C3K Church
God's Heart
Okay, let's get to the work tonight. Speak about God's heart. I've been doing a series about the heart. First of all, we talked about heart conditions, which was, you know, heart conditions from the negative point of view. And then last week about a healthy heart. And tonight, I want to speak about God's heart. You know, we all think we know God's heart. We all think we know God's heart. But what is the heart? You know, what is your heart apart from the physical heart? It's the innermost part of who you are. And it's the things that you care about. So it's what you'll really like. The Bible says what's in your heart will come out. It'll come out. You know, some people try to hide things, but eventually the truth comes out. So the heart is what people are really like. And you know, what are people really like? Well, it's really in their hearts. We don't really know. And, you know, who likes to read autobiographies, or biographies about people? And, you know, of course, they'll probably tell you the best things about themselves in their autobiographical feed. And you can read these things, but you will just, by reading these autobiographies or biographies about people, all you will get is the facts. You'll only get the facts about them. You won't actually get to know them. You might know a little bit about them, but you won't actually get to know them. So you won't really know what they really like, and you won't be able to get close to them. People who write these things usually are distant or keep their distance. They're afraid of stalkers and, you know, these kinds of things in this modern age. But when it comes to the things of God, when you read what God has written, which is the Bible, when you read his story about himself, guess what? You can get to know him. In fact, the more you read the word, the more you know about him, and the closer you get to him, and he's not distant, and he's not hiding, he reveals himself, okay? So we can draw near to the Lord. The Bible actually says, draw near to him, get closer to him, and he gets even closer to you. He doesn't hide out, and cover things up. He reveals, okay? How do I know that? Because he came to the earth in the form of human, as Jesus Christ, in flesh and blood. And Jesus said this, the disciples said, "Look, we want to see the Father." And Jesus said this, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also." And from now on, you know him, because I'm here, and have seen him. So he's talking about knowing and seeing. When you read, like I said, about other people, you don't really know them, and you don't really see them. But because God chose to come into flesh as Jesus Christ, he said, "You can know me. You can see me." Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." So the mystery is gone. Like Father, like Son. Like Son, like Father. Jesus is saying, "You can know me. You can know God. You can see me. You can see God in me." So there is no mystery. There's no hiding here. The heart of God was to reveal himself. The heart of God is for us to know him and for us to see him. You know, that's pretty special. Does God just care about us? No, he cares about his whole creation. He doesn't just care about people. He cares about everything he created. And Jesus said this in Matthew 6. Look at the birds of the air because the disciples are saying, "Well, what's going to happen to us?" You know? Does God really care about us? And Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air. For they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns." In other words, they don't work hard. "Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. It takes care of them. Are you not of more value than they?" So he values the bird to the air, that part of his creation. It takes care of his creation. He values them. But how much more does he value you? If he cares about the birds, if he prepares resources and provision for them, how much more is he going to do that for you? You are created in the image of God. The animals and birds are not. Contrary to what some people think, you know? We are not coming back as a monkey. We are not coming back as a bird or anything like that. We have one life, one life as a human. And we have choices to make, and God values us. And he's made us in his image, spirit, soul and body. So he's saying here, "Look, God values and cares about his creation." He cares generally about all creation. All people, he cares about all people. He loves all people. How do I know? He told us. God so loved the world. Whole world, everyone, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God loves and values us so much, the whole world, that he was prepared to give his most precious son, Jesus. So whoever believes in him won't die, but will have everlasting life. Death will be for a moment, and then we enter eternity, everlasting life, not everlasting damnation, okay, for those who believe. He cares enough that he sent his son for everyone. And then we have a choice. Everyone has a choice. So generally, God loves everyone. Specifically, he loves those who respond to this gift that he has given, the gift of salvation. Jesus says this, "How do I know that he, in the heart of God, "there's great joy when someone receives Jesus?" It says, "I say to you, there's joy in the presence "of the angels of God when one sinner repents, "or over one sinner who repents, "when one person, he said for everyone, "but when one person, you, you, me, "when we receive Jesus, when we believed, "all of heaven broke out in rejoicing." There's a party in heaven for every single person who believes when just one sinner repents. That's what's in the heart of God. Every single individual is important to God. So there's great rejoicing, great joy when one person, each person, gives their heart to the Lord. What does God care about? The one to receive him. It says, "Jesus said, the Father himself loves you. "His heart is towards you. "He loves you because you have loved me. "He gave the gift of Jesus. "We received the gift." You know, someone gives you a gift and you go, "Oh, I don't want that." It's like, "Oh, I don't like you." But God, he sent Jesus the gift, the ultimate gift. He said, "Because you've loved me "and have believed that I came from God." Some people believe about Jesus. Yeah, he was a good guy. He was a prophet. You know, he healed some people. Yeah, he was a good guy. But they don't believe that he's the Son of God. They don't believe that he came from God. He's the Son of God. That he is the Savior of the world. They don't think he's different. He's so different. He's the only one who is Jesus. There is no other name given that can save us except the name of Jesus. So the Father loves. He loves it when we receive that gift. Thank you, Lord. I don't have to try and save myself. Thank you, Lord. I get to go to heaven one day. I don't have to earn it. Wow. You forgive me for all those things I get. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Okay? Thank you for loving us. Okay, so he loves when we believe and he loves, you know, when we believe that causes us to follow the Lord. It causes us to commit. When somebody loves you, then you want to reciprocate. You want to commit, okay? And so that commitment causes worship of the Lord. And he loves worship. He gives us reason to worship. You know, in the Old Testament, the first mention of worship was when Noah got off the ark after the great flood and he got off the ark and he and his family worshiped and they built an altar to the Lord and they worshiped and it says that that worship was like a sweet smelling fragrance to the Lord. Our worship is like perfume. You know, think about your favorite perfume or your favorite aftershave. The best smell, it's like a fragrance to the Lord as we worship him, like beautiful perfume. And so that pleases the Lord. What else is in the heart of God? What else does God love? He loves righteousness and he loves justice. He hates evil. And this is what it says in the book of Hebrews about Jesus. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So he was just like his father again. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. See, God loves righteousness, right living, the right way of living, the right way of doing things, the right way of treating people, righteousness, being in right relationship with God. And because he was in right relationship with God, he loved righteousness, he loved good, he hated evil. It says, God has anointed you. He has covered you. He's covered you with joy. Your life is full of joy, the oil of gladness more than your companions. So a lot of people think, oh, poor Jesus, he must have been miserable. He wasn't. He was the happiest person, even though he went through so much. It says, you have been anointed with the oil of gladness more than your companions, more than anyone else. He was happier than anyone else, right? Because he knew that he was doing the will of his father. What else does God love? In the book of Proverbs, it says, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. So when somebody who's wicked gives something to God, God doesn't actually like it. Says, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. It blesses the heart of God when we pray. That's why we pray, because it delights God's heart. He's happy. It's like, wow, it sounds praying. Chris is praying, and all is praying. Wow, I love it when they pray. I love it. Their faith is in me. I'm going to answer that one. But the sacrifice of the wicked, it's like, oh, it's like a bad smell. It's like hypocritical. They're wicked. They don't care about God. But they will come to church and maybe give some money, because they want something. It's hypocritical. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. In other words, it does not please God at all. It's offensive. It's detestable. But the prayer of the upright, oh, yeah, he loves it. It's his delight. And it says, the way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. So not only what they do, but the way they live their lives. It's an abomination to God. It's detestable. He hates it. But he loves him who follows righteousness. Those who pursue the Lord, those who love the Lord, those who are committed to the Lord, not perfect-- I always say that, not perfect-- but committed to the Lord, those who are following righteousness, trying to do the right thing. Trying to do the right thing. He loves that. That's what's in his heart. It pleases his heart. And he loves justice. You'll hear a lot about justice these days-- social justice and injustice. But God loves justice. And he does not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever. But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. See, there's a line that is drawn. There is a line that is drawn, even in the heart of God, because he loves justice. He will take care of those who are trying to do the right thing, who treat others fairly, who live according to the ways of God. But those who don't will not prevail, will not be preserved. OK? That's the heart of God. God is love. Yes. But he loves righteousness. He loves justice. He also hates wickedness and evil. So he's very balanced. OK. What else does God love? I think I've shared this many times with you. God loves a cheerful giver. That's one of the very few things that it says God loves. It's in the New Testament. It says, let each one give as he purposes in his heart. Giving is about the heart. Not grudgingly-- I hate it when they counter the tides and offerings. No, I'm so glad I can give to the Lord. Not grudgingly or a necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver. The more you give to the Lord, the more he will bless you. You cannot out give God. You cannot out give God. It's in his heart to bless those who give cheerfully. His cheerful and his blessing for us, and he wants us to be cheerful in our blessing of him. Amen? What else is in the heart of God? Look, this is what Jesus said, talking about giving. Jesus said to the Pharisees, the religious leaders, he said, why are you Pharisees? For you tithe-- in other words, they were giving. You tithe, mint, and grew, and all manner of herbs. They were not giving money like we give now. They were giving of their substance, the first fruits, the tithe. He said, you give, but you pass by justice and the love of God. In other words, you give your tithes and your offerings, but you won't give justice. You won't give love. Your hearts are hard. You said these you ought to have done. Yes, you should be giving to the Lord and the work of the Lord without leaving the others undone. You should also give justice. You should give love of God. You don't just give your tithes and offerings and then shut your heart down. You open your heart up and you give. So Jesus rebuked them because they were not treating people fairly. They were not doing justly. They were not caring about others. The Lord cares about those who care. OK. The last one I'm going to go to is in 1 Peter, chapter 5. I think I've read this before. I talked about humility a couple of weeks ago. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God loves humble people. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, he'll promote you. Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. That's what it's in the heart of God. God loves the humble. God loves to give grace. God loves to exalt or to promote us. He wants good things for us. He wants us to come to him and cast our cares upon him. Don't go through everything yourself. Don't struggle through life on your own. Cast your care upon the Lord. Why? Because he cares for you. His heart is towards you. He loves you. You are of great value to him. He is a good, good father. He does care about us. He cares basically about the whole world. He cares about souls. He cares about the nations. He cares about Israel. He cares about healing. He cares about you. He cares about me. That's what's in the heart of God. But there's so much more to him. There's so much more depth. As we get into the Word of God and get into his presence in prayer, we will get closer to him. We will know him more. We will see him more. And that's the longing in our hearts, more of God. Thank you, Lord. Father, we just thank you for your word. What I thank you that each person needs to know you. Because you are the cure for fear. You are the cure for anxiety. You are the cure for pride and greed and every wicked thing. For every negative thing. You are the cure for an uncertain future. Lord, we trust you. We believe you. And we thank you that your heart is towards us. And because we know that your heart is for us and towards us, it gives us faith. It gives us confidence. It gives us assurance. It gives us the motivation to keep going and things get tough. We thank you, Lord, that you opened your heart to us and sent Jesus. Lord, we open our hearts to you more and more. Lord, we want to know you and see you more and more. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. God is good. Hallelujah. OK, have a blessed week. If anyone needs prayer, I want to pray with you. Goodbye, we're on our mind. Have a fantastic week. Bless you and your family members. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]