God Really Loves Us

Luke 15 we're starting a brand new sermon collection this month and this one is centered on one of our core values here at Legacy which is people are our heart people are our heart and it's not just that people are our heart as Legacy Church but people are God's heart this is why Jesus went to the cross for people for me for you so that we could be set free from our slavery to sin and we could be saved into righteousness and eternity in paradise with our Savior the King of Kings Jesus Christ and so I don't know about you but I am grateful today that people are the heart of heaven and as this is one of our core values we thought we'd spend the whole month just diving into different scriptures and studying about the heart of God the nature of God on this topic people are heart so if you have your Bible open to Luke 15 I want to invite you please stand to your feet for the reading of the Word of God Luke 15 we're gonna read verses 1 through 7 verse 1 through 7 if you could join me let's read out loud all together as a family verse 1 says this now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying this man receives sinners and he eats with them so he told them this parable what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance today my title is this God really loves us just thought that'd be the right way to start out this sermon collection God really loves us tell your neighbor say God really loves you tell your other neighbor the one you didn't want to tell first say God really loves you all right let's pray Lord we say thank you for your word it's everlasting and unchanging and yet always faithful to change us as we humble ourselves before you today God we ask that you would transform us more into your image and I

pray today that you would break our heart for the lost I pray that you would put the lost upon our hearts in such a way that we would grieve over those that have not come to the knowledge of salvation in Christ Jesus Holy Spirit go to work today we give you permission to operate and work on a work on each and every one of us we thank you for what you're about to do in Jesus name we pray and everybody said amen you can be seated God really loves us I don't know about you but I'm grateful for that God really loves us when you read through the scripture you'll learn that there are two places that you are sure to find Jesus like if you are searching for Jesus there is surely two places that he will be the first place is church if you are looking for Jesus let me tell you one place that you could find him church whenever he was just a young man and his parents were frantically searching for him they found him where in the temple at church and in Luke chapter 2 Jesus said to them why were you looking for me did you not know that I must be in my father's house I'm at church man and this is one of the reasons why I personally don't like to miss church you remember that story in the scripture whenever Thomas misses church and then Jesus walks through the walls and reveals himself to the disciples I don't want that phone call I don't want to miss one Sunday and one of you guys give me a call and say you're never gonna believe what happened today that's why I like to show up just in case you know if he walks through the walls and says here you go put your hand in my hand and in my side I want to be present if you're searching for Jesus you can certainly find him in his father's house but you know the second place that you are sure to find Jesus if you're searching for him Is around sinners That's one place if you are searching for the lord jesus that you are sure to find them it's around Sinners, and this is why the religious elites of jesus's time Constantly accused him of scandal in luke chapter 7 verse 34 the son of man has come eating and drinking jesus says and you say

Look at him a glutton and a drunkard Jesus was always somewhere being accused because of the people that he chose to associate with Look at him a glutton and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors And sinners at that time that was a tremendous insult Look at this guy. He must be a drunkard. He must be a glutton. He's always hanging out with the wrong crowd But I don't know about you. I am so grateful that god chooses to associate with sinners I don't know your story. I don't know your testimony. I can only testify to my own and i'm telling you today I am so grateful that god did not give up on me When I was far from everything that looked like love I can I can remember moments when I was strung out on drugs and I was driving all by myself In my truck and it was almost as if the holy spirit would whisper to me and say turn that music off Put that weed out I got a plan for your life I've got a purpose for your future Listen to what i'm saying to you. I'm calling you to something and I want you for myself, you know where you belong And just like he said right here about the parable of the lost sheep go home Go home I don't know if that's been your story. That was my story I can tell you of moments when I was far from god running in the opposite direction as fast as I possibly could Refusing to go to church refusing to return home Completely estranged from my parents and my little brothers and yet I cannot tell you of a day that I did not sense That the holy spirit was chasing me down I know sometimes we think that i'm walking away from god meaning if I turn around and try to get back He'll be so far from me. It'll cost me too much energy to get there But the truth is every step of the way that you think you're running in the opposite direction of god The holy spirit is pursuing you and following you every single step of the way If you turn around today and you would say i'm far from god and i've come to church If you turn around I can promise you this you're gonna run face first into jesus Because jesus

pursues Sinners, if you're looking for jesus, I can tell you where you'll find him He will be around centers because there's no place too dark for jesus I know for us today as christians. We go into certain atmospheres and it's like we So dark here I'm grieved in the holy ghost. I can't be in this room. It's just too debaucherous How many guys know we are not called to be thermometers but thermostats We're not called to take the temperature of an atmosphere. We're called to set it And if we come in in jesus name in tune with what the holy spirit is speaking I can promise you this as we pray in alignment with the perfect will of god Every atmosphere must be put on notice that the king of kings is in the room. So something is about to shift I don't know about you, but I am grateful that god chases down sinners I am thankful that there is no place too dark for jesus I if I had time I don't have time if I had time I could tell you testimonies Of places that i've seen jesus show up and i've seen jesus show up in house churches But i've also seen jesus show up in crack houses I could tell you stories of places that i've been in africa when I was a missionary and jesus showing up in the witch doctor's house I can tell you a moment where we had church in literal brothels I'll never forget the time we were in uh, uganda and we were walking into a brothel I didn't know we were walking into a brothel, but the pastor was like hey Let me take you to one of my churches. I thought it was a house church It was a brothel And there were men leaving as the men of god were coming in And we began to worship and sing praises to jesus and share the gospel And the women that were there lifting their hands and praising god I'm grateful that jesus is not allergic to darkness or drama. I don't know about you But I am grateful that jesus is willing to show up in the places that everybody else would avoid I don't know your story, but I know mine And i'm grateful that no matter how bad And no matter how dark Jesus is willing and he's able to show up

So if you find yourself in darkness today Please know this that Jesus is well able to break every single chain and bring you out today Not next week not next month not next year not next season. No today He's well able to bring you out if that's where you're at today. I know that's good news But maybe you've been saved for a little bit and you can't believe that Jesus would have the audacity to hang out in a brothel that's where the Pharisees found themselves and I've got to say now that I've been saved for 21 years, I guess it's been I've been preaching the gospel for 20 years this July y'all ain't done nothing else Since I've been saved but preached the gospel and I can tell you this after being saved for a while It's a natural tendency to get a little bit religious, isn't it? And that's what happened to the Pharisees and I want to give you a warning if you've been saved for a while And perhaps the darkness that Jesus brought you out of is somewhere way back. When can I tell you that it's absolutely a Possibility that Jesus eventually might offend you by the people that he chooses to hang out with You can always find Jesus around people that you think he shouldn't hang out with and That can be really offensive when you've been religious for a really long time But it's just what Jesus does and if I'm honest, I think he loves to do it Because Jesus will offend your mind to reveal your heart Jesus can do what he wants. Amen. He can go where he wants. Amen, and he can save who he wants And he can save who he wants. Amen. I know a lot of Christians today treat Jesus like he's a domesticated house cat You know they kind of set him up as the idol in their living room and they print off the Ten Commandments on papyrus and burn the edges with the lighter and put it over the mantle in their house so that They can show everybody how much faith they got How many how many guys guys know getting like nostalgic about Jesus is just a religious way of ignoring Jesus He's not a domesticated house cat he's the lion of the tribe of Judah he can do whatever he wants He can go wherever he wants He'll show up in the last place that you think he should and then he'll save the worst of the worst of the worst Think about the Apostle Paul who was Saul. He was literally a terrorist Murdering the early Christians and yet Jesus showed up to him He says why are you persecuting me? I think Jesus loves to do this just to remind us especially remind us as Christians

Just how good he is and how he's able to save anybody and Because of this Jesus was constantly being accused of a scandal Always, can you imagine being in ministry? Actually, I can because of the Internet But like can you imagine being in ministry and every single week you're being accused of a scandal because of the people you hang out with oh He must be messing up up there He must have something else going on that we don't know about because look at the people that he's hanging out with that was Jesus As he hung out with tax collectors and sinners, but even worse than that Jesus hung out with prostitutes and sexually notorious people Jesus hang out with lepers and ritually unclean people Jesus hang out with demonized people He hung out with the demonized Jesus hung out with Gentiles or non-jews people who were considered to be unclean and not like us Jesus hung out with the Romans which if you really think about that long enough That'll blow your mind because the Romans were the geopolitical enemies of Israel at the time It was a foreign occupation in their own neighborhoods Telling them how they would live and yet Jesus hung out with those dudes Jesus also hung out with the poor. He hung out with the sick. He hung out with disabled peoples He hung out with his own disciples, which were actually quite non-religious a lot of scholars believe they were the ones that failed the theology schools of their day and They were younger and they were seen as you know, you can't raise these dudes up. They can't do nothing. They're not smart enough They're not anointed enough and yet that's who Jesus chose as his disciples Why is that because Jesus seems to have this unbreakable habit of not caring about who you see him with? And I love that about Jesus I don't know about you But I love that about Jesus the last group that you think that God would associate himself with is often the people That you can find Jesus hanging out with I Mean just as a thought experiment think for a moment the people that you really despise. I

Figured it would get kind of quiet But just like the people that you're thinking like Jesus despises these people you better be careful the conclusions that you come to because Jesus will break your paradigm by saving somebody that you think is long gone and done for Because if you ain't dead you ain't done I can promise you that Jesus is coming for people like tax collectors and Sinners and let me just tell you if you think you are unredeemable in here today. You are nowhere near as bad as a tax collector Unless you're in the mob in which case you might be Because essentially that's what a tax collector is I don't know if you've ever seen a movie about the mob or the mafia But that like Godfather like that's what tax collectors are and can I say this emphatically that God? loves gangsters I'm just I'm just gonna tell you straight up right now God loves Gangsters every time you find Jesus. He's hanging out with tax collectors, and they were the ancient equivalent of gangsters Amen That's what they were because you think about it Like get a gangster might say man I didn't really want to sell drugs But I had to to provide for my family because wasn't a whole lot of opportunities out here And so I'm just doing what I gotta do You with me you guys are kind of quiet today. You're like wondering what I'm gonna say is this that controversial? It might be honestly it really might be because I know it offends the religious spirit when we talk about Jesus hanging out with gangsters And yet that's exactly who he sought out Because that's what the tax collectors were maybe they got into tax collecting because there were no other Opportunities that they could see and they said you know what I'm gonna have to do I'm gonna have to actually turn against my own people and join the Romans and start tax collecting on their behalf So that I can provide for me and my six kids

I don't know. I don't know how they ended up there But I do know that as they participated in tax collecting many of them were not only seen as treasonous For joining the Romans, but they also became cheaters because they took more money than they were owed And so they're they're extorting people. They're taking money from their own neighbors and This is the reason why whenever they showed up to get baptized by John the Baptist That when the Bible says this in Luke 3 even tax collectors Which I think is an interesting phrase even tax collectors because these were people that were seen as unsavable The the priest set up boundaries to not even allow these gangsters to come into church They're like nope you can't even come into the house of God and worship I don't care if you're ethnically qualified to come in your behavior has disqualified you you are a gangster You are a treacherous treasonous evil individual you are extorting your own people for cash and will have none of it you're unredeemable and Yet that's who Jesus came to see and this is why John tells them because they took this money Don't collect any more than you're required to These men may have been unclean Sinful Thieves they may have been unclean, but that does not mean that they were unwelcome and That's the thing that we have to understand as Jesus looks at these people who are sinners like tax collectors Is that yes, perhaps they are unclean, but in his kingdom it does not mean that they are unwelcome and Not only did Jesus draw the gangsters, but he also drew notorious sinners I know when we read that word sinners you're like yeah Well, that's all of us all of us have sin all of us have fallen short none of us You know can rise to the level of God's glory, but we're not just talking about sinfulness in general We're talking about notorious sinners. These are people who are drunks. These are people who are fighters. These are people who are Sexually immoral everybody knows about it. These are people who have had moral failings and everybody knows about it. These are people who lies Steal cheat and everybody knows about them. These are the type of people who will openly break the law and say what about it? I Don't care I'm gonna live however, I want to live. Thank you very much I have no interest in going to the house of God

These are the type of people that the Bible is talking about whenever it says tax collectors and sinners But here's what I find so fascinating about these groups of people is that there was something happening on the inside of their heart That even though society had rejected them when they watched Jesus walk by they said there's something about that man right there Maybe he will accept me There is something about Jesus that even the worst of humanity There is something about Jesus that even when we're in our worst state There is something about Jesus even in the moment that we're doing the things that we know we need not do there is something about Jesus even when the guilt of our conscience of doing things that we know we shouldn't have done is eating us up There is something about Jesus that said if I could just get to Jesus He'll grant me an audience if I could just get to Jesus even though I know I'm unclean I know I won't be unwelcome if I could just get to Jesus It wouldn't be about me pleading my case but he would meet me with mercy so much so that I could see the love in his eyes and know I could be set Free from this if I could just get to Jesus. There is something about Jesus that we cannot find in anybody else as Everybody gathered around Jesus. Of course the pride of the Pharisee was just on Alert like they're so upset because they can't believe that Jesus would welcome these people because the way in which the Pharisees did life was they considered holiness to be separation and It is true, you know Consecration is separation, but it doesn't mean that we disconnect from the rest of humanity in order to worship God No We're worshiping God and we're on Assignment co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to reach all of humanity for our Redeemer in Christ Jesus But that's not the way the Pharisees saw it. They said, you know, I've just got to distance myself from everything unholy It's like the parable of the Good Samaritan. Let's walk by on the other side of the street. I don't know no sinners I don't want to be associated with no sinners. I don't want to be around no sinners I just want to be around people who go to my church I just want to talk to people that I know are Christian Are you with me and so they get upset at Jesus because Jesus represents competition I can't believe that the sinners would go to him and not come to us because we're the ones We got the platform man. We got the message

We are here to declare the way of life to the world and yet nobody wanted the way That they did life at all. They said we got to look for Jesus We got to talk to Jesus You know, it's that I think even today in ministry There are still some preachers and ministers and pastors and churches and I'm not trying to lob stones that are still in competition with Jesus Because Jesus is willing to reach the people that they have disqualified Because Jesus is willing to pursue the people that they turn their nose up at Because Jesus is willing to go after the folks that they would say. Mm-hmm. They are unwelcome and unwanted Nobody can redeem them not even God himself. No, that's exactly the people that Jesus goes for And I believe one of the things that God wants to do aside from save sinners is break the Pharisee posture You remember this passage in in Luke 18? We get some insight on to the prayer life into the prayer life of one Pharisee and he says, um, he's standing all by himself God, I thank you that I'm not like other people You ever prayed something like that before You don't have to admit it in church, but I know I'm sure I have at some point, you know Lord break that Pharisee posture that says I'm not like other people. Oh I'm better than this person. I'm striving for a sense of superior break that Pharisee spirit I pray in Jesus name that you would break that I'm not like other men. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not unjust I'm not an adulterer and I'm not even like this tax collector that right there should tell you how bad the Pharisees saw the tax collectors I'm not like this tax collector. No, not me. I'm holier-than-thou That's the mindset of the Pharisee. I fast twice a week. I tithe I go to church every Sunday I'm you know, I worship I pray I read the Bible But it doesn't mean that we can't carry an attitude That keeps everybody at an arm's distance and then get mad at Jesus for showing up around them Jesus is bound to offend you at some point by the people that he's willing to associate with He will because he does that and he doesn't care how bad the situation God has a heart So big for the lost that he went to the cross to redeem us Even when we were enemies of his the Bible says Jesus went to the cross for us and if we look at this parable even there's three parables in Luke 15 But if we look at this parable the parable

lost sheep, we actually gain some insight into the nature of our Father. We gain some insight into the character of God. That even though this sheep has wandered away from where it's supposed to be, God says, I'm going to drop everything and pursue that sheep. That's God's heart for the lost. And something that we have to understand, especially in 2026 modern postmodern secular society, is that Jesus did not rebuke the Pharisees for calling out their sin. The discernment of the Pharisees in that these people were sinners was correct. All right, you got to get this part. You got to get this part. Because the Pharisees weren't off when it was time to point out sin. They were saying that those people are sinful. And you know what? They were. And you know what? They probably knew they were. That's the thing about sinners. As we all sin, we know we sin. And if you don't, you might be a Pharisee. We sin. So the problem, Jesus' problem with the Pharisees was not the fact that they were pointing and saying, that guy's a sinner. Yes, they are sinners. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that they did not see these people as part of God's mission and mandate for their ministries. To go get them and bring them home, as the parable says. So Jesus says, okay, I'm going to talk to everybody. Pharisees, listen up. Tax collectors, listen up. Sinners, listen up. If you want to hear some about the heart of God, let me share this teaching with you real quick. Let me give you three parables, Jesus says. First, I'm going to talk to you about a lost sheep. And he says, which one of you? The presupposition there is every one of you. Right? Which one of you? It makes it universal. No matter if you're the most sinful person in the room, or you're the most holy person in the room. It doesn't matter if you're the richest person in the room. It doesn't matter if you're the poorest person in the room. Jesus asks, which one of you? Knowing it's everybody. If you had a hunted sheep. Now, obviously, he's talking to shepherds and people in an agrarian society, and a hunted sheep is a big flock to us, but it wasn't necessarily huge to them at the time. Nonetheless, a hundred mattered because Jesus counted. You ever heard a pilot talk about the manifest of people on an airplane? He says, I got a hundred souls on board. Why is that? Because every single person matters. A pilot can't say the flight was successful if I leave with a hundred and only 99 land. Are you with me? And so a hundred, that means that every single person matters. This is not a parable about math. This is a parable about value. You count anything that matters. Am I right? Count your money, don't you? I hope you do. Be a good steward. We count what matters. But what's so funny about Christians,

especially Christians that have been church for a really long time, they're like, man, it ain't no use in counting people. We don't need to count anybody. It doesn't matter. Well, we should count every single one of God's kids because God does. I got four kids. If I lose one of them, do you think I'm gonna say, it's okay, I got three others. I didn't like him anyway. He was getting annoying. He keeps waking up in the middle of the night. Praise God. I'm done with that guy. No, that's not the heart of the father. So when he says, I got a hundred sheep, he's counted every single one of them. And that means they're not interchangeable. I got a brand new baby named Ezra. If I lose Isaiah, I can't say it's all good. I got an Ezra. Are you with me? So how much more so the heart of our father, as he looks and he sees, I got a hundred here. Hold on, wait, one of them is missing. One of them is missing. I gotta go get the one. So I'm gonna leave the 99 and go to the one. Now, sometimes we think if we're really evangelistic and on fire for the lost that the 99 don't matter. Man, the church doesn't matter. All they do is just lazily sit on their butts and go to church on Sunday. They don't matter at all. But that's not true at all. Because the parable tells us where the 99 remain and that is in the pasture. The pasture is a place of safety. The pasture is a place of security. The pasture is a place of salvation. The pasture is a place of protection. So he doesn't neglect the 99 to go get the one. He says, the 99 are safe. So now let me go get the one. Because every single one matters. And notice in the parable, he said, and I'm not gonna stop until I find the one. I'm not gonna stop until I find the one. If you're in here praying today, God, I want you to Wish you would leave me alone. Can I give you a heads up? He won't He ain't go he ain't gonna let up he is not gonna let up I'm telling you I it's my story It's the biblical story. It's gonna be your story You can run as fast as you want to in the opposite direction But can I tell you Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever and if you are the one running in the opposite direction Can I tell you he ain't gonna let up he's gonna come for you, and he's not gonna stop Now when he finds you if you're here today, I'm telling you right now He's looking right at you when he finds you here's what the scripture says he's gonna pick you up Put you on his back and then take you home The question is not whether whether God's gonna find you the question is are you gonna let him pick you up?

Are you gonna let him pick you up are you gonna let him pick you up I? Don't know I don't know I don't know about you, but no matter how upset I am at one of my kids They've done something dumb If they come to me, and they look up at me right in the eye, and they do like this I'm picking them up now my dog on the other hand. He can get lost Duke and kick rocks peed my floor last night. I'm still mad about it Lord help me But my child But my child if you're a dad in here, you know exactly what I'm talking about cuz I like just Just Pick me up, and he said I'm gonna take you I'm gonna pick you up and put you on my shoulders This is the place of protection. This is the place of safety meaning. I'm not gonna let nothing else happen to you You don't have to fear You don't have to look back You don't you don't you don't have to stay stuck in that cycle of anxiety Wondering if you're gonna make it out here on your own, but no you're on the shoulders of a good God But no you're on the shoulders of a good father And I'm gonna take you to the very place where your soul is supposed to be I'm gonna take you home That's what the scripture said he takes you home and whenever he gets home. What does he do? It's time to rejoice It's time to celebrate and this is the problem of the Pharisee Rather than celebrate they say now I'm gonna stay outside It's the older brother syndrome in the story of the prodigal son now. I'm gonna stay outside God You haven't never thrown me a party. Well, you you ain't been lost like this guy's been lost No, I'm not gonna celebrate I'm mad that you went and got him why are you mad at somebody Jesus has forgiven And he brings him back he said we're gonna have a party and we're gonna celebrate and I'm telling you the truth whenever one sinner Repents the whole of heaven has a party. I Hope you know joy is serious business in heaven Serious business in heaven every single time a sinner repents and does like this I ain't gonna run no more I'm refusing to stay stuck where I've been for so many seasons You

May think man, I've run so far from God turn around turn around. He's gonna be right there The question is not whether or not he is pursuing you the question is simply this are you willing to Let him pick you up So I pray today that you would surrender and that you would submit and really that's what lifting your hands up is. It's pick me up It's worship it's yieldedness But it's also an act of repentance Pick me up I've walked my own direction for far too long. Pick me up God I've been trying to figure out how to do life on my own Pick me up God. I've been reading self-help books and it just ain't enough. I'm gonna need you to pick me up God I've been trying to get free alcoholism for so long. I need you to pick me up God I pop pills when nobody's looking my spouse don't even know I need you to pick me up God I need you to pick me up God if that's where you're at today. I want you to know that Jesus is here to pick you up Would you stand to your feet Just take a moment, please, just close your eyes, bow your head. I don't know where you're at today, but I do want to give you the opportunity to just lift your hands and say, Lord, save me, help me, free me, pick me up today. If you're in the room and you need to give your life to Jesus today, I want to pray with you. Is there anybody in the room today that you would say, yep, today's the day, I got to give my life to Jesus today? If that's you, will you just lift your hand? I want to pray with you. Is there anybody in here that you would say, I need salvation in Jesus' name? I see you, I see you. Anybody else? Okay, I also want to ask, is there anybody in the room, you're a believer and you have been for a long time, but you know you've been running and you're really identifying with that illustration, like, yeah, I need God to pick me up, I'm trying to do this by

myself. And you just want to rededicate your life today, will you also lift your hand? I want to pray with you as well. Is there anybody? Amazing. Let's pray together. Say, Jesus, whether you're praying this for the first time or the 10th, it doesn't matter. We're turning around. Pray with me. Say, Jesus, I repent of my sins. I turn from my ways. I turn towards you. I give you my life. I surrender. All my days, I belong to you. In Jesus' name.