Where Is the Love?

Happy Sabbath! Good to see all of you. Hope that you've had a great week. It seems like it goes so fast, doesn't it? No matter what you do, it seems like it goes so fast. But it seems like the world is moving in a faster clip than it ever has before as well. And it's apt to continue on that approach in the world for the foreseeable future until it all comes to a close. The crisis at the close. There are wonderful things to see in the world. And the Bible talks about amazing things that you can see of God's wonderful creation. But it's always wonderful, a wonderful thing, when two people find each other and they spend time together and they love each other, they come to love each other, they marry one another, and they live through their lives and they're faithful to the very end. They love each other and are inseparable. And oftentimes when people are that close, it's like if you see one, you're going to see the other. It's like they're attached with the hip, so to speak. And a two-headed monster when they're around. To see two people who have recently married is incredible because they share a first love with each other. And that love is again real. And sometimes it's somewhat comical to see newlyweds because of how they act around each other and you know what I'm talking about. I know sometimes I remember even way back when when I was working at the world cultural factory of the world, Tucker Duck and Roger Company. And sometimes it would be a young fellow would come in and he had just been married and the older guys would really kid the younger guy who just got married because of how he acted. You know, how he was different. I'm sure it's the same for gals when they get married as well. They act different. There's a difference in there because again they have that first love. You can't wait to get off work to get home to the wife, you know, young men especially have that attitude. On the other hand, it is so sad to see after a passage of time that that love has somehow dissipated. And maybe rather than you know the giddiness that they have when they're around each other. Again, that love is dissipated. And now they're at odds with each other. It reminds me of the song that was in 1972 titled Where is the Love? sung by Roberta Flack. Where is the love? You know, the love you once had for me, you know, where is the love? Because it dissipates and we see that happen sometimes in the lives of people. Young people. In fact, it happens also for those that are older get married as well. Where is the love? Let's go to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 here in chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 is where we're going to focus the beginning of the message here. It says, "...to the angel the church in Ephesus write, these things as he that holds the seven stars in his right hand," of course, this is Jesus Christ, "...who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands," and we know the lampstands depict the churches that were there and the Asia Minor that we know has not only, you know, ramifications for that time, but for future time as well in the in what we have called in the church eras or epics of the church, and that Jesus Christ is right in the midst of his church and has been through the ages. But in verse 2 it says, "...I know your works," he says of the church at Ephesus, "...your labor, your patience, that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you've tested those who say they are apostles that are not, that have found them liars, and you persevere." You know, all these wonderful qualities about Ephesus that he mentions, and have patience and have labored in for my name's sake, and not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you.

You've got all these wonderful qualities, but I have this against you, that you've left your first love.

You've left your first love. And it says, "...remember therefore from where you have fallen," you know, this precipice that you were on, this high place that you were on. Again, like two young lovers, their first married, "...remember from what you've fallen, where you've fallen to, and where you are now." But he's saying this again from the spiritual perspective. "...remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from this place unless you repent." This is a turnaround, unless there's a change of heart.

And so, brethren, the title of this sermon is, Where is the Love? Where is the love? You know, where is the love like the love that we had at first? Well, from a spiritual perspective, I'm talking about trying to relate it to the physical. So, where is the love like the love we had at first? That great desire, that push, that fire in the belly, feeling and desire to obey God, no matter what, to do what God commands us to do, no matter what. Where is the love like the love that we had at first? You know, what causes a young man and his lovely wife to drift apart and lose that first love? What causes that to happen? Well, I think we all know, really, how that kind of thing begins. It begins with the little things, the little things, and ends up with the big things. That's the way it begins.

You know, Edmund Burke said that, very seldom does a man take one giant step from a life of virtue and goodness into a life of vice and corruption. Usually, he begins his journey into evil by taking little steps into the shaded areas. Areas tinted in color just a bit, almost unnoticed by those around him, until one day, hardly aware that he's made the journey, he finds himself firmly entangled in a life of vice and corruption. That's the way it works, isn't it? About all things, about life. People make tremendous turns around in their lives spiritually, and they become entangled again in those things that they disentangled themselves from prior to it. I want to give you a couple of examples in the Bible.

There was a man of God. He was from birth, in fact. He was chosen to be a man of God. His name was Samson. Remember the story of Samson? I think every young person knows the story of Samson, this he-man. He was so strong, he was able to do miraculous things, and with the strength that he had, he was able to carry these huge gates of the Philistines, remember, on his shoulders. He was quite a man. He was strong, no question about it. Many feats that Samson did. But he was a man of God from birth, and his life was dedicated to God.

And remember, he was under a Nazarite vow. And he was not to drink wine or cut his hair.

And that's what a Nazarite vow was. Of course, a lot of people can confuse what Christ was. Christ was a Nazarene, which meant he was from Nazareth. And that's why some people think that Christ had long hair, which he did not. Now, I don't know how they dress Christ up looking like a girl pretty soon. He's got the colored lips and little petulant lips, and almost feminine in quality and long hair. And of course, you put a robe on him, then it doesn't look so good. No, the robe doesn't look too good today, does it? You know, we don't do that in our culture today, particularly if you had long hair in our culture. But anyway, we know that that's not the way Christ looked. He looked like the average Jew of his day. Remember when he would escape? He would, you know, go through the midst of the crowd, and they wouldn't even see him. They looked like the average Jew of his day, and the average Jew of his day didn't have long hair. But Samson was under a Nazarite vow, and sadly, Samson fell sway to his physical passions. Very passionate man from when we read this story. Gradually, he flirted with evil. Let's go to Judges 16. He flirted with evil. Of course, one of the problems that Samson had was his sexual passions. Apparently, from what we can read in the story and the account, but he fell sway to vice in his life, and as a result of it, it came into his life more and more.

And remember again, one of the secrets of his strength was his hair, and he kept that from most. And the Philistines were trying to kill him, but they could not. They tried to bind him with ropes, and it would break them like they were nothing.

There was nothing they could do to fight this man, Samson, because God was with him. He was a man of God. But let's go over here to Judges. Judges 16. I tell you to turn, but I didn't turn myself. But in Judges 16 and verse 18 over here, I'll just break into the thought. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, apparently, you know, she tantalized him enough that he revealed to her these secrets, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up once more.

Judges 16, verse 18, he said, Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart. So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. And then she lulled the sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, The Philistines are upon you.

Sam said, So he awoke from his sleep, and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know the Lord had departed from him. That's an eerie thing right there, that it says he did not know that God had departed from him. That's usually the way it is with evil, isn't it? When we sink into a way of life that is contrary to God's way of life, there's something in us, brethren, that causes us to think we're still all right.

I mean, you ask the average person walking in the street, no matter what they're doing, I don't care where they work, you know, what they may be, in fact, involved in some of the most scandalous things on the face of the earth, and you actually ask them, and they'll think they're all right with God. This is the way people tend to be. Well, you know, Samson did not perceive that God had lifted. And that's what happens, you know, in the case of someone who begins to seek into immorality, and God left him.

And, of course, he had a change of heart, you know, the stories of what happened and how he pulled the columns together, and many of the Philistines died in the temple, you know, where he was. Another example in the Bible, King Saul. Remember King Saul, who was head and shoulders above all else, it says, in Israel. He was a tall man. He was a very humble man. You read the story of Saul, and you really touch by it. He was a, I don't know, I don't say he was an impoverished, poor old boy back in the country, but he strikes you as a pretty decent person.

You know, when you read about Saul, and you know, in fact, later on we find that Samuel said, well, when you were little in your own eyes, apparently he was. He was little in his own eyes. And Samuel said, did God not choose you? Maybe because of his humility and the way that he was, or a great deal of it, may have had to do with that in Israel. But slowly, virtue gave way to his own self-will when he became king. Usually, you know, what happens to people is when they receive power, they begin, it corrupts. It impacts people. You know, sometimes people want to be in charge for the power's sake.

But sometimes that could be the worst thing that you or I could have, is power over people. How would we use that power? Well, eventually we know with Saul, he began to be self-willed, and God would tell him to do something. And in fact, in the experience where Samuel was telling Saul, when you were small in your own eyes, remember he'd spared Agag the king, and all of the animals, and those that were there he thought should be salvaged, or the people thought should be salvaged.

And then when he saw, Samuel, he says, I've obeyed the voice of God. He didn't even know he was departing for what God was telling them to do. That's how, again, people can slowly, again, lose the virtue. I can shorten the story of King Saul, like with Samson. God's spirit left him.

Then he began to do some very violent acts.

Well, this must have happened, brethren, to the church in Ephesus, too. The same thing happens, that God begins to leave.

What's interesting in the story that we read in Revelation over there is that, you notice that God says, you know, you've got this quality, you've got that quality. He gives all kinds of qualities of Ephesus, all the good things about Ephesus. There were many redeeming qualities about Ephesus that were apparently still there.

But this one problem, of course, discolored all of those good qualities. And then, frankly, what it boiled down to is that he didn't love God anymore. And they began to basically pull back, to draw back. He says, I have one thing against you. You've left your first love. And that word, love, by the way, in the Greek is agape, which is the word that means the love of God. You know, there are two other words. We know, Eros is the love of a man for his wife, and Philia is brotherly love, but agape is godly love, love for God. And he said, you've left your first love.

Your heart's just not in anymore. Again, the qualities were still there.

What is interesting to me, brethren, and I've seen through the course of the years, I'm sure the elders as well, who have counseled with people with marital problems, and you asked them about their mate, who they're now having problems with.

And 99% of the time, brethren, one mate says about the other mate, well, you know, she has all of these wonderful qualities, all these fantastic qualities. Except this one thing. What is the one thing?

She or he doesn't love me anymore. That's the problem. So you see, really, in a way, this is what God's saying, you know, to Ephesus. You've got all these wonderful qualities, but you don't love me. You've left your first love. Now, the thing about when we're talking about physical human beings, you know, we know that in the case of physical human beings, that, you know, the love between two people, you know, has to do with two people who have the same passions. Now, remember, God is not a human being, and God does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13.8. He doesn't change, and God changes not.

So if there's a problem, it's not God's problem. It's our problem. And the problem was with Ephesus here. He said, hold this against you. You forsaken your first love, and that is the love of God. Again, brethren, what is a first love? Well, often when people meet each other, they're not really in love. They're infatuated. There are many people I've seen, by the way, through the years, who have become infatuated with someone, and it's not a lasting thing. You know, it's the current flavor that each person has, you know. Yeah, yeah, he's the one. He's the one. Yeah, yeah, oh, she is the one. You know, she's my everything. You know, some of them can say, six months later, well, what happened to your everything? Well, I found out she wasn't anything, and or I found out he wasn't anything. In other words, it's a temporary type thing. However, brethren, a real love is lasting. It's not ephemeral. It's lasting. And when you love someone, you really love some, it is a lifetime commitment with all your heart. And when the minister says to you, do you take your mate for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, through good times, through bad times, you know, all the things that are says, says, borrowing serious adultery, you believe it, and you're with that mate for the remainder of your life. The way first love is, is this, brethren. Basically, a first love is being committed in love, and being head over heels in love with a person that you marry. Let's go to Matthew, chapter 22. Matthew, chapter 22. How does that apply to us, brethren? Are you heading over heels in love with God? Now, I know that whenever we are married to someone, we're not giddy like we were, you know, when we first got married. You know, we're not, you know, when she bats her eyes, the boy's heart doesn't melt, you know, as they get a little older. So, things change, but because you begin to act normal after a while, you know. Otherwise, you couldn't be like the old guys at Tucker Duck and Rubber Company, who kid the other kids that come in when they get married.

I get a lot of mileage out of Tucker Duck and Rubber Company, by the way. But Matthew 22, in verse 34.

Matthew 22, in verse 34. And it says, when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. So, here, you know, there's the battle of the Pharisees and the Sadducees with Christ. You know, both of them, of course, try to catch Christ in some error of some sort. Then, one of them, a lawyer asked him, a question testing him and saying, teacher, what is the great commandment and the law? And Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Now, how much are we supposed to love God, brethren? Doesn't that say it all, right there? Is there a part of you that should love God? Is this head over heels in love with God? I think so.

He says, this is the first a great commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and all the prophets. Everything hangs on these two. But we are to love God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, and with all of our soul. And again, that is the kind of love that Ephesus apparently had that they lost. We are to love God with our whole heart, in other words. And this, by the way, was not a new teaching that Jesus Christ brought. This was taught, in fact, from ancient times in the Old Testament. So it was not something new. You know, the Apostle Paul, I think, was a good example of what a first love really should be. He recognized that he owed God for all the trouble he caused for the church. You know, the Christians he had to drag, you know, into prison or was instrumental in their being put to death. He never forgot. Remember, he called himself the chief of sinners, and he knew he didn't deserve to be called an apostle. And he was amazed that Jesus Christ could love him or someone like him. How do we feel about ourselves, brethren? You know, do we somehow think that I'm lovable? You know, it's like Russian Limbaugh, you know, sometimes he's, of course, this arch enemy of many people. He calls himself this lovable big fuzzball. I don't know if he calls himself a big fuzzball, but, you know, do you think that about yourself? I'm just this lovable fuzzball. Nobody would not love me.

But Paul didn't think that about himself. He was amazed that Jesus Christ would love him the way he did. He was thankful. But his attitude was different after this, that is quite clearly demonstrated in the Scriptures. Let's go to Romans 9. Romans chapter 9. You know, a lot of things come to your mind when you start reading the Scriptures. You think about these things. You know, when I was thinking about giving the sermon on, you know, having this first love, just a ton of things flood into your mind, far more than you can even express in a sermon. But you try to put some semblance of order together. I'm not sure I prepare things like an engineer would do or an apetition would do, but, you know, you try to add some semblance to it and what the Bible tells us. But here in Romans 9, Romans 9 again, in verse 1, you see the attitude that was resonant in the heart and the mind of Paul. He says, I tell the truth in Christ, and I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing the witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself was accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall in the eternally blessed God. He says, amen. For so be it. In other words, I would give my own salvation. I'd lay my wife on the line if it could save my brethren.

Brethren, do we think that about our families? Do we think that about the church for one another? Do we love our country that much? Like Paul loved his people. I think we can see a spiritual application of this, and a physical one as well, loving the country, the peoples. That are the peoples, not necessarily who are obeying God, but are nonetheless modern-day Israelites today. But he loved God so much in his people, that he's willing to be cursed if that would save him.

Of course, it doesn't work that way, does it? It doesn't work that way. I'm sure every one of you here, parents, would probably say the same thing about your own children. If they could be saved, I would be accursed. Because we love our children. We want them to be in the kingdom. We want all that is best for them. Of course, again, it doesn't work that way. Exodus 32. Let's look at another example over here of the kind of heart that someone has when they love God with all their heart and soul and money. Exodus 32. Remember the story about how Israel had committed these sins? Turned to idolatry, and they were always doing different things. But God was about ready to... His anger was burning hot. He was going to wipe them out.

Wipe out those Israelites. Even told Moses, look, I'll wipe them out and start over with you. You know, that'd be appealing to some people. It wasn't to Moses. Exodus 32. Exodus 32 down in verse 31. It says, Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, O these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a God of gold.

Now therefore, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, block me out of your book, which you've written. If you can't save them, God, block me out.

Now therefore, go... you know, or verse 33. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now therefore, go lead the people to the place of which I've spoken to you before. Behold, my angel will go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. And so, you see, God was telling Moses, I'm sorry, Moses, you can't do that.

You cannot do that. Every man is going to be responsible for his own sins. You and I can't die for our children, our husbands, our wives. We can't die for other people. But we certainly can have an attitude of willingness to do that, like Paul did and like Moses did.

What is first love, brethren? First love, brethren, is an unselfish love. It's a real love, not infatuation. It's not a temporary thing. It is a real love that we don't throw away on a win. All of us learned that in 1995, didn't we? We were around in 1995. I don't think I have to embellish on that. And it would take too long if you don't know what I'm talking about in 1995. That happened.

But a first love is a real love and an unselfish love. It's not temporary. It's a lasting love. Not ephemeral. Not an infatuation. But it is real. Now how do you lose that first love? Well, you know, when two people meet, they fall in love as they say. Maybe that's the big mistake to begin with. Falling in love. Falling implies a mistake, doesn't it? But that's what happens, probably, to most people. They meet, they fall in love. But they're jobs, stresses that come along in their ordinary lives, that they have to deal with, pretty soon. They're arguments, communication problems, money problems, the troubles that come along. They find out they can't live on love.

You know, this is what oftentimes young people have this idea. Well, we just live on love. And boy, you know, that's a train wreck about ready to happen. But eventually, they're overwhelmed, in their relationship, and then one day they look at each other across the table, and they begin to think, that's not the person I'm married. You're a stranger. I don't know you anymore. How many times have I heard that? I don't know him anymore. I don't know her anymore.

Well, what happened, brethren, is that your love has been starved. It didn't receive the daily nourishment. It needed to grow, to be healthy and strong, and to endure. So that's how it happens. It's all quite natural. And it's like with Samson, you know, who fell into the stares of his own passions. It was a slow process. Soon you look around from a spiritual perspective, and it's like, where's God? Where's God's Spirit? And the love is gone.

Well, brethren, how do we find that love again, from a spiritual perspective, if it's been lost? Well, and I'm not going to go back here, but in Revelation 2 verse 5, remember what it says? You know, Christ said, remember from whence you've fallen. Remember from whence you've fallen.

And he told them to do the first works. Have you ever noticed this? Usually when you lose something, it is where you left it. Now, where did I... where is that? Where are my glasses? Oh, oh, they're here. How many times has that happened to you? You know, or where is this or that? And, you know, usually I ask my wife, you know, something like that, she usually says, well, that's where you left them. She's sometimes the wiser of the two when it comes to finding things. Me, on the other hand, apparently I'm able to hide things for myself, even. I don't know how that is. You know, I will have my glasses on and I'll go do something. And unbeknownst to me, my glasses fly off my face and land somewhere that I can't find them. And I'll tell you, I've searched high and low and they were on my face. And, you know, usually I've gone somewhere, maybe a phone call came and, you know, I was walking around in the house, you know, the phone and talking. And I take the glasses off, I put them down somewhere, and then I move on. I keep walking. And then I don't know where I left them. Then I have to go back and work on some other stuff. But anyway, this is the way it is. But usually when you lose something, it's where you've left them. And, brethren, when we lose the first love, it's where we left it.

When we lose the first love, it's where we left it.

In order to regain, brethren, that first love, we must become devoted, once again, with all of our heart and mind and soul to one master, one master.

God has loved us, brethren, with all of His heart, and He has done that. He's loved us with all of His heart and soul and mind. And He's demonstrated that love, if I can put it that way in the physical sense, that God has loved Himself, loved us with His whole being. He's demonstrated that by giving us His Son in a way of life. His way of life. He shared with us His way of life, which is an amazing thing that God has shared with us His way of life.

When God reveals the truth to us and we seek God's people out, brethren, what do we... I mean, if God has really revealed the truth to you, and you seek God's people out, as we tend to want to do, I remember when I started learning the truth, I began to sort of put things together, and God revealed certain things to me. I began to realize, well, there just has to be a church.

And then you go looking. You go looking. And when you find it, it's like finding a precious diamond. It's like finding a pearl of great price, like Christ described it. And, you know, we yearn to be with God's people. We yearn to be with God's church. And as time goes by, we want to be a part of the church. Then we seek it out. Now, how many times, though, do people, when they have this great vehement desire for the church, over a period of time, they take for granted the church? They begin to take for granted the church. It's like when two people get married to begin with. They begin to take each other for granted.

Well, oftentimes, brethren, people who find this pearl of great price, the knowledge of God and the truth of God in God's church, they begin to take the church for granted. Like, again, in a human relationship. They begin to neglect, like people losing their first love, begin to neglect their spouse. Well, people begin to drift apart in that marriage. Same happens in terms of the church. You know, people begin to neglect the church, which we're a part of, the body of Christ is a church of God. And even after a period of time, brethren, those who begin to take for granted the church and begin to forsake or to neglect the church, they can begin, like somebody who, in fact, in a physical relationship, they can begin to despise the church. Because the church, like the mate in a relationship where people have drifted apart, you know, the church interferes in their life. You know, this is the way it works, brethren. Well, I want you to look at an example over here, brethren, over in 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel, story over here. It's one that you know.

I don't know if you've ever, we've ever, I've ever worked in anything like this in this anyway sermon, but I think it fits. Of course, they're all analogies we should understand, brethren, eventually come up empty. By that, I don't mean that they were of no value or use, but you know, everything's not applicable. Now, if I can find Samuel in my book here, this is the Bible. Do they remove Samuel from my Bible? Keep breathing so I know you're out there. What happened to my, I don't like it because sometimes this, this book wants to rebel against me, and it doesn't go to the place that I want to go. You know, my thumbs are too big. I'm not like some of the young people with, you know, I I've just told you about these people with a little bitty screens in there. They've got this little typewriting, you know, my thumb covers three or four keys.

So I, I think I've tried to, I can't send text messages, and apparently I can't turn in the Bible either. But let's, let's notice 2 Samuel chapter 13. It says, and after this, Samuel, the son of David, had a lovely sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, the son of David, loved her. And Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick, for she was a virgin. She was a maiden. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shemaiah, David's brother. Now Jonadab was a very crafty man.

And he said to him, why are you the king's son, becoming thinner day after day? You see, this kind of thing, he yearned for Tamar. So much so, he wasn't even eating here, becoming thinner day by day. Will you tell, will you not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. So Jonadab said to him, lie down on your bed, he is this crafty individual, and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight. I may see it and eat from her hand. And then Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to him, Amnon did precisely that. Let Tamar, my sister, come and make a couple of cakes for me in my sight, and I will eat from her hand. And so David sent home to Tamar, saying, now go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare food for him. And so Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, and he was lying down. And then she took flour and needed it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. And so here she's tending to her sick brother. And she took the pan and placed them out before him. And he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, have everyone go out from me? And they all went out from him. And then Amnon said to Tamar, bring the food into the bedroom, and I may eat from your hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them to Amnon, her brother in the bedroom. And now when she brought them to him to eat, he took hold by her and said to her, come, lie with me, my sister. So you know the story here of this salacious and frankly evil plot on the part of Amnon. And she answered him, so my brother, do not force me, for such things should not be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing. And I, where could I take my shame? As for you, you would be like one of the fools of Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you. However, he would not heed her voice and being stronger than she forced her and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than love with which he loved her. And Amnon said to her, arise, be gone. And so she said to him, no indeed, this evil is sending me away worse than the other that you did. But he would not listen to her. Then he called his servant and attended him and said, here, put this woman out away from me and bolt the door behind her. It's a horrible story, isn't it? Here?

Now typically, in a scenario like this, by the way, you would expect it would be a young man who would do something like Amnon did.

Less frequently, you would expect a young woman to do such a thing, to entice to you know, like in the case of Joseph and the pauver's wife. That's less frequent. Doesn't happen as much because of course the chemistry of a people. But after this scenario, Amnon despised her and hated her, took advantage of her, he did not make it right, didn't do things right, of course. I thought about this particular example, by the way, from a spiritual perspective, which I never have, frankly, thought from the spiritual perspective about this particular account. But from a spiritual perspective, you know, God courted Israel. He was, though, as it were, the perfect gentleman. He treated her nicely. He did for her those things that in fact one would say were far above the call of duty. He courted Israel. He treated her like a queen. We read that, of course, in other places within the Bible. And the analogies of God put fine clothing on her. He fed her. He took care of her in every conceivable way.

And he treated her again like she was royalty. And he married her. He took Israel.

Israel became his wife. But think about, from a spiritual perspective, Israel turned away for her husband to other lovers.

She turned to other lovers. And then she treated God with despite.

Treating God with despite. And she, of course, became a very adulterous woman by this analogy.

So it was that you might say the other way around, but from the spiritual perspective, this is what happened. And eventually we know the story that God had to divorce this wife, Israel.

And now, brethren, he has remarried, was about to remarry the church. We are the Israel of God. The spiritual Israel, he's going to marry the church. And, brethren, that gets down to you and me. And when we come into the church, brethren, we have such a love for God, a burning desire to obey God, to walk in God's way of life. And then we lose that first love.

And sometimes people even get the point where they despise God. You know, as many people have, turn from God back to the foul corruption of the world, like a dog returning to his vomit, as the Bible even says, in this world.

So, brethren, if we're going to have the first love, there can only be one master, only be one husband. And that is Jesus Christ. And we know God is that husband for us. In Matthew 6, verse 24, it says, no one can serve two masters. For either will hate the one and love the other, or else you will be loyal, loyal to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You can't. Now, mammon here is basically another word that we could say, money or wealth. Money. You can't serve God. You can't have two masters. Frankly, you know, when people want to go back into the world, you know what? They're really serving mammon, they're serving mammon. When we begin to pull away from God, we're serving another master, maybe our own passions. You know, there might be a number of things that would be analogous to mammon here. But you can't have two masters. But it is interesting to me that, you know, when you're talking about marital problems that people have, you know that money is right at the top of the list. When people begin to have money, you know, usually that's among the top problems that people have between men and women that begin to have issues. Maybe, you know, she thinks, well, he doesn't work, or he thinks that she, you know, misuses money, or maybe vice versa as well.

You know, our calling, brethren, is like a marriage.

And we must be devoted entirely to God through thick and thin, good times and bad times. And, brethren, we cannot, as God's people, we cannot seek out the church as we often do when we begin to see what the truth is. And then finally, when we find this pearl of great price, this wonderful thing that we find in the church, should we turn to begin to despise it and lose that love? We just can't. Because we become, you might say, spiritual and not.

You know, the Bible does say, though, that in the end time, there would be some that would betray us, that people would betray one another. Some would even put us to death and think they do God a service, in fact. I'm sure that among the Muslims, there'd be a lot of people who like to have your head in my head. But I think that the primary warning here is not about the Muslims, is people, in fact, who are our friends who betray us.

But our calling is like a marriage, and we must be devoted entirely to one Master, you know, Jesus Christ and God the Father. Christ, of course, is going to be our husband for all eternity. And we have to be devoted through good times and bad times.

Through thick times and thin times.

Through, you know, those experiences that sometimes we have to go through to build the character.

Another thing, brethren, so number one thing, you want to return to your first love is have one Master and determine to do that in your life.

Next, brethren, we all of us have to have the same goal as a family.

We're all a part of the body of Christ, and in that sense, brethren, it's just we're the body of Christ. We're not bodies of Christ, we're the body of Christ. And, you know, within the church, of course, every part plays its role, but we all are heading the same direction. Isn't it wonderful that you have two legs and usually they want to go in the same direction?

Now, what if one leg wanted to go, well, I want to go over here. No, you're going over here. Now, pretty soon we'd all learn how to be doing the splits. You know, if our legs were independent, we all work together. We have the same goal. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 over here. Ephesians 4.

Ephesians chapter 4.

And in verse 1, it says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all loneliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love. Yeah, we have to do that with each other because we're in a marriage here. You know, you and I don't walk away from each other because we've got a problem with each other. We strive to work it out. We don't harbor grudges. We don't hold grudges against one another. This is with all loneliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another, enduring to keep the unity of the spirit of bond to peace. It's going to have a good marriage. It's got to be that way. There's one body, one spirit, just as you're called, and one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father and all who is above all and through all and in you all. And so this is what, brethren, we ought to be one. One goal.

Now, what are the goals that you and I should have, brethren?

What is God doing here upon this earth? And in fact, what is chapter four all about?

It's all about the ministry of the church and what is the purpose of the ministry of the church that involves, by the way, all of us here. All of us have a part to play in the ministry of Christ. And by that, of course, I'm not saying all are ministers or elders within the church, but all of us have a responsibility to help edify the body of Christ. All of us have different roles. Some serve as elders, some serve as deacons, some serve as helpers within the church. All of us should be doing something. Some serve as pastors and some might be in the forefront on television. You know, some may be writers, but it's all for one goal. And what is that goal? To do the work of God. Until we come to the unity of the faith and to the measure and the stature of Jesus Christ, as it says here in chapter four, as we read on.

I'm reminded of what Mr. Herbert Armstrong said many times. He said, one's spiritual development will be in direct proportion to how much one's heart is in God's work. Still believe that's true.

It's still true, brethren. The work of God goes on.

And when Jesus came along, he said, don't lay up your treasures.

You know, on earth where moth and rust can corrupt, or where these can break in and seal it, you know, you lay up all your physical treasures upon this earth, which apparently men are trying to do, by the way. In fact, the Bible indicates that men will so will, the desires of saving their own skin at the end of the age, that they will hide themselves in the holes of the rocks, you know, right before the day of the Lord and for fear of God. And also, Revelation says that they will refuse to repent. At least one spiritual development will be in direct proportion to how much one's heart is in God's work.

Christ said, don't lay up the treasures on the earth, but lay them up in heaven, where thieves don't break through, and you know, where moth and rust cannot corrupt. Then he said, in Matthew 6, verse 21, he said, where your heart is, that's where your treasure should be. I thought about this again. What were the two things that were uppermost in the mind of Jesus Christ? He's our paragon. He's our example. Well, you know, remember the time when the disciples said to one another, where did he get food?

You've got to be hungry. You know what Jesus Christ told them? My food is to do the will of God who sent me and to finish his work. That's my food.

And so uppermost in his mind, rather, up until the time he ascended to heaven, and still is, in fact, was the fact he was doing the work. This is the message he was conveying to his disciples. My meat, my food, is to do the work. Then the second thing uppermost in the mind of Jesus Christ, brethren, was the church. The church. He said, I will build my church. And he said, the gates of the grave will not prevail against it. And that church, as I mentioned, is his bride, his future bride. That bride is the one that Christ is going to marry. And when Paul was inspired to write this in Ephesians 5 verse 25, he said, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church. So uppermost in Christ's mind was the church.

He loved the church, Paul said, and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word. You see, he has all he can do to prepare his bride, to think about his bride. And, you know, it says that he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that he should be holy and without blemish. That's his goal.

Husbands, are we striving to make our wives, to help our wives become the very best? Wives, are we doing the same thing with our husbands?

Do we encourage them?

Husbands, do we encourage our wives? Do we encourage one another to seek excellence in their spiritual journey in this life? Are we doing that?

Well, Jesus Christ, brethren, is doing all he can do to prepare us for that glorious time when we all ascend and we are married to Him after the time of the resurrection.

You know, interesting, on the front here, if you come up here, of course, on our seal, it's still up here, isn't it? Okay. What are the two things around it? Preaching the gospel and preparing the people. In other words, the work and the church. The work and the church. The work and the church.

Those are the two things important and uppermost in Christ's mind, and I think it is good enough for Christ. Don't you think it's good enough for us? Nope. You think we ought to be thinking in those terms in our lives?

I remember the motto of Ambassador College when I was going to Ambassador. I don't know if they, we have this motto at Ambassador Bible Center, Ambassador College, as we call it now, but I would think still it's a motto of Ambassador College. The motto of Ambassador College was recapture true values. Well, brethren, one value each of us needs to recapture is how important the church is and how important the work of God is to us. How much we're putting a heart in the work of God and how much we're putting our hearts into the church. And if we can recapture these things, brethren, we will do once again the works of our first love. And that first love will not ever leave us. It will always be with us. So let's not be like the people of Ephesus, but let's let God say of us, you know, I don't really have anything against you because you love me with all your heart and soul and mind.