Love Series # 1

“Remember, God Loves You”

Fred Coulter - November 17, 1990

I’ve been debating on what should I entitle this sermon, and I think one title would be: “In spite of everything God loves you”, or “When all else fails remember God loves you”, or “In spite of all the trials and troubles you may be going through remember God loves you”. And all of those are too long and I’ll have to shorten it up for the sake of the labels, because to have a three line title just takes up too much time to do all the labels on the tapes.

Let’s begin with a survey of the world where we are. Let’s go to Matthew 24 and let’s understand what Jesus told us about the world. And it is a difficult place to live in, and I think that we are going to find that increasingly it’s going to be a far more difficult place to live in. Ok, now here in Matthew 24 it shows how tough the world is going to be. And of course verse 4 says, “…Take heed that no man deceive you.” And so right now for the next couple of months we’re going to be in the middle of defending the truth in the Bible because there are people out there deceiving others with their various false doctrines. Then it says there are going to be “…wars and rumors of wars…” That’s what the paper says exactly there. “Don’t be troubled because these things are going to come to pass, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famine, pestilence, earthquake in different places…” And they’re trying to predict the earthquakes now etc., etc. “These are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:4,6-8, paraphrased).

So the question is how can a Christian, living in sorrows, increase in faith? Or put it another way, when the whole stinking rotten world and everybody is against you, it seems, how do you get along in this world? Now you’ve felt that, I’ve felt that. I’ve gone through the whole thing of many different things, some of which I will discuss with you and some of which I won’t discuss with you. Because God doesn’t necessarily tell us that we have to share our whole lives with each other to the point that, and I think that becomes wrong, that everybody’s privy to everything in your life and then you start judging that person’s life, or their performance or whatever, and that’s not correct either.

So it gets really bad here. It says, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you:…”, that time’s coming. “…And ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” That time is already growing, and growing, and growing. “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another” (vs. 9-10). And another place it says the father’s going to betray the son, the son the father, the mother the daughter, the daughter the mother, the mother-in-law, and the foes (it’s back in Matthew 10:37) and the enemies that you’re going to face are those of your own household. That’s pretty tough when even those in your own household are your enemies. Now I’ve experienced that, too. And it’s difficult.

Alright, so what do we do now? Do we throw in the towel because it’s tough? Look, the church of Smyrna, they were destined to be killed, and yet God commended them because of their spiritual ability. So we need to really understand how we can hold on in times which are like this because they’re going to get more difficult. And I see somewhere down the road two years, three years, five years, when all of the international bankers, controlled by Satan the devil, are going to call the debt on the nation and we’re going to be bankrupt, and we will go down tubes just like the Soviet Union. That day is going to come. There is no getting around it. And we can’t run out and stop it and change it, and we can’t necessarily change our own particular situation so that we can necessarily survive in it. Ok. We have to trust in God and have faith. Then it says, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” So it’s an ongoing thing, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall [grow] wax cold.” And we’ve covered this before. How many times in our lifetime in the church have we read these scriptures, and have heard sermons based upon these? Many times. How many times, as a minister, have I done it? Many times. It says, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (vs. 11-13). Then it talks about the gospel being preached in all the world, then the end shall come.

So sometimes you feel like you’re kind of like this little old lonely cow stuck in the flood. You know, you’re out minding your own stupid business with all the other cows munching grass. And in the morning and the afternoon, between munching grass and being milked in the evening, you chew your cud three times a day, you lie down and everything is nice, and you chew your cud. And then everything, then, begins to be disturbed because here comes the rain. And now, there becomes the flood, and so you find higher, and higher, and higher, and higher ground. And sometimes you feel like this little old cow that was stuck out there when the flood came down in Texas. Sometimes you have flash floods, like down Texas. And wham, everything is wiped out. So here this cow, standing on this hunk (it was like this mound of dirt, you see), and here’s this cow right up on top of this looking around, dripping wet, soaking in the rain that is coming down. The water is rising higher and higher, and the water is running down in the stream eroding the dirt around you and you’re looking at all of this and you wonder, “When am I going into the drink?” Now there are going to be times when you feel exactly like that. I have felt that way, ok?

Let’s look at a couple scriptures here to help us out. Let’s go to Isaiah 41. So if we could say this: in spite of everything remember God loves you. And in spite of everything remember God is going to save you. Maybe not in the time or in the way that you necessarily feel that God should do it for you. But in a way and a time that God is going to do it the way that He is going to do it. Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee:…” Now let me read that again. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee:...” You can tie that right in with Hebrews 13 where God said, “I will not, no I will not ever forsake you or leave you.” And that’s an important thing to remember, because when you’re living in the sorrows of this world, and living in this world where iniquity is growing, abounding. And abounding means it’s multiplying, it’s increasing. And it sure is. So much that it’s almost incomprehensible for me to grasp how that so many people are so fed up with so many things in this world, but they come back to the trough again, like hogs addicted to alcoholic slop, and they just gobble it up. So remember, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed [or, don’t be discouraged]; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;…” God will help us regardless of the circumstances. And in order for the help to come it may get worse in the short run rather than better. “…Yea, I will uphold thee with [My right hand] the right hand of My righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish” (Isa. 41:10-11).

Now I’ve seen that. I’ve kept sort of a mental running tab on all of those that got after us when we had the separation with Biblical. And it’s a true thing that’s actually happening to them. They’re becoming ashamed and confounded, and buried in false doctrine, and deception. And the things that are taking place, and that’s just a natural occurrence, and for me to say that, is not for me to get up and brag and say, “God has done that to them because of what they did to me.” No God does that to everyone who does that to people who are trying to serve and love God in spite of their mistakes, you see. So you understand that. I remember when, going way back when, when Herbert Armstrong would get up there and say, “Yeah, and all those people that were against me they were struck down with cancer.” And he would rejoice in that. No, you don’t rejoice in that. You just say God is right, and God is true, and God will take care of it. But you don’t rejoice in their demise, you see, because it may happen to you. And God is very just that way. God says, “When you’re enemy is down and I’m dealing against your enemy, don’t stand there and rejoice.” Because God says even He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

“Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.” As if it never existed. “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (vs. 12-14). Now notice how low they got before they had the help. Felt like a worm, felt miserable. And I think if you let the peaceable fruits of righteousness work in you when those times come, that you’re going to find that God will help you, and you will find that God’s help will be better and greater in the long run when it comes.

Let’s go to Psalm 57, and this is a very good Psalm to go through. Many of these are. And he gives us what we need to do, how need to do it, and the approach that we need to have to God. You know, sometimes we’re fighting the battle so hard or we’re fighting something so hard ourselves, that we forget to stop and ask God to intervene for us. In other words, we worked at it so hard we’ve exhausted everything we can do and we haven’t asked God what He can do. And you know lots of times when we get to that point and we just say, “God, I’ve done everything I can do. You show me what to do.” Then you’re finally at right the point. That doesn’t necessarily mean that is the solution, but it may be the beginning of it.

Verse 1 of… No, it’s Psalm 56. Beg your pardon, Psalm 56 not 57. Psalm 57, put that in there too, because that follows right along with Psalm 56, but we can’t go through all them so let’s go here to Psalm 56. “Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.” I didn’t know they had freeways back then. [chuckle] I’m saying that in jest, but you know when you drive on these freeways you feel you’re oppressed by the time you get home. Ok. Or, like when I mentioned to you about that situation on that commission payment. By the time I got done talking to some of those stupid bureaucrats I felt oppressed, ok.

Verse 2, “Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O Thou most High. What time [or, in the time that] I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” Remember, when all else fails God loves you. “In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me” (vs. 2-4). Now I am sure, brethren, that these are some of the prophetic words of the thoughts of Jesus. When you put it in the context of what Jesus went through during His ministry, this is a word for word verbatim situation that Jesus went through. You know sometimes when we read the gospels, and so forth, we get inspired and we see what Jesus did and how He did it, and so forth. You know, the thought occurs sometimes that Jesus had everything nice and pleasant. No, He had it tough, and miserable, and wretched every day.

Verse 5 now, “Every day they wrest [or that is, twist] my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark [out] my steps, when they wait for my soul.” Yes, a tremendous prophecy of the thoughts of Jesus and what He had to go through. “Shall they escape by iniquity? in Thine anger cast down the people, O God. Thou [know] tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book? When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me” (vs. 5-9).      

Now let’s go to Psalm 58:1, “Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” And this is the generation we are dealing with. This is the thing we have to function in the world concerning. I mean, now they layout the statistics of those that are killed by gang wars in Los Angeles as if you’re just reading a recipe. It’s insane. Just yesterday a five-year old kid was out playing in the front yard, shot dead because of a gang war. I mean what can you do? So now they are actually selling bulletproof clothes to parents who live in those areas. Did you see that on TV? Selling bulletproof clothes for kids rather than stand up there and go after these people. You know the way Christ would do it, He would gun them down. They either put down their weapons and repent, and crawl in absolute humility and abject submission, or they’re dead. Wouldn’t put up with any of this nonsense going on because it’s just this way, as soon as they are born, because the world is so evil. And then it talks about how they are, “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD. Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces” (Psa. 58:1-7). And so God is going to take care of it, but in His time. And we are living in the age when God is going to store up all of this for the return of Christ, and the final judgment is going to come.

Now let’s go to Psalm 62, and this again gives us the kind of attitude and the kind of trust that we need with God, and where we need to put our heart and our mind. Psalm 62:1, “Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation.” Comes from God. “He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence;…” Because of that sometimes you may offend people in the world. There isn’t anything you can do to get around it. It’s like I explain about my little incursion with these people about the truth, you know. Should we teach our children the truth? Oh yes, you know the actual fact of the matter is people do not want the truth. They want to hear what they want to hear. They don’t want the truth. But in that you have to wait for God’s defense. “…I shall not be greatly moved. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.” And boy nothing could be further from the truth than that in today’s world. And human nature hasn’t changed, that’s the way it was back in David’s day too. “My soul, wait thou only upon God;…” I am going to underline only here because that’s the very key: it is only God. “…For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God” (Psa. 62:1-7).

Now let’s just mark down here Matthew 7, and let’s turn there and come back, because when it says that God is our Rock we know that’s talking of Christ. And that rock that followed them was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4. But here in Matthew 7, Jesus gives us an indication of what’s going to happen when God is our Rock. It doesn’t mean that everything is going to go smooth and nice and easy.

Now I saw, when was it, it was the other night I think they’ve run two nights this week, but it was on TBN, “Where Eagles Dare to Nest.” To fly, that was it, “Where Eagles Dare to Fly.” Very good movie. Very intriguing. But they had this huge cliff, and up on top of it was this fortress. The only way you could get in was through this, what do they call these, cable chairs or cars. Trams, ya they had the trams going up there. And when you think of a rock, too many times you think of something like that. That you’re up, you’re out of it and nothing’s going to bother you and you can control everything that comes to you and from you. But that’s not the way it’s described here in Matthew 7:24. It’s described a little differently. Verse 24, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth [does] them,…” Notice in the King James “doeth”, and that means “practices” them. “…I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:…” And we find back in Psalms here that the Lord, “He only is my rock.”

Now notice what happened, “…And the rain descended, and the floods came,…” And you didn’t have to be like that cow standing on that piece of dirt, watching it being washed away all around you wondering when you’re going to slide into the flood and die. “…The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:…” Now this is telling us what? That we’re going to go through trials, that is, like the rain beating down upon us, the flood coming after us, and who sends the flood? Satan. Revelation 12:15 says that Satan sent a flood after the woman, right? Ok, this shows Satanic activity in our lives. “…And the winds blew,…” Just like in Job, a whirlwind came and took them away. “…And beat upon that house;…” Now there are going to be times when the world around you feels like it’s beating on you, you know. I’ve felt that. I’ve felt that way. There are times when I just feel as though I’ve been beaten up by the things in the world, by the people in the world, by the circumstances in my life, by the difficulties in my own family, and by people that come to me with their problems. You feel like you’re beaten up. But, “…it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” So if you’re founded on that rock, which is Christ, remember when all else fails, God loves you. “And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and [does not practice them] doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:…”, just like that cow out there during the flood. “…And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (vs. 25-27).

Now let’s go back to Psalm 62:6. “He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” Now notice how to call upon that. Verse 8, “Trust in Him [when?] at all times;…” Not just when the going is good, or not just when the going is bad, but at all times. “…Ye people, pour out your heart before Him:…” So you have to take it to God in prayer. And there are times when He let’s you go through just downright misery. And don’t think it any strange thing. That can happen. But God is there, He will help you, He will hold your right hand. “…Pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.” Verse 9, then you look at the world and you see, “Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie:…” (Psa. 62:6-9). Oh, how true.

Try to help the homeless is a farce. Now those who are truly homeless and need help, that’s fine. Did you hear about what happened to this one family somewhere back in the Midwest? This family said, “Well, we’re homeless. We don’t have a job. We have no place to live, and our children are hungry, and suffering, and without clothes. So the whole town was just… It was in a small town, and they decided, “We’re going to help them these homeless people.” So they did. They got them a job, they got them social welfare assistance, they got food for them, they got them a place to live, they got clothing for their children, they put them in school, and it lasted two months. Until the social welfare ran out. And then he quit his job, and she quit her job, and they left town. So men of low degree are vanity. That’s true, we’re all vanity, all people.

Here let’s go to Psalm 39, quite a Psalm. Psalm 39:4, it says, “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” That was not in one of his more humble times, but getting there, ok. Don’t worry, your frail.

When I went down to L.A. I found out how frail and how quickly it can happen. In the motel I was staying in they had a tub with a shower, and then they have built in these nonskid things in the tub. And so I took a shower and I forgot to bring the shampoo. So I thought, well I’ll step out and get the shampoo, and Bam, just like that I slipped instantly. Didn’t have even a split-second to try and catch myself. And I [loud noise]… Sorry, I hit the microphone there. That was for sound effects. No, I’m just kidding. I landed on my shoulder, and my big toe of my left foot and the big toe of my right foot was just not quite well yet, it’s well now, and so it hit that big old heavy nozzle that comes out of wall real hard. So there I am, “ahhhh”, and it really hurt. And now I know why people can slip in showers and break their necks and drown, and all that sort of stuff, because it happens so fast you don’t have a ghost of a chance. Believe me, next time - rubber mat on the tub floor. Boy, believe me. And I’m going to take everything in with me, and I’m going to have a towel right there so if I have to do anything I can dry off what I need to dry off, and I’m going to make sure that I’m standing upright, and before I take the weight off of one foot I’m going to make sure that I have the other foot safely down.

But I didn’t notice it right at first, there was nothing wrong with my elbow. My toe swelled up and it was black and blue as can be, and then my shoulder got all black and blue and painful. Ah man, you know. And I knew at that point you’re frail, you’re stupid, you know, idiot. Did you ever do that? Talk to yourself like that? Yes. I looked in the mirror and said, “Oh, how dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb”, you know. I could have broken my neck, bashed out the side of my head, or anything, you see. And then kids get all upset when mothers say, “Watch out, be careful you don’t slip and fall Johnny.” And they get, ah man, ok - so much for that.

“…That I may know how frail I am.” Ok. You’re frail. We’ve all have had something happened to us that we know how frail we are somewhere along the line, right? Right. Ok. “Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth;…” Not too big a deal, right? “…And mine age is as nothing before Thee: verily [or, truly] every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.” And that means, meditate and think on that, folks. Verse 6, “Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches,…” Or, he heaps up. It’s not riches because that’s in italic. It means he swells himself up. Not heaps up riches. “…And knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish” (vs. 4-8). Ok, so when you get down and out and you feel like that, you feel you’ve had it, you know, don’t worry, God is there. He will help you.

Now let’s go to John 14, because I tell you what, we can only take so much of being beaten up. We can only take so much of being assaulted by Satan. We can only take so much of those kinds of things, and that’s why I finished the series down there in Los Angeles rather than coming back here. You can listen to the tapes on it. Because we can just go so long until we need some real good encouragement from God’s word. So let’s get the encouragement from God’s word and see how that help comes, and see how it’s going to be, and see and remember that when all else fails remember God loves you, and how much he loves you. That is, in spite of your weakness, in spite of your vanity, in spite of your own self deception, in spite of your sins, if I could put it that way without saying that you take advantage of grace, because that’s not what I’m intending. But God knows, ok. He didn’t call us because we were perfect, and he didn’t call us because we could become perfect by our own works, ok. That’s just the way it is. But here is what is important.

Let’s go to John 14:23. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him,…” You need to know even though the world hates you and though you feel like everybody on earth hates you, and maybe you feel your husband hates you, your wife hates you, all your kids hate you, remember God loves you, ok. You need to understand that. And I’ve gone through that too, ok. And anyone who says, you know… Have you ever had a good knockdown drag out fight with your wife, or your husband? Does that mean God has rejected you? No, it means you had a fight. God still loves you in spite of that, but maybe you’ve got some things you need to do, that’s all, ok. Does God allow you to have a knockdown drag out fight? Ya, He’ll allow you to have a knockdown drag out fight with your wife, or your kids, or whatever. Sometimes it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes because of your own stupidity and weakness or your own temper or whatever, I’ve experienced that.

Remember that if you love Christ and if you keep His words, the Father will love you. And His grace is great enough to see you through your difficulty. “…And We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He who is not loving Me is not keeping My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me” (vs. 23-24, paraphrased).

Now let’s go to John 16:27, “…For the Father Himself [is loving] loveth you,…”, on an ongoing active way. So regardless of what you have gone through, and there are a lot of people who listen to these sermon tapes, who feel as though that God doesn’t love them because they’ve been beaten up by a church, or beaten up by a minister, or they’ve gone through some terrible situations in their life. But remember when all else fails you, and people will fail you, because that’s the nature of human nature, ok. “…For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.”

Now those are really tremendous comforting scriptures. And these are the kind of scriptures that when you’re down, and you’re out, and you’re discouraged, that you can go pray to God and open up the Bible and claim these promises, and God can heal you, and God can help you, and God can work with you, and God can uplift you from it. Because I tell you one thing, if we’re going to share the same suffering that Jesus shared, which Paul said that he prayed for there in Philippians 3, that we are going to come to the very depths of despair too, in our own lives. You cannot but help but go through it. And so don’t feel as though that God has rejected you, or turned you aside, or cast you off, because He has not. The Father Himself loves you because you love Jesus. Now did God the Father love Jesus? Yes. He said, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” But what did Jesus go through? The very depths of despair, and every miserable rotten thing that possibly could be.

Alright, let’s come on down here to verse 32. “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered,…” Now maybe that will help answer the question that so many people ask: “Why are they are so many little groups?” God said there would be, that’s why. “…Every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” And of course that happened that very night. The very disciples that stood up and said, “Yes Lord, this won’t happen to you.” Peter denied Jesus directly three times, and even swore and cursed. But yet what did He tell Peter? He said, “Peter, Satan has asked for you, but I have prayed for you that your faith be strengthen.” Did He reject Peter? No. How did Peter feel? Miserable. Ok. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (vs. 32-33).

Ok, let’s go to 1 John 3:1. Remember, when all else fails, which it will, God still loves you. Verse 1, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:…” Remember that. You get discouraged and down, you turn to 1 John 3:1 and read it, and pray about it, and do it on your knees. “…Therefore the world knoweth us not,…” The world doesn’t understand us. Doesn’t understand us. Why? Because it didn’t know or understand Christ. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1-2). And there’s nothing that can replace that. If you have that buried in your heart and mind, and let it burn in your soul, there is nothing that can take that away from you. They can destroy you, they can kill you, they can do anything whatever that happens to you, and they can’t take that from you.

Did you hear what all the homosexuals and the… Remember I read that report about the pagans going against the Evangelical rally over there in San Francisco? You know what the homosexuals and pagans said? They said, “Bring on the lions, open the Coliseum. They need to be fed to the lions.” You don’t think that attitude is there? Ho, ho, ho, ho, yes it is. But I’ll tell you one thing, if you have this buried in your heart and mind no one…