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I thank you that you have seen fit
to show this truth to me.
I pray God that you quicken me now
in entirety.
Give me much more ability than what I
possess and help me, God, to do justice
to your word.
Let there be a shout of glory in
the hearts of your people.
And I thank you for it with all
my heart in Jesus' name.
When you don't know what to do, John
chapter 19 beginning at verse 25, Now there
stood by the cross of Jesus his mother
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of
Cleopas and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the
disciple standing by, this disciple of course is
the writer, it's John, whom he loved.
He said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy
son.
Then said he to the disciple, Behold thy
mother.
And from that hour that disciple took her
unto his own home.
When you don't know what to do.
Beloved, in these verses we find among others
a young man whose name is John, who
like many today his world had fallen apart.
He had a perception of life and he
had found what he believed to be security.
And it was security, he just didn't understand
it.
But all of a sudden momentarily his security
is taken away from him.
Think of young John now in John chapter
13 and verse 23.
He's writing about himself and he says, Now
there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of
his disciples whom Jesus loved.
Now this young man had found what he
was looking for.
He's quite content.
I found God.
And he knew it.
And he so loved him, he didn't care
what anybody said.
And there are many of you here today
that perhaps in the younger years, when you
first came to Christ, this is what you
were like, you're part of a youth group,
perhaps or something like that.
And you really didn't care who mocked you,
you didn't care what people thought.
But you were going to push in and
you were going to hear his heart.
And you did get there.
And you did know the heart of Jesus
as John did.
He was in a position now where the
most noble statements of his friends, and those
he probably admired had been exposed as hollow.
Matthew chapter 26.
I'm just going to read them to you
verses 33 and 35.
Now Jesus is telling the disciples tonight you're
all going to be offended.
The scripture says the shepherd shall be smitten
and all the sheep are going to be
scattered.
But I'm going to rise again, I'm going
to go before you.
Now they couldn't hear this.
And it was so inconceivable to Peter's mind.
And Peter was a strong man, and somewhat
of a natural leader, impulsive, but still a
leader.
And Peter answered and said to him, this
is the Christ, though all men shall be
offended because of thee, yet will I never
be offended.
And Peter said to him in verse 35,
though I should die with thee, yet will
I not deny thee.
And likewise said also all of the disciples.
And so John's writing this.
So he's including, well Matthew is actually, but
he's including John is in this.
Now John had a choice in a sense
to either believe the words that Jesus was
speaking or the words that Peter was speaking.
And it proves Peter to be somewhat of
a forceful man, a persuasive man perhaps at
that moment.
And John put his confidence in this man
who was a friend and somewhat of a
leader.
Because John was just a young, a very
young man.
Now John must have admired Peter to be
drawn in by his statements, considering that his
statements were in opposition to what Jesus was
speaking at that moment.
Now after all, think about it for a
moment.
Peter was the one to whom Jesus had
given, as they knew it, the keys of
the kingdom.
Remember Jesus said to Peter, our Peter, I'm
going to pound this rock.
I'm going to build my church.
I'm going to give you the keys of
the kingdom.
The gates of hell will not prevail.
That's an incredible honor, considering how dull they
were in understanding what Christ was actually speaking.
And Jesus of course was speaking on the
rock of Peter's statement when Peter said in
Matthew chapter 16 verse 16, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God.
Now Jesus had declared that a church is
going to be built on this statement that
could not be overcome.
Thanks be to God for that knowledge today.
I don't know about you, but I'm really
happy about this, to know that I belong
in Christ to a church that cannot be
overcome because God said so.
The one who created the universe with his
spoken word, the one who can govern anything
by just simply thinking it, said that we
could not be overcome.
And so let every lying tongue be put
to silence.
You will not be overcome if you're in
Christ.
You'll not be swallowed.
You will not be cast aside.
You will not be triumphed over.
You're not going down in defeat.
You cannot be according to Christ.
You cannot be triumphed over.
The gates of hell, the plans of hell,
that means cannot triumph over you.
Blessed be God.
I think it's time we believe this with
everything that's in us.
And think about it now, John, this young
man, having truly been enamored perhaps in some
measure by Peter and by his leadership ability
and his forthfulness.
And now John, did he see Peter or
did word come to him that Peter was
now after, of course, the betrayal in Gethsemane
when everyone fled, was Peter now keeping himself
warm at distant fires and he was living
and confessing a denial of Christ?
What would have happened in the heart of
John when he gets the word that this
one man that seemed to have it all
together, that seemed to be a leader, this
man who spoke things that he believed, even
if some of them were not quite accurate,
is all of a sudden with all his
bravado, he's outside the camp as it is,
warming his hands in the wrong place.
And when confronted about his relationship with Christ,
he denies it and brings an oath and
a curse upon himself in that sense of
saying, I don't know the man.
How many people, how many young people today
run from Christ and his church because of
this kind of leadership?
Your pastors and elders and leaders and fathers
and mothers and everyone is listening to my
voice.
When you run from God and what God
would have you to be and do, you
never run alone.
You never run alone.
There are many, many people.
I can't fathom the numbers of young people
who have run from the church, given up
on God as it is because of leadership
that they trusted, that proved to be hollow,
whose claims were false, and they stood and
made boasts of strength they didn't have and
plans they couldn't fulfill, talked about the leadings
of God that weren't the leadings of God
at all.
And now when they run, all these young
people go with them.
And some here today, you know exactly what
I'm talking about.
You had a faith in God when you
were young and it was greatly damaged because
you trusted somebody that proved to be hollow
and false.
And think about John in this situation.
Now what was John going to do?
What could he do?
I think John, because he so loved God
and there are many that you're here today
and the reason you're here, there's only one
thing left.
You do in your heart love God.
I know I'm speaking in the spirit to
somebody today.
You love him and that's why you're still
in the church otherwise you wouldn't be here.
There's been so much disappointment, so much chicanery
in the people stand and make vows and
just throw them off at a whim when
things are not convenient.
And young people look at this and say,
well if this is Christ, if this is
the church that I've heard about, I just
don't want to be part of this.
I can't fathom giving my life to this.
But John had an inner sense that the
whole thing that I've observed may have fallen
or collapsed around me, but there's one and
I had one time put my head on
his breast and heard his heart and I
know he's not a fake.
There's one man who cannot lie and that's
Jesus Christ.
And John did what everybody in our time
and generation needs to do.
In the midst of all the hodgepodge of
religious confusion, John came to the cross.
He came to where God was.
He came to where he knew life.
It looked like death to him, but there
had to be life there.
And young people have a view of the
church because the scripture says that that John
came and who's there?
The only mention is there's there's really three
old ladies.
There's no offense to anybody who's maybe over
a hundred here today, but there's there's and
that's young people think of that the church
that way.
It's just a place for old ladies hang
out and pray for their kids.
But John knew there's more to it than
this and he came to the cross and
let Peter warm his hands at a distant
fire with all his hollow boasting and let
everyone else do what they're going to do.
John was a young man who just didn't
care.
I'm coming to the cross.
I know that's where the power of God
is.
There's nobody has ever spoken into my heart
like this man did and I'm coming to
where he is.
Surely there's got to be something there that
is the only place where what I'm looking
for is found.
I think for a moment with me of
John coming back and he's got the courage
and I feel in my heart.
I've been sharing with pastor Patrick.
There's a generation rising that are not going
to be ashamed of the cross of Christ.
They're going to come to where the power
of God is.
Let everyone else play their religious games.
They're going to come to where Christ is
where the power of God is.
Remember Paul said to those who are perishing
the preaching of the cross is foolishness, but
to we are saved.
It's the power of God.
Something of God is found here that you
don't find anywhere else.
You don't find it in books about seven
and 10 and 12 steps to things.
You find it at the cross.
And this is where John came to.
I see a generation of young people coming
to Christ.
Thanks be to God.
I see this house filled with young people
coming to Christ, being filled with the holy
ghost, going on to live for God, going
to the mission field, standing in their schools
and in their colleges.
I'm ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Now, the first thing that John would probably
become aware of at the cross is the
general indifference and outright callousness to this ultimate
expression of God's love for all people.
It's amazing how even the church, the church
professing at least anyway, has cast off the
cross in our generation.
Can you imagine the stupidity of it all?
It's like a ship throwing away its compass.
It's like an airplane throwing out its pilot.
And we think this is the way that
we've got to reach a generation by throwing
the very power of the church out.
Jesus Christ had the power to destroy all
the people that were walking by.
And John would have observed this.
The high priests are, are wagging their heads
and, and railing upon him and others are
indifferently casting lots for his garments.
Others are going about their business.
And John would know because John was in
the boat.
John saw this man have the power to
stop the wind and the sea.
John would know that with a spoken word,
actually three words, Lazarus come forth, the dead
man, four days dead, came out of the
grave.
He knew the power of this man had,
and he would be aware of it.
And here he is on a cross and
humanity is indifferent and mocking him.
He has the absolute power to destroy them.
John would have known, he had to have
known that a spoken word from Christ could
have taken the breath from every one of
them because it's recorded even in the garden
of Gethsemane when the soldiers and priests and
such like came and they said, we seek
Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am he.
And the scripture says, as soon as he
said it, they all fell backwards to the
ground.
He was in absolute authority.
Nobody was taking his life.
He was laying it down.
He could have taken their breath from them
at that moment.
And John had to have known this, but
yet he's not destroying them.
He's letting this mockery run its course.
And what would be the reason Luke records
it in chapter 23 and verse 34 of
Luke father, forgive them for they don't know
what they do.
Peter, the apostle in the context of why
God is withholding the day of judgment and
second Peter chapter three, verse nine, he says,
the Lord is long suffering to us, not
willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.
And John had to see this.
This is the power of God's love.
I'm looking at, this is a love that
I don't know anything about.
I have an under an inkling of it.
I thought I knew it with my ear
pressed against his heart, but I'm viewing now
a love that staggers my imagination.
The God who created the universe is allowing
himself to be mocked for the sake of
one soul or two or three that will
receive him as Lord and savior.
He withholds his hand of judgment because he's
not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to everlasting life.
Thanks be to God for his unspeakable love.
We can't ever mind the depths of this
love of God.
And John had to be there.
And when we come to the cross, that's
where we, that's the one place we begin
to understand this love of God until we
see the cross.
The love of God is only a concept.
It's only a word.
And it's defined by how society loves and
how you love and your own strength and
how other people love.
No, no.
When you get to the cross, we see
a love that has nothing in this world
of it.
It's supernatural.
It's sovereign.
It's divine.
That's the love that lets you and I
walk in our ignorance every day and our
indifference to the things of God.
When we should be judged, we're not judged
because God loves us and is not willing
that any should perish.
Thanks be to God for his love.
If it weren't for his love, I wouldn't
be standing here today.
If it weren't for his love, you wouldn't
be sitting here.
We'd have no song.
We'd have no hope.
We'd have no future for our families.
If it wasn't for the love of God,
thanks be to God for his unspeakable love.
Hallelujah.
No wonder if we have such a thing
as a crown, when we get to the
throne of God, we will get these things
off of our heads and throw them at
his feet.
Shouldn't shout so hard.
I'm talking about love.
It's kind of love.
Secondly, John sees that forgiveness is already taking
place.
It's not just something that's coming in the
future.
It's already happening.
Luke chapter 23, verse 43.
He hears Jesus say to the thief who
just said, Oh, remember me when you get
to your kingdom.
And he said, today, you'll be with me
in paradise.
I believe the sense started coming into John
that what appeared to be a tragedy was
actually causing a stir of unspeakable joy in
heaven.
You become aware that something is happening here.
That's much deeper than what I see with
my natural eye.
There's something so central to the heart of
God that's transpiring here.
Anybody who's attuned to it begins to hear
the singing in heaven every time a sinner
repents.
And this was the first really at the
cross.
Can you imagine all heaven been waiting for
this for how long?
We don't know if there's even a measure
in time and all of a sudden the
first one comes through as a thief.
Praise God.
The first through in through the gate, New
Testament blood having been shed for a thief.
Thanks be to God.
That's gives me hope.
Hallelujah.
The stir of unspeakable joy as we've experienced
just an inkling of it today.
But as heaven stands and every created being
stands and whomever is around the throne stands
and there's a shout of joy such as
we've never heard.
You imagine that thief when he died and
all of a sudden he's ushered in and
he's number one under the New Testament.
He's the first guy in.
You talk about love.
You talk about a testimony for all of
eternity.
Praise God.
And lastly, in Luke chapter 23 in verse
46, John would begin to see that the
power to perform all these things that he's
witnessing comes from an abandonment and a trust
to the will and the ways of God.
He hears Jesus say, Father, into thy hands,
I commend my spirit.
And John, there has to be a revelation
that the power to do this, the power
to love like this, the power to forgive
like this, the power to simply be put
to death as it is by an indifferent
society has to rest in a confidence that
God is able to sustain me.
God is able to give me life.
It's the cornerstone, folks.
That's the very reason why when we believe
in Christ, we cannot be triumphed over by
any power of evil, because the one in
whose hand we are is well able to
keep us.
Come what may, come what difficulty, come what
trial.
I am according to Christ and you are
sealed in the hand of God, the father,
and no man can take you out of
God's hand.
Hallelujah.
Paul says in Romans chapter seven and verse
18, he defines the human condition and the
human condition, Paul says, is defined by the
knowledge of what to do, but the inability
to perform it.
And that's the human condition.
When you bring that into religion, you have
a human condition who now knows more of
what it's supposed to do and is less
able to perform it.
But the cross clearly brings us to the
place of understanding the power to do and
be is given to us of God.
We're not called to clean up our act.
We're called to let the one who triumphed
over hell and the power of sin come
into our lives and let him from the
inside out begin to make us into a
new creation.
That's why it's good news, folks.
There's no other reason.
It's good news.
Praise God.
I don't have to do this in my
own strength.
Yes, my will is required.
My heart is required to want to walk
with God, but he gives me the power
to perform as it is everything he asks
me to do.
We find that at the cross.
You don't find that in seven steps to
better Christianity.
You find it at the cross of Christ.
The cross is God's display to the whole
world of power of God, the power to
love, the power to forgive, the power to
walk as a new creature alive from the
dead in Christ.
Oh, God, help us to understand these things
again.
So here John stands.
He's at the cross.
And what do I do now?
Everything I thought was stable has become the
opposite.
All that I felt I placed my trust
in has changed.
Yet at Calvary here, I know is found
life and the reason for which I was
born.
Whether or not you understand it, the reason
for which you was born, you were born
is defined by the cross.
You find it at the cross.
What a foolish church age we've been to
leave these truths to the side.
We ask ourselves the question, did John have
an inner cry?
As you have today, Oh, Jesus, did you
come to church today?
Just like John went back to Calvary and
say, Oh, Jesus, please just talk to me.
Please tell me my future.
Tell me what to do.
What is my life going to be?
Where are you going to take me?
What are you going to do through me?
Just tell me what to do.
I don't know where to work.
I don't know who to marry.
I don't know who to stay married to.
I don't know.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do with my
children.
I don't know what to do with my
neighbor.
I don't know what to do in my
job.
I just don't know what to do.
So Lord, can you just please show me
the future?
Take me 20 years down the road.
Show me where I'm going.
It'll help me.
Please, Jesus, just speak to me.
And I can see John standing at the
cross and most likely didn't vocalize it, but
in his heart, Oh, Jesus, please one more
time.
Help me in my struggle.
Tell me what to do.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know where to go.
Everything has failed me.
I'm confused.
I can't follow Peter.
He's warming his hands and cursing with an
oath that he never knew you.
I can't follow that man.
Everyone else is run.
I don't even know where they are.
There's three older women here.
God speak to me.
I need to know.
Tell me what to do.
Now Jesus clearly could have told him, well,
John, you're going to have quite a life.
You see, you're going to travel.
You're going to preach in churches all throughout
parts of the world.
You're, you're going to, at the end of
your life, I'm going to send you to
a Greek Island and in maybe not telling
all the details, but in, uh, in that
place, you're, you're going to be given a
revelation.
That's going to be mind boggling.
Nobody, but Isaiah and perhaps Daniel's ever had
a revelation that will ever, ever rival what
I'm going to give to you.
It's going to be awesome.
John, what's going to happen in your life
in the future, but that's not what he
does.
You see, we'd like to know that.
We always want to know the whole picture.
You want to get out of your seat
today, come to an altar and just know
what's going to happen 60 years down the
road.
If you live that long, tell me, God,
show me the whole path.
I'll, I'll leave my job.
If I, if I knew Isaiah said it
this way in chapter 28 of Isaiah verses
nine and 10, in part in both verses,
he says, whom shall he teach knowledge and
whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
In other words, who will God speak to
who will understand the truth.
And in verse 10, it goes on and
he talks about, it will be those that
are young, in a sense, young in their
understanding, but young in heart too, as well,
who have a trusting heart.
And then in verse 10, he says, precept
upon precept line upon line here a little
and there a little God said, this is
how these are the people I'll teach doctrine
to who are, who don't need to know
the whole picture, but they have a trusting
heart.
They know that all things work together for
good to those who love God and are
the called according to his purpose.
They know they cannot be overcome by the
power of hell and darkness.
They know I love them.
They know I've redeemed them.
They know they're left on the earth for
a purpose.
They're willing to follow me day by day.
And I will teach them a little bit
here, a little bit there, a line here,
a line there.
I will begin to build in a sense,
this testimony of my life within them.
They'll not see the whole picture.
It'll be just a little bit.
And even today will be just another piece
to this life of his testimony.
He's building within you.
And John, I'm sure is waiting there.
Speak to me.
Oh God, speak to me.
I know this is where the power is.
Show me, tell me, give me the keys
to this power.
Help me to understand how can I forgive
Peter?
How, how can I go back to serving
you?
What is it that I need to do?
What's my life all about?
Show me what to do.
Then finally John would have looked and he
sees the lips of Jesus, his eyes first
looking at him and his lips begin to
move.
And this is the moment, this is the
moment where I'm going to get the revelation
of God's plan for my life.
And Jesus looks down at him and he
says, behold thy mother.
It's a revelation.
You know what he's saying?
Look after this person who's precious in my
sight and now must also be precious in
your sight.
This is not just a little old lady
at the cross.
This person is precious to me.
John, I want you to see her the
way I do.
I want you to look after her.
John, I want you to be there for
her.
If she needs her groceries carried home, John,
I want you to carry them home.
John, John, I'm giving you this person is
dear to my heart.
And then just before this in verse 26,
Jesus looks at Mary, his mother and says,
woman, behold your son.
And he's saying to his own mother, Mary,
love this young man who needs guidance and
he needs a compassionate touch.
You see, I can't touch him from the
cross right now, but through you, he'll still
be able to lean on me and feel
my heart.
This is the power of the cross.
How many kids are coming in here Friday
night?
They've never known a father.
They've not had normal family in many cases,
and they don't know what the touch of
God is.
But you see, we bear this living Christ
in these earthen vessels.
We are the church of the living God.
And the Lord says, I can touch them
through you.
They can hear my heart through yours.
You see, this is a revelation.
It's a deep revelation.
It's so deep that most people can't see
it.
Behold your mother, behold your son.
Go with me in the Old Testament.
We're going to close with this last book
of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter four and
verses five and six.
I've always wondered about this prophecy because most
people who study it seem to agree that
it's a duality here.
It was fulfilled.
These verses were fulfilled when John the Baptist
came as the forerunner of Jesus Christ.
But yet the author, the Holy Spirit through
Malachi, speaks in the context of the last
days.
And so there seems to be a duality
as if this same momentous happening is going
to happen twice.
First, as a forerunner to the physical coming
of Jesus.
And secondly, as a forerunner to the return
of Jesus.
Because in Malachi chapter four, verse one, he
says, behold, the day comes that shall burn
as an oven.
Clearly, the Bible, if you truly study it,
talks about the heavens being on fire in
the last days.
Peter says it clearly, everything's going to be
dissolved.
Isaiah talks about the people who will be
worshipping God in the midst of the fires.
It's clearly in the scripture, there'll be a
day of trouble such as the world has
never known.
And all the proud and all that do
wickedly shall be stubble.
The day that comes shall burn them up,
saith the Lord of hosts.
It shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Verse two says, but unto you that fear
my name shall the son of righteousness arise
with healing in his wings.
He shall go forth and grow up as
the calves of the stall.
You will tread down the wicked.
There shall be ashes under the soles of
your feet in the day that I shall
do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
In other words, anything of wickedness that has
come and damaged the body of Christ, the
Lord says in the last days, you're going
to know it and you're going to tread
it under your feet.
It's speaking about a theological perspectives that are
not correct.
You're going to put it under foot.
Remember the law of Moses, my servant, verse
four, which I commanded unto him in Horeb
with all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet.
Now it was a physical forerunner in John
the Baptist.
I do believe it's going to be the
message of the last days talking about this,
the same spirit, the same message that came
through Elijah is going to start coming through
many in the body of Christ.
I'll send you Elijah the prophet before the
coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord.
Now here's what this message will do.
And he will turn the heart of the
fathers to the children and the heart of
the children to their fathers.
Lest I come and smite the earth with
a curse.
There's going to be as it is in
the last days, an absolute breakdown of family.
And we're seeing it now we're living in
that day when family is dissolving, it's breaking
apart and seemingly losing its protection at every
level.
Even in the womb family is being attacked
as it's never been attacked before.
We're seeing family attacked even in the church
of Christ because theological perspective in many places
is selfishness.
And when you preach selfishness, you're teaching men
and women to cast off in a sense,
the cross and the love and the forgiveness
and the giving of oneself that is, can
only be found in Christ.
And now we have a generation that are
using Christ for themselves.
And because of a divorce is rampant, even
in the house of God and children are
wounded in the house of God.
And leaders are falling like flies in the
house of God, because the theological perspective is
wrong folks.
We've got to come back to the cross.
And that's what Malachi is saying.
You've got to hear this now.
Malachi is saying in verse six, this anointing
of John as it is, is going to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children and the hearts of the children to
their fathers.
And what it speaks to me is a
last day church that is coming back to
the cross because it's at the cross that
Jesus said, behold your mother and behold your
son.
They're coming back to the cross folks.
The church is coming back to the cross
of Jesus Christ one more time.
Coming back to the cross means I'm no
longer living for myself, but I'm living for
God.
And subsequently I'm living for other people.
And subsequently I'm willing and able by God's
grace to forgive those that have wronged me.
I'm willing to believe for the unbelievable all
around me.
I'm willing to and able to love the
unlovely.
I'm able to take into my heart, take
into my home, take into my bosom, people
that I know I didn't care about before
I came to Christ.
It's a giving of oneself.
That's what's found at the cross.
That's where the power of God is.
Hallelujah.
I see the church coming back to the
cross of Christ.
I see an opening of heaven again.
I see an understanding of why God became
a man and shed his blood.
I see the church rising up and becoming
the church of Jesus Christ.
I see fathers and sons and mothers and
daughters turning back again one to another.
I see love in the Christian home and
family.
I see husbands turning to their wives and
saying the devil is not getting a marriage.
He's not getting a home.
He's not getting a children.
I'm going to give myself for you and
I'm going to love you as Christ loves
the church in obedience to the word of
God.
I see a church rising up and coming
back to the cross of Christ.
Hallelujah.
By God's mercy and by God's grace, there
will be an overcoming church in this lawless
last day.
Hallelujah.
A testimony of the ability to give of
oneself for the betterment of others.
Hallelujah.
A church age where we'll be able to
say it's no longer I who live, it's
Christ who lives in me.
The life I now live, I live by
the faith and the power of the son
of God who gave himself for me.
Hallelujah.
Blessed be God.
What a day awaits us.
What a day awaits us folks.
Hallelujah.
You ask me now, what do I do?
Well, behold your brother.
Behold your mother.
Behold your son.
That's where it all begins.
And if we don't start there, it goes
nowhere.
Hallelujah.
Now you know what to do.
Loving people should not be a revelation, but
it is.
Herein John said, and let me just read
it to you in first John chapter four,
verse 17 to 21.
Herein is our love made perfect that we
may have boldness in the day of judgment
because as he is, so are we in
this world.
There's no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear because fear has torment.
And he that fears, might I add in
brackets, he that fears people is not made
perfect in love.
He that fears.
You can't have Christ and live in a
bubble.
The bubble's got to go and people have
got to get in close.
You can't have it that way.
Verse 19 says, we love him because he
first loved us.
If a man says, I love God and
hates his brother, actually the word hate in
the, in the Greek has the context of
indifference.
I don't care what happens to you.
All the best.
If a man says he loves God and
hates his brother, he's a liar.
For he that doesn't love his brother whom
he has seen, how could he love God
who he's not?
And this commandment that we have from him
that he who loves God, love his brother
also.
And this is where it begins.
This is where it begins today.
Do this.
You see, if John wasn't, if John would
have said, well, you know, Jesus, I've got
like, it doesn't fit my image of myself
right now.
You know, taking this old lady into my
house.
I appreciate you, you know, appreciate you, you
know, but it just doesn't fit my image
right now.
And you know, this is a long time
commitment.
I mean, she could live another 30 years.
But that's the human heart.
You know, we like to be moved with
missionary stories, but you know, we're not too
interested in actually getting involved sometimes.
I don't like to tell stories about myself
because it seems self-serving, but I want
to share this one with you.
The other day I was just out walking
my wife's dog and my daughter's dog.
I don't own one.
I just get to walk them.
And I saw a man come out of
the police station and he was eating out
of a garbage can.
And I didn't perceive him to be homeless.
Not that that makes any difference, but just
a guy really down on his luck.
And he'd been overnight in jail.
And I just walked over to him.
I gave him something and I said, here,
go get yourself some breakfast.
And he turned and he looked at me,
he said, God bless you.
And I knew immediately this man had a
church background.
And I don't remember what I said, but
probably something like he has.
That's why I do what I do.
And he walked about 20 feet down the
street and turned again, unshaven.
He'd had a bad, bad, bad night and
turned again and said, God bless you.
You know, he knew what had come to
him had come from the hand of God.
That's why I'm in the pulpit.
Does that make sense?
It started when I first got saved.
And you know, you're saying, God, show me
my life.
Oh, what a plan.
What is your plan for me?
What have you got for me?
The very first thing, and I remember it
clearly, is Ephesians 5.
The Lord took me to Ephesians chapter 5.
Love your wives as Christ loved the church.
That was the first thing that God asked
me to do.
I didn't know how to do that.
I was a very selfish man.
So I really had to go to Christ.
I had to petition him.
I had to fast.
I had to plead.
I had to be open to be reproved
when I wasn't doing this.
And I can't tell you how, but I
can tell you little by little and line
by line and precept by precept, what was
a hope became a reality.
And then he told me, he says, don't
provoke your children to wrath.
And it took me a while to learn
this, but I wanted to learn it.
And he was teaching me, you've got to
come out of yourself.
And it's got to be about people around
you, starting first in your home.
And then from the home, it moves into
the larger circle as it is.
The greatest revelation of anything that he's given
me to speak on today is just behold
your mother and behold your son.
Now I've got an altar call today that
the Lord's given me.
And it's for people, firstly, who are afraid
to be loved.
It seems rather odd, doesn't it?
But many people are.
You've trusted, it's been abused, and you won't
let anybody close because you're actually afraid to
be loved.
But perfect love will cast that fear out.
Will it happen immediately at this altar?
Probably not.
But little by little, line by line, person
by person, interaction by interaction, you'll begin to
change.
And then there's a second type of person
who's afraid to love, because there's a vulnerability
in loving somebody else.
And it doesn't always work out the way
you want it to.
Think of all the people that stood before
the cross.
It didn't all work out the way that
God wanted it to.
Not every soldier came to Christ.
One did, I think, and not every Pharisee
turned from their sin.
It didn't all work out.
But for the sake of those that did
turn, it was worth it.
And if you reach out to people and
become vulnerable, it won't all work out.
Some will spit in your face.
Others will abuse you.
But is it worth it?
If 10 people spit in your face for
the one who doesn't and turns to Christ,
I want to ask you a question.
Is it not worth it?
And do we turn away because we have
one or two bad experiences?
I don't think so.
Working with people is the hardest thing that
you and I will ever have to do.
A minister said one time, if it wasn't
for people, I would love preaching.
But God takes you beyond that.
Takes me beyond that.
And what is a theory becomes real.
We find it at the cross.
I want to give an altar call, especially
for those who are afraid to be loved
and for those who are afraid to love.
That today you'll just do the first things.
Just do this first thing and say, Lord,
you put some...
Now, I want you to be careful because
we have people that attend this church that
work the generosity of the believer.
There are frauds.
If a mouse falls in a cookie jar,
it doesn't make him a cookie.
And there are frauds here, probably this morning
as well, that when they hear a message
like this, they'll go and they'll start giving
you a big sob story about all their
financial needs.
And they work the church.
When they're done working this church, we find
them, they go to another.
So you have to be discerning.
I'm not talking about being generous to the
frauds.
I'm talking about having an open heart and
the Holy Spirit guiding you and helping those
who truly need help.
Father, I thank you, Lord God, for simple
yet profound revelation.
Oh, Jesus, bring us back to the cross.
I pray, God, with all my heart, that
in our generation, hundreds of thousands of your
people will come back to the cross of
Christ again.
And we will find your heart there and
we'll find your power there and we'll find
your purpose there.
And we will begin to walk with you
again.
God, turn the hearts of the fathers back
to the children and the children to their
fathers and to their mothers.
Give us a largeness of heart that we
can care for these young ones that are
coming into this house.
Oh, Lord, help us.
God, you've worked in us a great measure
of compassion.
But Lord, we want the fullness of what
you have.
Thank you, Lord, that John obeyed you.
And because of it, you gave him the
revelation.
And when we obey you, you will give
us the revelation, Lord.
God, I thank you with all my heart.
Help those who need your help this morning.
Help us to accept love and to be
able to give it in the strength of
Christ.
I ask it in Jesus' name.
As we stand today in the annex, if
you would step between the screens in the
main sanctuary, the balcony, if you'd like to
come to this altar, if the Holy Spirit
is drawing you, let's all stand together and
we'll pray.
God, spoken to your heart, if you're backslidden,
come home.
Backslidden means you've drifted, you've run from God.
Come back.
Just come back home.
The Lord will receive you.
Let's worship.
Praise God.
The Lord will never ask you to do
anything that he won't give you the power
to do it.
He'll give you the power to receive his
love and he'll give you the power to
be an expression of his love.
Now, you may have little or no background
in understanding these things.
John didn't at that moment either, but he
just simply obeyed it.
And it's amazing when you consider that Jesus
had physical brothers, sisters, but he didn't entrust
his mother to them.
And there's a reason.
That's like you and I can say, well,
you know, the state will look after all
these people.
And the Lord says, no, you, I've given
it to you to do it.
Praise God.
Hallelujah.
I'm gonna lead you in a very simple
prayer.
You've heard the word and I don't need
to re-preach it.
I don't need to re-preach it in
a prayer either.
Pray this with me.
Lord Jesus.
Thank you.
Amen.
Let's be back at three o'clock and
six o'clock.
Go rejoice.
Just go rejoicing.
Love one another.
God bless you.
This is the conclusion of the message.