Psalm 118:24

PS 100:1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. PS 100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. PS 100:3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. PS 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. PS 100:5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Having called the whole world to join him in song, the psalmist declares the reason God deserves universal thanksgiving and praise. His rationale for worldwide celebration is based on three facts concerning the Lord's character.

Fact #1: God is good. Psalm 100: 3-5 (NASB) 3 Know that the Lord [a]Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and [b]not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with [c]thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Fact #1: He is good. In vs 3 the psalmist told us "He is God," the one and only Creator and Sovereign of the universe; In verse 5 he tells us "He is good." Verse 3 states His position and role; verse 5 describes the quality of His character. The Hebrew term, tōv, means "pleasant, agreeable, delightful, good." How different from the present-day concept many people have of God. He is not an irritated tyrant pacing the floors of heaven looking for reasons to smash our lives or squelch our happiness—like some celestial bully with a club in His hand. No! He is good. And His commands are for our good. Love motivates His every word and deed.

Fact #2: His loving kindness is everlasting. Psalm 100: 3-5 (NASB) Fact #2: His loving kindness is everlasting. 3 Know that the Lord [a]Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and [b]not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with [c]thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Fact 2: His lovingkindness is everlasting. "Lovingkindness" is the best English word to translate the Hebrew term chesed (hesid), but it is woefully inadequate. Chesed is perhaps the most important word in the entire Old Testament because it effectively sums up the character of God. That colorful word is so steeped in Hebrew culture and theology that it has no equivalent in other languages. That explains why chesed has been rendered by different translations as "mercy," "kindness," "lovingkindness," "goodness," and others. It describes God's covenant love for His people—a passionate, merciful, pursuing, unrelenting kindness that overlooks their inability to repay Him or even return His love. The Bible is filled with wonderful, moving stories that show chesed in action. It brings to mind Ruth's extraordinary loyalty for her mother-in-law, Naomi (Ruth 1:16–17). And of Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and how he extended extraordinary friendship to David despite the enormous personal cost even the right to succeed Saul as king (1 Samuel 18:1). And when David eventually became king, he extended extraordinary mercy to Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan (2 Samuel 9:7). Of course, we have no greater example of kindness than God Himself, who demonstrated His love in becoming a human in the person of Jesus Christ.

1 John 4: 9-10 (NASB) 1 John 4: 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Romans 5:8 Romans 5:8 – but God demonstrates his love in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Fact #2: His loving kindness is everlasting. Psalm 100: 3-5 (NASB) Fact #2: His loving kindness is everlasting. 3 Know that the Lord [a]Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and [b]not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with [c]thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. God loves and accepts us as we are, knowing that we have no way of repaying the debt of extraordinary kindness. His unqualified love and acceptance are behind His every command. Moreover, nothing will cancel or compromise His chesed love for us; it lasts forever.

Fact #3: He is faithful to all generations. Psalm 100: 5 (NASB) Fact #3: He is faithful to all generations. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Fact 3: 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. He is faithful to all generations. The Lord is not partial. The God who commands is fair and faithful to all generations. He didn't make a limited-time offer to one generation only to rescind it from the next. He doesn't play favorites. His commands and promises apply to all people throughout all time because God never changes. He remains consistently faithful. Note also that the psalmist didn't call for this joyous response to God as merely our part of a transaction. We don't praise and worship the Lord because of what we get in return. He calls for worship as a natural response to our firsthand experience of God's character. Of course, that's based on the presumption that we actually have firsthand experience of God's character!

1 John 4:7-19 (NASB) 1John 4:7-19 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.   1JN 4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1JN 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

The Singing group “Casting Crowns sings a song called “Who I Am” The First verse says:……. Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth Would care to know my name, Would care to feel my hurt? Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star Would choose to light the way For my ever wandering heart?   Chorus:…. Not because of who I am But because of what You've done. Not because of what I've done But because of who You are.

Invitation: We are called to love God, not because of what He can do for us, or even for what we do. But we are called to Love God because of what He has already done. He loved us enough to send his son to die for our sins that we might be able to live forever with him in heaven. If you need to respond to this message today Jesus invites you today to come Be baptized for the forgiveness of your sin, Jesus invites you to come and lay all your burdens down at his feet and begin walking a new path. WE invite you to do it now as we stand and sing…