At low points in our lives, we may be tempted to think we don’t really matter to God. The struggles of earthly life can sometimes overwhelm us, eclipsing our fellowship with a heavenly Father who feels so far away. As we study the overwhelming evidence of His infinite care, we’ll discover that God never leaves or forsakes us, and we’ll find security in our true worth as a beloved child of the King.

[Music]

at a very low

time in my life when i’ve been in the

hospital twice in just a few months

i walked out on my glass then the porch

and sat down and thought i would just

take it easy and

relax a little bit maybe read something

and

so when i did i noticed on the chair in

front of me

there was a blanket and i had just

tossed it over there but i didn’t see

this

and uh when i looked at it a second time

i saw this inscription that some

wonderful lady

had inscribed in this blanket

it read your messages have helped me

realize

that my life matters to god

when i read that i thought lord i don’t

know what she

had in mind but that’s exactly what i

needed to hear

my life matters to god

and that’s the title of this message

because

it is a message that god wants all of us

to hear

our life matters to him you may not feel

like you matter

you may be able to give lots of evidence

that the way you’re treated

and the things that have happened to you

and the misfortune you have experienced

that certainly your life couldn’t matter

to god but i want to tell you

yes it does difficulty hardship pain and

suffering

does not mean that your life doesn’t

matter to god

some of the greatest saints that i’ve

ever met

people who have written the greatest

books have been people who’ve gone

through difficulty hardship pain and

suffering

beyond anything you and i could ever

know and

never lost their faith but realized that

god

still loved them and he cared for them

when i think about that and i think

about this passage of scripture that i

want us to look at

it states just that our life

matters to god you may be able to look

at

your life this morning today

and say well i’ve got lots of evidence

that my life doesn’t matter to god

because

if it did here’s what would happen and

we would choose some good things in life

and we would choose maybe more money

maybe a better marriage

or something about your children or what

you own

or where your plans would lead you you

may think of a lot of things but no

matter what the circumstances are

your life matters to god

and matters means he’s concerned about

you

he cares about you he’s thinking about

you

and so when we think about that

what does it mean that our life matters

to god

it means all of that that he knows us

personally and intimately

he knows all about weaknesses he knows

all of our frailties

he knows all about our sins he knows

everything there is

to know about us and we still

matter to god imagine that

no matter what you and i face in life

our heavenly father

loves us cares for us we

matter to him and no matter what happens

what he allows us to go through the pain

we may suffer

he we still matter to him

that means he’s still caring still

listening

still loving and all of his promises are

still intact

that is every promise he’s made still

there

and one of those promises i will never

underline it put in parentheses and

quotation marks i will never

leave you nor forsake you what an

awesome awesome promise of almighty god

so that’s what i want us to talk about

that our life

matters to god and i want you to turn if

you will

to first john chapter 3.

this is a late time in john’s life

in those latter years he could be

anywhere from 80 to 90 or whatever it

might be

and he’s written this epistle to

believers

and i’m going to read three verses that

i want us to look at for a moment

the third chapter and the first verse

now listen to this

see how great a love not just love

how great a love the father has bestowed

on us

that is he’s gifted us he’s expressed

that love

he’s shown that love demonstrated that

love how great in love

the father has bestowed on us what what

makes it great

that we would be called children of god

think about that

in god’s mind that’s something great

that we would be called the children of

god and such we are

for this reason the world doesn’t know

us

because it didn’t know him and then he

says beloved

now not one a day later not

in the future now we are children of god

and i love this and it has not yet

appeared what

we will be that is we know very little

about the awesome

future that god has provided for us we

know

how many times he says it we know that

when he appears

we will be like him because we will see

him just

as he is here’s an apostle of the lord

jesus christ speaking

with assurance and authority having

listened to the lord jesus christ

personally

whether it was on the boat at sea it was

up in the mountains somewhere

or just sitting around the fire talking

and listening to jesus

we know we will be like him because we

will see him just as he is

and everyone who has this hope fixed on

him

purifies himself just as he is pure

that is simply this when you trust the

lord jesus christ as your savior

you do so because you sense

that you’ve been separated from him and

you sense also the need

to be one with him and so what happens

you trust him as your savior because

of what he did at the cross and as a

result of that relationship

things change you can’t be a child of

god

and everything be the same as it used to

be you may act sometimes

unlike you ought to be acting but that

relationship watch this

that relationship is not temporary it’s

not conditional

it is absolutely permanent you are saved

once and for all by the grace of god now

watch this

why has god made salvation the result of

a

of a fixed relationship a decision

simply because you and i matter to him

and when you trusted christ as your

savior

the holy spirit came into your life to

do what

to to absolutely assure you

that for all eternity you will belong to

god

you say suppose i sin he’s prepared for

that

he has a very strong hand of discipline

not to destroy not to hurt not to harm

but to spring us back into the foe when

god allows us to go through difficulties

and trials and heartaches and burdens

what is he doing

he’s doing it for one of several reasons

one of which is what

to remind us that we belong to him we’re

not acting out who we are

and to turn our mind and heart toward

him to change that thinking about a

godly life

everyone who has this hope fixed on him

purifies himself just as he’s fruit that

is

if i’m a child of god i’m going to be

sensitive to the way i’m living

i’m going to be sensitive to my

relationship to him

i’m going to be sensitive to the word of

god i want to

i want to read the word of god i want to

pray i want to be obedient to god

i want to find out what god will do in

my life because

i know my life matters to god

think about this watch you listen say

amen

you may not matter to anybody else

in the billions of people in this world

but you matter to god

and if you’ll think about it what

difference does it make that nobody

cares for you

if you know that god that you matter to

god

that means he knows you he’s concerned

about you

he loves you he’s going to provide for

you protect you watch over you care for

you

he’s going to ultimately fulfill his

will for your life why

because you matter to god

now with that in mind i want us to look

at this passage and

think in terms of the evidence of how

god has so worked in our life

that we mounted to him and the first

evidence is

the great love he has bestowed upon us

think about this

why did you get saved you said well i

went and i heard

this powerful preacher one day preaching

so that made me get said no that’s not

it

you got saved because you heard the

truth of the gospel of jesus

christ and god reached down into your

life

through his word spoke to your mind and

your heart

your emotions your whole being and made

you realize that you were living a life

far

less far less way down low than what he

had in mind for you

and you trusted the lord jesus christ as

your savior as a result

of hearing his word the conviction of

the holy spirit

to help you to understand that god loved

you and forgive you

he transformed your life so

it was your salvation the second thing

that resolved

in all of this is this your

sanctification that is

the life the godly life that god has

provided for every single one of us

once you trusted jesus christ as your

savior the spirit of god sealed you as a

child of god

came to indwell us while god sits upon

his throne in the heavens

his holy spirit sits upon the throne of

our heart

guiding us leading us empowering us

endeavoring

to work in our life the light that

represented and looked

something like jesus and so

that’s what he’s provided that is

we matter so much that first of all he

saved us

you think about this he didn’t have to

save you

you could have just lived your life

without him many people do

and you could have just sort of managed

but there would come a time when the

bible says it’s important and the man

wants to die

and after this the judgment but by his

grace and love and mercy

he sanctified you set you apart as unto

him

to live his life in and through you the

third thing he did was what

he he began to meet your needs as a

result of being a child of god

he said he will supply all of our needs

watch this according to his riches in

glory

not according to our talents ability and

skill and all the rest

he’s promised to meet every need that we

have well

watch this because every single point in

this message is because

we matter to him you may not matter to

anybody else and

over the years i’ve heard wives say i

don’t matter to my husband anymore

he used to love me provide for me bring

me beautiful things he used to do all

these things but

i don’t matter anymore nothing

any woman wants to feel could be worse

than

if she loves her husband to feel she

no longer matters and the same thing is

true is

not only a parents and children i don’t

matter no more

i’ve heard kids say that i don’t matter

to my dad i don’t matter to my mom

you know i might as well be living with

somebody else

think about this the fact that you

matter means there’s a relationship

there’s a love there’s a caring there’s

a giving

and that’s what god means he’s saying

listen he saves us he sanctifies us and

what does he do

he meets our needs my god shall supply

all your needs

watch this according to his riches and

glory

will you ever be able to exhaust the

riches of god no

the only thing that blocks god’s

blessings to you

is the fact you become careless in your

life

indifferent to god living in sin

whatever it might be

and then i think about the most

important thing here

our salvation our sanctification needs

and watch what he did

it what’s what’s that how awesome god is

it was not enough

for him to save us that is to have an

experience whereby

we confess our sin repent of our sins

surrender our life to him

now think about that for a moment i

think about in my own life

if that’s all i had that i trusted him

as my savior

then to live the christian life in this

world to one day i die and go to heaven

i couldn’t do it neither can you neither

can you whoever you are

that’s why he said to his disciples

sit down tarry ye in the city of

jerusalem until

i send my spirit who will indwell you

and be upon you and empower you to live

out the christian life

as a result of god caring for us and

meeting our needs

he upon our salvation sent the holy

spirit to enjoy

us think do you realize how blessed you

are you’re indwelt

by listen you’re indwelt by holy god

the holy spirit of god who said to his

disciples you’re not ready

to go preach you’re not ready to

missionarize this world

you won’t be ready till my spirit

baptizes you

anoints you and enables you and equips

you to be the person

i’ve created you to be so do we matter

to god

look at this why because we look at

salvation our sanctification

meet sandy’s in the holy spirit god has

demonstrated his awesome

caring for us that we do

matter now think about this god who’s

the sovereign of the universe could have

said okay

i’m going to save those who will trust

me and just see what they do

well he knew what we’d do we just mess

up we would fail

time after time after time that’s why he

knew watch this

he not only had to reach down and

forgive our sins

he had he had to come down himself and

then drill us

and enable us to live out the life he

provided for us

are we blessed of god or are we not

and so think about this

our life matters because he’s an awesome

god who loves us with all of his heart

first evidence that our life matters is

all these things he’s done for us

secondly

second evidence that we’re called the

children of god

now do i matter sure i do think about

how you feel about your children

you say to your friends this is my son

this is my daughter you’re proud of them

they they

matter to you listen

when someone matters to you it’s going

to affect your relationship to them

the way you speak of them what you do

for them

how you relate to them when you really

are involved in that person’s life

that they matter to you you’re going to

treat them a certain way

and truth of that for example you work

somewhere

and um you see the boss

working in one person’s life one way and

somebody else the other way

and how many times have i heard people

say well i feel like in my job

i don’t matter and when somebody says i

don’t care

you will never hear god say to you watch

this

you’ll never hear god say he i don’t

care

that’s not in his terminology so

the fact that we mattered to god we’re

called his children

all these promises and blessings that

we’ve talked about

our name is written in the lamb’s book

of life we belong to him

no matter what happens it still

matters to god what goes on in our life

the third evidence that our life matters

to god

is listen it has not yet appeared

as what it will be look at our present

society for example

in my lifetime it’s worse

than it has ever been

and think about this for a moment how do

we get this way i’ll tell you

see this book i want you to think about

how much time you spend in this book

in any given day see this

iphone

how much time do we spend in that versus

the word of god

what a difference and so what’s happened

our attention has been drawn away from

god and the more little inventions we

find ourselves inventing is just another

way

to draw us away from god am i saying the

phone’s unimportant no

are computers important yes

but when you talk to anybody very few

people will tell you

i spend as much time reading the word of

god

for myself as i do talking to my friends

on the phone about things that don’t

matter at all

and then look at all the rest think in

terms of all the drunkenness

sports drugs immorality

ungodly counsel depression suicide

shootings

what’s happened to our society i’ll tell

you what’s happened

we own it but we don’t read it

we own it but we don’t live by it we’re

living in a society

that is totally unaware

of who god is and his word

is becoming less and less important and

the world’s providing more and more

things

that we can involve ourselves with that

bring us

supposedly pleasure

i don’t have to tell you about our

society you know about it

you know what’s happening but you will

have to admit it’s drifting

further and further and further away

from god

when and we’re excusing it by saying we

are so busy

there’s so much to do so many places to

go and

so many things i need it matters to god

how much time we spend with him

it matters to god how we relate to him

it matters to god how we treat other

people

it matters to god how we think

about other people it matters to god

what we give him

it matters to god every aspect of our

life

god is involved in every area of our

life

and he’s not trying to cheat us out of

anything

he wants the best for us but look at

this

god knows that the best for us

is to follow the teachings of his

precious word

asking it shall be given you seek and

you shall find knocking this shall be

opened to you

my god shall survive all of your needs

according to his riches in glory

he gives us his strength he helps us to

be

wise enough to follow his

laws and to follow his will and purpose

and plan for our life

and the bible is full of scriptures of

promises of god

where have we gone wrong little by

little

the world fills our minds with things

that we used to fill it with the word of

god

how many people do you know that read

the bible every day

i wonder how many people who go to

church on sunday morning or whenever

they go

who read the bible sometime during the

week how much time do we spend

talking to our heavenly father about our

needs or

be people we love rather than

complaining about what they don’t have

and what we don’t have think about this

when almighty god says you

matter to me that’s god

when god says you matter to me

what more powerful word of encouragement

could we hear than that

you matter to me i care about you

i’m concerned about you i know all about

you

i want the best for you i love you my

love for you is not conditioned my love

for you

is absolutely unconditional i’m looking

forward to seeing you when i called you

home

i’m looking forward to you being in all

that i have provided for you in heaven

where is god

in this mixed up confused frustrated

very affluent world that has lost that

sense of direction

and then i want you to notice something

else

and that is the fourth evidence that our

life matters to god is that uh

we’ll we’ll be like him in other words

think about this for a moment

he says in first corinthians chapter 15

and is you know how long that chapter

is and how much god says about

our life and how much he says about our

future life and

our resurrection and all the rest think

about it

the scripture says but now christ has

been raised from the dead the first

fruits of those who are asleep

and then he starts talking about how god

is going to work in their life

in the resurrection so think about this

you matter to god so much that he not

only has provided for your life

now he’s provided for your life

hereafter

forever and ever and ever

we don’t have to worry about life after

death if we trusted christ as our savior

our life matters to him in fact if

you’ll think about it

there’s not a single aspect of your life

in which god

has not involved himself

for your past present and future and the

future is that we’ll have a resurrection

day

one of these days we’re going to be with

god forever and ever and ever

because he cares for us because it does

matter to him

and when we look at the word of god

we talk about the heavenly family we

talk about

the word of god we talk about heaven we

talk about

how heaven’s going to be we don’t know

what heaven is going to be like we know

what the bible says

as best you can described something that

is

indescribable in human words how do you

describe what heaven is going to be like

we can’t describe it but we know that

god’s given us enough to give us hope in

the lamb’s book of life

listen to this evidence that our life

matters

to god is we’ll be like him

and when i think about that that’s hard

to understand

hard to comprehend that we’re going to

be like him not

look like him but like him

in our very being we will be eternally

with him

we will think like him we will love like

him

in many ways we will be liking that we

can’t even describe

and then i think about it in this life

the fifth reason

that our life matters is that

he desires that you and i live a pure

holy life by the power of the holy

spirit

bringing him glory for all eternity

what’s his desire for us that we live a

holy life

how can i live a holy life simply obey

the holy spirit

with whom he indwelt you think about

this

god does not require anything of us he’s

not provided

he wants us to live a holy life so what

does he do he endures us with the holy

spirit

that we would know what the truth is we

realize he loves us

he forgives us he cleanses us he wants

the very best for us

and he’s willing to provide the best if

we’re willing to trust him

so i’d simply ask you this has there

ever been a time in your life

when you face the reality that you

are worth something to god that he

cares about you that he loves you

that he wants you to know what is true

what is right

what is best that you would understand

that one of these days you’re going to

die and give an account for him

has it ever dawned on you that if you

ask him to forgive you of your sins he

will

if you ask him to give you assurance

that when you die

you’ll go to heaven he will has it ever

occurred to you that god

is so

he’s so involved in your life in every

aspect

he hasn’t forgotten anything

every aspect of your life he’s concerned

about

willing to forgive your sins willing to

call you home one day

absent from the body not floundering in

the darkness everywhere

absent from the body present with the

lord

that’s the promise of god the next most

important decision you’ll ever make if

you’re not a christian

is the one you can make right now

and that is to surrender your life to

christ you say what does that mean

that means you confess that you’re a

sinner before him

that you cannot change yourself that

when jesus went to the cross he went to

the cross to pay your sin debt

and it is a debt you’ll send that in

full and if you ask him to forgive you

on the basis of what he did at the cross

paying your sin then if you ask him to

forgive you he will forgive you

he will write your name in the lamb’s

book of life never to be erased

and from this moment on you can rest

assured

he will be living within you to guide

you help you strengthen you

and give you life at its very best your

life matters to god

and father how grateful we are

we don’t have to come up with a new idea

we simply need to respond to this

awesome truth of the gospel

that you came into this world lay down

your life on the cross

shed your blood for our sins accepted us

as your children written our name in the

lamb’s book of life

and now we have security real

security the security to forever be with

you

once this life is over thank you thank

you thank you god

for such blessed assurance in jesus name

[Music]

amen