Loved by God - #210

There is so much God wants to do in your life. So many blessings He wants to pour out upon you. So much good He wants to lavish upon you; if you would only choose to daily deny yourself, die to yourself, picking up your cross and say “no” to the wicked, evil, selfish, sinful desires of King Me and “yes” to all that God is and wants to be in your life.

Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at  http://www.thepuritycoach.com

Transcript

Oh, my friend, there is so much God wants to do in your life. So many blessings He wants to pour out upon you. So much good He wants to lavish upon you; if you would only choose to daily deny yourself, die to yourself, picking up your cross and say “no” to the wicked, evil, selfish, sinful desires of King Me and “yes” to all that God is and wants to be in your life.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A powerful weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity and godliness. I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #210 entitled “I’m Loved by God.”

In Psalm 25:7 David prays, “Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord.”

Right off the bat I want to make sure you don’t let the phrase “do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth” trip you up. You see, David is asking God to not see him as the rotten, evil, wicked, sinful man he used to be – a man worthy of God’s holy wrath and righteous judgment. Rather, David is pleading with God to see him through the eyes of His steadfast love and mercy, His amazing grace, kindness, goodness, and abundant forgiveness.

Why was that so important to David? Why did David ask this of God? Let me take it a step further. Should that be important to you? Should it matter to you that God sees you through His lens of steadfast love and limitless goodness? Should it be important to you that God not see your wickedness but rather, see you through His eyes of mercy and grace?

Nahum 1:2, 6 declares, “The Lord is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and rage. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and continues to rage against his enemies! Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence.”

Those verses should send shivers up and down your spine. In today’s Christian circles we hear a lot about God’s grace as well as His mercy and love, kindness, and forgiveness. However, we tend to put so much emphasis on those qualities that we neglect to also emphasize He is holy, righteous, pure, and just. As such, God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, God’s purity, and His justice demand that His judgment upon sin be executed, and His wrath poured out because of our sinful behavior.

God is a jealous and avenging God. Scripture tells us that He keeps His wrath stored up for His enemies. No one, absolutely no one, can stand before God’s righteous indignation at their sin. No one can endure the heat of His anger. God hates sin. Your sin. My sin. All sin. He doesn’t simply dislike it, He hates it with a holy, righteous, powerfully perfect, and pure hatred.

David understood that “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11). Did you catch that? God “feels indignation every day.” God feels anger, outrage, and fury over sin on a daily basis. Every time you and I choose to live for King Me, every time we choose to disobey His command, every time we sin, it angers God.

But understand this (are you listening to me right now? are you paying attention? It’s vital you do not miss this): It angers Him, not because He is mad at you, not because He is disappointed in you—no, He loves you unconditionally. He loves you with a perfect and holy love. He loves you so much He chose to execute all of that wrath and all of that righteous anger, not upon you, but on His one and only Son who willingly chose to take your place and pay the ultimate price for your sin.

Let me be crystal clear: God is not angry at you. He is very angry at your sin. He is angry at the effects and the ramifications your sinful choices have ravaged upon your heart, your health, your spirit, your family, your worship, your life. You see, God is angry because “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” (Isaiah 59:2) He is angry at your sin because it drives a wedge of division between you and the One who lovingly sacrificed it all for you. He is angry because “your sins have kept good from you” (Jeremiah 5:25). That is what angers God.

Oh, my friend, there is so much God wants to do in your life. So many blessings He wants to pour out upon you. So much good He wants to lavish upon you; if you would only choose (Luke 9:23) to daily deny yourself, die to yourself, picking up your cross and saying “no” to the wicked, evil, selfish, sinful desires of King Me and “yes” to all that God is and wants to be in your life.

When you and I fully understand this; when we truly begin to grasp the fact that God hates it when we choose to sin; when we choose to turn our backs on Him; when we willfully choose to worship self, that ought to lead us to what Scripture calls “the fear of the Lord.”

Oh, how we have misunderstood the Biblical teaching about fearing God. Fearing the Lord is a good thing. In Psalm 112:1 David exclaims, “Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!” In Psalm 128:1 he writes, “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.” Three verses later he says, “Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord” (Psalm 128:4). And in Psalm 19:9 we read, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.” 

The fear of the Lord is not cowering in a corner, living in absolute terror that if I do something wrong, God will zap me. No. The fear of the Lord begins with the realization that I am not King; He is. I am not Lord of my life, He is. This life is not mine to live however I want. This life is not about me. I am answerable to no one else but my designer and creator, the Savior of my soul.

Proverbs 8:13 tells us that “the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.” Fearing God means hating all that King Me stands for. Fearing God means not worshiping myself, my wants, my needs, my desires. We have already established that living with King Me on the throne of my heart is evil. I should hate that, just like God does. Proverbs 14:2 says, “Those who follow the right path fear the Lord; those who take the wrong path despise him.” The person who is going throughout the day with God on the throne of their heart; the one who is walking in worship of God, not self, and walking in obedience to His will, not yours, is the person who is fearing God is the one who will be blessed.

No matter how you slice it, “the fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied” (Proverbs 19:23). “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, [enabling you to] turn away from the snares of death” (Proverbs 14:27). It is good to fear the Lord.

Hebrews 4:13 declares, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” You can cover your sin and hide it from everyone except God.

God already knows each and every sin and transgression—past, present, and future. David acknowledged this when he prayed, “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.” (Psalm 139:1-3)

“But You know me, O Lord; You see me; and You examine my heart’s attitude toward You.” (Jeremiah 12:3a)

God already knows you and I “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). You can deny it all you want. You can try to hide it and cover it up. You can try to excuse it away. That is what mankind has been doing since the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sure tried (see Genesis 3). It did not work for them, or for anyone since. It is not going to work for you, either.

Understand this: “If you say, ‘Behold, [I] did not know this,’” (excusing it away by arguing that you’re just human, you didn’t understand what you were doing so it isn’t your fault); “does not [God] who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?” (Proverbs 24:12).

Think again about the list of sins you have committed over the years, or just last month, or even today. God says, “the wages of [each and every] sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). What is due you—your “wage” or paycheck— because of each of your King Me choices to sin is eternal separation from God.

It does not matter how great or small your sin may be from your perspective; it is all the same before God. It only takes one sin to separate you from God. Just one. “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” (Isaiah 59:2) James reminds us that “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” (James 2:10)

This is why David cries out, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions” (Psalm 25:7a). Do you understand that “God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18)? Do you also understand that God is “forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to [Him]” (Psalm 86:5)? In 2 Samuel 24:14 David says, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great.”

Can you see the application to you and your battle with the sinful desires of King Me? Jesus warns, “do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

It is critical that we “confess our sins, [for] he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Consider this: as born-again believers today, you and I are blessed with something David could never experience in his lifetime. “The blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses [us] from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)

That means we can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that [we] may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) This is why you can pray, “Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your steadfast love remember me, for you, Lord, are good.” (Psalm 25:7)

Think with me for a few moments about God’s “steadfast love.” What if God were fickle? What if His love for you had limits? What if there came a point when God said, “That’s it. I’ve had enough of your sinful shenanigans; I’m done with you.” Thankfully, that is not who God is, nor what He does. He is “The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). This is why we can praise God that He “abounds in steadfast love.”

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (1 Chronicles 16:34)

All too often we ignore this command and totally dismiss it out of hand. We are to daily thank God for his steadfast love. How are you doing with that?

How many times a day do you sin? How many times a day do you choose to turn your back on God in favor of King Me? Give it your best guess: one or two? Half a dozen? Twenty? More than fifty? Now consider this: How many times a day does God extend to you His great mercy, His amazing grace, and His steadfast love?

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (1 Chronicles 16:34)

So far, we have discovered that we experience guilt and shame because we have willfully rejected His unlimited and divine power in favor of our own frail and feeble weaknesses, all so we can “enjoy” the wicked pleasures of sin for a short season.

In spite of all of that, because of His great mercy, “[God has] granted [you] life and steadfast love, and [God’s] care has preserved [your] spirit” (Job 10:12). God’s love for you reached the ultimate crescendo on the cross of Calvary. His steadfast love motivated Him to offer His Son as the atoning sacrifice for your rebellion. His steadfast love keeps you from becoming a greasy smear on the pavement right now.

“Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 106:1)

And in Psalm 118:1-4 the Psalmist exclaims, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, ‘His steadfast love endures forever.’ Let the house of Aaron say, ‘His steadfast love endures forever.’ Let those who fear the Lord say, ‘His steadfast love endures forever.’” 

God’s love for you is steadfast. God’s love for you endures. God’s love for you stands true forever. Do you understand the depths of what this is saying? God’s love for you is not dependent upon your choices. His love for you is not contingent upon your right behavior. His love endures your sin. His love endures your fickleness, your selfishness, and your humanness. His steadfast love endures not just for a time, but forever.

In Isaiah 54:10 God declares, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing [steadfast] love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

Micah 7:18 asks, “Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love.”

And Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is [His] faithfulness.”

You can trust God’s steadfast love no matter your circumstances, no matter your choices, no matter your screw-ups. God not only continuously exhibits steadfast love, but He also embodies steadfast love. It is part of His character. In other words, His love for you is steadfast, not because He wants to, or chooses to, or even is forced to. It is because it is part of His character. It is who He is. 

Think about the ways God’s steadfast love has made a difference in your life.

“I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness ... that he has granted ... according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.” (Isaiah 63:7)

This is why you can cry, “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love” (Psalm 6:4 ESV). “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing [steadfast] love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins” (Psalm 51:1).

“Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy turn to me. Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!” (Psalm 69:16-18)

“But you, O God my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me! For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me.” (Psalm 109:21-22)

As a result, “Because your [steadfast] love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.” (Psalm 64:3-5a)              

OK, we’re going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode as we look forward to continuing this study.

In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry (what we do to help men across the globe find freedom and victory over sexual sin), be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com

One of those resources I would like to highlight for you here is my book entitled “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E. – the Dethroning of King Me” available on Amazon.com. Let’s face it, life gets messed up when King Me is sitting on the throne of your heart. You know I’m right. To become the man or woman who is living a life that consistently honors God in all you say and do, you must first remove the “I” from your life. It’s not about you. It never was. It never will be.

In this interactive Bible Study, “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E.” examines such questions as: Why do I keep doing the things I don’t want to do? Why can’t I gain victory over the stupid issues in my life? Why can’t I be consistent in living a life that glorifies God? How on earth do I live a life that is fully surrendered to God? The answers to these questions, and many more, are found in Scripture, and my book “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E.” helps you unpack them and understand how to apply them to your life.

So, if real change – lasting change – is going to happen, you need a different leader sitting behind the big desk in the oval office of your heart. Whomever is reigning in your heart will be calling the shots in your life. You must choose to remove the “I” from L.I.F.E. and allow God to take your place – His rightful place.

So head on over to Amazon.com and purchase your copy of “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E. – the Dethroning of King Me” today.

And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!

So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.