One Word Descriptor of Love Ephesians 6:24

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

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