0:00:00.625,0:00:05.380 Why did God choose you? 0:00:05.380,0:00:07.943 Why did God call you? 0:00:07.943,0:00:10.233 Why are you His inheritance? 0:00:10.233,0:00:14.632 Why is He towards you [br]with His great power? 0:00:14.632,0:00:20.182 Because He loves you. 0:00:20.182,0:00:28.348 It was God's love that set [br]this whole thing in motion. 0:00:28.348,0:00:32.083 Why does He bring us to Himself 0:00:32.083,0:00:35.881 to be with Him forever and to [br]know Him more and more? 0:00:35.881,0:00:40.781 Because He loves us. 0:00:40.781,0:00:44.099 Why is He with us and never leaving us? 0:00:44.099,0:00:47.699 And at work in us today? 0:00:47.699,0:00:52.415 Because He loves us. 0:00:52.415,0:00:55.599 He wants us to be experientially knowing 0:00:55.599,0:00:58.857 the breadth and length [br]and height and depth 0:00:58.857,0:01:00.415 and to know the love of Christ 0:01:00.415,0:01:04.695 and be filled with the fullness of God. 0:01:04.695,0:01:06.416 Let's ask the next question 0:01:06.416,0:01:10.199 that this stirs in our hearts. 0:01:10.199,0:01:14.113 Why does He love us? 0:01:14.113,0:01:16.181 Why would He love us? 0:01:16.181,0:01:17.633 Let's make it very personal 0:01:17.633,0:01:19.365 because this is very personal. 0:01:19.365,0:01:22.399 God saves individual people. 0:01:22.399,0:01:26.097 Why does He love me? 0:01:26.097,0:01:30.332 I'm a mess. 0:01:30.332,0:01:35.697 I'm not a good inheritance. 0:01:35.697,0:01:38.883 Why does God love me? 0:01:38.883,0:01:41.483 You know what the Bible says? 0:01:41.483,0:01:44.315 "I love you because I love you." 0:01:44.315,0:01:48.533 "That's why I love you." 0:01:48.533,0:01:51.299 "I love you because I love you." 0:01:51.299,0:01:52.898 And beloved, I'll tell you this, 0:01:52.898,0:01:55.299 you need to be very careful here 0:01:55.299,0:01:57.233 that you don't do what I struggle with 0:01:57.233,0:01:59.948 and that is we must be careful 0:01:59.948,0:02:02.033 not to attribute to God 0:02:02.033,0:02:05.249 our experience of what we call love 0:02:05.249,0:02:07.149 in our relationships here on earth 0:02:07.149,0:02:10.648 and attribute that up to [br]God and call that love. 0:02:10.648,0:02:12.366 Because nearly everything 0:02:12.366,0:02:14.213 you and I experience on earth 0:02:14.213,0:02:15.815 in the name of love 0:02:15.815,0:02:20.952 is performance based. 0:02:20.952,0:02:23.444 In other words, the reason on earth 0:02:23.444,0:02:25.575 even within this circle - 0:02:25.575,0:02:27.448 because we're still growing in this - 0:02:27.448,0:02:29.448 the reason on earth people love 0:02:29.448,0:02:31.599 is because there's something loveable 0:02:31.599,0:02:38.355 in the object that's being loved. 0:02:38.355,0:02:41.682 Even in relationship, you've seen 0:02:41.682,0:02:45.301 the struggles that we have [br]in our churches, right? 0:02:45.301,0:02:46.445 Oh, we love each other, 0:02:46.445,0:02:48.654 and then something happens [br]and we're offended. 0:02:48.654,0:02:49.619 You know what? 0:02:49.619,0:02:54.197 Hmm, I don't love you so [br]much anymore sometimes. 0:02:54.197,0:02:56.736 We can't take our definition [br]and experience of love 0:02:56.736,0:02:57.872 and attribute it to God 0:02:57.872,0:02:59.631 and then begin to ask the questions: 0:02:59.631,0:03:00.899 Why do You love me? 0:03:00.899,0:03:04.065 Because you know what you're [br]going to turn into then? 0:03:04.065,0:03:06.266 You're going to get on the treadmill. 0:03:06.266,0:03:08.315 You're going to start running really hard 0:03:08.315,0:03:10.034 because you're trying to earn 0:03:10.034,0:03:13.648 what has freely been given. 0:03:13.648,0:03:15.731 We don't earn the love of God. 0:03:15.731,0:03:18.299 It is freely set upon you. 0:03:18.299,0:03:20.849 God Himself is love. 0:03:20.849,0:03:22.267 And He takes that love - 0:03:22.267,0:03:23.766 and this is what's so amazing - 0:03:23.766,0:03:26.431 He sets it upon individual people. 0:03:26.431,0:03:28.883 And from there, He preknows them, 0:03:28.883,0:03:29.980 foreknows them 0:03:29.980,0:03:32.131 and then predestines them 0:03:32.131,0:03:33.300 and then redeems them 0:03:33.300,0:03:36.333 and then calls them. 0:03:36.333,0:03:38.216 And what's the end of that? 0:03:38.216,0:03:42.783 Because He wants us to know Him. 0:03:42.783,0:03:44.494 That's why. 0:03:44.494,0:03:45.847 When you love someone, 0:03:45.847,0:03:48.112 you want the very best thing for them. 0:03:48.112,0:03:49.582 And I want you to know this: 0:03:49.582,0:03:54.066 The very best thing is God Himself. 0:03:54.066,0:03:57.514 It's not what God can give me. 0:03:57.514,0:04:04.547 It's God giving of Himself to you. 0:04:04.547,0:04:12.098 God's love for you is not [br]performance based. 0:04:12.098,0:04:16.531 I love foreknowing being in eternity past. 0:04:16.531,0:04:18.513 I love that. 0:04:18.513,0:04:20.094 You know why? 0:04:20.094,0:04:23.877 Because it was before I had [br]done anything good or evil. 0:04:23.877,0:04:28.444 "This one I love." 0:04:28.444,0:04:30.958 Why I love that is because I've done 0:04:30.958,0:04:35.810 so much evil 0:04:35.810,0:04:38.344 and Christ redeemed me from it all. 0:04:38.344,0:04:43.095 And when I still as a born [br]again Christian struggle 0:04:43.095,0:04:47.445 God does not remove His love from me. 0:04:47.445,0:04:50.411 It was never set upon me [br]based on my performance 0:04:50.411,0:04:53.510 and it never diminishes [br]based on my performance. 0:04:53.510,0:04:55.879 It's always at its peak 0:04:55.879,0:04:58.661 which is perfection. 0:04:58.661,0:05:01.126 And it's what started all of this. 0:05:01.126,0:05:03.762 And it's what will carry [br]all of this to the end. 0:05:03.762,0:05:06.645 And it's why He is drawing us to Himself 0:05:06.645,0:05:09.196 because He wants us to know Him - 0:05:09.196,0:05:13.864 this God of love. 0:05:13.864,0:05:16.412 This excerpt was taken [br]from the full sermon: 0:05:16.412,0:05:18.313 "Knowing the God of the Doctrine" 0:05:18.313,0:05:20.228 by Jesse Barrington 0:05:20.228,0:05:23.712 from the 2021 Fellowship Conference.