When the music fades All is stripped away And I simply come
Longing just to bring Something that's worth
And that's your heart I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart I'm coming back to the heart of the ship
And it's all about you It's all about you, Jesus
I'm starting a new thing I've waited When it's all about you
It's all about you, Jesus
Give you one last word No one could express
How much you deserve
You're weak and poor All I have is yours
Everything all right I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart
Jesus, friend of sinners We were strayed so far away
We caught down people in your name But the sun was never ours to sweep
Jesus, friend of sinners The truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to you But they're tripping over me
Always looking around But never looking out
You saw a double-minded A plain God saved with dirty hands
And a heart divided Oh, oh, Jesus
Friend of sinners Open our eyes to the world
The end of our pointy fingers Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach for the heaven-high and no end
Oh, Jesus, friend of sinners Break our hearts to one with you
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Jesus, friend of sinners Was right and innocent
He's the righteous turn away And the stones fall from their head
Help us to remember We are all in these degrees
Let the memory of your mercy Bring your people to their knees
Nobody knows what we're fully over against When we charge the warning
What if we put down our sons from stolen life And life like it was then
Oh, oh, Jesus Friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world The end of our pointy fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy Help us reach for the heaven-high
And hope and love Oh, Jesus, friend of sinners
Break our hearts to one with you
And now was the lost heart And now was the outcast
Help you
You're grateful sinners just like me I'm grateful that you're ready to be
So as many of you will recall some weeks ago
we spent some weeks drilling down on love. We worked through the entirety
of what's called the love chapter and we broke it down. We talked about
relationships. We talked about all the kinds of different things that were in
there that love cannot be and that love is declared to be and so on.
This is not that message nor is it a synopsis of that message. The message
today is a one-word descriptor of love that God used and it's a very specific
word that means a very specific set of variables. I'm going to give you a quick
illustration before we go to the text. So as you can imagine in creation as
we're living in creation all things are sort of decaying.
We take our bodies to the extreme. Your cells are dying off all the time
while you are still young. Your body is producing new of every kind of cell
more rapidly than your cells are dying off and so
you're not really aging as much. You're maybe getting older, bigger, that kind of
thing but at a certain point you pass a certain
mark where your body's not able to produce the cells as much as
what is dying off and you begin to age and show your age and so on.
Talk about water. It's a cycle. It's continuing to go
around so it falls to the ground, sits in the puddles, evaporates, goes up the sky
and it rains again. But when you talk about the quality of
water it is forever degrading, forever picking up
pollutions and even evaporation does not. We've now found because of
microplastics and things like that things that go into the water that is
never gone from there. So the purity of water is degrading
at all times. Talk about iron. Iron is solid, lasts for a long time. You make a
bridge out of iron and you're good to go, right?
Except that we know that iron corrodes, it rusts,
it weakens over time so even the greatest structures of man created out of
iron have to be maintained. Talk about copper, silver, gold. They
don't rust per se but they corrode. They get an oxide
on them that degrades their quality over time and yes these things that last a
really long time we cherish them and we recognize their
value. So gold rings for example, this gold ring has been on my finger
for over 30 years and it's only been off my finger for short periods of time
during that time and it's been pretty good shape. But if you take it off which
I can't actually do so I can't actually
demonstrate at this moment but if you take it off you'll see that it
is oval and that the bottom of it has worn thin
and that if my wife and I are married for 60 years like my mom and
dad were it's possible it may actually wear through on the bottom
or someday if I gain weight they will have to cut it off of me
possibly. So all things are degrading and falling apart. What would be
supreme and perfect would be something that is not
degrading and not falling apart and the word, the Greek word, aptharcia in
the Greek is that. It is that thing that is
incorruptible, not decaying, not falling apart and that is the
single one word that God uses to describe the love that God calls us to
in Ephesians 6 24. So grab your Bibles and go there
if you would with me. It's just the one verse. We will get some others to kind of
put it in context. Thank you Ms. Chris. Maybe we're excited about this word of
God today as we look at this one word descriptor.
So God gave us that whole other chapter where Paul clearly wrote and said
God is not that, God, I'm sorry love is not that, love is this, love is not that,
love is this, but here in simplicity God gives us this one
word descriptor, one adjective if you will to describe
love. Ephesians 6 24 says this, grace be with you all those who love
our Lord Jesus with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love
incorruptible. That is the New American Standard Version.
Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus with a love
incorruptible. Now in the King James you'll notice that the word is translated
sincerity and it carries that meaning very clearly.
When you create a thing out of metal, if the metal has impurities in it the metal
will last less length of time unless the metal impurities
are actually better metal. So when they make an alloy,
unless when they put the metals together, unless the metals that are being added
are of advantage, they're actually stronger, better,
they don't decay as much or whatever, then that mixture
will not be as strong as the original. And so
Aptharcia includes the idea of purity presenting integrity through and through.
So God is saying this love is pure. It is love through and through. I was
watching a movie and there was a character in the movie
and she said to the other guy that she was talking to and she meant it as
praise but also at the same time she was upset with him
and she said so you will be and she named the character she said you will be
that person from beginning to end. So if somebody
would take back the surface they would find
you, that person beginning to end. If somebody would go deep they will find
you, you are that person beginning to end. When we talk about integrity
that's what it means. When a person has integrity which is still valued in
society today and on certain circles it may be kind of hammered on because
you're exposing someone's lack of integrity but as a general rule
integrity is valued. We talk about integrity it's just being the same
thing through and through. And this love that God is talking about
here that is the love that we are to have it says we love
our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible, a sincere love is first and
foremost pure. It is that through and through.
You don't love him and then under pressure not so much. You don't love him
and then when exposed not so much. You don't love him and then get
caught in a weakness or a temptation or a struggle
and then pull up and not love him. It's love through and through beginning to
end. Every ounce of it is love. Also it is remaining pure. It's not
just that it is pure but it is that is remaining pure. In the
olden days and the tall ship era which is one of my favorite eras
to study in history and even in fantasy. I really enjoy stories about
tall ships and so on and people don't realize that
there was a whole society a whole set of rules or laws
that existed aboard those ships. Men all men
most of the time would be there and they had to learn how to relate to one or
men with egos. Men who were arrogant. Men who were drunks.
Men who were thieves. Men who were liars. Men who were Christians.
Right all of that they had to learn how to relate to one another in those
societies. Sometimes 100 or 200 men on a ship that was barely big enough to
house them all and they slept in in blanket beds, hammocks swinging side
by side where your neighbor's literally bumping you all night long and then once
the once the motion of rocking is that everybody rocks this way everybody
rocks that way you kind of even know they're there.
But it was that kind of society on the tall ship
and they would develop certain phrases to to say this is what we all do. For
example all hands on deck. That means everybody's coming. So there
were there were different kinds of hands. There were hands who worked only during
the day. They worked on the nets you had to be
able to see what you were doing. They worked on leather. They had to go see
what you're doing. Worked on wood you have to be able to see what you're doing. So
they were day hands. They only worked during the day.
But most hands worked four hours and then got four hours off then worked four
hours, four hours off around the clock for lunch time and they worked two
hours and they got two hours off and then they worked four hours and got four
hours off back around the lunch time again. And so each day your watch would
be switching. You're in the what's called the larvard watch or the starboard watch.
Each day it's switching four hours on four hours off and so
the one day you would eat lunch first the next day you would eat lunch second.
Every day rotating like they never got more than four hours sleep because you
only got four hours off right. But the day hands they only worked
during the daylight because they had to see.
So they got nights off. They got to get a whole night's sleep.
But when all hands on deck is called everybody's up on deck
because we're going to do something. We're going to war. We're under attack.
We're going to we got a real problem whatever. That all hands come to work. It
doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night 2 a.m. and you're a day worker.
All hands come and repelling borders. All hands to repel borders means everybody
goes to the rails and stops the people who are trying to come on our boat right
now. And this remaining pure is like that.
This love is like that. It repels all borders.
All hands on deck. It is 100 committed. And so when
in the world as we have it today people the antichrist demons evil spirits
teachings other than the bible try to define what love is.
This love repels all borders. It is pure and it will remain pure. It will
be in contrast to that which is proposed by the world
because it is a love that is pure and remains pure.
It does this as a means to its unendingness.
It must not die. This love we do not back down.
It is purely love through and through and remains
pure by repelling all borders. All hands on deck.
All the time. Also it reflects its purpose.
God had a job for this love and it reflects its origin and the
utilitarian nature of its power. This love goes beyond all things and you
can get into that in first christened 13 if you want to.
But the bottom line is God created this to carry the day.
He ordained it. When God was alone and there were no people
He loved Himself. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
He created men and ordained a relationship
of love between men and God that reflects God's overall purpose. Even so
much so that it could be said in scripture that God
essentially is love.
This love testifies to its origin that is God and its utilitarian power.
Its ability to accomplish all that God set out for it to accomplish.
This love looks a lot like faithfulness in scripture
because it always harkens back to the one who originated it. To the one who
essentially defines it. And so when you say I love God or I love
Jesus but you live in a way that is not faithful to God's teachings or faithful
to the things that God has brought about in your life then that's probably not
the love that we're talking about here.
The question then remains in this passage of scripture why pray grace
for God's people who love God this way if they clearly have that grace already
among all men. Do you see that? He's praying for grace
for those who clearly already have grace. He says
grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love
incorruptible. And so if we know this about love,
if we have this understanding and existence of love in our lives it is
pure, it remains pure, it reflects this purpose, testimony to origin and
utilitarian power and it looks like faithfulness. If we know that then why
pray grace for people who know that? Why pray grace for people who are living
that out? Why do we need to ask for grace for folks who already have grace?
We have it in abundance to know this love. He prayed it for those
who love the Lord Jesus with a love incorruptible. Not just for Tom, Dick, or
Harry who say they love Jesus or Tom, Dick, or Harry that say they know
Jesus or that claim to be Christians but he prayed
grace for those who know this love and live this love
in Jesus. And so you're going to ask yourself why would he pray grace for
those? Well there's a one big reason essentially
Jesus made it very clear. Now as I go through these it's going to
go fast. If you're a note taker write them down. You're probably not going to be able
to flip to them because I took the time to take them out of the scripture and
put them on the page. If you need this from me later I will
send it to you. It's okay. All right. Jesus said this, he says
these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace.
In the world you have tribulation but take courage.
I have overcome the world. So grace is for Christians because we know
who Jesus is and what Jesus has done but we're also facing daily trials and
tribulations and sometimes those things rise to a tumult.
They become so out of control that all you can see is the thing that you're
facing and in that moment you need grace. Not grace to save your soul because if
you're Christian that's already been done. But grace to receive an understanding
of what you're going through. Grace to be able to love him with an
incorruptible love when your mind and your body scream this is not right.
I cannot endure it. I can't go through it. I can't accept what they've said, what
they've done, what's happened. You need grace. You need God's presence.
I need grace in God's presence to face the trials and tribulations.
And in that then Jesus says we may have peace.
So what then does it take for us to overcome the world? See Jesus said
fear not for I have overcome the world. What does it take for us to
overcome the world? Because we have his example and it says
if he is our example then we ought walk as he walked and he overcame the world.
So what then does it take for us to overcome the world and has that
thing been provided? Romans 8 28 says all things work together for the good
of the one who loves God and is called according to his purpose.
1st Corinthians 2 9 says but just as it is written things which
eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of
man all that God has prepared prepared for
those who love him. And so taken as a duet those verses tell
us that in that moment when the the problems of this life rise to a
tumult or let's be very simple about this if we may in that
moment when we desire something to develop a certain way or
something to go away and leave us alone we want it our way when you want it your
way and God's way is different from the way
that you want in that moment it says that all things work
together for the good for the one who loves the Lord
and you have not yet seen nor heard the good things that God has prepared for
you in fact it has not entered into your heart.
So you haven't figured out how good it can actually be yet.
You have not tasted the good plans of God even in the midst of persecution or
trials and the difficulties that we face that's going to be true.
And when you make the best decision you know how to make
if you leave out this love that is thusly described here
incorruptible sincere is pure remaining pure reflecting his purpose
looks a lot like faithfulness if you leave that out at that moment
then you don't have the promises that we just read
because the 828 promise was that all things work together for the good for
those who love him and are called according to his
purpose. James 1 12 says blessed is a man who
perseveres under trial so when things go the way you wouldn't have when you're
tested however you're tested for once he has been
approved that that word there also means test in other words once God's test your
metal once God's checked you out once God
weighed your love to see whether or not you love him with an incorruptible love
with a sustainable love with an ongoing love
with a love that repels all borders and other definitions of love
with a love that testifies to its origin and its utilitarian power with a love
that looks like faithfulness when God sees that you love him like
that it says for once he has been approved it says
he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love
him.
James the brother of Jesus came to understand that though he had made errors
he needed a savior he totally translated his life from that of a
devout Jew to that of a of a devout Christian a
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and faced persecutions when the church in
Jerusalem was persecuted and he would go on to say in that verse
that I just read to you that these things that we're going through
they are to test the quality the character the nature of the love that
you profess to have for God do you love God the way God has called
you to love him purely remaining pure repelling all borders
and all other definitions rather than meeting your own needs and
desires are you testifying to the unending nature of the love that God
has placed in your heart for him does your love testify to where it came
from to the origin of it and the utilitarian nature of its power
does it look like faithfulness James would say if not so
then certainly you cannot claim this promise
that he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who
love him
Matthew 22 37 Jesus says and you may recognize this verse because it's
really common in society in general it says
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with
all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment
this is the love that God is calling us to
and so when your mind thinks it wants something else
it had better realize that it thinks it wants something else and be governed by
some part of you that loves God that way and it
had better begin to love God that way love the Lord your God with your heart
and your soul and your mind and so we love him with this kind of
love that he qualified with aptharcia with that incorruptibility
pure remaining pure reflecting purpose looking a lot like faithfulness and
Isaiah 64 for Isaiah wrote and this is long before Jesus ever walked the earth
for from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear
nor has the eye seen a god besides you talking about God the god of heaven who
acts in behalf of the one who waits for him
see waiting implies ongoing trusting in the Lord it implies
waiting beyond what you're currently experiencing
first peter 122 says since you have in obedience to the truth
purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren now this is interesting
because here in the new american standard version is
there's a word translated sincere it is not aptharcia so we can see the
difference it's pretty cool to be able to kind of
contrast the two this means not fake this is the sincere it's
unfeigned it's not fake love well why would he need to say since you have an
obedience to the truth purified your souls
for a not fake love of the brethren so loving others in a not fake way
because people do it because people love others in a love that they have designed
for themselves not a god love not a god given love not a god
invested love not a love that testifies to its origin or its
utilitarian power but another kind of love another definition of love
a fake love if you will compare to the love that god has called us to
since you have an obedience to the truth purified your souls for a
sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another from the heart
so this love this true love this not fake love
fervently you could say energetically passionately
on fire the word there is is a greek word that kind of means on fire
it burns brightly and so this incorruptible love of god it burns
brightly but it never burns out the source of the burning is never
confused nor is it ever consumed it burns brightly and it ought to touch
those who are around you not to get ahead of myself
second timothy 4 8 says in the future there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness so that sounds really good which the lord the righteous judge will
award to me on that day and not only to me also oh this sounds
good we could be in there not only to me also but also to all who
have loved his appearing oh boy that sounds good now i can get
there now i can receive that crown of righteousness
all i have to do is be prepared to love his appearing well right away i can tell
you that if you're doing things that are
going to embarrass the lord god when he shows up
then if you're actively doing those things or even cherishing these things
or even retaining the ability to do those things
then when he shows up you're not going to love his appearing
when i was a young man before i was saved there were some girls in my high
school that i liked one in particular i dated for a year
and at one point in time she came over visit of a house and we went up to my
bedroom with the door closed and i began to
encourage her to engage in activities that young people should not engage in
and it was in process it was developing to the point that she had her bra in her
lap
and my dad came through the door i submit to you i was not pleased with my
dad's appearing we lied to try to get out of trouble
we did the best we could to which my dad said
the two of you will never be in this room together again
do you understand me when our father in heaven appears in his glorious appearing
and we stand before the throne of judgment i submit to you there will be
those who are going oh man caught me oh man i was carrying around
that corrupted version of love i was allowing my love my pure love for the
father to be messed with by some examples that we're about to see
and in so doing now i am not pleased to suddenly be set upon if you are not
living this love that god has ordained for you
if jesus came right now you'd be like oh holy cow
the spanking i got coming
second corinthians 514 says for the love of christ controls us
controls us governs and directs our actions it calls you out it's repel all
borders is for you you are called to repel all borders you
are called to refute all other versions of love or all other
teachings that would say that you say you love and that that your love is now
acceptable even though it is contrary to the faithfulness of the lord for the
love of christ controls us having concluded this this is why the love of
christ controls us that one died for all therefore all died
john 1415 says if you love me you will keep my commandments that's why
this pure sincere incorruptible love looks like faithfulness
because if you love god you will keep his commandments
and revelations two revelation two four but i have this against you he says to
the church in ethesus that you have left your first love now
you know that's terrible it really sounds terrible but actually the overall
passage is positive about the church in ethesus it says that they identified and
kicked out false prophets prophets they stayed the course for
jesus's sake not growing weary but but but they are chastised
because they have left their first love when you first accepted jesus christ as
lord and savior you realize that your soul was being saved
you're being inhabited by the holy spirit of god you committed yourself to
live in purity for christ then all of a sudden somewhere along the
road pushed by all of these worldly teachings of what love
actually looks like you developed perhaps a corrupted love
another version like it's good enough it doesn't quite look like faithfulness
but i know i love him like i love my brother mother sister father whom i
haven't talked to in 20 years and i still love them and so i
don't have to talk to god day after day week after week i don't have to live
right for god day after day week after week because i can love him from afar
oh no god is not a god who loves from afar
in fact god is not a god who is ever afar those who do not know the lord
jesus christ search around for him feebly in a second
and discover he was never far away in the first place god is
there you go to the depths of the sea and he would be there to hold your hand
to the heights of the mountains to hide and he would first find you
before ever you could look our god is not a distant god
and so those who have left their that version that cherished version that
precious version that apthar see a version of love behind
oh boy it's not going to be pleasant in that moment
when god says this i have against you in jude 21 it says there's only one
chapter in jude keep yourselves in the love of god
waiting for the mercy of our lord jesus christ that leads to
eternal life and then again in second john chapter one
verse six it says and this is the love that we walk according to his
commandments this is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning
that you should walk in it in first john 3a the one who practices sin
is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning the son of god
appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil in first john 215 do
not love the world nor the things in the world if anyone loves the world
the love of the father is not in him repel all borders second peter 1 4 for by
these he has granted to us his precious
and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine
nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world
by lust his giving love his given love is our way
out of the infiltration of desire the things you want cannot control you
if you love him the way he has called you to love him
this incorruptible love immediately repels all borders
and lust which looks a lot like love a lot of the time
let's be very serious when the young man is beating his girlfriend he said i
wouldn't have to do that if you hadn't hurt me hadn't done this or
whatever and she begins to think that he loves her so much
when he shouts and yells that she must do what he wants her to do or when she
subverts his will it goes behind his back
when young men struggle with pornography looking at women and they
think oh i love her that woman that they don't know
couldn't ever know in their lifetime are very unlikely to ever meet is doing
things on their screen that never should be done at all but they
love her no this love this pure love that god has
ordained for us will refute all forms of love that are
not actually love repel all borders and we as christians are
are called to be on the side of actively participating in refuting these false
versions of love this love is not what we want or what god
created us to want hold up a second let me say that again
this is not what we want or what god created us to want so you could say well
i was created to want cake yes humans want cake cake tastes good
right or you could say well i i i was created to want a nice car
sure people like nice things right and the fact is
we are designed with desires right but outside christ those desires
are only meant to point us to the one supreme desire which is to know god
through jesus christ and it'll never be right
and you can go after it and the man who leaves his wife or the girl who will
take better care of him will soon leave the girl who will take
better care of him because another girl will take better care of him
and the road of unending desire is just that and any version of love
that is based in what you want or what you desire or what you think will fulfill
you any version of love that is like that is
not love at all it is based in your desires it is based in lust and love
refutes
that kind of definition of love
you see when we go after what we want or even what we say god created us to
want we are taking on a quality that we do not have
as if we could identify what's best for us
as if we could say well if i if i eat exactly this much if i do exactly that
much if i go exactly here and say exactly this that all will come out to
be perfect in the end except you and i cannot see the end it is
beyond death
so we would be wrong to think that we have this wisdom this level of wisdom to
desire what's best for us we will run from temptation into other
temptation we will run for persecution when our true peace exists right on the
other side of that persecution and so we will forever run from persecution
our entire lives avoiding the thing that we don't want or think we need when god
knows exactly what we need to find the peace that we truly need
this love frees us from being led by what we want
to a place that is outside his will for us
hebrew 6 10 says for god is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love
which you have shown toward his name don't you understand if you love god
this way the way that we're talking about and you found you're found faithful
god will not forget that god will not forget that you turned away from that
handsome attractive desire fulfilling thing whatever it is
and he will give you then the desires of your heart so saith scripture
he will not forget the love that you have shown toward his name in having
ministered and instill ministering to the saints and so
when you take care of the church you take care of the church's business you
take care of the pastor you take care of the deacons you take care of the team
leaders you take care of the ministry itself you do the work god will not
forget you're showing this love that you have for him in that way
or i submit to you in any way that brings us to our conclusion then
this love that we're talking about it's got to be somewhere here on earth
it's got to be available through us jesus made the example clear
it naturally abounds in doing the things that god would have us to do
because why because god is doing those things
this love naturally abounds in doing the things so uh
had some of the kids from the family come over to the house and they want to
play a game the game they want to play i don't
really want to play i don't really like that game
sherry likes that game so the kid sat down at the table and they played the
game and sherry played and i didn't and i went off and i did something else
while i was doing that i wasn't with them
because they were playing a game i didn't want to play god's doing a thing
that you don't want to do that in your flesh in your corrupt mind
you don't want to do you don't want to share the gospel you don't want to give
sacrificially you don't want to give until it hurts nobody wants to
intentionally hurt themselves so you don't want to give until it
hurts and give sacrificially which is the new testament standard for giving
you don't want to work beyond your own personal capabilities because that's
exhausting and hurting you don't want to say no to relationships
that are enticing that make you feel good about yourselves build your ego
whatever you don't inherently want to do that
you don't want to speak up for justice and kindness and mercy and grace
in a world where that's surely going to result in your persecution
you don't want to do that but god does god wants to do all of those things i
just named and when you join him in doing those things
that will be an expression of this love it's a choice
this love it's cool because the word there is is agape
or agapao and that one and then agape it's all the same word with different
endings it's a choice but it's not a choice to be saved or
not jesus paid the price for you can be saved
and if you would just receive that free gift it's not like you're
you're obviously you're committing to follow him and if you actually do follow
him you will wind up loving this way but you can receive that free gift of
salvation these works do not save you if you would
do all the faithfulness and follow all the commands that's not going to save
you if you would do them all so that you can
be saved that's not going to save you the order is like this you recognize
that god loves you like this love that we're talking about
and that by saying no to that love you are refusing the one gift the salvation
the one thing that he wants more than anything which is his presence in your
life and your presence with him for eternity
so it's just about making a simple decision right now a choice
are you willing to be loved by god like this
but then if somebody loves you like this you ought to love them back
and if you love them back you ought to love them this way what we're talking
about and that will result in faithfulness it will result in following
quote unquote the rules that right now is an unbeliever if that's where you're
actually at chafe bother frustrate
you can't quite do what god wants me to do and if that's where your heart is
it's because you don't love god the way god loves you which is exactly what
we're called to it's a choice to love him that way
it's a choice not to do the right thing it's not like you read scripture and go
okay he says here obey your parents oh gosh okay i'm going to do that from now
on and you start developing a little journal
and pretty soon you've got 1100 things that you're going to do every day all day
which is barely even possible you can't even remember them you're like
something happens that you didn't expect you wait a minute check my journal is
there something in here about this what i do under this
oh number 364 it's like gibbs rules right all of a sudden you've got all these
rules that you have to follow about what is that is not what we're called to
our faithfulness arrives out of a desire to express
his presence in us that's it he's here and because he's here and you love him
you want to let him flow through you that's what it looks like to be a
christian and so when you are seduced when you are led when you are enticed
when you are tempted when you are persecuted when you feel like your own
desires are rising up and stopping the outflow of his presence in you
that is when it is time to turn to him and to him alone
it is a choice we will continue to make because his unending presence
deserves an unending representation he's always here and if he's always here
he must always be shown and he must always be known
and he's god and if you don't think god always has to be shown or always has to
be known then you don't know the god that the bible talks about
and you get to know him when you accept jesus christ as lord that means he tells
you what to do and savor that means he paid the price for your sins at which
point in time when you've experienced that in his holy spirit presence
you will daily want to let his holy spirit's presence in you affect anything
and everything that you can affect that's what it means to be a christian
and at the end of that road after temptations trials persecutions and
repelling all borders and teaching what love truly is to anyone
and everyone who will listen at the end of that is a crown of life
and rightly so because you are a child of god
this is a freedom that comes with a heart replacement i get it our hearts
were corrupt oh boy wicked and deceitful is the heart who
can know it but ezekiel 36 tells us that we can have our heart of stone
replaced with a heart of flesh and love and gratitude become a natural
response so you might be sitting here going ah he's trying to he's picking on
my life he's saying things that i don't like i don't quite agree with everything
that he's saying here but i'm telling you that this is the truth
there is a love that is available to you that flows out of a heart of flesh newly
replaced a born-again you that is toward god and it will give you the
strength to say no to the other definitions of love
this is a freedom that comes with a heart replacement
and if you want to strengthen a certain muscle then you exercise that muscle
and so if your heart has been replaced then you exercise your new heart
and it is what god chooses to do meanwhile it's the thing that he wants
to do and you can be part of it with him and do what it is that he wants to do
and it overcomes the world because it is not of the world as the world resists it
because it is not of the world and so of course there are a thousand or a million
or theoretically infinite other versions of what love looks like
because the world exists to resist the love that god created since adam and
eve that's where we're at it's a fallen world
jesus spoke in matthew 24 and he said then they will hand you over to
tribulation and kill you this is verse 9 and you will be hated by all nations
because of my name and at that time listen many will fall away
and they will betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets
will rise up and mislead many people and by the way i submit to you that
those false prophets will be teaching another version of love
and they're going to get hundreds or thousands or millions of people to
follow them because that other version of love
it appeals to your flesh and your stone heart not replaced
and even your flesh is still with you and so when your heart is replaced it
would be easy to follow a version of that love that
one of these false prophets teaches to do the things that god has said we
should not do it says many prophets will rise up and mislead many people
because lawlessness is increased in other words doing the things that god
told us not to do is more common failing to do the things that god told us to do
is let is common most people's love will become cold what is he talking about
he's talking about your love becoming cold the love that you say you have for
god becoming cold even though you might have done great things for the lord
becoming cold because you buy into someone else's version of love you say
their version of love is equally correct this other love
he loves her it's clear he's sticking with her even though he was not doing it
right not faithful to god not following god's
rules not following god's standard but he clearly loves her he stuck with her the
whole time he clearly loves his children raised
them they're pretty decent kids whatever you know
they're had some trouble as teenagers but they got past that now he clearly
loves his children provided them for them for their whole lives he clearly
loves them so that other version of love over there
where things go on behind closed closed doors it's not appropriate that other
version of love is equally legitimate to the love that god has called us to
no repel all borders all hands on deck our love is a pure love through and
through beginning to end it is always the same
it remains pure repelling all borders it reflects god's purpose
a testimony to its origin which is god and its utilitarian power its ability to
accomplish things it looks a lot like faithfulness
but most people's love will become cold but then verse 13 says
but the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved
i am calling us as god has called me to a love like this stick with god no
matter what because it is he that endures it is the one of us that
endures to the end that will be saved and this means our love must not and need
not grow cold because it is his love and his love
like god is incorruptible pure it remains pure
testifies to the power of the originator as well as
contains the very power that is necessary to stay the course to the end
realize that god's love and patience have provided us
another day and in this day there's going to be
plenty of opportunities plenty of provisions of the world
but if we want to live in light of the eternity then we need to realize we
cannot become friends with the world's definition of love
or any provision that arises out of the world
it will dilute our god-given love until the difference between them
is not discernible that's why right now people don't know whether to choose
christ or choose some other false religion because
other versions of love look better to them than the christian version of love
you understand we can't do that
this is a very significant difference that i'm talking about today one of
these loves last for other forever and want and all the rest do not
matter and now i'm going to poke the bear for a second
a man may say he loves a man and a woman may say
she loves a woman but even if that is some form of a
legitimate love in this lifetime and they are self-sacrificing or whatever
when they die when one of them dies
that love ends because it is not eternal and i said even if it is some form of a
legitimate worldly love it is better wouldn't it be better for a
man and a man to be monogamous and stay together for their whole life for them
for them to go around and have continuous adulterous relationships
with all kinds of other people and fornicate all the time
well sure it would be better it would be the choosing
of the lesser of two evils
the reality is the world is right now during the debates about where same-sex
marriage is in the senate there was a senator i watched him myself live on c-span
who said into the microphone right before the vote he was one of the last
speakers before they voted as to whether or not we would have same-sex marriage
legalize the united states of america and i'm not trying to be political but
this is just an illustration and he said in order for me to vote
against this motion to legalize same-sex marriage
i would have to be willing to say to senator so-and-so that she does not
love her lifelong mate that she's been with for
i think 20 years or whatever
therefore i urge all of you to not say that
but to legitimize to recognize that their love is legitimate by voting yes
for this motion
god says i mean i'm sorry god says not that their love is illegitimate
but there is only one love that is incorruptible that is pure
through and through that lasts forever it does not wane or run out
there is no weakness in it it is the kind of love that we are called to have
toward our god and the kind of love that we are called to
have toward one another man
meets a young lady they date for a long time
he can't think of being without her he's like wow she's got to be in my life
forever i want to be with her she wants to be
with me so he says let's move in together
we know first corinthians 13 says that love in that chapter is not
unseemly that's not the way it works that's a problem
i'm not picking on anybody i'm not teaching something contrary to what any
one person believes i'm simply teaching what god said if you
want to have an incorruptible love it's going to look a lot like
faithfulness god said if you love me you will follow
my commands this love that actually is god in a sense
this love is pure remains pure is found faithful to god's
ways and it testifies to its origin which was god
and it carries in it the power to stick with god no matter what
because it is the one that endures to the end that will be saved
and this means our love must not and need not grow cold
because it is his love and his love like him is incorruptible pure remains pure
and testifies to the power of the one who originated as well
as contains the very power that is necessary to stay
the course to the end it's hard to love people i'm not
realistically speaking i mean if you find it easy to love people by the way
i check the temporal nature of your love people are mean
even when they're not trying to be mean they can say or do things that get under
your skin they have weaknesses we all have
weaknesses unsafe people lie out of habit or
or whatever their particular evil spirits are
it's hard to love people
which is why the love that we're talking about originates with god
because it's a hard thing it's a hard thing
that he can do and he has proven that he does
and he has invited us to accept his love and then having accepted his love to
have his presence in us and to make his presence in us known you
are a conduit for the one miracle that god wants to do one just one
miracle and that is to spread his love to every
human being not the world's definition of love or
any version of his love slightly tainted by touched
by different words or whatever but his love
his pure remaining pure reflecting purpose
looks like faithfulness can overcome the world
law oh in case anyone