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The Goal Is Love
We’re going to make a proclamation, as we
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always do, God helping us.
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This proclamation is taken from 1 John 4:7–11
and verse 16.
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You might be interested to research that from
the beginning of chapter 4, verse 7, to the
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end of the chapter, the word love as an adjective,
noun or a verb occurs twenty-eight times in
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those verses.
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We’re not going to quote them all but we’re
going to quote some
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of them.
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“Beloved, let us love one another, for love
is of God; and everyone who loves is born
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of God and knows God.
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He who does not love does not know God, for
God is love.
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In this the love of God was manifested toward
us, that God has sent His only begotten Son
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into the world, that we might live through
Him.
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In this is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
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propitiation for our sins.
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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought
to love one another.
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We have known and believed the love that God
has for us.
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God is love, and he who abides in love abides
in God, and God in him.”
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I’m sorry, but I tend to get emotional.
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It’s not through desire because I was brought
up not to be emotional.
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If ever anybody was trained in the school
of the stiff upper lip, it was I. I won’t
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go into all my background but I’m from a
military family and I was educated in boarding
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schools in this country from the age of 9
through the age of 25.
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And, emotion had very little place in our
lives.
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Indeed, it was a good family but love was
something we never discussed.
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I came to know the Lord Jesus on the last
Thursday night in July 1941.
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In an Army barrack room in the middle of the
night I had a dramatic personal encounter
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with Jesus Christ which totally and permanently
changed my life.
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I am not perfect but I am different from what
I was before I met Jesus.
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Twelve years later in 1953 when I was pastoring
a small assembly in Bayswater, in London,
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about 2:00 am one night the Lord woke me up
and spoke to me audibly.
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It’s the only time in my life that I actually
heard God speak to me.
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I’ve never forgotten one word that He spoke
at that time.
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I will quote a little of it but not all of
it.
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There was no preamble, no introduction, no
explanation, He simply said this:
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“There shall be a great revival in the United
States and Great Britain.”
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Then He told me something about may personal
ministry which I will not quote, and He ended
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with these words:
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“But the condition is obedience in small
things and in great things; for the small
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things are as great as the great things.”
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I have never doubted God spoke those words
to me and 40 years have no passed and I was
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reminded in the prayer room before we came
in of Caleb.
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I told the brother who reminded me it was
unusually appropriate because Caleb said,
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“Forty years have passed but I intend to
go into the inheritance.”
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And that’s my intention, too.
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I believe God is going to send a great revival.
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He’s not going to revive the whole of Britain
but He’s going to revive the church in Britain.
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And that will impact the whole nation.
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It’s easy to prophesy revival.
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I’ve heard one or two prophecies given that
really were self defeating because just to
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say there is a revival or there will be revival
tends to leave people feeling “I don’t
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have to do much about it.”
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But that’s not true.
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I believe there will be revival when God’s
people meet His conditions.
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It’s not an unconditional promise.
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In the messages that I hope to bring to you
this week I propose to deal with seven issues
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that we have to face if we really expect revival.
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Since about 1991 God spoke to Ruth and me
and said, “I don’t want you to go anywhere
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except when I send you.”
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Before that we would accept invitations and
go, we were always prayerful, but God has
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limited us now to go only where He sends us.
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I believe He has sent us here.
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So tonight I’m going to deal with the first
of what I call the seven issues.
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I’m not going to give a title to it.
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I was asked to give a title by the man who
does the recording but I’m not going to
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make the title public, I’ll let you discover
it.
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I want to turn, to start with, to Romans 8:3–4.
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“For what the law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God id by sending
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His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
on account of sin: He condemned sin in the
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flesh, that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
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according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit.”
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As I understand that, what Paul is saying
is God has never expected us to achieve righteousness
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by keeping the Law of Moses.
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The Law of Moses was perfect, it was God given.
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The fault is not in the law, the fault is
in us.
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But because we could not achieve righteousness
by keeping the law, God provided an alternative
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way through the substitutionary sacrifice
of Jesus on the cross.
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Jesus Himself was the only Jew, I believe,
who ever perfectly kept the Law of Moses.
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And ultimately, He gave His life as an atonement
for the sins of all those who had broken the
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law and also for the sins of those who had
never been under the law.
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So, we are not required to achieve righteousness
by obeying the Law of Moses.
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Can you say thank God?
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Because, the Law of Moses was pretty tough.
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And yet God says it’s perfectly possible
to do it but none of us did.
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So, what is the alternative?
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This is the issue that I want to raise tonight,
what is the alternative?
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If we’re not required to keep the Law of
Moses, how can we achieve righteousness with
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God?
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The theme of Romans is righteousness.
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In Job 9:3 Job asked a question out of his
perplexity and misery:
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“How can a man be righteous before God?”
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And Job’s friends, if you can call them
friends, ridiculed the idea that anybody could
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ever be righteous with God.
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But many hundreds of years later God gave
His answer.
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How can a man be righteous with God?
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The answer is found in the epistle to the
Romans.
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The righteousness of God which is revealed
by faith to faith is described and fully unfolded
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in the epistle to the Romans.
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So, God says you’re not required to observe
the law but Paul says “that the righteous
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requirement of the law might be fulfilled
in us who do not work according to the flesh
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but according to the Spirit.”
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We are not required to observe the law but
we are required to fulfill the righteous requirement
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of the law.
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That word in Greek is dikaoma.
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The Greek word for righteousness is dikaosune.
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So dikaosune, righteousness, is a kind of
general concept.
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Dikaoma is a specific outworking of it.
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The same word is translated or used in Revelation
19 when it says “the fine linen of the saints
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if the righteous acts of the saints.”
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So, the word we’re talking about is righteousness
in action, righteousness worked out, righteousness
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made practical.
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And this we are required to observe.
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Let me read those words again.
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“For what the law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God did by sending
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His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
on account of sin: He condemned sin in the
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flesh, that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
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according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit.”
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That raises a question of vital importance
for every Christian, which is what is the
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righteous requirement of the law?
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What is it that we are required to fulfill?
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We’re not required to keep the Law of Moses
but we are required to keep the righteous
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requirement of the law.
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And the theme of my message is simply the
answer to the question what is the righteous
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requirement of the law?
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I am simpleminded enough to believe that it
can be answered in one word of four letters.
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How many of you know the word?
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Love, that’s right.
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Love is the righteous requirement of the law.
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We are expected to observe that.
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We are not required to keep the entire Law
of Moses but we are required to observe the
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righteous requirement of the law.
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Let me give you just a number of scriptures
that confirm what I’ve said.
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We’ll turn, first of all, to Matthew 22:35
and following.
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This is a conversation between Jesus and the
teacher of the Law of Moses.
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“Then one of them, a lawyer [or a teacher],
asked Jesus a question, testing Him, and saying,
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‘Teacher, which is the great commandment
in the law?’
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Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your
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soul and with all your mind.’
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This is the first and great commandment.
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And the second is like it: ‘You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.’”
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Notice He did not hedge, He did not compromise,
He was absolutely clear.
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The two great commandments are love the Lord
your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
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And then He went on to say:
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“On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the prophets.”
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The Law and the prophets represent what we
today call the Old Testament.
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So, suppose that I wanted to take my jacket
off, which I don’t, and I wanted to hang
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it up on a peg somewhere.
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One simple fact stands out, the peg would
have to be there before I could hang the jacket
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on it.
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Jesus said all the Law and the prophets hang
on these two commandments.
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The primary commandments that was there before
the Law and the prophets are the commandments
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to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
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Then in Romans 13:8–10 Paul writes this:
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“Owe no one anything...”
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I’m not going to preach on that but it’s
rather a demanding statement, isn’t it?
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Owe no one anything.
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Don’t be in debt.
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“Owe no one anything except to love one
another, for he who loves another has fulfilled
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the law.
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For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit
adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You
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shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear
false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’
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and if there is any other commandment, are
all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You
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shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
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Love does not harm to a neighbor, therefore
love is the fulfillment of the law.”
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Love is the righteous requirement of the law.
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And then one further scripture, and we could
choose many others, but in Galatians 5:14
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Paul says:
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“For all the law if fulfilled in one word,
even in this, ‘You shall love your neighbor
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as yourself.’”
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Notice, the whole law is fulfilled in one
word.
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What is the word?
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I didn’t hear you.
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Say it again.
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That’s better.
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Now, in John 13 Jesus, I would say, related
His teaching to what had gone before, to the
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Law of Moses and the Old Testament.
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And in John 13:34–35 Jesus said to His disciples:
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“A new commandment I give you...”
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Moses had given them ten commandments plus
a whole set of regulations.
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Contemporary Judaism has 613 commandments,
if you want to know.
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Jesus said, “I’ll only give you one commandment.
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That’s all.
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If you fulfill this that’s all I ask.”
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“A new commandment I give you, that you
love one another; as I have loved you, that
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you also love one another.”
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What is the commandment?
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To love one another the way Jesus has loved
us.
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And then He goes on to say:
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“By this all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
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One thing I like about Good News Crusade is
they have a powerful vision for evangelism.
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I share that vision.
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I have evangelized many ways in many places
to many people.
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But I recognize one thing: that no evangelist
and no evangelism will ever reach the whole
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human race.
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There’s only one thing that will reach the
whole human race.
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“By this shall all men know that you are
my disciples, if you have love one for another.”
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That is the testimony that will reach the
entire world, it is the love of Christians
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for one another.
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And then I want to turn to one of my favorite
scriptures which isn’t often quoted in 1
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Timothy 1:5–6.
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“Now the purpose of the commandment is love
from a pure heart, from a good conscience,
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and from sincere faith, from which some, having
strayed, have turned as die to idle talk...”
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So Paul says the commandment, whether you
take it’s the Law of Moses or you take it’s
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the one commandment Jesus gave, the purpose
of the commandment is summed up in one word,
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love.
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And three conditions are given for having
that kind of love: a pure heart, a good conscience,
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and sincere faith.
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I like the New American Standard Version of
that verse, it says:
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“The goal of our instruction is love...”
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And when I first read that it caused me to
pause and think.
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I’ve been a preacher for goodness knows
how long, 50 years probably, at least.
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I asked myself what has been the goal of my
instruction?
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What have I aimed to produce in the people
that listen to me?
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I had to say if it has been love I have often
failed.
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To those of you who are preachers, teachers,
Sunday School teachers or whatever you are
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that in some way has an active ministry, I
want to ask you this question: What is the
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goal of your instruction?
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What is it that you are aiming to produce
in the people who listen to you?
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If you’re a pastor, what are you aiming
to produce in your church?
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Because if you’re not aiming to produce
love, Paul says everything else is idle talk
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or vain discussion, the NASB says.
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That’s a very searching thought.
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I suggest to you that a great deal of contemporary
Christian activity is misdirected because
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it is not aimed at producing the one thing
that has to be our objective.
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And if it is aimed, frequently it’s missing
the mark.
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If you were to talk to the people who were
not Christians in this country and say, “What
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is the attitude of people who call themselves
Christians to one another?”
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very few people would answer love.
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Very few.
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The unsaved, in many ways, are more observant
than the saved.
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We get so used to a kind of religious procedure
that we call Christianity that we take it
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for granted this must be the right thing.
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This is the way everything is done, this is
how people do it; how could we do it differently?
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I want to say it to you, and I say it first
and foremost to myself as a preacher, if I
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am not producing love in the people who listen
to my teaching, hear my tapes, read my books,
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whatever it may be, it’s all idle talk,
it’s vain discussion, it’s empty words,
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it’s wasted time.
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I think it’s a shocking consideration.
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How much time is wasted in churches because
it doesn’t produce the one thing that is
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required of us?
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The righteous requirement of the law is summed
up in one word, love.
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In 1 Peter 1, Peter gives us the primary evidence
of being born again.
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Now many of you here this evening would claim
to be born again.
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I have to confess I’m almost tired of hearing
the phrase born again.
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My citizenships, one in Britain, one in America—I
have a third, too, in heaven.
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But, I’ve lived most of my past thirty years
or so in the United States.
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It is frequently claimed in America today
there are 40 million born again Christians
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in America.
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My response is where are they and what are
they doing?
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Because the country is going downhill with
incredible rapidity.
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I think the words “born again” have become
a cliché that have been used by people that
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want to be respectful but don’t want to
change their lifestyle, don’t want to undergo
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any radical transformation but want to think
of themselves as nice people who are headed
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for heaven.
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But this is what Peter says about the new
birth:
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“Since you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love
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of the brethren, love one another fervently
with a pure heart, having been born again
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not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible,
through the word of God which lives and abides
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forever.”
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What is the evidence that we have been born
again in one word?
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I didn’t hear you.
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Thank you.
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Peter says you couldn’t love the way you
love if you’ve been born again.
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But that’s not enough, he says go on and
purify your hearts till you love one another
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with a pure heart fervently.
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And that is directly associated with the new
birth.
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A whole lot of teaching about the new birth
absolutely misses the mark and deceives people.
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I’m afraid that there are a lot of well
meaning people who think they will get to
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heaven who will be disappointed.
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They use the term born again as a sort of
passport.
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Being saved is more than a change of a label.
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You used to sit in the church and you had
on the label “sinner.”
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Now you sit there and you’ve got on the
label “saved” or “born again.”
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Salvation is not just going forward in a church,
shaking the pastor by the hand, going forward
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in a crusade, signing a decision card, or
going through any other kind of religious
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rigmarole.
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Being saved is a total life transformation
which takes you from darkness to light and
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makes you no longer a slave of Satan but a
slave of God.
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If there’s one truth that needs to be emphasized
today in Britain and in the United States
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and in other countries with a long Christian
heritage, it is that salvation isn’t what
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a lot of people call it.
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And some of you here tonight who call yourselves
saved, frankly, you are not saved.
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You’re mildly religious, you’re a little
better than some of your neighbors but your
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relationship with God is very insecure and
shaky.
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Then in 1 John 4, the passage that Ruth and
I quoted, we have the evidence that a person
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knows God.
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We’ll just read two verses, 7 and 8:
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“Beloved, let us love one another, for love
is of God; and everyone who loves is born
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of God and knows God.”
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If you plumb that statement to its depths,
it’s remarkable because it means there is
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a kind of love that a person cannot have unless
he’s been born again.
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Only those who have been born again can have
that kind of love.
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If all you have or I have is the kind of love
that is known around the world, it’s no
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evidence that we’ve been born again.
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Then John goes on to say:
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“He who does not love does not know God,
for God is love.”
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What’s the evidence that you know God in
one word?
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I didn’t hear you.
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That’s right.
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A lot of people that I know, and I deal with
a whole lot of people from different backgrounds,
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different denominations, different nationalities;
I would say if they’re saved they’re saved
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by a stranger.
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Let me give you a little example.
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There you are in a river sinking for the third
time.
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Somebody plunges in from the bank, rescues
you, fishes you out, puts you wet and dripping
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as you are in the seat of his beautifully
upholstered car, drives you off to his home,
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takes off your dripping clothes, gives you
a new set of clothes to wear, takes care of
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your needs, then says, “From now on, let’s
be friends.
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You know where I live, here’s my phone number,
you can phone me any time you like.
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Come see me.”
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That person never goes back to the one who
saved him from drowning.
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I would say saved by a stranger, saved but
you never come to know the person who saved
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you.
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He who does not love does not know God.
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You may not know a lot of scripture, you may
have a lot of religious theory, you may be
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a member of a church, but if you don’t love
you don’t know God—and you’re much the
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poorer for it.
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Because, if there’s one person who is really
worthwhile getting to know, it’s God.
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Now let’s turn for a moment to the connection
between faith and works.
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We’ll turn to the epistle of James.
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Some people think there was a conflict between
James and Paul.
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I don’t, I think they stated two opposite
aspects of the same truth.
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Before I was saved I was a professional philosopher
and my subject was logic.
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I’d like to say just a word of personal
testimony.
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The most logical book I have ever read is
the Bible.
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The most logical book in the Bible is the
epistle to the Romans.
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Their logic is absolutely flawless.
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There are no inconsistencies, they are correct
all through.
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Let’s look at James 2:26.
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“For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.”
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So, what James is saying is you can say you
have faith but if it doesn’t express itself
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in what you do it’s a dead faith.
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You can say to somebody, “Be warmed and
fed, have a good time,” but if you don’t
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sacrifice and give them what they need it’s
just empty words.
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What James is saying is merely professing
faith is not enough.
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He doesn’t say it’s wrong, he says it’s
insufficient.
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It has to be worked out by the things you
do, what is called in the Bible works.
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How is faith expressed in works?
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What is the Biblical way to express our faith
in works?
00:30:49
There is one scripture, let’s go back to
Galatians, one of my favorite epistles.
00:30:58
Galatians 5:6.
00:31:01
Let me say this, if you’ve never been shocked
by what you’ve read in the Bible, you’ve
00:31:08
never read the Bible, because it is a shocking
book.
00:31:12
And, it’s most shocking for religious people.
00:31:22
I think it was Mark Twain who said, “It
isn’t the scriptures that I don’t understand
00:31:30
that trouble me, it’s the one I do understand.”
00:31:36
Galatians 5:6:
00:31:39
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith
00:31:47
working through love.”
00:31:51
How does faith work?
00:31:52
I didn’t hear you.
00:31:55
Thank you.
00:31:57
So when we have faith but it doesn’t work
through love, what kind of faith do we have?
00:32:05
A dead faith.
00:32:06
Faith without works is dead.
00:32:10
Faith works through love.
00:32:12
Therefore, faith without love is dead.
00:32:16
Would you dare to say that after me?
00:32:20
“Faith without love is dead.”
00:32:23
Now turn and say it to your neighbor on the
right or the left.
00:32:29
“Faith without love is dead.”
00:32:31
You’ve said a very significant and far reaching
statement.
00:32:42
You don’t know what you’ve put your foot
in because what it means is you may have the
00:32:50
most meticulously accurate doctrinal faith,
dot every “i” and cross every “t,”
00:32:59
and yet your faith may be totally dead if
it isn’t expressed in love.
00:33:06
The problem is, and this is merely my personal
observation, the majority of church activity
00:33:15
in this nation today isn’t even aimed at
producing love.
00:33:21
It’s aimed at establishing certain doctrinal
truths or commenting on the political situation
00:33:28
or the situation in the Middle East.
00:33:32
I’ve said this many times to people.
00:33:35
If you aim at nothing you can be sure you’ll
hit it.
00:33:42
I don’t want to seem critical but I am British,
I mean, I grew up in this nation, I was christened,
00:33:49
confirmed.
00:33:50
And, you may be surprised to know, Ruth and
I attend an Anglican church every week in
00:33:55
Jerusalem, and we love it.
00:33:59
I was a rebel against the Anglican church
for many years, I said a lot of unkind things
00:34:03
about it, from experience.
00:34:05
They weren’t untrue but they were unkind.
00:34:10
I think God wouldn’t let me finish my life’s
career without putting it right with the Anglican
00:34:20
church.
00:34:21
Today all my complaints are laid down; all
my criticisms, I no longer bother to make
00:34:30
them.
00:34:31
It is so easy to criticize the church, it
doesn’t require any cleverness.
00:34:34
But to change a church, that is a task.
00:34:42
So, faith without love is dead.
00:34:47
Let me give you just a little bit, for the
Pentecostals, the Charismatics, people like
00:34:54
myself who speak in tongues and believe in
spiritual gifts.
00:35:00
I never knew there was a way to be a Christian
without speaking in tongues because when I
00:35:03
got saved I spoke in tongues.
00:35:05
It took me a long while to discover there
was any other kind of Christian.
00:35:11
So believe me, if there’s anybody here who
believes in speaking in tongues and spiritual
00:35:15
gifts, I’m one of them.
00:35:17
But listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians
13:1–3:
00:35:25
“Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels...”
00:35:30
That’s startling.
00:35:32
Has it ever occurred to you that you may not
be speaking in a human tongue but in the tongue
00:35:36
of angels?
00:35:37
When I was in the deserts of North Africa,
after I had met the Lord, I had no Christian
00:35:46
fellowship.
00:35:47
I had to have fellowship with the Lord and
I used to pray many, many time in tongues.
00:35:51
I observed that I used one tongue which had
“s” sounds in it and I’ve often wondered
00:35:58
whether that was an angelic tongue.
00:35:59
I don’t know but at least it’s perfectly
possible according to scripture to talk not
00:36:06
merely in the tongues of men but also of angels.
00:36:11
Paul says even if I do that:
00:36:13
“...and have not love, I have become as
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
00:36:19
I’m just an empty noise without love.
00:36:23
Somebody said is it possible to misuse the
gifts of the Holy Spirit?
00:36:29
The answer is most definitely yes.
00:36:31
Any use without love is a misuse.
00:36:37
And then Paul goes on:
00:36:38
“Although I have the gift of prophecy [now
that’s very popular today], and understand
00:36:44
all mysteries and all knowledge [I have the
word of wisdom and the word of knowledge],
00:36:49
and though I have all faith [which is another
thing that is very popular today], so that
00:36:54
I could remove mountains, but have not love,
I am nothing.”
00:37:00
It’s easy for us to think of other people
to whom that might apply but why don’t we
00:37:08
see if it applies to us.
00:37:12
And then he goes on to say:
00:37:13
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed
the poor, and though I give my body to be
00:37:18
burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
00:37:23
I thought about that.
00:37:24
There are some ministers who’ve profited
others but it has not profited them.
00:37:31
You can help other people but be unhelped
yourself without love.
00:37:39
And then in the next chapter, chapter 14,
Paul says:
00:37:44
“Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts...”
00:37:50
So Paul is not against spiritual gifts but
he says get your priorities right.
00:37:56
Priority number one is not spiritual gifts,
it’s love.
00:38:03
I think whoever translated the New Testament
recently, J.B.
00:38:20
Philips, he translated this “make love your
aim.”
00:38:32
I think that’s a good translation.
00:38:34
Make love your aim.
00:38:37
I want to say to you while you’re in this
camp during this week, which is set apart,
00:38:43
will you do that?
00:38:45
Will you make love your aim?
00:38:50
If you do you’ll leave here different from
when you came.
00:38:56
I want to make love my aim.
00:38:59
There are two ways, primarily, that God imparts
His love to us.
00:39:07
I just want to mention them without going
into great detail.
00:39:10
The first one is by the Holy Spirit.
00:39:16
Romans 5:5 says:
00:39:20
“The love of God has been poured out in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given
00:39:28
to us.”
00:39:29
So the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God
into our hearts.
00:39:35
I don’t think there’s any limit on God’s
side, He just pours out His love.
00:39:41
The limit is on our side, how much do we receive?
00:39:46
I have enjoyed that experience, I’ve had
the love of God poured out in my heart in
00:39:52
the Holy Spirit.
00:39:54
I’ll give you just one brief example.
00:39:56
Serving as a soldier in North Africa, after
I had come to know the Lord, I ended up in
00:40:06
a very remote barren, inhospitable corner
of what is now the Sudan.
00:40:20
Before I got to my actual destination which
was a small military hospital on the Red Sea
00:40:26
Hills I was detained for a few weeks in what
the British army calls a reception station.
00:40:34
And, for the first time in three years of
army life I didn’t have to sleep in my underwear
00:40:42
because this reception station was equipped
with three beds with nightgowns and with everything
00:40:51
that could make you comfortable.
00:40:53
I had no patients, I thought why not enjoy
a bed which I hadn’t slept in, and wear
00:41:00
a nightgown rather than sleep in my underwear,
which is what I was used to sleeping in.
00:41:07
Well, one night I began to pray for the people
of the Sudan and the particular tribe I’m
00:41:16
thinking of is called the Hundondewah.
00:41:18
They are not attractive people, they are war-like,
aggressive, they’ve known no religion but
00:41:29
Islam all their lives.
00:41:32
The men have a habit of fixing their hair
with mutton fat so that it stands about eight
00:41:37
inches above their head.
00:41:40
There is nothing you would say would be outwardly
attractive or appealing.
00:41:46
But that night as I began to pray, God poured
out His love in my heart for those people.
00:41:55
I couldn’t even lie on the bed, I had to
get up and pace up and down across the floor
00:42:02
of the room, pouring my heart out for these
people whom I didn’t know and whom I had
00:42:10
no natural reason for loving whatever.
00:42:14
If I can say this and I hope I will not be
misunderstood, as I was doing that in the
00:42:19
darkness I discovered that my white nightgown
was gleaming.
00:42:28
It was supernaturally illuminated.
00:42:32
I glimpsed somehow that I had become identified
with Jesus, the great intercessor, for a few
00:42:42
brief moments.
00:42:43
Later I had the privilege of leading to the
Lord the first member of that tribe who had
00:42:50
ever confessed Jesus Christ as Savior.
00:42:53
I
say that because in a little measure I understand
00:43:05
what it means when it says “the love of
God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy
00:43:10
Spirit.”
00:43:11
But I want to tell you at the end of that
experience I was still a very imperfect, immature
00:43:18
Christian.
00:43:19
You might not believe it but I was often irritable,
selfish, self centered, insensitive and I
00:43:28
easily got angry—after all that.
00:43:31
I’m not belittling the experience but I
want to point out to you it takes more than
00:43:37
that to change your character.
00:43:41
And God has another means to do it, His other
instrument which is His Word.
00:43:50
It is not the Spirit alone or the Word alone
but it’s the Word and the Spirit working
00:43:57
together—which has been God’s way ever
since creation.
00:44:01
Because if you read the account of creation
in Genesis 1:2, “the Spirit of God moved
00:44:08
on the face of the waters.”
00:44:11
Genesis 1:3, “God spoke...”
00:44:13
And when the Word and the Spirit were combined,
creation took place.
00:44:17
And that’s how God works in our lives, by
the Word and the Spirit combined.
00:44:22
Let’s look at what God says about the Word.
00:44:26
1 John 2:5:
00:44:29
“But whoever keeps His [God’s] Word, truly
the love of God is perfected in Him.
00:44:37
By this we know that we are in Him.”
00:44:40
So how is the love of God brought to perfection
in us?
00:44:44
By what?
00:44:46
By keeping His Word.
00:44:48
It’s not the Spirit alone, not the Word
alone; but the Spirit working with the Word.
00:44:57
I want to give you one of my favorite scriptures
as we come to a close.
00:45:05
I believe there is a progress in the Christian
life, an upbuilding of character.
00:45:13
The climax is love but there are six steps
to get there.
00:45:20
Love is the seventh step.
00:45:23
If you have a Bible before you, turn to 2
Peter 1:5:
00:45:33
“But also for this very reason, giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue...”
00:45:42
The basis of everything in the Christian life
is faith but on that faith we are to add seven
00:45:50
successive stages of character development.
00:45:55
The first one is virtue.
00:45:58
I prefer to translate that excellence because
it’s a very broad word which has many meanings.
00:46:05
For instance, the virtue of a horse is to
run fast.
00:46:10
I always like to emphasize that the first
evidence that you have been saved is you should
00:46:17
become excellent.
00:46:21
If you were a teacher before you were saved
you should become an excellent teacher.
00:46:26
If you were a bus driver you should become
an excellent bus driver.
00:46:31
If you were a doctor or a dentist you should
become excellent.
00:46:36
Excellence should be the mark of Christians.
00:46:40
The first thing we add is excellence.
00:46:44
“...to excellence knowledge...”
00:46:47
I don’t believe that means scientific or
intellectual knowledge primarily but it means
00:46:54
the knowledge of God’s will revealed through
His Word.
00:46:58
We need that knowledge to progress.
00:47:02
“...then to knowledge self-control...”
00:47:10
This is a virtue that is very little spoke
of in contemporary Christianity.
00:47:16
But if you do not add self control you’ll
never progress any further because any time
00:47:23
you’re about to progress you’ll lose control
of yourself, you’ll lose your temper, you’ll
00:47:31
lose to lust, you’ll yield to excessive
appetites, you’ll yield to ungodly emotions,
00:47:37
you’ll yield to such things as depression
and unbelief, and that stops your progress.
00:47:44
Self control is an essential step on the total
progress.
00:47:49
And then it says:
00:47:51
“...to self-control perseverance [or endurance]...”
00:47:56
And again, this is essential because in the
process of maturing you will encounter tests,
00:48:04
trials and obstacles.
00:48:07
If you haven’t acquired endurance you’ll
give up.
00:48:11
And when you give up your progress ceases.
00:48:15
There’s a scripture in James that Ruth and
I recite but it really convicted Ruth at a
00:48:26
certain time because she was going through
a real struggle for her health.
00:48:32
And every time one thing got better something
else got worse.
00:48:37
Then she read in James 1:
00:48:40
“We count it all joy when we fall into various
trials...”
00:48:47
The Holy Spirit convicted her, “You’re
sinning, you’re disobeying the Word of God.
00:48:52
You’re not counting it all joy.”
00:48:56
And then it goes on:
00:48:58
“We count it all joy when we fall into various
trials, knowing that the testing of our faith
00:49:04
produces endurance.
00:49:07
But we let endurance have its perfect work
that we may be perfect and complete, lacking
00:49:12
nothing.”
00:49:13
Do you want to be perfect and complete, lacking
nothing?
00:49:17
Then you have to cultivate endurance, there’s
no other way.
00:49:22
Otherwise, every time God puts you into a
process that’s designed to make you perfect
00:49:26
and complete, you give up and your progress
ceases.
00:49:32
These two things, self-control and endurance,
are what I call the bottleneck.
00:49:36
If you can’t get through them you can’t
make any further progress.
00:49:41
So, after self-control, now we get to the
really good ones.
00:49:48
“...to endurance godliness...”
00:49:50
My definition of godliness is a temperament
controlled by the Holy Spirit.
00:49:58
All your reactions and responses are controlled
by the Holy Spirit.
00:50:06
The mark of a godly person is that when he
enters the room God enters with him.
00:50:16
He carries the presence of God with him.
00:50:19
That’s godliness.
00:50:20
There’s still two more, we’ve only got
to number five.
00:50:26
Number six, brotherly kindness.
00:50:30
That means loving your fellow believers.
00:50:33
Some of us haven’t got to stage six.
00:50:36
I have to confess that not all Christians
are always easy to love.
00:50:40
I think I’m probably one of them.
00:50:43
People have come to me years later and said,
“Brother Prince, I have to forgive you.”
00:50:54
Other people have said, “You’ve changed
a lot!”
00:50:57
I understood what they meant, I had to acknowledge
it was true.
00:51:04
But brotherly kindness is not the end, there’s
one more, a four letter word.
00:51:13
Love.
00:51:14
That in Greek is agape.
00:51:15
That means the love that loves your enemies,
that loves the people that persecute you,
00:51:23
that means the people that don’t understand
you, love the people that are different to
00:51:28
you.
00:51:29
That is the climax of the Christian life,
that’s the pinnacle.
00:51:33
But there’s a process and there are two
agents that God uses, the Holy Spirit—and
00:51:42
you can have these glorious spiritual experiences.
00:51:46
I’ve read the lives of missionaries and
others who had glorious spiritual experiences.
00:51:51
I’m thinking of Hudson Taylor whose life
I was reading recently.
00:51:56
But even after that glorious experience when
he was filled with the love of God, he had
00:52:02
a lot of personal problems and he wasn’t
always easy to live with.
00:52:08
A great man of God.
00:52:11
But, we have to go through the process.
00:52:15
No one is exempt.
00:52:17
You can’t get there by any other route than
God’s appointed route.
00:52:22
Let’s say it again.
00:52:24
To your faith you add excellence, to excellence
you add knowledge, to knowledge you add self
00:52:31
control, to self control you add perseverance
or endurance, to perseverance you add godliness,
00:52:39
to godliness you add brotherly kindness [love
of your fellow believers], and to brotherly
00:52:46
kindness you add love.
00:52:48
And as far as I’m concerned, that is the
pinnacle, that is the goal.
00:52:53
That’s the destination for every Spirit
filled believer.
00:53:05
Now, I have a wish for this camp, for all
of us.
00:53:17
I can say at the moment I love every one of
you.
00:53:20
I don’t know you but I have the love of
God in my heart for you at this moment.
00:53:28
My prayer, and I want to submit this to Don
Double and the team, my prayer is that somehow
00:53:35
the love of God will be poured out on us during
this week, that not one of us will leave the
00:53:46
same.
00:53:50
I pray that a fountain of love will be opened
in this camp that will flow out at the end
00:53:57
of the week in little rivulets that reach
every part of Great Britain in your lives.
00:54:06
Can you say amen to that?
00:54:10
Now I want to make a confession because I
have learned by experience that unconfessed
00:54:18
sin is the barrier to God’s blessing.
00:54:23
There are other barriers but that is number
one and the most serious and most common.
00:54:31
You see, a lot of Christians don’t realize
God says “if we confess our sins He is faithful
00:54:39
and just to forgive us our sins.”
00:54:41
But there’s an if and you may read the Bible
differently from me but I do not find that
00:54:46
God has ever committed Himself to forgive
a sin that has not been confessed.
00:54:51
So, if we want our sins forgiven, what do
we have to do?
00:54:57
Confess.
00:54:59
Are you sure?
00:55:04
Are you willing?
00:55:05
It could be painful.
00:55:08
It may take you half the week to get through
them.
00:55:11
Listen, don’t start to analyze yourself.
00:55:18
Don’t probe into yourself because the further
you probe the worse you’ll feel.
00:55:24
Let the Holy Spirit do it.
00:55:27
Jesus said in one gospel, “If I by the Spirit
of God cast out demons,” and in another
00:55:33
gospel He said, “If I by the finger of God
cast out demons.”
00:55:37
So what is God’s finger?
00:55:40
The Holy Spirit.
00:55:42
Let God put His finger on every area of your
life that you need to confess.
00:55:52
I want to tell you, having preached this message,
I have to confess many, many times I have
00:56:03
not loved as I ought to have loved.
00:56:10
Many times I’ve been critical, self-righteous,
judgmental, self-centered and insensitive.
00:56:23
When I think back of the children that I helped
to raise, and between us Ruth and I are responsible
00:56:30
for twelve children, I think the thing I regret
most is insensitivity.
00:56:41
I was an only child, I had no brothers or
sisters, I grew up on my own, I learned to
00:56:47
live my life my way.
00:56:48
It’s taken me years to arrive at the point
when I’m even aware if somebody else doesn’t
00:56:55
feel good.
00:56:58
I also learned this, that when people come
up and ask me theological questions, usually
00:57:04
it’s not a theological answer that they
want, they want love, they want help, they
00:57:13
want comfort.
00:57:14
Theology is just a way of saying, “Help
me, I need to be loved.”
00:57:21
I want to confess that before you all because
I want to ask God to forgive me.
00:57:27
If I don’t confess I know He will not forgive.
00:57:31
If I do confess I believe He will forgive.
00:57:36
Now, I want to ask you if you would feel it
appropriate tonight that those of us who have
00:57:46
not been as loving as we ought to have been
would stand up, confess it privately to God
00:57:56
and ask God’s forgiveness.
00:57:59
And then ask God to pour out His love on us
in a new dimension.
00:58:05
I’m not asking you to tell anybody else
except God but if you say here tonight, “God,
00:58:12
when I compare my love with your love and
with the love of the early church, I am just
00:58:19
an empty vessel.”
00:58:20
Now then, I’m going to pray a prayer and
you say amen and then take off and pray your
00:58:36
own prayer.
00:58:37
“Lord, we want to confess before you tonight,
as your believing people, we have failed you.
00:58:43
We have misrepresented you.
00:58:45
We’ve given the world the wrong impression
of the kind of people we are.
00:58:49
We have not caused them to know we are your
disciples because we have love one for another.
00:58:55
We have often been self righteous, critical
and condemnatory, and self centered.
00:59:02
Lord, we’ve failed in many other ways but
tonight you have spoken to our hearts and
00:59:08
we want to acknowledge before you we have
failed.
00:59:12
We have sinned.
00:59:13
We’ve broken the first and greatest of all
commandments, to love the Lord our God with
00:59:18
all our hearts, soul and mind.
00:59:21
We’ve broken the second commandment because
we haven’t loved our neighbors as ourselves.
00:59:25
All we can do tonight is say we’re sorry,
forgive us.
00:59:32
Forgive us.
00:59:34
Forgive us.
00:59:36
Change our hearts.
00:59:38
Send your Holy Spirit to do in us and for
us what only you can do.”
00:59:43
That’s your prayer.
00:59:45
If you can identify with that just say amen.
00:59:48
Amen.
00:59:49
“And now, Lord, I want to pray that on the
basis of your forgiveness and our humbling
00:59:56
ourselves before you, you will pour out your
love on this camp this week in a new measure,
01:00:06
in a new degree, that you’ll open a fountain
of love in the midst of us that will flow
01:00:12
out in the lives of the people that are here
to all the corners of Britain where people
01:00:18
are longing for love.
01:00:20
They’re not wanting religion, they’re
wanting love.
01:00:25
You have chosen us to be your vessels and
your channels.
01:00:31
Tonight, Lord, start right where we are.
01:00:35
Start with us and do whatever needs to be
done to change us, we pray.
01:00:42
In Jesus’ name.
01:00:45
Amen.”
