Choosing Love: The Sacrificial Heart of Christ

Heavenly Father we come before you today with Open Hearts ready to receive your word we thank you for the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ who who saw us in our Brokenness and still chose to redeem us Lord let this message Pierce our hearts transform our minds and draw us closer to you may we not only hear but apply your truth in our daily walk Holy Spirit move in this place and Let Your Presence be known we give you all the glory all the honor and all the praise in Jesus name amen amen our subject today is a love that sees and still lives [00:29:10]

imagine standing on the street corner in the middle of chaos the sirens are blaring people are running and you're stuck paralyzed in fear you don't know where to go and every world looks dangerous but all of a sudden someone grabs you pulls you out of Harm's Way and says I see you I won't let you die here that's what Jesus did for us he saw us drowned in sin surrounded by destruction with no way out and instead of turning away he stepped into the fire knowing the cost nor the pain nor the Betrayal yet still choosing the cross [00:30:04]

all right we live in a world that tells us love is blind that real love doesn't see flaws the love ignores reality but the truth is real love sees everything and still chooses to stay to fight to save that's the love of Jesus Christ he didn't go to the cross with his eyes closed he saw every sin every mistake every moment of rebellion and yet he still went he still love he still saved so today we are diving into a message that would challenge us to rethink what true love really is love isn't blind it is bold it is sacrificial and it is Victorious [00:31:59]

the scriptures of Isaiah 53 and Matthew 27 are really deeply connected they demonstrate the prophecy and fulfillment of Christ suffering and sacrifice Isaiah was written nearly 700 years before Christ yet the prophet vividly describes the messiah's rejection Affliction and atonement for Humanity this passage is often called The Suffering servant prophecy as it outlines how the Messiah would take on the sins of the world bearing our G griefs and Sorrows so that we might be healed just think about that 700 years before the Christ comes it was already prophesied that he was coming [00:32:56]

Israel was rebelling against God the people had turned to idolatry Injustice and unrighteousness rejecting God's laws and everything I but Isaiah prophesied was both a warning and a promise while Israel would face judgment a savior will come to redeem them and restore righteousness so he's writing at this time he's breaking it down to them while they're in Rebellion he's writing but God at the moment while they are rebelling against God while they are sinning in not turning their face against God away from God after God has saved them Time and Time and Time Again [00:33:37]

700 years before the Christ God already had a plan to redeem them he loved them enough so that even while he saw what they were doing even as he saw they weren't doing what he was they were supposed to be doing he saw their imperfections he saw their insecurities he saw the rebelling against them but still chose to actually save them that just shows us God's love that God isn't blind from what we do he sees what we do do and chooses to love us [00:34:48]

they chose Barabas a murderer over the Spotless Son of God and as that might sound crazy we do that that every single day we choose our own sin sinful nature and we tray our sinful nature nature and we want we rather have our sinful nature than the Spotless Son of God we rather be stuck into what we do rather than accept Christ we rather falsely accused Christ then we will be true to ourselves in order for Christ to redeem us we rather point and project rather than look inwardly to see the God in us [00:37:13]

we constantly are pushing our own thoughts and fears onto God rather than accepting him so you don't have to actually throw it on them all you got to do is bring him in you and then he can transform you but they chose what they knew and many times we choose the misery that we're in we have what we call the scapegoat which is the Christ we have the Lamb of God that have already done what he's said he would do but instead of us choosing the love of God we rather choose misery because sometimes misery looks like Freedom [00:38:19]

sometimes it looks like we're free because we have been so accustomed to being in misery that freedom looks like jail and so it looks like God has all of these rules and regulations that you have to live by and so because we have what we think is all these rules and regulations that we have to live by we say we're not going to be in Christ but then we choose CH the misery of abuse we choose the misery of overeating we choose the misery of substance abuse we said we we choose all of these different miseries because it gives us escapism [00:39:18]

but having escapism is not the same as being free if you are living in escapism that means that you are bounded you're dreaming outside of yourself but when you are are free you're always outside of yourself it's not a dream so we look at him they they chose what they wanted right they chose that and we do that all the time Jesus was falsely accused beaten and sentenced his death in a public display of humiliation because we rather have podcast or we rather have conversations about what God hates rather than what God loves [00:40:20]

love isn't about convenience it's about commitment even when it hurts Jesus chose to be hurt he chose his body to be dismantled because he chooses to love us love bears the weight of sin love forgives even in the face of betrayal love endures to the end Jesus had every reason to stop pain reject pain rejection abandonment but love kept him going love is a momentary it is safies love isn't about hold isn't about holding grudges it's about setting people free love is about releasing choosing and not feeling it's about saying I see you and I choose you [00:42:14]

love doesn't seek Perfection from you love bears the weight of your imperfections and says I'm here for you regardless love steps down from his high plac to go to the Low Places to be with you love is inside of you he is not heing he Jesus was betrayed he was denied by Peter and abandoned by his followers and yet he still said father forgive them love is not just keeping you bound love love is setting you free and if you are in a situation where you feel like you are bound if you are in a relationship where you feel like you are not free then you are not in love [00:43:48]