A Heart of Love - Part 2

We dealt with Sunday morning on a heart of love as a part of our series. I can't go on or move on until I go back and finish the message and deal with it as an appendix to the message Sunday morning. So we dealt with a heart of love. It's a part of the new heart that God gives us. But I wanna go back and go into some of the details of this. I wanna rewind a bit and go over some of the things that I only skimmed. I wanna go a bit deeper. And I also wanna deal with these six marks or six areas where you manifest this love of God. My message here tonight is called Agape Love Defined and Manifested. Agape love defined, or you could say explained and manifested. These six marks that I'm gonna give you is where agape love is to be manifest, revealed, shown forth. If it's not, it's a dead thing, theological. Reading from Mark chapter 12 and verse 28. 28, and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, or like unto it, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, well, master, thou has said the truth, for there is one God and there's none other but he. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the word of God tonight. Father, I do pray that you will manifest literally in the midst of this gathering and this message to those online, to those gathered here, the very love of God, that love that sent Jesus to die on the cross, that love that changed my heart and life, that love that searches, Lord God, from seat to seat, seeking out hearts. We pray that even tonight in this room, that the very love of God that came out of eternity, that created all things, that laid his love upon us would be made manifest and revealed to individuals in this room. You can save someone right now in this room by your mighty power revealing what Jesus has done on the cross. And we pray, teach us what this love is. Lord God, we don't wanna play games with it. We don't wanna pretend that we have this love, nor God, when it's absent from our life, but we desire a supernatural, a spiritual love that flows from Calvary that comes directly out of your heart. We cannot create it, but we know your Holy Spirit does. Lord God, will you do it tonight? In Jesus' mighty name, amen. My message, agape love defined and manifested. You see here in this verse explaining the love of Christ, Christ is teaching, revealing, and expounding here. And when he's asked, what is the first, or what is the greatest commandment of all the commandments in all the Old Testament? And of all the commandments that ever came from God, what is the greatest? Christ here actually gives two commandments. And he said, these two are the two greatest commandments. Look at what he says, first of all, the first of all the commandments is, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. When he says with thy heart, he means out of your heart or by means of your heart. Notice what he says, heart, soul, mind, strength. These are all different realms that love flows out of you through, out through your mind. Do you know that you're to love God with your mind? Love is to be manifest in your thinking, in how your intellect works towards God. Your mind is actually to love God. You're to love God with your mind. You're to love God with your soul, your emotions, your will, with your decisions in life. You're to love God. You're to love God with your strength, your body. What a terrible thing when we use our body for the devil, for this world, for sin. You see, God says, I want you to use your body to love me. You can use your strength to love God, or you can use it for this world or yourself or the devil. All these things are here in this verse. The source of thoughts, words, and actions is the heart. Out of the heart come words. Out of the heart comes every imagination. You're to love God with all of your heart, absolutely all of it. And you know what? This agape love that we're gonna explain here, agape love has to conquer your heart before you can love God with it. If this love, supernatural love, does not conquer your heart, you will never love God. If it doesn't conquer your mind, then you won't love God with your mind. If it doesn't conquer your soul, then you won't use your soul to love God. If this agape love of God doesn't conquer your strength and your physical body, you'll never use it to love God. You will not. But here we're commanded, love God with all of your heart. And so tonight I wanna show you agape love defined and manifested. We already said on Sunday morning, and let me go back over it, but a bit deeper and with more clarity. There are four Greek words that are used for love. In the Greek language, in ancient Greece, in the days of the Bible, they had four different Greek words, main words. In our English, it's just love. But they had four different words to explain four very different kinds of love. As we already said, there's phileo love, there's eros love, there's sturgeon love, and there's agape or agapeo love. These are four different kinds of love. Let me explain because only two of them are in the Bible. Phileo love's in the Bible and agape love is in the Bible. Eros love didn't get in the Bible. It was used in culture everywhere, but it was never used by the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Sturgeon love was all around them in culture, but it was never used apart from in a negative sense. Let me explain these words just as I go into these six points here. First of all, you have phileo love used in the Bible. Remember what we said about John 21, Jesus speaking to Peter. He used agapeo and phileo. Do you agape me, Peter? Peter answered, I phileo you. It's not what he asked. And so there's a difference. But please know, phileo is a good kind of love. It's in the Bible. But what is phileo love? It's used about 25 times in our Bibles. And philos, where it comes from, it's used about 29 times. That's the word used for friend. Philos is the word for friend. All through the New Testament when it says friend, that's philos. And that's where we get our word phileo. It's the kind of love that a friend has. And so phileo love is actually friendship. And if you know anything about friends, you can't choose your family, can you? But you can choose your friends. See this word phileo, you don't love everybody like this, like a friend. It's a love that you choose to give to a certain person. You don't give it to everyone. It is the love of friendship, phileo love. You usually have it within a select grouping. It's a common bond you have. It is common interest. It's a common association. And listen closely. This phileo love is give and take. You love them as a friend. They love you as a friend. In other words, you actually know you're gonna get something back. It's a friendship, a fellowship, a relationship. And you know that you're giving this love, it's mutual. You know when the love stops on the other side, that friendship dies. It takes two to make a friendship. If you have no friends, maybe you're not loving anyone as you ought to. And so we say that phileo love is mutual. It likes to receive something in response and it gives in response to phileo love as well. It means to be actively fond of someone. You like this person. See, I can promise you, if you don't like someone, you don't phileo them. Don't tell me that you're phileoing someone when you say, I just don't like that person. Oh, God tells me I've gotta love them, but I don't like them. Well, then that means you don't phileo them. You have no phileo love towards that person. You know what the word phileo actually means? It means that you're given a glow or you receive pleasure. It does you good. You love to phileo someone. You get pleasure out of it. You get enjoyment out of it. It stirs your emotion. Phileo is based in the emotions. I love this person. I enjoy this person. I like this person. You maybe don't phileo your wife. I hope all of you do. There's lots of people I've met, they don't phileo their wife. I met people in the church, they don't phileo their wife. They don't have a fellowship and a friendship with their wife, but they'll say, oh, I'm a Christian, I've got to agape them. It's a difference. Listen how this word phileo is used in the New Testament. Matthew 26 and 48. Speaking about Judas. Now he that betrayed him, that is Christ, gave them a sign. Remember he walked into the garden and says, I'm gonna tell you soldiers who Jesus is. I'll give you a sign. What was the sign? Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same as he. Hold him fast. Do you know the word kiss there is phileo? It's the same word as phileo love. A kiss. And in the New Testament, this word kiss, phileo, is used three times like this. So you have Judas coming in and saying, I am gonna do the act of a friend. I'm gonna phileo Jesus. And that's the sign. I'm betraying him. You know what Jesus called Judas? Friend. Do you know sometimes I've called enemies who I knew were betraying me, friend. They didn't know what I was doing. Between me and God, it was a code word. I'm saying I know what they're doing. They think I'm being nice to them. Well, friend. And they smile. I know what you're doing. But do you know what? If Jesus called Judas friend, I'm calling you friend. I know you're betraying me. And you'll use a kiss on the cheek. Phileo, friendship. That isn't a love you give to everyone. This is you choosing out someone to say friend. Do you know what Judas was saying? Jesus, you're my special friend. And Jesus was saying, you're my special friend, but I know you're gonna betray me. It says in John chapter five and 20, for the father loveth the son. Phileo. Don't just think that Phileo is bad and Agape is good. That's not true. Do you know Phileo love? God the father loved the son with Phileo love. It's a friendship. It's unique. It's unusual. He liked the son. And so Phileo love, we ought to have it. It's a very good thing. And it says for the father himself, loveth you, Christians, because ye have loved me. And I believe that I am come from God. Do you know God Phileo's you? Do you know Phileo friendship is a wonderful thing. A special bond. He likes you. He enjoys you. And do you know what? He wants love back. That's not true of Agape. Agape doesn't look for anything back. But Phileo does. There's a way that God comes to love you. And he says, I love you. And I want you to return it. I look for it. And I desire to be Phileo back. It's such a beautiful thing. It also says in John chapter 11, verse three, therefore his sisters send on to him. This is Mary and Martha sending a message to Jesus about their brother. Lord behold, he whom thou lovest is sick Phileo. Remember what Jesus, what it was said about John the Apostle we mentioned on Sunday that Jesus, it was always said of young John, the one who Jesus loved, he Phileo'd. Do you know what it's saying? There is this loving special friend. I've had some friends that I knew along the way. And they misused the word friend. Everyone that met casually said that's a friend of mine until I realized what they meant by friend. Friend isn't that broad. It's better to have a few good friends than 10,000 friends, if you know what I mean. And so we see that ones like John and Lazarus were Jesus's friends. Isn't that amazing? Jesus had a best friend called Lazarus who wasn't an apostle. He didn't choose him to be a preacher. But do you know what Jesus was always found in that home? That was one of his special homes that he loved to be in. This is his friends. You know, even Jesus had a certain few special friends. We think that God loves everybody all the same, all in the church, just this bland, broad love. Do you know God's Phileo love is very specific. It's a friendship love. He wants a friendship. That's how he loves you. It's beautiful. In John 20, verse two, it says, when she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter unto the other disciple whom Jesus loved. That was John. A very special love. You see, that's the first love that we find in the Bible, Phileo. It is a good thing, but it's not the best love. God has it to you towards Christ. Christ has it towards you. You should have it towards God and towards Christ. Phileo love is good, but it can be misused and abused. Do you know what kind of love it is? I love you, and I want you to love me. It's a mutual love. It's a friendship built on mutual love, not one-way love. Then what was the second love we mentioned? Eros love. That's the world's love, not once mentioned in the Bible, not once. Do you know, the Holy Spirit said, I'm not using that word. It's tainted. You know, this generation church, they bring all the terms of the world into the church. That's anathema. You know, there was a lot of words in society the Holy Spirit refused to use, though it was popular. I will not use that word. Do you know why? It's so messed up in people's mind. And so you won't find eros in the Bible. And that's where we get the word erotic. It's physical love or sexual love. Now listen, the definition of eros love. Out there amongst the Greek philosophers and the Greek Roman world, this was everywhere. Everyone talked about eros love. This is the height of love. They excelled. They said, this is love. Your other half, you're not complete without this kind of love. So the Holy Spirit left that word outside, refused to use it. Do you know how this word eros is defined? It's defined as self-love, not mutual love. It is actually self-love. You love yourself. You're wanting physical love with someone else. Why? Because you love yourself. You don't love that person. That's what eros is in its definition. The word eros means to take. It is selfish. It demands. It is satisfying itself. It goes after what it can get and take whether the other person likes it or not. It actually focuses on outward beauty, not inward beauty. It looks at the face, the shape, the size. And you know what this eros, it's moved by a bodily impulse, passion, hormones, yearning, desire. That's what eros is. It has no restraint, no control, no restrictions, no boundaries. There is no ideology of true love within it. That's why the Holy Spirit didn't use the word. You see, the world's view of love is really messed up. You know, our Bible talks about lust. When a man looks at a woman to lust, it's selfish. It's got nothing to do with anyone else. When a man lusts after a woman or a woman lusts after a man, you are not loving anybody. You're selfish. It's centered on yourself. You're gratifying yourself. It's got nothing to do with God. That's why it is actually so, so terribly destructive. Do you know this word eros was integral to all the ancient mystery religions? There's a lot of people who would say, I know all the conspiracies. I know the new world order. I know all their plans to take over the world. I'll never be deceived by that. Yes, and you're drowned in eros. You're right in their trap. I wanna tell you because it's integral. In the Old Testament, we read about King David's children. Tamar was the half-sister of Ammon. Do you remember the story? And he actually looked at her and he fell in love with her. He was so in love with her, he thought he was gonna die. I mean, he was sick. Have you heard that? They're lovesick. Look at him, he's lovesick. I mean, they're Delali over this girl. Well, that's what happened to him. He went Delali over Tamar and he looked at her, her figure, her face, and he fell in love with her. And his best friend come along and said, what's wrong with you? I've fallen in love with Tamar, but she's my half-sister, so I can't have a relationship with her. He said, rubbish, let me work on this for you. And you know the story if you read it. He pretends to be sick, get her to bring the food and feed me, to be my nurse, asked his own father. And as she fed him, he took her, held her, raped her, slept with her, forced her. And then after the act, what did he do? He threw her out and locked the door and said, I don't want anything to do with you. Do you know that's lust, that's Eros. You see, the Bible teaches a healthy marriage. In Hebrews 13 and four, marriage is honorable in all. And the bed is undefiled, it's holy. The marriage bed is pure, it is holy. One man, one woman in privacy, but whoremongers, those who are prostitutes or sleep around, and adulterers, God will judge. Marriage is honorable. The Bible teaches a normal, healthy, physical relationship within marriage. But do you know what, it rejects Eros. You know why? Eros is selfish. Please let me tell you, any physical relationship should not be dominated or defined by Eros. There is another type of love that should be moot in any physical act. I won't go into sturgeon, but let me just say here, man, at this rate, we'll have to go for three. But let me just come here to agape or agapeo, two different terms used all through the New Testament. Agape or agapeo, and this is our message. Agape love defined and manifested. So we see what phileo love is, it's this mutual friendship. We see what Eros is, it is selfish and destructive. But what is agape love? Do you know what it means? Sacrificial, to be self-giving or selfish. That's what defines agape love. It's not selfish. It's unconditional. There is no condition on it. When God loves you, he agapes you. It's not because of anything in you. He loves you. You could hate him, he loves you. You could do everything wrong, he agapes you. And so agape love is the greatest love. It is a giving love. It is a love that's very costly to the person given it. And it's marked by humility. It's not just a feeling, it's a choice. It's an act of the will where you choose to agape someone. You delight in the object. That's where your delight is. It's according to knowledge. And the word agape means you place a value. When you agape someone, it means you place a great value upon them. And as you love them, you're saying you're worth something. You're very, very valuable. If God tells you that he loves you, you know what he's actually saying? If it's agape love, he's saying, you're valuable to me. I love you. Agape love is the greatest love. It may not be returned, not mutual. You can agape someone and they don't even filial you. It is not earned. You don't pay a price for it. You don't stir it up. It's not deserved. It may not be accepted by the person who's loved. In fact, you might suffer because you love someone. You might suffer just because you love someone. But agape love keeps loving. See, if your love comes to an end, it wasn't agape love. If your love is conditional sin, if you do this, then I'll love you. That's not agape love. Take your choice, filial, eros, stirges, but it's not agape love. Agape love actually looks like something, speaks in a certain way, acts in a certain way. With agape love, there's nothing hidden. There's no agenda. There's no motive in the heart. Agape love is remarkable. One writer once said about agape love, this is what he called it. He said it was unconquerable benevolence. You can hurt it, you can abuse it, you can curse it, and still, agape love will still love you. That's what it's like. Do you know the word agapeo in the New Testament dominates? It's not natural love. It's not marital love. It's not human love. Agape love is supernatural. It's not natural. It's not normal. It's not of this world. And yet a very few times we get the word agapeo or agape used by sinners, of sinners. Do you know when it's used of sinners, it shows it's not natural. It's not normal. It's not human. There's something supernatural in it. Listen, it says in 1 John 2 and 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This is agape. There's people out there who love this world. I mean, they love, it's not natural. They don't, listen carefully. They don't even get anything back from this world. This world abuses them. This world hurts them. This world destroys their marriage and their life and their children and their spouse and their parents and all around them. And yet, do you know what they do? They love this world. They love their drugs. It's destroying you. They love their drink. It's broken their marriage. Isn't that true? That is not natural. Why would you love the thing that's destroyed your life? How could you? You know what it is? It's an agape love. Agape you. It's not natural. It's not logical. It's not normal. It's not same. And so there's a negative side. There is a spiritual agape that's in this world that's terribly destructive. In John 3, 19, it says, and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They love darkness. They didn't love truth. They didn't love what was right. They love darkness. Just before this, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. This is John 3, 19, three verses later. God so agape the world. Men so agape darkness. Look at these men, sinners. God is agape in them, but they love darkness. They don't want their works exposed. It's not normal that you would love darkness when God the creator is loving you unconditionally in your sin. The Bible speaks about a man called Demas. He had been a preacher with Paul. And we're told Paul, right, and he says, Demas has forsaken me, loving this world. Agape in this world. It's not natural. It's not normal for this preacher to leave ministry and to go out into the world because he loves this world. You ever seen people driven and you go, what is driving them? Maybe it's agape, but going in the wrong direction. Or Revelation 22, verse 15. For without, outside the kingdom of God, eternally are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Do you know men who agape lies will be lost eternally. They love lies. They love it. They're driven. They can't help it. They live in the realm of lies. There's guys in these streets. They would tell you, they'd make you wait all through to tomorrow morning with the sad stories. I had a man once lie to me. I sat up all night long as he told me a sad story. You see, I'm an alcoholic because I was a Christian once. I did love God once, but we had a car accident. My wife was killed. My children were killed. And I turned to alcohol. I stayed up all night long. His name was Little John from Scotland. I'd rescued him from being drunk, burnt alive in the hot sun. I rescued him, brought him into our house. He slept in our beds. We fed him a lovely meal. And all through the night, I didn't go to bed that night. I wept with him, prayed with him. He's an absolute liar. Next morning, one of the girls had washed his clothes, brought me his book with his mom's phone number. I said, I'm gonna phone her in Glasgow. And I phoned and I said, I'm so sorry about John's wife and children. What? Well, how they got killed in the car accident and he turned to drink. What? Nothing to assert, she's here. It was his drink. She couldn't handle it anymore, had to throw him out. He destroyed the marriage. Let me get to my six points. I've done it again, I'm sorry. Number one, listen very carefully. I wanna give you, I'm talking about agape love. So I hope we really see, we're not talking about friendship, mutual love. We're not talking about Eros love. We're not talking about natural family love. We're talking about agape love. It's supernatural. It's not natural. What a sinner has for this world. So a Christian or God himself has for those who don't deserve it. You don't even need a return of God will agape you. My friend, God agapes you. You can do your worst, you can sin. And yet God has a love. He says, I love you. You don't deserve it. He knows the worst about you. He knows your lies. He knows your sin. And he says, I loved you. And I sent my son to die on the cross for you. You know why? That you could believe in him and be set free and made clean and made right and literally have your life changed. The love of God does that. Number one, loving God. This is the first manifestation of our love. Loving God or agape in God. What did Jesus say here in Mark chapter 12, 30? And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart. You are to love God, not with philio. Please do philio God. Not with sturgeon saying he's my papi, my daddy. Oh no, you're to agape God. A love that's not natural, supernatural. It takes first place. If you never get anything back for your love, you are to love God. Even if no prayer seems to be answered, no blessing come, no answers given to the difficulties of life. There is an agape love. You're to love God. Should you be walking in darkness and you can't see and hear or feel or understand. You know some people, whenever something happens in their life and they blame God and say, I'm not gonna believe in him anymore. I'm not gonna love him anymore. Certainly wasn't the love that God talks about. This is the first and greatest commandment. Love God with all of your heart. You're to agape him. You know what you're to do? You're to literally love God, not looking for anything back. There's some people that give tithes and offerings. There was a guy in here once. There was a whole group of them. I stayed behind Sunday one day a few years ago and we sat down and they all had picked this up from the super apostles that you give a tithe to get something and you write down what you want back. I mean, you won't find that in the Bible. I've never once given money to get anything back from God. Not one single time. Not from a child. You'd need to be taught that. Why did I give to God? Because I love him. Why did I give him my Sundays? Because I love him. Why do I give him everything? Because I love him. I give him my heart. I love him. In the Old Testament, this was the first and greatest commandment. There is no greater commandment to love God with all of your heart. And time and time again, it is defined. What does it mean? You know, you naturally can't love God with agape love. That's not natural. This is supernatural from God. Agape love is that you're possessed by something. You know, when God loves you, it's for your highest good. He agapes you. It's for your benefit, your blessing. It's supernaturally granted. And it's an enabled love by the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen in the Old Testament, how you get a heart to love God. Do you know how you get a heart to love God? In the Old Testament, they were told, Deuteronomy 30 verse six, and the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. Do you know before you can love God with all your heart, your heart needs to be circumcised. And I won't go into all of this. I hope you understand what circumcision is. There's gotta be a cutting off of that skin, the flesh. There's gotta be a mark. Do you know when you're born again and you meet God, God circumcises the heart. He cuts the flesh away from that heart. He sets your heart free. He gives you a new heart. And you know why? He circumcised your heart so that you will love him. There's testimonies right around this room. The day that God met with me and I got born again and God saved and God circumcised my heart, I began to love him instantly. And so God circumcises the heart. That's what gives you the ability to love God. I will circumcise your heart. Do you know what stops you from loving God as a sinner? Is the flesh. The flesh comes in. What is it, man? You need an operation of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God will give unto you the ability to love God. It's supernatural. What does it say in 1 John? Remember the apostle of love. 1 John chapter four, verse 19. We love him, God, Christ. We love him. We love him. I hope you love him tonight. We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. Do you realize if God hadn't agaped you, you would not love. You wouldn't love God. There's not one of you sitting here would say, I love God. In fact, I don't care what I lose, what price I pay, what I sacrifice. I don't care if my life was threatened. I'd still say, I love God. If you ever get yourself in a situation and some Muslim terrorist is gonna kill you, and he says, do you have any last word to say? You know what? You could say it with meaning. I love agape God. I don't care what you do to me. I love him. This is loving God. It's supernatural. It's real. I love him because he first loved me. Or 1 John chapter four and 10. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. He died on the cross. He'd become a sacrifice for sin. Why'd I love him? Because he loved me. He sent his son to die on the cross. You wanna ask me why'd I radically love God, passionately love God, wholeheartedly love God? Because of the cross. If you haven't been to the cross, you don't love God tonight. If you're here and you want to love God, if you want a heart to love God, you know where you've gotta go? You've gotta go to the cross where God so loved you that he allowed his son to die for your sin. Your sin put Christ on the cross. It was love for you that put him on the cross. When you see Christ down there, it's your sin he's suffering for. It's your sin that held him there. It's your sin. Someone had to pay the price or you'd be in hell eternally. You'd have no hope, no repentance, no second chance, nothing. God couldn't even love you if Jesus hadn't died on the cross. But do you know what? When you look at the cross, that's a manifestation of agape love. You want to understand agape love, look at the cross, look at the blood, look to Jesus. When he laid down his life for you, why would he do that for you? Are you so beautiful? Were you so clean? Were you so nice? Were you so perfect? Were you so holy? You are a sinner. God only saves one kind of person, a sinner, a diehard sinner. He won't save a righteous man or a religious man or a Pharisee. He's got to save a sinner. Here in his love, this is love. Mark, sorry, Matthew chapter 10, 37. He that loveth father and mother more than me. This is Phileo. He that loveth, Phileos, has a special, beautiful attachment to father, mother. Do you know some husbands could so Phileo their wife, enjoy their marriage, their relationship, their children, and there's peace in that home, and they enjoy it all, and they get on well, and that could take them to hell. Jesus said, if you Phileo father and mother more than me, you're not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. You could have such a Phileo love to family or children or wife or husband, they'll actually keep you out of heaven. You'll miss out on a gappy love from God. You see, it's about priority. That's the first type of love, loving God. Do you love God tonight? It's a work of the Holy Spirit. I don't even fully understand why I love God as I do. Nothing, I wouldn't even let Candice get in the way of this. I love her with all my heart. She's got everything. I don't let her near all my books, but most of them, some of them. Let her see some, I let her hold some of them, not all of them. I love her. But do you know what I told her a long time ago? If you left God and threatened me, I'd say, fine, I'm following God. You can do whatever you're going. I'm gonna follow God. Just make sure you shut the door when you leave. You know how much I love her, but I don't love her that much. I don't love any of you that much. Number two, loving the truth. Loving the truth. And we mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 10, it talks about those in this generation, the last hour, when antichrist system is arising, when God is gonna send great delusion on the world. You know what that great delusion is? It's antichrist. Do you know we're fast coming to a stage where God says, this is such a wicked generation. I am gonna send a delusion that if they do not receive a love for truth, and if they don't believe the truth, they will believe in antichrist. In our world, we've got a lot of truthers. They haven't come to Christ, but they're seeing what's happening. Do you realize they're gonna follow antichrist if they don't find Christ? And it's not antichrist just deceiving them. The Bible says God is gonna send a delusion, a confusion, a deception, that if they don't receive a love for truth, God will hand them over to be deceived by antichrist. Do you see how important they are we live in? You're either gonna follow Christ or antichrist. You're either gonna believe the truth or believe a lie. You won't have any choice. There is a supernatural power coming in this generation. There is an almighty, overwhelming, supernatural power. You'll either love antichrist or Christ. There won't be any other choice. There's lots of sinners who see through everything, understand everything, and they'll say, I would never fall for transhumanism when it reaches its full climax. Yes, you will. You will, you'll swallow the lie. You will love antichrist. You will worship him if you miss Christ. See, loving the truth, it says they received not the love of the truth. That shows me if you love truth, not a lie, if you love the Bible, if you love the word of God, you know what has happened? You have received love. You didn't just choose to love truth. You have received from God. See, if you love God, that came from him. If you love truth, that came from him. Have you received as a free gift? See, I haven't had to create a love for truth. I love truth because it came from him. I received it wholesale by the grace of God. I love truth because I'm a Christian. I desire truth. I believe the truth. If you ever find someone who calls himself a Christian and doesn't love the truth, agape the truth, they're mad about the truth. They utterly are dedicated to it, even if it hurts them. That's agape love. That's real love. Do you know what Jesus said in 1 John 5 and 3? For this is the love of God. How would you describe the love of God? Listen to how he describes it. That we keep his commandments. What does the love of God look like? You're a lover of truth. You keep the commandments. Show me a Christian who doesn't keep the commandment, doesn't love the commandments. I'll show you someone who doesn't love God. That's what it's saying. And his commandments are not grievous, a burden. Ever seen a Christian who says, I don't wanna do that? That's a burden. Do we really have to meet on Sundays? Should we really do that? Yes, the Bible teaches it. Man, there's something wrong with you. When the promise, what to give your money, that's a burden to you. What's wrong with you? Jesus, that you should go to hell. And you're actually so covetous, you won't even give to God. You know what? You don't love God. If you can't love him with your money, do you honestly think you really love him? There's something fundamentally wrong. It says, and keepeth his commandment, or he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word. Notice this, if you keep the word of God, you obey the word of God. If you do that, in you verily is the life. The love of God perfected. If you love to keep the word, you obey the word, you keep the commandments, the love of God is perfected or mature within you. Okay, if you're not keeping basic commandments, you're a baby at best. I'll give you that much room. But don't be proud and arrogant thinking that you're spiritual and you know a lot, if you don't keep the commandments. Because the love of God, I know that you love truth, you love the word of God, you love God, because you keep his promises. And he should be loved of my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Is it possible you have very little of the manifestation of the love of God, because you don't keep his commandments, you don't love his word, you're not careful over the commands. And you go, why do I never feel the love of God? Why do I feel like I'm lost? Why do I feel insecure? Maybe it's your love life. You are not loving God. There's actually a problem here. In John 14, 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words. It's all through John, all through his gospel, all through his three letters, he constantly repeats it. He's the apostle of love. And so he says, if you love me, Jesus speaking, you will keep my words, what I taught. How do I recognize a sheep from a goat? Remember in the Middle East, they both look the same. Meh, meh. Okay, I'm gonna find out what they are. Do you love the word of God? No, you're a goat. Why? I don't like to. You're a goat. You can identify them. Do you love to keep the words of Christ? Do you search them out? And my father will love him and we will come unto him, again he's saying it, and we will make our abode with him. The love of God leads you to keep the word of God and you have manifestations, not of Toronto, not of laughter, but of the love of God, of the presence of God, of the person of God. Are you having manifestations of his love? Have you? Oh yes, there's times in your Christian walk, God will literally withdraw the sense and feeling of his love to test your heart, he does that. But can I ask you, have you experienced a manifestation of the love of God? It promises it here, it's for you. You can be so intimate with God that you have a deluge of the love of God. It's real sense. You say, I don't believe in these experiences. Then you're not biblical. This is for a basic Christian who loves God. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. How much more simpler can this be? If you meet someone and they don't love God's word, they do not love God, they're not of God, they don't know God. Third of all, loving your brethren. Loving God, loving truth, loving the brethren. It says in John 13, 34, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another. This is the church. Christians loving other Christians in the church. I give a new commandment, love one another. How? As I loved you, that ye also love one another. How many people have we had come into this church who left, who said, I don't feel loved? They're the ones who got all the lifts. You know, every single person, so forever, all through these years, you go and drive, every Sunday, you drive out, pick them up, bring them in, leave them off, look after them, drive them everywhere. How many cards of thanks did you get, brother, in a period of eight years? Zero. People think they have some sort of right. Do you know all the people who come in and say, I don't feel loved there? They're not here. They're the ones who received more than any of you sitting here, they're not here. How do you discern? One John five, it says in verse two, it says, you know that you love the brethren because you keep the commandments. How do I know that you're loving people in here? Because you're keeping the commandments to them. Are you praying for them? Are you carrying their burdens? Are you encouraging them? That's only three ways. See how love manifests. You didn't phone me tonight. Where's that verse? You should have given me a big bun after Sunday service. Nobody's talking to me. Nobody shook my hand. Where's those verses? See how you have to be so, so careful. We are commanded to love one another, but what does it look like? John 15, 13, greater love has no man than this to lay down his life for his friends. You wanna see love? Show me someone laying down their life, suffering, sacrificing, going the extra mile for their brother. One John chapter three, 14, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whomsoever hateth his brother is a murderer. Do you know how vile it is not to love your brother? Other Christians, you don't forgive them. You hate them. You're annoyed with them. You're angry with them. Do you know what dangerous ground you're on? Oh, well, I'm still a Christian. I love God. I believe the Bible, but they, I hate them. You're a child of the devil. I'm an able. No, you're not. You're a cain. There are two brothers born into the same family, but you don't love your brother. You hate your brother. You know what you are? You're a devil. How dangerous. Remember what Jesus actually taught, how you can discern a real Christian. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. 1 John 4, 7, everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Do you love your born of God? If you're born again, you love God and you love others. There's a real sincere love. Many years ago, I was part of it. I helped the church. I brought many people into their conventions. I encouraged them, sent them great preachers, done everything for them, never asked for anything. It was a gappy love. I loved the pastor. I loved the church. It wasn't my church. I wasn't getting in and out of it. I just wanted everyone to be blessed. After years of doing this, some four years, that pastor became a devil. The man who seemed to be filled with love become a devil. He tried to destroy his family, tried to destroy me. I never done anything. He was angry, bitter, jealous, called Brother Clendenin a false prophet, turned on me with a vengeance and vileness. Not once did I resent him. Do you realize 50 pastors left me in one day? And that was the beginning of it. He fooled all my friends. He parted me from good friends. He damaged me. I can hardly preach in those areas where his influence went. Not for one second did that a gappy love diminish. That's not natural. I wanna tell you, I don't love like that. Keith Malcolmson does not have that kind of love. Neither do you. We really do not. But do you know what? Loving your brethren. Birth of God. You know that pastor, after he'd done all of that with his family and me and everyone, he got into the pulpit on a Sunday morning. My mom phoned me and said, that's it, she was in the service and he preached on the love of God. And he preached it biblically, passionately, accurately, powerfully. It's just one problem. He didn't live it. He didn't love the brethren. Do you know how dangerous that is? You think loving the brethren's an option? I can choose who I agape. I don't need to agape everyone in the church. You as a church are commanded, every one of you, to agape every other believer in this church. Man, I need to preach this more. You need to agape this preacher, all of you. And if you don't agape me, you're in serious trouble. I love this message. I should have taken more time on that. Point four, loving your wife. Boy. Ephesians chapter 5, 25. Husbands, love your wives. It doesn't say wives, love your husbands in this place. Husbands, love your wives. What is the marker? As Christ also loved the church. Someone two weeks ago sent me a video, said, brother Keith, you've got to watch this. This is revelation. This is dynamic. This teaching is powerful. It's sort of hinting we've all got to watch this. I've got it wrong, but this man's got it right. And he's a nice man. He's a good man. He's my brother in Christ, this teacher. But he was showing that it is wrong for Christians to live right by looking back to the cross or to Calvary. We mustn't live in the past. We need to look forward. It's always based on Christ's second coming, how we live. And he told a whole hour long message on that. It's utterly biblically wrong, but he's a lovely guy. And very sincere. And he's ministering to the persecuted church, but he's totally wrong in that message. All these verses talk about looking back to Calvary. Husbands, love your wife. Where are you going to get the example? As Christ loved the church and gave himself for it on the cross. You only have one example to love your wife. You have to. What? Agape your wife. Can't I just fill you her? Or eros her? No. You've got to agape. Love your wife. Christ is the standard. You better have a real experience of Christ. You cannot conjure up this love. You cannot create it. This is not about what you're getting out of it. This is loving someone with a pure love. Whether they ever love you. Well, she's not loving me. So what? She's not saying nice things. She's not doing everything right. I can list all the things she's not doing. And that's got nothing to do with this command. Nothing. You are to agape your wife. But she hurt me. And, oh yes, I have another verse for you. Husbands don't get better. That's the appropriate scripture for that point. You will have things happen from your wife. Word spoken, where you're in danger of getting better. So what does he say? Don't get better. Love them. Agape them. Husbands, love. Love dearly. Means to be well pleased with. Unconditional. Paying a price to love the other person. Do you know it appears six times in these verses in Ephesians five about love. It is a commanded love. It's not just an emotion. It's commanded. It is given. It flows out of Calvary. You say that you're lacking in loving your wife. You better get back to the cross. There's only one place you're gonna find this love. Do you know why I love Candace the way I do? Don't always think it's filial when I speak here. Or it's attraction. Or it's friendship. Oh no, it's agape love. It's agape love. It's something far greater. Do you know, before I had an emotion towards her or an attraction towards her, do you know I agape'd her because I cared about her soul? Way before I fell in love with her or had any physical attraction, I knew that she was in a dangerous place. She was in a crossroads and she was either gonna walk with God or be tempted by the things of this world when I first knew her. And what a tragedy if I didn't agape her. We preached a message once from Ephesians five showing what this agape love of a husband towards a wife looks like. It's a sacrificial love. It's a selfless love. It's a sanctifying love. A sensible love. A sustaining love. A separated love. And a supreme or super abundant love. Number five, love in sinners. We dealt with this a bit on Sunday. I won't go too far. For God so loved, agape'd the world. Do you know all of you sitting here, do you know God agape'd you? God, who is perfect and holy, so loved the world. How do you know God agape'd you? Do you feel it? Do you sense it? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That's how you know he agape'd you. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You go, I don't, have you ever talked to someone, a Christian or a sinner, and said, I don't know if God, in fact, it's always a Christian says, I don't know if God loves me. I don't feel the love of God. What? You don't know if God loves you. So what are you looking for? A feeling. That's gonna prove to, if you have this emotional feeling for five minutes, that's actually gonna prove to you that God loves you. And you're gonna be utterly convinced. Really? Maybe you need to look at Calvary. Go back to the word of God. God so loves you while you're a sinner. Now that you're saved, you're struggling to believe God loves you. Why? Because you're struggling to love him. Do you know when you look at Jesus, how he dealt with sinners all through his life, it's amazing. And we talked about the woman with alabaster box, the woman caught in adultery, the dying thief, the rich young ruler. We see the love of God, the agape love. Do you know all of us as a church, we need to evangelize Limerick. Rory, you need to evangelize your mother. Has filio come to an end? Has sturgeon come to an end? Has natural human love come to an end? You know what? You need to agape the sinners around you. Oh, but they're not nice. And you're waiting for sinners to be nice and to love you and accept you. And then you say, if they do all that, then I will love them with the love of Jesus. Then they'll die and go to hell. Do you know what? There's many in this city have never seen agape love. They've been used. They've been abused. They've been thrown away. They want loved. They actually are searching just for love, but they can't find anyone who doesn't have a motive or an agenda. They're actually looking and seeking for genuine, pure, stable, strong, real, genuine love that just loves them. And it's in the church. You wanna know how we're gonna evangelize this city? Just love them. Love your mother. Love your children. Love your brother. Love your sister. You can lecture them from now the kingdom come. You could lecture an unsaved husband. Yes, preach at the right time. But you know, Peter, he says, just live this life. John Harper, 1912, was a man filled with the love of God. He was an evangelist leaving one of the greatest churches in Glasgow, Scotland. He was about to get the boat on the Monday morning or whatever day it was. And in the service, a man stood up in the service and said, I really feel something terrible's gonna happen. Please, pastor, don't get on that boat. I just know something's gonna happen. There's a mature Christian. John Harper said, no, I know the will of God. It's important I go. He was about to go to America and become the pastor of Moody's Church in Chicago, one of the most famous of churches. And he was about to become the pastor of Moody's Church in Chicago. He got on the boat. Guess what the boat's name was? It was called the Titanic. And that night when it hit the iceberg and began to sink, do you know what John Harper was doing on board the boat? As that boat's sinking, he is evangelizing, telling sinners to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know, he had a life jacket, but there was someone in the cold water that was gonna perish and die who didn't have one. And he took off his life jacket. He's guaranteed to die. But do you know what? He loves sinners. He had got these sinners. He believes there's an eternity. He knows he's gonna die. And he hands this life jacket to a sinner. Says, you take it, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know, he swam. These are his last moments. He swam in the cold, freezing water. He's got moments left to live now. He swims to a man and he says, believe in Christ. And the man rejected it, said, no, I don't believe that. In the icy water. And they drifted. And then John Harper with his last drink swims to that man one last time. And pleads, please listen, believe in Christ. And suddenly that man testified later in a church in Canada said, his heart melted. And he found his heart suddenly changed in the waters. And he believed in Christ. And he said, I was Harper's last convert in this world. As Pastor Harper went in under the water and drowned. And went to be with Jesus. Do you realize what a gap he left for sinners is? For your mother, for our family. It is Calvary love. Sixth and lastly, let me just mention this as we close. Is loving your enemies. Jesus teaching in his greatest sermon. Says in Matthew 5, 44, but I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. I can't love, I've come to the end of my love. They hate me, they persecute me, they're my enemies. They're pursuing me, they're lying on me. If you stop loving when someone lies on you, your love is not a gappy love. This love demonstrated on the cross to save you. Your love is not a gappy love. You know how I recognize a gappy love? It's not from me, it's from Calvary, it's from God. And it can keep going against every opposition. Jesus actually teaches, love your enemy. It's a command, you don't have a choice. You must love your enemy. Someone who wants to do you harm, to curse you, who hates you. If you're a Christian and someone hates you, so you hate them, you need to repent here tonight. But they hurt me, oh I know. They lie to me, I understand. They cause trouble for me and you hate them? They're enemies, they're sinners, they're on their way to hell. How are they gonna see the love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Friends, these six points are showing the love of a Christian. You are first of all to love God with a gappy love. If you love God, then your love is truth. Then you'll love your brothers and sisters in the church. You really will. Then you'll love your wife. You will love sinners and you will love your enemies. I've just shown you here what a gappy love is. A gappy love comes from God and it will change a heart and change a life and conquer a sinner. Do you remember as Stephen is being stoned and martyred? He's about to die and there's a young man holding the coats and as the stones rain down, he gets down on his knees and prays and he looks up to heaven, says, Father, forgive them. Do you know who that young man is? He's gonna become the greatest preacher of the church, the Apostle Paul. But he's standing there angry, hating Stephen. I hate you. We're killing you. We're taking your life. What did Stephen do? He loved him. And that love conquered that man eventually. There's only so many Christians you can kill. And I believe again coming a generation of Christian killers. Do you know why the Muslims aren't being evangelized? And I close with this. Do you know why they're not being evangelized? They're not in Limerick. Maybe the ones and twos, but they're not being reached. They're not getting born again. They're not in France. They're not in London. They're not in Birmingham. Do you know why? They haven't encountered this love. I think some of those Muslims need to encounter someone to say, you can do anything to me. I'm gonna love you. And that's what's in Islam and it's gonna break loose. But is there a church and a people who could walk into Paris, into those no-go areas and evangelize? You'll lose your life. You will. But we don't have that type of Christian anymore that says, for me to die is gain. We'll go to the Indians in South America and they'll kill us but our wives will come and evangelize. Remember that missionary story? We'll go to Africa and be the first missionary on the beach and they'll kill us but we'll send 10 more missionaries. That's why there's no missionaries now. We stay nice and safe in our homes and say, let someone else do it. Oh, it's all over. I'm waiting on Jesus. Hurry up. Hurry up. God help us in this last hour. We need agape love again. Will you pray with me? Father, I thank you, God, for the reality of your agape love that conquered us at Calvary upon the cross. Lord God, we can't explain it. We can't limit it. We can't restrict it. That love has no boundaries that you so loved us that you would allow your son to be taken by the hand of wicked, evil, sinful men and nailed to a cross. You had all power that could have stopped him yet you didn't. Agape love restrained your hand so that we could be saved. Father, I pray tonight, any that don't know you in this room, will you save them? Will you reveal your love to them? Not by commands, not by threats, not by intellectual arguments but will you conquer their hearts by real sincere love manifest at Calvary where Jesus died for sinners that they could be saved and be made right with you? Father, all of us, we wanna have a heart to love you and we wanna carry this in the midst of this city, this wicked, evil, rotten, depressed city with people committing suicide and ruining their life with sin, drugs, drink, immorality, religion. We pray that we would be known by our love one towards the other and that we would show it. Help us because it's not naturally from us. Let the love of God flow down right now. Father, I pray, oh God, let there be a manifestation in marriages in this room. Lord God, in friendships in this room, in this church, let there be a manifestation of the love of Jesus where we can love our enemies, we can love sinners in our own families. We cannot love like you love unless you work it in our heart. You said the fruit of the Spirit is love and we want it to grow in our hearts. In Jesus' mighty name.