of God. Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see if the vine flourishes and whether the tender grape appears and the pomegranate buds forth. And there, he says, I will give you my love. In other words, get into the work. Start walking with me. Ask of me what is my plan for your life and start walking in that plan. And as as you do, you're going to become more and more aware of my love. It's amazing. Oh, folks, if you're resisting God, you can't become aware of his love. You can study about it. But the revelation comes when you're doing the work of God, because he gives the he gives what we need to do his work. I don't ever want to preach to you without loving you. There's been a constant cry of my heart. I don't ever want to stand here and take away the hope of the I know the single mothers that come here. And I see you dragging your kids down the sidewalk. You don't want to go to church sometimes. And I know sometimes this is you're coming in and saying, oh, if I don't hear from God, this is my last hope. And my prayer always is, God, don't ever let me take away the widow's hope or the single mother's hope or coming into your house. Don't let me stand, especially when I have a hard word or a correcting reproving word from the throne without the manifestation of God's love for the people. God, don't ever let it happen. And the Lord says, when you begin to get involved in my work, when your heart is as my heart there, you will you will understand. I will start releasing my love in you. My love will be released in you. Look at what's happening to Pastor David. It's a marvelous, a wondrous thing to behold what God has done in his life in the last several years. The love that just exudes from him now, every time he preaches the tenderness that I see God's able to take him now and send him to pastors all over the world because the love of God is literally oozing out of his of his heart, irrespective of how challenging and corrective sometimes the messages might be. Go do what I've called you to do. And there you begin to know my love. He said the mandrakes give a smell and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, oh, my beloved. He says, as you do my work, there are truths that are new and there are truths that are old. It's amazing. The old will become new and sometimes the new will become old. John 3, 16, a verse of scripture that we think that we've memorized and learned inside out and backwards all of a sudden comes alive again. Something old becomes new because the love of God, there's a revelation of that love that is always ongoing. It never stops. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. God says, come into my work and you'll understand the depth of my love. I was in prayer before the service today and throughout this week. And it is my cry that not a single person in this church annex overflow balcony downstairs would end up in hell because somehow I failed to convey to you the God of love. Somehow there was a veil because of a deficiency in this preacher. It's my desire to see you in heaven because it's God's desire. Yes, you might be a philanthropist, you might be a playboy, you might be a woman of ill repute, you might be a person who's even cursed the name of God in your constant conversation. And God knows that. But he also had his hand on you before you were born. He had his hand on you because he loved you, he loved you, he loved you. And it's not a past tense love. It's a forever love. He loves you. His hand was on you. He has a plan for your life. But that plan can't come into existence until your sins are forgiven. You've got to bend your knee, confess that you are a sinner and ask Jesus Christ to come into your life as Lord and Savior. There's no other way to eternal life. No other way. There's one God, one mediator, the Bible says, between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's no other name given under heaven, the Bible says, whereby men might be saved. He said, Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through me. I am the door. There is no other way to eternal life. Amazing. When you think of it, that the God of eternity can stretch out his hands, nail scarred hands, for a generation and even and people can refuse this. Oh, I wish to God I had heard this when I was a teenager. It would have saved me such heartache. I wish to God that today you would have the courage to to bend your knee and say, Jesus, I need you. I'm tired of living in sin. I need you as my Savior. God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son. Today, if you believe in him, you will not perish in your sin. But you'll have everlasting life. God led you here because he loves you. God is speaking to you because he loves you. He cares for you today. Education annex here in the main sanctuary. I'm going to ask you to do something. It's a difficult thing to do, but consider that this is about eternity. I'm going to ask you to say, Pastor, I am a sinner. I have sinned against God. And I know there's nothing in my own self that can take that sin away. But God so loved me that he sent his son. Today, I confess my sin to God. And I invite you, Jesus Christ, into my life to be my Lord and Savior. If that's you today, would you just raise your hand unashamedly wherever you are? Would you do that? All over the sanctuary. God bless you. All over the balcony. God bless you. Raise your hand. Don't be ashamed. Do it high. He died for you on a hill. Give your life to him publicly. God bless you. Others, God bless you. In the back. Across the back. God bless you. Anyone else? God bless you way up there and across. In the annex, I can't see you, but God sees your hands right now. Doesn't say I'm coming to Christ. I'm going to give my life to Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I'm coming today. I'm coming. God bless you. I'm going to ask all of those who raised your hand. Now, we're going to stand, but please, folks, don't. It's only quarter to 12. Don't use this as an excuse to run to the tape table or the parking garage. Please be reverent about the presence of God. These are souls now coming into eternity. I'm going to ask those who raised their hand to slip out wherever you are and make your way to this altar who want to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Now, one other thing over the annex in here. Maybe you brought a friend. Maybe the person next to you is is afraid. And I understand that I had. I did that one time years ago. You're just afraid. It seems that's a long distance from way up there to down here. But maybe if you could turn to the person beside you, it might even be a total stranger and say, do you know Christ is your savior? And if you don't, I'll go with you. I'll walk with you. You don't have to be alone. This is part of your testimony as a Christian. And once we've allowed people here to pray that prayer, we're going to rejoice together. And then I have one more thing to say, and then we're going to have a prayer as a church together. Now, I know I can tell by some of your faces, this is a very different experience for you. You're not familiar with church. You're not familiar with being at an altar like this. But this is the beginning of the rest of eternity. There's going to be a miracle happen right now. As you pray a simple prayer with me, if you meet it in your heart, the Bible says that your sins are going to be washed away. Whatever you've done is going to be gone. There'll be no record of it anymore in heaven. God's Holy Spirit is going to come. And you're going to know that he lives because there's going to be a change. The Bible says the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead will give life to your body, to your mortal body, give you the power. Oh, it doesn't mean you won't struggle, but you will have the victory. God promises to give you the victory. Hallelujah. The scripture says the angels of heaven are waiting to rejoice right now. They're waiting to rejoice for all these that are coming into God's kingdom. I'm going to ask you to pray with me. Everyone who's at the altar, just just pray a simple prayer out loud with me. It's just to help you get through. Did you come all? Where did you come from? Are you from New York City? Oh, good. God bless you. You together. You brought him here. Praise God. Wonderful. God bless you. The Holy Spirit is touching you. Praise God. See the Holy Spirit on you, touching you and you touching you, touching you. You know that God is real. It's touching your life right now. You don't nobody has to even convince you. You know it. God's all over you. It's touching you, giving you hope in the future. And maybe for the first time, finally hearing that somebody unconditionally loves you. Isn't it amazing? He loves you. He loved you before you even knew him. So he loved you all through all the sin and all the foolishness. And now he loves you enough to save you and he loves you enough to keep you. It's amazing. It's amazing. That's why we call it amazing grace. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus. I am a sinner. Thank you, Jesus. You love me so much that you came to this earth. God being a man. And you went to a cross and paid the price for all the wrong things that I have done. I'm sorry for my sin. I'm sorry that my sin caused you to have to endure such pain for me. You died for me. And today I make the choice to live for you. I believe, Jesus, you are the Son of God. I believe that you died to pay the price for my sin. That I might be made again in right relationship with God. I believe that on the third day you rose from the dead as living proof to me that my confidence in you is not in vain. I believe that you will save me and give me the power to live a new life. A life of obedience where I will understand your love and bear fruit, the fruit of God in my life. At this very moment, Lord Jesus, I open my heart to you. And I invite you in to be my Lord and my Savior. I mean this. I mean it sincerely. I believe you are now washing away my sin. My record in heaven is taken away. And from this moment, I am saved. I am saved. I am saved. Let's give the Lord a praise offering. Thank you, God. Thank you for the church. Please, before we leave, I want to pray something for the church. For those that have come to Christ today, please, if you really mean this, we do have a new believers class on Friday night. It's only for five weeks. Make an effort to get out there. You're never asked to join anything in this church at any time. All attendance to everything is voluntary. We just want to help you get started. If you are from another area, find a good Bible teaching, Bible believing church. Get into fellowship. Make sure they have a new believers class. That's how you can tell if they have. If it's a Bible teaching church, they have a new believers class. If they don't, they're not a Bible teaching church. Now, for the church that is here, we have to ask ourselves the question, have we lost touch with his love and does his love flow through us? Do we have a passion for his work? Have we lost his purpose for our lives? My life's purpose is to display the love of God to my generation, and so is yours. I want to pray a simple prayer with the church today. Would you join with me? Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for leaving me here as your body to be a display of your love in my generation. You so loved the world that you left me here. That my testimony of the love and life of Jesus Christ may bring others to an understanding of the depth of God's love and the power of his salvation for them. God, forgive me if I have loved other things. If my heart is engaged in another work, help me to walk with you in your work for my life, because you tell me that there you will release your love to me. You'll release it through me. I believe this. I thank you for it. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen and amen. This is the conclusion of the message.