(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The verse I wanted to focus on was there in verse 21 that I have read. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And I want to focus there at the very beginning of the verse where we see Jesus says, He beheld him, loved him. Now there's one thing that's very clear in the Bible is that Jesus loves everyone. That Jesus loved everyone at some point or another. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that it soever believeth that him should not perish, but have everlasting life. My question is, you know, is God's love ever going to decrease for Christians? For the fact that he wants people to be saved? No, that's never going to decrease, but we see that there's a decrease of love today and it's not with God, it's with us. And my question is, the title of my sermon is, where is the love? Where is the love? We have so many Christians today so called, we have so many people today, but where is the love? Go to Luke chapter 17 if you would. We have in John chapter 11 verse 5, the Bible says that now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So not only does God love the world so much that he's in his son, even Jesus Christ the son of God on this earth, we see many times he's described as loving people. He loves Martha. It says in John chapter 13 verse 23, in other words, leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of the disciples whom Jesus loved. It says John, you know, one of the disciples, Jesus loved this guy. I mean he loves John. He loves Martha. And we know from the Bible it's very clear that Jesus Christ loves Christians. He loves the saved. He loves the sons of God. But in Mark chapter 10, we meet a guy who's not saved. This guy's not even close to being saved. He's far from the kingdom of heaven. He thinks he's perfect. He thinks he's going to go to heaven because he's kept all the commandments. But we see Jesus Christ, he did not have hatred towards that guy, he had love for that guy. When he beheld this guy who's caught up in work salvation. I mean hardcore work salvation. He loves him. He loves this guy. He looks at him and he wants him to be saved. He wants him to go to heaven. He wants him to know the truth. And you know, he kind of rebukes him by saying, you know, saying why call some me good? There's none good but one, that's God. But then he still didn't get it because he's like, oh, I've kept all the commandments from my youth up. I've kept them all. But you know what? Jesus still loved the guy. He still wanted to be saved. We see Jesus Christ has greater love than any man. Any person on this earth, we don't have as much love as Jesus Christ did when he was on this earth. Jesus Christ in the flesh loved much. Look at John, or look to chapter number 17, look at verse number 7, but which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say to them by and by, when he has come from the field, go and sit down to meet, and will not rather say to him, make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I've shown not. So likewise ye, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. Now here's the problem. Christians today, Christianity as a whole today, they are looking to do the bare minimum. They're looking to do, well, you know, I go to church and I follow the commandments that I know of, so God must just, you know, probably want to give me a lot of thanks. He probably wants to, you know, tell me how good I'm doing. I'm loving so much. I mean, I'm following the commandments that he told me. I'm following the commandments that I see fit to. I'm doing basically what he commanded me to do. We've seen this story. He's saying, look, when the servant just does the bare minimum, when he just does what's commanded of him, is he going to be thanked by the master, or is the master going to say, no, I have more commandments for you? Oh, you got the basics down? Hey, you're going to keep serving and keep serving me, and whenever you do, it's just expected of you. When you do what's only commanded of you, the question is, what thank have you? You know, when you're on the job and you only do the bare minimum, you clock in at exactly when it's time to show up, you clock out exactly when it's time to leave, you only do exactly what's been told of you, you never do anything more, what thank have you? I mean, the boss is not going to look very pleasing under the servant that is not willing to go the extra mile, that doesn't want to show up five minutes early, doesn't want to show up 20 minutes early. He sees some trash. It's not his job to pick up the trash, but hey, I'm a good employee, I'm a good student, I'm going to pick it up. I don't want my workplace to look like filth. I don't want to look like trash. I want to work hard. I want to be profitable onto my master. I don't need him to just babysit me and just tell me every single thing I need to do. You know, there's a lot of workers today, there's a lot of employees today, they will not lift a finger until the boss says lift your finger. I mean, they're not going to work at even one ounce harder than they have to, than they've been told to, than they've been commanded to, and we see there's so much management today. There are so many managers of managers of supervisors of this manager, why? Because they have to just try and get the sloppable person to work. They're just like, go through this and now go through this, and they're like, well, I didn't know what to do because nobody told me what to do, and the question is, what thank have you? You know, good workers, they know what to do, they know how to work hard, they see the end goal, they see, hey, we're building a house, hey, I can go get some more lumber, I can go start building this part of the house, hey, I can start doing some work, hey, there's some trash over here, maybe I need to clean this up. I mean, it doesn't matter what job you have, there's always going to be work to be done, and the person that wants to work hard, that has a mind to work, as we see when they're building the walls of Jerusalem, it said they had a mind to work, that guy's going to get the job done, and you know, he's going to have thanks, he's going to have pleasure in the sight of his boss. We see people today, they don't have love, and so they don't have love for people, they don't have love for to do the things of God, so they're just looking to do the bare minimum. They're just looking, well, you know, my pastor said, you know, the only thing I have to do is abstain from fornication and not eat things, sacrifice and idols, so that's all I'm going to do. I mean, today, people think if they just go to church and just kind of do whatever their pastor says, whatever the few things he instructed, well, that's good enough for me, I don't need to actually open my Bible, I don't need to know all of God's commandments, I don't need to follow all of God's commandments, I don't even need to do the most important commandment, which is going out and preaching the gospel, I'm just going to do the bare minimum, and I'm going to think God's going to be pleased with me. I think God's going to be happy with me. Wrong. If you can't do anything of your own volition, if someone has to force you to do it, you have no thanks. Go to Luke chapter number six, we're going to see the same thing. You know, this applies to a lot of areas in your life. It even applies into a relationship. If you only do what your spouse commands you to do, they are not going to be pleased with you. I mean, if you only do what your wife asks you to do for her, she is not going to be pleased with you. Many times women, they say the opposite of what they want anyways. You say, hey, do you want me to help you clean the house? No. You're like, oh, she said I didn't have to, now I'm not going to do it. Hey, do you want me to take you out to dinner on Friday? No. Well, I guess I don't have to do it. You know, a lot of times women will be, you know, say the opposite of what they want. So if you only do what they command you, if you only do what they instruct you to do, you're going to be in hot water. You're going to have a failed relationship. You know, you don't want a friend, you don't want a spouse, you don't want a family member that will only do things for you if you ask them. They're only going to be nice to you, they're only going to invite you to do something, they're only going to spend time with you when you ask them. No, a person that wants to have a relationship, they want the other person to be engaged. They want the other person to have ideas, the other person to pursue them. We see that as love. We see, you want to have love towards someone, you have to be the person that makes an initiative, makes a plan, makes a decision, says, hey I want to do this for you, hey I want to spend time with you. Let's go somewhere. Hey honey, I planned this romantic dinner for us to go, let's go! That's what she's going to like, that's what she wants you to do. We see if you only do what's commanded, you're not going to have a good relationship. Look at Luke chapter number 6 verse 32, it says, For if ye love them which love you, what think have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. You know, people today, you know, most people go to church today, they think, well, I love my friends, I love my family members, guess what, sinners do the same. Everybody loves the people that love them, I mean this guy's so nice to me, he always takes me out to dinner, he gives me money, he's always complimenting me, he's doing things for me. I really like this guy, that's not hard, that's not hard to love that guy. But we see Jesus Christ had a different love. He had a love for people that even hated him. He had a love for people that even persecuted him. He had a love for the whole world. He loved every single person, he tasted death for every man, he laid down his life for the sins of the whole world. He had great love. He had a love that we need to look into and say, that's the kind of love I should have. I shouldn't have the love of the world where I only just love people back, where I just do the minimum, where I just do what's kind of expected of me. You know, love is when you go with an extra mile. When you're willing to step up and do something that's not commanded of you, not something that's just expected of you, but something of your own volition. Something of your own desire. We see, this is the difference between a robot and a human. What? Robots will do everything you command them to do. A computer will do what you tell it to do, but you know what a computer will not do? It will not do something of its own volition. A computer, a machine cannot love you back because it just does whatever you say. What's the difference between a computer and a human? A human can make decisions. A human can love. A human can hate. A human has all sorts of emotions and decisions. They have interaction, they have relationship. A computer cannot do this. So if you only ever do what's commanded of you, if you only ever do what's expected of you, you have no love. It's not loving to just do what's commanded of you necessarily. Now obviously Jesus Christ does say if you love me you'll keep my commandments, but he's saying that in the fact of hey, obviously if you love me, you'll definitely do what I said. I mean, there's no way you could say you love me if you're not even willing to at least do what I said, right? Same thing within a marriage, right? If your spouse is asking you to do stuff, is telling you to do stuff and you're not doing it, can you really say you love that person? But then, if you're only doing what's ever just expected of you, just doing the bare minimum, do you really love the person? Are you really showing as much love as you could show towards that person? Now go to Luke chapter number 11 if you would. So the problem is, where is the love? And I want to focus the sermon on one aspect for the most part. There's a lot of different applications to the word love. There's a lot of different passages about love. But before we get there, there's a lot of things that people replace for love. They think that because they do this, that is love. They think, well, I want to be loving towards people. God told me to be loving, so this is how I'm going to be loving. Here's one way that most people try to act loving, but it's a fail, is by giving money. They think because they give money, that is their replacement for actually being a loving person, for actually having love in their heart towards their fellow man. They think, I'll just give this guy money. I don't have to actually do anything that requires real love. I'll just hand him money. I'll just give people money. We see this all throughout the Bible. But giving money is not love in and of itself. I mean, if you just give money to somebody, that does not in any way determine if you love the person or not. Look at Luke chapter number 11 verse 40, he fools did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also, but rather give alms of such things as you have. And behold, all things are clean unto you, but woe unto you Pharisees for you tithe mint and brew and all manner of herbs and Passover, judgment and the love of God. These I eat of done and not to leave the other undone. So we see the Pharisees are rebuked for what? A couple things here. If you go back to verse number 40, he says, look, they look good on the outside. That's what the Pharisees say. You know, they look good, they sound good. It seems like these guys are righteous, but within they're wicked. And he says they would rather give alms, which means give money to the poor, of such things that they have and behold, all things are clean unto you. They think, well, I know I'm kind of wicked, I know I do a lot of sin, I know I do a lot of wrong things, but as long as I give alms, as long as I give money to the poor, I'm clean, I'm righteous. That's what these celebrities do, that's what all these wicked nations will do, that's what all kinds of horrible people in this world will do, they'll commit all kinds of wicked fornication and adultery and murder and genocide and defeat, they'll cause all kinds of robbery, they'll steal money from poor people, they'll increase, you know, make institutions for abortion, they'll make institutions, you know, with all kinds of filth and wickedness and smut, with all kinds of wicked images and wicked kinds of, you know, music and all kinds of wickedness and evil and blasphemy and idolatry, but you know, he gave a million dollars to this charity in Africa, oh, the guy must be a really good guy, he must just be really righteous because he gave alms to the poor, it's a love replacement. We see that has nothing to do with determining if this guy's really a righteous guy, if he really has love in his heart, and if you look at verse number 42, he says, they pass over judgment and the love of God, so is giving money to the alms, when they were giving money to the alms of the Pharisees, was that the love of God? No! You know what, and they would do what? They would tithe and they would give them money, there's so many Christians today, they think because they tithe to their church, because they might give a little bit of money to the poor every once in a while, they think, oh, I have great love, I have great love for God, I have great love for people, I'm just so loving, hey, the Pharisees did the same and they pass over the love of God. We see you can't give money away to replace true love, you can't give money away to replace the love of God. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, not only that, we see in John chapter 12 verse 5, talking about Judas, it says, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein. You know, a lot of people, they put a burden on others to give money and to give charitable donations and you know what, they're robbing the blind, they're robbing all the people that are donating to the charity. You can see charities today, sometimes, like 90% of the money goes to administrative costs. That's just taking the money out of the bag. You're lying to the people. Hey, give money to this charity, we really want to help these kids in Africa, but we're going to take 90% of it. That's so wicked, that's so evil. We see there's a lot of Judases in this world that they'll say things that are right, but they actually don't mean them, it's with faint words. Judas didn't say this because he cared for the poor, he was a thief and he bare what was taken in the bag. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 1, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. He's saying, look, you could literally give all your money away and it wouldn't benefit you anything. It could be not loving at all. If you didn't have charity, what is the charity? Actually having care for other people, actually caring about others, actually loving other people, actually esteeming others better than yourself, and that's why you're trying to help them, that's why you're trying to give them money. See the person that's giving their money for some other reason? A lot of times it'd be, you know, just to give pride in themselves, to be glorified of men, to be seen of men, this might be a reason why people would bestow all their goods unto the poor. Not because they actually cared for people, not because they actually have charity in their heart, not because they're seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, but because they want to be lifted up. And we see, just because you give money, just because you can give all of your money, it doesn't mean you have any love, it's a love replacement. They don't really want to have true love in their hearts, they don't have to have one real charity in their hearts, they just want to replace it with money. They just want to give money away, because it seems easier. See the Pharisees, they tied the anise and the cumin, but they had no love. They were willing to tithe on the smallest things, but they didn't have love in their heart. Ananias and Sapphira, now they gave a large portion of money to the church. We don't know exactly how much, they held some back, apparently too, right? But nevertheless, they gave a large portion of money to the church, but did that work out for them? If you read the story, they died immediately for lying under the Holy Ghost is what the Bible says. Now think about this, there's so many Christians today that they thought, if I give some big portion of money to the church, God would be pleased with me. Ananias and Sapphira gave a huge portion of money to the church, and they died immediately. Why? Because it's not the act of giving money that's the love, it's what's in your heart. And we see they were giving the money, why? To be seen of men. They wanted it to be known that they had given all their money. There's like, oh, we sold the land, and we're giving it all to the church, when they really didn't. The only reason they do that is for the pride of life. They wanted people to think that they had given all their money, because he's saying, look, was it not in your possession when you had the money? He didn't have to give all that money to the church. There was no commandment for him to do that. Look, there is no commandment in the Bible for you to just give all your money to the Now, of course, Jesus Christ gives that instruction to this guy if he wants to be perfect, if he wants to be flawless, if you want to have perfect love, but the Bible's not instructing every person to just give all their money to the poor, all their money. That wouldn't make any sense. He tells the disciples to keep a script, and to keep their cloak, and keep all their goods. The Bible doesn't make a command that you have to just give all your money to the poor. So they were doing this of their own volition. It was of their own decision. We see, how could you give a willing offering, a willing sacrifice unto God if you didn't owe anything? God wants us to own goods, he wants us to have possessions, but then he wants from a charitable heart, from a heart of love, from a heart full of charity, to give your goods unto the poor. Not only that, in Matthew chapter 6, you don't have to turn here, go to Luke chapter 4 if you would. Matthew chapter 6 verse 1, it says, take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself, shall reward thee openly. So you're saying, look, a lot of times people will give alms, they'll give money to be seen of men. That's the praise that they want. That's the glory that they want. They want to be recognized, they want people to pay attention to them, that's why we see they have these huge checks. I mean, have you ever gone on TV and you've seen that they have these charity, you know, somebody's getting money, and they have this ginormous check with a big amount, like $100,000 or $10,000, hey I'm giving this $10,000 to this charity, I just want everybody to know that's your modern day trumpet right there, is when they get on the television and they have the big check and they have a ribbon and they cut it, and they're like, look everybody, I gave $10,000 to this charity, do they have any reward? No. And it's a love replacement. It's not true love. It's not because they actually care for the people. It's not because they want people, you know, to have goods or they really care that they're suffering or they're not getting food or they want them to not be without, but it's because they love them. Now I actually experienced this myself before, where when I was a few years ago, I can't remember exactly how many years ago, my mother passed away and my dad, he wanted to do something in honor of my mother. So he bought a whole bunch of blankets, okay, he bought all these blankets and there's, you know, there's poor areas everywhere we live, okay, the poor should always be among you, right? And he's like, we're just going to go to some of the lower income housing and we're just going to give everybody a blanket and we'll just ask him if there's anything we can pray for them, okay, if we can just pray for them anyway. Everybody kind of broke up in pairs of twos, we went out in twos and we had all these blankets and man, it was super receptive. I mean, pretty much everybody was home, everybody wanted the blanket, everybody was even, you know, hey, yeah, y'all can pray for me if you want or hey, y'all go to the church somewhere. I mean, they're like super receptive, but you know what I didn't know at that time? I didn't know how to give the gospel. I didn't know how to just open my Bible and preach them the love of God and you know what? It's not loving to just walk around and give money to the poor, you know what I've been loving? For me to open my mouth and preach them the gospel, to get them saved. You know what they need more than a blanket? They need eternal life. They don't need a blanket for hell, it's going to be hot enough in hell, they need someone to open their mouth with love and preach them the gospel. But the question is, where's the love? Well, they're placed with money. They're placed with giving money to the poor. They're placed with a blanket. They're placed with just giving something. You know what? I'm glad I did that experience so that it could teach me, hey, they're so receptive, you just go and open the Bible and preach them the gospel, they'll get saved too. You know what they need more than that blanket? It's eternal life, it's a savior. You know what the proof, the fact that giving money doesn't equal love? Because there's unsaved people in this country that give money every single day. And they don't love anyone. They don't have the love of God. They don't have the love of the Father in them. But there's people everywhere in this world that constantly give money. And if you think that the only way you're showing your love is by giving money, you're probably wrong. Especially if you're doing it to be seen of men. Especially if you don't have charity in your heart. Especially if you're just doing it because you think that's how you're going to get to heaven. Like we started off with the guy in the story, hey, you know, give all your goods to the poor and come follow me. Look, if he had done that, he still wasn't going to go to heaven. Because going to heaven is not by giving all your money to the poor. It's not by trying to follow all the commandments. It's by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you love people, that's what you'll share with them. That's what you'll go out and preach. That's what you'll do. That's how you'll spend your time. That's how you'll spend your money. It's preaching the gospel. You say, where is the love today? Well, it's absent. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few. There's few people that actually have the love of God in their hearts today. Look at Luke chapter number 4 verse 18. This is Jesus. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. You know what Jesus' plan was for the poor? Not a blanket, preaching them the gospel, opening his mouth boldly, preaching the word of God. And you know who preached the gospel the most? I mean, there's basically two people you haven't mentioned in the Bible preaching the gospel the most. It's Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul. Those are the two guys that I mentioned the most times just saying that they preach the gospel. They're preaching the gospel. Jesus Christ is constantly preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Go to Luke chapter 14 if you would. So what is true love? What is the love of God? It's soul winning. It's going out and opening your mouth boldly and making known the gospel. You say I love people a whole bunch. Well, how much soul winning do you do? None. You do not love people. If you love people, you would open your mouth boldly and make known the gospel of the kingdom of God. You say it's only by believing in Jesus Christ that you can be saved. It's just by putting your faith on his death, burial, and resurrection, it's by just looking and living. It's by putting your trust in his blood. It's by his death, burial, and resurrection. Look at Luke chapter 14 verse 16. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and paid many. And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they are all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, I go to prove them. I pray thee have me excused. Another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his lord these things, then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded. And yet there is room. And the lord said unto his servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. And there went great multitudes with them, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now there's a lot of things packed in this passage of scripture. But we see, it makes me think of Solon. When you call out Solon, what happens? You knock on the door, Oh, I'm cooking dinner, I can't talk to you. Oh, you know, my husband, you know, he's in there, I gotta go talk to him. You know, I married somebody, I gotta go talk to him. And with this, they just make all these excuses when they don't want to just come to the supper. It's free. It's already been paid for. It's already been bought. It's already been prepared. All you have to do is show up to this great wedding. But they don't want to do it. And you know what? There's the same with salvation. It's already been bought and paid for. It's already been done. All you have to do is just receive it. I just have to receive the free gift of eternal life. I have to receive the free invite to go to the wedding, go to the marriage supper of the land. That's all I have to do. But look at his servant. It's interesting how the servant operates. He operates kind of like at the beginning of the story, or at the beginning of the sermon. Where we see the guy, he's only pretty much doing what he's commanded to do. We see it in verse 22, and the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. So this guy, he notices the fact that there's still room for people, and he's already done everything that is commanded. And instead of just going and inviting more people, what does he do? He comes back and just waits for more commands. He's like, hey, what do I do now? You know, I heard what he told me. Why didn't he just go out and keep inviting people? Why didn't he have the idea to go to the highways and hedges, and to compel them to come in? And you know, here's the thing, there's a lot of people that will go out soul winning for the first time. They'll go out soul winning for a few times. They may go out soul winning for a few months, but you know, if they're only doing it because it's a commandment, eventually they'll tire out. Eventually they'll say, well, you know, I know there's still room, but I mean, I'm just trying to do the commandment. And it's just, you know, it's a thing. He's going to start making excuses too. He's like, well, I got the ball game on the weekend, you know, you know, I'm kind of tired. Last time I went out, it didn't seem like it was really doing that much. I didn't get anybody saved. It was kind of boring. It was kind of hot. I mean, it's 120 degrees outside in Phoenix in the summer. Easy to make an excuse. You could live somewhere else in the country where it gets to be 30 or 20 or 10 or 0 degrees. That's an easy way to make an excuse. I mean, I was at soul winning in Minneapolis when it was 40 degrees and I thought I was going to freeze to death. But you know what? The person who continues to go out soul winning, the person that continues to be a faithful soul winner, you know what the difference is between him and this guy? Love. Love in his heart. He's not doing it by just sheer commandment. He's doing it because he has love for people because he loves that guy down the street because he loves that little kid because he loves that old lady because he loves that old man and he's going to open his mouth and preach the gospel. He's not going to go into, oh, here's a blanket, oh, here's $5, here's a happy meal. That's not love. If you love the person, open your mouth and preach him the gospel. But today, how many Christians, I mean, I don't even know it's untold. I'm going to guess at least 90%. At least 90% of Christians have never opened their Bible one time to show somebody the gospel. They've never just found somebody, doesn't matter, family, friends, relatives, stranger. They just never even opened their Bible and just said, this is how you can go to heaven. How can you say you love people when you can't even open your Bible and preach them the gospel? I mean, we're talking about death and hell, aren't we? We're talking about eternal damnation. We're talking about the opposite being eternal life. How can you say you love that guy if you're willing to let him burn in hell for all eternity? We know that every person today, if there was a building on fire, if there's a person in immediate danger, people will start screaming, they'll start hollering, they'll call 911, they'll stop everything that's going on to help this person. Yet Christians today, they can't even just go out for one hour when it's super easy and just preach the gospel. Why? Because there's no love in their heart. That's why. Because they replace true love with giving money, with just following, doing the bare minimum of the commandments. Oh, I just go to church every week. I love people. No, you don't. If you don't open your mouth and preach the gospel, you don't love people. Go to Revelation chapter 2. Jesus Christ said in Mark chapter 16, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Where is the love today? Let's increase our love. And you know what? There's a lot of people in this church, especially, that do go out and preach the gospel, that do give people safe, that do have love in their heart. But you know what? If you don't increase that love, if you don't focus on that love, eventually it'll become a commandment to you, eventually it'll become just an exercise, it'll just be something you have to do. And you know what? The world's hard. Temptation's hard. You may quit soul-willing. You may quit going to church. You know how you're going to stay faithful? You know how you're going to stay faithful in the hard times? You know how you're going to stay faithful and you go out and preach the gospel for hours and nobody gets saved? When it's hot, when you're all alone, when people are rejecting you, when people are making fun of you, when it seems like it doesn't matter, love in your heart for people. Love in your heart for the person that you don't want them to go to hell. You say, you know what, I just want to keep preaching the gospel. Look at Revelation chapter 2 verse 1. Under the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and I'll thus canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place. Except thou repent. Jesus Christ has a strong warning against the church that leaves their first love. That leaves the first works. Now you say, what's the first love? What's the first works? Well, it's just obvious to anybody that's read the Bible, it's preaching the gospel. It's going out and doing what God did first. Hey, in Mark chapter 1 verse 15, it highlights the first works of Jesus Christ in that book by saying what? Repent ye and believe the gospel. What did Jesus Christ first say in Mark? He said to believe the gospel. He's going out and preaching the gospel. What's the first big work that he has the disciples go do? Go into all the villages and the towns by twos and preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and to do all kinds of the first works, preaching the gospel, going out and getting people saved, and look, a church that doesn't get anybody saved, that doesn't preach the gospel, it's a social club. It's not a church. Wake up! The whole point of the Bible, the whole point of the New Testament, is to preach the gospel, is to get people saved, is to show them how to be saved. Obviously when we're in the church, it's to edify the church, edify the saints, to help them increase their love, help them increase their faith, help them to go out and have boldness when they go out to preach the gospel, boldness to preach the word of God, boldness to go into the dark valley and preach the gospel, and to know that Christ is with them. John chapter 3 verse 16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son in the world to pass out blankets, He sent Him not in the world to just give money to the poor, He sent Him not in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Why did Jesus Christ come? To save people. What should our focus be? Is to save people. 1 John chapter 4 verse 9, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son in the world, that we might live through Him. The love of God was manifested us. What was the manifestation? Jesus Christ come in the world that we could be saved? I mean Him laying down His life for us is the manifestation of God's love. Him laying down His life. John chapter 10 verse 17, Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. John 15, 13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ live within me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Matthew chapter 24 verse 12, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. You see there's a contrast there. What's the difference? When you're so selfish, when you're just focused on yourself, that's not love. What's true love? Laying down your life for others. Now this could manifest itself in a few different ways. We see obviously Jesus Christ lay down His life in the most literal sense of going to the cross, of dying on the cross for the sins of the whole world. He bare our sins and His own body on the tree. Every sin. The sins of the world. He's our propitiation, not for us only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ laid down His life, but not only that, He laid down His life while He lived. And the fact that He didn't go for selfish ambitions, He wasn't focused on Himself. He wasn't focused on what He needed. You know, He would forsake eating just to preach someone the Gospel. The woman at the well, He's like, I have meat to eat that you know not of. He's like, I could care less if I skip a meal, if I can get this lady saved. I could care less what I need in my body and my flesh and my desires. No, I'm going to do the works of Him that sent me. Why? Because He loved people. He loved the woman at the well. He loved the guy that came unto Him and believed in works of salvation. He loved Martha. He loved Lazarus. He loved John, his disciple. He loved the world. And He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come under repentance. So what did He do? He laid down His life. What does that manifest to us? Hey, if you have great love, you're going to be willing to lay down your life for others to be saved. Hey, what do you want to do with your life? Oh, I want to, you know, go out and build this business and make all this money and go travel the world and get my yacht and just play golf every single day. How about you lay that down and go out and preach the gospel? How about you lay that down and go find somebody that needs Jesus Christ, that's broken, that needs a Savior, and preach Him the gospel? That's what it means to lay down your life. That's what it means to say, hey, you know what? I'm not worried about all my ambitions. I'm worried about this guy going to hell. I'm worried about this guy suffering eternal damnation. It's not more important for me, you know, to satisfy all the lusts of my flesh. It'd be rather if I loved this guy, I'm going to go out and preach from the gospel. Now obviously I'm not saying that you should just preach the gospel 24-7, nobody can physically do that. But can you just go once a week for one hour? I mean, can you just go out of your church for one hour, one week, and just preach the gospel? Just start small. Just start going as a silent partner. Because you know the thing about soul winning? You can always ramp up your soul. You can always increase your soul winning. You can always increase your love. You can always increase a lot of things. You can increase your faith. You can increase all manner of things. But why don't you just start getting consistent at going out once a week? If you just go out once a week, and you start getting consistent, and you can do that, then maybe you can say, hey, maybe now I can go out two hours a week. Hey, now I've been going out two hours, maybe I can make three work. You know, as you build up to that, you can make it sustainable for a lifetime. Because the goal is not to just go out soul winning hard for twenty-four hours one day and then just be done. Just, oh, I went out soul winning really hardcore for just twelve hours, and now I'm done. Now I can go out soul winning ever again. You're not going to accomplish much if you burn out too quickly. It's more of a sustainable rate. Why don't you just get a sustainable rate? Hey, I can at least go out one hour. I can go out one hour. I can go out one hour. Now maybe I can increase that. I can increase that more. It's much easier to increase your soul winning than if you start out with a really lofty goal and you fail, to be encouraged to go back out and do it. Say, oh man, I was going out four hours a day for a few weeks, and I haven't gone soul winning for three weeks now. Now you just get really discouraged. Now it's harder to want to even go out and do the one hour. You feel like, well, I was going out for four, I can't go out unless I do at least four. Just start at a sustainable rate. Just start at a low rate, then you can build up. You can always increase that amount of time. It's much easier. Why don't you find a rate that you can keep going? Why? Because it's not a sprint. The Bible says that it's a marathon. It's a lifetime. We need to be able to reach the whole world of the gospel as the goal of the Bible. And if you're going to reach the whole world of the gospel, you're going to need help. And you're going to need to be able to be consistent. We see nobody can go out and just preach the gospel to everybody just in a flash. No, it's going to take time. It's going to take effort. It's going to take line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. We need to be able to be sustained in what we're doing. Go to John chapter 14. We see that Jesus Christ himself, he trained the disciples for three and a half years. And they didn't go soul winning every single hour, every single day. He sent them out at different times, in different ways. We see Jesus Christ, he worked very hard. They would say beside himself he worked so hard. But we see the disciples, they keep ramping up. They keep ramping up, increasing more and more and more. And then when it comes to the book of Acts, look, they have unlimited potential to go out and preach the gospel. They can do it even more and more. Just build yourself up. Do a sustainable rate. But how can you say you love people when you won't even go soul winning at all? When you'll never open your Bible, when you'll never preach the gospel. I mean imagine you're sitting in a hospital room today with the cure to cancer in your hands. And you're doing nothing. You're just sitting people just dying and dying and dying and dying. Now if you have a cure of cancer, you know, you might be better off going out and manufacturing a whole bunch of it before you start distributing it. Because it'll just be gone and burn up like a Roman candle or something. And we see it makes sense to be systematic about how you approach soul winning. It makes sense to take the time and the diligence and the planning and the effort. We see Jesus Christ didn't send people out with no plan. He put them in twos. He told them where to go. They're systematically going out throughout the region of Judea and all Jerusalem to preach the gospel. They're not just hit or miss. They have a plan. They have a purpose. They're making good decisions on how to get the gospel to every city and every village and every town. We see even the apostles in the book of Acts. They're systematically going throughout the world to preach the gospel to every creature. The goal is every creature. Look at John 10, 14, verse 23. Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and we will make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. Look, the person that never goes out and preaches the gospel, he doesn't love Christ. He doesn't love the Father. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. Jesus Christ clearly said, Go out and preach the gospel to every creature. He said, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever commanded you. And while I am with you always, even in the end of the world, Amen. That just makes it clear it wasn't just the apostles, because he said, I'm with you to the end of the world. Well, the apostles aren't tearing to the end of the world. We are the ones that are still here on this earth. We are the ones that are supposed to go out and teach all nations. We are the ones that Christ is with us always when we go out and preach the gospel. But you know, the person that loves him not is not going to keep his sayings. How can you say that you love God if you don't even love your brother? Go if you would do Jude chapter 1. The goal, I believe, should be for a Christian to be a lifelong soul winner. Not just, hey, I'm going to go sowing just this one time, this one week. No, we need to change our lives, we need to renew our minds to decide, I don't want to be a soul winner one time, one year, one month. I want to be a soul winner the rest of my life. I want to decide now, I see the importance of going out and preaching the gospel. I see the importance of people dying and going to hell. I'm willing to lay down my life and increase my love and decide that I want to serve Christ. How are you going to do that? It's always going to be focused on this one thing, love. Love is what's going to keep you going. Love is what's going to get you there. Love is what's going to help you become a lifelong soul winner. What separates the guy who burns out quickly and the guy who does it his whole life? Love. Love for people. 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6 says, for I am now ready to be offered at the time when my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course and I have kept the faith. You know who kept the faith? You know who finished his course? Paul. And I think Paul is the best person for us to look at. How did this guy do it? How did this guy continue to be a soul winner year after year after year? You say, oh I'm going to do that. I know that I'm already going to do that. Don't think too highly of yourself. Don't think that you couldn't be tempted in something that would overtake you. Don't think that God couldn't take your life even. Look at Jude chapter 1 verse 20. Let ye beloved build up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Praying for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and eternal life. And some have compassion making a difference. And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Go if you would to Romans chapter 9. We see, we need to keep ourselves in the love of God. And one of those ways is having compassion. Compassion is when you look on a person and you say, look this person needs a gospel. This person needs Jesus Christ. You know when I go out and I just walk into a store, or I just go to a restaurant, or I just walk down the street, I feel like everybody is unsaved. I feel like the majority of people are going out, the Bible is so true. Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in their act. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads them to life, and few there be that find it. We need to see the urgency today, we need to see the importance today of increasing our love so that we will preach the gospel. You know why you won't preach the gospel to somebody, because you don't have love. Love will overcome your fears, love will overcome your fleshly desires, love will overcome whenever it's stopping you from opening your mouth boldly and preaching the gospel. When the person is in the street and the car is coming, and you scream, watch out! Because you love the person, because you have care for the person, because you have compassion for the person. But when you don't, when those things are missing, when you don't see the urgency, when you don't have the love in your heart, you say, oh, I could give that guy a home. He's gone now, just died and went to hell. But I don't care, because I don't have any love in my heart. We see Christians today, they don't have any love in their heart for the most part. Nobody's going out, I mean where are all these Christians going out and preaching the gospel? They claim to be a billion of them on this planet. I mean I should be giving the gospel constantly from all these Christians. We see there's a missing element, it's love. Why? Because iniquity is abounding. When you're full of sin, when you're full of selfish desires, when you're just walking in the flesh, you're never going to do the things of God. We see Paul had a great love, look at Romans chapter 9 verse 3. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. We see Paul, he wanted the Jews to be saved so much. He had so much compassion, so much love, he said I'm willing to be accursed just so they can be saved. Look at Romans chapter 10 verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul, you know why he's such a good soul winner? Because it's coming out of his heart, because it's his desire, because he wants people to be saved. He wants the Jews to be saved. He loves them. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. See why does Paul such a great soul winner? Why did he continue to preach the gospel over and over? Suffering many afflictions, suffering many problems, because he had love for people. He wanted to see them saved, not just out of commandment, not just out of just strict robot prayers of the gospel. No, he had his heart's desire. That's something a robot doesn't have. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 19. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them more. And under the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law is under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law is without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker there with you. Look, Paul, he wasn't willing to go to any extreme to preach the gospel. Now is it a commandment for you to be weak with the weak and to be made all things to all men? No, he took it a step further. He said, look, I'm willing to do anything it is to get these people saved. Do I have to put on a funny hat, do I have to put on a sombrero to go preach to the people in Mexico? Do I have to wear the galoshes when I go to the Netherlands or wear whatever kind of clothing, whatever kind of custom, whatever kind of honor, whatever kind of tribute, do I have to be weak under those that are weak? Do I have to abstain from me just to not offend these people? Do I have to abstain from anything? I'll do it if I can just get them saved. I can just preach them the gospel. Why? Because he had love in his heart. 1 Timothy chapter 4, go to Matthew 22, that's where all the last verse I'll have to go to. 1 Timothy 4 verse 7, it says, consider what I say and the Lord give the understanding all things, remember that Jesus Christ at the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even under bonds, but the word of God is not bound, therefore I endure all things for the elect sakes that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, the eternal glory. Paul said, look, I'll endure anything, I endure all things just so this guy can get saved. It doesn't matter what happens to me, it doesn't matter what happens to my flesh, it doesn't matter if I was accursed from Christ if I could just get this guy saved. We see the earnest love that Paul had for people. You say, I want to be a soul winner my whole life. I want to be able to do great things for God my whole life. How are you going to do that? Love in your heart. Especially young men, young people that say, I have my whole life ahead of me. You want to make it to the end, you want to finish your course? Increase your love. Increase your love for people. Have a true desire in your heart. How can you do that? Abstain from wickedness, abstain from sin. We see that sin quenches people's love. It quenches people, you know, if you decide, hey, I'm just going to be selfish and commit all manner of sin myself, it'll stop you from wanting to preach the gospel. It'll stop you from going out and doing things for God. We need to decide, hey, it's more needful that I go out and preach the gospel, so I'm just going to abstain from all appearance of evil. I don't even want to come close to evil because if I get tempted and I fall and I sin, it may stop me from finishing my course. It may stop me from having the love that I need to go out and preach the gospel. It may stop me from having the love that I need to preach the gospel boldly. Look, we need to have a love for all people like Paul did. When you see that young child that hasn't been corrupted by filth and wickedness of this world yet, and you love him, preach him the gospel and get him saved. When you see that young teenager, you know, he's just trying to figure out who he is in this world. He's trying to figure out where he belongs. He's trying to figure out what he's going to do. You know what? Why don't you show him there's a God in heaven that loves this guy, and he has a plan for his life. You see that young adult who's starting to make, you know, a course for the rest of his life, starting to figure out, you know, what job he may have for the rest of his life. If he's going to be married, if he's going to have a family, all these decisions. And he's like, how am I going to know what's the right path? How am I going to know how to raise my family while to preach him the gospel and show him the Lord Jesus Christ so he knows how to go down the right path? When you see that middle aged person who's struggling in his life, he's already made some bad decisions. He's going through the struggles of life. Maybe he's been divorced. Maybe he's had his spouse commit adultery on him. Maybe he's had all kinds of bad things happen. Maybe he's been to jail. Maybe he's lost money. Maybe he's lost his job. Maybe he's just struggling because he doesn't know. He's like, man, I started on this course and it was wrong. I don't even have a good job and I'm still in my middle, I'm in my middle ages. I'm not making any money. I feel like my life's going down the tubes. You know what? Open your Bible and preach him the gospel and show him, hey, you have purpose in your life. Hey, you can still do big things for God. Hey, God loves you. God wants, there's a savior that cares about you, who cares about your struggles, who cares about your marriage, who cares about your family. Why don't you preach him the gospel and get the guy saved? We see an older person who's pretty much, man, their life's full of regrets at this point. I mean, they haven't lived a godly life. They haven't served the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't even know who he is. They think it's, in their mind, they might think that it's over. They think I could die any day. Where am I going to go? What's going to happen to me? The person that has love in their heart will open their Bible and preach them the gospel so they can know they have eternal life, so they know they have a home in heaven, so they know there's someone that cares about them. We see the person that doesn't do this doesn't have love in their hearts. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13 says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. You say, oh, it's just about keeping the commandments. Well, his main commandment in the New Testament is God, preach the gospel. If you want God to be pleased with you, you've got to preach the gospel. Look at Matthew 22 verse 36, master, which is the great commandment of the law, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And in Galatians 5 it says, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You know the entire fulfilling of the law is in one word, that's love. Now there's a lot of aspects to the word love. We should not only go out and preach the gospel, we should also follow all of God's commandments. But he gave a special warning to the church in Revelation chapter number 2 to the church in Ephesus. Look, if you forget your first love, I'll remove your candlestick from you. And if you have true love in your heart for a fellow man, if you have true love in your heart for the Lord Jesus Christ, how could you not go out and preach the gospel? That's what gives them all the glory. That's what gives them all the praise and the honor and the respect and the love. Hey, I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to tell you all about it. I want to tell you about the free gift that he has for you. I want to tell you about how you can have him as your personal savior. And if you love your fellow man, if you love your neighbor as yourself, if you wanted to be saved from hell, how much more does your neighbor want to be saved from hell? We need to go out and preach the gospel. And if you want to be a lifelong soul winner, you want to do it. You got to increase your love. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word. Thank you so much for the love that you have towards us that we can be saved by your free gift. Thank you for giving us a great example of your love on this earth and how much you love all of us. I pray that we would just increase our love by looking at your example. Looking at the examples in the Bible, that we'd see the importance and the need for us to go out and preach the gospel, to have your love, that we wouldn't replace it with stupid and foolish things like just giving away money or just giving away blankets or just doing things that are just for the flesh, but that we'd be spiritually minded, that we'd go out and preach the gospel with boldness, that people could have eternal life. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.