Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Collierville First Baptist Church
[01:00:06;17 - 01:00:12;04]
I hope you came today expecting to meet with Jesus
[01:00:13;05 - 01:00:15;02]
because he's in this room, amen.
[01:00:16;17 - 01:00:30;27]
In 2017, Mark Myell did a lecture about the connection between identity and memory.
[01:00:32;05 - 01:00:47;12]
Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioral neurology, wrote about amnesia and memory loss and their relationship to epilepsy. He mentioned two patients, Peter and Marcus.
[01:00:49;15 - 01:00:52;07]
They described their amnesia in very similar terms.
[01:00:53;24 - 01:00:58;08]
One of them said this, "My memory of my past is a blank space.
[01:00:59;13 - 01:01:01;13]
I feel lost and hopeless.
[01:01:02;23 - 01:01:05;21]
I'm trying to explore, avoid."
[01:01:07;00 - 01:01:11;49]
Both described how disconcerting it is to look at photos.
[01:01:13;15 - 01:01:15;32]
Even though they recognize themselves,
[01:01:16;58 - 01:01:18;57]
they have no recollection of the moment.
[01:01:20;14 - 01:01:24;18]
One said, "It's like reading the biography of a stranger.
[01:01:26;03 - 01:01:29;55]
He's conscious of recent memories slipping away from him,
[01:01:30;58 - 01:01:36;46]
like ships sailing out to sea in the fog, never to be seen again."
[01:01:38;06 - 01:01:41;06]
Two things stand out in Zeman's essay.
[01:01:42;29 - 01:01:47;48]
First, without memory, it's hard to cling to an identity.
[01:01:49;27 - 01:01:59;13]
He said, "I don't have the moorings that other people draw on to know who they are." Secondly, it's hard to have hope when we don't know our past.
[01:02:00;18 - 01:02:08;13]
This certainly illustrates the importance of our identity as born-again believers.
[01:02:09;35 - 01:02:15;16]
No wonder Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room just hours before he would go to the cross,
[01:02:16;21 - 01:02:23;11]
just hours before suffering unspeakable physical, emotional and spiritual pain.
[01:02:24;56 - 01:02:26;54]
And the Lord Jesus gathered them together,
[01:02:28;17 - 01:02:32;29]
and he gave to them and instituted the Lord's Supper.
[01:02:33;40 - 01:02:43;11]
It was a Lord's Supper for those disciples, and it's a Lord's Supper that he gave to them for the church that he would build.
[01:02:44;16 - 01:03:04;29]
The foundational truth that undergirds this pivotal worship experience that we call the Lord's Supper is the love of God, the love of God. Take your Bible and turn for just a moment to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5.
[01:03:05;51 - 01:03:21;40]
In verse 8, just one verse, the Bible says, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners," listen to this, "Christ died for us."
[01:03:23;17 - 01:03:26;45]
There's so much packed into this one verse about the love of God.
[01:03:27;46 - 01:03:47;57]
In fact, this morning I'm going to limit myself to three truths about the love of God. I could give you more, but I'm going to limit myself to three truths that I think are so important for us to understand as we grasp our identity and as we look to our future.
[01:03:49;34 - 01:03:53;35]
Romans chapter 5 verse 8, here are those three truths.
[01:03:54;44 - 01:03:57;39]
Number one, God's love is undeniable.
[01:03:58;56 - 01:04:00;12]
His love is undeniable.
[01:04:01;36 - 01:04:03;14]
God Himself never changes.
[01:04:04;19 - 01:04:09;15]
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
[01:04:10;28 - 01:04:21;04]
It's hard for us to grasp this because we live in a world of flip-flopping politicians, truth-bending journalists, and self-centered celebrities.
[01:04:22;06 - 01:04:29;16]
However, God never changes. For instance, the Bible says God is holy.
[01:04:30;22 - 01:04:30;59]
He's holy.
[01:04:32;10 - 01:04:40;36]
He is infinitely and eternally holy. In Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3, the prophet wrote,
[01:04:42;00 - 01:04:52;45]
"One called out to another, angels speaking to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory."
[01:04:53;57 - 01:05:06;55]
The Bible emphatically states not only that God is holy, it never changes, but the Bible also emphatically states that God is love. He's love.
[01:05:08;59 - 01:05:15;15]
Paul wrote God demonstrates His own love toward us there in Romans chapter 5 verse 8.
[01:05:16;15 - 01:05:21;50]
In 1 John chapter 4 verses 7 and 8, John the Apostle wrote these words,
[01:05:22;59 - 01:05:28;06]
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.
[01:05:29;32 - 01:05:33;01]
And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
[01:05:34;03 - 01:05:45;23]
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." So the Bible states God is holy. The Bible states God is love.
[01:05:46;47 - 01:06:13;17]
David Jackman wrote in his commentary, "Therefore to imagine that God does not love us is to deny His true nature, to repudiate His character. It is to distort the free grace of God into something much less worthy, a conditional love that depends on the attractiveness or worthiness of the object for it to be exercised.
[01:06:14;29 - 01:06:27;56]
Divine love," he said, "is utterly different. It cannot be earned. It cannot be deserved. God loves us because that is His nature." God doesn't love us because we're lovable.
[01:06:29;06 - 01:06:30;25]
You realize that, don't you?
[01:06:31;29 - 01:06:45;10]
In the true scheme of things, from heaven's perspective, you are not lovable. I hope that doesn't break your psyche, okay? But I'm telling you, God doesn't love you because you're lovable,
[01:06:46;16 - 01:06:47;27]
because you're not lovable.
[01:06:48;28 - 01:06:50;24]
God loves you because He is love.
[01:06:51;29 - 01:06:53;44]
That's who He is. That's His identity.
[01:06:55;05 - 01:06:56;14]
Now, that's so important.
[01:06:58;09 - 01:07:04;36]
Let me just say this to you. You may be here today and you say, "Well, pastor, there's no way God could love me.
[01:07:06;00 - 01:07:25;03]
Pastor, I've done so much rotten stuff in my life. There's no way God could love me." And I tell you on the authority of the inerrant, inspired, infallible Word of the living God, God loves you. He loves you. God's love is undeniable.
[01:07:26;19 - 01:07:32;17]
Number two, God's love is unmerited. It's unmerited.
[01:07:33;36 - 01:07:37;36]
Now look at the next part of our verse, Romans chapter five, verse eight.
[01:07:38;45 - 01:07:45;18]
God demonstrated His love toward us. Here's the next part. In that while we were yet sinners,
[01:07:47;55 - 01:07:56;02]
sinners, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to include a graphic description of every human being.
[01:07:57;01 - 01:08:02;42]
And when I say every human being, I mean every human being, including you and me.
[01:08:03;46 - 01:08:07;29]
Listen to these words in Romans chapter five, verses six through 10.
[01:08:08;50 - 01:08:10;55]
"For while we were still helpless,
[01:08:12;21 - 01:08:17;21]
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
[01:08:18;37 - 01:08:31;42]
For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
[01:08:33;00 - 01:08:40;11]
Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
[01:08:41;15 - 01:08:44;30]
we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
[01:08:45;53 - 01:08:57;14]
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
[01:08:59;17 - 01:09:06;08]
Here's the hopeless condition of every human being that's ever lived on the planet at one time or the other.
[01:09:07;21 - 01:09:15;07]
They are helpless, the Bible says here, in Romans chapter five, verse six. Helpless. What does that mean?
[01:09:16;16 - 01:09:23;15]
Well, it means that at one time we were totally powerless to improve our standing with God.
[01:09:24;21 - 01:09:36;55]
No matter how good or religious we might think we are, the truth of this Word rips to shreds any hope of moral high ground that we can bring to the table.
[01:09:38;00 - 01:09:43;35]
We are helpless, helpless as a newborn baby without Christ.
[01:09:44;40 - 01:09:55;01]
And then the Bible says in verse six that we're ungodly, ungodly. Now here's a word that describes our lack of reverence toward God.
[01:09:56;18 - 01:10:05;29]
It's a plague that can be seen outside the church and inside the church, a lack of reverence for God. Can I just urge you to do something today?
[01:10:06;32 - 01:10:09;05]
When we observe the Lord's Supper in a few moments,
[01:10:10;18 - 01:10:15;04]
please do so in a very reverent, respectful way, okay?
[01:10:17;17 - 01:10:23;31]
All our lives, we have all lived with some degree of rebellion against God.
[01:10:25;10 - 01:10:29;09]
And then Paul said we're sinners, verse eight.
[01:10:30;29 - 01:10:45;39]
Every member of the human race has fallen tragically short of God's standards. I want you to imagine that I have a target up here. Let's say I've got a bow and arrow and there's a target.
[01:10:46;42 - 01:10:56;48]
And I aim at the bullseye. Why would I not aim at the bullseye? Of course you're going to aim at the bullseye. But let's say I pull back the bow.
[01:10:57;49 - 01:11:03;38]
I let the arrow fly and I not only miss the bullseye, I miss the entire target.
[01:11:04;43 - 01:11:15;42]
Do you realize that's what God says about us in relation to our meeting His standards? You see, His standards are perfection. If you want to go to heaven on your own merit, good luck.
[01:11:16;52 - 01:11:27;19]
Good luck because there's not a single person within the sound of my voice scattered throughout the entire world who will ever go to heaven on their own merit.
[01:11:28;42 - 01:11:33;59]
We go to heaven on the grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of God.
[01:11:35;44 - 01:11:43;54]
There's not a scintilla of merit in any one of us. And then in verse 10, Paul calls us enemies of God.
[01:11:45;15 - 01:11:50;49]
This word speaks of a deep seated hostility toward God.
[01:11:52;16 - 01:12:01;57]
God forbid that you or I would ever consider ourselves worthy of the amazing love of the spotless, pure, infinitely holy God.
[01:12:03;22 - 01:12:08;07]
So we learned something here in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 about the love of God.
[01:12:09;30 - 01:12:10;24]
It is undeniable.
[01:12:11;44 - 01:12:13;07]
It is unmerited.
[01:12:14;32 - 01:12:16;46]
And thirdly, God's love is unforgettable.
[01:12:18;19 - 01:12:38;15]
You just can't shake it. You can't forget that God loves you. In Psalm 100, I'm memorizing that Psalm. And the Bible says there toward the end of that Psalm that God's love is everlasting.
[01:12:39;23 - 01:12:40;06]
It's everlasting.
[01:12:41;11 - 01:12:49;01]
You see, God doesn't just love you on your good days. He also loves you on your worst days. Is that not amazing?
[01:12:50;13 - 01:12:52;39]
That God would love us like that.
[01:12:54;29 - 01:13:01;15]
And then the Bible says there at the end of Psalm 100, God's love is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations.
[01:13:03;26 - 01:13:13;04]
Listen, for 2,000 years, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has been meeting and worshiping and honoring the Lord by observing the Lord's Supper.
[01:13:14;34 - 01:13:23;10]
And every time we do, we remember that God's love is undeniable. God's love is unmerited. And number three, God's love is unforgettable.
[01:13:25;17 - 01:13:33;42]
Here's our key verse. I want you to say it after me. I'm going to say a phrase, and I want you to repeat it loud and proud. Okay.
[01:13:35;02 - 01:13:40;00]
Romans 5 verse 8, God demonstrates his own love toward us.
[01:13:43;51 - 01:13:50;59]
And that while we were yet sinners, four most important words in the Bible,
[01:13:52;22 - 01:13:54;04]
Christ died for us.
[01:13:56;25 - 01:13:57;31]
Do you believe that?
[01:13:58;35 - 01:14:02;30]
I tell you, I believe it from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
[01:14:04;46 - 01:14:10;23]
Christ died for us.
[01:14:13;39 - 01:14:24;29]
This is a historical fact. It actually happened 2,000 years ago, just outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem.
[01:14:25;59 - 01:14:35;18]
Jay Sidlow Baxter wrote, I quote, he said, the son of God had to become human to even be capable of dying.
[01:14:36;39 - 01:14:46;35]
How amazing it is that God, the son could die, that God, the son should die, that God, the son would die,
[01:14:47;54 - 01:15:10;18]
and that God, the son did die. Why did he die? Why did he die? He died so that we could be saved. He died and offered his body and blood on the cross as a perfect sacrifice to a holy and righteous God so that our sins, which are many, could be forgiven.
[01:15:13;49 - 01:15:19;25]
Now get out of your mind once and for all the idea that God met you halfway.
[01:15:21;18 - 01:15:23;02]
Can I tell you, God didn't meet you halfway.
[01:15:25;35 - 01:15:27;17]
There is no halfway in you.
[01:15:29;18 - 01:15:36;48]
Let me tell you, the initiative to save you, to send his son to die on the cross for your sins,
[01:15:37;59 - 01:15:49;36]
was the initiative of God alone. We are enemies of God, rebels to the core, left to ourselves. We would never love him, never love him. We would oppose him.
[01:15:50;38 - 01:16:03;58]
We would rebel against him. We would reject him. It took his boundless sacrificial love to break our hearts of stone and to draw us to himself.
[01:16:05;20 - 01:16:25;58]
Jesus, the son of God, was mocked, maligned, and mistreated. His flesh was ripped from his body by the Roman scourge. He was paraded through the streets of Jerusalem like a common criminal. His hands and his feet were fastened to the rough, hewn wooden cross by Roman spikes.
[01:16:27;13 - 01:16:47;18]
He endured God's wrath as he paid the penalty for our nasty, vile sin. He died for our sins because he had no sins of his own. He died for our sins because God loves us and wanted to save us and give us true life in him.
[01:16:48;23 - 01:16:53;23]
Do you not marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus?
[01:16:54;24 - 01:17:09;25]
Do you not feel a need to fall on your knees in humility and brokenness before the resurrected and ascended Lord? Do your mortal lips not long to cry out in crisp, sharp tones? Oh, what a Savior.
[01:17:11;50 - 01:17:12;32]
Don't you agree?
[01:17:14;27 - 01:17:16;24]
God's love is undeniable.
[01:17:18;36 - 01:17:20;13]
God's love is unmerited.
[01:17:22;03 - 01:17:25;18]
And God's love is unforgettable.
[01:17:26;19 - 01:17:42;11]
Now, with that being said, don't you think it would be wise of us to examine our own hearts to see where we are? Let's say that you're in this room and you're a born again believer.
[01:17:43;55 - 01:17:52;45]
You truly, genuinely repented of your sin at one time, and you placed your faith in Jesus just like Aiden did, just like Gary did.
[01:17:55;18 - 01:18:00;09]
But you look at your heart, ask yourself this question as a believer.
[01:18:01;10 - 01:18:04;07]
Are you living for Jesus? Are you?
[01:18:06;49 - 01:18:14;16]
Do you love him with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength?
[01:18:15;50 - 01:18:19;40]
Is there unconfessed sin in your life as a born again believer?
[01:18:21;47 - 01:18:33;58]
Paul wrote the Spirit inspired words of 1 Corinthians 11 for the church, for us, as we prepare to observe the Lord's Supper.
[01:18:35;20 - 01:18:43;55]
In 1 Corinthians 11, verses 27 to 29, Paul wrote these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
[01:18:45;22 - 01:18:54;32]
"Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
[01:18:55;49 - 01:19:02;40]
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
[01:19:03;49 - 01:19:10;20]
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly."
[01:19:11;21 - 01:19:21;20]
You see, before we participate in the Lord's Supper, we need to do a self-examination as believers.
[01:19:22;48 - 01:19:24;14]
You've got to ask yourself this question.
[01:19:26;58 - 01:19:30;18]
Do I need to get right with God in some area of my life?
[01:19:31;19 - 01:19:41;48]
Do I need to refresh my commitment to Christ because I have allowed it to wane?
[01:19:45;01 - 01:19:46;55]
Maybe you need to ask yourself this question.
[01:19:49;15 - 01:19:52;17]
Have I truly repented of my sin and placed my faith in Jesus?
[01:19:53;18 - 01:19:57;15]
See, I believe there are people in this room today.
[01:19:59;14 - 01:20:07;56]
And your name is written on the Lamb's Book of Life because you truly, by grace through faith, receive Jesus as your Savior and your Lord, maybe years ago.
[01:20:09;48 - 01:20:15;16]
But you've just not been living up to the name, the name of Jesus.
[01:20:16;17 - 01:20:31;47]
And maybe today the Spirit of God brought you here that you might recommit yourself to Christ, that you might renew your love for him,
[01:20:33;41 - 01:20:41;14]
that you might get things right with him so you can experience the abundant life that he came to give you.
[01:20:42;15 - 01:20:42;24]
I
[01:20:42;24 - 01:20:52;36]