The Law of Love

We know where our help comes from, don't we? Well, brethren, God is love, and God is a law-giver. Therefore, is His law the law of love? God is love, and God is a law-giver. Therefore, is His law the law of love? I repeated this because I think it's easy to overlook the importance of what this means.

God is love, and God is a law-giver. Therefore, His law is the law of love. That's a resounding yes. God's law is a law of love. If you do away with God's law, in a sense, you do away with His love. God's law is holy, just, and good, Paul says. So why would you do away with something holy, just, and good?

And yet, many people believe the law was done away. What a deception Satan has foisted upon even the Christian world to some degree, as we know it. Jesus said, Think not that I've come to destroy the law. In John 15, verse 12, Christ says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. He says, this is my commandment. Love each other as I have loved you. And then He says, Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. And then He says, You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.

Now, Jesus was one who did speak with authority, because Jesus was the Son of God. He was God. He spoke with authority, and He said, You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my father I have made known to you. Now, Jesus said a wonderful example of being open, being honest, being the kind of Savior that we all need to have.

Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. And we know that for God so loved the world, the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. So there's a lot of love out there, and we talk a lot about love in God's church, I suppose, but should we not? Today I'm going to talk about love. What is love? How should we express love? What is the law of love? It's a huge topic, but frankly I can't think of a more timely or more important topic to talk about, with Passover coming just less than two months.

Our mind needs to be on this topic. Do we love God and do we love each other? Now, I know some may seem to get tired of talking about love. In a way, I get that if that was the only thing we ever talked about, or if it was done in a syrupy, sappy sort of way, and at the exclusion of laws and commandments. That's not what we're going to talk about today. And besides, we don't always talk about love in God's church, do we? We talk about a lot of things, but today we will talk about love.

God is love, and he wants us to learn to be like him. When I say this, I'm talking about both Father and Son, both whom are members of the God family. Both are God, and they are completely in unison when it comes to their law. Some tried to make an issue out of Christ's law being different from the Father's law. Remember that? Back in the 90s, that was an issue that was brought out.

But Christ said, I and my Father are one. God is love, Christ is love, they are one, and their law is one. God's law shows us his love, and it helps define his character, who he is, and what he's all about. He wants us to treat him and others in a loving way.

He commands us to do so by his two greatest commandments. Love toward God, and love toward our neighbor. Is that not what our Savior taught us? Matthew 22. Let's take a moment to look at Matthew 22, beginning in verse 36. The Pharisees were trying to trip up Jesus again, and one came to him questioning him, trying to trip him up. The Sadducees weren't able to do it, so the Pharisees were taking a run at it. So in verse 36 of Matthew 22, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.

So he's quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12 and 30 verse 6. It's in the Old Testament. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. But Jesus decided he was going to go a little bit further and give them more than they asked for. He said in the second, the second great commandment is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I think Christ was obviously trying to make a point here to the Pharisees. You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments. Hang all the law and the prophets. This is the foundation. These two commandments. Love toward God and love toward your neighbor. And basically everyone is your neighbor. Everyone needs help. So everyone is your neighbor and we need to be willing to help those in need. Those who want our help. So this is the law of God. I'm sorry, it's the law of love. It's also the law of God. To love God and to love your neighbor. When we break the law of love, it is a sinful act. We need to understand that. Now, if we break the law of love, we are sinning and we need to repent of that. It's fundamental. But oftentimes it seems that in this world, we kind of expect people to treat people poorly. And so I think sometimes we even take it a little bit for granted. But we should see it for what it really is. Especially from our own perspective and how we treat other people. Since the two great greatest commandments are love toward God and love toward our neighbor, it's safe to say that there is such a thing as the law of love. Commandments are laws and these commandments are all about love, hence the law of love. Make sense? I think so. I'm speaking to the choir. When we violate the law of love, we have sinned and we should seek repentance.

When we hurt someone through our thoughtlessness, our meanness, our pride, our envy, our jealousy, and any host of other works of the flesh, we have sinned. How we treat other people is very, very important. We have broken the overall law of love by hurting our neighbor. And also when we sin, fundamentally, we hurt God. God is our Creator. He's the one that's called us. Out of this world, we're to be the firstfruits. And when we sin against Him, we do disappoint Him. I mean, He knows we're going to sin. He knows we're flesh. He knows we're weak. He sent His Son to die for us. We're saved by grace. It's a wonderful plan of salvation that God has for us. And we should be so very grateful for that. God has made a way for sinners to have salvation, to live forever, to have everlasting life. Now, sinners have to repent. Sinners do have to repent. God looks on the heart, right? And He sees He's looking for a repentant heart. And when He sees a heart that is malleable and soft, then He also grants repentance. God is the one that grants us repentance. So we do need to grow. We need to overcome. We need to change. We need to repent. But we're all sinners, aren't we? Is there anyone here that sins no more? Ever? I don't think so.

So let's think about this. God gave us 10 commandments. And when we look at the 10 commandments, we should clearly see that they do outline this law of love for us. The first one is, do not put anything before God. You shall have no other gods before me. We shall love toward God by putting Him first in our lives. Seek He first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you. If we bow down before images, the second commandment, obviously that's very disrespectful to the Creator. Bowing before some idol of wood or stone or other, you know, other created things. It's very disrespectful to God. And that was the way the pagans did for years. We don't see that as much, although there's still that going on in the world today, in many areas of the world.

Third commandment was, don't take God's name in vain. Well, sure, we should be very respectful of God's name. It shows us who He is. He's the Almighty, the everlasting, the all-powerful, the eternal. So we should honor Him and honor His name and speak well of Him at all times. The Sabbath day is the fourth commandment. We honor God by observing the Sabbath. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh is sanctified. It's set apart. It's made holy by God Himself because God rested on the seventh day. And so it's wonderful that you are here today. I commend you. It's a beautiful thing to keep God's commandments. No doubt we're blessed because we do love God and we're here because we love Him. We're here because we honor Him. We want to obey Him. We want to serve Him. We want to be like Him.

The fifth commandment, if we honor your Father and your Mother, it's kind of a bridge commandment. Certainly, our Father in heaven, we should show honor toward Him. We should show our love toward Him, honor Him, honor the Church as well. The Church is the Mother of us all. So we should respect God's people, God's Church, God's family, and then, of course, our own parents. To love our parents is very important that we have love toward our parents and we show them love. And we're always for them when they need us and they can count on us.

The sixth commandment. What's the sixth commandment? Thou shall not murder. Also, when you look at the spirit of this law, it's basically saying, thou shall not hate. You should not harbor hatred or resentment toward other people. That isn't God's way. We're not to hate people. We're all created in God's image. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. So we need to have love toward each other and not have hatred and not be looking down on people because of a different color or a different gender or anything like that.

We should love all people and we should certainly not murder them.

Committing adultery, obviously, is a sinful thing against your own wife or husband. Committing adultery is a breach of trust. It's a breach of faith.

It's something that we should obviously take seriously and not just in the letter but also in the Spirit. Now, Christ said, if you look at a woman to lust for her, you've committed adultery with her in your heart, in your mind. So that's something to repent of and that's an issue that a lot of people have problems with. But it is something that we should seek repentance and ask God to forgive us and do our best to overcome those issues. Pornography is a huge problem in the world today because people look and they lust and that's a sinful thing. Something that we should put put away. Put those sins away from us. The eighth commandment, thou shall not lie. Okay, when you lie to another person, are you not hurting them? How many of you like to be lied to? How many of you husbands like to be lied to or your wives like to be, you know, hopefully we're not lying to our mates? Hopefully not. We're not lying to anyone. But we're truthful because that's very disrespectful to lie to another person. Tell the truth. You know, if you're guilty, admit it. Don't try to cover it up. Okay, that's when real problems begin when we try to cover up our sins. We try to cover up our our wrongdoing. The ninth commandment, wait a minute, the ninth commandment was thou shall not lie, wasn't it? Eight is thou shall not steal. Correct? Am I correct? Okay, so let's back up a little bit. All right, so the ninth commandment, thou shall not lie, or lie we covered, but the eighth commandment thou shall not steal. Okay, how many people like to be stolen from? You know, you don't like it, right? If someone steals something from you, it's downright offensive. I don't like to be stolen from. We shouldn't steal from others. Obviously, we don't like it when they steal from us, but that's the law of love. We show love by not doing these things, by not lying, by not stealing, by not murdering, by not committing adultery. That's how we show our love. If you love me, keep my commandments, Jesus said. If you love God, keep his commandments. And then the tenth one, don't covet what belongs to other people. Don't covet those things, whatever it is. I shouldn't mention bass boats, but it seems like I almost have to, because I don't think I've ever really coveted bass boats. I joke about this, but I have seen those twenty, thirty thousand dollar bass boats, and they do look appealing.

But we shouldn't covet what belongs to another person. We should be happy for them. I'm glad that you can have that boat, and why don't you take me with you sometime?

But these are real issues. This is a practical sermon. You know, you will be held accountable for the way you treat other people and the kind of love or lack of it that you have toward others.

Okay, there's another very important scripture that ties in very, very well with this, and this is from the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 will start in verse 8. Romans 13 verse 8, Oh, no one anything except to love one another. Wow! Don't owe anybody anything except to love them. That's it. That's pretty powerful. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. If you love other people, you show that you get it. You get it. You get what this is all about. You love other people. You care for other people. You treat them in a godly, respectful way. God is not a respecter of persons because he respects all people. And we should respect all people and show that love toward them. God doesn't like sin, obviously. He doesn't respect sin, but he respects people. He is not a respecter of persons. It doesn't matter how much money one one has. It doesn't matter how much education one has. God looks on the heart. It doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman. You know, God loves all of us.

So continuing on, verse 9, For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, and of course, yes, there are other commandments. He didn't name all of them. There are other commandments here. He says, all of these commandments are summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So he's going through that second great commandment here. Love your neighbor as yourself.

That's also basically the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's what Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 7, is we should treat others in the same manner that we would like to be treated. That's important. And then notice verse 10, love does no harm to a neighbor.

Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. It's the fulfillment of God's law of love. Love doesn't harm a neighbor. A person has to be a thinking person not to harm someone else, because we can stumble into things and hurt people before we even know it. So we have to be thoughtful. We have to be thinking. We have to consider love does no harm to a neighbor. So be careful when you hurt other people. If you've harmed them, then you should try to figure out how did you harm them? What did you do? What was it that was so harmful?

You know, just saying, I'm sorry, when you do something like that is critically important. It helps the person heal a great deal when they see that there is a little bit of remorse for hurting someone and harming somebody. So I hope that we will truly think before we speak and before we act in the future. And obviously, if it's going to have a big impact, then we really need to think it through and consider, you know, how to handle things, what to do. When we keep God's law, we are expressing our love toward God and our love toward our fellow man. When Cain killed Abel, the scripture says sin was at the door. It lied at the door. Out of envy, out of hatred and jealousy, Cain murdered his own brother. He did not love him or he would not have murdered him. Now, maybe he loved him a little bit, but he didn't love him very much. He murdered him.

He was also very disrespectful to God and to his own parents, not to mention his brother when he rose up in vanity and pride, jealousy and envy, and murdered him.

Now, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, there is an important truth that we all should consider. So let's turn there for a moment. We'll read a couple verses. Deuteronomy chapter 13 verse 1.

And this is instruction to the children of Israel before they go into the Promised Land. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign of the wonder comes to pass of which he spoke to you, and along with it he says, let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet. He is called a false prophet. And the scripture says there will be false prophets in the last days. People will show up on the scene in the future, and they will try to deceive many. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. If he goes against the word of God, then you don't follow him, no matter what he can do, no matter how powerful he seems, you don't follow him. You follow the word of God. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Now I find that interesting that God is testing us as to whether or not we truly love him. Will we stand up for him? Will we stand up and be counted when things are difficult? When things are hard, will we do the right thing?

It will show how much love you have toward God if you can find the strength and the courage to do that, to stir up the spirit of God within you. Verse 4, notice verse 4, you shall walk after the eternal your God and fear him with a right fear and a right proper godly respect and keep his commandments and obey his voice. You shall serve him and hold fast to him. So love and law is all tied up together. It's inextricably linked together. We show our love toward God by keeping his commandments, by obeying him, by being faithful, by being loyal. That's how we show our love toward God. So God is testing us to whether or not we truly love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our might, with all of our being. Now God continually tests our love. When Abraham was willing to kill his own son Isaac, he did express his love for God and God's commandments. He found the strength and the courage, and he also had faith because he believed that God would resurrect his son. He had faith because he had been promised that through Isaac would the seed go forward. So he was able to put it all together, and he was able to put that knife up there, knowing full well that God was a God of love, that God was a God of mercy, and that if if he did require this, that he would resurrect his son. And it would be okay. His son would live again.

But that took a lot of faith, it took a lot of courage, it took a lot of love. For Abraham to be able to do that, Hebrews 11 tells us that he knew that God was going to be there for him. He knew God would never leave him, that God would never forsake him. He also knew that God was not into human sacrifice.

God detested that. He hated that about other nations, about Molech and others. You know, God was going to back him up. So God will test us, not typically in huge ways like Abraham, but he will test us in smaller ways. And he may test us almost every day in small areas as to whether or not we truly love him and if we love each other, if we love one another, if we're willing to lay our lives down, greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends. You know, that's the kind of love that we should be developing, the love of Jesus Christ, where we're willing to lay our lives down for each other and do the right thing, no matter how hard it gets.

So God continually tests our love. Just knowing that God is testing you in this way should make a difference in your life. That should make a difference. Every sin you commit hurts God in a certain way. So sin should not be taken lightly. Sin is the transgression, the breaking of God's laws. Every sin hurts you also and it is likely hurting others. A lot of collateral damage when we sin. When we sin, we break God's law of love toward him or toward others. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember that. Is that really the way you would like to be treated? The way you just treated that person? If it isn't, then you need to make amends. You need to reconcile. You need to heal the hurt. And Passover is a time to heal the hurts. Passover is a time to be forgiving, to forgive one another our transgressions, and to be willing to admit when we've stepped over the line, when we've hurt someone.

So these are important issues that we should all consider as we go toward the Passover, examining ourselves in this area of love. Love toward God and love toward each other.

So we should ask ourselves from time to time, is that how I want to be treated?

And be careful that that is how we treat other people. God's law is to be good for us. It's not to harm us or hurt us in any way. When we hurt others through our conduct, such as a lack of empathy, a lack of concern, by, you know, obviously some correction is fine. Correction is also biblical, but it should be done in love. And people should be able to feel that love. When we have to correct our children, we do need to correct them. We can't just let them run rampant. You know, we can't let them do anything, anything they want to do. We have to figure out some way to lovingly get the message across to them that what they're doing is wrong and it's harmful. And they need to stop that behavior. So we should be good parents. You know, if we love our children, we will discipline our children.

So we should be careful not to break God's law of love and treat others in a way that God would have us treat one another. When we're mean-spirited to one another, we have certainly broken the law of love. And who hasn't been rash in the things that they've said to each other, you know, and blurts it out before you really think about it? That's the time to stop right then and admit that, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. You know, I know that was hurtful.

So, but that's the kind of man and woman God wants to see as part of His church. He wants to see men and women who learn to love the way He loves.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, this is the love chapter. So I might be remiss if I didn't go here. And I don't want to be remiss.

So 1 Corinthians chapter 13 ties in well, obviously, with what we're talking about.

So being mean to someone is a form of hatefulness. That's a form of hatefulness. And it breaks the sixth commandment in the spirit of the law. If you, again, harbor hatred and resentment toward another, you're guilty of killing them in your heart. If you hurt them through your meanness or lack of self-control or just flat-out thoughtlessness, again, you've harmed your neighbor. You've broken the law of love.

1 Corinthians chapter 13 ties in very well with this. So let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

We'll just read the whole chapter, I think. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I still got time. I'm thinking, am I supposed to be done? No, I got time. Okay, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. God says we're nothing if we don't have love. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, but have not love. So this is obviously an outward thing that people are doing to make them look good. They don't really have love inside. They're, you know, they're just going through the motions to make themselves look good. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, but have not love. It profits nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. It's not full of vanity and pride. It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. It thinks no evil. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things. See, love is wonderful, isn't it? Love believes in people.

Love believes it believes the best in people. You should believe in people as well. Now, when they prove themselves unworthy, I mean, you also have to take note of that, but give them another chance. Keep, you know, keep forgiving, keep trying, keep working. We all have our issues, but we should not hide our eyes to the truth. We should see the truth for what it is. Love bears all things, believes all things. Now, that doesn't mean it, that doesn't mean it's blind. It can't see the truth. Now, that love can see the truth, because love is all faceted. Love bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Love never fails. That's why we don't have to fear, because God is love, and love never fails.

But whether there are prophecies, they will fail. There are some false prophecies out there. They will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I became spiritually mature, is what this is talking about, becoming spiritually mature. For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then talking about in God's kingdom, then I shall know just as I am also known. And now abide faith, hope, and love. Agape love. These three, but the greatest of these, is love. The greatest is godly love, because god is love. Yes, hope and faith are valuable, very important, but the greatest of these is love. So pursue love, it says in verse 1 of chapter 14. Pursue love. Let us all pursue love.

So let's go to 1 Corinthians 16. We're already in 1 Corinthians. Let's go over to chapter 16, where we read Paul's final instructions to the Corinthians. Verses 13 and 14 says, Paul's instruction to them is to watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Much of what I'm telling you today. Be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. Let all that you do be done with love. I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanus, that it's the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints, that you also submit to such, and to everyone who works and labors with us. So the important thing is love. That's number one. God is love and loving each other. It's job number one.

Now drop down to verse 24. Same chapter. Verse 24. How does he conclude this epistle? Paul says, My love, be with you all in Christ Jesus. My love, be with you all in Christ Jesus. Paul loved the brethren. He wasn't afraid to say it either. In fact, notice 2 Corinthians chapter 2, just over a few pages, verse 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 4, For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. Paul did have to correct them because they were not behaving in a godly manner. They had to be corrected, but he did that in love. He spoke the truth in love. He wanted them to know the love that he abundantly had for them.

So Paul was a rabbi. He was very learned in the scriptures. As we know, he repented of his sin. He was out having Christians taken off to prison. Some were actually killed at his word. Paul had to repent big time.

He did repent.

And he now is practicing what he preaches. He was well aware of the teaching on love in the Old Testament, but he had not been converted until he was struck down on the road to Damascus. When his eyes were opened, he was blinded. Physically, his mind was opened spiritually at this time. He could now see spiritually. He repented of his sins. He repented of the hatred that he had had toward God's people. Now he loved them.

But he was well aware of Leviticus chapter 19 in the Old Testament because love is a thread throughout the Bible.

Leviticus chapter 19.

And of course, the one who became Jesus was the one that basically was working face to face, in some cases, with Moses and with others, you know, as he would work with them and reveal himself to to them. In Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18, He said, You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the eternal. So this is from the Old Testament that Jesus quoted these things. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge. Yes, we're going to be hurt in this life. You are likely going to be hurt by somebody sometime or another, but don't hold a grudge. Don't bear any grudges against the children of your people. Forgive them. Learn to love them. Do your best to be godly in the example that you set for each other.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And remember, we all sin, and we are to forgive others in the same way that we want others to forgive us. We all want to be forgiven.

We have to learn to forgive, no matter how deeply we've been hurt. That's our calling. As we approach Passover, we need to think of it more so and go to those and make peace if we can. Reconcile if we can.

You love your neighbor as yourself when you do not retaliate, when you do not take revenge or hold a grudge against them. The implication is that the neighbor has wronged you. That's right. The neighbor is wronged you. But the law is aimed at both parties here. It's aimed at both parties. The neighbor should not have wronged you. He should not have wronged you, but if he has, it's best to take it and not retaliate, not hold a grudge, not try to take revenge. This escalates the issue and continues a vicious cycle.

So we do need to be very careful.

If we began the cycle by hurting someone unnecessarily, then obviously we should repent. We should go to them and, again, saying, I'm sorry, goes a long way.

Being willing to admit that you could have handled things a little bit better, that you could have handled things differently, that you never really thought it through carefully, that goes a long way.

So if you're the one that that first did the hurting, then you should try to make amends. But if you're the one that was hurt, then you also must do your best to forgive. Don't hold that grudge. Forgive. And then there will be some unity, at least to some degree. And when both parties are doing it the godly way, then it works.

And the church is strengthened. This church is better when we resolve these issues.

Paul admonishes the Corinthians to forgive and comfort the repentance center in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 2. Well, yeah, let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7 and 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Did I go there?

I already read this, didn't I? Wait a minute. No, I didn't. 2 Corinthians chapter, I was in, I guess I was in 1 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7.

Paul admonishes the Corinthians to forgive and comfort the repentance center, so he may not be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Okay, so 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7. He says, So that on the contrary you ought rather to forgive and comfort him. So here was a person who had sinned and caused a lot of grief for the church, for the people. He says, On the contrary you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. If the person has, especially if he's repented, right, if he's repented, we should accept him. We should accept this person and not continue to hold the grudge against him, but make peace with him. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

Reaffirm your love to a person. Don't continue to hold a grudge, especially when that person repents. And even when he doesn't, you know, you still need to be careful not to hold a grudge and not try to seek any type of vengeance.

Leviticus 19.34. You don't need to go back there. I'll just read it to you. Leviticus 19.34. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you and you shall love him as yourself. This is a stranger. God was really good to the strangers. He let them come with Israel. If they wanted to get in line with God's laws and his ways, they were accepted from the beginning. It was a mixed multitude. There were some who came. They were strangers, but they were to be accepted.

That's what the Old Testament teaches us. You shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. God will accept anyone who is repentant and wants to obey and follow him and keep his commandments.

We are to love even strangers because we were one strangers and we all want to be loved. We all want to be accepted. We all want to be brought into the fold. So how much more should we love our fellow servants in the Lord? How much more should we love each other in this room? We should love each other a great deal. Deuteronomy 6.5 says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Again, the Old Testament. This is a command from God. You're commanded to love.

But you can't just, you know, you really have to work at this, right? To really learn to love. It is a commandment, but may not be real easy in some respects. It's something you have to pray about and ask God to grant you more love, to help you be a more loving person, to be a more considerate person, to have more compassion. How many of you wish you had more compassion? I wish I had more compassion.

Jesus had a lot of compassion. He really did love the people. He cared for the people. We should learn to have compassion.

Jesus also had a lot to say about hypocrisy, didn't he? Jesus did not appreciate hypocrites.

In Ezekiel 33 verse 31, Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 31, So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them. So he's talking about the children of Israel. You know, he would send prophets to them like Ezekiel, and out of love he sent these prophets. He sent them out of love to help the people repent, to help them change. But no, they would not listen to the prophets. They would not get their behavior in line.

Instead, with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. In other words, they're selfish. They're looking out for number one, and they don't have pure hearts. God's looking for a pure heart. You know, the heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked, but the heart can change. The heart can change from being hard to being softened by God's Holy Spirit.

So it is God's Holy Spirit that will allow us to love God, will help us to love God properly. That's how we can learn to love God by stirring up the Holy Spirit within us. That's the gift that God has given us at baptism, laying on of hands. God grants us His Holy Spirit. It's a spirit of love, right? What does the Scripture say? It's not the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I believe that's 2 Timothy chapter 1, 6 and 7.

It is a spirit of love, a spirit of compassion. It's a spirit of honesty and integrity, of faithfulness and loyalty. That's what God's Spirit is all about. In Deuteronomy 36, going back to the Old Testament again, and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart.

He will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, that you may live. There's tremendous blessing and learning to love God and love our neighbor. God will bless us because of that. He says He will circumcise your heart. Now, He did circumcise some hearts back in the Old Testament. There were people who were led by the Holy Spirit. God granted them His Spirit. David was a man after God's own heart because he had the Holy Spirit.

God is working in greater ways in the New Testament Church, giving us His Spirit. For 70 plus years, we've been keeping the Feast of Tabernacles as a body. You don't really find that in the Scriptures. In many ways, we are a more faithful people than God has ever seen.

So we don't have to always look down on how weak we are and how frail we are. God has been with us. We are His people. He loves us. He wants us to become more and more like Him. He wants us to be blended together as His people, to love each other and to die for each other.

That's what God wants to see.

And He will circumcise our hearts. He's circumcising your heart if you have the Holy Spirit of God. Physical circumcision is nothing. What matters is keeping the commandments, He says, because that's out of a spirit of love, that we keep His commandments. That's what He's looking for, someone who humbles himself and will be obedient and faithful.

So Christ, in Matthew chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5 verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now that's what the world would say. The Bible doesn't say that, but that's what people believed, many people. Love your neighbor. That's in capital, capitals, because that's in the Bible. You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That's not in the Bible. We should not hate our enemies. But I say to you, love your enemies. Christ took it. He raised the bar on love. He said, love your enemies.

Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. And God is going to sort it all out. We can be sure of that. We don't have to do it ourselves. God's going to do it. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors, do they not even do the same?

So I want to wanted to read... I need to go to my notes. I need to read a couple verses that I don't have in my notes. I need to go to the Bible. Matthew chapter 5 verse 47 and 48. And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, spiritually mature, perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. So it's tied in with learning to love your enemies. That's true spiritual maturity. To learn to love your enemies. That doesn't mean you have to get on board with them, right? It doesn't mean you get on board with them, but you want them to repent. You pray for them. You pray that God will open their minds, that they'll change their hearts, that things will get better, that things will improve.

Jesus also said in Luke 6 35, but love your enemies do good and lend, 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 the evil.

That's the example God has set.

So it is important that we learn these lessons that God wants us to learn.

Brethren, we're drawing ever closer to the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus warned us that love would grow cold in the last days. And why would love grow cold? Do you remember why? Matthew 24 verse 12, it's talking about the beginning of sorrows. It's talking about something yet to come. It's going to get worse. It's bad enough already, but it will get worse. In Matthew 24 verse 12, and because lawlessness will abound, the breaking of the laws of God, because that will abound, the love of many will grow cold. There's a direct correlation here. The love of many is going to grow cold. The more evil this world gets, the more sinful this world becomes, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. We shall be saved, but we must endure. We must carry on. We must never give up. God has called us to be faithful. To his very end, he's called us to learn to love each other, to pray for even our enemies. It is a high and a holy calling. There's no question about that. But with God's help, we're up to it. We're up to the task, because God is our strength. As we look to Him as the song that was sung, we look to God for the strength that He gives us.

Colossians chapter 3. One final scripture. Colossians chapter 3. I don't think we went here yet. I didn't want to get here before we close. Colossians chapter 3 verse 12. Colossians 3 verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, put on kindness, put on humility, meekness, long suffering, or patience. These are many of the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. It doesn't say there's exceptions here. You got to learn to forgive. No matter how deeply you've been hurt. And sometimes it takes a while. It takes a while to get through all this. With God's help, though, you can do that. You can learn to forgive. But above all these things, put on love. You know, above all these things that Paul talks about, put on love because it's the bond of perfection. Matthew 5, 48, become you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. How do you do that? By putting on the bond of perfection. That is learning to love each other. That's becoming as God is. And it says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body. So we should stay together as God's people. And we should never let anything deter us from sticking together and being God's children, being His people together. So God's law is clearly a law of love toward God and toward our fellow human being. In God's kingdom, His law will go forth from Zion. It will be a law of love that will go forth from Zion. And all will come to know His law and to know Him, to know God. What a glorious time that will be! God's law is a law of love which will be extant during Christ's millennial reign. His firstfruits, now kings and priests in His kingdom during the millennium, will help teach this law of love. As the firstfruits of God's called out ones, now let us all be practicing the law of love.