You Are His Delight

All right. Okay, well, who’s ready to get in the Word this morning? That doesn’t sound very positive. Yeah, I am. I am very excited for the Word this morning.

I was talking with Suzie, and there’s always this unspoken — not pressure, but there’s always this expectation that if you’re a church during Christmastime, you’re going to have a Christmas series. And I’m not really into that, because if people only come to church during Christmastime, they’re just going to hear the same story over and over and over. And I’m like, well, what is the Holy Spirit saying? Let’s say that. So sometimes I don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into something when the Holy Spirit wants to say something else.

But I really do feel like what we’re about to go into is really led of the Lord, and it’s something so precious. As I was praying and going through these scriptures this morning, I just couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with the love of God. Is it okay if we get into the Word a little bit deeper than maybe just normal? Is that okay? The reason we want to do that is because His Word is power. His Word is truth. We need that. But I believe that there is something that the Lord wants to show us straight out of Scripture to convey His heart for you: that you are loved, that you are His delight.

God with us

So we are beginning this series called God With Us. If you have your Bibles, I’m going to invite you to turn to two places: Matthew chapter 1 — we’re going to be there very briefly — and then Proverbs chapter 8. And everybody can say, “Merry Christmas.” Here we go.

Matthew chapter 1, starting at verse 22, says: “So all this” — everybody say, “All this” — “all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’”

Now, this is the same scripture — I believe it’s even in the Charlie Brown Christmas special — and we always love hearing this. It’s so impactful: wow, God wanted to be with me.

As I was going about my week last week — we had what I believe was a powerful message about being in the presence of the Lord, and how Jesus wants us to just spend time with Him, to sit at His feet and receive from Him. And so last week I was like, you know, I need to listen to my own message. I’m going to get up a little bit earlier this week and spend some time with the Lord. And I did really good for about three days. Okay?

And then that fourth day, I set my alarm, the alarm goes off, and I’m like, “Yes, Lord, thank you, this is the day that the Lord has made,” and I went right back to sleep. I just went right back to sleep. Even in my dreams I felt like there was this prayer taking place, but I didn’t have that time of being in His presence that morning. And I just had to get the kids ready, get them to school, do all the things that needed to be done. Life continues on.

I remember going up the stairs. I had taken care of all the morning routine stuff, and I was going to get ready for the rest of my day. I was walking up the stairs and I was like, “Oh, Lord, I’m so sorry I didn’t spend time with you this morning.” And as I was walking up, I heard two things. Number one, He said, “I gave you what you needed.” But number two, He said, “Being with you is the best part of my day.”

At first I was like, oh, that’s really cheesy. And then immediately it settled, and it was weight. The Creator of all things — of everything in this earth, of every person, every element, all the animals, the plants — the Creator of all things, the thing He looks forward to more than anything is for me to be with Him. How impactful is that?

And listen, it wasn’t like, oh, it’s because he’s a pastor and God has favor. No, it wasn’t that — even though I am God’s favorite. How many of you know I’m not just God’s favorite? We’re all His favorite. And He wants nothing more than for us to be people who are with Him. I knew in that moment this is where we were going: that God wants nothing more than to be with you. Amen?

So we read this, and I believe the Lord is wanting to give a glimpse of His heart for us. This morning I want to look from the very beginning at how Jesus has done everything to be with you.

Who is the person of wisdom?

I had you turn to Proverbs chapter 8, and I want to start at verse 12. This is actually towards the middle of the Bible, but this is giving us a glimpse from a different lens of creation and what was taking place at the very beginning. Proverbs chapter 8, starting at verse 12, says: “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion.”

So real quick — and this is an open-screen test — who is talking here right now? Wisdom, right? Wisdom is talking here. When this was written, King Solomon is the one who wrote these words, who wrote this section of the Book of Proverbs. But notice, wisdom is speaking here, and he continues to speak for the rest of the chapter.

Verse 22 says: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth.”

So we can see right away that this person of wisdom was before creation. Before all of the earth was created, before things were settled, he was before all of that.

Verse 26 says: “While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primeval dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth.” Notice verse 30: “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.”

And I want us to ask this question today: who is this person of wisdom? Some scholars would say that this is a form of literature where it’s personification, where you personify something to give it an understanding — that this was simply personifying wisdom. Others speculate this could be the Holy Spirit. And some believe it could be Jesus.

But I want us to look at four clues of who this person of wisdom is. Proverbs chapter 8, verse 12 says, “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence.” So the first clue we see here is that this person is called wisdom.

Then verse 30 says, “Then I was beside Him” — talking about God — “as a master craftsman.” So we can see here that this person created the world with God. They weren’t just a spectator. They weren’t just at the side of Him, watching: “Wow, God, yeah, keep it up.” He wasn’t just a cheerleader. No, this person of wisdom was literally at the beginning, at creation, and he was a master craftsman.

How many of you know if you are a master at something, that literally means that you are an expert in every facet of that field? So there might be master electricians or tradesmen. You are literally considered an expert in every area of the trade. So this person of wisdom was not just an apprentice. This person at creation knew exactly what they were doing. They knew every detail, how to make things and see things take place. They were in every sense a master of their trade.

And then verse 30 continues — and this is the next clue: “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight.” Daily God’s delight. What does it mean to delight in something? We all have our delights, right? We all have things that we look forward to every day. For some of us it might just be a cup of coffee in the morning. And we’ll even say things — if we’re rude to somebody in the morning, we can just throw the excuse, “Well, I’m sorry, I just haven’t had my coffee,” as though it just eliminates everything we just said to somebody or how we treated them.

But for some of us it’s a warm cup of coffee in the morning, and we can just sit and read the newspaper. For others it might be a hobby. But there’s a delight, something you look forward to every single day. And this person of wisdom is saying, at the time of creation, when all things were created, “I was daily God’s delight. I’m the one that God looked forward to being with every day.”

But wisdom says something interesting right next, and here’s the fourth clue. In verse 31 it says, “Rejoicing in His inhabited world” — but notice — “and my delight was with the sons of men.” Wisdom was saying, “I was the one that God looked forward to being with every single day, but my delight, what I look forward to more than anything, was being with the people here on earth every day.”

How many of you remember in Genesis chapter 1, the very first few words of the Bible? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But we see in John chapter 1, verse 1, John starts his gospel the same way. He says, “In the beginning” — but notice these next words — “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

And then we see who the Word is in verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Amen. That is good.

So we can see John here is referring to the Word. He’s not referring to something inanimate. He’s referring to a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. So if we take the name of Jesus, I want us to look at this again. When John is saying “the Word,” he’s really talking about Jesus. So we could really say: in the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Jesus was in the beginning with God. Amen?

You may have guessed it: the person of wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8 is Jesus. And it says in verse 3, all things were made through Jesus. Does this sound like the master craftsman that Proverbs chapter 8 was talking about? It says all things were made through who? Jesus — the master craftsman, the one who was in the very beginning creating all things.

And it says, “Without Him nothing was made that was made.” That sounds so redundant, right? I remember as a kid I was like, why is the Bible repeating itself like that? It’s confusing. I’m trying to memorize this and I can’t do it. It sounds redundant. It sounds like it’s saying the same thing.

But something that I like to do — I don’t get to do it all the time, but when I get to do it, I want to make sure I’m a part of every detail — I really enjoy putting computers together. And everybody’s like, “What?” Yeah, no, I do. I like building them. I like picking out the different pieces, putting it together, making sure things are optimized, things are working right. Now, how many of you know I am not an expert in this? I’m not a master in this. There are probably people that could do a better job at it than me.

But if I took all of the time and I got all the components together, and I got all the resources, and I was researching and trying to see what pieces would work best together, and I got all the pieces gathered — and I went out, and I came home, and some professional had put it all together for me and said, “I did it for you” — how many of you know I would not be very pleased? Why? Because I was looking forward to putting it together myself. I enjoy this. I wanted to do this. I wanted to be a part of it.

How many of you know when it says without Jesus nothing was made that was made, Jesus was saying, “I want to be a part of every detail. I want to be a part of every nuance of this thing. Don’t make anything without me.” It’s like Jesus saying, “We’re going to create people. And you know what? I want them to enjoy their food. So we’re going to make steak. I’m going to give them cows. And it’s not just going to be steak — I’m going to give them seasoning so they can manipulate the flavors.” Can you think how Jesus was dreaming at the beginning of creation? All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In other words, Jesus was in every detail of where we are today. Amen?

So this is what the Holy Spirit is telling us through John: it wasn’t just God who created all things. Jesus did. And He didn’t just whip it all together. He was a part of every detail.

Created by Him and for Him

Listen to what Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter 1, verse 12: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

Notice: His beloved Son. Jesus was God’s beloved. He was the one that He loved. He was His delight. Jesus was God’s daily delight.

Verse 14 says: “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Notice verse 16: “For by Him” — by Jesus — notice what Paul says — “all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through Him” — but notice this part — “and for Him.”

All things were not only created by Jesus; the scriptures say all things were also created for Jesus. I’m going to say it one more time so we can really get this settled in our heart: not only were all things created by Jesus, they were created for Jesus. And what I’m trying to show us today is that there is something very special about our relationship with Jesus, between us and Him.

Listen to John 17:24. This is Jesus; this was His prayer. He says: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.” Isn’t that what we just sang this morning? Oh, that we would be people that would respond to this prayer from Jesus and say, “Jesus, I want to be someone who regularly sits at your feet and beholds your glory.” He says, “That they may be with Me.” Somebody say amen to that. “That they may behold My glory which You have given Me” — and notice these next words — “for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Isn’t that what we just read in Proverbs chapter 8? From the foundation of the world, before all things, “I was there with the Father, and I was daily His delight.” And the person of wisdom is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I want to show you a couple more, because we’re solving these clues. First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 23 says: “But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God” — and notice — “and the wisdom of God.” Notice Paul calls Jesus the wisdom of God. Verse 30 says: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God.”

Notice, Jesus is the person of wisdom that Proverbs chapter 8 is talking about. And He wants us to know that when all of creation took place, in every detail, Jesus was the one behind it. When He was putting it all together He was like, “Man, you know who’s going to enjoy this? Pastor Jay’s really going to like this. There’s going to be this thing called computers, and they’re going to be invented just on time for him, and he’s going to be putting them together.”

How many of you know Jesus was in every single detail? He was the one doing it. And He didn’t just do it so that we could get through. He created all things so that we could enjoy it — so that we could enjoy creation, so that we could enjoy life with Him, so that we could be with Him forever. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. And so I ask you, who is the person of wisdom? It is none other than Jesus.

You are His delight

Now, we have gone through every clue, but I want us to focus in on clue number four. Wisdom says, “I was daily His delight” — talking about God — “rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world” — but he says — “and my delight was with the sons of men.”

How many of you know we are wisdom’s daily delight? We are the ones that He looks forward to being with every day. There is nothing that makes Him more excited than when we come face to face with Him, when we spend time in His presence, when we spend time in His Word — and we’re not just going through a checklist. No, we are coming face to face with Jesus. How many of you know this is His heart? This is His desire. We are His daily delight.

Can everybody stay with me for ten to fifteen minutes? We are going to explore that, because I think there’s something so precious that the Lord wants to bring to us today: that you are His delight. I’m not just talking like, “Oh, Jesus died for the sins of the world, and you’re just happy to be a part of that.” I think that’s sometimes how we treat what Jesus did: “I mean, He doesn’t really love me. He just loved the world, and I just happen to be a part of that.” No, that’s not true. You are His delight. Everybody say that: “I am His delight.”

That’s what the Lord was speaking to me as I was walking up the stairs. This is so routine — I’m just walking up the stairs, going to get ready for my day — and the Lord says, “You’re my favorite part of the day.” And I knew He was being so truthful, so sincere. How can we not respond to that? You are His delight.

Something changed in the garden

Genesis chapter 3 — and we could spend a lot of time on this. At this point everything was created. Everything was perfect. There was no fear. There was no insecurity. How many of you are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve? Okay. God created the heavens and the earth. Everything was perfect. It was a good place. There’s no fear, no guilt, no condemnation, no shame. How many of you would like to go back to that? There’s none of that.

And it says in verse 1: “Now the serpent was more cunning” — that means crafty — “than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”’”

Now notice, the serpent is coming to Eve, and he says, “Has God indeed said that you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Well, how many of you remember in Genesis chapter 2, God told Adam, “You can eat anything in the garden except the one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” And God said, “The day that you eat of that tree you will surely die.”

How many of you know the enemy likes to blow things out of proportion for us? The enemy likes to tempt us: “You don’t want to be a Christian, because then you can’t have any fun. You can’t do anything.” How many of you know that’s the way the enemy likes to get at us sometimes? The enemy loves to blow things out of proportion. And here’s the enemy trying to deceive Eve and get her to do what God said not to do.

Verse 4 says: “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then” — everybody say, “Then.”

How many of you know something changed? Here was Jesus. His delight was the sons of men. He had put so much time, so much effort, so much thought — and not just thought and work, love — into creating this perfect place for people to be with Him. But then everything changed. It says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

In other words, something changed the moment that they ate of the fruit. The moment that they did what God told them not to do, something on the inside was opened. Something changed. Something was compromised, and all of a sudden they began to see things differently. Up until this point they had never been afraid. They had never been insecure. They had never been ashamed or embarrassed. But all of a sudden they ate this fruit that God told them not to eat from, and something was compromised.

It was as though — you know when you have a lamp, and the light’s on? You can turn off the light, and the lamp is still there, but it’s not the same. Something had gone out on the inside.

Verse 8 says, “And they heard the sound” — everybody say, “The sound” — “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” What’s happening? He’s coming to be with them. “And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Notice it says they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden. That word “sound” is the Hebrew word qol, which can also be translated “the voice.” Now, how many of you know we don’t have the original — we’re not reading out of Hebrew, right? So when things are translated out of one language into another, the translators do the best that they can to communicate what was originally said. But it is difficult to translate this, because how do you translate “they heard the voice of the Lord God walking”? It doesn’t make sense. And so they would say, “They heard the sound of the Lord.”

But I want you to notice: could it be that instead of “they heard the sound of the Lord walking,” it’s not just saying the voice of God walking — it’s saying they heard the Word of God walking? They were hearing the Word of God walking. Why? Because Proverbs chapter 8 says, “I was daily God’s delight. I’m the one that God looked forward to being with every day. But my delight was to be with them. And every day I looked forward to walking in the cool of the day, to spend time with them, to be with my delight, to be with my people.”

In other words, Jesus was the one who created all things, every detail. Jesus was the one who would say, “Let us make man in our image.” Jesus was the one who would walk with the sons of men in the cool of the day. But something here happened. Something changed. When they ate of the fruit, all of a sudden they weren’t in the normal meeting place.

For the very first time, Adam and Eve are afraid of God. And because of their sin, they’re hiding from God, just like so many people do today. They were hiding, and the Lord comes to the garden in the cool of the day, and they’re not there, and something’s up. Something changed.

Verse 9 says: “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ So he said, ‘I heard Your voice’” — there’s that word again: I heard the Word — “‘in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’”

How many of you know this is why so many people are filled with shame to this day? Because there is compromise on the inside. There is this guilt that we can’t be near Him, because something was separating us from being in His presence. Now they couldn’t tolerate it. They couldn’t handle it. They couldn’t bear the weight of being near Him. Why? “I’m not worthy. I’m naked. Do you see who I am? Do you see what I’ve done?”

Verse 11 says: “And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?’ Then the man said, ‘The woman’” — notice the blaming — “‘the woman whom You gave to be with me.’” Notice he’s not even just blaming the woman. He’s blaming God: “The woman You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” “And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’”

The Lord is speaking to Eve, and it’s not anger. He’s looking at her and He’s saying, “Do you realize what you’ve done? Do you realize what just happened? I can’t be with you, because there is something on the inside. There is compromise that has taken place that keeps you from now being with me.” How many of you know God is a holy God, and He knows no darkness? And there was something that happened when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve — something that was passed down from person to person to person — that compromised us from being with Him.

So the Lord is speaking to Eve: “What is this that you have done?” “And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”

I’m coming for you

Now notice the Lord’s tone when He speaks to the serpent. “So the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go.’” So we get the idea that this serpent had legs before.

But how many of you can just hear the tone in His voice? You can hear the anger, because what the serpent had done — the serpent had stolen His daily delight. He had taken the ones that He loved being with more than anything away from Him. And because of this, the tone has changed. The game has changed. You can hear it in His voice: “I love them. I enjoy being with them. But now they’re afraid of me, because there is compromise on the inside, and now we are disconnected because of the sin that is in their heart.”

There was this anger in the Lord’s heart, and it says: “‘And you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity’” — which means hatred or hostility — “‘between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.’” Notice the capital S. Who’s that talking about? The seed is what comes from you. The seed that comes from the serpent is the devil — we see that in Revelation chapter 12, the serpent of old, Satan, the devil, the kingdom of darkness. But the Seed with the capital S is talking about Jesus. “‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’”

You see, right after sin came into the world, Eve ate of the fruit, and with that a disconnection from God came. And from that moment when sin came into the world, in chapter 3 of the Bible, Jesus in that moment knew: if I don’t do something, if someone doesn’t save them, they’re destined for hell. If someone doesn’t step in for them, they’ll be apart from me forever.

Verse 15 says, “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” In other words, the Lord was saying to the serpent, “The domination that you have over human beings, with sin and bondage — the woman’s Seed is going to come, and He’s going to take that from you. He’s going to crush your head. But you will bruise His heel” — meaning He will also be hurt in the process.

But I want you to notice that from the very beginning, Jesus created all things. His delight was you. His delight was to be with you. And when sin came into the world, there was a disconnection from God, and from that moment Jesus made the decision: “I’m coming for you. I’m coming for you.”

So when we’re talking about Immanuel, God with us, it’s not just some Christmas miracle. We’re talking about the Creator of all things, who loved you so much that He didn’t want to do life without you. He didn’t want to be apart from you. I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful that in that moment He didn’t just say, “You know what? Just wipe it out. I’m going to start fresh. I’m going to just start all over.” No, you are His delight, and He has committed Himself from the very beginning to be with you, and to make a way that you can be with Him.

This is the greatest love story that could ever be told. There was no hesitation from Jesus. Here we see the love of God so clearly. Jesus was saying to the serpent, “There will be warfare between you and me. I am going to become human, and you’re going to come against me just like you came against Adam and Eve. And yeah, you’re going to hurt me in the process. But I’m going to take away your authority, and I’m going to get my delight back.”

How many of you know it was not the Father who took on flesh? It wasn’t the Holy Spirit who took on flesh. It wasn’t some angel who took on flesh. It was Jesus. It was Jesus. I don’t know about you — I love my dog, but I don’t want to become one. Think about this: the Creator of all things became one of the created. The Creator of the universe became one of the created. He humbled Himself.

And you can hear that and think, well, He only became a human for 33 years. No, He became human forever. He is on the throne in bodily form with the wounds in His hands. And when you get to heaven and you see Him face to face, He will show you the wounds, and He’ll say, “I did this for you, because you are my delight. I’m not just going to send somebody else to do the job. I’m not just going to send some angels and have them mess up the devil, and then now we’re good. No, no, no — I’m coming for you.”

Can you see the love of God here? Can you see what He has done? Can you see what we are celebrating when it comes to this time of Christmas — that this is God with us?

You might hear all about this love of Jesus and think it kind of takes away from the love of the Father. But how many of you know it enhances the love of the Father? Because John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Let me put it in the context of what we’re talking about today: for God so loved you that He gave up His daily delight. Are we hearing this? This enhances the love of the Father, because He gave the most important thing for us.

Nothing can separate us

I’m going to close with this scripture, and I’m going to invite the worship team to come up. When we recognize this — listen, this is something we have to capture — it changes our posture. It changes how we approach the Lord. Because you realize I’m not just one piece of a million-piece, billion-piece puzzle — “Yeah, God loves me, but He doesn’t really love me.” How many of you know that’s not true?

God sees you. Jesus loves you, and you are His delight. And He wants nothing more than for people to hear the good news of what He has done, and to receive that gift of salvation that He has made available to them — to receive the gift of the forgiveness of sins, to turn the light back on on the inside, to remove compromise, to remove guilt, to remove shame. How many of you know that’s what Jesus came to pay for? To restore connection and fellowship with Him. Why? Because He loves you. You are His delight. You are the one that He looks forward to being with every day.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not very motivated by following just a reading plan and a daily devotional. But I am motivated by seeing Jesus. And that’s what we have an opportunity to do when we come into spaces like this, where we’re all together, where we all bring our part, where we all bring that renewed spirit and an understanding of who Jesus is. When we come into a place together like that and we say, “Jesus, we are all here because of you. We’re all here for you. Come and do what you want to do.” How many of you know that’s His dream? This is what He’s always wanted: to have a people who have been set apart for Him, who follow Him.

I’m closing with this scripture, Romans 8:35. Paul asks this question: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Notice, this isn’t just the love of God in general. Who shall separate us from the love of Jesus? “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We are more than conquerors through Jesus.

Verse 38 says: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What is this saying? It’s saying you are His delight. And there is nothing that He wouldn’t do to restore a relationship and fellowship with you. In fact, He’s already done it. He’s already made a way. Jesus came and took on human flesh to become one of us — to take the sin, to take the shame, to take the compromise, to take all of that upon the cross — that whoever would believe in Him and what He has done, that He has defeated the grave, that He has overcome death, whoever would receive that would have life and fellowship with Him forever.

You are His delight. Every day you are what Jesus looks forward to most. And some of you here maybe haven’t given Him a thought today. Maybe you haven’t given Him a thought for a week, or maybe you haven’t been thinking about Him for years. But I will tell you this: He thinks about you all the time. And He’s saying, “Will you respond to what I’ve already done?”

Many of you in here have received this life already, have received the salvation He’s made available. But you can’t tell me that hearing this — from the very beginning, what Jesus did — you aren’t compelled to say, “Jesus, I give you everything, because you gave everything for me.” You can’t tell me that the Holy Spirit isn’t speaking to hearts right now and restoring a renewed flame, a renewed vigor, a renewed fire on the inside that says, “I must be with Jesus.”

It doesn’t matter what trials or tribulations or circumstances I go through in life. It doesn’t matter what things may come against me. Why? Because nothing can separate me from Him. Nothing can separate me from the love of Jesus. There is no attack, there is no plan of the adversary — yes, He was hurt in the process, but all authority has been given to Him. He has overcome the devil. He has overcome the grave. And now my life is found in Him. Amen?

Are we receiving this today? Because this is Jesus looking straight at you: “You are my delight. You are my delight.” You are His delight. Jesus loves you.

Responding to His love

Can we stand together? I want us to respond to the love of Jesus today. Let’s bow our heads this morning.

I want us to respond to Jesus’s love today. Maybe in your heart there’s this resolve, and there’s this voice that is saying, “I must do something.” You need to know following Jesus looks like something. And there’s something on the inside that’s saying, “He gave everything to be with me, so I’m going to choose Jesus today and give my life to Him.” Maybe you’ve been disconnected. Maybe you’ve never known Him. Or maybe you just haven’t been thinking about Him or spending time with Him the way you want to.

But if you are here today and you’re saying, “Jesus, I am choosing to give my life to you today,” with every head bowed right now, can you just lift your hand and say, “I’m choosing Him today”?

I’m going to ask that we pray this together, and I’m going to ask that you repeat after me in a voice that’s loud enough for the person next to you to hear. We don’t need to yell. We don’t need to shout. But the Word says if you confess with your mouth — what does that mean? If we speak it — that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. In other words, you’re back in connection.

Repeat this prayer after me. Say: Father, thank you for loving me. Thank you that you love me so much that you sent your Son Jesus to come and die for me, to take away my sin and shame, that I might be with you forever. I confess my sins, and I receive forgiveness by the blood of Jesus. Wash me today. Cleanse me today. I receive the life that you’ve given me, and I choose to give my life to you from this day forward. I choose to be a follower of you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Amen. Can we just thank the Lord this morning? Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for what you’ve done.

Let me just pray this over you. Father, I thank you for the love of Jesus. I thank you for your love for us. We thank you, Lord, that you are revealing and explaining and speaking your love right where we are. Lord, I pray that every person here today would continue to open their heart to your extravagant love, and that you would continue to teach them, that you would continue to grow them. We thank you, Jesus, for your love — that you really, really do love us, no matter what we’ve done. You love us. Lord, help us to love you in return. Thank you, Lord.

I did mention it during that prayer: following Jesus looks like something. It doesn’t mean we just pray a prayer and go about our life. There is a change that happens. If you prayed that prayer for the first time, after our service I’m going to be right up here. If you could just come, I want to share with you a little bit about what it looks like to follow Jesus. Because we don’t want to leave here and then just get taken advantage of by the adversary. The thief comes immediately to steal the word that was sown, and I believe that everybody has heard a word from the Lord today. We don’t want to leave here the same. We don’t want to leave here taken advantage of. No, we want to receive the word, to keep it, to guard it. So if you are here and you want to know what it means to follow Jesus, I’d love to talk to you after today’s service.

But can we just welcome those who have become a part of the family of the Lord this morning?

God is good. He is good. He’s my favorite. My hope — I know this is something that the Lord is working on in me, but this is so precious — my hope is that we wouldn’t just go about our life the same, but that we would really, really continue to have our eyes open to the love of Jesus. That’s what we’re celebrating. Amen? It’s not just “Merry Christmas.” No, it’s Jesus is here. Jesus is here. He’s the reason we’re here. He’s the reason we come, and He’s the reason we go out. So let’s continue to follow Him. Let’s continue to walk with Him.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.