Godly Kind of Love

Happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see you, and aloha to our brethren over in Hawaii. I hope that you're getting a good connection today with the services here. Hope you've had a good week. We've had a very busy week in many respects. I had to laugh this afternoon as we were driving down because I looked up in my rearview mirror and, believe it or not, Ahmadinejad was driving the car behind me. I said, Joan, there's Ahmadinejad in the car right behind me because he looked just like him. You know, he was short, you know, and had that face. So anyway, he's in town, I guess. So I just thought I'd let you know. Just joking about that. But he really did look like Ahmadinejad. He just really did. But anyway, a lot of funny things, of course, that we see these days. And as we look around in the world at large, we see, I think we could aptly say, a house on fire in this world. You know, as in fact Mr. Rorm was going through the announcements and talking about all the hot spots around the world. And to imagine also that here in the United States we've got the problems we have that are going to probably get worse as these budget problems continue to roll across the country. But we have conflict that's raging in Libya with Mormar Guadafy, and he's inflicting mayhem and death upon his own people. And they, of course, want to throw off the shackles of his dictatorship, and they want some other kind of rule, what that will turn out to be. And you can really know, but Guadafy apparently has cracked down the most. He's launched the bloodiest crackdown of any of the nations so far. And they say that about a thousand people have been killed in Libya up to this point, and maybe it's going to be more as time goes on.

And, you know, some of the reports were kind of interesting where people were demonstrated in the streets, and, of course, some had lost a family. Obviously very emotional and hot with anger and revenge. And they promised to revenge, in fact, Guadafy, that they're going to continue to intensify the protesting and all the things that they're doing. And, you know, this is the very thing that may very well be repeated in other Arab nations before the uprising is resolved. In fact, we could very well see some of these things begin to happen in the United States as is happening in some of these nations over in the Middle East.

Even Russia has its own Islamic version in the Chechen Republic. I think you probably have seen some of the explosions that are going on in Moscow and so forth, and they threaten revenge upon Putin and the other Russian leaders. But, you know, the question I think that always comes to our mind when we see these kinds of things erupt in the world is, where will it ever end? Where will it ever come to an end? You know, it seems like ever since Cain asked God the question when, after he had bludgeoned his own brother Abel to death, he said, Am I my brother's keeper? It seems that war has been a permanent fixture of this world that we've lived on since the last 6,000 years. There really has never been any peace. You might say there's been only the occasional absence of war. That is what we've seen in the world around us for 6,000 years. And it seems that every generation has its enemies that they must seek revenge upon. Every generation that goes by. You know, Jesus Christ said nearly 2,000 years ago, he said that, in fact, that, you know, in this world, we will not have peace.

And when he came, brethren, he came to commence to change all that we see in the world today. If we could receive it. Sometimes, of course, we can't because we don't think from a spiritual perspective. We think from a carnal perspective. But if we can receive what Jesus Christ has to say, brethren, if we do, we'll become a part of the solution that Christ is going to bring to this world when he comes the second time. You know, when he came the first time, he came to deliver a very profound message to all of us. A very profound change to not only us, but the world that is here.

In fact, a profound change that the world has never seen before. Let's go to Luke 6, Luke 6, over here in verse 27. Of course, the way it was in the world that Jesus Christ came into, basically, it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In other words, you do something to me, I'm going to do something to you.

I'm going to get back at you. But here in chapter 6 and Luke 6 and down in verse 27, notice what he says, But I say to you, and he says to you who hear, who listen, love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, and bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. And so Jesus Christ made that statement.

This is what I say to you. This is the profound message that Jesus Christ brought to the world at that time, two thousand years ago, and he has been teaching the church for the last two thousand years about. And sometimes, brethren, we have not learned very well this important, profound change. Let's go down to verse 35. It says, But love your enemies, do good in lind, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.

For he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, he says in verse 36, just as your Father also is merciful. The Father and Jesus Christ are this way. Or else, brethren, we wouldn't have been called. Any of us would not be in the church today if it had not been for the Father and Christ having this way of thinking. And, brethren, if we want to be like God, this is what we must endeavor to do. You know, it is easy, isn't it, brethren, to love those who like you and love you. You know, we, of course, thrive in that kind of an atmosphere. It seems like as the church grows large, I find this is an observation when I look at some of the churches now that have become very small.

Of course, Stockton is a very small group over there. Santa Rosa is very small. It's kind of hard to hide out in the crowd, you know, when you're in a group like that. And, you know, when you get into a larger group, and some of you may have been part of churches where the church was maybe 400 in the past. You know, I know down in Phoenix East we were around 400 people.

And, you know, what happens when you have 400 people? You have maybe a dozen here or a dozen there who sort of get into little cliques. And the church, in a way, even though it's supposed to be united together, it gets divided. You know, because, you know, people can make excuses why they don't know somebody else in the congregation. They can make excuses for that. I used to have a little exercise that I did from time to time in some of the churches I pastored, because people tend to sit in the same place every Sabbath.

And I would have them play musical chairs, go sit somewhere else. Because, you know, when you do that, you make people sit in different parts of the congregation, and they get to know one another. They get to know others within the congregation. And so, you know, it's easy to love someone who likes you and loves you. And it's natural for us, in fact, to love someone back if they love us. But, you know what? It's unnatural to love someone who hates you. That's unnatural.

You know, maybe sometimes, in fact, you've heard people say that. If somebody hated them, and you try to be kind, you try to be gentle with them, you try to be loving with them, somebody would say to you, what's wrong with you? Don't you know that this person doesn't like you? That this person hates you? Well, brother, it's unnatural to be that way. And I like to call it supernatural. It's supernatural. It's not natural. It's supernatural, brethren, to react in the way that is opposite if somebody hates us or has an attitude toward us to act in a very loving way. And with this supernatural style of love, brethren, we have the most profound opportunity to transform ourselves through the Holy Spirit. But with this kind of a paradigm change that Jesus Christ came, brethren, of thinking this way, brethren, we can improve ourselves, our lives, and help ourselves as well as we can make a difference with other people in the church and in the world as well. And I'd like to talk to you about this in the remainder of the sermon, is how can we apply the godly kind of love? In fact, that's the title of this sermon. How can we apply the godly kind of love in our lives? You know, sometimes even as God's people, we tend to not think about love the way we should. In fact, I've heard people say, you know, that, oh, he's always talking about love, love, love. You know, and I've heard some people say that love is a slippery slope.

Well, I guess that's why the world has never tried it. It always tries, of course, the opposite of love. And look at what the world has become out there. You know, we sometimes overlook, brethren, who our greatest enemies really are. Who are our greatest enemies? Well, 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says that Satan is the god of this world, and he is our number one enemy. And the thing about him, we don't see him, but he's always plotting. He's always planning against us. And second to Satan, I would say, our greatest enemy is this world that we live in. This world, this society that we dwell in here. And you know what, third to that would be, is we war against our own human flesh.

So, in that list, thirdly, it would be us. You know, I've seen the enemy, and it is us, as the saying goes. But in the world, who is our enemy? Who is our enemy in the world, in this society out here? Of course, there are people from every walk of life that you probably come in contact with. Let's go over to Matthew 5 and answer that question according to what the Bible says here. Certainly not everybody is your enemy because you don't know them, do you? But there are some who are enemies, and we need to identify our enemies. And of course, we need to keep in mind that we can be our own greatest enemy. But in Matthew 5 and verse 43, let's notice it says, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Again, that's the way it was. You know, love your neighbor but hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. And so this really gives us an answer of who our enemies are, brethren. Christ said, He who curses, hates, and anyone who despitefully uses you is your enemy. And so that sort of narrows it down, doesn't it? As to what your enemy is. And it's important to, again, to know our enemy, who our enemy is. And, you know, Jesus Christ says that He brought this new way of thinking. And so who is someone who curses you? Who is someone who curses you? Now, I'm not asking you to think about who has cursed you in this life. I'm sure that probably through the years, if you've been around very long at all, there's been someone that you weren't their cup of tea, you know, that they didn't necessarily care an awful lot for you. But the Greek word for curse, by the way, here, means to execrate or doom someone.

And the dictionary definition of execrate is to hate with loathing. To hate somebody with loathing. I don't know if you know anybody that's ever hated you that way. I, you know, we probably don't know. Sometimes even if somebody were to be that way. But this would be an enemy that you would have. You know, someone would be loathing of you. You know, sometimes, you know, young people can be very cruel. If you go to high school, you know, if you go to some of the intermediate grades as well.

Because, you know, some kids, of course, will ostracize other kids. And so maybe that kind of thing you might see, you know, in the grade schools, actually demonstrated in some ways among our young people. They could tell you about it. Experiences that they've had. And I remember our children when they were in high school and grammar school and so forth. Sometimes it's pretty hard. It really is for little kids sometimes, having to go through that kind of thing. But, you know, remember when Absalom had won the hearts of the people? Remember he would sit at the gate and people would come to Jerusalem.

And, you know, they wanted to see David, to talk to David. But Absalom would talk to the people and he said, well, I know you can't get in to see the king, but come to me and I'll help you. And it talks about in the story of what happened with Absalom, of how that he won the hearts of the people of Israel, you know, by doing that. And, of course, he was undermining David at the same time. You remember the story about how that David had, he was forced to leave Jerusalem because he feared for his life. Let's go to 2 Samuel and notice over here. I want to show you what fear or what loathing is and hatred is.

But it's over here in 2 Samuel that this story and account is. And I've read this quite a number of times, but it's interesting how David dealt with this. I think we can learn a little bit about what Jesus Christ is talking about here when he talks about an enemy here. But in 2 Samuel 16, on down to verse 5, it says, Now when King David came to Beharim, there was a man from the family of the house of Saul. Now Saul had been, of course, the king before, and David had replaced him. And it says, Whose name was Shemai, the son of Gerah, coming from there, and he came out, cursing continuously as he came.

I don't know if you've ever seen somebody so angry that their mouths were drooling. They were angry, and the tears were coming down in their eyes, and they were shouting at someone because they hated them so much. Well, this was the kind of man that he was and where he was. And he threw stones at David and all the servants of King David. And so he's throwing rocks at these people. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

Now think about this. Here this man was so angry, it didn't matter to him that the mighty men of David were right there, could lop his head off at any time. It was almost like he was fearless. And then it says, And Shemai said, Thus would he curse, Come out!

Come out, you bloodthirsty man! You rogue! And it says, And the Eternal had brought upon him all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. And the Eternal has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, your son. So now you are caught in your own evil, because you are a bloodthirsty man. And I imagine he was frothy with a mouth, shouting at David. I don't think you could interpret that any different than that, quite frankly. And you know, this man was fit to be tied. You've heard that expression, haven't you? That means he should have been probably put in a straitjacket.

You know, police should have been johnny on the spot there, or those mighty men getting down and tying him up in rope, with a rope. But again, the man was fearless in his attack of David. And in verse 9, and then Abishai, the son of Zeruah, said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king?

Please let me go over and take off his head. It would be very easy to take his head off. And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruah? So let him curse me, because the Eternal has said to him, Curse David.

Who then shall say, Why have you done so? And David, you see the wheels were turning up in his head. You know, when we go through trials and difficulties sometimes, and when people curses that way, or maybe damn our names would be an appropriate thing to say, his mind was working. He says, Hey, maybe I deserve this. Maybe it's what I deserve. And then going on, and David said to Abishai and all his servants, See how my son, who has come from my own body, seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjamite let him alone, and let him curse, for so the Eternal has ordered him. Again, I can see that David thought, Well, yeah, I probably deserve that.

I don't know if you've been in a circumstance, brethren, where you maybe suffered something like that. You know, that you thought, Well, I guess I probably deserve that. And maybe you were big enough to be like David here. Maybe this is what God wants him to do to me. And you know, David's looking within himself. That takes a lot of faith, doesn't it? For a man at that point in time when this kind of thing is happening to look within himself.

But, you know, he knew that God was working with him, that God had not thrown David off, but God was still working with him. And it says in verse 12, this is what David thought, It may be the Eternal will look on my affliction, and that the Eternal will repay me with good for his cursing this day. You know, so David, that's the way he looked at it. And as David and his men went along the road, Shammai, went along the hillside opposite him, cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and kicked up the dust. You can just see this, you know, this whole story, this whole account through here.

And you know, I think David thought, well, look, maybe God is testing me with this. This is more than I can bear. Absalom's going to try to kill me, probably, here. And now this man comes out, and I'm shamed even more here. Maybe God is testing me, and maybe he's looking at me, and he sees what I'm going through, and maybe he's looking at how I take it.

Maybe he looks at how I react as a godly person. But, brethren, here is an example of someone who curses you. That's what that's about. Now, I'm not saying that everybody, you know, has to go to the extent of this particular shimai, but, brethren, this is what it means to loathe someone. This is what it means to hate someone. And David, as we notice here, did not lash out in revenge.

David was a man after God's own heart, even at this particular time. But we see the reaction of what he does. And so Jesus Christ, you know, he says here that if someone curses you, this is your enemy. Shimai was his enemy, no doubt about it, declared openly. And then in Matthew 5, Jesus Christ says, you know, that your enemy is he who hates you.

He who hates you. The word hate means, brethren, to detest. Of course, all of these, I'm sure, overlap as we talk about them. You know, people can hate you for any number of reasons when they have unbridled passions. I think you would agree that Shimai did not have any bridled passions about him.

He didn't bridle what was within himself. But when people don't have those bridles that can hold themselves back and restrain, where they restrain themselves, you know, people can hate you for any number of reasons. You know, you can be hated because you are black, just because you're black. You can be hated just because you're white. You know, you can be hated just because you're yellow. Or if you're purple, you know, or striped. People don't have to really have a good reason to hate you.

You know, we live in a world that has grown up on hate. 6,000 years of it. You know, people can express hatred for you because they once knew someone who looked like you, who had done them harm. You don't believe that, probably, do you? But it is true. It is true. They say if you're in the ministry long enough, you see everything.

They can detest you because you try to live righteously. Oh, you goody two-shoes. What's wrong with you? You try to be perfect? Is that what you're trying to be? You know, it's interesting that the Bible says that Jesus Christ, you know, Himself was hated without cause. There was no cause for anyone to hate Him.

But, you know, they hated Christ because He said He also came down from heaven. Jesus said this, and I'm not going to turn to it, but in John 15, verse 18-19, He said, If the world hates you, and you know that it hated Me before it hated you, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The world hates you.

And like I said, sometimes people can hate us for no reason of all. You know, there's a scripture, the Old Testament scripture, it says that, you know, it says they hated Me without cause. And Christ said, this happened so that the Word of God might be fulfilled that is written in the law, that they hated Me without cause. And, you know, brethren, I think that we have to also realize that in this world, we're going to be hated without cause as well. You don't have to have a reason, you know, at all. You know, the sinless nature of Christ was more important, though, than the unjust wrong that was done to Him at the time. You know, is it more important for Christ to always be righteous in what He did than the unjust way He was treated in this world? And brethren, the same is true for us. You know, that we remain righteous. It's like David remained righteous even though, again, he had somebody cursing him. That was more important than what the wrong that was done to him by Shammai. You know, Jesus Christ was absolutely as pure as the driven snow, but He came and He suffered more than any man suffered in all of existence of human life. And so, this is what it says in the Bible. This is your enemy. He also talked about how someone who spitefully uses you is your enemy, is working against you. This word, by the way, spitefully in the Greek means to insult. It means to slander or to falsely accuse. Now, I looked at that a little differently when I read it in the past, but He's talking about slander here and insults. It implies that someone uses your name to tell vicious lies about you, you know, to accomplish their own end, their aims. Let me give an example of where that's in the Bible. You remember in the case of Caiaphas the high priest? When He made the statement, He says it's expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. It talked about, if you read the other scriptures there, it says, and from that time they plotted to put Jesus Christ to death. And it also says that Caiaphas the high priest did not say that on his own authority. He was not the only one that was behind this. There might have been some political intrigue that was behind this that caused him to spitefully use Jesus Christ. And as a result, of course, He was crucified from it. Who is your enemy, brethren? Who is He who persecutes you is your enemy? That's your enemy. And the Greek word here, brethren, refers to someone who, in a prolonged way, presses forward against you. The scribes and the Pharisees persecuted Christ and the apostles. They pressed on Jesus Christ constantly. They pressed on the apostles. The apostle Paul, remember, was an avid persecutor of Jesus Christ and the church. He dragged people out, in fact, of places where they were gathered and took them to prison. He consented to some to put them to death. You'll read that in the book of Acts. I'm not going to go to that. But, you know, the apostle Paul never got over what he did. But he actively was striving to persecute the church. He was pressing forward, always against the church. And brethren, these things we will likely face in our spiritual development here. Now, why must these things be a part of our, you might say, our repertoire of our development, spiritually speaking?

Well, brethren, what it does, it provides an opportunity for us to learn what agape love really is. That's where we learn about agape love. You know, mankind knows the other kinds of love. He knows philia. He knows eros. But he does not know agape love.

And, you know, the world itself out here is a clear demonstration that mankind does not know the agape love. Look out in the world. Where do you see the love of God out in the world today? It would really be a challenge to find something. You know, in fact, when people do good without any reason, it makes the headlines, doesn't it?

You look at the news and you'll see a report. Oh, somebody did something that was benevolent, that was loving. They had no reason to do it whatsoever. It makes the...and sometimes the national news. You know, when somebody does that. Because in the world, we simply do not see agape love. Let's go to Mark, I should say, in chapter 12. Mark chapter 12 and verse 30.

Mark 12 and verse 30 here.

Here, Jesus Christ makes the statement, He says, And you shall love the Lord, the eternal your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment, He says. And so we are to love God in this way, in this manner. It's a wholehearted love, isn't it? It really is here. And in verse 31 and the second, like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And it says, There is no other commandment greater than these. These two commandments here, first to love God and to love our neighbor. And I think we all understand, brethren, that, you know, the first four commandments express how we are to love God. And the last six commandments tell us how we are to love our neighbor. But it's interesting here, brethren, as we look here in verse 30 and 31, the Greek word for love here is the Greek word agapeo. And it's interesting that this word agapeo is an action verb. It's an action verb. It's not agape, brethren, here. It's agapeo. To love God, brethren, requires action on our part. We often talk about how the Sabbath is a test commandment. You know, it is a test commandment of whether or not we love God. Are we willing to do it, to put it into action, in other words, and practice that in our lives? So to love God requires action on our part. And God, of course, will only bless an effort, brethren, that we make. Now, if we put our foot forward and begin to obey Him and try to do that, then God will bless that effort that we put into it. Now, the corresponding noun for agapeo is agape. You know, agape is love. Now, let's go over to 1 John 4. Stay with me here, because we have, I think, a very important message here that is important for us to get. I think as we see the world out here, and sometimes what happens even in the church, that we certainly need to pay attention to this. But here in 1 John 4, verse 7, notice, it says, Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. I think all of us want to know that we are God's children. We all want to know that we've been begotten of the Holy Spirit, that we are the children of God. I think all of us want to know that, don't we? But it's interesting here in verse 7 that both of these words, agapeo and agape, are used. And it says, let us love, agapeo, in other words, put that into action, love one another, for love, agape, is of God, and everyone who loves, agapeo, is born, as we know that means begotten of God. They have been begotten. So if we have learned how to love, and put that into action, brethren, we are, you know, God's begotten children here. Let's go on down to verse 8.

Verse 8. And it says, He that does not love, does not know God, for God is love. So if we are not participating in agapeo, brethren, in other words, putting love in practice in our lives, then we are not of God. We don't know God, because God is love. He is love. Again, that's not something you don't know, but, brethren, each of us, and I certainly say this for myself as well, that we need to be practicing love from the heart. And in verse 9 it says, In this the love of God was manifested toward us. So this is the very reason that God manifested this love to us, brethren, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. And, of course, live through the way of love. Not like the world out here that lives basically for revenge. The world out here lives for whatever, again, unrestrained anger that falls out of their mouth or by their hand.

And it says, And this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And so He sent Jesus Christ for this very purpose. And it says, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. If God really loved us, brethren, that He sent His very Son. And as we understand, hopefully I don't have to go back to Scripture to show you that Jesus Christ was the one that created all things, including us. He created us, brethren. And so He says as a result of that love that God has given to us, that we ought, we ought, He says here, to love one another. And it says, And it says, And it says, Perfected in us. You know, that I've meditated on a great deal. A gopi love, brethren, is being perfected in us. See, this is what the world lacks out here in this society. You know, they do not have that agape love. And they'll keep fighting until, in fact, they are made to stop fighting. Well, how, brethren, is the agape love being perfected in you and me? How is that being perfected in us? You know, is it somehow like, you know, sort of like a chemical in us, and it causes this catalyst in us to begin?

And as a result, all of a sudden, we love each other. I love you. You know, some people can be, when they get baptized, sometimes in some of these churches, you know, I love everybody, you know. But it's almost a magical kind of thing. No, we can have love, certainly, and we can be rejoicing if we have been forgiven of sin, and all of that. I think that that's the sort of a high that we get on when we think about our sins that have been forgiven of us. But we really need to have that love in us that needs to be perfected. But how, brethren, is it perfected? How is it being perfected? We're going to answer that question. We'll get to it.

But, you know, one of the things that is important about this agape love, brethren, is that agape love makes us the sons of God.

That agape love makes us the sons of God. Let's go over to Luke 6. In Luke 6 and verse 35 over here, in 36, I'm sorry, turn to Luke, John. Maybe his name was John Luke. Who knows? Luke 6 and verse 35 and 6. It says, Do you get that, brethren? Right there. Love your enemies, and we can cut the rest out, and you will be the sons of the Most High. This is what makes us the sons of the Most High, brethren. This agape love in us. This is what makes us the sons of God. And, you know, we know that we are the sons of God if the Holy Spirit is leading us as well, as it says in Romans 8. But what does it lead us to do? That's what we're talking about here today. And that is to have that agape love. You know, in this Word, by the way, love here is agapeil. In other words, putting love into practice in our lives. That's what makes us the sons of God. Now, let's go back to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 44 and 45. Matthew 5 and verse 44 and 45. You'll hear Matthew says, But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven. Again, same thought here. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. This is what God's nature is, brethren. We are the sons of God if we have that love that's being perfected within us. Going on down here, down in verse 47, it says, If you greet your brethren only, what do you more than the others? Do not even the tax collectors do so. Therefore, you shall be perfect. It says, Just as your Father in heaven is perfect. And so, this love that we should have, not just for those that like us and love us, you know, we should have that love for all people, in fact, upon the face of the earth. Christ says here, we need to be perfect like the Father in heaven is perfect. This word, by the way, for perfect is in the Greek, telios, which means complete. Now, what does that mean in terms of being complete, brethren, as God's people? Well, when Adam and Eve were created, they were not complete. We know they lacked God's Spirit. But most of all, they did not have God's character within them. They did not have that agape love within them that comes as a result of God's Spirit being utilized when we're led by that Spirit. And in order to be completed, they needed the Holy Spirit and this agape love. And, brethren, if we have that kind of love, we will be like God in that respect. And, of course, it's not something that's easy for us to do because we've got this character that we built in the world that has been within us all this time that has to be mortified, as other places say. Let's go to Romans 5. Romans 5.

It takes a lot of faith, by the way, to begin to build this kind of love within us as God's people. It is faith to faith, as was said in the first message. We have to tackle one hill at a time, don't we? We can't run straight to the top of the mountain where we're trying to overcome so much in our lives. But here in Romans 5 and down in verse 5, it says, Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us. And so this, again, Greek word here is agape. In other words, that agape love has been shed abroad, as it says in the Revised Standard Version. And so it's an outpouring, brethren, of agape love that has been given to us. And as a result of it, brethren, we ought to be able to begin to see what God wants us to be as His people. And I think we need to keep in mind as well, brethren, that God gave us this agape love when we were yet sinners. You know, we had not had the opportunity to grow or anything.

We were forgiven, and that was poured out upon us at the very beginning.

As we see here in the context, if God loved us, we ought to love others, even though they may very well conduct themselves in a wrong manner. They may hate you. They may, despitefully, use you. They may do all of these things. And in this way, brethren, we become complete spiritually with God's love.

And so through agape love, we become the sons of God.

Also, brethren, through God's love, we become a new creation. A new creation.

You know, science tries to tell us that there are an estimated—they don't even know how many species of animals and so forth upon the earth. It's between five and thirty million. They don't know. They've identified two million. But they try to tell us that all of these species evolved from one level to another through natural selection, genetic drift also, mutations. Charles Darwin put forth his theories, which are accepted as fact by so many people, so-called educated people, who deny the creation.

We know such a theory can be debunked, and I think a high school student could debunk it just by merely doing just a little bit of research.

But I want you to think about, brethren, the fact that Adam was created six thousand years ago.

And by man going his own way, as Adam did, do you think man has evolved the last six thousand years?

Well, I would say, no, he's retrogressed.

Man has become weaker, certainly. I really have to imagine, we can only imagine how intelligent Adam was if he was able to remember all the names of the animals. Just fit that alone.

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting Alzheimer's, because I forget people.

One nice thing about Alzheimer's, though, everybody's new to you.

Of course, it's not something we'd wish on anybody.

But imagine how intelligent Adam was, and how intelligent that Eve was.

And man is retrogressed. We've not progressed from one generation to another.

Yes, we have. We've increased in knowledge as a people.

Mr. Armstrong used to talk about how we've developed all this knowledge, but not in the spiritual realm, at all.

But, you know, the path to higher development, evolution, if you will, the path to higher development is when man spiritually submits to God Almighty.

If man wants to progress, he really wants to progress, and I use the word, evolved, loosely.

You know, the book of Genesis reveals to us that man was created from the dust of the ground and became a living soul.

He was the first Adam that was created. And the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the second Adam.

And from the beginning, God intended man to evolve to a higher level, not by chance, but by free moral choice on his part, because man is a free moral agent.

See, man is thinking only in terms of the physical, but here we're talking about, brethren, a step that man has never thought about, and that's the spiritual.

How man evolves to a higher level.

And, believe it or not, brethren, we are going to be the first species on that higher level.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. You know, if we're putting it in sort of scientific terms.

But in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 21, let's notice over here, it says, It says, And so through Christ, man is going to be changed through the resurrection. Down in verse 45 here, verse 45, it says, And it says, And it says, And afterwards, the spiritual.

That's the first Adam. We shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. That is Jesus Christ.

And so, brethren, through Jesus Christ, we're going to become a new creation that this world has never seen before.

We're going to be markedly different.

But, brethren, that change begins now.

Let's notice over in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.

Notice what he says here, And that's very interesting that God's love compels us by this.

And since that time, this world has basically been the walking dead.

I don't know if you ever watch those kind of movies where people just sort of walk around.

All you have to do is go to the mall and you see that all the time.

It says, We don't think about the flesh.

We were once a part of this flesh out here, the world it is.

But we're different because we have God's Spirit. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is of Christ, He is a new Creator.

And it says, So, brethren, we are a new creation.

Right now, brethren, we're that new creation with God's Spirit.

And we need, of course, to reflect that.

And as a new creation, brethren, we must be different from this world, this society that is out there.

You and I live among the walking dead, like I said.

Let me show that to you in the Bible.

If you don't believe me.

Mr. Armstrong used to say, Don't believe me. Believe the Bible.

And I used to say, Blow the dust off your Bible.

But in Ephesians 2 and verse 1, Speaking again of God's people, And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

And it says, And it says, You know, that Spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

And it says, And it says, And the less of a flesh, fulfilling the desires of flesh in the mind, and by nature the children of wrath, just as others.

But notice here, verse 4, God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love, that's agape, with which he loved us.

He pulled us out of that, brethren, out of that world, and that society that's out there to make us this new creation.

And you know, I'm not going to take the time to go over to show you, but we as God's people need to realize that right now, we should be putting on the divine nature in our lives.

The divine natures.

You might write down 2 Peter 1, verses 3 through 4.

So in life, you know, what we need to do is, occasions come to us, brethren, we need to not mimic human nature, but we need to mimic, you know, God's divine nature.

And we do that if we're following Christ Jesus.

We're following ourselves, brethren, to do those things that someone who has the agape love in them would do.

And you know, the Bible tells us also, brethren, that we should not allow this world to affect us, to conform to the world, but to be transformed.

Transformed.

You know, out of what this world is, and again, to be transformed to where we have, you know, character that is like the character of Christ.

You know, we need to get rid of sometimes the anger that we have.

We've had sermons about that before.

We need, as God's people, to never seek revenge upon people.

God has not called us to revenge.

God has not called us to hate.

God has not called us to those things that people do freely in the world.

There's a Chinese proverb.

It says, he who seeks vengeance must dig two graves, one for his enemy and one for himself.

And that's certainly true for a Christian, isn't it?

If we're not really developing that godly love.

Abraham Lincoln made this statement. He said, The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him your friend.

I think it's pretty intelligent.

Fellow. Old Ben Franklin said, Do good to your enemies to keep them.

It says, He says, Do good to your friends to keep them. I'm sorry, I think it said enemies, didn't I? Do good for your enemies to keep them, to your enemies to win them.

And so be good to your enemies to win them over. So how does Jesus Christ, brethren, instruct us to love our enemies? How does he do it?

He says this, number one, that we bless them. That we bless them. Boy, that's a hard thing to do, isn't it, when somebody is your enemy.

Adam Clark says this about that particular phrase there in Matthew in Luke 6. In other words, give them good words for their bad words.

Give them good words for their bad words.

So if you want to overcome your enemies and you want to show the love toward them, if they use bad words against you, you use good words.

You exercise character and restraint over yourself.

Be like David.

Now David, again, did not allow Shammai to get him to the point where he was so angry, he ordered somebody to shop somebody's head off.

But he thought, well, maybe God wants me to learn something in this, and we can do the same thing, brethren.

How do we love our enemies? Jesus Christ said, bless them.

Next, what did he say about our enemies? He said, do good to them.

Do good to them.

You know, Adam Clark says, give your enemy every proof that you love him.

We must not love in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

So do good to them.

And finally, what does he say that we should do in loving our enemies? Pray for them.

Pray for them.

Adam Clark says this for that phrase, pray for them.

This is another exquisitely reasonable precept I cannot change, that wicked man's hearts, and it says, and while it is unchanged, he will continue to harass me. God alone can change him. Then I must implore him to do that, which will be at once secure the poor man's salvation and contribute so much to my own peace.

So that's one way we can pray about it. You know, we can pray that, look, God, convert this man so I can have peace.

You know, I found through personal experience that when I prayed for people, that sometimes we're a thorn in the side, that God took action, and God changed things.

And I'm sure you have in your life as well. Let's go to 2 Kings 6.

2 Kings 6.

I think of a very wonderful story over here. There was a time when Syria was battering Samaria.

But in verse 11, we'll break into the thought, it says, He had something happen to where, you know, in the terms of the war, that the Syrians had lost, and he thought somebody had betrayed him. He says, who is for the king of Israel in our camp?

And so he said, And it was told him, you know, surely he's in Dothan. And therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there.

And they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? I think it's kind of interesting here that with this servant, that he saw, of course, all the physical things, which we normally tend to see, don't we?

We cannot see the spiritual activity that's going on around us.

And so, My next question would be, how do you know that? You know, Elisha. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes and he may see. And then the eternal opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots, of fire, all around Elisha. Think about that. I want you to look around, brethren. There's angels all around here. One sitting over there on his thumb.

You know, there are angels all around us at this time with us. And here, Elisha was merely opening the man's eyes, asking God to open his eyes. And so, when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the eternal and said, Strike this people. I pray with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

And so here, these soldiers were struck with blindness, as it says here. And going on down, let's notice, and it says, Now Elisha said to them, This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I'll bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria. And so it was when they had come to Samaria that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see.

And the eternal opened their eyes, and they saw. And there they were inside Samaria. Wrong place to be if you're an enemy. And now, when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elijah, My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them? But he answered, You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.

And then he prepared a great feast for them. And after they ate and drank, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syrians, raiders, came no more into the land of Israel. Now, what if the king of Israel had lopped their heads off? Revenge. Revenge. They came no more in the land of Israel. Here, Elijah found a better way to do these things of war.

What he did is he transformed his enemies with agape, love. Mercy. Mercy upon people that did not deserve. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. Agape love, brethren. It's loving people when you have no visible reason why you should. It's loving people that don't have a lot of concern or care for you. In 1 Corinthians 13, down here in verse 4, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It's not puffed up.

It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It's not provoked. It thinks no evil. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and doers all things. Love never fails. Now, brethren, what if all the world were to have this kind of love? Well, it's not going to happen anytime soon. But what if we had this kind of love?

Brethren, we are going to be those new creations that God has brought about, that are going to be the seed for the world tomorrow, and we're going to help transform this entire world. You know, what a change! What a tremendous change in a man like Apostle Paul, who was a man who fought against the church. You know, he was called of God. He was tricked down, as we know, and he was transformed by the love of God. He became one of the strongest advocates of the church and of Jesus Christ. And Paul witnessed before the highest levels of the Roman government, and then he willingly became a martyr for Christ.

That's what love does to people. I've often wondered, how did the apostles, how did these people willingly allow themselves to be martyrs? You know, how did they do it, brethren? You know, I think I understand now. What makes men like the apostles, who were taken before the santhedders, and they were warned not to preach in the name of Jesus Christ, and they were beaten?

And of course, they were not about to listen to that warning at all, but afterward it says that they departed from the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ. Oh, brethren, it's agape love. That's what does it. And this same agape love, brethren, was displayed in Stephen when he was being stoned by the elders and the scribes and the people.

And, you know, before he died, he mustered the ability to kneel down and pray one last prayer, and he said, Lord, do not charge them for this sin. And he died.

It's agape love, brethren. That's what does it. Within the world, it should be obvious, brethren, of what's missing in mankind. They have their kind of love, which is hatred. It's a kind of love that is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It is to love your friends and hate your enemies that Jesus Christ said. What we see in this world will not be so in the kingdom of God.

The Father sent Jesus Christ to show us His plan, His new way, His better way. It will require everyone, brethren, to put down their raised fists and their guns in the world. It will require love in this world, the agape love that you and I have been shown. We are new creatures, brethren, displaying this new way for the world to see. Let's learn, brethren, to let our lights shine in how we treat each other and how we treat people in the world as well.

We should show agape love to our brothers in Christ and this world. Let's put love, brethren, the agape love, in action in our lives as we're living in this time of the end.