This chapter that I'd like to focus on, before I get into it, I'd just like to point out
just so many great salvation verses, and this chapter, verse 1 right away just says,
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
Can't really get any clearer than that, that salvation is by faith alone, not of works
that any man should boast. He goes on to say, verse 13,
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
What I want to focus on is in verse number 3 where the Bible reads,
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.
And I want to talk to you about the love of God tonight, us loving God.
Basically, the Bible commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.
In fact, that's the greatest commandment in the Bible.
And the second is like, unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Jesus said, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
So, God commands us to love him. We're supposed to love God here.
We're commanded to love God, but what does it mean to love God?
Well, the Bible tells us right here in verse 3, the first thing I want you to see is that
the love of God is that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.
Now, look back at you in 1 Kings 3. Keep your finger here in 1 John.
We're going to go back to 1 Kings 3, where the Bible talks about King Solomon.
And while you're turning there, I'll read you another scripture. This is 2 John 6.
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.
I mean, God's defining love for us as walking after God's commandments.
This is love, that we walk after his commandments.
This is the commandment that, as you've heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
Look at 1 Kings chapter 3. This is spoken of King Solomon.
It says, and Solomon loved the Lord, comma, walking.
1 Kings 3, 3. Sorry, I didn't tell you that. 1 Kings 3, 3.
And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father,
only he sacrificed and burned incense and hideways.
So, how did Solomon love the Lord? I mean, how did he do it?
The comma there is telling us he's going to state now how he did it.
He's loving the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father.
He's following the commandments of God. That's how we know that he loved God.
Now, go back to 1 John, where we were. We were in 1 John chapter 5.
I read for you from 2 John. Look, if you would, at 1 John chapter 3.
1 John chapter 3 says this in verse number 16.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from them,
how dwelleth the love of God in it? My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
And so the Bible is telling us here in 1 John chapter 3
that there are a lot of people who say that they love God,
and they say that they love the children of God,
and they say that they love their brother in Christ,
but their deeds don't match up with that.
He says don't just love in tongue. Don't just love in word.
He says love God in deed and in truth.
Let your actions and your life show that you love God,
and show that you love your brother in Christ,
because it's pretty easy just to say, oh, I love God.
And pretty much every Christian would, if you said,
do you love God? Oh, of course I love God.
Of course I love the Bible. Of course I love the Lord.
Of course I love church.
Of course I love all my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
Go to Romans chapter 12, if you would.
Keep your finger. We're going to come back to 1 John.
But go to Romans chapter 12, and I'm going to show you
that a lot of people's love is fake,
because we saw in 1 John 3 that he's saying
a lot of people are just saying that they love God
and saying that they love you,
but they don't really love you,
and their actions prove that.
But look at Romans chapter 12,
and we see something that's similar here.
It says in... Let me find my place here.
Verse 9, Romans chapter 12, verse 9 says this.
Let love be without dissimulation.
Now, what does it mean to simulate something?
Is it real if it's simulated?
No. If you're in a simulator, it's not real.
It's fake.
So when God says let love be without dissimulation,
he's saying let your love not be fake.
And look at the next statement.
He's going to explain to us
how our love can be without dissimulation.
He says abhor, which means hate,
that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectionate one to another
with brotherly love in honor...
What?
Preferring one another.
Not slothful in business.
He goes on and gives a lot of other exhortation.
But here's the thing.
In order to love something, you have to hate something.
He says in order for your love to be real
and not a simulated love,
he says you have to abhor that which is evil
and cleave to that which is good.
You've got to prefer one thing above another
or you don't really have love.
Like, for example,
and go to James chapter 4, if you would.
Flip over to James chapter 4.
In James chapter 4, the Bible is talking about
loving God and committing spiritual adultery.
He says in James 4, 4,
Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God.
God is calling you an adulterer or an adulteress
if you're the friend of the world.
And he says you're the enemy of God.
Why is that?
Because, you see, if I were to say to my wife,
because I've been married now for almost 11 years
coming up next month,
what if I just said,
well, I love all women?
Well, I love my wife.
Don't get me wrong.
I love my wife,
but I also love all the other women too.
Would you think that's an appropriate statement
for me to make?
Sure, I love my wife,
but that's it.
I love all women.
And I love all of them just as much as I love her.
Does that make any sense?
Or what if she said,
well, I love all the men.
You know, you're one of them.
That doesn't make any sense, does it?
Because in order for it to mean something
that I love my wife,
basically I have to not love someone else.
I basically have to choose to keep me only under her.
And I may love other people on a different level
or in a different way, of course.
You know, there are other women
that I might love in a different level,
in a different way.
But isn't there something that sets my love for my wife apart
that I only love her
because I'm going to keep myself only under her
so long as we both shall live
as we promise in the wedding vows?
You see, I love my wife uniquely to anyone else.
That is why my love means something.
It wouldn't mean anything if I said,
well, I just love all the women.
I think you're beautiful on you,
but that's just because I find all women beautiful.
That doesn't mean anything, does it?
And so there's a fakeness of people
where they just kind of just,
they love everybody, they love everything,
they're not mad about anything,
they're not hating anything.
Well, they just love everybody.
Well, they're fake.
They're lying.
They don't really love everybody
because in order to love someone,
you have to give them a preference
and you have to put someone first.
And so a lot of people, they lie and they say,
I love God.
And the Bible says if a man say,
I love God and keepeth not his commandments,
he's a liar.
And the Bible says here that if you love the world,
you're in James, go to 1 John 2.
James 4 says the adulteress and adulteresses
know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God,
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is enmity of God.
And a lot of people will listen
to this kind of preaching
and they don't believe what I'm saying right now.
They think, oh, this guy doesn't know
what he's talking about.
I'm just a big lovable, lovable fuzzball.
I just love everybody and everything
and I just have so much love
that my love can just go around.
You know, you're one of the fake people
that I'm talking about
if you're not getting this preaching right now
because, I mean, the Bible's pretty clear.
I'm backing up what I'm saying with Scripture.
Love is fake if you don't abhor that which is evil
and plead to that which is good.
Love is fake if you don't prefer one another.
Love is fake if your actions don't line up
with what you're saying
and it's not enough to just,
I love everybody and everything in your life.
But the Bible says here in 1 John 2 verse 15,
Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
So that there tells you that it is impossible
for you to both love God and love the world.
You can't do it.
You say, well, I love both.
You can't.
That'd be like saying,
well, I love my wife and I love all the women.
No.
It doesn't work that way
because part of the love that my wife
would expect of me
is that I only love her,
that she is my only wife
and she's the only one that I have that affection for.
That's what she demands.
And let me tell you something.
God demands the same thing
and he's a jealous God
and you've heard of a jealous husband, right?
You say, are you a jealous husband?
Yes, I am.
And people act like that's something bad.
That's a criticism.
Oh, you're a jealous husband.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for pointing out
that I'm following God's example
and being Christ-like
and I hope that my wife is a jealous wife.
God's name is jealous
because God demands that you love him alone
and that you not love the world.
Now you say, why can't I love the world
and God at the same time?
Well, we can love the people of God
and God at the same time
because if you keep your finger
in 1 John chapter 2
and go to 1 John chapter 5,
it says in verse 1,
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God
and everyone that loveth him that begat
loveth him also that is begotten of him.
By this we know that we love who?
The children of God
when we love God and keep his commandments.
So, when we love God,
we're automatically going to love
our brother and sister in Christ
because the Bible says
if a man say I love God
and hateth his brother,
he's a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment hath me from him
that he loveth God and love his brother also.
So the Bible says if we love God,
then we'll love the children of God.
We'll love those that have been begotten of God.
The Bible says we've been begotten again
unto a lively hope.
And so we're not saying not to love people
that are the children of God.
We're not saying to love God and no one else.
Love God, love the children of God,
but don't love the world.
He says if any man love the world,
and listen, this ought to get your attention tonight,
if any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in it.
Is that what you want to be said of you?
Do you want God to be up in heaven
saying you don't love me?
You do not love me.
Oh, I love God.
No, you can say that, but you don't love me
because you love the world.
And if you love the world,
the love of the Father is not in you.
He says in 1 John 2, verse 16,
he says for all that is in the world,
not some of the stuff that's in the world,
he says for all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life is not of the Father,
but is of the world,
and the world passeth away
and the lust thereof,
but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.
He said what does it mean to love the world?
He said when you love the world,
you love the things that are in the world,
and he's talking about the things that promote
the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life.
Translation, Hollywood.
You love Hollywood?
You love the Hollywood stars?
I mean, do you love the people of God
and the children of God?
Do you have love toward Pastor Anderson
and toward your friends at church?
And toward other believers and brothers and sisters
at Christ that are not part of our church,
that are part of some other church
or somewhere outside this building?
Do you love them,
and do you delight in them?
Is that who you care the most about?
Is that who you prefer, one another?
Or is your love all wrapped up
with the stars of Hollywood?
I mean, we have people today
who get their magazine,
a People magazine,
or whatever the magazine,
you know, US Weekly or whatever these magazines,
and they literally feel like their friends
or loved ones are these stars.
I mean, seriously,
they take an interest in their personal life.
They just love to know what's going on with Brad.
And you know, not even,
they don't need to say the last name.
They're on a first name basis.
With Brad.
With Angelina.
You know, with Cameron.
You know, with, somebody help me out here.
Jennifer, I don't know,
I'm just throwing out names.
It's probably gonna line up with some star, you know?
And they just love,
and they basically look at the magazines
and then they go see the movies,
and the movies are filled with the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life for one reason.
Because they're not being put out by the Father.
You know, God the Father has nothing to do
with the production of the new Batman movie.
This isn't being put out by God the Father.
You know, these new movies that come out,
these Hollywood movies,
and the music that you delighted,
you know, God wants you to love him.
And he wants you to be filled with the Spirit,
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs.
You know, what if I say,
well, I love my wife.
I delighted my wife, but honey, I'm sorry.
I can't have dinner with you on Friday night
because there's another woman
that I'm having dinner with on Friday night.
Is that all right?
Yeah, would you say I love my wife?
But yet, we're basically,
and by the way,
it's a person that you hate and that hates you.
Can you imagine that?
And basically,
when you're palling around with the world
and when you're delighting in the world,
you're basically delighting in people
that are the enemies of God.
You're delighting in those that stand against you
and those that stand against everything
that God stands for
and then saying, I love God.
I love God and I love Tom Hanks.
Well, here's the problem with that.
Tom Hanks hates God.
Tom Hanks makes blasphemous,
anti-Christ movies like The Da Vinci Code
all about blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ,
dragging his name through the mud,
claiming that he's a fornicator with Mary Magdalene
or whatever filth that that movie puts out.
And you say, I just love Tom Hanks
and you don't love the father if you love Tom Hanks
because if you love the world
and you love things that are blasphemous toward Christ
and you love the actresses that strip down
off their clothes on the silver screen
and you love watching people
hop into bed together that aren't married
on the silver screen down at the movie theater
and you love to listen to all the music
put out by God-hating devils
and every kind of abomination
of a person you can imagine,
then how can you say I love God when you love the world?
You love the music of the world.
You love Hollywood.
You love the TV stars of the world.
You love everything that's against Jesus Christ.
It has nothing to do with God.
It has nothing to do with the Bible.
If you don't love God, you've got to decide,
I don't love the world and I do love God.
But see, we've been brainwashed today
to just love everything.
Love everyone.
Love good, love bad.
Hate evil.
Abhor that which is evil.
Cleave to that which is good.
The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 19, verse 2,
you don't have to turn there.
He said, the prophet came and spoken to Jehoshaphat
and said, shouldest thou help the ungodly
and love them that hate the Lord?
Therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord thy God.
He told Jehoshaphat,
God's wrath is resting on you right now
because you love those that hate the Lord.
And so ask yourself this question,
do I love those who hate the Lord?
And when you love the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood,
you love those who hate the Lord.
They don't love God.
They don't love the Bible.
That's why they blaspheme it.
That's why they won't live by it.
And so we need to understand what it means to love God.
It's not just saying, I love God.
It's not just a feeling in your heart
that when you hear these great songs and hymns of the faith
and you're singing out, you just feel so just,
I love you, God.
You know, that's great.
But you know what?
That doesn't necessarily mean you love God.
Because if you love the world, you don't love God.
If you would rather go watch the latest Hollywood movie
and you'd rather go home and turn on your TV
and see everything that the world's putting out
and you'd rather pop in the CD of Lady Gaga,
which is just nothing but filth and abomination,
and you're going to put in the new CD
from whatever wicked rock and roll group
that's out right now.
And you listen to that and say, I love God.
You don't love God.
And I'm not the one who's saying that God's the one.
Because he's saying, if you love the world,
the love of the Father's not in you.
You should be disgusted by Lady Gaga if you really love God.
Show me a person who loves God.
And listen to me now.
I'm not preaching my opinion.
How many times should I read the verse?
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
But that doesn't include Lady Gaga, right?
That doesn't include The Da Vinci Code.
That doesn't include Batman, where the Joker is a sodomite.
Heath Ledger, who died because the wicked shall not
live out half their days.
Because he's a sodomite from Brokeback Mountain
or whatever filthy movie.
When you sit there and say, oh, I love that movie.
He said, no, the love of the Father's not in you.
And that's harsh words, but they didn't come from me.
They came from God.
And so you've got to get your heart right tonight and say,
you know, I'm going to love God with all my heart
and all my soul.
But I'm preaching the Bible tonight.
You show me a person who loves God,
and they'll hate that stuff.
Show me a person who truly loves God, and they'll say,
man, I hate stinking Lady Gaga.
It's garbage.
It's filth.
It's trash.
Get it out of my sight.
I hate the Da Vinci Code.
I hate Tom Hanks.
I hate Hollywood movies.
I hate rock and roll.
I hate the hip-hop culture, the blast scene.
I mean, the hip-hop culture with its just degrading of women
and just a total teaching of promiscuity and fornication
and foremongering, you ought to hate that stuff.
And you ought to get mad about it and say, I hate that stuff.
I hate that garbage.
I hate that music.
I hate that movie.
I abhor that which is evil.
I'm going to cling to that which is good.
Because you can't love the flowers
if you don't hate the weeds.
And you can't love God unless you don't love the world.
Because if you love the world, the love of the Father
is not in you.
So there's a self-test right there.
Do you love God, or do you love the world?
Do you love People magazine?
I mean, if you have People magazine in your house,
I don't believe it's love God.
I'm just coming right out and saying that.
You know, whether you like it or not.
Because this is what you ought to be reading right here
in the Bible, the Holy Bible.
Not reading about the twists and turns
of the love affairs of Hollywood sleazy celebrities.
You don't love God if that's what you love.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, are you saying I'm not saved?
Well, no.
Look if you would at John chapter 14.
Because loving God has nothing to do with being saved.
You see, there are lots of people who are saved
who don't love God.
You say, prove it.
Well, because there are a lot of people who are saved
who don't keep God's commandments.
And the Bible says, if a man say I love God
and keepeth not his commandments, he's a liar.
And look, there are people out there,
he says in John chapter 14, 15, he says, if you love me.
Now he's talking to people that are saved here.
He's talking to his 12 disciples.
He's talking to people that aren't.
Obviously Judas is not saved.
But he's talking to his 11 disciples and he says,
if you love me, keep my commandments.
So he's not assuming that they love him.
He's questioning that they love him.
And he says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Look if you would at 1 John chapter 4.
1 John chapter 4.
So I'm just trying to define for you what love is tonight
because there's a lot of simulated love out there,
dissimulation.
There's a lot of people who say they love God.
They don't.
They're a liar.
There are a lot of people out there
who think that they love the children of God and they don't.
They're just paying lip service.
But look if you would at 1 John chapter 4.
The Bible says in verse 7, 1 John 4, 7,
Beloved, let us love one another.
For love is of God.
And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
So right here, the Bible's telling us
that everyone that loveth, did you get this?
Everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
So let me ask you something.
Are people that are unbelievers,
do they have love according to the Bible?
No.
No, because God is the source of love.
And the Bible says everyone that loveth is born of God.
That means they're saved.
And knoweth God.
That's a different subject, knowing God.
Because Paul, who had been saved for many, many decades,
talked about in Philippians chapter 3 that I may know Him
and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death.
He talked about that his desire was to know Christ.
You know, the more that we've been saved
and the more that we read our Bible,
the more we get to know God
and we get to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
That takes place over time.
Salvation happens in a moment.
Those that are loving people,
those who truly love you,
if you want to know who really loves you,
it's people that are saved and that know God.
Those are the people that love you.
People who are not born of God and do not know God,
they don't love you.
Because love is of God.
And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
It says, He that loveth not knoweth not God,
for God is love.
And this was manifested, the love of God toward us,
because that God sent His only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through Him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another.
No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us
and His love is perfected in us.
And so God commands us to love Him.
God commands us to love each other
as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Go to Romans 13.
Romans chapter 13, I showed you that
the love of God is that we keep His commandments.
He said it in 1 John 5, 3,
and He said it in 2 John verses 5 and 6.
I showed you that when you love the world,
you don't love God.
You have to choose where you're going to put your love,
on the world or on God.
Solomon loved God by keeping God's commandments.
You're an adulterer or an adulterer spiritually
when you're a friend of the world,
because whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God.
Where did I return?
Romans 13 says this in verse number 8.
Owe no man anything but to love one another.
So God commands us to love one another,
and it says,
For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
For this, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet,
and if there be any other commandment,
it is briefly comprehended in this saying,
namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
So according to the Bible here,
you know, everybody knows the Ten Commandments.
Well, the Ten Commandments here,
he basically breaks it into five on the one hand
and five on the other hand.
These are the last five of the Ten Commandments
that he listed.
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness,
and thou shalt not covet.
Now, those have to do with our relationship with other people,
not with our relationship with God.
He starts out by talking about our relationship with God
in the Ten Commandments.
The first commandment, of course,
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
That doesn't really have to do with our interactions with man.
That has to do with our interaction with God.
The second commandment is,
Thou shalt not make unto the deity grave an image.
That has to do with making a statue,
and basically people would make statues
and worship that statue,
and that has to do with God as well.
The third commandment says,
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Again, that has to do with our respect and reverence for God.
The fourth commandment is,
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
That had to do, again, with a commandment from God,
regarding God, not really harming our fellow neighbor.
Honor thy father and mother.
You know, this one, you can see it both ways.
God is our Father, of course,
and obviously we do have an earthly father and mother,
but they're not really our neighbor and so forth.
But anyway, we love our parents and respect our parents
and obey our parents
because they basically are figurative and represent God,
our authority.
God's the Father.
They're our earthly Father.
God's our spiritual Father.
So according to the Bible,
these commandments can basically be boiled down
in just two statements.
The first five can be characterized as,
Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The second half of the Ten Commandments
can be all summed up in this one word,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,
because love worketh no ill to his neighbor.
Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
So according to the Bible, if I love my neighbor,
I'm not doing any harm unto my neighbor.
Go ahead and answer it.
No, I'm serious.
But anyway, you know,
if I love someone, am I going to steal from them?
No.
If I love someone, am I going to kill them?
No.
If I love someone, am I going to lie about them
and bear false witness against them?
No.
If I love someone, am I going to covet what belongs to them
and wish it were mine?
No.
And if I love someone, am I going to commit adultery?
Like, if I love my wife, am I going to commit adultery?
No.
Because if I love my wife,
I'm going to walk in love toward my wife,
and committing adultery would harm my wife.
And so if I love my wife,
I don't want to do any harm unto my wife.
I don't want to work any ill to my wife.
That's the proof that I love her
is when you look at my actions.
Am I faithful to my wife?
Do I tell the truth to my wife?
Do I obey God's commandments in regard...
Because he said,
And if there be any other commandment,
it's briefly comprehended in this saying,
Namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
You see, if I follow God's commandments in my life,
that is love.
It's not just a feeling that I have toward my wife.
Like, for example, people will say this,
I'm just not sure I love my wife anymore.
Have you ever heard people say things like that?
I'm just not sure I love them anymore.
I'm just not sure that I love her anymore.
Well, why don't you...
Well, let me help you.
You don't.
If you're even saying that.
Okay.
But here's the thing.
Love is not some feeling that just comes over you
that you have no control over.
God commands us to love him.
God commands us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
God commands us to say,
Husbands, love your wives.
He commands wives to love their husbands,
to love their children.
God commands us to love.
That's a choice that we have,
whether to obey or disobey that commandment.
And see, if I love my wife,
that means I'm going to walk after God's commandments
toward my wife.
That means I'm not going to commit adultery.
That means I'm not going to look at pornography.
That means I'm not going to be interested
in a bunch of other women.
That means I'm not going to spend a bunch of time
hanging around with other women
and going out with other women and talking with them,
and we're just friends.
No.
That's my friend right there.
That's my female friend right there.
And let me introduce you to her male friend.
Me.
And no one else.
Other...
You know, another guy isn't going to come pick up my wife
and just take her out to lunch just to see friends.
No.
I'm a friend.
But I'm also going to walk in love toward my wife
toward the Bible.
I'm going to nourish and cherish my wife.
I'm going to provide for my wife,
as the Bible commands me to do in 1 Timothy 5
and also in the book of Exodus.
I'm commanded to provide for my wife,
to love my wife,
to nourish and cherish her.
Okay?
I'm going to walk in love toward my wife,
meaning I'm going to keep God's commandments.
And the more that I keep God's commandments
and do not do her any ill or harm,
then that is proof that I love my wife.
And if she is obedient unto me,
as the Bible commands wives,
be obedient to your husbands and so forth,
if she's obedient unto me,
that's how she shows me that she loves me.
The Bible says,
see that the wife reverenced her husband.
Reverence is respect.
If my wife is respectful to me,
that shows that she loves me.
If my wife is faithful to me,
that shows that she loves me.
She tells me the truth.
If she follows God's commandments,
she's going to be a loving person.
And so according to the Bible,
according to everything I'm showing you in the Bible,
the most loving people in this world
are the people who walk according to God's commandments the most.
Because if they walk after God's commandments,
that proves that they love God.
And if they walk toward God's commandments
in regard to their neighbor,
that proves that they love their neighbor.
And that is the most loving person.
A person who's not saved is not loving.
Is not a loving person.
And that's why it's amazing how, you know,
Christian young people will date an unbeliever.
Even though the Bible flat out says,
be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
What communion hath light with darkness?
What part have ye that believeth with an infidel?
And Christian young people will date an unbeliever.
And they'll say, but we love each other.
No, because an unbeliever is incapable of real love.
They have a self-serving love that the world has.
Jesus said, Jesus gives us the love of the Father.
Real, true love.
Not a fake love that is on today and tomorrow, it's off again.
A self-serving, self-satisfying love.
You see, unbelievers have not experienced the love of Christ.
They don't have the love of the Father dwelling in them.
They don't have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of them.
And they don't have true love.
Or even a person who is just walking in disregard to God's commandments.
I don't think that there's any young lady who would say,
I want to marry a husband who doesn't love me.
You know, just as long as he pays the bills,
I don't care if he loves me or not.
No, you probably want to be loved by your husband, right?
Well then, here's a tip for you.
Marry someone who's saved, number one.
And number two, marry someone who follows God's commandments.
Because that is going to be the most loving husband you're going to find.
And even if you find a husband who's saved,
but he does not walk after God's commandments,
and he does not want to obey the Bible,
and he loves the world, and he loves Hollywood,
and he loves going to the movies, and he loves all the rock music,
and he loves worldliness, and he loves all the stars,
and he loves drinking, and he loves everything that's partying
and that's against God, then he's not going to love you.
He's not going to love you.
But if you see the guy who's walking after God's commandments,
he loves soul winning, he loves to read his Bible,
he loves prayer, he loves church, he loves preaching,
he loves reading the Bible, he loves singing the hymns,
he's going to love you.
Because he that loveth God is going to love those that love God.
Everyone that loveth him that begat,
loveth him also that is begotten of him.
Are you listening to me?
Whosoever believeth that Jesus the Christ is born of God,
and everyone that loveth him that begat,
who's him that begat?
I'm trying to break his name.
God, right?
So everyone that loveth him that begets,
everyone who loveth who?
God.
Loveth him also that is begotten of him.
Who's that?
Believe him.
By this we know that we love the children of God,
those who are begotten of God,
when we love God and keep his commandments.
So who is the young man that's going to love his wife?
The one who loves God.
He's going to love his saved wife that is begotten of God
because it's impossible for him to love God whom he's not seeing
if he's not able to love his wife whom he has seen.
And so everybody who truly loves God and keeps his commandments
is for sure going to love their wife.
And every woman who loves God and keeps God's commandments
is going to love her husband.
But a woman who does not want to keep God's commandments,
that does not love church, that does not love the Bible,
that does not love soul winning, that does not love prayer,
that does not love singing the hymns,
and that loves all the Hollywood stars,
and that loves all the music of the world,
she is not going to love you.
She may say that she loves you,
but she's not going to love you in deed and in truth.
And you're not going to be happy with that
when you're married to somebody who doesn't love you.
As a man, you don't want to be married to a woman
who doesn't love you.
As a wife, you're not going to want to be married
to a husband who doesn't love you.
Look, I'm giving you advice, young people,
that you need to be not even thinking about marrying somebody
that isn't falling into this category
because you want to marry a loving person.
And the only way you're going to find a loving person
is somebody who's saved and keeps God's commandments.
That's what you ought to be doing.
And so, you know, you go out and you think,
and look, young people today are playing with fire.
There are people today that I know personally
that are out dating a bunch of unbelievers,
dating people that won't come to church,
dating people that don't love the Bible,
and I don't know what they think they're doing.
I mean, I don't know what they expect to happen.
You know what?
It's going to be a long life for you
when you marry that person that doesn't love God
and that doesn't keep God's commandments.
It's a long life to live.
And it's time for young people to wise up
and get serious and straighten up and fly right
and realize, hey, wait a minute.
I'm going to spend the rest of my life with somebody.
I better make sure that they have the love of God
dwelling in them just like I have the love of God
dwelling in me.
Then we're going to love each other
and have a great marriage
because we both are born of God
and because we both love God
and we both know God
and we both don't love the world
and we both abhor that which is evil.
And abhor is a pretty strong word.
Abhor that which is evil.
You see, that person that you're dating
or thinking about marrying
that does not abhor that which is evil,
you know, that's a red flag right there
when they're just very tolerant of sin.
And you know, everybody teaches today
that tolerance is a good thing.
You know, we all have tolerance
and I'm okay, you're okay, everything.
But you know what?
The Bible doesn't teach tolerance.
It doesn't.
The Bible teaches intolerance.
It does.
I mean, God looks at stuff that's sinful and wicked.
He says I want to spew it out of my mouth.
He says it makes me sick.
That's how we ought to be.
We ought to look at stuff.
You know what?
We ought to look at somebody who commits adultery
and think, you know what, that's wicked.
And not think, oh, let's watch
to see what happens next week.
But I mean, seriously, that's what it is
on these soap operas.
People are committing adultery
and we delight in that
when we watch these soap operas.
I mean, I'll tell you what.
I mean, adultery makes me angry.
It makes me upset.
It destroys people's lives.
It destroys marriages.
You know, when somebody makes a joke out of adultery
and it's funny
and it's a comedy about adultery
and it's a comedy about fornication
and it's a comedy about being a sodomite queer
and it's a comedy about all these different...
You know, there's just nothing funny about it
when you're mad at it, when you abhor it.
You don't joke and have fun with stuff that you abhor.
You know, I mean, look,
I abhor evil.
And, you know, I'm not perfect.
I should probably abhor evil more than I do
because I'm just not perfect.
I'm not perfectly fulfilling that command
to abhor that which is evil
and to cleave that which is good.
But that's what God commands me to do.
He says in Acts, or I'm sorry, Amos 5.15,
love the evil and...
I'm sorry, love the evil.
It says hate the evil and love the good.
And I always have slips in the tongue like that.
So sometimes I got saved people going to hell
and unsaved people are all going to heaven
and, you know, women are supposed to have short hair
and men are supposed to have long hair.
Sometimes I preach backwards, but anyway,
you know what I mean.
He says in Amos 5.15, look it up in your body.
You know, he says hate the evil, love the good.
So in order for us to have true love,
we have to have some kind of a preference
according to the Bible.
We have to have some love and we have to have some hate.
You know, how's your hate life tonight?
You know, I'm not talking about your love life.
I'm talking about your hate life.
You know, we think hate, we think hate's a cuss word tonight.
People literally say, hey, look.
But you know what?
Everybody hates everybody else.
You know, these groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center
that are just out to eradicate hate from the world
and you know, we need to stop these people
who are preaching hate and these hateful people and so forth.
You know what? They hate Christians.
They hate the Bible.
They hate Jesus Christ.
I mean, you look at these left-wing liberals
who want to say, oh, I can't believe that you're preaching hate,
but they hate what's right.
They hate God.
They hate the Holy Bible.
I mean, how many people have I had tell me
that this Bible is basically just dumb?
That this Bible is trash?
That God's word is garbage?
And to blaspheme and hate it and say that it's disgusting
and that it'll curse out against God because they hate God?
Because everybody hates something.
Everybody hates someone.
I talked to a guy and he said,
I don't hate anybody in this whole world.
He said, I love everybody.
And I said, okay, I said, what about Adolf Hitler?
Do you love Hitler?
And he said, okay, that's the only person.
And I said, well, I guess you don't love everybody then.
I love my wife and I love all the girls.
And I also love Jeffrey Dahmer and Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
And I love Jack the Ripper.
But this is the garbage that's being preached today
in Baptist churches all over America.
And they'll call me crazy
for standing up and preaching the truth tonight,
what the Bible actually says.
And let me just explain something to you.
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, listen to me now,
who said, love the sinner, hate the sin.
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said that.
Let me just give you a news flash.
Mahatma Gandhi is not one of the authors of the Bible.
Okay, Gandhi, turn to 2nd Gandhi real quick.
Okay, turn to Psalms, turn to Psalm 5.
Okay, let's go to Gandhi chapter 1 real quick.
Okay, Gandhi was a Hindu.
He's in hell tonight.
Okay, he's not a believer in Jesus Christ.
Not saved.
And he said, we ought to hate the sin and love the sinner.
But today people walk around and that's their gospel truth,
that they'll stand by that and say that all day long
as if it came from the Bible.
And guess what, it didn't come from the Bible.
It's not biblical.
You can say it all day long.
And just because you repeat something 5 million times
just doesn't make it true.
Okay, look what the Bible says.
This is, of course, God.
It says in Psalm 5 verse 6, it says,
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing.
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
So he says in verse number 5,
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Okay, so God says that he hates the workers of iniquity
and the bloody and deceitful man.
Go to Psalm 11 verse number 5.
Psalm 11 5 says, The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked and him that loveth violence,
his soul hateth.
So according to the Bible,
and look, I'm just preaching the Bible tonight.
According to the Bible, is hate just some bad word,
some horrible thing that we should never participate in?
We should never be hateful.
What does the Bible say?
It says right here that the Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked and him that loveth violence,
his soul hateth.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3
that to everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven,
a time to love and a time to hate.
I mean, is that not in the Bible?
Go to Psalm 139.
And there are so many places.
I'm not going to sit here and go to all the different times
that the Bible talks about hate.
If you really want to study the Bible on this,
just go home and get what's called a concordance.
You can look up every time the word hate,
hated, hatest, hates.
Just look it up in the Bible,
and you'll see that it says a lot.
And you'll see that it talks a lot about God
hating a lot of people.
There are 19 verses in the Bible
that says that God hates certain people.
And it's violent, you know,
wicked, bloody people that he says he hates.
And he says in Psalm 139 verse 21,
Psalm 139 verse 21 says,
And I'm not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee,
and I'm not I grieve with those that rise up against thee.
I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies.
So there's two kinds of people in this world
that are believers in Christ.
There's the kind that are going to read that and say,
oh, I believe that because I saw it in the Bible.
And then there's going to be other people who say,
well, I don't like that.
And so even though it says it in the Bible,
I'm going to refuse to believe it,
and I'm going to say Pastor Anderson
is a bad and hateful preacher.
Now let's see who's hateful tonight, okay?
The Bible teaches that those who love God,
love the Word of God,
obey the commandments of God,
and love the brethren and sisters in Christ,
they're the real ones who love,
the ones who are born again,
the ones who know God,
the ones who hate that which is evil
and plead to that which is good.
So who's loving tonight?
Mr. Pastor Love Muffin down the street?
Hey, he loves the people in the ghetto so much
that he's never knocked their door
and brought them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Listen to me now.
Do you love people tonight?
You say, well, you ought to love the unsaved.
Let me tell you something.
I love the unsaved so much
that I'm willing to go out every week of my life
for the last 13 years
and go out and preach the gospel to the unsaved
because I love them
and want them to be saved.
I don't want them to go to hell
and so I bring them the gospel
and preach it to them in love.
You say, well, I love unbelieving.
Then why don't you give them the gospel?
Why are you letting them go to hell?
How can you say, I love my neighbor
and you won't give the gospel unto your neighbor?
Do you really love your neighbor,
according to the Bible?
He said in 1 John 3,
I'll go back there again.
He said in 1 John 3,
But whoso have this world's good,
and seeeth his brother have need,
this is in verse 17,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue,
but indeed in truth.
Let me ask you something.
What greater need could someone have
than the need to be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ?
What greater need,
when an unsaved person
does not even know the gospel,
they don't even know how to be saved,
never had it preached to them clearly,
and you basically just shut up
your bowels of compassion from them,
how can you say that you love that person
and how can you say that you love God?
How can you say that you love
your unsaved brother or sister
or cousin or aunt or uncle
and you won't preach unto them
the gospel of Jesus Christ?
And you're just allowing them
to basically continue on the path
where they're headed to hell.
If you loved them,
you'd preach the gospel to them.
If you loved God,
you'd obey his command to go out
and preach the gospel to every preacher.
And so a lot of the people in this world,
you say, why are you preaching about that?
A lot of the people in this world
who seem to be the most loving
are the least loving.
That's what I'm saying tonight.
A lot of the people
who might be called hateful and not loving
are actually the most loving people.
Because when we look at things
through God's view
instead of the world's view,
it comes out a little different.
The person who loves the unsaved
is the one who goes out.
And here's what's funny.
People are constantly accusing me
of being a hateful person.
Now, I don't think that that's true at all.
I mean, I'm a pretty cheerful,
I'm a pretty positive person.
If anything, I'm too positive.
I mean, I go through life
smiling and happy,
very positive for anybody
who's been around me
knows that I'm not a negative,
pessimistic, down-in-the-mouth type person.
I'm a cheerful, happy, positive person.
I'm happy every day of my life
pretty much most of the time.
But anyway...
And people will say,
you know, you're so hateful.
You know, you're preaching hate.
And they'll say, you know,
you preach hate toward homosexuals.
And here's what's funny.
The people who accuse me
of hating the homosexuals
and saying that I'm not loving
okay, I promise you,
I have given the gospel
to more homosexuals than they have.
Now, not because I'm not
out on some campaign
to go out and, you know,
reach all the homosexuals
with the gospel.
But because of the fact that,
you know, when you go off soloing,
not everyone who you talk to
that's a homosexual,
they don't all wear a sign
that says, I'm a homo.
I've accidentally given the gospel
to more homos
than you've given the gospel to
on purpose.
Seriously.
I've probably given the gospel
to a hundred homos.
I should get some kind of a
badge for that, you know.
Reach my hundredth homo
with the gospel.
And you know what?
I don't care, you know,
whether this makes people mad.
I don't believe that homos
can be saved.
Because the Bible says,
it's not because Jesus
didn't die for all our sins.
It's because it says in Romans 1
that the reason they're a homos
is that God gave them over
to a reprobate mind
because they rejected God.
And that's why they have
unnatural affections.
Men with men.
And I'm not the author
of Romans 1,
and anybody can read Romans 1.
It's pretty clear.
He says three times,
God gave them up,
God gave them over.
And he says they rejected Christ
and he gave them over
unto vile affections.
Men with men,
women with women.
I believe it's too late for them.
Jesus had given them the gospel
before they rejected Christ
to that degree.
They could have got saved earlier,
but people crossed the line
with God where he rejects them.
It's just like people
who tamper with his word.
They add to or take from God's word.
He says he takes out their part
out of the Book of Life.
They can't get saved anymore.
It's too late for them.
It's like those who blaspheme
the Holy Ghost.
Jesus said,
you have no forgiveness
in this world
or in the world to come.
You blaspheme the Holy Ghost.
It's too late for you.
You're done.
Pharaoh,
you've rejected me too many times.
I'm going to harden your heart.
You're done.
Pharaoh could have got saved,
but he kept hardening his heart
and finally the Bible says
God hardened Pharaoh's heart
because you know what?
Finally it comes to a point
where God gets sick of people
saying no.
And by the way,
when people die without being saved,
it's too late for them.
See, it's never too late for anybody.
If somebody dies without Christ,
it's too late for them.
Okay, Revelation 22 says
that if somebody adds to
or takes from God's word,
it's too late for them.
Their part is removed
out of the book of life,
out of the Holy City
and from the things
that are written in this book.
The Bible says somebody who blasphemes
the Holy Ghost,
it's too late for them.
The Bible says that people
can get to a point
where they rejected Christ
and in Romans 1 it says
that they knew God,
they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools
and changed the glory
of the uncorruptible God
into an image made like
to a corruptible man
and to birds
and to four-footed beasts
and creeping thieves.
Wherefore God gave them
up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts
to dishonor their own bodies
between themselves
who changed the truth of God
into a lie
and worshiped and served the creature
more than the Creator
who is blessed for every man.
Listen to me now.
For this cause,
God gave them up
unto vile affections.
For even their women
did change the natural use
into that which is against nature.
And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use
of the woman
burned in their lust
one toward another.
Men with men
working that which is unseemly
and receiving in themselves
that recompense of their error
which was meet
and even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over
to a reprobate mind
to do those things
which are not to me.
Flat out says
he gave them up
unto vile affections
because of what they did.
So do you think
God is just randomly
giving people up
to vile affections today?
Just,
oh, I think I'm just
going to give you up
to vile affections
because I don't like your face.
No.
It's people who've rejected Christ.
He gave them up
to vile affections
and I take so much
flack for preaching that
but you know what?
I'll preach it all day long.
May.
Memorize the chapter
like I have
and then come back
and tell me that
you didn't give them up.
Then come back
and tell me
that I don't like
I mean that's what it says.
And you see,
I take flack for preaching that
because people just
love the world too much.
And they just can't accept
what the Bible said there
when he said
for this cause
God gave them to vile
vile means disgusting
I mean vile
V-I-L-E
means disgusting.
God gave them up
to vile affections
because of that.
Or do you think
that it's normal
for a man to lust
after another man
or for a woman to lust
after another woman?
It's not adorable.
It's against nature.
They've given over to that
when God removes
the normal constraint
that all of us have
as human beings
of just a sense of normalcy
and nature
of what is right
and what is wrong
and he basically gives us
the heart of a beast
not us
but those who reject it.
And if you look
at the animal kingdom today
are you listening to me?
The animal kingdom today
does not have
the same constraints
that we have as human beings.
The animal kingdom today
does all kinds
of disgusting things.
Animals do all kinds
of gross, disgusting,
weird things
that human beings
wouldn't do.
That's why when you
look at somebody
who is doing a lot
of disgusting things
you say
well this person's
like an animal.
Or when you see somebody
who's like a serial killer
you'd say like
they're an animal.
They're a beast.
Because that's the way
animals are.
Animals do all kinds
of horrible things.
They don't have a sense
of right and wrong.
They go, I mean,
they tear each other
apart in the wild.
That's why I think it's funny
when people are afraid
it would be too cruel
to animals.
Animals are the ones
who are the most cruel
to themselves.
I mean they go out
and tear each other apart.
They don't,
do you think that
they just get married
and stay with that animal
for life?
No.
They're going around
and they're basically mating
with all variety of animals
They don't have
the same parameters
and they'll do things
that we would consider gross.
Like the Bible talks
about the proverb
of the dog who
returns to his own vomit.
Human beings don't do that.
Human beings would
look at that and say
that is gross.
That is disgusting.
Ugh!
I mean can you imagine that?
But a dog just
pfft!
It's like ugh!
You could feed that dog
all kinds of weird stuff.
Ugh!
Oh!
Oh look!
Here's more food!
But a human being
is going to look at that
and say that's repulsive.
That's disgusting.
Well guess what?
That's how a normal human being
looks at homosexuality.
They look at that
and they say it's gross.
It's sick.
It's not natural.
No.
It's revolting
to the human mind.
Unless you've been
turned over
to a reprobate mind.
Unless you've rejected
Christ so many times
that pretty much
he just gives you over
to whatever your vile lust
leads you to do.
Just like an animal.
Whatever it feels like doing
it's just going to do it.
And it has no constraints
on what's gross
or what's weird
or what's perverse.
It just doesn't
even know the difference.
And a lot of these
sodomites will say
well in the wild
animals do this in the wild
so it's normal.
No.
Because you know
I'm a man.
I am a man created
in the image of God.
And so I'm not
patterning my lifestyle
after an animal.
And saying well penguins did it.
So I'm going to do it too.
Well animals do a lot
of other weird things
that I'm not going to do.
And I'm not planning on
living like an animal.
I'm planning on living
like a human being
with dignity
in the image of God.
And so I'm getting off
on a rabbit trail.
That wasn't really part
of my sermon tonight.
That was just kind of
a word from our sponsor.
But I got a little bit off
on that.
But you know what?
It just illustrates
my point completely.
People love the sodomites
of Hollywood,
the homos of Hollywood,
more than they love
Bible preaching.
So if they have to choose
between giving up
Elton John,
because he's a sodomite.
Or giving up
Heath Ledger,
because he's a sodomite.
Or Leonardo DiCaprio,
sorry girls he's a sodomite.
Or Keanu Reeves,
or they have to give up,
I don't know who the
current sodomites are.
If they have to give up R.E.M.,
you know the lead singer
of R.E.M. is an open sodomite?
Who knows who the
band of R.E.M. is?
If you want,
if you're willing to admit it,
give it a go.
If you have to give up
your R.E.M. CD,
or go into a Bible
preaching church,
it's like you'll choose
to stick with R.E.M.
and Elton John
and Clear Eye
for the straight guy,
and you'll stick with
Heath Ledger and Batman,
and you'll stick with
your Hollywood sodomite heroes.
And let me tell you something,
there was a time when
I was listening to me now,
when I was a teenager,
and I was listening to
all the world's music
and all the Hollywood movies,
and let me tell you something,
some of the bands that
I listened to,
I realized that the lead
singers were sodomites.
I had R.E.M. CDs
in my collection.
I had CDs from other groups
that later on I found out,
hey, these guys are sodomites.
These guys are
openly sodomites.
And you know, at that point,
and I have movies
in my collection where
the actors were sodomites.
And you know,
if you'd be honest,
you probably have to.
You know, when you
really research it
and figure out who
these people are,
that it's a lot of Hollywood
and a lot of the music industry.
You know, at that point,
I had to come to a point
in my life and say,
should I be delighting
in a person who the Bible
says hates God?
The Bible says this person's
an abomination.
The Bible says they're
a reprobate.
And the Bible says
they hate God.
Should I delight in this?
And you know,
you love the music.
You love the movies.
But you know what?
I finally just had to decide,
you know what?
I love God more.
And I don't want it
to be said of me that
the love of the Father
is not in me.
And so I had to remove
my love from those
type of things.
Because he says,
I mean, he spells it out
in Romans 1.
He says,
even as God,
even as they did not
like to retain God
out of their knowledge,
God gave them over
to a reprobate mind
to do those things
which are not convenient.
He doesn't even
end the sentence there.
He says,
being filled with
all unrighteousness,
fornication,
wickedness,
covetousness,
maliciousness,
full of envy,
murder,
debate,
deceit,
malignity,
whispers,
backbiters,
haters of God.
Did you hear that?
Haters of God,
it says in Romans 1.
Haters of God.
So is that who I should love?
I'm going to go home
and listen to the music
of God haters.
And if you're listening
to REM,
that's what you're
listening to.
And I'm just using
that example because
that's the music
of my generation.
Now that I'm getting
old and everything,
I'm talking about
my generation.
I can't relate to the
young people anymore.
But whatever your
generation is,
I'm sure it's more
filled with homos
and sodomites
than any music
that I listen to.
And that's saying a lot.
So I had to make
a decision to love God
and put away that stuff
because I decided,
hey, these are haters
of God.
These people hate God.
They're against
Jesus Christ.
And I just had to decide
which side am I
going to be on.
And too many Christians
today, they want to
have it both ways.
They want to have
their cake and eat it too.
It's like they want
to love God,
and they want to love
the world.
It sounds great,
doesn't it?
If we just went to
the average person
on the street,
we had a microphone
or something,
and we said,
should we love
the world?
Yeah.
Right?
Shouldn't we love
the world?
Shouldn't we love
everybody?
Yeah.
Okay.
Isn't that what
most people do?
Because it doesn't
sound good.
It almost sounds
like John 3.16.
For God's sake,
it sounds like John 3.16.
For God so loved the world.
I mean,
it sounds like something
that's the right thing
for us to do.
You know what?
Let's just love everybody.
It sounds good.
Let's just love everything.
Let's just be really loving.
Let's just get all the
heat out of our lives
and just be a really
just love, love,
love type person.
Love sounds like
a positive thing,
but when God says here,
love not the world.
Neither the things
that are in the world.
If any man loved the world,
the love of the Father
is not in him.
That makes me stop
and think,
wait a minute.
Let me just kind of
hold my horses
on all this love
that I'm just putting out
in all directions here.
Let me see if I can decide
here where my love
is going to be
and not to just bestow
my love upon everyone
and everything.
Because then it
becomes meaningless.
When I love REM,
I don't love God.
You know,
because God says
you've got to choose
where your love's going to be.
And we've got to decide
that we want to love God,
keep his commandments,
love the children of God,
get the sin out of our life.
You know,
walk after his commandments.
And look,
this sermon I'm preaching tonight,
it's not a popular message tonight.
You know,
and honestly,
a lot of people
hear this kind of sermon
and they'll get upset about it.
But the honest truth is
I've been around long enough.
I was saved
as a six-year-old boy
and I've been in
a Baptist church
my entire life.
I've gone to church
most of the time,
pretty much Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night,
my entire life.
And you know what,
I've seen the people
who try to have it both ways
my whole life.
I've been in churches
that tried to have it both ways
and worldliness ran rampant
and it was like,
yeah, we love the Bible,
we love God,
but it's okay to get in our car,
we'll still listen to the world's music
at this church.
I remember somebody told me,
they said,
our church is so cool
because they said
it's King James only.
You know,
it's a soul-winding church
but we can still like
watch movies
and listen to all the rock and roll
and nobody really cares
and you know,
it's just so laid back
and you know,
it's like,
women in pants is fine,
it's just like,
whatever.
Like,
they don't have all the dumb rules.
You know,
it's just,
we can just,
King James,
and Soul Egg,
and Amen,
but we can still have
everything else.
But you know what,
I grew up with those kind of people.
I've seen the lives
of those kind of people
and I'll tell you right now,
the people who are still
going to be with it,
the people who are the legit,
glorified soul winner,
they get rid of that stuff.
They love God
and they abhor that which is equal.
And look,
I tried having it both ways
for a little while.
Whenever I first got into
an independent Baptist church,
when I was 17 years old,
because before that
we were going to some
denominational Baptist churches.
I got into an independent
fundamental Baptist church
and I mean,
I had all the worldliness,
all the worldy music,
all the worldy movies
and my hair was bleached blonde
and punked out
and you know,
can you picture that?
Blonde hair,
punked out,
I was wearing all my clothes
from the thrift store.
I still get my clothes
from the thrift store,
but now I get more dignified
clothes from the thrift store.
You know,
I had all these crazy
clothes from the thrift store
and I mean,
I was just totally worldy
as all get out
and I jumped right into
soul winning
and I loved it.
I got right into the preaching.
You know,
I didn't agree with all that
stuff you were saying
about the music
and the movies
and the TV shows,
you know,
but everything else
I loved about this church.
But I stayed with it
and I kept going
but I started feeling like
I wasn't really getting
a lot of people saved.
I started realizing
that I just felt like
my soul winning was failing
and I just felt like
I just wasn't being
what I needed to be
and I would pray
and ask God to help me
with soul winning
and finally,
it's like I started realizing,
you know what,
I'm not filled with the spirit.
That's the problem
with my soul winning.
I'm walking in the flesh
because I'm reading my Bible
and it's telling me
I need to be filled
with the spirit,
walk in the spirit
and the spirit of the Lord
is telling all these people
and this and that
and I just thought to myself,
you know what,
I'm walking in the flesh
so I'm not filled with the spirit.
That's why I'm not really
seeing God work in my life
like I want them to see
and I remember
I had been slowly
purging my music
in my movie collection
but I remember one time,
I believe it was a Monday
or Tuesday night,
I packed up the last of my music.
It was kind of the music
that I was still hanging on to,
the worldly music
and I had gotten rid of the stuff
that I knew was really bad
but I still had a lot
of just bad music
and movies and stuff
and I remember one time,
this was a really,
you know, it might sound silly
but this was a really hard thing
for me to do
because music was a big part
of my life
and I remember I boxed it up
and I packed it up
and I drove to the church building.
Nobody was there.
The church was not in session.
It was just a weeknight
but I just wanted to just,
for myself,
just do that.
So I drove down
to the church building
and I had all my CDs
and worldliness
that I could find in my room.
I just got it all together.
I put it in a box
and I walked up
to this dumpster
in the church parking lot
and I literally just looked up
to heaven
and said to God audibly,
I said,
God, you know what?
If this stuff
is gonna hold me back
from serving you
to the fullest,
if this is gonna cause me
not to get people saved,
if this is gonna cause me
not to walk in the Spirit
and not to have the power of God
on my soul winning,
I just said,
I don't need,
I don't love this stuff
that much, God.
I don't need this stuff that much.
I'm willing to get rid of it
and I threw it in that dumpster.
And you know,
it might sound silly
but that was a turning point
in my life.
That was a major,
major turning point
in my life right there
because I made a decision,
you know what?
I love this stuff
and I shouldn't love it
and you know what?
I'm gonna prove to God
that I don't love it
because I'm gonna sacrifice it.
You know,
the Bible talks a lot
about sacrifice
and I took something
that I loved
that I shouldn't have loved,
that God said
I shouldn't have loved.
I should be loving that stuff
but I did love it
but I chose to sacrifice it to God
and that's where I proved to God,
I love you more God
than I love these CDs
and these records,
these tapes.
I said,
I love you more
and a lot of people could say,
well I love God more
than this stuff
but they keep listening to it.
They keep watching it.
They keep indulging in it
but I proved it to God
because I brought it unto God.
I brought it unto the house of God
and said,
you know what God,
I love you more than this.
In fact,
I'll prove it to you
and I threw it in the trash
and I went soul winning right there
and I believe that I went
in the power of the Holy Spirit
when I threw that step in the trash
and I went and I knocked
the first door,
nobody was home.
I knocked the second door
and the second
and I've been having a really
a lot of failures in my soul.
I've been going months
with nobody saved
and just really failing.
I knocked the second door,
knocked on a family's door.
They invited me in.
I sat down at the kitchen table.
The parents were saved
but the teenagers were not saved.
They've been out of church for years.
I won the two teenage boys to Christ
at the kitchen table.
They came to church that Wednesday night
and got baptized
and the whole family joined the church,
went to the church for a few months
and then they moved to a different city
and went to an independent Baptist church over there.
You know,
and that was a great success.
That's something that I wanted.
That's something that my goal was
to get people saved
and to get them baptized
and to get them in church
and that's what I wanted God to use me
to see some real results
and to see some real power of God in my life
where God's using me to do something
and it happened literally within minutes
of throwing that stuff away
because it was a sacrifice
that I made unto God.
So I'm not up here
just blowing smoke at you tonight.
I'm telling you the honest truth tonight
that I don't believe
that God will bless us
in our soul.
I don't believe
you're filled with the Holy Spirit
when you're filled with Hollywood
and filled with rock and roll and hip-hop.
You're not filled with the Spirit.
You're filled with the Spirit
when you're speaking to yourself
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
And so this is a sermon about love tonight.
It's a sermon about loving God.
It's a sermon about loving
your brothers and sisters in Christ
and it's a sermon about loving the unstaid
so that you can get them, excuse me,
get them saved.
And honestly tonight,
I'm not saying it's easy.
It's easy to get up
and just say, yeah,
don't love the world.
But you know what?
I know that these are things
that you're attached to
and you're right.
I was attached to my music.
You know, I used to shop
at a record store
that was called Obsessed With Music
and I mean, that was a fitting name.
I was obsessed with music.
And you know,
this stuff is attached to you
but you know what?
You've got to die to self.
You've got to deny self
if you really want God to use you.
And you've got to love God
with all your heart.
And you can't share your love
with the world.
You know, I mean,
it sounds good tonight.
And you know,
if you want to be a popular preacher,
all you've got to do
is just get up and say,
love everybody.
Love, love, love.
Let's pass the offering plate.
You know, that's a way
to be a popular preacher.
If you want to be unpopular,
preach what the Bible says.
Love God, hate evil.
Hate those who hate the Lord.
Love those who love the Lord.
Preach the gospel to every creature.
Love not the world.
Let's bow your eyes and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much
for your word, dear God.
And Father, I prayed it.
Everyone who's under the sound
of my voice tonight
would have heard your word tonight
and what it said
and not to resist the truth,
but rather to decide
to maybe do a purging
in their life, dear God.
It's never fun to purge things
out of our life, dear God.
And there's always things
that we need to purge
out of our lives.
Help us to take the steps
necessary tonight.
I pray that those who are
under the sound of my voice
would take your sermon seriously.
It's really no skin off my back,
dear Lord, but I pray that they
would please just go home tonight
and just take an inventory.
You know, just open up that CD case.
Open up that DVD.
Open up that bookshelf
and just think about it
and say, you know,
is this really honor
and glorifying God?
Father, I pray that you would
just move in the hearts
of every person who's here
to make that decision
and say, you know what?
I'm going to be maximum
for Jesus Christ.
I'm going to do the most I can
and I don't want this
to hold me back.
And so I pray that you would
help us to get our love
in order, dear God,
and that we would be as loving
as we need to be.
Help the sermon to sink down
into our ears.
If I fail to express something
properly, dear God,
then forgive me,
but please just help these people
to take this to heart
and take the steps necessary.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.