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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Let's continue today talking about this conversation with Nicodemus and Jesus in John chapter 3. And the title of my message is, what kind of love is God's love?0:12 What kind of love is God's love? There's 1 thing that the world loves, and that's love. You don't even have to be a Christian to love love. Yep. A lot of people are searching0:24 for love in all the wrong places. And we sing about love a lot in our country, in our culture. Again, even0:36 non Christians sing about it endlessly as if love is this secret path to happiness. We have a whole day devoted to love. We just had it. What is it called? Valentine's0:47 Day. Valentine's Day named for a third century priest in the church who married people in secret and against the edict of the emperor at the0:59 time and for his efforts and because he disobeyed the emperor, Saint Valentina's was bludgeoned and decapitated. Yeah. Just remember that the next time1:11 you're munching on your Russell Stouffer's. Things that don't make it into the Hallmark card. Honey, I'm so in love with you. I've lost my head.1:25 Terrible joke, I know. Let's do a little game show moment here, at church. I feel like having a little bit of fun, but we have a lot of songs about love. I'm gonna sing the song for you. I'm1:37 gonna bring up my inner American idol, and you tell me who wrote it or sang it. Wrote it or sang it. All you need is love. Love. That was the easy 1. Beatles. Yes.1:48 You're nobody till somebody loves you. Dean Martin, but not written by him. Written by? Ross Morgan.2:00 Okay. Just in case you're watching Jeopardy someday. Your love keeps lifting me higher than I've ever been lifted before. Well, that was terribly done,2:12 but because your love lifted me higher than I've ever been lifted. Jackie Wilson. Okay. I I maybe I butchered that2:24 1. I can't help falling in love. There you go. Elvis. I wanna know what love is.2:37 Foreigner. Foreigner. Very good. All the eighties children in the house. When we're hungry, love will keep us alive. The eagles. The2:49 eagles. Oh, the first service to get it. Finally. Must be the boomer service. Okay. And let3:01 me finish. Will is love you. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sung by? Written by?3:14 No. And sung by Dolly Parton. How about for all the Gen Zers? We find a love in a hopeless place. We find a love in a hopeless place.3:29 Yes. In honor of her Super Bowl appearance. Oh, yeah. The world loves love. I mean, people love love. Here here's the thing. The cry for love is universal.3:41 And when Jesus is talking about God and and salvation and being born again with Nicodemus, this scholar, this intellectual, he turns the conversation to love in John 33:52 16. It's 1 of the most famous passages in all the Bible. And we're gonna talk about what that all means in just a moment. But let's stand for the reading of God's word at this location. Let's honor God by standing for4:04 the reading of his word. Verse 11 of John 3, just picking back up with Nicodemus and Jesus. Nicodemus is done talking. Jesus does the rest of the talking. Here's what it says. Verse 11. Truly, truly, I say to you, we4:15 speak of what we know. We bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I've told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No 1 has4:24 ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so somebody say so. So the son of man must be4:36 lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so just make a little mental note. So in the verse 15 or 14, and then so again4:48 in verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that through4:58 him, the world might be saved. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The5:09 light has come into the world. But men love darkness rather than the light, lest they, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come5:21 into the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. And this is God's word. Let's pray together5:33 and ask him to bless our time. Father in heaven, thank you for the chance to say time out to life, time out to our schedules, to open5:44 the Bible, to hear your word, and to receive it. I pray that every ear is open. Every heart is receptive. Every eye sees5:56 Jesus. Him and him only. In his mighty name, pray. Everybody say, amen. God bless you. Have a seat. Yes. Our cry for love is universal. Love tells you that6:08 you're worth something. Love tells you that you matter. Love tells you that people think well of you or in relationship. In Christ, we are perfectly6:20 loved. And the heart of the gospel is the demonstration of God's love for you. And you need to get a6:32 hold of God's love. Like this verse, John 3 16 is the most well known, quoted, most most memorized verse in the Bible. And what's the center of the6:44 story? What's the center of the verse? That that that God loved and he gave. God loved and he gave. That love is active. Love is demonstrable. Love is6:55 visible in the giving of God's son. How did God love you? He gave you Jesus. He gave Jesus to you. And in fact, when you love someone, that's what you're really looking for. You're looking for someone in7:07 your life. You That's what love is. That's why people get married. They want someone in their life. Love is to be Embrace love is to embrace a7:19 relationship, a community cooperation with someone else. God loved you and gave you him. That's what you're looking for, by the way, in love. That's what you're looking for in God.7:31 And I would say this very, very firmly. Be careful that you make sure that you base your life on the love of God, lest you search this world7:43 for all kinds of bad loves. I have learned in my 40 plus years of life that people are fickle. They'll change their minds7:55 about you. You'll maybe change your mind about them. Don't base your love on the wrong person or the wrong sort of your life on the wrong person, the wrong source of love. Whose love are you living8:07 for? Whose love? Some people they're living for the love of their parents, a father or a mother. They're living for the love of a spouse, living for the love of a child, or even worse,8:19 they're living for the love of strangers. That's what our social media generation is all about. That's why kids are so anxious, so depressed, so so wrapped up in self image issues because they've got they've got a8:31 world of strangers to try to impress, and and they try whatever it is to do it, and they don't get enough of it because there's no amount of human love that can equal the infinite amount of God's8:42 eternal love. And I would say again, make sure you find your worth in the love of God. Has you have you ever been to the grocery store hungry?8:56 That's like rule number 1 when you go grocery shopping. Have a snack before you show up. You will end up with ridiculous foods in your pantry. You go to the pantry 1 day.9:08 When did I buy ranch flavored chickpeas? What was I thinking? You know what I'm talking about? That's what people are doing, though, in their emotional life, looking for the9:20 love that only God can give them. I want you to write this down so I know you're getting it. Our need for love is a hidden desire for God. Our need for someone to value us,9:31 celebrate us, think well of us, emotionally provide for us, that's really just a hidden desire for God. God made us in his image, and here's what the scripture says in 1 John 4 8,9:43 God is love. Now I have no problem with you loving other people and people loving you. And that should be absolutely part of your life. That's what the church is for. We're made to love 1 another. But we can't fully love9:55 1 another if we're constantly needing love from 1 another. Our hearts, the scripture says, need the love of God shed in our hearts through the Holy Spirit so that we have a fullness10:07 of love to give to others. So let's talk about this love that Jesus talks about with Nicodemus. And how does Jesus describe God's love for us? Write this down if you're taking notes. Number 1, what kind of love is God's10:18 love? God's love is a self giving love. That's what Jesus does in giving us his body, giving us himself. Emmanuel, God with us. He is10:30 loving us by coming toward us, coming to us, and giving himself for us. The greatest verse in the Bible, John 3 16, the subject is God, the object is the world,10:42 and the verb is gave. Gave. He gave. And that's what love is. Love is giving. Married people, love is giving. And and10:54 and this is important for us to understand because what our world does is it defines God according to love, but we must define love according to God. Let me explain.11:06 God is love. We believe that. Yes. That's in the Bible. I just showed you that. But listen. Love is not God. Write that down in your notes. There's no no no place to fill in the blanks,11:18 but it's this important qualifier. Love is not God. What do I mean? I mean, you cannot define God according to how you feel about love. Another ridiculous thing that the world says is love is love.11:31 What a moronic statement. That doesn't mean anything. I know it sounds it sounds cute or whatever. But no, love must be defined, and11:43 it can't be defined by itself. God is love. Love is measured by who God is. God is not measured by what you think love is. This is11:55 imperative for you to understand because love must not be about what you're taking. Love is about what you're giving because that's how God demonstrates his love for12:07 us. Now let me take you to the text because I'm so excited to share a little commentary about 1 little word in John 3 16 that we skip over and we misinterpret all the time. I'll tell you which12:19 word it is. For God So. So. If you got your notes out, circle so. So loved the world. Let me tell you how we interpret that. We say it like this. Oh, god so12:32 loved us. I've heard preachers say, god is madly in love with you. That's defining god according to your version of love. No. God is not madly in love with12:44 you. God is not some forlorn, scorned lover in heaven really upset that you didn't call this week. He is God.12:56 He is perfectly self sufficient in himself, and I've got good and somewhat hard news for some of you to hear. God does not need you.13:08 He is fully self sufficient in himself, and you want a God like that because a God that needs you is a desperate God. A God that needs you can't get the job done to make you who you are and who you need to be.13:21 But our God in heaven is all sufficient. The only all sufficient 1, whoever was, and his all sufficiency fills our lives with who he is and makes our lives sufficient in him.13:34 It's going to the grocery store on a full stomach. Now I can approach all the things that life offers me with balance, knowing that I am loved by him13:45 fully and finally. No. The word so is not God love you so much as if you were cute or attractive or brought something to the table. No. No. No. The word so is in13:57 the Greek. It means thus. It can be translated thus. In fact, I wish that the Bible writers had had had written thus, but the reason why is because former generations were not nearly as14:09 emotionally hung up as this 1. And so they translated it as so because so is this is how you this is how. This is how God loved the world.14:21 God for God thus, God loved the world this way. It's not a it's not a quantitative love. It is a qualitative love. Amen.14:32 Got it? Let's let's back up to where John uses that word. So in Jesus' words, in verse 14, And as Moses, what, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,14:44 so in other words, thus, this is how. This is how the son of man must be lifted up because this is how God has chosen to love the world. Is this important?14:55 Yes. Fundamentally important so that you understand what the gospel is and what it is not. The gospel is not that God was hopelessly, you know, in love with you and he desperate for company in heaven, and so he saved15:07 you. No. No. God demonstrates love. That's what we do when we love. We demonstrate in activity. Ladies, how did your man do on15:19 Valentine's Day? No applause. No celebration. This we need a marriage conference. Yeah.15:33 It's coming soon. Trust me. But love is demonstrated, and this is what Jesus says. Here's the demonstration. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the what is he talking about? He's talking15:44 about numbers 21. Numbers 21, the Israelites have been wandering around the wilderness for 40 years. They're getting close to the promised land. They're getting close to the end of their wandering. And they've gotta15:56 go, through a section of land that is owned by the Edomites, the the sons of Esau. And, God says to them, you can't attack them because they're your brothers. So16:08 if they don't give you permission to go through, you gotta go around. They've been wandering for 40 years in the wilderness, and now they gotta go around. Because Edom says, no, you can't come through. So they have to go16:17 around at the backtrack. How many know after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, backtracking would be a real bummer? They're gonna backtrack and go around. They start complaining. Numbers chapter 21 says it like16:27 this. The people spoke against God, verse 5, and against Moses. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no food. There's no water. And we loathe. Look what he say. Look what he say. This16:37 worthless food. What food? The food that God had been miraculously giving them every morning. The manna from heaven. And it's amazing how it was the thing that they asked for earlier, and now they hate16:49 it today. Isn't that kind of the human condition? We ask for something in 1 season, God gives it to us, and we end up hating it in another season. Oh, you prayed for that17:01 husband, didn't you? You did. You prayed for him, and God gave him. And now you hate him. Be careful of that.17:13 Oh, you prayed for those children, and God gave them to you. You prayed for that job, and God gave it to you. Now you're cursing everybody at the job. This is what the Israel the Israelites are exhibiting who we17:25 are. That's why their stories are so familiar to us. So the scripture says that God sends serpents. Verse 6, the Lord sent serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of them died.17:37 And immediately, they repent. They're like, oh, we messed up again. So they say, Moses, help us. We're dying here. And scripture says this, so the Lord spoke to Moses in verse 8. Make a fiery17:49 serpent and set it on a pole. And everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look. Somebody say, look Look. At the bronze18:00 serpent and live. Okay. My first question when I hear that story is very simple. What the heck? What a18:12 weird story. Amen? It's okay to admit that sometimes the bible's weird. God could have solved this problem any number of ways.18:25 Here's an antidote from heaven. Drink it. Here's some different food. There you go. Let's let's give you a vaccine.18:37 He doesn't. Thank God. Amen. But but but but this serpent bronze pole look is not a story I would write. If this story was part18:49 of my history, I wouldn't tell you this story. This is why I believe the Bible is inspired by God because the weirdest stories got published. Yeah. So I could tell you19:01 a couple things like the typology of the story because the story is the story that Jesus uses to point to himself. The Old Testament is about Jesus. The Old Testament is preparing us to see19:12 Jesus fulfill the stories and the types of the Old Testament stories. Yeah. So I could tell you, Moses lifts up the pole. Moses is a representative of the law.19:25 The law was broken. They rebelled and spoke against Moses. So Moses lifts up the pole. A pole is a symbol of authority.19:38 And the bronze serpent, bronze is a symbol of God's righteous judgment. And the serpent is a symbol of the curse of sin. The serpent tempted the woman, and she led the man into19:50 sin. So all these types are coming true in this 1 moment that the law is broken, but there's 1 who has authority, who bears the judgment on the pole for us breaking the law, and20:01 removes the sting of sin from within our souls. That is what Jesus has done for us. And then the simple solution to our sin problem is what? Look.20:14 Look to what God has provided in the cross of Jesus Christ. He washes away our sins because he bore our sins on the cross. Understand20:26 the gospel is that Jesus paid for your sins. And you are saved. Not because you20:38 feel the love of God. Not because God is hopelessly romantically in love with you. You are saved because you see your20:49 sin on him at the cross. That's the gospel. And the simplest thing we can do is21:01 look. That's it. Look. I love the fact that Jesus went to this story because he could have picked a bunch of other stories on how we get saved from the Old Testament. He could have said, here's how I get saved. You gotta21:11 be like Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. And you gotta go through the fiery furnace and stand for me, and then you'll be saved. How many of you are glad that that was not the requirement to get saved? He could have been21:20 like, this is what you gotta do. Remember the story of Jericho marching around the city 7 times and on the on the seventh day, 7 times more, and then blowing a trumpet and shouting? How many of you are glad for your21:30 neighbor's sake that God doesn't make you do that to get saved? What is John doing? He's a crazy man walking around his house shouting, blowing trumpets. I'm so glad that this is a story that21:42 Jesus picked because this story shows us that the work of our salvation is fully accomplished, not in us, but in Jesus. Amen. Come on, man. Charles Spurgeon, probably the greatest preacher of the 1821:54 hundreds from London, talked about how it was just the look, the look to Christ that changed his life. As a young man looking for salvation in the middle of a22:06 snowstorm in London in the 18 hundreds, the only church that was open was a little ancient Methodist church. 15 people showed up that day. 15 people. Never discount the number of people that show up at church. You never22:18 know who's there. Charles Hayden show Spurgeon shows up. The preacher's not even there because of the snowstorm. So they ask a tailor, a layman, some 1 of you gets up22:30 and starts preaching. Here's how Charles Spurgeon tells the story of his salvation moment. He says, now it is well that preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to22:41 his text for the simple reason that he had little else to say. And the text was, look unto me. Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Isaiah 45 22. He did not even pronounce the words rightly,22:54 but that did not matter. This is a very simple text indeed. It says, look. Now look and don't take a deal deal of pain. It ain't lifting your foot or your finger. It's just a look. Well, a man needn't go to college to23:05 learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth 1000 a year to look. Anyone can look. Even a child can look. That's the simplicity of the gospel. And it's23:17 simple, but it's tremendously deep as you unpack its realities for the rest of your life. Number 2, what kind of God what kind of love is God's love? Number 2, God's love is a wide23:28 open love. It's a wide open love. Now in our country right now, we're filled with our little tribalism. Or this group hates that group.23:41 Or our group is different than that group because. And we separate and divide on all kinds of issues. Here here's the love of God. It's wide open to anybody. It's wide open to any God loves the people that you23:53 don't love. And salvation is offered to the people that you wouldn't like to be saved. Be careful being a hateful person. Be careful of of not loving the people of24:04 God when they're different than you. God might play a a cruel joke on you and put your mansion next to their mansion in heaven. Talk about an awkward trip to the mailbox every morning. Oh, boy.24:17 I didn't like you on Earth. I'm not so sure I like you in heaven. But God's love is wide open. That's what Jesus says from verse 15 to 18. Whoever believes in him has eternal life. Verse24:29 16, whoever believes in him. Verse 18, whoever believes is not condemned. The word whoever, underline it. Whoever, whoever, whoever. Here's why it's a whoever24:40 opportunity. Because His love for you is not based on you. It's based on him. This is what God says to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 7. When he says, I I24:52 saved you out of Egypt. Why? Look what he says. It was not because you. It was not because you were all that great or you were more in number than all the other nations. In fact, you were very small.25:05 It's because the Lord set his love on you. He set his love on you. And he is fulfilling his oath to his father to your fathers that he will bring you out of the house of slavery and25:16 out from under the hand of Pharaoh. Write this down so I know you're getting it. God does not love me because of me. He loves me because of who he is. You say, how does that help me?25:28 Here's here's why it helps. Because some weeks, you're not very lovable. And God's love is not dependent on you being lovable.25:40 That's the good news. You have off weeks. God never does. If you've gotta earn God's love, you got no shot. Because whatever amount you25:52 earned today, I guarantee will be gone by 12 PM, Monday. That's how we are. We're fickle. We're back and forth. God is eternal. He never changes. He's the26:04 same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. And the opportunity of salvation is for everybody. What does first Timothy 2 4 say? God desires26:16 all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Some of you are here for the first time. You have no Christian history. No church background. You're wondering what you're doing here.26:28 You're wondering what does God want with you. Here's what he wants. He wants you to be saved. He wants to know you. He wants to bring you home to him. Second Peter three:nine, the Lord is not slow in fulfilling his26:38 promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Some of you came to church, you're like, I just know that God is mad with me. I26:49 know that God is disappointed with me. I know I don't no. No. No. No. What does the Bible say, friend? He doesn't want that for you. He wants you to be saved. He wants you to be redeemed. He wants you to bring a home27:00 to himself. It's a wide open love. Number 3, what kind of love is God's love? God's love is a forgiving love. It's a forgiving love. Now at the heart of the matter27:13 of your standing before God is your need for forgiveness. And forgiveness sets you free. That's what the word forgive in Greek means. It means to release the prisoner. You let them27:25 go. And that's who you were. You were a prisoner if you're a Christian. You were a prisoner, but God let you go. He set you free from the slavery of sin and the slavery of guilt and27:37 condemnation. Here's what Jesus says in John chapter 3 17. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Now, that word condemned, it27:48 means judged, made guilty, declared guilty. I am so glad that Jesus didn't come to make us feel guilty. And you know why? Because verse28:00 18 tells us why. We already are guilty. Look at verse 18. It says this, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe28:12 is condemned already. In other words, the natural state of man is a feeling of guilt. That's what we're born with.28:24 We're born feeling inadequate. We're born feeling shame. We're born feeling like we deserve punishment for something. That's why we do a whole bunch of things good to make up for it. And ultimately, that28:36 inward shame and guilt causes us to condemn others. This is why we point the fingers. This is why our country and our culture is so filled with hate, this group28:47 versus that group. And the more we feel condemned in our own sins, the more we label other people. Because by labeling other people's sins, we don't feel so bad about ours. That's what it is.29:00 And and and no politician can fix this. No law can write this because the problem is not the laws of the land. The problem is the condition of our heart. Yep. Come on now. And what Jesus29:12 comes to do is remove that condemnation so that you can be a forgiving person knowing you've received his forgiveness. Look it. Write this down. Condemn people condemn people. But forgiven29:24 people forgive people. Are you the kind of person you look at other people, you're always judging, judging, judging. It might be because you've never embraced the total forgiveness that God has for you29:36 in Christ. He wants to do that in your heart so that you are a forgiving person to everybody around you. John chapter 8 talks about the woman brought to Jesus caught in the act of adultery. What a29:47 shameful thing. What a what an embarrassing moment. Here she is half naked standing in front of all the leaders of the Jews and Jesus. And they come in with a trap. They say, Jesus, Moses says stone29:59 her. What do you say? They're trying to trap him. And what does he say? Famous line in scripture. Let him who is without sin but cast the first stone. And I love what John says in30:11 verse 9 of that chapter. It says this, when they heard it, they went away 1 by 1. Beginning with who? The older what? The older ones go first. You ever think about30:23 that? You know why? Because the only difference between a young sinner and an older sinner is the amount of sin they've committed. That's it. That's all it takes. It just takes more time to be a30:35 greater sinner. And they suddenly realize, I don't fit that bill. Drop the stone. And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. And he stood up and said to her, woman, where are they? Has no 130:46 condemned you? And she said, no 1, Lord. And what does he say? Neither do I condemn you. The 1 who could have condemned forgave her and let her go.30:59 With the qualifier though, sin no more. Yeah. Yeah. It's not easy believe ism. It's not you're checking in on Sunday so that you can send Monday through Saturday.31:11 It's forgiveness so that your heart is changed and you obey God from the heart. Yes. You're gonna screw up. Yes. You're gonna make mistakes. But yes, God's grace is enough to not just save you and forgive you, but to31:22 change you. That's the love of God, a forgiving love. And number 4, God's love is a worth living for love. Worth31:34 living for. Once you get a hold of this love, there's nothing else in this life that measures up to it. It's a love that sets you free to be who God wants you to be.31:47 John describes the reason why people reject it. Look what it says in verse 19. This is the judgment. The light is coming to the world. And people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For31:59 everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed. At the end of the day, here's the reality. Here's the problem with the human heart.32:12 It is not that people do not have enough evidence that there is a God. It is that they love their sin. They love doing what they do. This is32:24 why salvation is a work of God wherein the Holy Spirit changes our heart and causes us to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves. That's salvation. My32:36 heart's been changed, and my life changes as a result. But people hide from God, run from God because they want to, because they don't wanna be exposed. The the the atheist32:47 professor of so many other many notable institutions in our country, Thomas Nagel, he wrote in his book, The Last Word. He said this, I want atheism to be true. I'm made uneasy by the fact that some of32:59 the most well known and scholarly people that I know are religious believers. He says, I hope there is no God. I don't want there to be a God. I don't want the universe to be like that. What is that? That's a man33:11 who loves his sin and runs from God. It's not that there's not enough evidence. It's that sin holds this human heart captive. But John doesn't leave33:23 us there. I love this. Verse 21, John goes, but whoever does what is what? True. Underline true because he doesn't say whatever whoever does what is good or good enough, whatever is true comes to the light33:35 that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God or in God. What is Jesus what is John saying? Whoever does what is true. What does it mean to do what is true? Here's what it means.33:47 You align with the truth of God in your life. Number 1, you admit you're a sinner. Number 2, you admit that Jesus paid for your sin. And number 3,33:59 you surrender your life and declare that God is right and you are wrong. That's repentance. When it comes to your opinion about scripture, when it comes to your opinion about this book, here's the deal. If34:11 your opinion conflicts with what's in this book, pro tip, change your opinion. God is true. He's righteous. That's what it means to do what is true.34:24 And I feel like I need to tell somebody today that it's time for you to lay down your weapons and your hostility against this God because he laid down his life for you. Amen. Amen. 1 of34:36 the most tragic stories of the second World War. I know there were many, but this 1 is kind of a tongue in cheek strad tragedy. It's about second lieutenant in the Japanese imperial army,34:48 Hiro Unara. Hiro Unara. He was stationed in the Philippine island of Lubang at the close of the war, and his job was to stop the US front in the35:00 Pacific. And he accepted his mission for what it was, a suicide mission. So he was standing in February of that year, the American army troops came in and stormed the island, and35:12 he and 3 of his companions ran up into the mountains of Lubang Island and hid out. 8 months later, the bombs were dropped in Japan, and a few weeks later after that, the treaty was35:23 signed, and the war was over. But for Hiro Oneida and his compatriots, they had no idea that the war was over. The US army and the Japanese35:35 army flew over Lubang Island dropping leaflets to all the soldiers who might have been stranded, declaring that the war was over. Hiro Unada would not believe it. And he stayed fighting up in those woods35:47 hiding out and foraging for food for 5 years. 5 years. After 5 years, the Philippine Island flies airplanes across the island, the Philippine35:58 government, and they drop more leaflets. The war is over. Come home. Go home. Hero doesn't believe them either. 2 more years go by. 5 more years go by. 7 more36:10 10 more years go by. Hiro Anata was on that island rejecting every message that the war was over for 27 years. And in 19 72, a young36:22 man, an adventurer from Japan said he would be the guy who would finally talk Hiro Onada off that island. His name was Nortio Suzuki. He got on the island with 1 plan. He was36:34 gonna walk around the jungle and scream Hiro's name and tell him that the emperor of Japan was worried about him. He found Hiro in 4 days. And when asked why Hiro stayed on that island36:46 and fought all those years and refused to believe all those messages, he said, the original message that I heard in my life was simple. Do not surrender under any circumstances. And I believed it and lived36:58 it. And he lost 3 decades of life fighting a war that had been won 30 years earlier. And I37:10 wonder who needs to hear me did I tell you? You've gotta stop fighting the war with God. That war was won 2000 years37:21 ago at the cross. God finished it and paid for it and opened the door for you to come home. But you've gotta stop resisting. Stop37:33 refusing to surrender because this is what God has done for you in Christ Jesus. And that's the gospel message truth that I proclaim to you.37:46 Come home.
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