Greg Laurie - Loving God (01/19/2018)
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Pastor Greg Laurie explains from Matthew 22 and Revelation 2 that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He warns that believers can leave their first love like the Ephesian church, urging us to remember, repent, and repeat the first works to restore passionate devotion to Christ.
Loving God with All Our Being
Well let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 22 and Revelation chapter 2. So go to 22 of Matthew and then Mark Revelation 2 and we are going to pop over there in a moment. The title of my message is Loving God. The heart. How often do we hear that expression? It is a phrase that is used constantly.
For instance if you are sad you say, oh man I am heartbroken. If you find that someone is insensitive to what you are talking about you might say something along the lines of, you know what you are heartless. Or if someone is very emotional and quick to express the way that they feel we might say of them, well you know they wear their heart on their sleeve.
And then there are countless songs about the heart as well. The Eagles sang about a heartache tonight. Bruce Springsteen sang of his hungry heart. Neil Young sang about searching for a heart of gold. And then of course there is Billy Ray Cyrus who sang about his achy breaky heart. By the way that was Jeff's favorite song. He even had a mullet and everything to go with it. And maybe that is why Toni Braxton recorded a song called Unbreak My Heart. Because she got an achy breaky heart. So she wanted it unbroken.
So what have we learned so far about the heart from some of these songs. Your heart gets broken. Then it gets unbroken. That is a lot of trauma for the heart. Don't you think? No wonder Stevie Nicks sang, Stop dragging my heart around. Because your heart can be broken. It can be unbroken. It can be drug around. And that is probably why the Bee Gees recorded a song, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. Or as you said, Can you stop the sun from shining? What makes the world around? Hey, hey. Okay. I am done. That is not in the notes. It is just... What do we mean when we say the heart?
Usually we are referring to our emotional center. The way it is usually framed goes along the lines of, Well my mind tells me to do one thing. But my heart tells me another. A lot of crazy things have been done in the name of, I am doing this from my heart. Princess Diana once said, Quote, Only do what your heart tells you. End quote.
I guess Woody Allen believed that when he left his live-in lover and took up with her adopted daughter. It was quite the scandal. When he was asked why he would do such a thing his explanation was, Well the heart wants what it wants. Yeah. Maybe you heard that Hugh Hefner is getting married again. Or at least he was. Hugh is 85 years old now. He was getting ready to marry a 25 year old girl. But she broke it off. And the reason she gave was, Well I had a change of heart. And some of Hef's friends were concerned that this would destroy him. And they said, Old Hugh Hefner is going to die of a broken heart.
What is all this talk of the heart. Doing what the heart wants. Etc. Well this is a very important subject. Let me first say that you should not let your heart tell you what to do. Because your heart can mislead you. The Bible also speaks of the heart. And here is what it says in Jeremiah 17:9, The heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. Who can know it? And then Jesus went on to say in Matthew 15, Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
Yeah. It is true. The heart wants what it wants and a lot of times the heart wants the wrong things. So we should not focus on our heart as much as we ought to focus our heart on God. And that brings us to our text where Jesus tells us what to do with our hearts. Instead of talking about it being broken or unbroken or dragging it around or wearing it on your sleeve, He tells you to use your heart as well as your mind and your soul for what they were created for.
The Greatest Commandment in Matthew 22
Now the backdrop of this is Jesus had just dealt with the Sadducees. As you recall, they were the religious leaders that did not believe that there was life beyond the grave. So they came to Christ with a hypothetical situation. He talked about a woman who was married to a man who died. So she married his brother. He died. She married another of his brothers. He died. On this went to seven brothers. They all died. And then they asked the question, Well whose wife will she be in the resurrection?
Jesus' response was, You guys, you don't know the Scripture or the power of God. So He put them in their place and answered their question. Now the Pharisees feel it is their turn and they come with this question. And we pick it up in Matthew 22 verse 34. "When the Pharisees heard He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him."
So understand this was designed to paint Christ into a corner if you will. Testing Him and saying, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law?" Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets."
So here are the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus because they had endless debate about what commandments were greater or lesser. They basically had documented 613 commandments in the law. And they identified 248 of those commandments as being positive. And 365 of them being negative. And so they knew that no one could keep all of the commandments. Therefore they identified some commandments as heavy and other commandments as light.
We have a modern equivalent of this and the idea of sin being described as both mortal and venial. The idea is a venial sin is bad, but it is not as bad as a mortal sin. Some sins are worse than others. Here is the problem with all of this thinking. It is not biblical. God doesn't make those distinctions. And there is no such thing as a mortal or a venial sin.
Having said that, it is worth noting that some sins are worse than others. Now one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven, right? Because the Bible says if you offend in one point of the law, you are guilty of all of it. Yet some sins carry greater penalties than others. You say, what do you mean by that? Well when Jesus was talking to Pontius Pilate, He said, The one that delivered me to you has committed the greater sin.
Now what Pilate was about to do is pretty bad. Okay. Pilate was going to have Christ scourged, and beaten beyond human recognition, and ultimately murdered in cold blood, and nailed to a cross. How could anyone commit a sin worse than what Pilate had done? Yet Jesus said, The one that sent me to you has committed the greater sin. Well who sent Jesus to Pilate? Well we don't have the exact answer. There are two options that I can see. One is Caiaphas. The other is Judas.
He probably was referring to Caiaphas, the high priest. Caiaphas studied the Word of God. He knew what was true. Yet he intentionally, willfully, sent Jesus to be crucified. Why was his sin greater than Pilate's? Because Pilate, he was what we might describe as a garden variety non-believer. He was your classic Roman pagan. You know he worshipped multiple gods, including the Caesars themselves. And he really had no sense of right and wrong, as we would know it.
But Caiaphas, raised studying the Scripture, knowing the Torah, and now here he is a spiritual leader, yet he takes the Messiah of Israel and sends him to be put to death by the Romans. Or, Jesus may have been referring to Judas Iscariot, who was one of the handpicked disciples of Christ. He spent some three years walking and talking with our Lord, and yet he betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. And Judas knew he was innocent, because he himself said, I have betrayed innocent blood.
So why is this sin greater? Because they knew better, and yet they did this. So back to this debate. The greater commandments. The lesser commandments. Jesus is saying, Guys, let's get to the heart of the matter. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. This is known as the Shema. Something that every Jew would have memorized. They had it written down and placed in that little box that they would wear strapped to their head. Known as the phylactery. This was something they were very familiar with. The Shema. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind.
So here is what Christ is saying. Instead of worrying about all these little commandments, and which one is worse than the other, get back to this. Love God with all of your being, and I say all this stuff will be sorted out. Makes complete sense, doesn't it? Because really if I love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, and mind, I will naturally want to do what He wants me to do.
The Ten Commandments are divided into two sections. Four and Six. And I had to think about that. Big move there. And so it is not five and five. It is something. It is four and six. The first four commandments have to do with our relationship with God. The final six deal with our relationship with others. If I really love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, and mind, I will not want to have another God before Him, or worship a false idol, or take His name in vain. And if I love my neighbor as I love myself, I will not want to steal from him, or kill her, or covet something that belongs to them.
So the idea is if I can get down to this basic truth of loving God, everything else will find its proper place. It was Augustine that said, Love God and do what you please. That sounds like a dangerous statement. But really if we love God as we ought to, we will want to do the things that please God.
What It Means to Love God Fully
But what does it mean when Jesus says, Love the Lord. He tells us we should love Him with our heart, with our soul, and with our mind. And Mark's version of this adds the word strength to it as well. It means that you are to love God with every part of your being. But let's break this down for a moment and try to understand these terms.
First of all, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart. For the Hebrew mind, the heart spoke of the center, or the core of one's being. Proverbs 4:23 says, Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything that you do. So it just speaks of your core, your heart.
Their word soul probably more closely correlates to our use of the word heart. For the Hebrew the soul referred to their emotion. It is the word that Jesus used when He cried out in the garden of Gethsemane, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. So as I said in some ways the Hebrew word for soul was closer to our word heart.
But then He says that we are to love God with our mind as well. So this is the idea of moving ahead with energy and strength. So put it all together. Genuine love for the Lord is intelligent. It is feeling. It is willing. And it is serving. Again, it is an intelligent love. It is a feeling love. It is a willing love. And it is a serving love.
Some people love God with all of their minds. But there is no heart in it. They love to study. They love to be correct theologically. But there is no passion in their life. Some people love God with all of their heart and their passion and their emotion. But they haven't disciplined themselves to study God's word. And they are easily led astray.
Now we need all of these things in play to love God as we ought to. This is why after Peter crashed and burned and met with Jesus by the Sea of Galilee, our Lord posed this question to him. Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? He could have asked him, Simon, son of Jonas, do you have faith in me? Or he could have said, Simon, are you theologically correct? Or Simon, are you obedient to me? No, he didn't ask those questions. He asked him, do you love me? And by the way he asked that three times. Maybe corresponding to the fact that Peter denied him three times.
Why did he ask him, do you love me? Because Jesus knew if he loved him as he should, all these other areas would be taken care of. For instance, I know people that are sticklers for correct doctrine. Yet many of them are miserable, mean, arrogant, and condemning. Oh, they are right. And they will take the truth and use it like a sledgehammer in the life of another person.
I know people that are very active and busy for God. But the love for the Lord seems to be lacking. Yes, if we can love the Lord as we ought to, then our life will find its proper balance.
Leaving Our First Love: The Ephesian Church
But guess what? This love that we have for Christ can be walked away from. Sometimes we don't love Him as we once did. We look back in our lives as Christians and we will say, There was a time in my walk with the Lord where my love was much stronger than it is today. I have effectively left my first love.
This happens in marriage all the time. You know, when two people are newly married, maybe you see them out and about. They are so affectionate. You see this young couple holding hands, gazing into each other's eyes, kissing. You say, they must be newly married. Why? Because people who have been married for a while don't do that anymore. Or when that newly married couple has their first conflict, we say, Ah, the honeymoon is over. Right?
Well this happens in our faith too. Where that affection is gone. That passion is gone. The communication is broken down. And in effect the honeymoon is over. This was the situation with the church in Ephesus that Jesus spoke to in the book of Revelation. They were an active, busy, engaged church. But they were lacking in love.
So let's read about them now. Go over to Revelation where I had you turn. Revelation 2 verse 1. "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he, says he, That holds the seven stars in his right hand." This is speaking of Christ. "Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands." This is a picture of the church. So here is Jesus walking through the church.
"I know your works, your labor, your Patience. You cannot bear those who are evil. You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not. And you have found them liars. Verse 3. And you have persevered and have Patience. And you have labored for My name's sake. And you have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you. You have left your first love."
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works. Or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent."
Now let's understand that these words of Jesus were to a literal church that was in Ephesus. The apostle Paul and possibly the apostle John had both pastored him. When Revelation was written, given to John the apostle in the island of Patmos, this church was in its second generation. So many of these people had been raised in a Christian home. They were born to believing parents. They had been taught the Word of God from you.
Here we find a really active church serving the Lord with great effort. Jesus even says in verse 2, I know your labor and your Patience. Or a better translation would be your perseverance. And I know that you work hard. Verse 3 You have labored for my name's sake. That can be translated You have labored to the point of exhaustion. The original Greek would indicate an effort that produced work even at the cost of pain. These people were really hard working. They were discerning. They were hard working. They were faithful. But they were guilty of a sin that the average person could not detect. They had left their first love.
It doesn't say they lost it. Sometimes people ask the question, Have you lost your first love? You don't lose it. You leave it. That is the word Jesus uses. If you lose something, you don't know where it is. Otherwise it would not be lost. It would be found. But you can leave something. You can walk away from someone. That is what Jesus is talking about.
When He says you have left your first love, He is effectively saying, You no longer love Me as you first did. You see these believers in Ephesus were so busy maintaining their separation, they were neglecting their adoration. They were substituting perspiration for inspiration.
Now is this really that big of a deal? Oh yeah, big thing. They left their first love. Yeah, actually it is a real big deal. Because if you read the words of Jesus to the seven churches in Revelation, you will find things get progressively worse. Starting with the breakdown of the first love to the church of Ephesus, and culminating with the outright rejection of Christ in the church of Laodicea, where we find Jesus is on the outside trying to get in. Say, behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if you will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in.
That verse is often quoted, as we tell non-believers, about how they can accept Christ. But in its context it was to the church. The unbelieving church. And so this is how things can get worse. So yes, it is a big deal to leave your first love, because it can lead to worse things down the road.
It is not unlike the love that newlyweds have, that I already referred to. Now I am not saying that even after you have been married for years, that you should have the emotions of a person that just met someone else. You know, maybe when you first met your husband or wife-to-be, or maybe it is your boyfriend or girlfriend right now, it was a big thing. You saw them and you got all excited. And you were nervous about meeting them. And you did not know what to say. And then you spent some time together. And even now when they walk into the room, your mouth goes dry and your head gets light and your heart feels like it has butterflies in it.
If I still felt that way with my wife that I have been married to for 37 years, she would probably think I was having a heart attack. See, the love of marriage is deeper than the mere emotional thing that brings you together. C.S. Lewis put it this way, Being in love first moved them to promise fidelity. This quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run. Being in love was the explosion that started it.
So God is not saying, I want you to always have your heart of flutter and have an emotional experience with me. He is saying, I want a deeper, committed, lasting love. And I want it to stay strong for a lifetime.
Tests of Genuine Love for God
I mean think about how things were when you first started taking your wife or your husband out somewhere. You know you did all the right things. First of all you opened the door for her. Right? For your car. Do you still do that? Or do you just get in and she has to knock on the window because the door is locked. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Then you kick it over. When you would go to a restaurant, you would open the door for her. Right this way, my dear. And then you would go over to the table and you would pull the chair out. Here you go. Have a seat. Put it in.
You would take her to her favorite French restaurant. You would have a little gift for her. You would want to impress her. Then you got married. Things have changed. You still open the car door for her. You just close it before she is all the way in. You still pull the chair out for her in the restaurant. You just don't put it back in. And then when she falls on the ground you point and laugh.
You still give her little gifts. Why you just gave her your dirty laundry yesterday. And you take her to the finest French restaurants. What was it? Joc in the box. We will get some French fries. That is French, isn't it? Or we could go to Les Golden Arches. Ha ha.
Now things have changed. I read an article in the paper that shows how marriage can change. And the article is called, The Seven Ages of the Married Cold. You are number one. Your wife is getting the sniffles. Oh sugar dumpling. I am worried about my baby girl with those sniffles. There is no telling with all these things going around. And I don't want you to get anywhere so I am going to check you in the hospital. And I know the food isn't good there so I am going to go to your favorite gourmet restaurant and bring you in a meal. I just want you in good health.
That is your number one. Your number two. Listen baby. I don't like the sound of that cough. I have called the doctor. He is going to rush over here. Now get to bed like a good girl. Your number three. You better lie down honey. You need a little rest if you are not feeling well. Do we have any of that canned soup left? You are number four. Now look honey. After you have fed the kids, washed the dishes, and finished the floors you ought to lie down.
You are number five. Why don't you just take a couple of Tylenol or something. You are number six. I wish you would gargle or something and stop walking around barking like a seal. You are number seven. For Pete's sake will you stop sneezing? Are you trying to give me pneumonia? What year are you in right now? Huh? All the wives are kind of looking over.
The sad thing is when you are a preacher and you say stuff like this, your wife will quote these things to you. She will say, Oh that is the seven stages of a married call. You are in like phase seven. Oh great. Ok. Right. Yeah. Maybe you have lost something there. And that can happen in your relationship with the Lord as well.
Remember when you first came to faith in Jesus Christ? What a joy it was to pray. I mean you never knew that you could talk to God. And you realize you could call upon Him wherever you were. No matter what you were facing. You could pray. It was a privilege. And you utilized it. Then there was the Bible. Now the missing user's manual of life. Now you had the book that told you how to live your life. The book that told you what your priorities ought to be. The book that told you how to be a good husband, a good wife, a good parent. The book that told you how to get to heaven most importantly.
And then there was church. Man you couldn't wait to get to church. You would go to a Sunday service, a midweek service, even another service. Then you would listen to Bible teaching on the radio, read Christian books. You couldn't get enough in your life. Sharing your faith, man, that was easy. It was the overflow of a Christ-filled life.
Well, things have changed. You still study the Bible. It is not as much as you used to. After all, you have studied all those years. That ought to be good for something. And you are not so sure you are going to read anything you haven't read before. So you will get to it if you find time in your busy schedule.
Prayer. Oh yeah, you will pray. It is not so much a time of prayer as much as it is just a quick prayer here and there. Oh yeah, sure. You want to be at church. In fact you sit in the same place every Sunday. Thank you very much. And no one better try to take your stinking seat. But if that preacher goes over his a lot of time, you are not happy. And you also sometimes will leave early to beat the traffic.
Oh yeah, you still show your faith once in a while. But you feel now they should just look at your example as a follower of Jesus. As opposed to actually going and starting a conversation. You know how awkward and uncomfortable that can be.
Here is my question for you. Have you left your first love? Jesus says, Remember from where you have fallen. Interesting word. Fallen. Is it falling to leave your first love? Why yes it is. Because it can lead to worse things.
A classic example of this is King David. David. We remember him as the man after God's own heart. As he is described in Scripture. The sweet psalmist of Israel. The greatest king in the history of the nation of Israel. But also we have to, if we are honest, remember he was an adulterer and in effect a murderer.
How did that happen? Well that happened when he left his first love. He didn't start that way. When we are first introduced to David. He is a young boy watching his flock of sheep writing love songs to God. I do not think he was some just really sensitive kind of an artist. No. He would go out and fight wild animals as well. And defend his sheep. He was a tough man. But he also had a sensitive heart. Just like Hans Ives. Hans I got that line in there you told me to include. I made that up. Never mind. I am not going to explain. It takes too long.
So here is David, this man of God, in this first love relationship with Jesus Christ. But fast forward a number of years now. And the Bible says, In the time when kings would lead their troops forth to battle, David was back home. Just kicking back. Sleeping in late. Walking around on his rooftop patio when he catches sight of a beautiful woman bathing herself. Appropriately named Bathsheba.
David sees her. He lusts after her. He has her brought up to his chambers. He has sex with her. She becomes pregnant. You know the rest of that story. And it all fell apart for him. But you see at this stage in his life you don't read of David writing these beautiful psalms that we read. You don't read of David singing to the Lord as he often would out of the wilderness and later for King Saul. You don't see this tender heart. It is gone. He has moved beyond it. He left his first love. And his life was a mess as a result.
Have you left your first love? It can happen so easily. So we need to get back to that love. And love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind. But what does this mean specifically? Let's break this down for a moment. And define how can you tell if you or someone else really loves God.
Here are some tests if you will. To see if your love for God is real. Number one, if you really love God, you will long for personal communion with Him. If you really love God, you will long for personal communion with Him. When you really love someone, you like to spend time with them. You enjoy their company and their companionship.
When you hear of husbands and wives spending less time together and taking separate vacations, this is not a good sign. I do not say this to impress you. But if it does, good. I have been married for 37 years. I mentioned I love to hang out with my wife. She is my best friend. I do not know how she feels about me. But I like to be with her. I value her opinion. And we are there together. A lot. And we spend a lot of time together. And that is because we are in love.
And if you really love the Lord you will want to be in fellowship with Him. Number two, a person who loves the Lord will in turn love the things that He loves. You will love the things that He loves. And we know what He loves by what He has declared in His Word. The psalmist declares, Oh how I love Your Word. It is my meditation day and night.
So here is my question for you. Do you love the Word of God? I mean love it. Not tolerate it. Not put up with it. Or go through your duty and read your five verses. That is over. No. Do you love the Word of God? God loves this Word. Do you love hanging out with the people of God? God loves the church. Do you love lost people? God does.
If you love the Lord you will long for fellowship with Him and you will love the things that He loves. And the flip side of that is if you love the Lord you will hate the things that He hates. Because His nature is becoming your nature. Psalm 97:10 says, You that love the Lord hate evil. And God hates sin and we should do the same. The Bible tells us in Romans 12 to abhor that which is evil.
The problem is sometimes we are fascinated with evil. Well what is this? I want to check this out. It is research of course. Now you should hate evil. And see it as God sees it. That image comes up on the TV screen or whatever. You go, Oh. No. Turn it off. Turn away from it. That is not right. I know that is something God hates and I do not want to be fascinated by something God hates and I certainly do not want to love it.
Another thing to keep in mind is if you love God you will love other Christians. Don't tell me you love God who you can't see when you don't love people whom you can see. Your love isn't real for God if you hate other Christians. That is what the Bible says. We are told over in 1 John 3:14, If we love other Christians it proves we have passed from death to eternal life. But a person who doesn't love them is still dead. Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart.
So don't tell me you love the Lord and then you are harboring hatred toward fellow believers. Number five. If you really love the Lord you will long for the return of Jesus Christ. You will long for His return. 2 Timothy 4a Paul says, There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me in that day, and not to me only, but to all who love His appearing.
Do you love His appearing? By that I mean are you longing for the return of Jesus? Well are you? I am asking you a question. Yes. Thank you. Wake up. What? Is sleeping so low? No. Listen. You will long for His return. You will look forward to it. But in our next message here in Matthew we are going to look at Matthew 24 known as the Olivet Discourse. And this was the response of Jesus to the question about the end of the world. There is a lot of talk about that today. We are going to carefully work our way through Matthew 24 and try to get a better understanding of what is happening around us.
A Christian who loves God will look forward to His return. And number six. And lastly if you love the Lord, you will keep His commandments. Jesus says in John 14:21, He that has my commandments and keeps them, He is the one that loves me. And the one who loves me I will love. And I will disclose myself to Him.
If you love God you will do what He says. Let us just say that I walked up to you and I said, I love you. He said, Thank you so much, Craig. You are welcome. Then I slapped you across the face. Wow. That hurt. Why did you do that? I don't know. I don't know what came over me because I love you so much. And I am so sorry. Will you forgive me? Wow. My face is still stinging. But ok. I will forgive you. I love you. I love you. And I punched you in the solar plaques. Oh. You can hardly even breathe. Why did you do that? I don't know. I love you so much. And I just, why did I do that? Oh man. Can you forgive me? I will never do it again. Ok. I am just starting to breathe again. Yes. I forgive you. I forgive you. Yeah. You know what? I love you.
Then boom. I hit you right across the jaw. Knocked you off your feet. And I said, I am so sorry. Why did I do that? I don't know why. I love you. And you got up and started running. Every time I say I love you, you want to get away from me. Here is the problem. My actions don't match my words.
You say, Well Greg, that was bizarre. What did you say that for? Oh I love you so much Lord. I love you more than anything else. And then you go out and you sleep with your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You are unfaithful to your spouse. Oh I love you so much Lord. You are so good. Let's get drunk today man. Party. Oh I love you so much Lord. And then you tell a lie about someone. Wait a second. If you love Him, keep His commandments. And if you are not willing to keep His commandments, stop talking about your love for God. The proof is in the pudding. I have no idea what that expression means. Proof is in the pudding. I have been looking for it. Is it where? I guess it means the pudding tastes good. Oh it is good pudding. The proof is in your actions and what you do.
How to Return to Your First Love
Well let's just say you have walked away from your first love. You have left it. How do you get it back? Go back to Revelation. Jesus gives the three R's of getting back to your first love. R number one. Remember. Remember. Or literally keep on remembering. Remember where you were at at your highest point of love for Jesus. Another translation puts it, remember the height from which you have fallen.
What was the high point for you? Is it a year ago? Is it a month ago? Is it a decade ago? Is it three decades ago? I don't know. But there was a point where you say, OK that's when I was firing on all cylinders. That was it right there. Yeah. OK remember that. Keep that in your mind for a moment. That is a point of reference that you want to return to.
Now R number two. Repent. First you remember. Then you repent. What does repent mean? It means to change your direction. Go back to where you were before. As Saint Paul said, get back. Get back. Get back to where you once belonged. That is Saint Paul McCartney by the way. That is Saint Paul the Apostle. No. Get back to where you were before.
First you remember. Then I get back. Go back there again. And here is the most important thing. Repeat. Do the first works quickly. Repeat. Do it again. Do it if you feel like it or not.
Let's go back to the marriage analogy. And say that your marriage isn't what it once was. In fact it is unraveling. In fact you are even headed for a divorce court. And you don't know how to fix it. Well here is what you need to do. You need to go back and do what you did when your marriage was strong.
What did you do when your marriage was strong? Well I actually talked to him. That is a good place to start. Communication. What else did you do? Well we went out and did things together. Okay do that again. What else? Well I would tell her she was beautiful. When was the last time you told her that? I don't remember. Go tell her that again. And what else did you do? Well we put the needs of each other above our own. Yeah. Go back and do that again.
Here is what I would predict. If you would go back and do the things that you used to do when your marriage was strong, your marriage would be revived. Don't wait for the emotion. This is the problem. We go, I don't feel the love anymore. The love has gone. Shut up. You made a commitment between, before friends and family and God Himself. You said you would stand by that man or woman for better or for worse. For richer or for poorer. And sickness and health. Did you also say or if irreconcilable differences come up? I doubt it.
Are you going to keep your commitment? Well what if I don't feel? It is not sincere. No. It is the right thing to do. But if you will go back and do what you used to do when your marriage was strong, guess what? The feelings will come back. They will. But don't worry about feelings. Feelings were the feelings. Forget feelings. Just do what is right. And they will come in time.
Now let's apply that to our relationship with God. What was it like when your Christian life was at its highest point? What did you do? Well, every day I would get up and read the Bible. Really? Do that again. What else did you do? Well, you know, after I read the Bible, I read good Christian books. Yeah, do that too. I would listen to Christian radio. Yeah, do that as well. Praise music. Do that too.
What else? Well, I prayed all the time. Prayed in the morning. Prayed in the afternoon. Prayed while I was driving with my eyes open, of course. Yeah, go back and do that too. What else? Well, I love church. Man, I couldn't get enough church. I just love to hear the Word of God and fellowship with God's people and be a part of what the Lord was doing. Yeah, go back and do that as well.
What else did you do? Well, I actually looked for opportunities to share my faith. I prayed that the Lord would lead me. And as a matter of fact, I was leading people to the Lord all the time. Why don't you go back and start doing that too? Go back and do the first works quickly. This isn't rocket science.
Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, the core of your being. With all of your soul, your emotion. With all of your mind, your reason and your intellect. And with all of your strength. With everything you have, channel it into loving God. And then, love your neighbor as yourself. And if you live that way, everything in life will come into its proper place and balance.
Responding to God's Love Today
But listen, before I can fully love God, I need to know how much God loves me. Did you know God loves you? The Bible says we love Him because He first loved us. Our love for God is really a response to His love. How do I know God loved me? I am going to read it in a book. God loves me. Okay. How do I know? Because He proved it. How did He prove it? By sending His Son, Jesus Christ had died on the cross on my place.
Jesus said, Greater love is no man than this. And He laid down His life for His friends. Jesus went and laid His life down on the cross. It wasn't nails that held Him to the cross two thousand years ago. It was love for you and me. For God so loved the world, Jesus said. He gave His only begotten Son. And whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So let me ask you in closing. Do you know that God loves you? And have you responded to that love? If Jesus died and Rose again from the dead, and as I mentioned earlier, He does stand at the door of your life. And He does knock. And He says if you will hear His voice and open the door, He will come in.
Would you like Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin right now? Would you like to be certain that when you die you will go to heaven? Would you like your guilt taken away? God can do that for you.
We are going to bow our heads for a prayer and I am going to ask any of you that are here, watching, listening, if you want to make this commitment to Jesus, respond to this invitation right now as we close in prayer. Ok? Let us all bow our heads and everyone praying please.
Father thank You for loving each one of us. And Lord Jesus thank You for demonstrating that love by going to the cross and dying there in our place. And now we pray for any that have joined us who do not yet know You. Lord help them to see their need for You. Help them to come to You and find Your forgiveness we ask now.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we are praying. How many of you would say today, Greg pray for me. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life. I want to be forgiven of my sin. I want to know that when I die I will go to heaven. If that is your desire. If you want Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin. If you want your guilt taken away. If you want to be certain that you will go to heaven when you die. Would you stand to your feet right now wherever you are. And I am going to lead you in a prayer. Just stand up. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be apprehensive. Just stand. By the way many are standing right now so you will not be alone.
Just stand up. And I am going to lead you in a simple prayer. Stand to your feet. Wherever you are. God bless all of you standing. If you are watching over at Harvest Orange County you just stand to your feet there as well. And I am going to lead you in this prayer. Here at Harvest Riverside outside in the amphitheater just stand to your feet. Up in the court building Watching the video screen. Stand to your feet. Wherever you are, just stand up. And I am going to lead you in a prayer of commitment to Jesus. Or recommitment. In this final moment. Anybody else? God bless you. Just stand up. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless you up there in the balcony. God bless you there at Harvest Orange County. Stand up in the overflow here at Riverside. Stand up in this final moment. One final moment. Stand now. And we will pray together. God bless each one of you.
Okay, all of you that are standing, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. And this is where you are asking Christ to forgive you of your sin and you are inviting Him into your life. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud right where you stand. So pray this with me now. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. But you died on the cross for me. And shed your blood for me. I am sorry for my sin. I turn to you now by faith. I want to know you. I want to know you. I want to love you Lord. With all of my heart. With all of my soul. With all of my mind. With all of my strength. I choose to follow you Jesus. From this moment forward. Thank you for calling me. And accepting me. And forgiving me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.