Yes! Jesus Loves Me - Pastor Brad DeLong (part 1)

As we turn to the book of John, chapter 3, I want to say what an awesome sound team we have. If you weren't here earlier in the service, the the sound system decided, you know what? Today's the day we're just going to stop working. But that team didn't stop working. Thank you to the sound team for all their work.

What a great team. This day is filled with phenomenal teams and I'm so grateful for each one of them. You all know who you are and we're thankful for you. Jesus loves every person in this room. And I pause because I need it to settle in like it has for me in recent days and times.

Jesus loves you. He's been stirring my heart for you because he wants you to know how much he loves you. He expressed this to Nicodemus. John chapter 3, a man named Nicodemus was talking to Jesus. And the writer John summarizes what Jesus says by telling us this an off quoted verse.

For God so loved the world or he loved the world in this way that he would be willing to give his one and only son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. The world around us looks like at least that it's perishing. But our God's not willing that any one of us or any person in this room or outside this room would perish. It says he didn't send his son into the world to condemn us to say that YOU'RE WRONG AND THERE'S NO WAY OUT. INSTEAD, he sent his son to save the world through him.

Later in the book of Romans, chapter 5 in the New Testament, we read this that God's love has been poured out into our hearts. You're wondering what you're feeling today. What is this stirring that what what are these emotions that are welling up in me? It's this God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. You see, at just the right time when we were still powerless and we had no way out and we had nothing to offer, Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely would anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might dare to die. But God showed us his love in this, that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Today, I've come to encourage you with a simple mission and reminder. I'm here to help someone settle, hopefully once and for all, the truth that Jesus, the God of heaven, absolutely and unconditionally loves you and me. And I'm going to do that through this familiar title today.

You may have heard it before. Yes, Jesus loves me. I wonder if you would participate right now by looking to a neighbor nearby and saying that title. Or you can say, "Jesus loves you." Or you can say, "Yes, Jesus loves me." Whatever you're feeling right now in this moment. Yes, Jesus loves you.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Before you're seated, lift your hands to heaven again if you wouldn't mind. And let's invite the love of God to pour into every life and EVERY HEART. LORD, YOU'VE ALREADY POURED INTO MY HEART. I felt it all morning.

I felt it all week. I felt it all month. I pray that you would pour your love into every heart and every life. and that we would be changed as a result of it. You've come today to love us and to help us and to change us.

And we receive it in Jesus name we pray. Amen. And you may be seated. My title today is shared with a wildly popular song written by a lady named Anna Warner, a novelist. She was a poet and a teacher who lived in the 1800s.

She originally wrote the song as a poem included in her novel and the novel was about a Sunday school teacher who was uh encouraging an ailing child. In fact, it said it was encouraging a a dying child with the words of this powerful reminder about the love of Jesus Christ. The love of Jesus Christ is more powerful than anything I think on this planet which is why this song became so popular. It's now it's reached across the globe. It's been translated in so many different languages.

It's been sung for over 150 years. There's songs on the radio that are going to have a claim for about a year and then they're going to fall off. But this song has hung around. It's sung by children and adults all over. In fact, our family adopted this song into our bedtime routine each night.

And there is not a day it goes by that at least one of our kids, if not all of it, sing this simple but powerful song. If you don't know it, the first verse and chorus go like this. Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.

You know it. Sing it. Little ones and us big ones. To him belong. They are weak but he is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Theibles. One more time.

It's beautiful. Sing. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Theible.

Ain't that awesome? It's powerful. It's a powerful song and reminder. And starting with our daughter Mila, we've sung it each night to our kids after our prayer time. And we've been doing that going on four plus years now.

In some ways, I'll say there's nights we do it out of habit. We do it out of routine. But it's still so impactful to hear now our 18-month-old with a pacifier in her mouth singing. This is the main song she sings. And it goes something like this.

Yes, Jesus. Pacifier loves me. The other night she sang that part 10 times in a row and I'm driving. I already knew what I was going to preach and I thought, my goodness, Lord, I get it. We want them to know though, yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, he really does love me. He truly loves me. He truly cares about me. HE HE DIED FOR ME AT A PLACE called Calvary. And it's true.

Jesus really does love me and loves you. And there's obviously a reason that we started this routine and and this tradition with our kids. We wanted them to know and to remember always, every single day that Jesus Christ loves them with a great and with a matchless love. We want them to always be reminded even when the world tells them OTHERWISE THAT THE GOD OF HEAVEN is for them and he's not willing that they would perish or that anyone WOULD PERISH. WE WANT THEM TO RECALL always that his love for them is unending and it's unfailing and it's unfaltering and it's unwavering.

WE WANT THEM TO ALWAYS remember even when they're adults that the love of God in that song and in this book is for them and will carry them and will help them on some tough days. WE NEVER WANT THEM to forget or take for granted that Jesus loves them and all of us for that matter. And we do this because the truth is, as powerful as that song and reminder and message is, my observation would tell me that it is seemingly less and less remembered in our world, less and less celebrated in our culture, even less and less believed in our ranks that Jesus really loves us with an everlasting love. It is a truth that can and will and has already changed the world, but it's one that's forgotten and it's taken for granted and maybe it's shelved. Uh the further we get away from the word of God and the truth and light of the word of God.

Even for some of us in the room today, it may seem like the older we get, the more mistakes and baggage we have under our belt, the less and less we believe that song, the less and less we believe the scriptures that back it up. Oh, I I know John 3:16. And I saw Tim Tibo write that under his eyes one time and people were googling it and and it was just like A A FRESH REVELATION. THE WORLD REMEMBERED, OH WAIT, JESUS loves us. You think we might need the reminder from time to time.

MAYBE FOR SOME WHO ARE JUST COMING to God or you're coming back to God. Or maybe there's someone that's been in church your entire life and we recognize, well, that song was written for children and and maybe we can trivialize it or we could just chalk it up to just that. It's it's a childish song. They sing that in the back. We won't really talk about that song in here.

Maybe we JUST THINK IT'S A SONG WRITTEN for children. It doesn't really have any real application in our life or modern context. But how many of you by a show of hands would say it's helpful to be reminded that Jesus loves us? Yeah. Yeah.

I think this is part of the reason why this reminder is so prevalent in the Bible. And the people of God have been reminding themselves and they've been reminding others for thousands of years and all throughout scripture that Jesus loves them. In fact, I was looking at one of those reminders this week. I call it the psalmist version of Jesus loves me. Psalm 136.

I told you earlier, we sang it earlier. Anna Warner, the author of that song we just sang. She repeats, "Yes, Jesus loves me three times." She's trying to drive home the point that he really does love us. The psalmist in Psalm 136 repeats it 26 times. Over and over and over again, he says it like this.

The faithful love of God endures forever. Another rendering of that phrase is for his love has no end. And the word love there is not just a by word. It's not a watered down term that they just threw in the scriptures that has no definition. But that word in Hebrew in the original language speaks to a maritalike love.

A love that's in covenant. A love that doesn't fail. A love that doesn't falter. They actually translated it in other translations as loving kindness. because the word love just didn't seem to be powerful enough.

So, I want you to see how this would happen. Just like we sang a moment ago, the worship leader in Israel, they would say something like, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good." And the people would reply and they would sing, "His love endures forever." He, the worship leader again, "Give thanks to the God of gods." And the people, "HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER. His love has no end." Give thanks to the Lord of Lords. His love endures forever. 26 times again and again and again.

They repeated this line in order to remember an age-old truth, but one that's forgotten and then one that's embattled here recently. This truth that yes, Jesus really does love me. And before Anna Warner ever wrote that poem and sang that song, the people of God were reminding themselves and and all of us this truth. Yes. Yes, JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE US.

YES, HIS LOVE DOES ENDURE FOREVER. YES, HIS LOVE has no end. Yes, he's loved me with a great and an unending love. Yes, Jesus really does love me and you. They would remind themselves when I remind my kids and what I've come to remind someone today, Jesus does love you.

He really does care about you. If I got TO TELL YOU THIS 26 times and more, I WILL SAY IT over and over again. Yes. The answer is yes. JESUS LOVES YOU.

HE DID DIE FOR YOU AND for your sins and for MY SINS. HE LOVES YOU WITH A GREAT LOVE. He loves you WITH A FAITHFUL AND AN UNDYING LOVE. Jesus is here for you. HE WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU.

HE WANTS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE. YES. Just in case you've been wondering, Jesus loves you. Would you just point yourself in the chest and say, "He loves me." Me. I've come with a simple reminder, but a a powerful and an eternity altering message.

Jesus loves you, child of God. He always has. In fact, I believe I've just been sent to convince somebody despite all that you see and despite all you see on social media and despite all your feeling and the the confusion THAT YOU HAVE AND DESPITE ALL THAT YOU may think, Jesus does love you. He's always loved you. He will forever love you.

And maybe you come today. Someone invited you in passing on the street or a friend asked you to come or a coworker told you you should come and MAYBE YOU SAW THE signs or maybe you got a letter in the mail and you didn't even know what to expect. You came in and maybe you haven't been thinking about the love of God all that much recently. OR MAYBE YOU THOUGHT about it but you thought, you know what, I don't deserve that kind of love and and whatever the scripture says, there's no way God can love me that much. Maybe you thought about it, but you put it on the shelf in your mind and you let other thoughts and lesser truths and all the other noise and distractions and all the things that tell you that he doesn't love you, maybe those have taken center stage, no matter what your thoughts or your feelings and whether you feel qualified for this kind of love or not, is I've come to tell you the truth.

I've come to tell you the truth in plain ink. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves you. YES, JESUS LOVES ALL OF US. He does.

HOW DO YOU KNOW? The Bible tells me so. The Bible, just in case you're looking for a little more evidence beyond the presence of God that you feel beyond the breath in your lungs, beyond the screaming man behind the pull pit that maybe you've never met, just in case you need a little more evidence that he loves you, here it is. The Bible tells me so. Truth is, this is all the evidence we need.

It shares straight from the source of life himself how much he loves us. He loves us so much that he inspired nearly 40 different people across 1600 centuries to write about that love and to share it with you and with me. And here's just a few of those reminders. Deuteronomy 7:9. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God.

He's the faithful God. He keeps his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. That's in the beginning of the book. And then the Psalms IN PSALM 86 SAYS, "BUT YOU, LORD, are compassionate and gracious, God. You're slow to anger.

You are abounding in love. You're abounding in faithfulness." Lamentations 3, "Because of the Lord's great love, we're not consumed. His compassions never fail. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness." It's Isaiah 54.

Though the mountains BE SHAKEN AND THE HILLS BE REMOVED, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken. My covenant of peace will not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. And in the New Testament, the Lord inspires the Apostle Paul to write and to pray this. And Paul prays a prayer that I've prayed over this day that all of us here today would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height. What is he talking about?

He's not talking about measuring this room. He's talking about the measure of the love of God. He says, I want you to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you would be filled with all the fullness of God. MORE THAN WE want you to be filled with a great burger, more than we want you to be filled WITH COTTON CANDY AND POPCORN out on the ground. We want someone to be filled WITH THE LOVE OF GOD TODAY.

IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE for eternity. IT WILL CHANGE YOU FOR ETERNITY. And it shows you it's not just some run-of-the-mill love. It's not just the words to a children's song, but it's Paul's prayer and my prayer and God's desire that you would know once and for all that Jesus loves you. For God so loved the world, he loved the world in this way that he'd be willing to do something pretty crazy, something that hadn't been done before, something pretty radical when he came himself.

And it came in the manifestation of his one and only son that we wouldn't perish. He wasn't willing that anybody would perish, but that every person would come to repentance. HE DIDN'T SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD to condemn the world, but he saved his son to save the world through him. What in the world kind of love would do that? You realize in our I love our city.

I love our world. Sometimes we don't have enough love to let someone go in front of us in the grocery store line. We may not have enough love to let them cut in front of us in traffic. Jesus would love us so much that he would come himself and die for us. What kind of grace would cause him to do that?

He describes it himself. This is the book of John. He says, "My command is this. Love each other as I've loved you. Greater love has no man than this, and to lay down his life for his friends." What kind of love does Jesus have for you today?

The greatest love in the world. The greatest love of them all. for every person in this room. He loves you so much that I truly believe and I've heard it expressed before that he would have done it if it was just for you. So I echo again today, yes, Jesus loves me, not just with any old love that can be found in any other relationship.

It's a matchless love. It's an enduring love. It's unconditional. Psalm 109 says it's an unfailing love. Psalm 86, which we just read, says it's it's an abounding, an overflowing love.

Psalm 63 says it's a love that's better than life itself. And Ephesians 2 calls it a great love. The greatest love of them all. The truth is I I wish I could describe it to you today. There's no greater LOVE OUT THERE.

YOU'RE JUST NOT GOING TO FIND ANY OTHER LOVE like this love. And this is THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR YOU. IT'S UNENDING. It's eternal. It's indescribable.

In fact, this week I was just trying to think, okay, how how could I really describe this kind of love? And I just you can tell him and dad this is the best thing I could come up with. I'm sorry. Wesley uses his hands to describe everything. And he'll say, "Daddy, is it going to take this much time or this much time?" I have no idea.

I'm starting to figure out his metrics. Anything over three minutes is this much time. someone in the room who thinks he loves you this much. And maybe there's someone that's, "Oh, maybe I could spring for this much. I messed up so much.

Maybe just this much." And maybe if you're being generous and I've been really good. You do not have to be good to get the love of God. You don't. None of us are good. AND YOU'RE THINKING, "MAYBE IF I'M GOOD, HE'LL LOVE ME THIS MUCH.

I've people joke with me about how long my arms are, long wingspan. Truth is, I I can't. Yeah, Sister Patty, I wish I HAD LONGER ARMS TO SHOW YOU. This is what Psalm 103 says. From everlasting to everlasting.

I COULD GO AS FAR AS I COULD GO TO THE EAST. AND AS FAR AS I COULD GO, I STILL couldn't show you. Imagine I feel that love of God pouring through me today and trying to reach for somebody who thinks that he loves you this much and you're hanging ON BY A THREAD. GOD LOVES YOU THIS MUCH AND MORE. If you came wondering, you came wondering if Jesus LOVES YOU OR IF THAT LOVE REALLY COVERS ALL OF YOUR MISTAKES.

I'VE GOT GOOD news for you. Yes, Jesus does love you. Yes, he does love you. He cares about you. He won't leave you.

He won't FORSAKE YOU. HE LOVES YOU. If I could go to every person in this room and just look you in the eyes. I wouldn't tell you he loves you. In fact, I wonder if you just pause right now.

Would you just lift your hands to heaven? If you feel comfortable, I believe that the love of God is in this room and he wants to show you himself that he loves you. If you want to feel the love of God and the presence and the goodness of God, would you lift your hands right now? Jesus, we hear you loud and clear, LORD. WE HEAR YOUR word loud and clear that you love us, that you care about us, and you died for us.

We receive that love today. We receive that love. He loves you. Even the you in the room who's messed up big time. Even the one in the room who's still having a hard time believing what I'm saying today as I jump and shout and scream at you.

Even the person in the room who told yourselves long before this day that God doesn't care, that he's forgotten about you, that you are somehow the exception to his truth. Even the one who has seen endless reminders of their mistakes and not enough reminders of the love of God that can cover all those mistakes. you. Jesus loves you. My daughter has a knack for asking questions each night to end up in my sermons, at least in conversation.

She's a deep thinker. I had felt this message