So we're beginning a new series. I know I normally preach through Jeremiah on Sundays,
but just because we're meeting at my house, I just thought I'd start a new series. I'll continue
Jeremiah this Thursday, but I want you to notice there in Galatians 5 22. Galatians 5 22 it says,
but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. So we're beginning a new series. It's going
to be a series on the fruits of the Spirit. Okay, so as you probably noticed as we're reading
through that chapter there in Galatians chapter 5, it differed between what the fruits of the
Spirit are and then if you notice there in verse number 19 it says, now the works of the flesh are
manifest which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivitousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness,
rebellions and such like. So when you look at the works of the flesh compared to the fruits
of the Spirit, you know there's a lot more in the works of the flesh. There's all these
wicked things that we can do in our flesh and then we have what the Holy Spirit is trying to
develop in our lives and you know when you consider all preaching, when you consider
everything that gets preached, every church, every preacher, you know basically you can summarize
every sermon into two things. Are you walking in the Spirit or are you walking after the flesh?
Basically every sermon covers the same thing brethren, everything okay. I mean anytime we're
instructed to live godly, we're basically saying walk in the Spirit. Anytime we're being instructed
to love the Lord and do the works that God has left us to do, we're saying walk in the Spirit.
Anytime we're preaching against sin, anytime we're preaching against self and against the
worldliness, preaching against the devil, we're saying hey don't walk after the lust of the flesh.
Every sermon is basically summarized in these two points and so sometimes we sort of consider
how are we doing in our Christian life right. I mean don't you want to know, I want to know
how well I'm doing. Am I living in the Spirit? Am I walking after the Spirit? Am I walking
after the flesh? Am I just fulfilling the lust of my flesh? Am I doing what God really wants me to
do? And we can have all different ideas, different opinions, different perceptions of how well we're
doing in the Christian life but there's only really one way we can measure how well we are
walking up the ways of the Lord. That's by comparing the fruits of the Spirit in our lives
versus the works of the flesh. And let me tell you something, you're never going to be just 100%
doing the fruits of the Spirit or 100% just fulfilling the lust of the flesh. No, we know
that as a safe person we've been born again, we've been born the Spirit, we have the new man
and sometimes you're walking in the Spirit, sometimes you're doing the things of the flesh
long. That's when you commit sin. Every time you commit sin, you're doing what the flesh desires
and I want you to be able to go through this series with me and say well how well am I living
up to the fruits of the Spirit? Now you might say well you know the fruits of the Spirit, it's not
that exciting, what are they? Love, joy, peace, you know this series doesn't seem like it's going to be
that interesting. But you know when you think about the fruits of the Spirit, say the fruits
of the Holy Spirit, okay? Now how excited do you get when you bring forth fruits, right? When you
see somebody get saved, when you give someone the Gospel, someone believes in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you've brought forth fruits, the fruit of the righteous, you've seen someone say isn't that
exciting for you? Amen, it's exciting for you. Well how exciting would it be for the Holy Spirit
if he sees his fruits developing in the lives of Christians, okay? You know in other words
brethren, this might seem like a boring series, love, joy, peace, you know, Pastor Kevin I want
the controversial things, I want you preaching against the false doctrines and the false prophets
but you know what's really exciting for the Spirit? For the Holy Spirit is seeing how well
we're developing these fruits of the Spirit in our lives, okay? And so every sermon in this
series will cover a different topic on the fruits of the Spirit. So you can see there in verse number
22, the very first one is, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, love. So I'll be preaching on the
topic of love today, can you please turn to Matthew 22 for me? Matthew 22 and verse number 36,
Matthew 22 and verse number 6. Jesus gets asked a really great question in Matthew 22 verse 36.
They come to Christ and in verse number 36 they ask the question, Master, what is the great
commandment in the Lord? What is the great commandment in the Lord? Jesus Christ responds
in verse number 37, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
So we know that, you know, one of the fruits of the Spirit is to love and so in order for us to
love the Lord, you know, in our fullest, in the best way we can, we need to make sure we develop
the fruit of love in our hearts, okay? And so this is the great, the first and great commandment that
Christ has given us is to love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and another place that
Jesus Christ refers to is in our strength, with our might, with our strength as well.
Keep going there, verse number 39. Jesus Christ says, and the second is like unto it,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Lord and the
prophets. Wow! So if we just develop this fruit of love and we love God, you know, we love God
100%, we don't fail in our love for God or we love our neighbors 100%, we don't fail in our
love for our brethren and our neighbors. Guess what? You're going to keep all the laws, all the
commandments that were written in the law and the prophets. So this is a really important fruit that
we need to develop in our lives and so I want you to just assess yourself as we go through this.
Do I love God the way I should love the Lord? You know, do I love my neighbors the way I want to
love my neighbors? If you can please turn to the book of Romans, please. Romans chapter 13,
Romans chapter 13 and verse number 8. Romans chapter 13 and verse number 8, please.
Romans 13 and verse number 8. Because the first person that we're going to look at loving is our
neighbor, okay? I've basically got three groups of people that we need to look at loving. Number
one, it's our neighbor. Number two, it's our brethren, our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Number three, it's the Lord God. We're going to be looking at these three groups,
okay? Now some people, I've heard people say, people have said it to me, you know, every time
that Jesus Christ says to love your neighbor, he's not talking about loving your, you know,
your next door neighbor. He's not saying loving people in your community. He's not saying love
the people in your workplace. I've heard it said that, well, that's just loving your brethren.
That's just loving your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Well, hold on. Look at Romans chapter
13 and verse number 8. Romans 13 and verse number 8. It says, oh no man anything but to love one
another, for he that loveth another have fulfilled the law. Now you want to notice this. To fulfill
the law as we saw in Jesus Christ, we're commanded to love one another. You say that's just the
brethren, Pastor Kevin. There's no way in the world you expect me to love, you've got 7.5, 7.6
billion people in this earth. Well, I don't expect you to love 7.6 billion people in this earth,
okay? You're not even going to meet that many people in your life, okay? But listen, the people
you come across, whether it's in your workplace, whether it's your neighbors, whether it's your
friends, your extended family, saved or unsaved, it doesn't matter, they're your neighbors. Because
look at verse number 9, it says for this, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not kill,
thou shall not steal. What are we going through? We're going through the 10 commandments, aren't
we? Thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not covet. If there be any other commandment,
it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Alright,
so once you notice there, you know, we have some of the 10 commandments there, the commandments
that deal with our relationship between men, and we've been instructed here by Paul that by keeping
these commandments, we are fulfilling the law of love in our neighbor. They say, well, is it just
our brethren? Well, hold on, look at verse number 9 again, for this, thou shall not commit adultery.
Is this saying, just don't commit adultery with your brethren? Or is this teaching us,
don't commit adultery with anybody? With everybody, okay? Next one, thou shall not kill.
Oh, just don't kill the brethren, okay? But you can go ahead and kill unbelievers if you want.
Is that what the Bible's teaching us? No, alright? Thou shall not steal. Don't steal from the
brethren, but yeah, go ahead and rob a bank if you want. You know, just make sure, you know,
some brothers and sisters of the Lord doesn't, you know, work there. No, okay? So what we see here,
obviously, these commandments have to deal with our community, the people we come across in our
lives, okay? These commandments are not just to the brethren, they're to everybody we come across.
And so when we see the commandment to love your neighbour, it's not just the brethren,
it's everybody that we come across, okay? Again, you're not going to come across 7.6 billion people
in this earth, but your family, your friends, your work colleagues, and you go to the shop,
you interact with people, you know, at the cash register, whoever it is, brethren, whoever you're
interacting with in this world, you also have the attitude that I'm commanded to love my brethren,
okay? Sorry, love my neighbour. I'm commanded to love my neighbour. And so I want you to be
thoughtful about this because, you know, your reputation matters. If you show care and love
and appreciation toward people, they're going to receive that, and it may open up opportunities
for you to give people the gospel. You know, one of the best things that I experienced, you know,
after being on the Sunshine Coast for three years, we moved back into our house, I went to the post
office. Listen, I don't even know, the people that work in the post office, I don't know their
names, okay? I don't know their names. But it's been three years, I walk in, the guy goes, oh,
Kevin, you're back, right? And I don't know his name. It's like, you know, what's happened? I
haven't seen you in ages, right? And then I'm talking to him, you know, and then his manager
walks past, oh, Kevin, what does that tell you? Like, I'm not trying to boast of anything,
I'm just trying to give you an example here. What does that tell you? They haven't seen you for
three years. I don't expect them to remember my name. But why do they remember my name?
Because every time I interacted with them, guess what? I showed them that I cared. I showed them
that I appreciate their service. I showed them that I valued their post office and the service
they provided, right? In other words, I love my neighbor. And that's got a long way for them to
remember when I popped in. I wasn't expecting that. But I appreciate it. I appreciated that
they even remember my name after three years of not entering that place. What I'm telling you,
brethren, is wherever we interact in this world, we ought to show love, appreciation for the people
we come across. We do that and we're fulfilling the law of the Lord. We're fulfilling the 10
commandments, how we ought to interact with one another. Can you please turn to Luke chapter 10
for me? Luke chapter 10 verse 25. Luke chapter 10 and verse number 25.
Luke chapter 10 and verse number 25. Because I realize that there are people that are hard to
love, okay? And I'm not saying love the serial killer. I'm not saying love the homosexual.
I'm not saying love the pedophiles, okay? I'm not saying love these wicked people, okay? I mean,
those people are a minor percentage of the population, okay? But in general,
most people, we ought to show them appreciation and love. Look at Luke chapter 10 verse 25.
Luke 10, 25. The Bible reads, And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him,
saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him,
What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answered and said, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength and with
all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right,
this do, and thou shalt live. You see, Reverend, there are two ways for you to go to heaven.
Number one, as we teach, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's kept all the commandments,
he's kept the laws, right? We believe in him, and we go to heaven because of what Christ has
done for us. He sacrificed on his cross and his resurrection. Okay, that's one way. The other way
is by keeping all the commandments, all of them, okay? And we saw that loving God and loving a
neighbour covers all the commandments that the prophets have spoken about. Okay, so either you
go to heaven by believing in the one who was perfect, or number two, you try to be perfect
yourself. Okay, that's what Christ is teaching. All right, yeah, you want to be good, you want to
work your way to heaven, keep all the commandments. Now, obviously, this certain lawyer that asked the
question knows that he's not kept the commandments perfectly. Okay, so he needs a saviour. This is
the point that Jesus Christ is trying to explain to him. But he tries to justify himself because
he knows that he's not been loving his neighbours as he should. Because if we keep reading there,
in verse number 29, it says, but he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my
neighbour? Right? Because this guy realises, I can't love everybody. I haven't loved everybody.
In fact, there's been times I've hated people and tried, okay, well, I need it. This is how I get
saved. This is how I get eternal life. I've got to love my neighbour, but I've really failed,
and so he tries to justify himself. All right, you know, just my brother and sister to the Lord,
just the people in my local church, just my direct family, you know, who is my neighbour?
How does Jesus Christ respond? He says in verse number 30, and Jesus answered and said,
a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his
reignments and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance they came down a
certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And so let me just
get you up to this parable. We have a story of a man getting injured, all right, he's on the
side of the road, half dead. A priest walks by. The priest is someone who's supposed to serve
in a temple. He's supposed to serve there. He's supposed to be close to the Lord. He's
supposed to be a teacher of the word of God, but he just passes by. Now let me ask you, Brevin,
is this priest showing love for his neighbour? No, the priest is not showing love for his
neighbour, right? So just because you're a priest doesn't mean you're going to get eternal life,
because the priest has favoured at keeping that law, all right? Let's keep going. There in verse
number 32, and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by
on the other side. Okay, so if you were born from the tribe of Levi, which was the tribe where the
priest would come from, but the other people would also be responsible for taking care of
the temple, you might say, well, that tribe, you know, maybe they've got a more important job than
everybody else. Well, you can see a Levite who also passes by. Is he showing love to his neighbour?
No. So this Levite has failed. This Levite's not keeping the commandments, right? Verse number 33,
but a certain Samaritan, ah, this is not a Jew. This is someone that has been mixed,
right? When the Assyrians came and took the northern kingdom into captivity,
he's been mixed, he's not, he's probably got some traces of Jew, maybe not, but he's a Samaritan,
and there was division, there was conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews, but a certain
Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast,
and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Hey, that sounds good. This guy sees a half dead
person, takes him in, looks after him, takes care of his, ah, the injuries, right, and then takes
him to a hotel where he can be taken care of. Is he showing love? Absolutely. This guy's a Samaritan,
okay? He's not somebody that's the people of God, but he's showing love to his neighbour, isn't he?
Verse number 35, and on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pants,
and gave them to the host, and said unto him, take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more,
when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, sorry, which now of these three,
thinkest thou was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, he that showed
mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. So you can see here, this man
tries to justify himself. He just wants to love the people that he loves. He knows he's hated
certain people. He knows he's not keeping the commandments of God. This is not going to get
him eternal life. This is not going to save him, all right? But Jesus Christ explains, listen,
the Samaritan that did good, just the complete stranger, the complete stranger from Judah,
you know, from Judea, sorry, you know, came by, and he showed mercy, he showed love to that neighbour,
or to that man who was neighbourly toward him, who showed love, it was the Samaritan.
So brethren, you know, please not try to make excuses. Don't try to justify yourself and say,
well, I can hate these people over here, and not show them love. We're not keeping the commandments
of God, okay? Now there are people that we ought to hate. We'll get to that soon, okay? If you can
please turn to Galatians chapter five, turn to Galatians chapter five for me. Galatians chapter
five, verse 16. Galatians five, verse 16, and so please remember who your neighbour is. It's
everybody that you come across in this life. Galatians chapter five, verse number 16, please.
I want you to notice this. It says in verse number 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts up against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other,
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under
the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest. We read this part already. It says which are these?
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, look at this, witchcraft and hatred.
Remember, what's the opposite of love? Hate, is it not? I mean anybody will tell you that,
right? The opposite of love is hate. Well notice where hatred sits in this list. Is it a fruit of
the Spirit, or is it a work of the flesh? It's a work of the flesh, amen? I'm not trying to twist
your scriptures there. That's what it says, right? Hatred is a work of the flesh, all right? Now you
say, well hold on, Pastor Kevin, I'm sure you've mentioned that it's okay to hurt certain people.
Okay, so let's find, let's learn about this then, okay? Please turn to Psalm, the book of Psalm,
Psalm chapter five and verse number five. Psalm chapter five and verse number five.
Because there is hate that comes from the flesh, but not all hate is from the flesh, okay?
Let me make that, let me say that again. There is hate that can come from this flesh,
okay? But not all hate comes from the flesh, okay? Psalm 5, 5 please. Psalm 5, 5.
Psalm 5 and verse number 5 reads, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Who hates all workers of iniquity? God does. Does God hate?
Yeah, he hates all workers of iniquity. So hold on, isn't hate a work of the flesh?
Does God have a fallen flesh? Does God have a fallen nature? So is the hate that God has
toward the workers of iniquity, is that coming from a sinful flesh or is that coming from a
righteous God? Coming from a righteous God, okay? So notice that hate in of itself is not a sin,
okay? But hate that comes from the flesh is a sin, okay? But hate that, hate that God has,
that's not sinful. Otherwise you're saying God is a sinner, okay? Let's keep going there in verse
number six, it says, thou shalt destroy them that speak least sin, the Lord will abhor. Now that
word abhor means to hate exceedingly, okay? It's not just hate, it's he hates lust, okay? He abhors
the bloody and deceitful man. God hates the murderers. God hates the serial killers,
okay? The men who are bloody and deceitful. So you can see very clearly that God hates.
Now can you please turn to Psalm 97 for me? Turn to Psalm 97 in verse number 10,
because you might say, well, maybe the lesson is this, Pastor Kevin, maybe the lesson is
that we're not allowed to hate, but God is allowed to hate. Maybe that's the lesson.
Let's go to Psalm 97 in verse number 10. Psalm 97 in verse number 10,
because I'm not trying to teach you about hate, I'm actually trying to teach you about love,
okay? And I want us to love the Lord. I want us to love our neighbors. I want us to love the
brethren, okay? But notice this in Psalm 97 verse number 10. Psalm 97 verse number 10 reads,
ye that love the Lord. Hey, that's what I'm teaching, yeah? Ye that love the Lord,
what are you meant to do? Hate evil. What did we learn there? If we want to love the Lord,
we have to hate evil, okay? So hating evil is not a work of the flesh. Hating the things that
God hates is righteous. If you hate the things that God hates, that shows that you love the Lord.
Okay? So you cannot say, well, I'm just going to love everybody. I'm just going to love everything.
I'm just going to love everything, because that's what we're commanded to do. Well,
no, the commandment to love is to hate that which is evil. And if you don't hate evil,
it doesn't, it means that you don't love the Lord. Okay? Listen, if God hates something,
or hates someone, and you say, well, Lord, you know what? I know you hate them,
but I'm going to love them. You think you're right with God. You think God's going to go,
well done. I hate that. I hate that person, but you love them. Wow. You know, you're more
loving than I am. Is God going to say that? Or he's going to say, hey, you're foolish for
loving the things that I hate. You're foolish for loving those things that are evil. Okay?
Look at, if you can please go to Psalm 139. Go to Psalm 139 and verse number 21. Psalm 139,
please. And verse number 21. So we are commanded to hate evil. And the next thing that people say,
well, we're to hate the sin, but not the sinner. Isn't that the next thing they say? Right? Hate
the sin, but not the sinner. Well, let's go to Psalm 139, verse number 21, please. Psalm 139.
Let me just say, that is not a Bible verse. I mean, there are people that actually believe
hate the sin, but not the sinner is a Bible verse. That is not in your Bible. Okay? That
is just a saying of the devil to confuse us with what the Bible says. But in Psalm 139,
in verse number 21, it reads, do not I hate them? Oh Lord, that hates thee. Hate them?
Is that just hating the sin or hating the sinner? If you're hating them, you're hating the sinner.
Hey, what kind of sinners are we just to hate? Cause we're all sinners, aren't we? Aren't we
all just commanded to hate each other then? No. Which sinners, which wicked people are we
commanded to hate? He says, do not I hate them, oh Lord, that hates thee. Listen, people that
hate God, people that hate the Bible, people that commit, you know, pedophilia, you know,
serial murderers, these kind of people that hate God, listen, it's fine to hate them.
And by hating them, you are showing that you love God. God, I hate the things that you hate.
I hate the sins that you hate. I hate the people that you hate, Lord, because they hated you.
Listen, if people hate God, it's fine to hate them. Okay? Because they're evil,
because they're wicked. Let's keep going there. It says, and am not I grieved with those that
rise up against thee? Look at verse number 22. I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them
mine enemies. So you can see that hatred, there is a perfect hatred. Hey, that perfect hatred
is the hatred of God. The things that God hates. If you hate the things that God hates,
that's perfect hatred. That's not hatred coming from the flesh. It's coming from loving God
and loving God. All right, I love my kids. That means I'm going to hate the pedophile
that wants to hurt my kids. Okay, you cannot love without hating the things that are trying
to destroy what you love. All right, if you want to grow flowers, you're going to hate the weeds,
you're going to pull out the weeds to let the flowers grow and not being choked up. Okay,
perfect love requires perfect hatred. But the lesson here, brethren, is do not hate out of
your flesh. Hate the things that you learn from God's word, the things that you know God hates,
it's fine for you to hate that as well. Okay, but if you hate things that God loves, that's
hatred that's coming from the flesh. All right, so just because you hate something, don't try to
justify I hate it. Listen, if you hate something, okay, but is it compatible with what God hates?
Is it what God hates? And if it is good, you're doing fine. Okay, but if you're hating something
that God does not hate, then it's a problem. That's hatred coming from the flesh. Okay,
but if you hate the things that God hates, you show that you actually love God. All right,
can you please turn to John 13 verse 34. John 13 and verse 34.
Because we've looked at loving your neighbor. Okay, that's loving your community. It's loving
the people you come across. Okay, unless they're haters of God. Okay, we've looked at that. But,
you know, as a general commandment, we're commanded to love our neighbors. You know,
if you're not going around committing adultery, you're not going around stealing, you're not
going around, you know, coveting what your neighbors have, that's you showing love to
your neighbors. But now we're going to look at loving the brethren. Because loving the brethren
requires its own challenges. You know, we see each other almost every week. And when you see
each other every week, you know what's going to happen? Sometimes you're going to get frustrated
at each other. You're going to get annoyed at each other. It's just going to happen.
Don't tell me I've never thought a bad thought about something in church. It happens. Okay,
it's like, you know, I've got a whole bunch of kids, you grew up with your brothers and sisters,
you know, you see each other every day. And you know that you know that you love, they love each
other. I don't think someone's going to fight. I'm not going to get in on each other's nerves
sometimes. It happens in churches. And the first thing you need to understand, it's normal. Okay,
whenever you're just constantly with the same people, it's going to be normal. You know,
going to work every day, Monday to Friday, you know, nine to five every day of the week,
guess what? You're going to find that you get frustrated if you work from time to time.
You're going to find sometimes you clash with the people you work with. This is just normal.
Okay. But even when we clash with our brethren, guess what? You ought to love them. You know,
if someone frustrates me at church, you know, I may not necessarily get along with somebody.
I might not see eye to eye with somebody. Okay. There's someone who might hold one opinion,
I might hold a totally different opinion about a topic. All right. But guess what? I never want
to see my brothers destroyed. I want to see my brothers and sisters serving the Lord. I want them
to be successful in life. I want them to do well. I want them to be happy. You know, I love my
brethren. Even the brethren that might frustrate me and annoy me, I still pray for them. I still
love them. Okay. And I just realized there are going to be some brethren that I get along better
than others. And this is life. That's how life is, right? Can't change that. But look at John
chapter 13, verse number 34. John chapter 13, verse number 34. Jesus Christ says,
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another. Now this is talking about the brethren here. Okay.
If we show love to the brethren, the rest of the world is going to know that we're disciples of
Jesus Christ, that we're doing what Christ has asked us to do. And you say, I don't know,
Pastor Kevin, you know, there are some people, I just, I don't know if I love them. How much
am I supposed to love my brethren? What did Christ say? In verse number 34, that ye love
one another, as I have loved you, and that ye also love one another, as I have loved you.
How much has Jesus Christ loved you? How much has he loved you? With his whole life,
doesn't he? Didn't he give up his life out of love for you? Isn't Jesus Christ the love of God,
his sacrifice? Well, you know what, the same love that Jesus Christ has for you,
Jesus says, you need to love your brethren, you know, your brethren, as much as I love you.
So I already failed, you already failed, okay? But even though we failed, it doesn't mean that
we ignore the commandment, it means we better strive to just love each other as much, and when
someone gets on your nerves, someone annoys you, guess what? You've done much more worse things to
God, when you've sinned against the Lord, you've offended God much more than what your brother has
offended you, okay? And still then, God was able to step in and say, you know what, I love you,
I'm going to come and send the Lord Jesus Christ to come and die for you, that's going to be my
demonstration of love towards you, and we're commanded to love our brethren in the same way.
So it's a big ask, isn't it? It's a big ask, but this is what the Bible teaches.
If you can please turn to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3,
1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 8, 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 8.
1 Peter chapter 3, verse number 8 reads, finally be all of one mind, having compassion one of
another. You know what, when I see you go for a hard time, I ought to just say, I'm going to have
compassion for them. Even if I see you having a hard time and I know it's your fault, I mean,
you should have made that mistake, you should have done that, and now you're facing the consequences,
I'm still commended to have compassion for you.
Look at this, one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, courteous, you know what,
if we don't get along, I'm still going to come, I get along with most people anyway,
but I'm just trying to give you an example, if I don't get along with someone,
I'm still going to come and greet you when I see you, I'm still going to say hey, welcome to church,
I'm still going to say hey, see you later, have a good weekend, have a good week,
I'm still going to be courteous towards you, the worst thing you can do as a brother and lord,
if you don't get along with somebody, is just completely ignore them, that's wrong,
hey, don't ignore your brethren, be courteous toward them, not rendering evil for evil,
railing for railing, but puncture wise, blessing, knowing that ye are therefore called,
that ye should inherit a blessing, so what do we learn there, if a brother does evil towards you,
are you meant to do evil back to them, no, what are we commanded to do,
we're commanded to bless them, right, puncture wise blessing, if someone rails against you,
we're commanded to bless them, say I don't know if I can do that, right, I don't know if I can
bless them, well look at that, that ye should inherit a blessing, listen if you do good to
your brethren that have done bad to you, God says I'm going to bless you, you're going to be blessed
by God, you're going to be rewarded by God, well just love your brethren even if they do
wrong toward you, same book, first Peter chapter 1 please, first Peter chapter 1 verse 22,
first Peter chapter 1 verse 22, first Peter chapter 1 verse 22,
I want you to just measure yourself with the word of God, do you love the brethren the way
the bible tells us to love them, okay, first Peter chapter 1 verse 22 says,
seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, hey what's, if you were to feign something, what does feigned mean,
it means fake, okay, so unfeigned means make sure your love is not fake,
you know, so when you come to church it ought not to be well I'll just pretend I love everybody,
no it's got to be a real love for your brethren, okay, it's the same love that Jesus Christ loves
you with and then it says this, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently,
so how we command to love each other with a pure heart and fervently, what does the word
fervent mean, you might think about a flame of fire that burns fervently, it means with passion,
okay, we're not just commanded, I love you, we're actually meant to really mean it, it's meant to
come from the heart, it ought to be a strong, a burning flame of love that we have toward another,
okay, and so please, you know, please think about this, you know, do you measure up, do you measure
up with what God commands us, you know, to love our neighbours, to love our brethren and of course
to love our God, if you can please now turn to the book of Mark, turn to Mark 12,
Mark 12 in verse 128, we've looked at loving your neighbours, we've looked at loving your brethren,
now let's look at loving God, okay, please turn to Mark 12 in verse 128,
Mark 12 in verse 128,
it says, and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving
that he had answered them well, asked him, what is the first commandment of all,
and Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, hear all Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shall love the Lord thy God,
now notice the next words, don't let it, don't let it face you, just pay attention,
love the Lord thy God with all thy parts, that's number one, and with all thy soul, that's number
two, and with all thy mind, that's number three, and with all thy strength, this is the first
commandment, so Jesus Christ says, in order for us to love God properly, there are four areas of
our life that we're meant to love him with, with our hearts, with our soul, with our life, and
with our strength, okay, now I haven't got time to teach this to you, but uh, well actually, yeah,
well I'll tell you very quickly, in the Old Testament, this, this uh, this frame, what Jesus
Christ is quoting, is actually from the Old Testament scriptures, okay, but if you go back
and look at the Old Testament scriptures, about loving God, yes it does mention loving the Lord
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength or might, but it never mentions
loving God with all your mind, loving God with all your mind is something Jesus Christ added to,
in the New Testaments, in fact the New Testament deals a lot with the mind, so of course we can
sin in our bodies, can't we, but we can also sin in our minds, okay, we can love in our bodies,
but do we love in our minds, and one of the, one of the key teachings of the New Testament
is okay, you know, people have been focused on the outward, but what about the inward man,
you know, are you doing things properly on the inward, and of course if Jesus Christ wants to
add to the scriptures, of course he can, he's God, he's the word of God, okay, and so I want to look
at these four aspects, because you might love the Lord with all your heart right now, but you may
not love him with all your mind, you might love Jesus Christ right now with all your soul, but
you might not love him with all your might, with all your strength, okay, and God wants us to love
him with all these aspects in our lives, so I'm going to need to turn to, can you please turn to
Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6 for me, Romans chapter 6, we're going to be looking at loving
with our hearts, okay, Romans chapter 6, and verse number 15, Romans chapter 6 and verse
number 15, Romans 6, 15, the bible reads, what then shall we sin because we are not under the
Lord but under grace, God forbid, know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
you servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness,
and I want you to notice there, speaking about disobedience and obedience to the Lord,
but look at verse number 17, but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin,
but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you,
so what comes from the heart? Obedience, okay, obedience or disobedience, hey there was a time
when we were servants of sin, in fact you could still theoretically be a servant of sin if you
walk after the flesh, and when the flesh loves to sin, and there are some sins that are very
addictive, very hard to overcome, you could become a servant or a slave to sin, but we're commanded
to love or to obey from the heart, okay, so how is one great way that we can show God love from
our hearts? Obedience, obeying his commandments, doing what God asks us to do, you know what,
that ought to come from the heart, should we be in church this morning? Absolutely, but you know
what, when you come to church it ought to be out of love from your heart, okay, because we all know
you can come to church and not really mean it in your heart, you can be like, well I told Pastor
Ken we're going to show up this Sunday morning, I better turn up, you know, I'm far from God,
I don't know, I'm not really interested in things of God right now, I've not been praying,
I've not been picking up his bible, but I better turn up to church, you can do that, you're obeying,
but we're commanded to love or to obey from the heart, it ought to come from within,
okay, even Jesus Christ said in John 14 15, if you love me, keep my commandments, if you love me,
he said, keep my commandments, so do you love Christ, do you love the Lord of your heart,
what are you meant to do then, keep his commandments, you know, don't come to me and say,
I love God, and you're just constantly just living a life of sin, just, you know, you have no care for
the things of God, you just, you know, care for the things of the flesh, you just live a life of sin,
and you come to me, I love God, it's not true, like you're not deceiving anybody, you're not deceiving
me, you don't deceive God, you're deceiving yourself, okay, by saying these things, if you love God, if you
love him with your heart, you're going to be doing his commandments, you're going to be obedient to
what Christ has asked us to do, can you please turn to Psalm 146, turn to Psalm 146, I've looked at
how we can love God with our hearts, listen, obey God, okay, keep his commandments and do it from the
heart, do it from the heart, that's how you can show God that you love him from the heart, the next
commandment was to love him with our soul, so how do we love God with our souls, well there's a
few ways, and the book of Psalms basically speaks about how we can do this, okay, Psalm 146 please,
Psalm 146 verse number one, Psalm 146 verse one says, praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my
soul, okay, so when the soul is showing love to God, what's it going to do, it's going to praise
the Lord, okay, one great way for you to love God with all your soul is to praise him, say thank you
Lord every day, you know, thank you for being a great God, thank you for your salvation, thank you
for the blessings that you've given me in my life, look at verse number two, while I live will I
praise the Lord, I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being, and so how is one way you
can praise God as well, to sing praises to the Lord, this is why I'm excited to be able to sing
this morning in church, okay, because we're commanded to love the Lord with our soul,
but listen, it's not just church, you're to love him every day with your soul, okay,
you're to sing praises every day in your house, maybe you've got to drive to work, and you're
no one else is in the car, hey, it's a great time to sing praises to God, hey, you show praise,
you love God in that way, you're loving him from the soul, okay, can you please hear in Psalm,
turn to Psalm 34, turn to Psalm 34, Psalm 34 and verse number two, Psalm 34 and verse number two,
Psalm 34 verse number two reads, my soul shall make her boast in the Lord,
the humble shall hear thereof and be glad, so how else can we show love to God from our soul,
we boast of the Lord, all right, we're just boasting the Lord and saying how good God is,
but to God himself, no to others, because the humble shall hear thereof and be glad,
and we ought to be telling others and boasting about what God has done, of course we do that
when we go soul winning, right, we do that when we tell them what Christ has done, hey,
but maybe just amongst your brethren, you say, boy, I had a great week, I had some as a prayer,
you know, God stepped in and helped me in this situation, what are you doing when you're saying
those things, you're boasting of the Lord, aren't you, and that's loving God with our soul and
showing him from the deepest soul that we love the Lord, please go to the next Psalm, Psalm 35,
Psalm 35 and verse number nine, Psalm 35 and verse number nine, it says, and my soul shall be joyful
in the Lord, it shall rejoice in his salvation, so every time you thank God for salvation,
every time you speak highly of God for salvation, guess what, you're loving God with your soul,
it comes from the soul, all right, can you please now turn to Matthew chapter five and verse number
27, Matthew 5 27, if you say to me, pastor, you know, I don't really sing much to the Lord,
I don't really sing his praises, you know, I don't really share with people how God has been
a blessing to me, and, you know, I don't really tell people how he stepped in and answered my
prayers, then let me tell you, brethren, you're not loving God with your soul, okay, this is an
area that you need to fix, maybe you are being obedient, but maybe you're not boasting of the
Lord, maybe you're being obedient, you love him out of your heart, but you're not loving him from
your soul, or maybe you do love him from the soul, maybe you do sing praises to the God, but you're
really disobedient, you don't do the commandments of God, well, maybe you're loving with your soul,
but you're not really loving him with your heart, okay, so we're all at different places in our life,
we need to fix every part of this, right, we need to make sure we're well balanced in our love for
God, I've asked you to turn to Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 27, now we're looking at loving
God with our mind, with our mind, and as I told you, this is something that Jesus Christ added in
the New Testament, I'm not saying that in the Old Testament there's no teaching about loving God
with our mind, I'm just saying when Jesus Christ quotes that first and great commandment about
loving God, he added with the mind, okay, because I assume Jesus Christ, you know, the reason he did
this, I assume, it's just my opinion, that maybe there were Jews on the land loving God with their
hearts and their souls and their strength, but really in their mind, their mind was messed up,
maybe within their mind that they just were loving other things that was not the Lord,
or maybe loving the things that God hates, and God wants us to love with our mind,
Matthew chapter 5 verse 127 says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
thou shall not commit adultery, hey that's a great commandment to keep, thou shall not commit
adultery, you know what, if you obey that commandment, that's you showing God that you
love him from your hearts, amen, keeping the commandments, doing what he asked, but that's
what Jesus Christ said in verse 128, but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her have committed adultery with her already in his heart, okay, now of course the heart is the
inward man, okay, the Bible often speaks about having thoughts of the heart, but of course the
heart and the mind is basically the same idea in the Bible, okay, and so look you may not physically
commit adultery, but if you're looking at a woman with lust in your hearts, in your mind, okay,
well guess what, you're not loving the Lord with your mind, you know, Jesus Christ steps it up,
he lives the standard, he goes all right, you're not doing it on the outward, but are you doing
that on the inward, are you doing it in the mind, are you doing it in our hearts, or if that's,
if you're doing that you're committing adultery in your heart, you're committing adultery in your
mind, okay, no, Christ wants us to love him with our mind as well, okay, because there's a lot of
people that can show a clean life on the outward, the Pharisees, but inwardly they were, what,
full of dead man's bones, okay, mentally they did not love the Lord.
If you can please turn to Romans chapter 12 for me, Romans chapter 12
and verse number 2, Romans chapter 12 and verse number 2, Romans chapter 12 and verse number 2,
because if we're going to love God with our mind, we need to understand that our mind has
been influenced by many things, it's been influenced by schools, by our education,
it's been influenced by the media, it's been influenced by your upbringing, it's been
influenced maybe by false religion, if you've grown up in that, you know, we're all products
of the experiences and the teachings that we've received all the time, okay, and it's in your mind,
a lot of these things are in your mind and we need to clean up our mind, we need to, because
in many ways we've been brainwashed to sometimes believe the wrong thing or think the wrong way
and in Romans chapter 12 verse number 2, Romans chapter 12 verse number 2, it reads,
and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
listen, if we're going to love God with our mind, you know what we're going to have to do,
we're going to have to renew our mind, we're going to have to change our mind about certain
things, it says here, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,
that's how you renew your mind, whatever thought you have, you say, hey, is this thought perfect,
is this thought aligning with the will of God, is this what God wants in my life or is it not,
and you say, well, but my parents want this in my life, but is it what God wants in your life,
okay, I mean, is it what man wants in your life or is it what God wants in your life,
and you have to make a decision, you know, as much as I love my parents or you may love people
that have given you advice and counsel, but it might be counsel that is ungodly,
that might be unbiblical, and so you need to take that thought, you need to take that counsel,
you need to take that advice, renew it, does this line up with the perfect will of God,
does God want this in my life or not, and if it doesn't line up with God's will,
guess what, you throw out that opinion, say thank you for loving me, thank you for caring about me,
I'm not saying to hate people that have instructed you otherwise, but listen, I'm going to follow
what God says, I'm going to do the will of God in my life, I'm not going to just take on board
everything that I get told, okay, so this is a process of renewing our mind, this is something
we need to do all every day of our lives, it's just a constant thing, it's a constant renewing
that we have to have in our lives to make sure that we can love the Lord with our minds, okay,
that's how he wants us to love him, with our minds, can you please turn to 1st Corinthians
chapter 6, turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 6, this will be the last passage that we look at,
1st Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 18, you might say well Pastor Kevin, you know so far I'm
really happy, you know I do love the Lord with my heart, I do love him with my soul,
I can say that I love him with my mind, but you might be this like lazy Christian,
right, you physically do nothing for the Lord, okay, and this is why God also has instructed us
to love him with our strength, with our minds, you know God has given us bodies to serve him,
all right, and there in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse number 18, 1st Corinthians 6 verse number
18, it says, flee fornication, every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that
committed fornication sinneth against his own body, so just very quickly, the Bible's telling
us that when we sin, it's done in this body, okay, it affects others, sin of fornication
specifically also is sinning against itself, verse number 19, what know ye not that your body
is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own,
for ye are bought with a price, glorify this, sorry, therefore glorify God in your body and
in your spirit which are God's, I want us to focus on the body right now, because if we're going to
love God with our strength, that strength is going to come from the outward man, it's going to come
from this body, okay, now either you take this body and you defile this body with sin,
you destroy this body, or you take this body and say well this body is the body of the Holy Ghost,
it's a temple of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost indwells me, therefore I need to serve God in my
body, and so what I'm trying to say to you brethren is use the strength that God has given you to
serve him, to love him, okay, you know I bring up soul in and I don't want to keep bringing up soul
in all the time, but you know that takes a toll on the body, you know it might not seem like it,
but it does, but you get out there every few hours, especially if it's a hot day, you know
you're going to sweat, you're going to get sunburns, you know it's going to require effort,
especially if no one's at the door, you're probably going to be doing a lot of walking,
right, you're using your body, you're using your strength to serve them in that capacity,
hey maybe you're someone that hangs around after the service and you clean up,
now you clean up, you pick up the rubbish, you know whatever, you know, hey that's you using
your body, that's using your strength to love the Lord, right, so please consider this, you know,
do I love the Lord with my strength, there's other ways you can love the Lord with your body,
you know, that's what he wants, he wants you to use the strength that you have, you know, not to
serve sin, not to serve self, but to serve God, all right, so in conclusion brethren, I'm just
going to read to you from Romans 8 28, Romans 8 28 which says, and we know that all things
work together for good, and something will stop there, and they say see whatever happens in this
world, whatever problems, it's going to work together for good, but is that how the verse
ends, no one says work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according
to his purpose, so you know as a Christian, you can't just think that everything's going to work
together for my good, every problem, every disaster, it's all going to work together for good,
it's not going to work that way if you've not been loving God, but if you love God, then yes,
everything will work together for your good, and so that's my challenge for you this morning
brethren, do you love God, do you love your neighbour, do you love your brethren, and if you
love God, do you love him with all your heart, you might say well 50%, do you love him with all your
soul, 70%, do you love him with all your mind, 20%, do you love him with all your strength, 50%,
well you know what, every part of that needs to be 100%, all of it, you might be 100% heart,
100% soul, 100% mind, 0% strength, well then you know what every need to fix, okay, so love him
with all your strength, so please consider these things brethren, this is a fruit that the Holy
Spirit wants to develop in our lives, let's pray.