Three Myths That Rob Christians of Their Passover Joy

For the sermon today, I have used the preacher's outline and sermon Bible commentary as well as the life application commentary in preparing the sermon. Our Creator God is a plan of salvation for all of mankind. All of mankind. He reveals this plan to us through a cycle of holy days, festivals described in the scriptures.

It's an astonishing plan. It's an incredible plan that gives hope to every human being who's ever drawn breath, every human being who's ever lived. Our God is an all-inclusive God. All-inclusive. Nobody is forgotten. When you think about the world's history and you think about all the people who've ever lived—I don't know what percentage you would put, maybe 99% of everyone who's ever lived—they've died and for the most part, especially thousands of years ago, those people, they are dead, forgotten.

Their relatives who are living today have no understanding that those people ever lived. They have returned to the earth quite literally. But no matter who they were, even though history has forgotten them, God hasn't. God hasn't forgotten them. When they died, the spirit and man went back to God—not an immortal soul, but the spirit and man went back to God, and God saved Kipimath for the time of the resurrection. And when their time comes, as we see in 1 Corinthians, there's an order to the resurrection, everybody in their own time.

When their time comes, God is going to resurrect them and open up their hearts and their minds so they can partake in this tremendous plan of salvation that God offers to all of mankind. Let's take a look at Revelation 21. Revelation 21 gives us a bit of a glimpse into the world that all of us will enjoy. Hopefully we will all be there because we will be doing those things that are pleasing on God's sight.

And because of the things I'm making mention of today, Revelation 21, verse 3, And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and be their God. You know, brethren, at this point in the universe's history, there are no more flesh-and-blood human beings.

Those people who gave themselves over to God, called the saints, they will have been resurrected and changed into spirit. Those people who didn't want to give themselves over to God in his way of life, the previous chapter talks about a lake of fire. They will be there. Malachi 4 talks about that as well. God is not going to force his way of life on anybody.

God is not going to force eternity on everybody. So those people will, unfortunately, cease to exist. But everyone else is spirit. That's why God can walk among men. That's why God can live among men. Because as God and Jesus Christ, our total spirit, so will we be at that point. Now, we're about to approach the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. And the Passover is a very sober, very somber occasion, but it's also a very joyous occasion. We can appreciate the death and the suffering of Jesus Christ. That's what gives the day its salinity. But also, we appreciate the fact that through that sacrifice, we have an opportunity to live forever in the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that is total love, total joy, total peace.

And it's something that our minds can't hardly comprehend, but it's there for us. Now, Satan, on the other hand, does not want us to experience the joy that comes with the Passover season. Satan wants to rob us of that joy. Let's take a look at John 10. John 10 and verse 10. John 10 and verse 10. In my Bible, this is all in red lettering here, the words of Jesus Christ.

John 10.10. The thief, talking about Satan, the thief has not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And by contrast, Christ says, I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly. So this is the joy that we can appreciate at Passover, that Christ has given us life, and we can have that more abundantly. But Satan, he has come to steal. During the Passover season, do you find your happiness being stepped on?

Do you find your peace of mind fleeting? Do you find that you don't have joy when it comes to the Passover season? That is the work of Satan the Devil. Satan would want to kill, as it says there in John 10.10, kill the beauty of what these days represent, the Passover, the days of Unleavened Bread, and all the holy days. Satan would want to destroy you physically as well as spiritually. Now it is robbing you of your joy, but he wants to kill you. Now, what do we do about that?

Let's go back to two more chapters to John 8. John 8, verse 32. John 8, 32. Again, all in red lettering, showing the other words of Christ. John 8, 32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Brethren, we are going to look at some of the myths that Satan wants you to believe to rob you of your Passover joy.

We're going to look at those myths today. We're going to debunk those myths today. Now, as I made mention, for those of you who have internet and you get the midweek Bible studies, I sent out a Bible study this last week. It was actually a sermon I gave two years ago. But I thought it would be good as a review because that sermon two years ago that I gave, the Bible study I sent out midweek, which were the notes of that sermon, very much are a good lead-in to the message I want to give today.

The sermon I gave two years ago that I put out in the email this week was, What Lies Satan Would Have You To Believe at Passover Time? What Lies? There are certain lies Satan wants you to believe. Lie number one is that God will abandon you. Satan loves to whisper that in our ears. God has abandoned you. God will abandon you.

It is a lie. It is not true. Lie number two, Satan would whisper in your ear, the price is too high for you to follow God. Well, you can't get a good job. You've got that Sabbath you've got to keep. You've got those Holy Days. You've got all these weird things. The price is just too high. What is your wife or your husband going to think? What are your kids going to think? What are your relatives going to think? What are the next-door neighbors going to think? Well, you might lose the whole lot of them.

The price is just too high, Satan would have you think. Lie number three, God's way, you know, it just doesn't work. It just doesn't work. You know, brethren, as I was putting my thoughts together two years ago, and as I was looking at this again, this last week, I was putting my thoughts together for today's sermon, I looked at lie number two, the price is too high. Lie number three, God's way doesn't work.

And I'm thinking, brethren, that so many of the people that we had in God's church back prior to 1995, they fell victim to those two lies. They fell victim. They probably came to feel, you know, it is too high a price to keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Look at all the good jobs I've not been able to have because of the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Look at all the upheaval in my family because of the Sabbath and the Holy Days, which leads to lie number three.

You know, God's way just doesn't work. Just doesn't work. We lost, what, between 80 and 95 percent of our people. Remember back when we'd have a Holy Day in the Detroit area? East, west, Ann Arbor, Windsor would come across, meet over there at the, what's the name of that place?

Roma's. Roma's. See, I'm having senior moments up here. Roma's, you know, the canoles and all that, the ever-shrinking cannoli. But we used to put in 1,200 people, 1,200 people for a Holy Day. Today, brethren, that would rank as our second largest, if not our first largest, feast site in the United Church of God. And that was just a local Holy Day. People listened to Satan's lives. Lie number four, you're too great a sinner for God to ever forgive you.

You're too great a sinner. Now, that is going to be a bridge to what I want to discuss with you today. If you're taking notes, here's what we're going to add on to the midweek study. My title for the sermon today is Three Myths, Three Myths That Rob Christians of Their Passover Joy. Three Myths That Rob Christians of Their Passover Joy. Myth number one. Myth number one. God's love must be earned. God's love must be earned. Now, the myth buster on this myth is that God's love is unconditional. God's love is unconditional.

There's only one thing that you and I earn. Let's take a look at Romans 6 for a moment. Romans 6 and verse 23. Satan wants you to think, you know, I'll just put these people like squirrels on a treadmill. I'll have them working and working and working and working, and they will never work hard enough. They'll always be saying, well, you know, I need to study more. I need to pray more.

I need to fast more. You know, there's nothing wrong with those things. Praying and studying and fasting and meditating. Those are good things for us to do. But those things do not earn us our salvation. Those are things we should be doing, but they don't earn us our salvation. Here we see in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23. For the wages of sin is death. That's what we earn.

The wages of sin is death. But notice in contrast, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So on the one hand, you've got wages. You've got what you earn. On the other hand, you've got a gift. A gift. Now, it is true, and I certainly don't want to go afield of our teachings.

You know, Acts chapter 5 and verse 32, God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. If we don't obey God, we don't get His Holy Spirit. If we don't have His Holy Spirit, we are not Christians. But again, obeying God doesn't earn us our salvation. That is a gift, as the Bible says very clearly here. It is a gift from God. And we must keep that in mind, because Satan wants us to be working and toiling, because he knows that we would never do enough.

He wants to frustrate us. He wants to frustrate us, thinking that we've got to do all this stuff. Well, there are things God does want us to do. Good things, right things. Righteousness. Again, don't misunderstand, but we are saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We're not saved because of all of our Sabbath-keeping. That's not the point of Sabbath-keeping. It's not the point of holy day observance or tithing. There are other reasons we do those things. You know, when you think about it, you take a look at all the Bible heroes, the heroines. They all had issues.

Did they earn their place because of what they accomplished? Well, let's take a look at what they accomplished. Abraham, twice, wanted to give his wife away. In this congregation, the fellows chuckle at that.

In Ann Arbor, the ladies were chuckling at that. Twice, Abraham was willing to give his wife away. Once the Pharaoh wants to ogimalik. Not a really good example there of a good right living, although Abraham is called the father of the faithful. But our spiritual giants I'm about to discuss had their feet of clay. They had their issues. Sarah, Abraham's wife, encouraged her husband to commit adultery with Hagar. Moses, due to his son, was not allowed to enter the Promised Land with the children of Israel. David killed Uriah so he could have Uriah's wife Bathsheba. Rahab was a harlot. Samson was a womanizer. Paul, imprisoned and tortured Christians. Peter denied Jesus Christ three times, cursing and swearing. I give you those examples because what did these people earn? What did they earn? Well, we all earn what we saw there in Romans 6.23. We earned a death penalty. But we can be thankful that we have, because of God's great love for us, because of His unconditional love for us, we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 1 John 1. 1 John 1. 1-7.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ the Son cleanses us from all sin. Yes, all our unrighteousness is cleansed. Yes, we have to be obedient, but that doesn't earn us. We have to be obedient because that's what God says for us.

That's why we have a cycle of holy days. One is not stand alone. We've got the Passover that shows us God's love for us, shows us He is willing to forgive us in that great love of His. But then we've got the days of unleavened bread. Those days show that we have to move after we've accepted the sacrifice of Christ, after our sins have been forgiven, now we must move forward in a new way of life, a new way of thinking, an unleavened way of living and thinking.

Verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just forgive us of our sins and it cleanses us from all unrighteousness. It cleanses us from all unrighteousness. That is the gift to be cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 38. I think every year at Passover season I pull the scripture out because I enjoy it so much. I think it's very poetic and it just is encouraging to me. Isaiah chapter 38 verse 17. Isaiah 38, 17. Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness.

Why is it we go through trials in life? Why is it we have great bitterness from time to time in our life? Well, so we come to peace. Those trials, that bitterness that you and I experience should lead us to be closer to God, closer to Jesus Christ. And it was for His peace that He had this bitterness. In the middle of verse 17 here. But you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. You have cast all my sins behind your back. You can't see behind your back unless you've got a mirror.

The thought here, the intent here is God doesn't want to see our sins. He loves us. He loves us unconditionally. Unconditionally. First John chapter, let's go back to First John. First John chapter 4 verses 7 through 10.

Why am I giving this particular sermon today? Because every year at Passover we've got people, you know, in our minds we may know that God loves us, but we have Satan whispering these things, and then the questions come in, well, you know, how much does he love us? You know, I've not really been the person I should be, and I've got these issues, and maybe I shouldn't even come.

So every year we've got that. You've got that whatever pastor you're talking about. I just want to express the thought that God loves us greatly, and He wants us to be there at Passover time with Him. First John chapter 4 verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God is love. God is the source of all love. Love comes from God the Father.

Love comes from Jesus Christ, our elder brother. They are the embodiment. They demonstrate their great love for each and every one of us. God is love. Brethren, that doesn't, it's not saying here that, you know, God does some loving things. You can be a hateful person and do some loving things. No, it's saying that God is love. Everything God does is love. Every aspect of everything He does, even if He's correcting you or I, even if He's sending a trial to you or I, everything that God does for you or I, is a aspect of His love for you and I.

Every interaction. Verse 9. And this is the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, who might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent us something to be the propitiation for our sins.

Brethren, when you first were being called by God, did you earn that calling? Is that something we earned? No, we didn't earn a calling. When Jesus Christ died for you and for me, when we accepted Him as our personal Savior, is that something we earned because of our merit? Of course not.

So don't allow Satan to come into your thinking and to get you to be on this treadmill like some little squirrel, or going around and around and going nowhere, thinking, these are all these things I've got to do before God can love me. God always loves you.

The question is not, does God love you? The question is, how much do we love God? As I was saying today over in Ann Arbor, God's love is much like, to use the analogy, much like our sun. Now, we see darkness because of the rotation of the earth, but where the sun is, it's 100% light, it's 100% warmth, and it does that 24-7-365. The sun is always exuding light and warmth. The same thing is true with God. God is always giving out love, nothing but love. Everything is an aspect of his love, even when he spanks us, that's an aspect of his love.

So again, don't allow Satan to say, you've got to earn it. You don't have to earn it. It's there. Whether you accept it, whether I accept it, that's another issue. But God's love is there for us. Myth number one, God's love must be earned. And the myth buster on this is that God's love is unconditional. Myth number two. Myth number two, God's love is only for the strong.

God's love is only for the strong. That's a myth. That's a lie.

That's not true. The myth buster here is that God's love is universal.

Now, God does not love sin. God does not love your sin. But God does love you.

But let us think that, you know, again, we've got to always be just so, just perfect before God's going to love us. Be really strong. If I'm a strong Christian, God loves me. If I'm not so strong, well, no, that love kind of wanes. No, that's not true. That's not true. When you and I are doing the things that are pleasing in God's sight, God is disappointed. God could be angry.

There are many feelings that God can have, but He doesn't stop loving us. He doesn't stop loving us. He's disappointed. He realizes that we're not doing things that are proper in His sight, that we're only hurting ourselves. Much like you may have a family member you love, you love a great deal. But the family member is making some very bad decisions. And as a family member makes those bad decisions, you hurt for them, but you still love them.

Let's take a look at some people who were weak. They weren't tremendously spiritually strong, they were weak. And we see the tremendous love that God has for them. Let's go to Luke 7 to begin with. Luke 7. We'll go from verse 37 to verse 48. Luke 7, verse 37.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner. Now many of the commentaries will say that they think, and I don't know why they think this, but a number of them say the same thing. This woman perhaps was a prostitute. Obviously, a person who in our minds would be a person who has their share of sin, their share of guilt. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner. And when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil.

Now, an alabaster flask here, that oven by itself is something that's very costly. It's very expensive.

I'm sure she had to save it for quite a while to be able to buy such a flask. And then the oil that she put in the flask was also very costly. The whole present that she put together for Jesus was extremely expensive. Extremely so. Verse 38. And she stood at his feet behind him weeping, and she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with a fragrant oil. This woman, who may have been a prostitute, understood her desperate need. She understood who she was and what she was. And that's why, brethren, at Passover time, you and I examine ourselves. We don't examine ourselves and decide, well, I shouldn't be at Passover. We examine ourselves at Passover time so we can do just what this woman did. We examine ourselves so we understand our need. And then we come, and we have a remedy for that need. We have something that God has given to us because of our great need. We're great sinners, not just this woman here, you and I. We've sinned. We've sinned greatly, each and every one of us. And we've got the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to call upon. Now, this particular woman, she may have heard the teaching of John the Baptist. Maybe that's why she was motivated to come to see Jesus. Or maybe she just heard Jesus give a sermon or two.

In any case, she saw that she had a need, and she went to Jesus Christ to remedy that need.

Verse 39. Now, in a Pharisee who had invited him, saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who touched him, for she is a sinner. I always get a kick out of these guys. Always willing to look down on the ladies, not realizing that his very thought process here was a stench before God. He was sinning by what he's thinking about this woman. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed and 500 denarii, the other owed 50. When they had nothing with which to repay, they freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will he love more? Love him more. Simon answered and said, I suppose the one to whom he forgave more. He said, you have judged rightly. Then he turned to this woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she love much, but to whom little is forgiven, but same loves little. Then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Verse 50, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now this is not a story about somebody who's strong. This is a story about somebody who's weak, but they understood their weakness.

And they're taking, this person's taking a step to become strong.

But when Satan wants to whisper in your ear that God's love is only for the strong, that's not true. Don't, oh, don't buy into that. God's love is for you at all times.

Again, he doesn't love your sin or my sin. He wants us to repent of those things and change, but his love for you is constant. It's strong. It's enduring. We'll talk more about that as the sermon goes along. Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Let's take a look at another person who wasn't strong, and we see the great love of God being manifested here. Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 14. Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They trusted in themselves that they were strong. Well, Christ says, well, I might have a little something to say about what you think about your strength. And they despise others. First on, two men went into the temple to pray one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Is God honor bound to hear every prayer every person speaks? He is not.

Our sins can and do cut us off from the great God. But in God's mercy, there are many times God listens to people who are sinners. He's listened to you and I as we have been sinners. But God is not honor bound to listen. The impression you get here, God's not hearing this man because he's so caught up with himself and his vanity. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you. I'm not like these other men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. And tax collectors were not too well viewed today. April 50th is coming up and the IRS ranks very low on everybody's list of all-time favorites. But these people, back in that day, they many, many times would skim the taxes and collect them for themselves. They give some to the government authorities and they keep some back for themselves. And people understood that they did that. They had to pay dearly for their taxes and they didn't like that they could pay less if there wasn't the tax collector. But he says, I fast twice in a week, verse 12, I give all the tithes I possess. And the tax collector standing a fire off, standing a fire off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.

Now, this man was not a man of great strength. We don't even know this man's name.

He's no great man in the Bible, but his attitude is a great one.

He's coming here from a position, in one sense, of weakness, but he's leading in a position of being stronger because he's looking to God and having a proper attitude. He's repenting of where he was. Verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

So here we've got a couple examples. The woman who may have been a prostitute, the tax collector, Satan, have you believe, well, God doesn't love these people. Christ doesn't love these people. Of course, he does all the time. Every minute of every day, God loves them. Let's go over to Luke chapter 15. I want to kind of hit something toward the middle of the chapter here. I guess actually the first third of the chapter. Luke chapter 15 and verse 10. Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Joy over the repentance of one sinner. Great joy because you've got a weak one who's coming to their spiritual senses. You don't have to be a strong one to be loved by God. God's love is universal.

Now, it's interesting to look at that section in the scripture there, verse 10, in the context of the greater part of the chapter. Chapter 15 here, verse three. So he spoke this parable to them, saying, What man have you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? Now, isn't this referring in type to God?

Because God has this tremendous love, He will go after the stray, not after the strong. Strong is already in the fold. He's going to go after the weak one. And when He's found it, He lays it on His shoulders rejoicing. And that's what God wants us to do this Passover season. He wants us to rejoice in what we have in Jesus Christ. And when He comes home, verse 6, He calls together His friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoices me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

I say to you that there is likewise will be more joy in heaven over one sin or repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. So again, here you see in verse 7 this idea that, yeah, you've got the strong and you've got the weak. And you see very much how God loves the weak.

He wants us to become strong. He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge. Again, don't misunderstand where I'm coming from. But we all start on a position of weakness when we first come into the church. And as we go through our Christian life, we will come into various periods where we're weaker than other times. Just because right now today we are in a downstate, a weaker state than we were last month or the month before, doesn't mean that God loves us less. It doesn't work that way.

Verse 8, or what woman having ten silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and serves carefully until she finds it. And when she's found that she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoices with me, for I have found the peace which I lost.

Notice in both cases rejoicing over something of value that is found.

You are of value to God. He loves you. Don't let Satan ever whisper in your ear, you're not loved by God. You are loved by Him. You are of great value. That's why this whole section of Scripture, the context shows the great love that God has, even for the weak, for the one who's gone astray, for the one who's been lost. Starting here in verse 11, going through the end of the chapter, you've got the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son. You know the story. I'm not going to read the whole chapter here. Here's a young man who wants his inheritance before his father dies.

He gets his inheritance, and he goes and he wastes it. He wastes it. He gets to the place where he's crawling around in pigpins trying to steal food from the pigs. But eventually, he comes to his senses. Eventually, he comes to his senses. We see this here starting in verse 20.

Luke chapter 15 verse 20. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. You know, I remember as a father, the first steps my son took. I remember we were in Wisconsin Dells. It was 1982. We were at the Super 8. I remember in that particular hotel room, we had two double beds. And Brandon, who was nine months at the time, he pulled himself up on one bed. Looked how little kids are. Nine months old, he just barely looks over his shoulder. He's kind of waving around with those little legs of his. And his little mind says, you know, I think I can make it to the other bed. So he turns around, staggering like a little drunk. And he made it from one bed to the other bed. Maybe a foot and a half, whatever it was, two feet, whatever it was. But he made it from one bed. His first steps there at Wisconsin Dells, 1982. Now, my son is, if you were to see his high school graduation in mind, you would say we were twins. The only difference being my son is probably an inch and a half taller than I am. So he's a fairly good-sized boy. But you know, I can be out some place and be 150 yards away from him. He might have a ski mask on, cold weather. I know him by his walk.

You know your kids by their walk. When it says here, this father, when the son was a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion on the prodigal. Brethren, this is talking about God for the weak. The love God has for the weak, not just for the strong, the love God has for the weak. His father saw him, had compassion. He ran! Back in that day, in that culture, fathers weren't supposed to run. They were supposed to be dignified.

Well, he ran because of the great love he had for his son. He fell on his neck, he kissed him. And his son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, I am no longer worthy be called your son. And this is good. You know, we read the scripture in Isaiah where, you know, the person was given bitterness, but it worked for that person's joy. Same thing here. This young man had to learn a bitter lesson, but he's coming out in a lot better shape spiritually. Verse 22, but the father said to the servants, bring out the best robe.

Again, this father represents our Father in heaven. Bring out the best robe. He's family.

He's wearing a bunch of rags right now, but because he's family, we're going to dress him up the way family should be dressed. Put it on him. Put a ring on his hand. You know, back in the old days, people had these signet rings, and when they sent correspondence from one place to another, they would burn some wax, drip it on a piece of paper, have the paper parchment folded, drip the wax on there so that the paper would be sealed, and then they would stick that signet ring right into that wax. You remove that signet ring, and you've got the seal of the family or the seal of the king or whatever seal is there, showing who is coming from, authenticating it. This father says, you put a ring. He's my son. He's of my family. He's of my house. You give him that ring that shows who he is. Again, brethren, God views you the same way. Through all of our weaknesses, through all of our things, our foibles, yes, God hates our sin, but he loves us all the time. We don't have to earn it. We don't have to be strong. Now, God wants the road to be strong, but if we're weak, God still loves us. Bring out the robe, ring. He says, put sandals on his feet in the Old Testament. This was still basically close to Old Testament times. You see in the book of Ruth where a person's shoes or their sandals, the prophecy talks about people walking on a certain part of land. That showed ownership. So the father is saying, hey, not only do I love him, not only do I clothe and feed him, not only a part of the family officially, what's mine is his. He may have wasted his inheritance, but what's mine is his. Many times in the Old Testament, people would solidify a contract by giving the other person one of their sandals. I don't know whether we would do that in the court of law today. It looked kind of funny walking around one shoe, but that's what they did back in those days. Verse 23, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, let us eat and be married. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost in his found and they began to be married. Now what we also see is the father didn't just want the family to celebrate. He calls the whole neighborhood together. It's one thing for the father to say, I love my son. I want the best for my son. But the father went beyond that. The father said, I want all of you to accept him. All of you accept my son. Yes, he was weak. Yes, he took and he squandered his inheritance. But he has come back and I love him. And I want you to love him as I love him. And, brethren, when you and I are weak, that's how God loves us. We don't have to just be God doesn't love just the strong. No, he loves the strong. If you're one of the strong ones, don't feel sad. God loves you and your strength. But God also loves us when we are not as strong as we'd like to be. So, myth number two, God's love is only for the strong. Myth buster here is God's love is universal. Last point, last myth, myth number three. God's love is for a limited time only.

Sounds like some sort of commercial on TV, doesn't it? God's love is for a limited time only.

How does Satan come at you with this myth? Well, first of all, let's understand the myth buster here.

The myth is God's love is for a limited time only. But the truth of the matter is that God's love is eternal. God's love transcends time. And God's love is unconditional.

So, when Satan wants to say, you know, you've been a bad boy, you've been a bad girl lately.

Because, you know, you've been bad because you're not, you know, doing things you should be doing, because you've not conquered every sin in your life. Well, you know, you're just going to have to kind of endure some things because my love isn't there for you like it should be. That's not the way God thinks. Romans chapter 5 verse 8. Romans chapter 5 and verse 8. Romans 5, 8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us. How does He demonstrate that love?

In that while we were still sinners, look at the time frame here, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

Brother, let me ask you a question. When did God's love for you begin?

When did God's love for you begin? Did God's love for you begin at the moment of your baptism in the receipt of God's Holy Spirit after the laying out of hands? Is that when God began to love you? Brother, God's love has no beginning. Because God has no beginning. God has love.

The universe is always known because God preceded the universe. The universe is always known, the love of God. And as we see here in Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, before you and I were whatever in that interval, while we were still sinners, while we were not strong, we were not perfect, we were not earning anything but death, in that time God demonstrated His love toward us.

So if Satan wants to whisper in your ear that you just simply, you know, you've not been praying like you should, studying like you should, meditating like you should, and because of that, I don't love you. Well, that's a construct of Satan. That's not of God. God always loves you. He wants you to pray and study and fast and meditate. He wants you to grow to be strong. He wants you to grow in grace. And I was just, again, don't misunderstand.

Well, let's not think that because we're weak that somehow God just pitches us out, doesn't do it. John chapter 3 in verse 16, very famous scripture. I was actually toying with the idea of giving this as a sermon today, just this one scripture, and just going through all the meat that is here. John chapter 3 in verse 16. I still might do it. Now, next week I'll be over in Windsor, so I won't be with you next Sabbath. Maybe the week after, I'll give this as a sermon.

They give you a little bit of a taste. For God so loved the world.

Read it carefully. It doesn't say, for God loved the world. It said, for God so loved the world.

God so loved, it intensifies that love. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He loved, He gave. He gave of Himself. Christ could have sinned. The plan of salvation would have been wrecked. God would have been all by Himself. He and the holy righteous angels. But the plan of God would have been wrecked. So there was a gamble there, for God the Father. There's a gamble for Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Ever-lasting life. God's love is not for a limited time only. It's for all the people who've ever lived on this planet. Everyone. Men, women, children.

Because our God is an all-inclusive God, each will have their opportunity in the plan of God.

Romans 8. Romans 8, verses 38 and 39. You probably know where I'm heading with this particular scripture. Romans 8, verses 38 and 39.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present or things that come nor height nor death nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing separates us from the love of God. Not, you know, God loves us even though we sin. He doesn't love our sin. He wants us to repent of that. But God, nothing separates us from His love. Just as when you're out in space and you're near the year, there's no line of sight problems, the sun only gives out light and warmth.

It's never dark. It's never cold. And the same thing is true for God. He's always loving.

He's never dark. He's never unloving. Even in His chastisement for us as human beings, that's an aspect of His love. Now, there's another way that this comes across that Satan loved to whisper in our ear about, God loves us for a limited time only. And that's for people who are repeat offenders. Are you a repeat offender? Maybe you are. Maybe we all are. I don't know what's happening in your heart and mind. You don't know what's happening in mine. But do we have issues in our life that we've had last Passover and a Passover before and a Passover before that? Do we have issues we've not conquered? Maybe we really seriously have some dislike for various people in our lives? Maybe we've got habits that just shouldn't be there? You know, it was interesting. I was doing some research the other day and I was looking at our website, our UCG website.

We had three or four booklets there. I don't know if I just didn't... My mail's not been coming regular because the person who brings the mail doesn't want to get out of the truck and put the mail in mailbox because of all the snow. Even though I go up my snowblower and cut a path, I probably mail once a week. So maybe these things may have been mailed out. But we've got like three or four new booklets out. I didn't even know they were out until I was looking at our list of booklets. We've got a beautiful booklet out now on the subject of pornography.

How do we beat that? This last Wednesday, first of the month, the pastors here in Michigan try to get together for lunch. And so we had Mr. Murray, Mr. Joseph, myself, the three pastors, plus Mr. Rhodes. We had lunch there in Howell, Tomato Brothers, a very nice Italian restaurant. And we got to talking about what's happening in the church and the trends we see in the church.

And it has always been the case. What's happening in the outside world is coming into the church.

And the discussions I have had with some of our young men in the church.

You know, the internet is a tremendous vehicle for good. It's a tremendous vehicle for evil.

How many of our young men have I talked to in their 20s or 30s that tell me that every young man they know, 100% of them, has a problem of pornography? That's why we got that booklet.

And that would be true in any church, not just our church, not just our church, not just our church, but also any church. So does God have no time because of people? They've got that issue. I don't have time for you because you've got that.

Does God simply say, well, you know, you're a repeat offender. You're not even really trying.

I hate you. Well, of course not. Matthew 18. A couple of examples in this chapter. Matthew 18. Last place we'll be turning to today. Matthew 18, verses 12-14 to begin with.

Matthew 18, verse 12. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? Now, we read something that was very similar to this earlier. The bottom line is that this is all in red lettering. These are the very words of Christ. This is the thinking of God. This is the thinking of Christ. They go after the repeat offenders.

They go after them in love. They try to reason with them spiritually. You're hurting yourself.

God will go after us in our own Bible study, in our own prayer life, in what we hear in services, in conversations we have with one another.

Verse 13. And should he find it, surely I say to you, he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety and nine that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. To me, that's an encouraging set of verses.

Our Father goes after the one. He loves the ninety and nine, but he goes after the one when that's needed. He goes after the repeat offender, the person who's weak, the person who isn't what they want to be. God will give them the tools if the person will take the time. God will give them the tools to grow and to develop and to overcome. That's why we have the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Here in Matthew 18, let's go down to verse 21. Last set of scriptures I want to read to you. Matthew 18, verse 21. Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him up to seven times. Now, we would tend to think, well, that's a lot of times to forgive somebody for the same offense toward me. Verse 22, Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Up to seventy times seven. Now, Jesus Christ is talking to a man here. And here's the standard for a man. And basically the idea of seventy times seven just means, you know, you are to, as long as the person is trying, you are to perpetually be in a forgiving attitude. And if this is a standard God holds out to men, what standard does God have for himself? Satan wants to whisper in your ear, you know, God has no time for you. You're a repeat offender. You're not growing and overcoming that area in your life. God just has no time for you. Is that what the Scripture says? Not at all. The Scripture says God loves you. He will go after you. He'll leave the ninety and nine. They're righteous. They'll come after the one who's got the issue. God says, you know, you're going to fall because of your weaknesses. Yes, you will fall on your face. But if you are trying, if you get up off your face with my help, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I will pick you up myself. I will dust you off. I will put you on the road.

The road to repentance. The road to success.

So, brethren, do not allow Satan to rob you of the joy you should be experiencing this Passover season. There are lies he wants to tell you. There are myths he wants you to believe. Don't let him make inroads into your life. The bottom line is God has tremendous love for each and every one of you. Greater love than you and I can ever, as a human being, we can't understand the greatness of his love toward us. But it's there. And he wants us to enjoy that. He wants us to rejoice in that love. He wants us to come to the Passover, realizing the tremendous love that he has for us, and then to move forward in his love to be the people he's called us to be.