Would someone like to open in prayer or
not?
You can put up your hand if you
want to open in prayer.
Okay, thank you very much.
It's quite amazing.
I'm not married obviously, but how are you
supposed to love your wife?
And how much more are we supposed to
love God?
Even our wives.
There was a man in South Africa.
Sorry.
There was a man in South Africa, his
name was Ethelbert Smith.
Quite a hard name.
And someone once said, if you could put
on your one hand the five greatest people
who were ever used in our nation, who
have had many godly, godly, godly men.
If you could put on your hand the
five greatest men who were used by God
in our land, one of them would be
Ethelbert Smith.
He was greatly, greatly anointed and very godly.
There were thousands, I think, of people who
came to the Lord through him.
And you can ask the question, would God
use someone mightily if that person did not
love God greatly?
And I can tell you one thing, Ethelbert
Smith loved God.
He didn't love God with the love that
you have for your mother or the love
you have for your wife.
He loved God passionately and with all his
heart.
One day, my dad used this illustration.
Ethelbert Smith was sitting in a church and
he saw another person sitting opposite.
He wasn't preaching at that time.
He saw a Bible and there was a
hymn book on top of the Bible, on
top of the word of God, the word
of Christ Jesus who died for our sins.
And he walked slowly over to that Bible
and picked up that hymnal and took it
off.
And tears ran down his eyes.
He was silent and he just hung his
head and he walked back and sat down
again.
He loved God with all his heart.
And God used him mightily.
We all know, I told you yesterday, that
2,000 years ago Christ died on a
flank.
He died with nails through his hands for
you and me.
He loved us greatly.
The Bible says greater love is no man
than he that laid down his life for
his friends.
But Jesus Christ laid down his life for
his enemies.
That's what we were, sinners.
And most Christians, or many Christians who call
themselves Christians, that's all they've got.
They take what Jesus has to offer, the
blood, cleansing.
And yet they give so little in return.
They give so little in return.
You can ask, what does God ask in
return?
He doesn't just say, yeah, I give my
love, I give my life.
He says these words in Matthew 22,
verse 37 and 38.
He says, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind.
God just didn't give his love to us.
He expects back from us everything.
And I know it's wonderful how people pray
for the love of God.
But many Christians, they say to themselves, I
know I don't love God with all my
heart.
But it's alright, I've got the blood.
God understands.
Even though I want it, I don't have
it.
It's not that desperate.
I'll die and I'll be in heaven with
the angels and I'll rejoice with God forever.
And it'll be alright that I didn't love
God with all my heart and all my
soul and all my mind.
But they forget something.
The Christians are one day going to be
judged.
And they're going to be judged by Jesus
Christ who died for their sins.
And they're going to be judged according to
the law of liberty, says James.
And if you do not obey the greatest
commandment, then you are committing the greatest sin.
That's logic.
If you do not love the Lord your
God with all your heart and all your
soul and all your mind, then you are
committing the greatest sin that is in the
entire Bible.
I believe.
But how do you know?
How do you know with honesty that you
love the Lord your God with all your
mind and all your soul and all your
heart, but mixed up?
That's a question many people might ask themselves.
Because how do you know?
When I was a little boy, I had
a problem.
It was a funny thing.
It was my parents.
I loved them very much.
I loved them passionately.
If my father died on a cross, I
would cry for hours over it.
Or my mother.
And yet, the Bible says, He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me.
And I knew, even though I loved Christ
and I was sad that He died, and
I was trying to be a good Christian,
pray a lot and read my Bible all
the time, I knew that I loved my
parents more than I loved Christ.
I knew it in my heart.
I had to be honest.
And the Bible says, He that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy
of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me.
It's not that you mustn't love your father
or mother.
It's not that you mustn't love your wife.
But if you do not love God more
than you love your father or mother, then
you do not love God with all your
heart and you are not worthy of God.
I began to seek God, that He would
give me His love.
And I can tell you with honesty, I
came to the point where I know, I
know, that if I die now and I
stand in the judgment, I can tell God,
and He will know it, I loved you
more than I loved my father and mother.
I can ask you that question if you
come to that point, where there is nothing
on earth, no one, no person.
Like the Bible said, Let the dead bury
their dead, but follow the army.
There is no one who is more important
to you than God.
Do you know something?
How terrifying this sin is?
If you do not love the Lord your
God with all your heart and all your
mind and all your soul, you send people
to hell.
And you will have to answer for their
souls before God.
Most people don't realize this.
There was a man in India, he was
a missionary.
It's wonderful to give up your entire life
to go to India as a missionary.
It's a big sacrifice.
But he had a wife.
You heard this morning, we must love our
lives as ourselves.
It's wonderful.
But he loved his wife more than he
loved God.
And nothing much happened.
I suppose he brought a few people to
the Lord, but nothing much happened.
And one day his wife had a terrible
sickness, and she was dying in her bed.
And eventually he came to the point where
he said, Lord, I give her to you.
I give my wife to you.
Do you know what happened?
God looked down from heaven, and I suppose
he saw that for the first time in
his life, there's nothing that is more important
to him than God.
His wife he had given up.
And you know what happened?
Revival swept through that area straight afterwards.
After all that time of nothing much happening,
he eventually gave up his wife.
I don't think she died, but I'll tell
you this.
This sin of not loving God with all
your heart is not something that is nice
to pray for.
Oh Lord, please give it to me.
I need it, oh Lord, with utter reverence.
I don't want to be funny.
It's a desperate situation that is sending souls
to hell.
It's a desperate sin.
That one day when you stand before God,
I don't want to die and stand before
God and not be able to say that
I loved you with all my heart and
all my soul and all my mind, because
then I would have committed the greatest sin
in the Bible.
I was once with a boy who was
very much in sin.
He smoked and he drank and he took
drugs.
I found out afterwards.
And this boy, I knew him.
I tried to bring him to the Lord.
I told him about Christ, but he would
not.
He knew the way, he knew everything.
He knew the gospel.
But I could not bring him to Christ.
I tried my hardest.
I went out of my way.
Then after I had found this love for
Christ, I'm nothing.
Don't let me come across as if I
am something.
I'm nothing.
I met him again.
It was about three months ago.
After a long time of not seeing him.
And he swore at me.
And in love I reprimanded him.
He swore at me again, I think.
He was at this place.
He was smoking, he was drinking.
Then after a while, after a few days,
he came to me in my room.
He said, Roy, there's something different in you
that I didn't notice before.
You hate sin.
Before you didn't take part of sin.
You didn't do it with me.
You wouldn't be part of it.
But now you hate sin.
Something like that.
Then he said these amazing words.
He said, Roy, there's a joy in the
world.
Smoking and drinking and these parties and these
wonderful things.
He said, don't let anybody lie to you.
There is a joy in it.
It is fun.
He said, there's a joy I see in
you now which is better than the joy
in the world.
And I want that joy.
He knelt down on that bed.
I still remember it.
He prayed to God to save his soul.
He stood up and he went out, threw
away his cigarettes, his drink, everything.
He went out testifying that the Lord had
changed his life.
I met him again after three months.
I didn't see him for the last three
months.
Just before I left for America now, I
met him again.
He told me how his life had changed.
How school, the people had seen his zeal
for Christ so much that they had organized
a series of meetings at his school where
every single morning he preached to Christ, preached
to the people of Christ, all the school
boys, hundreds of children.
And at other times he had meetings.
God was using him there.
And I would have had to answer to
God for those souls that he spoke to
if I had not found a love for
Christ.
You know, it says something in Romans 12
verse 9.
You ask the Christian, How do you know
that you love God with all your heart?
It says in Romans 12 verse 9, Let
love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil and cleave to
that which is good.
Which basically means if your love is sincere,
if your love is true, then you will
hate the evil.
It's not that you won't be tempted.
I'm still tempted.
Jesus was tempted, but he hated evil.
If your love is sincere, and you can
ask yourself, Do I love God with all
my heart?
If you love God with all your heart,
you will hate evil.
It won't be just, Oh, it's terrifying.
It will be terrifying in your heart if
you think that these people are blaspheming in
the name of Christ who died on the
cross for my sins.
Phineas, Charles Phineas, I love reading his autobiography.
How the Lord used him.
Do you know what?
He loved the Lord God with all his
heart.
No man can deny that.
One day he was walking through a street.
He didn't cry or anything, but he sensed
the sin and heard the blasphemy of his
precious, towards his precious Savior who died for
his sins.
He felt vomited and nauseous.
There's a word in the Greek, I think,
it means, turn in horror from that which
is evil if your love is sincere, if
your love is true.
It's not something that you do.
It's something that you are in your heart.
I mean, it's easy to go up and
say to the sinners, You're sinners.
You're going to hell.
I hate your sins.
But some people unsaved as these sinners.
My own experience, I was once in England
in a train.
And I realized that only 3% of
these people go to church.
That's what someone said to me.
And I suddenly realized that most of these
people every day take the name of the
Lord their God in vain.
They blaspheme.
They do not worry about God.
They swear.
They sin.
And I was brought to tears as I
realized that my Jesus who died on the
cross for my sins who I love.
God filled me with the love then and
I think it was for an hour as
I cried over my Jesus.
I'm nothing.
But let me ask you one question.
Have you ever cried one tear?
One tear about the sin in this world?
It's stupid because they're doing it against Jesus
Christ who died for my sins.
Do you truly love Jesus?
Brother Ran said something to me earlier this
week.
He says the second commandment that you should
love your neighbors yourself.
You can't love your neighbors yourself truly unless
you love God with all your heart.
There was a young boy William Burns was
in Scotland in a time where there had
not been revival I think for a hundred
years.
The state of the church was terrifying.
As a young boy he said to his
father I don't want to become a preacher.
I don't want to be poor.
I want to be a lawyer and get
lots of money.
He didn't love God with all his heart.
Then he got saved and said this word
I'm going to devote my entire life everything
holding nothing back to God.
God loved that.
One day at 17 years old I don't
know how old you people are his mother
couldn't find him when she went shopping.
Eventually she found him in a little street
in Glasgow on his knees crying before God
streams of water to the ground.
17 years old.
He said why are you crying?
He said I cannot stand the tramp of
these Christless people on the way to hell.
Do you know what happened to him?
It wasn't long before God came in revival
again.
Ten thousand people used to meet as God
came down in absolute agony and this young
person I'm not saying this can happen to
any of you but God loves those who
love him.
Can I ask you a question?
Do you love God with all your heart
and all your mind and all your soul
or do you just learn your scriptures and
enjoy praising God and it's wonderful I love
it too but I had to come to
the point where I had to ask myself
do I love God more than my father
and mother?
Do I love God more than everything in
life?
More than any ambition I have?
I prayed three months ago I am nothing
I said I'm nothing but I prayed three
months ago on my knees in a prayer
meeting we have at college and I said
Lord give us not only love for thee
but love like it says in my word.
Ye that love the Lord hate evil says
Psalm 90 something and one boy a very
godly fellow was sitting opposite me and he
heard me and his heart was touched and
he started seeking God for this love he
said oh I would love to have this
love that hates evil and God loves that
and God sees someone actually seeking God for
the true love not just and you know
what happened like brother ran said you can't
love your neighbor you can't love your neighbor
if you don't love God with all your
heart first and he sought God for this
love that hates evil we go on Sundays
to a prison and we were struggling there
and Satan didn't want us to save souls
truly we tried our hardest and God was
moving but this person as he sought God
to give him this love stood up and
he preached and God came down and people
in brokenness were saved many of them and
I asked him afterwards about it and he
says we Christians so often sing Lord I
pray Lord
I pray Lord I
pray
Lord
I I Lord I pray
Lord pray
Lord Lord
I pray Lord
I pray for God people
Lord everything.
Perhaps they've loved their parents or something else
more than Thee.
Lord give them the love of Christ which
passes knowledge.
Give them the desire for Thee and Thee
alone.
Let nothing else Lord come between them and
Thee.
But let you be the only thing in
their lives Lord.
And I pray this for myself as well.
Lord let them find and come to the
place in their lives where they know I
love the Lord my God with all my
heart and all my soul and all my
mind.
Lord I plead the blood of every single
one of them.
Cleanse them through and through and forgive them
for this sin Lord.
This terrifying sin of not loving God with
all my heart.
Lord I give them over to Thee to
do Thy will Lord in their lives.
In Jesus name, Amen.